Vista-bility

I've been thinking about getting a new pc for along time now, the trouble is the one i've got despite being ~3 years old works just fine.  The current configuration i have is :

CPU:                Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

Memory:           1GB

Hard Disk Drives:  30 GB
Graphics Card    Rubbish.Realtek AC'97 Audio


To get Vista's full array of graphical geegaws, you need a Premium Ready PC that has to have a 1GHz 32- or 64-bit processor, 1GB of memory, 40GB of hard drive capacity with at 15GB free space, a DVD-ROM drive and internet access, Microsoft said.   So i'm pretty much there, but i just ran this Vista Upgrade Advisor Tool and it told me i'd be okay to install the new operating system but half the new features will be missing.  Hmmm.  The new features being the "Windows Aero user experience", and everything would run pretty slow.    What to do.

Talking of slow pc's - PCSpy have an article on what programs slow down an operating system the most. 

The author installed several popular applications into a Windows virtual machine in order to determine the slowdown each app added to the system. Each new application was installed on a totally fresh machine, and the tests were repeated 3 times each. The results?

It came as no surprise that antivirus software (in this case, Norton) created the biggest system drag. Beyond that, lots of installed system fonts was the second biggest slowdown, followed by Yahoo's and AOL's chat programs. Obviously you shouldn't get rid of any old program just because it is on this list, but if you want to speed up your PC and you see an application or two you could do without, it never hurts to spring clean abit.

 

Vista-bility

I've been thinking about getting a new pc for along time now, the trouble is the one i've got despite being ~3 years old works just fine.  The current configuration i have is :

CPU:                Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

Memory:           1GB

Hard Disk Drives:  30 GB
Graphics Card    Rubbish.Realtek AC'97 Audio


To get Vista's full array of graphical geegaws, you need a Premium Ready PC that has to have a 1GHz 32- or 64-bit processor, 1GB of memory, 40GB of hard drive capacity with at 15GB free space, a DVD-ROM drive and internet access, Microsoft said.   So i'm pretty much there, but i just ran this Vista Upgrade Advisor Tool and it told me i'd be okay to install the new operating system but half the new features will be missing.  Hmmm.  The new features being the "Windows Aero user experience", and everything would run pretty slow.    What to do.

Talking of slow pc's - PCSpy have an article on what programs slow down an operating system the most. 

The author installed several popular applications into a Windows virtual machine in order to determine the slowdown each app added to the system. Each new application was installed on a totally fresh machine, and the tests were repeated 3 times each. The results?

It came as no surprise that antivirus software (in this case, Norton) created the biggest system drag. Beyond that, lots of installed system fonts was the second biggest slowdown, followed by Yahoo's and AOL's chat programs. Obviously you shouldn't get rid of any old program just because it is on this list, but if you want to speed up your PC and you see an application or two you could do without, it never hurts to spring clean abit.

 

Bloke takes picture of himself everyday for 6 years

wow -  have a look at this video clip.. what dedication that would take. I think he looked his healthiest around the middle of the video. He appeared childish in the beginning and looked tired and overworked towards the end.

Music is a great touch in this video, anyidea what the song is??

Ahh - just found the music "Carly Comando - Untitled"

Only place I could find it was her MySpace, but it's available for free download there: http://www.myspace.com/carlycomando

 

Bloke takes picture of himself everyday for 6 years

wow -  have a look at this video clip.. what dedication that would take. I think he looked his healthiest around the middle of the video. He appeared childish in the beginning and looked tired and overworked towards the end.

Music is a great touch in this video, anyidea what the song is??

Ahh - just found the music "Carly Comando - Untitled"

Only place I could find it was her MySpace, but it's available for free download there: http://www.myspace.com/carlycomando

 

Why oh why

do i have Google ads for Bible ringtones??  Who would want one on their phone anyway??

Strangely enough, as I had just finished reading this article by Richard Dawkins, "God is a Delusion and Religion is a Virus" when i noticed them.  The article is spot on; it stands for the rational mind and the world would be a much better place if more people thought like him. Ho-hum.

 

Why oh why

do i have Google ads for Bible ringtones??  Who would want one on their phone anyway??

Strangely enough, as I had just finished reading this article by Richard Dawkins, "God is a Delusion and Religion is a Virus" when i noticed them.  The article is spot on; it stands for the rational mind and the world would be a much better place if more people thought like him. Ho-hum.

 

Circular Quay

Circular Quay

Balcony Panography

Voila,  my first attempt at a panograph.  It is the view from our balcony, what do you think?  It involved taking dozens of photos from the same point, then reassembling them in Photoshop as a patchwork of images that more accurately represents what your eyes see when you're not looking through a viewfinder:

With the camera I manually set the white balance, focus, f-stop, and shutter speed (this ensures that it doesn't light meter every shot and the photos aren't all differently exposed).  Might try zooming in abit next time, so the panography will consist of many individual photos.

Thanks to Ingunn for the Photoshop wizardry :-)

Balcony Panography

Voila,  my first attempt at a panograph.  It is the view from our balcony, what do you think?  It involved taking dozens of photos from the same point, then reassembling them in Photoshop as a patchwork of images that more accurately represents what your eyes see when you're not looking through a viewfinder:

With the camera I manually set the white balance, focus, f-stop, and shutter speed (this ensures that it doesn't light meter every shot and the photos aren't all differently exposed).  Might try zooming in abit next time, so the panography will consist of many individual photos.

Thanks to Ingunn for the Photoshop wizardry :-)

Springing Forward to Summer

Springing Forward to Summer

Anti Tele-Marketing Tactics

Been getting alot of tele-marketers calling our place of late, their timing impeccable; always seems to be just as I've  started dinner, or sat on the toilet.  After frantically rushing across the apartment a few times to pick up the phone, I've now discovered the best technique to get rid of them is a blunt "Not interested." (within first few seconds), otherwise you get sucked in to their dialog.

If that happens, then maybe this will help stop the barrage of questions. Anti-telemarketer Martijn Engelbregt has created a counter script which involves you asking the salesperson questions instead of the other way around.



Seems like a good idea in theory, but can anyone really be bothered?  

 

This gem of a website lets you download all the Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington XFM radio sessions which are the funniest thing you'll ever hear.

Anti Tele-Marketing Tactics

Been getting alot of tele-marketers calling our place of late, their timing impeccable; always seems to be just as I've  started dinner, or sat on the toilet.  After frantically rushing across the apartment a few times to pick up the phone, I've now discovered the best technique to get rid of them is a blunt "Not interested." (within first few seconds), otherwise you get sucked in to their dialog.

If that happens, then maybe this will help stop the barrage of questions. Anti-telemarketer Martijn Engelbregt has created a counter script which involves you asking the salesperson questions instead of the other way around.



Seems like a good idea in theory, but can anyone really be bothered?  

 

This gem of a website lets you download all the Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington XFM radio sessions which are the funniest thing you'll ever hear.

Why couldn't the Rhino find his records?

Because the Junglist Massive.



..  Boom-tsch ..

 

Why couldn't the Rhino find his records?

Because the Junglist Massive.



..  Boom-tsch ..

 

Blogging

Have been using the newly released  Windows Live Writer to publish text to this blog.  It's pretty handy, here are some thoughts.

1. I love how it handles Drafts. You just close the window and it autosaves, You can keep a long list of draft items (I like to treat my drafts as todo's for blog posts). All the draft UI is handled seamlessly in the application.
2. It's great to be able to preview your post using the CSS of your blog. Very innovative.
3. Inserting Pictures is easy for a change. I like the border and drop shadow effects.
4. Love the insert Map
5. Come to think of it, I like the fact that there is an API. I've just finished writing a plugin  :-)

Whilst i'm on a nerd theme, the Visual Studio Service Pack 1 has been finally released, which can be downloaded  here

Doing the Sydney marathon again this year, my number is 191589 for anyone who is interested. It starts on Sunday 17th September , and this is the route it takes.  The race begins at 6.30am, so i reckon i'll be done by 10.30-11ish then off to the Opera Bar for a couple of beers.  It'd be good to see such a massive turnout of people (2) to come and cheer again, as last year.

Currently reading The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason; a damming critique of religion, and a great book for any of you fellow athiests.  Very well written too.

Currently listening to Keane : Under the Iron Sea - not bad, maybe abit whiney, and one of those albums I need to listen to about 3 times to get into.  And, The Verve : This is Music ; a collection of thier singles with some previously unreleased songs.

Ingunn and I are going for a holiday here soon.  Can't wait.

 

Blogging

Have been using the newly released  Windows Live Writer to publish text to this blog.  It's pretty handy, here are some thoughts.

1. I love how it handles Drafts. You just close the window and it autosaves, You can keep a long list of draft items (I like to treat my drafts as todo's for blog posts). All the draft UI is handled seamlessly in the application.
2. It's great to be able to preview your post using the CSS of your blog. Very innovative.
3. Inserting Pictures is easy for a change. I like the border and drop shadow effects.
4. Love the insert Map
5. Come to think of it, I like the fact that there is an API. I've just finished writing a plugin  :-)

Whilst i'm on a nerd theme, the Visual Studio Service Pack 1 has been finally released, which can be downloaded  here

Doing the Sydney marathon again this year, my number is 191589 for anyone who is interested. It starts on Sunday 17th September , and this is the route it takes.  The race begins at 6.30am, so i reckon i'll be done by 10.30-11ish then off to the Opera Bar for a couple of beers.  It'd be good to see such a massive turnout of people (2) to come and cheer again, as last year.

Currently reading The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason; a damming critique of religion, and a great book for any of you fellow athiests.  Very well written too.

Currently listening to Keane : Under the Iron Sea - not bad, maybe abit whiney, and one of those albums I need to listen to about 3 times to get into.  And, The Verve : This is Music ; a collection of thier singles with some previously unreleased songs.

Ingunn and I are going for a holiday here soon.  Can't wait.

 

Surge Protection

I think I want one of these. Finally, a place to put that rats nest of cables under my desk. Who would have thought you could still create a new formfactor for a surge protector? And why did it take 10 years to get to v3?

 

Surge Protection

I think I want one of these. Finally, a place to put that rats nest of cables under my desk. Who would have thought you could still create a new formfactor for a surge protector? And why did it take 10 years to get to v3?