Heard about this on the Today show this morning. Amazing.

SD memory card with wireless technology built-in! You do a one-time sync/setup with your PC and from then on, walk into your house with the camera using that card, if finds your PC, downloads the pictures to it, and can apparently then upload the pics to a photo sharing site of your choice.

Eye-Fi


Posted 4:36 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Found this on the PlanetReplay forums. This guy has all kinds of replacement parts and instructions for ReplayTV.

example: $155 for 200 hour hard drive for Replay 5040 with software pre-installed, ready to boot

ReplayTV Parts

Posted 8:42 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Time Warner Cable called me tonight to offer a free upgrade to the next level of cable modem speed for free for the next 12 months. Of course, they hope I'll forget to cancel in a year and start getting charged the extra $10 / month.

He said it should get me 15 Mb / sec.

Just did a speed test (used speedtest.net, LA node) before resetting the modem:

• BEFORE: 9638 Kbps up / 1770 Kbps down
• AFTER: 10688 Kbps up / 1884 Kbps down

So not a huge change. I guess that gives me the info I need to NOT pay the extra $5 / mo after the year of free service.

Posted 9:25 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I've been using Zap2It Labs for a few years now to provide XML based TV listings for various free software packages (WiRNS, xmltv, DVArchive, etc).

Apparently Zap2It decided to bail on this free service (as of Sept 9).

Here is a discussion about some alternatives, looks like the only free one is TitanTV (here) (and not clear whether they provide XML feed that is compatible with XMLTV, WiRNS, etc)

TV Squad article here
Slashdot picked it up too

Lots more info about it from a WiRNS point of view here, including some talk of the 2.0 release of WiRNS that seems like it may have an alternative source for data instead of Zap2It

Posted 10:11 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I was going to use FolderShare to sync bookmarks between machines (info here), but then found this other article about Foxmarks. If you only want to sync bookmarks, this is pretty painless, and can use your own FTP server for the storage.

Hack Attack: Back up and sync your Firefox bookmarks with your personal server - Lifehacker

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer - here

Posted 6:58 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I really hate the need to burn a CD from iTunes to get the music to mp3 format. Thanks to LifeHacker, here's a tool that looks like it can do it for me.

iTunes Export

• LifeHacker article here
• Tool and download here [ .NET runtime required - fine with me, of course ;) ]

Well, so far it looks like it doesn't convert to MP3 - rather just copies the music files to the output directory. Will keep looking ...

Posted 8:40 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I finally have a decent process down for converting video to the Zune format.

Using Windows Media Encoder, and their Batch Encoder Sample from the SDK, I can batch up N number of videos to be encoded using a profile that I created for Zune (see earlier post about the settings for the no-conversion-during-Zune-sync video format). Since I'm not looking for uber-quality video on the Zune, I uncheck two-pass encoding to speed the process.

It's still just a little better than real-time conversion rate, so it takes a while to churn through a few vids, but it's at least a process.

Microsoft Windows Media - Automating the Encoding Process

(There are a few things I would change about the batch encoder UI. "Output String" is a string prepended to the output file name and is mandatory. Most often I'm not encoding batches that are related like that, so I'll make that optional. The "Title" should default to the filename of the video that you're encoding. And maybe ... I'll setup a way to feed a directory to this app, so I can just run it in the middle of the night after downloading from ReplayTV. )

Posted 7:50 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Someday when it's time for a new laptop for home, maybe I'll get a MacBook Pro. Although they are expensive, you can run both OSX and Windows on a dual boot system - a growing trend in the software dev industry.

This will be well out of date by the time I'm trying it, but here is some info about it, just FYI.

LifeHacker walkthrough (Parallels plus Boot Camp)

Hands on: Running Vista on a MacBook Pro

Posted 10:30 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I'm finally off the Moxi DVR that Adelphia originally gave me for my HD DVR. It apparently won all kinds of awards for best UI design, etc. ... but it's total crap. The lack of a listings guide (instead have a scroll vertical to channel, then horizontal to shows on that channel) and the general slowness of the UI are horrible.

Anyway, Time Warner has taken over for Adelphia in this area, so I finally got the Motorola DCT 6416 from Time Warner last week. Here are some links and info about the DVR.

Remote Control - Info
I have either this one, or this one (cant tell the difference)

Program the remote - add 30 second advance.
30-second advance is available on the device, but the universal remote they provide with it doesn't have a button assigned to it. Based on this article, I entered the magical code to assign an unused button to the appropriate command.

In case it's gone, here's the dirt:

The following technique can be used to map an unused or unneeded button on the "silver" remote to the 30-second skip command. Current versions of the i-Guide software will skip forward 30 seconds into a recording when this command is sent. A good choice is the 'A / Lock' button since many users don't need that function; you can feel both the '15-second-back' and '30-second-skip' buttons with one finger and move between them without looking. Another option is to reprogram the '15-second back' button, since PgDn already provides that functionality.

1. Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
2. Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
3. Type in the code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice.
4. Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
5. Type in the code 00173.
6. Press whatever button you want to map the 30-second skip command to (ex: A / Lock). The "Cable" button will blink twice if successful.

Note: This now works on boxes with the Microsoft TV Foundation Interface (currently Washington State). As of firmware version 12.22 Insight Cable has disabled this feature. Comcast software Version 73.44 disabled this feature, but the latest software, Version 74.53-3321, re-enables it (this has been confirmed on the 3416 w/ 16.20 firmware). See software for more info.

Program the Remote - Volume Controls Receiver
(from here - page 17)

1. Hold SETUP, last selected device button blinks twice.
2. Enter 993, last device button blinks twice.
3. Select the device you want to control volume (i.e. AUD ). That device button will blink twice.
   

Good starting point for info on the DVR (from AVSFORUM). Discusses the ports (Firewire, SATA, Ethernet) available and video connectivity (DVI / HDMI).







Posted 9:55 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I have toyed for a while with the idea of building a timeline of life events, but have never figured out how I want to attack it. This would contain events like vacations, where I worked, various kid milestones, etc. that would seem to be fun to look back on many years down the road.

A couple months ago I built out a rudimentary Excel spreadsheet, and it kind of gets the job done, but it's very manual. As time goes on, I have to "extend" the currently ongoing items, add new months / years, etc.

My buddy Intern suggested Flickr, and using their timeline in the Organizr, but that's heavily based on the date taken data of uploaded pictures - I'm not sure I will always have at least one pic for every milestone / event I want to track. (I could create a bogus placeholder I guess).

Poking around the web - I ran into Drupal. Check out this timeline. Timeline | drupal.org
Bummer is, the Drupal environment that it runs on is a PHP / MySQL world, so I don't know one thing about getting that up and running. Intern will have to help me there.

Another alternative is to write one myself as a pet project in WPF. Maybe throw some LINQ in there - just for good measure. :)

Update (07/29/07): Here is another timeline tool from xtimeline (thanks LifeHacker for the tip). Looks like it's an online tool, with free subscription. So far I think I like the drupal version a little better, since it's under my control (after I hijack the .js files of course) :)

Posted 3:46 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Just saw this today (time shifted from yesterday's) on the Today Show. A solar powered charger for the iPod (I'm assuming it would work for the Zune).

Company is called Solio - here.

Posted 11:47 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I first heard this today while listening to Hansleminutes, so had to go find it on the web. Found it here: Raganwald: Programming Language Stories

Just inside the gates of heaven, St. Peter sits at a desk checking people in.

Peter: “Welcome to heaven. Programming language?”

The man at the front of the line says, “Smalltalk.”

Glancing at his clipboard, Peter says, “Room 33. Be very quiet as you pass Room Six.”

The process repeats itself with the next person in line:

Peter: “Welcome to heaven. Programming language?”

Person #2: “Common Lisp.”

Peter: “Room 17. Be very quiet as you pass Room Six.”

The next person moves to the front of the line with a look of curiosity on her face.

Peter: “Welcome to heaven. Programming language?”

Person #3: “Python.”

Peter: “Room 54. Be very quiet as you pass Room Six.”

Person #3: “Why do you keep telling us to be quiet as we pass Room Six?”

Peter: “Because the Ruby on Rails People are in Room Six, and they think they’re the only ones here.”

My buddy Intern Joe will love this one, since he's a big RoR guy...

Posted 3:15 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I'm not afraid to admit I'm color challenged. Not that I can't distinguish colors correctly, it's more that I have no idea what colors go with what. It's funny, my wife always bums out when I refer to the RGB color space, which means nothing to her coming from the "real world" of color.

One of my coworkers, JohnB, pointed out the Kuler site the other day. It's a great way to come up with coordinated color pallettes (be it for a web site, painting a room, etc). Killer UI on their color picker to go along with it.

Thanks to nonstatic.com for pointing out the following article about Color Theory. I'll give that a read to see if I can learn at least the bare minimum...

Color Theory Tutorial by Worqx

keywords: color theory Kuler picker rgb cmyk

Posted 10:02 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I know WiRNS (Windows Replay Network Server) has been out for a while, but I just discovered it. Until now, I've been using Personal ReplayGuide - a set of perl scripts that offer a channel guide and recording options for the ReplayTVs on the local network.

WiRNS offers that and a whole lot more. It's written in .NET (a plus!), so no need for perl to be installed (still need to verify this - I think some of the helper modules might still be perl scripts, and maybe they're magically working since I already have ActivePerl installed).

Update: Add IVSmagic to the mix. Apparently they both can sit between your ReplayTVs and the internet and manage guide data, watch/log traffic, etc. Based on some forum posts (see below), IVSmagic has the advantage that it can receive shows, not just send.

A couple places I've poked around for help on WiRNS:

• Series of "setting up" questions and lots of answers here
  
• WiRNS PlanetReplay forums here
  
• WiRNS screenshots with explanations here
  
• More help on avsforum in the ReplayTV forums

Some notes on getting things up and running:

• Install was pretty painless, just install and use the system tray icon to open the configuration.
  
• Added password for WiRNS config
• Have to use port 80 so that other Replays can stream to the PC (moved local IIS to another port)
• Not obvious: to get PC running WiRNS to show up as a legit IVS device:
• set "secondary web port" on the main config page. This is the (typically) 29000 range port used for IVS communication
• go to Replays page, delete the entry representing the PC WiRNS (wait few mins until it is gone from the page), then rescan.
  
• IVS number should be filled in automagically
  
• Still trying to confirm whether WiRNS PC can receive shows, or only send
• Answer: WiRNS can only SEND shows. Apparently "IVS Magic" can receive shows (and even auto accept!)
  

TO DO List:

• Force Net Connect - this is supported in WiRNS. I'd like to see if I can do that from my hosted site, in the case where my PC is off.
  
• Run WiRNS from a remote site, with remote IP addresses to the Replays? Doubtful, this is an EXE running.
• Look at IVS Magic for accepting IVS transfers.
• Create multiple IP addresses for PC for competing apps on port 80

Posted 10:30 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

We're coming up on the new dates the US government set for 2007 daylight savings time. From a user point of view, Windows update will be (may already have) shoving down a fix for the time change. Use this "wizard" to figure out what to do.

Some interesting issues for us developers writing apps that do conversion from UTC to local time, etc.

MS KB article

My ReplayTVs are affected as well. They've notified us of an update we have to apply. I'm really glad there is enough staff left around these days supporting ReplayTV to offer this to us.

Don't forget about your mobile devices! Most phones will probably update automatically from the cell phone provider, but my Pocket PC that I use for appointment sync, navigation, etc. will most likely be affected. Info from MS here.


keywords: DST 2007

Posted 10:07 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

This will probably come in handy one day when I can't remember or come up with some subtle SQL Server security setup ...

SQL Server Security Cribsheet

Posted 4:55 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Some additional Mac v. PC ads...

>> Laurie McGuinness | Mac PC Spoofs

Posted 4:51 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Very often in the DB circles, the question comes up: "how big is that database?"

Finally, the answer (at least for SQL Server):

sp_spaceused

Thanks to 4GuysFromRolla for pointing this out.

Displaying the Sizes of Your SQL Server's Database's Tables

...and this gem for repeating the command for each table in the DB:
EXEC sp_MSforeachtable @command1="EXEC sp_spaceused '?'"

Posted 4:19 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Sounds like I'm not alone - I can't ever decipher or remember the differences between the various versions of Windows Mobile. The BOL crew went through them today, here's the quick rundown:

• PocketPC Edition, windows mobile classic for PDAs
• office mobile (word, excel, powerpoint)
• ex: Dell Axim
  

• Smartphone Edition
• windows mobile standard
• non touch screen devices
• office mobile document viewers only
• ex: Cingular 3125, Samsung Blackjack
  

• PocketPC Phone Edition, Windows Mobile Professional
• PDA devices with phone functionality
• usually has a touch screen
• office mobile
  
• ex: Cingular 8125, 8525, T-mobile MDA, Treo
  

Posted 3:06 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

I'm always fiddling with the best (or any) way to get a given video file to a playable DVD to give to someone. Hopefully this article will finally be a one-stop solution...

Hack Attack: Burn almost any video file to a playable DVD - Lifehacker

Posted 4:36 PM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink   

Great take on Vista's new security features that are constantly prompting the user on what to do. Coworkers at my company have already turned the feature completely off...

Adwatch: Apple Disses Vista's New Security Features - Gizmodo

Posted 4:04 PM    |    1 comments    |    Permalink   

Ewal.Net

Thanks to Joel for finding this. Some pretty good info on getting Media Center files sync'd to the Zune. Look for ZuneTVwatcher.zip at the bottom of this post

Posted 9:48 AM    |    0 comments    |    Permalink