SMS/MMS/Data Backup for Windows Mobile Devices

So, I stumbled across this today, and sure appreciate freeware:

Anyway, sure beats having to pay to backup all of my text messages and attachments from my old T-Mobile Dash.

Program's called: PIM Backup 2.8
http://www.dotfred.net/default.htm

UNetbootin

I need to setup a couple of DNS servers. Because they are DNS servers, performance isn't critical, so I would like to employ some older machines (does that count as green?)

These servers will be headless and since one of the easiest pieces to fail (because it's one of the few components that have mechanical parts) is the hard drive, I would like to eliminate it altogether.

I've booted diskless clients before, and it wasn't as easy as I'd like it to be. Also, that just moves the onus of the hard disk failure to another machine, it does not eliminate it.

The solution I've come up with is to boot from a USB flash drive. The biggest issue with this is persistence of my settings, but they've pretty much taken care of that recently.

I'm going to use UNetbootin to accomplish the installation of the OS to the USB drive.

I also think I'm going to use DSL for the OS, as it seems to be recommended by this post.

ThinkGeekWeek #2

So, I know, story of my life... I fall behind on the posts. :)

N E way...

Here's the newest cool thing to show from ThinkGeek!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/games/b077/

Rubix Mirror Block Cube


Pretty dang cool, huh?! I think that could be really fun to play with. Wonder if it's as easy to figure out as the original!

Temporary Email Address

Ever wanted a temporary email address? As in one that could expire in 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours? Well, Melt Mail is your answer.

Also, remember that you may not need to register for every site you come in contact with. Bug Me Not is also here for you.

7 Deady Linux Commands

If you haven't already, you might want to make yourself aware of these 7 Deadly Linux Commands.

These range from wiping out your home directory to "total loss of data".

I had no idea that `:(){:|:&};:` could be so bad. :-/

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Waiting for that special moment where you need to wipe everything off your hard drive?
Yeah, me too.

Not wanting to spend the money for the Fujitsu 500GB drive that can erase itself entirely in under a second!

Here's an easy way to do it.

Be careful, this isn't a toy. If you do boot this CD, it will nuke your machine.

Backup Directory to CD or DVD

Here's a quick way to backup a folder or directory to an ISO:

mkisofs -V LABEL -r directory | gzip > cdrom.iso.gz

ThinkGeekWeek #1

So, inspired by Peter, Think-Geek and the incoming holiday season... I've decided to (try and) post daily Think-Geek products that us nerds just love. It's a love not easily explained, as to most these items may seem terribly ridiculous (and in all actuality, we do to an extent too), but regardless, it takes some creativity to come up with some of these things!

It all started when I bought a fun t-shirt off of Think Geek's website one Christmas, and from that point on, they've sent me catalogs around the holiday shopping season.

I got mine in the mail this past weekend... WOO!!

So, to head things off, I'll post an item that at first made me laugh really hard (I had to contain myself in the coffee shop), but it's well suited for the time of the year...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/a823/

Laser-Guided Scissors

Yeah, questionable. Firstly, Don't cut my hair with those thick scissors, and secondly, I'm not sure the laser really adds anything to the whole thing... I mean, really, it's projecting where you'll cut, when the blade is only an inch away from the surface anyway; so... yeah, hmm. :) Maybe not.

Gmail Backup

Like having your Gmail email available?
Wonder what it would be like to not be able to access it anymore (I know, Halloween is over, but scary things are still out there).

Well, this might be the solution to your problems.

It's called Gmail Backup.
It works via command line or GUI (although it's CLI only for you Linux and Mac OS X people), and will backup your emails in one click.

You can use it to switch your emails over from one account to another, or just retain a backup.

The Unofficial List of Unusual Units of Measure

Thanks to my buddy Angelo, I thought I'd share!

My favorites:

Area
Barn: 1.0×10^-28 m²
Nanoacre: 4 mm²

Time
Jiffy: 0.01 seconds

Fame
Warhol: 15 minutes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement

Visual Voicemail

Here is Fusion Voicemail Plus. This awesome application works on phones that run Windows Mobile (and I think Dingleberries).

Basically this is an application that allows you to view a list of your voicemails. You can then scroll through them, choose whether you want to reply to them, or listen to them, or just delete them without even listening to them!

If that wasn't cool enough, it gets better. This service allows you to forward your voicemail from other phones (home, office, etc.) to the same service. This way you will get notifications for voicemails from all of your lines on your cell phone.

Sweet.

I've seen this work, as I setup my friend's phone to use this service. It works by waiting until you don't answer your phone (if you don't answer), or you aren't available (your phone is off), and then forwarding the call to some other number somewhere. The call is then answered by the computers there, and a greeting is played (a greeting which you can record if you wish). The voicemail is then recorded as an MP3 and a txt message is sent to your phone. The txt message is picked up by the Phone Fusion application, which parses the information, adds it to the list of voicemails, and then makes your phone vibrate or ring or whatever, telling you that you have a new message.

Not cool enough?? -- It gets better!
You can listen, delete, and look at your voicemails ONLINE! That's right, you can go to the website, login, and then listen to your voicemails!

Oh, and did I mention it's all FREE!

Patent Number WO/2006/068865

Here it is: Patent Number WO/2006/068865.

Yup, that's McDonald's trying to patent the "method and apparatus for making a sandwich".

And you thought that Microsoft attempting to patten the Page Up/Page Down buttons was ridiculous.

Super Computers

Here's the list of the top 500 super computers.

The Sandia/Cray Red Storm system came in at 9th place!

And do you know what took 8th? (of course you do, you're a huge nerd) -- Jaguar, which just DOUBLED it's performance!!!

So what's number 1? That would be Roadrunner.

Just a quick bit about Roadrunner:

Made from Commercial Parts. In total, Roadrunner connects 6,562 dual-core AMD Opteron® chips as well as 12,240 Cell chips (on IBM Model QS22 blade servers). The Roadrunner system has 98 terabytes of memory, and is housed in 278 refrigerator-sized, IBM BladeCenter® racks occupying 5,200 square feet. Its 10,000 connections – both Infiniband and Gigabit Ethernet -- require 55 miles of fiber optic cable. Roadrunner weighs 500,000 lbs.

What's Your Phishing IQ?

Check it here.


(I got a 100%).

Microsoft Word: Paste Unformatted Text

Here's the macro for pasting unformatted text in Word:

Sub PasteUnformatted()
'
' PasteUnformatted Macro
' Macro created 11/13/2008 by Peter Carney
'
Selection.PasteSpecial Link:=False, DataType:=wdPasteText
End Sub

Also, remember that you can map it to a keyboard command with "Tools->Customize->[Keyboard]".


http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=128

Why is FreeBSD So Awesome?

That's a good question.

Especially after reading this post.


"The problem is, that most of these companies do not really realize how many people would use their product if there were FreeBSD versions too, and most continue to only develop for Linux."

It is just curious to me why, if there are so many FreeBSD users ready to use the software from these companies, do the companies not develop FreeBSD versions?

Rock On: We're Not the Biggest Nerds

So, it may come as quite a shock to hear that we here at 10nerds aren't the biggest nerds ever, but we finally have proof.

Wireless != Security either!!!

Welp, apparently I'm going to have to find a way to operate without my keyboard or my wireless connection!

I taught myself how to hack wireless connections when I had some extra time on my hands one summer in Albuquerque, NM. I figured out that it took me about 5 minutes to crack a wireless network with 64-bit WEP and about 2 hours to crack a wireless network with 128-bit WEP. Cracking networks with WPA were a bit harder, and required some more computers to act as people using the network, so I didn't fool with that much.

However, it appears that cracking the wireless networks may have just become 10,000 percent faster, and using nothing more than a fancy video card.


Oh, and by the way, that 64-bit encryption that takes me about 5 minutes to crack -- yeah, that's what HIPAA says is "OK" to use when running computers on the same network that hold your medical records! -- It's just a scary day here at 10nerds!

Wire != Security

Welp, after this post, I will no longer be using a keyboard. These people have found a way to pick up (and decode) the electromagnetic emanations of the signals that run through the wire in a wired keyboard from the next room!

Here's the non-engineering version (engineers probably shouldn't read this):
Your computer and your keyboard are connected with basically what amounts to two cups and a string. When the keyboard wants to send a signal, say an "f", to the computer, it picks up the cup and screams "f!" The computer hears this, and puts an "f" on the screen. The problem with this is that the screaming makes noise all along the string and someone who is standing near the string can hear it.

So what does that mean for you? Well, if you type your password on your wired keyboard, someone with know-how can hear the screams of each letter and in effect listen to your password.


Here are a couple of videos showing it in action.

Man this stuff is scary.

How to Back Up and Restore a MySQL Database

Backup:
[/bin/nice -n 19] mysqldump -u [uname] -p [dbname] -c | [/bin/nice -n 19] | gzip -9 > [backupfile.sql.gz]

Note: You can use $(date '+%Y.%m.%d').sql.gz like I do for the name.


Restore:
gunzip [backupfile.sql.gz]
mysql -u [uname] -p [db_to_restore] < [backupfile.sql]


How to Back Up and Restore a MySQL Database

Import from Wordpress to Blogger

Just finished this import myself, as you can see by all of the extra posts!

http://code.google.com/p/blogsync-java/

A couple of hints:
1. Make sure you use Java JDK 1.5 (1.4 and 1.6 will not work!)
2. Make sure that you set the path to java 1.5 in your path in the shell, not just in the 'run.sh' file like the Blogsync Wiki says.
3. Make sure that you do not have any drafts -- they will not publish (and they will give you an error.)
4. Make sure that the tags on your posts (if you have any) do not contain any invalid symbols (like an ampersand).
5. The java interface does not give you any meaningful error messages. To figure out why things are broken, open Wireshark and watch the exchange.

Random as a...Rocket Scientist?

We all know the saying "Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist."

Questions:
1. Is this a passive aggressive attempt at knocking the rocket scientists of the world because we're jealous?

2. Why is a rocket scientist THE definitive profession for the smart people?
2a. Is it because NASA needs rocket scientists and no one wants to be one?
2b. Is it to encourage people to be rocket scientists? -- I'm going to guess here, but I would say 50% of rocket scientists became so because they wanted to say (or wear some t-shirt that says) "I'm a rocket scientist".

3. Do rocket scientists say this?

Intel Open House -- Seattle

So, I ended up attending an Open House for Intel's Research Group in Seattle just the other day, and saw some pretty interesting things... Here's a link to their site, so you can follow along:

http://www.seattle.intel-research.net/projects.php

Some favorite research projects were:

Trustworthy Wireless

1. From the previous post regarding RFIDs, we see how vulnerable people are now-a-days to having their RFID-enabled drivers license or passport from being copied and possibly misused. Granted, from the previous discussion, the value on the RFID (the unique identifier) is just a number having no correlation to any of your personal data (so we've been told), but the fact that this number means something to SOMEONE poses a risk.

The Intel group here developed a wallet of sorts which has an accelerometer within it, and identifies specific motions. Given the appropriate motion, the wallet then "reveals" the RFID chip to a potential reader, and likewise without an appropriate motion, "conceals" the RFID chip from the outside world. An appropriate motion could be waving your wallet back and forth 1.5 times (as they did)... usually the motion necessary when you want the chip read anyway. You follow?

2. Another interesting topic they're tackling is the idea that there are quite a few pay-for-wifi spots available in densely urban areas (maybe even in not-so-densely urban as well), and given these options... there is no metric or heuristic for ranking these wifi hotspots, as signal strength is usually NOT a very good indication of connectivity or upload/download speed. Yet again, another interesting topic.

3. Finally, it's quite amazing how many wifi hotspots there are in certain locations -- even my hometown of Ottawa, KS has an enumerate number of APs one can connect to. I remember driving down the Main Street in town with my laptop, and within a mile, noticing nearly 100 hotspots.

So how do you curb those signals? As of today, the APs and your wireless devices tend to radiate the signal in a spherical direction from the source, and there's really no way of modifying that. This group developed an interesting technique, what they called Geo-Fencing, where they can basically reign in their AP's wireless signal to stay within the confines of whatever boundaries they determine... For instance, with Geo-Fencing, you can place the AP within your home, and then regulate how far outside of the house the signal propagates, removing any possibility of intruders from connecting in from outside the house.

Wireless Resonant Energy Link

1. These guys apparently got quite a bit of news coverage, by extending some work from MIT. The concept (as it was explained to me) uses two coils, of which the resonant frequency is known. Transmitting power through one coil at that frequency produces a magnetic field of which a second coil absorbs and converts back into electricity. They claim a 70% efficiency while lighting a bulb about 2 feet away. It's kinda cool to see!

Anyway... Cool stuff. *pushes eyeglass frames up*

Have you been "hooked"?

First, watch this video.

Second, check out this website.

Third, say "Wooooow."

You must admit, that's pretty cool.

Foxtrot

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2008/09/21/

RFID-ness

Inspired by my new Washington Enhanced Drivers License, I decided to dig a little into the RFID debate. There is quite a bit of information out there, and it's made me want to buy a little reader myself (if it's not too expensive) and play around with them a little. Who knows...

RFID: Radio Frequency IDentification, consists of two devices -- the Transponder and the Interrogator. The Transponder is the device with the information on it, usually the RFID chip containing some information (such as a number). In the case of the drivers licenses, this number is a unique identifier which is supposed to only make sense to those who have full access to your driving record. The Interrogator is a device that reads this information, emitting probes to query transponders nearby (if they are). This interrogator is the RFID reader, in a sense.

So, with the basics down, let's consider the ramifications of using RFID devices onto various things.

RFIDs are fairly inexpensive (~10-20 cents per ID) to manufacture, and I know that the retail-giant Walmart has had plans of incorporating RFID tags into each item within a store. This would definitely expedite peoples' check-out from the store, as you'd just pass your cart full of items through an Interrogator/reader of some sort, instead of having the cashier scan every single item one-at-a-time. Interesting, huh? But, I believe those plans have since halted (when they originally came about in 2004), as only the distribution centers have RFID-enabled palletes.. Individual items have yet to be RFID'ed.

Well, we enter a new realm when we start discussing the impact that RFID could have on security. It's not difficult to create an RFID with any specific data on it, making it very simple for someone to read an RFID and replicate it without any indication of duplication.

So, in theory, when you cross the border, and hand the customs official your passport, they should wave it in front of the reader, and your information should pop up. Hopefully there is some confirmation through visual-inspection (eg.: making sure the printed photo and the one inside the passport are the same), but as you may assume, there isn't any literature on this procedure... I just hope the RFID isn't the only form of verification of one's identity.

That then begs the question... Why? Why are the RFID devices so _awesome_ and everyone's so amped to use them? If it's only adding a layer of verification (mind you, a layer that is very easily replicated)... then why? I'm at a loss.

Wow, just did a little digging. I can get a reader for under 100$. I'm sure many other options exist.

Google doesn't even know its own power

In a recent article on Slashdot it was revealed that one of Google News' spider bots crawled an outdated story (from 2002) about United Airlines being on the brink of bankruptcy. It turns out that the article did not have a time stamp and thus Google's spider bot assumed "today" (why not?).

The story was published on Google News, which was then crawled by several other news spider bots and the story spread like wildfire.

Pretty soon, everyone heard of the "breaking news" that was actually from 2002. This news caused the United Airlines stock to plummet from $12 to $3. This was obviously not good times.

Eventually the cause of the disaster was discovered and the United Airlines stock rose back up to $9.62. But this still left a $300 million hole.

A $300 million hole and all Google can say is "Tough luck, Chuck."

Google Owns You

Continuing on the saga of Google may be not-so-nice...

You may or may not remember a week or so ago when Google's internet browser Chrome was released.

Someone read through the EULA and found that Google claimed to have "a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through" Google Chrome.

Oops.

Google responded by saying that they created the EULA by pasting together parts of other EULAs, and leaving this in was simply an oversight.

An oversight that they left it in? or an oversight that they made it so easy to find?

Anywho, they went ahead and amended the EULA, making it retroactive for all users of Google Chrome who operated under the previous EULA. So, no harm, no foul...right?

This whole situation got some people thinking...and looking. It turns out that Google Chrome isn't the only product where Google claims "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Google also has similar language in their EULAs for Blogger, Picasa, Google Docs, and Google Groups.

So, what does this mean for you?

In a post by one of Google's lawyers, Mike Yang speaks of how this language is a legal way of stating:

You retain the ownership. Google retains the rights to use the content.

This seems harmless...but it makes me want to scoot a little further away from Google.

An introduction to Google Books...

This is the first of what will probably be many posts about Google.

I (like many people) have been fascinated with Google for quite some time. I even did a report on them (Google Books) in one of my engineering classes on intellectual property.

The Google Books project is a project where Google has teamed up with many libraries across the world and begun scanning all of the books they have available. Once scanned, these books are OCR'ed and become text, which we all know is searchable. Google then indexes these books and allows people all over the world to search them.

Sounds great! What could possibly be bad about this??

Well, Google got greedy.

While Google started scanning books, some authors decided that they didn't want their books to be searchable. And, seeing as how the contents of the books were the intellectual property of the authors, this was certainly their right to keep from having their books searchable via the internet. So, Google created an "opt-out" program whereby authors would be able to opt-out of the Google Book project.

(Here's where it gets interesting)...

Even if the authors had opted out, the books were still scanned and archived. Why? -- Who knows, but I bet you have a pretty good guess.

But wait, that's not right. You can't just walk into a library and photocopy an entire book. Just like you can't borrow a CD or movie and go home and copy it. That's illegal. The library paid a higher license fee than an individual user so that they could lend the intellectual property to others, but they didn't pay to "resell" the content for nothing. And, when you check out a book, CD, or video from the library, you don't have the rights to copy that media.

So, while the authors argue that it is their right to have Google not scan their book at all, Google maintains that the author only has rights to keep the information off the internet.

So, how did Google Books get away with it?
You tell me.

How it all started...

So, thanks to Peter for setting this site up -- it's totally snazzy, and very fitting of the 10 nerds!

I spent the last few days trying to figure out how it all started... day one of our nerdified group. Peter, please feel free to add to the post accordingly!

So Peter and I went to Kansas State University, both of us nerds in the truest sense: working on our bachelor's computer engineering degrees, getting our hands dirty with our own computers -- which of course was our number one hobby no matter what anyone may have said, and both of us whole-heartedly dedicated our computer assistance to those who needed it. We enjoyed watching Nova, and really anything on The Discovery Channel or The Learning Channel.

The first class that I remember seeing Peter in was Circuit Theory I, with good ol' KHC. Remember KHC's infamous grading scale? And that effing line! Well, only those who've actually experienced the wonder that is KHC will ever understand...

Anyway, Circuit Theory I was quite a kick in the junk, if I may say so myself. I believe our first test was mediocre at best... with our third test having a class average of 30%. I believe I ended up with a 62% overall in the course, and received a B. It was quite the rollercoaster!

Speaking of which, I need to dig up my old list of quotes from these profs. Peter and I used to write them down in the middle of class -- as some of the EECE professors had some gems of quotes!

Well, at one point after Circuit Theory I, it could have been Linear Systems... he and Bobby and I decided that we should stick together and study. Some Hi-C Orange shots later, we passed all of our classes (sometimes by the skin on our chins), and the rest is history!

Now Peter and I frequently do what I call "nerd-out." We discuss some of the current tech things that may come up in the news or on the net, maybe also a new technique which enables us to be more efficient nerds, and we frequently have convos on the impact these tech things have on our lives. It's all really great!

Thus, the point of this whole blog! Hopefully this will give us an avenue to 1), get some of the crap out of our brains and 2), share it with anyone who wants to know!

Hope you all enjoy!

Jaiku or Twitter

Recently I got into Twitter and eventually (when they started allowing invitations again) Jaiku.

These mobile blogging platforms appealed very much to me as I have been struggling for quite some time to find the time and (more importantly) motivation to keep up sizable, respectable, worth-while posts on any blog.

These led me to understand just how important blog posts containing more than 140 characters (the limit on Twitter and Jaiku) really can be, especially when attempting to rouse up discussion on deserving subjects.

Perhaps this is why the introduction video to Twitter suggested that the service is simply a gap-filler for between-post events that are not large/important enough to merit an entire post (i.e. mowing the lawn, seeing the Oscar Mayer Wiener-mobile on the highway, etc.).

Well, it just so happens that both platforms were undergoing a bit of a face-lift when I was getting into them.

Leo Laporte (whom I have never heard of) apparently was a Twitter user, and decided to move from Twitter to a small company called Jaiku. Apparently Leo had quite a following, as his switch made news headlines over much of the internet. Not only that, it caused "the Leo Effect" whereby many Twitter users also abandoned Twitter for Jaiku. This overwhelmed the Jaiku servers, and they struggled for quite some time to regain control of their bandwidth and increase their capacity.

Well (as always) someone at Google was apparently paying attention, and lo-and-behold, Jaiku soon announced that it was being absorbed by Google.

Then, just in the past day or so, Twitter announced (or denied, depending on what article you read) that it is experimenting with adding advertisements to its Tweets. It also release that it's tired of "footing the bill" for you to send Tweets via SMS in some countries.

So, one one hand, you've got Twitter going with ads and retracting SMS features from some countries, and on one blog I saw I noticed that there were rumors of them creating a corporate product.

On the other hand, you've got Jaiku supporting RSS feeds (kind of, I'm having some issues with it right now), and being absorbed by Google, which was good for Blogger, Picasa, and others. Jaiku also does icons, which I can take or leave, and they don't support sleeping the SMS delivery like Twitter, so I just turn my phone down when I sleep.

I'm switching to Jaiku full time for now. We'll see how it goes...

Th3 Nam3 0xf th3 Gam3

"The 10 Nerds" -- inspired by the saying "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world: those that understand binary, and those that don't."

Binary ("bi-" indicating two), for those of you who don't know, is a method of counting using only two unique values (0 and 1) for each digit.

Decimal ("deci-" indicating ten) is the standard method for counting that we are all familiar with. In decimal, each digit can be one of 10 unique values (0-9 inclusive).

So, here is how to count to ten (from zero, so 11 digits) in each:

Decimal: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Binary: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 1010

Note that in decimal it is not necessary to use a second digit until we have exhausted all of the unique values with the first digit.

Also note that the same is true for binary, it just happens much faster.

Thus, the title "The 10 Nerds" is to be interpreted in decimal as "The 2 Nerds".

Welcome to our world...

Tutorial: Copy a Single File to Avoid Re-Activating Windows XP

Tutorial: Copy a Single File to Avoid Re-Activating Windows XP

How do I change a MAC address?

Change those MAC addresses so you can do some real network manipulation!

How do I change a MAC address?

Windows Batch File Argument Editing

Let's edit some of those %1's and %2's and make them a bit more useful!

InformIT: Windows Batch Files for Fun and Profit > Argument Editing

You can't talk about Windows Batch files and not talk about good ol' Rob Van der Woude!

Slow Motion Lightning!

How sweet is this!?!

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/08/07

SensibleUnits.com

I watched a sporting event the other day played with a ball that weighs the equivalent of 4.2 USB flash drives.

What was it? -- head on over to Sensible Units and check it out!

Why many MCSEs won’t learn Linux

Great article...worth the read.


Why many MCSEs won’t learn Linux | Paul Murphy | ZDNet.com

Offline access to Google Docs

This is a pretty sweet deal for those of us who use Google Docs (because they rock)! Now you don't even need an internet connection to modify them!

P.S.
I haven't been able to get this to work like the video says -- I don't see the green circle or anything linking me to a download of 'Google Gears' and I haven't seen the "Offline" link in the top right-hand corner.
Anybody have any ideas?

Official Google Blog: Offline access to Google Docs

'When is Good' Finds the Best Time for Everyone

I hate trying to spear head an event, and then have it fall apart because every one is "too busy". 'When is Good' to the rescue by helping find that one tiny spot where everyone's schedules overlap!

P.S.
I haven't actually tried this -- if anyone does, let me know!

Scheduling: When is Good Finds the Best Time for Everyone

Password Your Web Server Pages with .htaccess Editor

Security is a big concern for everyone, and if it's not I think it should be.
Whether it is protecting your closest secrets, to just keeping the annoying at bay, I think it is a necessity we should all have, and understand. Here's a little tool that is going to help me do a few things I've been wanting to do anyway, but it will help me do them faster.

Web Utilities: Password Your Web Server Pages with .htaccess Editor

Get Way More from Your Canon Digital Camera with Open-Source Firmware

OSS is the best, and to think that I can make my $50 WRT54G into a $200+ router is pretty awesome, but to think I can make my $180+ Canon A570IS into something better, that's also pretty awesome! :-)

Digital Camera: Get Way More from Your Canon Digital Camera with Open-Source Firmware

Add a "Send to Photoshop" Button to Picasa

Picasa probably jumps a few notches on my list just for being associated with Google, but honestly after using it, I would have it ranked high anyway. This program is amazing.

Picasa: Add a "Send to Photoshop" Button to Picasa

Ping from the Firefox Address Bar

Here's a cool little tip to ping nodes from another website -- which helps figure out if they are really down or if it is just your connection.

http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=ping&host=%s

Now, if you add a bookmark for that in FF and set the keyword to 'ping', all you have to do is 'ping {host}' in the address bar!

Network Utilities: Ping Servers from the Firefox Address Bar

Sync Your GCal to Outlook and Back Automatically

Google calendar rocks.
This one is for those of us who can't seem to get away from Outlook too.

Featured Windows Download: Sync Your GCal to Outlook and Back Automatically

More Cable Modem Fun

Thanks to the World Wide Web, I was able to figure out that it is possible for me to look at my new cable modem via a web interface (and SNMP as well). My new modem is a Scientific Atlanta Webstar 2100 (DPC2100R2).

At first glance, only one page was available but thanks to Google and borfast.com I was able to get all sorts of good info.

The diag page is http://192.168.100.1
To get access to the locked pages:

1. Visit http://192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp


2. Set the Access Level to "Access Level 2"


3. Enter the password: 'W2402'


4. Press Submit

http://www.borfast.com/node/313

Skip the Annoying "Use the Web service to find the correct program" Dialog

Tired of being asked if you want to look-up on the internet what program to use to open a certain "unknown" file type?
Here's a hack to disable that stupid box:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\
NoInternetOpenWith (32-bit DWORD) = 1


Skip the Annoying "Use the Web service to find the correct program" Dialog :: the How-To Geek

Change the Windows Explorer Icon to Open A Diffierent Folder

I don't know about you, but I don't really use the "My Documents" folder for a whole lot -- you know, because it has spaces and capital letters...booooo!

But, I use Windows Explorer all of the time.

So how do I get Windows Explorer to stop opening My Documents every time I click the icon?!

Easy: Change the "Target" in the shortcut to '%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:\'

How To Change Windows Explorer Icon To Open A Diffierent Folder In Windows XP And Vista

Linux keyboard shortcuts

Check it out:
You're in the linux terminal doing whatever and decide you want to undo whatever you just did. So you hit CTRL+z -- WAIT! This isn't Windows, so now you have:

[1]+ Stopped vim crazyFile
>

Now what?
I'll tell you what -- try `fg`.
Viola!

Find more at Linux keyboard shortcuts

No More "Unused Icons" Pop-up Balloons

Stop that annoying pop-up balloon.

Display Properties -> Desktop -> Customize Desktop -> Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days

Stop the Annoying "There are unused icons on your desktop" Popup Balloon :: the How-To Geek