chris.rasco

Blog Moved

2008-03-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

This blog has been moved to: www.darksideofthecarton.com

SoftPerfect Network Scanner stuck off-screen?

2006-10-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

I recently ran into sort of an odd issue with the free version of SoftPerfect’s excellent Network Scanner. The window was stuck somewhere off screen. I have a dual screen setup, which probably contributed to the problem, and no amount of cascading the windows would bring it back into view. The problem is compounded by the fact that this program has no installer so there is nothing to reinstall.

After an hour or so of fumbling with this, I finally figured out a solution to my problem. The program may have no installer, but it does write values to the registry and one of these values tells the program it’s dimensions and last location.

To fix your application, if it gets stuck:

Launch your Registry Editor (Start > Run > “regedit” and Enter)
Navigate to the following registry location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SoftPerfect\Network Scanner\Window
Change the Left and Top DWORD values to 0
Relaunch the Network Scanner

This was a very frustrating issue to deal with and I am glad it’s fixed.

WalMart.com Makeover

2006-10-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

It looks like the behemoth of a retailer has finally overhauled their website layout and gone are the nasty yellow and blue colors that remind me of their retail stores. With this new layout they have joined the rank and file of the web monsters with a white and blue layout with lots of neat little javascript touches. This new layout definitely makes it about 65 times easier to find things on their website.

The new site even has an online pharmacy where you can order new prescriptions, order refills, transfer your RXs, and view your past order history. Pretty neat stuff.

IE7 CSS Changes are on the Horizon

2006-10-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

IE’s support for CSS has been lacking for years now. There is a posting on the IE Team’s blog that they are bringing a few changes to IE7. Most notably they will be adding PNG transparency, the bane of my existence, and enabling :hover for all page elements. This should help out the developers a lot.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/22/712830.aspx

FireFox 2 is out and Alt S is broken

2006-10-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

So I grabbed the final release of FireFox 2 this morning. The answer to the age old question of “Are your extensions broken?” is a resounding yes. I think maybe 3 of them work as of this morning. Luckily they are the ones that I use most of the time.

The next big annoyance with FF2.0 is that the developers decided at some point that the Alt+S shortcut that submits a form on just about every modern forum software needed to be changed into a shortcut to the History menu. This is utter crap and shows that the devs are completely out of touch with the user base. Luckily someone in some forum figured out how to revert it. Be warned though, I have no idea what other things this breaks.

To fix Alt+S in FireFox 2.x:

Open up a new Window/Tab and type “about:config” in the address bar.
In the Filter bar type: “ui.key.contentAccess” and press enter.
Double click the item and change the value from 5 to 4.

That is all. Enjoy your Alt+S ing again.

IE7 Gold

2006-10-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

So IE7 is gold, which means it has been finalized and readied for release. While the links are not active on the Microsoft website, there are copies of the final release floating around in the wild from a brand new Yahoo Mail application. I installed it from there and have confirmed it is the final release. Having not used the beta before I have to say that it is pretty nice and refined. The only thing I’d like to have seen them add in was mouse gestures. I’ll keep using it off and on, but Firefox is still the browser of choice for me.

Vista Update

2006-10-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

So far I have been completely unable to get Vista installed on this old machine. In RC1 it freezes at the Completing Installation screen and Beta 2 locks up while expanding the files. I’m going to try again later this week.

It's Been a While

2006-10-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

So blog posting has taken a back seat to basically everything lately. Work is busy, all of my sites are in full swing, and life is happening. I did want to chime in about Windows Vista though. By now everyone knows that Vista runs great on the proper hardware and the Aeroglass theme looks amazing. What you don’t see a lot of information about is what does Vista look like on your parent’s old computer? That 4 year old beige box in the corner, yes, computers used to all be beige.

With that in mind I decided I would bring in my spare machine to work and get Vista RC1 installed on it and see how it runs. It’s a P3 733 with 768MB of ram in it with a GeForce Ti4200. Some of the parts have been tossed together from past incarnations of my main gaming rig. The install is well under way so we will see just how zippy it is once we are ready to go.

One Year Wonder

2006-09-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a pretty smart guy, but this kid makes me look like I have the intelligence of a rock.

David Banh, an 18-year-old from Annandale, just graduated from the University of Virginia in one year. With a double major.

He started college with 72 hours under his belt from AP tests. His first semester he took 23, his second he took 37, and then he took his final 3 that summer.

He is now working on his Master’s Degree and expects to be done in 1 year as well.

I give this kid some serious props.

Google Homepage gets Tabs

2006-09-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

I am not sure when they launched this nifty feature, but the customizable Google Homepage (http://www.google.com/ig) now has a nifty tabs feature that lets you add multiple tabs, rename the tabs, and drag content between tabs. For those of you like myself that have far too many feeds to keep track of you can now separate similarly themed content and just switch tabs.

The best part? It remembers which tab you were last one and loads you up to that one when you re-visit the page or refresh. Awesome job Google. This definitely makes me happy.

The only downside? Tabs cannot be rearranged. Create new tabs with care and in order.

American Broadband Sucks

2006-09-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to say on this issue, but this article on Ars Technica sums it up quite nicely and I don’t have to get stark raving mad about getting gouged $45/month for a paltry 6MB downstream while $35 should be getting me a 50MB downstream at least.

Instead, Americans are stuck with high prices, limited choice, and lower speeds.

eDonkey Settlement

2006-09-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

So eDonkey, or the parent company thereof, has agreed to pay $30M to the RIAA to avoid prosecution for copyright infringment. It seems to me that the recording industry has been quietly developing an additional revenue stream that probably dwarfs music sales by just suing the crap out of everyone. I wonder how long that will go on before people start paying attention and realize that this amounts to extortion?

At any rate, visiting eDonkey.com gets your IP address logged. Oh no! I am so scared. I don’t use P2P and have never used the eDonkey software or network so what do they hope to do with my IP?

The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available.
If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.

Courts around the world -- including the United States Supreme Court --
have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal
downloading.

You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material.

Your IP address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and has been logged.

Respect the music, download legally.
Goodbye Everyone.

Amazon Unbox: Prepare to be let down?

2006-09-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Amazon launched their video store, Amazon Unbox, late yesterday. The intials reviews of the system are not quite so nice. Unbox had a few things working against it before the launch. As you may be aware Apple is ready to launch their own movie download service and the main difference between the 2 services boils down to price.

Amazon has an open ended pricing model that lets the studio decide what a given item is worth. No info is available on how much of this Amazon gets. Apple wants a fixed pricing system as is present with the iTunes Music Store. $14.99 for new releases and $9.99 for older titles. The only ones in on this fixed pricing seem to be Disney. A quick look around Unbox makes it apparent why. Many movies, not necessarily new movies, are priced well above $14.99 and some as high as $24.99. $24.99 for a DRM laden almost DVD quality version of a film?

I will say that a large percentage of the films on Unbox do fall within the pricing scheme that Apple proposed so why the studios balked it at is anybody’s guess. We do know that Apple is only taking $.50 out of each sale to cover basically all the expenses of running the store.

The second strike against Unbox is in the marketing double speak. After clicking a title that you would like to download and seeing the price you will see this text below it:

Price includes both a DVD-quality video to watch on your PC or TV, and a video file optimized for compatible portable video players.

The ordinary person might take that to mean that these DRM laden hacks will allow you to burn this movie to a standard DVD and pop it in your DVD player. Oh no. You honestly thought the movie studios would make it that easy? I dug a little deeper on the Unbox FAQ and found this:

Can I use Amazon Unbox with my TV?
Amazon Unbox only works when installed on a personal computer or Media Center PC. You can also transfer videos to an approved hand-held device using the Amazon Unbox. If you have the capability to connect your TV to a PC or hand-held device, you can watch videos purchased at the Amazon Unbox store on your television. Please refer to the documentation for your computer hardware for more information about your machine's capability to interface with a television.
In most cases, connecting your computer to your television is as simple as using an s-video connection. S-video is a standard 4-pin video connection available on most televisions and video cards. S-video only transfers the video image, so you will also need to connect the audio out port on your computer to external speakers or to a home stereo system. Some video cards also come with standard RCA adapters for video and audio and will allow you to connect your computer in the same way you would connect a VCR or video camera.
If you are using a Microsoft Media Center PC, detailed information is available on their Web page at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx.

IF you can connect your PC to your TV then you can watch them on your TV. To me, there are going to be a ton of angry consumers that end up with $15 versions of movies that they can only watch at their computers. Not to mention that $15 will probably nab you the DVD at your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Since I know someone will ask:

Can I make a DVD from my Amazon Unbox downloads?
You can store your downloaded files on a DVD or other removable computer storage device for the purpose of backup in the same format as the original files. However, any DVDs that you burn with Amazon Unbox files will not be readable by a DVD player. You can only view the files using Amazon Unbox installed on the computer that originally received the downloads..

They also make sure to touch on the issue of returns in their FAQ:

Can I return an Amazon Unbox video after I purchase it?
No. Amazon Unbox products are not returnable once purchased. If you experience technical problems installing the player or watching an Amazon Unbox video, we are happy to help you troubleshoot the problem.
Click here to access our Amazon Unbox Video Troubleshooting Help page.
You can also use the Contact Us buttons on the Amazon Unbox Video Help pages to contact customer service for technical support.

Needless to say, Unbox isn’t exactly easy to use, worth the money, or good for the consumer. I say buyer beware when looking into Unbox. Wait and see what Apple does and wait for Amazon to change things up when Apple starts selling tons of content.

Oh blessed rain

2006-09-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

After a nasty spell of heat during August, 19 days in triple digits, and no rain we finally got some of that wet stuff from the sky. I think we got about an inch today so far. Talk about a relief, I think it is hovering right around 70 outside right now. Talk about a nice change from 100+.

Intel to lay off Thousands

2006-09-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

In a move to try and increase profits against AMD, Intel announced today that they are slashing an estimated 10% of their workforce. For a company with 100,000 employees, that means roughly 10,000 people will be unemployed. That is not good news for those people and ultimately won’t translate into better pricing for the consumer. Besides upper level executives, who exactly do these cuts benefit?

Source: Slashdot

Resetting broadband routers back to factory settings

2006-08-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

I was looking for instructions on resetting a very old broadband router this morning and stumbled upon a nice resource put out by Sony for EQ2 players on resetting tons of different routers back to default specs. You can find the page here.

Dell Laptop Battery Recall

2006-08-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

The big news recently is the Sony batteries that have been recalled by Dell and Apple, but up until today I hadn’t actually seen pictures of the event that spurred the recalls. The Inq is carrying the story with the pictures. Talk about scary.

The Inq

Strange SQL Error

2006-08-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

I setup a DTS package in SQL 2000 yesterday to make a mirror of the live database for an app that I maintain. The goal was to have an exact copy of the live data for the dev environment so I can start coding a new release. I set the DTS package to run every 4 hours. Little did I know the columns specified as primary keys didn’t retain that property. When I went in to look at the data there was all sorts of duplicates. Attempting to delete these records threw the following error:

The row value(s) updated or deleted either do not make the row unique or they alter multiple rows.

I ran across this site that had a fix for my boneheadedness (now I’m making up words). I used the 3rd solution where you add a new field and set it as a key which allows you to delete the duplicate data, remove the new column, and re-set your primary key as the primary key.

Solution 3
This solution is a yet another way to approach this problem. In this approach you use the query below to create a new column that numbers your records 1, 2, 3, etc. This will get rid of the duplication and allow you to delete the records or update them as you need. After you fix the duplication problem, just remember to delete the column.

ALTER TABLE Table1
ADD TempID int IDENTITY(1, 1)

Thanks to Allen Buckley for that one. I was scratching my head.

No HD in 32 bit Vista

2006-08-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Just another case of the content industries making others play by their rules. MS has agreed to prevent playback of next gen HD content on the 32 bit versions of Vista citing concerns that the unsigned malware that runs in kernel mode can get around copy protection. I have a news flash for everyone, the crackers and the hackers will still find a way to get around copy protection. Name one copy protection scheme that has remained uncracked to date? Didn’t think so.

Source: Slashdot

Netflix a Monopoly?

2006-08-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Give me a break. The fact that Blockbuster, a company not known for being nice to the competition, is suing someone in an AntiTrust suit is just laughable. So this is what happens when someone gets knocked off their high horse by a company without a strong physical presence.

Source: Ars

Would you pay $999 for shoes?

2006-08-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

I am all about the shoes. I love shoes. I especially love a slick pair of Adidas. I am also frugal. So while browsing around online I run across these. I am stunned. Someone tell me why those superstars are worth $1k and what boneheads bought them all up so they are sold out.

Gay Marriage Ban

2006-08-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

In the same discussion that I just posted about below Lauren and I got on the topic of Gay Marriage. Now honestly I right of center on the political spectrum, but I think it's just silly that the government is legislating on personal preference. I think it goes against what our country stands for, but whatever. The curious thing to me is that as a gay person in this country and an alleged supporter for gay marriage, why would they try and get this law passed with a Republican President AND Congress? They had to know it would fail miserably. Lauren and I came to the conclusion that the left may have encouraged it knowing it would crash and burn so they wouldn't have to re-address it the next time a Democrat was in power. Is it possible to think that the issue was forced to get it out of the limelight? I certainly think so.

The Future of American Politics: 5 Parties?

2006-08-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

I listen to the radio a lot and I pretty much only listen to talk radio at this point, which typically focuses around politics. A term I have heard tossed around quite freqently is NeoCon which is short for Neo-Conservative. While at lunch this weekend with my family, my wife and I got onto the subject of politics and it became more clear to me that while the US currently embodies a 2 party system, we may be on the path to a 4 or 5 party system. Let me explain. The "NeoCons" are the ones pushing the Republican party further and further to the right. This is eventually going to alienate the just right of center members of the party which could force the Republican party to splinter into 2 or 3 factions. The factions could potentially be, starting from way out to the right, the NeoCons then the traditional Republicans and then a very moderate bunch right in the middle. It is feasible that the same thing could or would happen on the left side of the spectrum. In the end you are left with 2 varying degress of our current parties with a big pile of moderates in the middle that would probably band together.

Obviously this is just my wild speculation, but what would the future of American politics look like if we had 5 parties? Would the elections be a madhouse?

What would you do...

2006-08-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

if you were pranked into believing that your mom or girlfriend was a stripper?

Do You Really Think You Know Her? - video powered by Metacafe

How NOT to release a Leopard

2006-08-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a great idea. Let's let this Leopard go, but first let me piss it off with a stick and then we will let it go and have our window down. Nevermind it's a lightning fast cat with huge teeth and claws.