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• USB mouse disconnecting and reconnecting randomly and often

  - by Marc

  Specs: Q6600, evga 780I sli mobo, 4gig RAM, logitech MX518, windows 7 64bit, evga gtx 260, 650W power supply (single rail) The problem I am having is my mouse will reconnect/disconnect (will even hear the sounds from windows) and the light on the bottom of the mouse will turn off/turn on as it starts working again. It really sucks to be playing a game (and happens on desktop as well) for the mouse to just die out for a few seconds and come back. Sometimes it will not happen for days and other times it will do it 2 or more times within 15 seconds. I have tried two different wired mice, have tried multiple USB ports (on front of computer, back of computer, have also used a USB hub and have also plugged in a card that connects to the USB connectors on the motherboard and adds a few usb ports to the back of the computer, and I also bought a USB 2.0 PCI card and that did not help). Nothing else seems to reconnect like this, my usb keyboard has never once cut out like the mouse does and neither have any of the other devices I have connected (webcam, usb hub, various devices sometimes connected through usb cables, and IR reciever for windows media center remote). I have disconnected all usb devices except for my keyboard and mouse and the problem still occurs. I guess it could be something wrong with my motherboard but since no other devices behave similarly I'm just hoping that it is some kind of driver conflict. Installing logitech's drivers has had no effect. It seemed at first that if I go to device manager and uninstall HID-compliant mouse (that and logitech mx518 are listed) that would fix it but it doesn't seem to work anymore or at least not every time (it keeps reinstalling). I have googled "usb mouse disconnects and reconnects" and it seems to be fairly common but none of those were resolved. To stick some easy steps: It happens with or without the drivers installed It has happened with multiple mice on the same computer Bios is the latest version (P08) Motherboard drivers are the latest version Device manager is listing no problems on any USB devices Happens with every usb port, even addon usb cards Happens when all usb devices aside from mouse and keyboard are unplugged I read that maybe it is an IRQ conflict and I tried to look into that but did not really know what was going on, but didn't see anything obviously wrong. Thanks for any help guys, its driving me crazy!

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• Encrypted off-site data storage

  - by Dan

  My business has a rather unique problem. We work in China and we want to implement a file server paradigm which does not store any files locally, but rather in a server overseas. Applications would be saved onto our local machines, but data would be loaded directly into memory from the cloud, e.g. I load a docx into word at the beginning of the day, saving periodically to the cloud as I work on it, and turn off my computer at night, with nothing saved locally. Considering recent events, we worry about being raided by the Chinese authorities, and although all our data is encrypted, it would not be hard for the authorities to force us to give up the keys. So the goal is not to have anything compromising physically in China. We have about 20 computers, and we need an authenticated, encrypted connection with this overseas file server. A system with Active-Directory-like permissions would be best, so that only management can read or write to certain files, or workers can only access files that relate to their projects, and to which all access can be cut off should the need arise. The file server itself would also need to be encrypted. And for convenience, it would be nice if this system was integrated with each computer's file explorer (like skydrive or dropbox does, but, again, without saving a copy locally), rather than through a browser. I can't find any solution online. Does anyone know of a service that does this? Otherwise I'll have to do it myself (which kinda sounds fun, but I don't really have the time), and I'm not sure where to start. Amazon maybe. But the protocols that offices would use on their intranet typically aren't encrypted; we need all traffic securely tunneled out of the country. Each computer already has a VPN to a server in California, but I'm unsure whether it would be efficient to pipe file transfers through it. Let me know if anyone has any ideas. And this is my first post; feel free say whether this question is inappropriate/needs to be posted elsewhere.

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• My server is slower than the average user's computer, should I still offload Access queries to SQL Server? [closed]

  - by andrewb

  Possible Duplicate: How do you do Load Testing and Capacity Planning for Databases I have a database set up with MS Access 2007 front ends and an SQL Server 2005 back end. At the moment, all the queries are saved in the front end as I've only recently moved to an SQL Server backend. I'm wondering how much of those queries I should save as stored procedures/views on SQL Server. About the system The number of concurrent users is only a handful, though it could be as high as 25 at one time (very unlikely). The average computer has an Intel i3-2120 CPU running at 3.3 GHz, which gets a PassMark score of 3,987, whilst the server has an Intel Xeon E5335 running at 2.0 GHz, which gets a PassMark score of 2,637. Always an awkward situation when an i3 outperforms a Xeon... though the i3 is from Q1 2011 and the Xeon is Q2 2009. There is potential for a server upgrade in the future, though it wouldn't come easy. I'm inclined to move the queries to the back end, as they are beginning to take noticeable time and I figure that is a better way of doing things. I like the idea of throwing everything at the server, then pushing for a server upgrade. It makes more sense in my mind to be upgrading one server rather than 30 PCs. Or am I being overzealous? Why my question isn't a duplicate It seems that my question has been misinterpreted and labelled a duplicate of quite a different question, one about testing and capacity planning. I'll try explain how my question is very different from the linked question. The crux of my question is something like "Even though my server is technically slower, is it better to have it doing more of the queries?" There's two ways that people could have answered this: I agree the server is going to be slower, but the extra benefits of such and such (like the less Access the better) means you should move most to the server anyway. (OR no it doesn't outweigh the benefit, keep them in Access) Actually the server will be faster because of such and such. I'm hoping that people out there could provide some answers like this, and the question in the dupe link doesn't really provide either of these answers. Ok sure, I suppose I could do extensive performance testing to compare Access queries running on a local machine to SQL Server queries running on the server, but that sounds like a very hard task (particularly performance testing of access) compared to someone giving some quick general guidance, and again, my question is looking for a lot more than immediate performance benefit.

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• Is real-time or synchronous replication possible over WAN link?

  - by johnnyb10

  The company I work for is looking to implement truly real-time file replication with file locking over a WAN link that spans over 2000 miles. We currently have a 16-drive SAN setup in our east coast office. We also have an office out in Colorado that will have the same exact SAN setup. The idea is to have those two SANs contain the same exact data at all times, which will allow us to work with the same data pool, and which will also provide use with an offsite backup solution, should a failure occur on either end. We're running Server 2008. The objective is to enable users in the east coast office to work on files and have those changes be instantly updated on the Colorado SAN as well. We also need there to be file locking so that there will be no conflicts or overwritten changes if users attempt to work on the same file. Is this scenario even possible, at speeds that would make the files usable? And if so, what software would we need to pull this off? As I understand it, DFS-R does not provide file locking, so if we used that, we would need to go with a third-party product like Peerlock. But I don't even know if DFS-R is an option. Can it replicate quickly enough over a WAN link? Can any product? It seems that if we were to use synchronous replication, the programs would be unacceptably slow, as every write would have to wait for confirmation from the other end of the link. But if we used asynchronous replication, what kind of latency would we be looking at? There is a product from GlobalScape called WAFS that claims to provide "File coherence with real-time file locking, file release, and synchronization" and says that "As files are modified, changes are mirrored instantly using intelligent byte-level differencing to minimize the impact on network bandwidth". So this sounds like synchronous replication, but that doesn't even seem possible, given physical limitations such as the speed of light. If anyone has any experience with this kind of setup, or knows whether it's even possible, I'd appreciate your input and suggestions, including recommendations for software that we should check out.

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• T60 Screen/LCD gets black after some minutes with a highpitched sound rising and fading

  - by Edward De Leau

  Just now my T60 screen got "black" (so no display). On my second monitor: no problems so the vga output works. symptom: Screen blanks / no display but works on second monitor steps to reproduce: - boot - wait (it does not matter what you do you do not have to login or anything) - (now the monitor of the laptop slowly begins to make a ssssssssHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHWOEOEssssssss noice of about 10 seconds) - right after the sounds ends the monitor gets black times seem to be the same each time. software: installed no new software before/after, running zone alarm and antivirus. other: it does not feel hot in any place, there dont seem to be running processes with strange behaviour. warranty: out of warranty what was i doing: typing text on a website and doing some php coding in a text editor. Anyone any idea what I can do here other than buy a new laptop? / does it sound familiar to known cases? update: * exactly the same problem: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/T60-Screen-Blackout/m-p/288772 and the second poster (garyj) here: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/Black-Screen-on-T60/m-p/235053#M48627 and here: "i have that same problem. i replaced the CCRL on mine and it works fine when the screen is not screwed in. once the frame of the LCD screen (metal portion) touches the metal on the laptop which holds the screen the screen goes black. If the metal is touching the screen when you boot up it boots up with it being very dimmly lit. " from http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/T60-screen-problems/m-p/205047#M44995 (it seems replacing the lcd is no use, he tried it 3 times). same problem: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/T60-black-screen/m-p/80604#M25914 Hmmm... not handy 3 or 4 months ago I ordered and installed a new fan. Now the LCD. Which does not seem the core isse but some electric issue so it seems replacing the LCD is not the thing todo here. I have the following question: If it is not the LCD that needs to be replaced (see other threads) which parts can I order to fix this? Has anyone got any information which could lead me to identify the issue? I have read replacing the "inverter" AND the "backlightning" would that make sense?

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• System Requirements of a write-heavy applications serving hundreds of requests per second

  - by Rolando Cruz

  NOTE: I am a self-taught PHP developer who has little to none experience managing web and database servers. I am about to write a web-based attendance system for a very large userbase. I expect around 1000 to 1500 users logged-in at the same time making at least 1 request every 10 seconds or so for a span of 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. So it's more or less 100 requests per second, or at the very worst 1000 requests in a second (average of 16 concurrent requests? But it could be higher given the short timeframe that users will make these requests. crosses fingers to avoid 100 concurrent requests). I expect two types of transactions, a local (not referring to a local network) and a foreign transaction. local transactions basically download userdata in their locality and cache it for 1 - 2 weeks. Attendance equests will probably be two numeric strings only: userid and eventid. foreign transactions are for attendance of those do not belong in the current locality. This will pass in the following data instead: (numeric) locality_id, (string) full_name. Both requests are done in Ajax so no HTML data included, only JSON. Both type of requests expect at the very least a single numeric response from the server. I think there will be a 50-50 split on the frequency of local and foreign transactions, but there's only a few bytes of difference anyways in the sizes of these transactions. As of this moment the userid may only reach 6 digits and eventid are 4 to 5-digit integers too. I expect my users table to have at least 400k rows, and the event table to have as many as 10k rows, a locality table with at least 1500 rows, and my main attendance table to increase by 400k rows (based on the number of users in the users table) a day for 3 days a week (1.2M rows a week). For me, this sounds big. But is this really that big? Or can this be handled by a single server (not sure about the server specs yet since I'll probably avail of a VPS from ServInt or others)? I tried to read on multiple server setups Heatbeat, DRBD, master-slave setups. But I wonder if they're really necessary. the users table will add around 500 1k rows a week. If this can't be handled by a single server, then if I am to choose a MySQL replication topology, what would be the best setup for this case? Sorry, if I sound vague or the question is too wide. I just don't know what to ask or what do you want to know at this point.

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• Sent items listed by sender's name (my name!) not recipient in Outlook for Mac 2011

  - by user568458

  Outlook 2011 on a Mac (OSX7 Lion), on a (mostly PC) office network using Microsoft Exchange server. In Outlook 2011, in the network "Sent Items" folder, all emails are listed showing the sender's name (my name), not the recipients' names. That means every single email is headed with my own name, like this: My Name 08/09/2012 Some subject line [flag] My Name 08/09/2012 Re: Another subject line [flag] My Name 07/09/2012 Re: different subject line [flag] My Name 07/09/2012 different subject line [flag] ...and so on. There's no clue at all as to who these emails were to, until I open each and every one. I guess it's reassuring to be told that every email that I sent was sent by me... and if I was ever to forget my own name while browsing my sent emails folder, it'd be super useful... But it's not very helpful for navigating sent emails. Is this normal for Office for Mac 2011? How can I fix this, so that the list shows the recipients' names instead of endlessly reminding me of my own name? Things I've found while researching this: This can also happen in Outlook for Windows. On Windows, it's easily fixed by resetting the field. That method doesn't work on Mac because the fields can't be selected separately. It seems this can also happen in Apple Mail too, and a lot of people seem stumped by this. I can't find anything on this specific to Outlook 2011 or Outlook for Mac in general. A simple guide on how to fix this would be the best answer, but I'd also welcome any knowledgable thoughts from Microsoft Exchange Server people on whether this sounds like an Outlook settings issue which I can fix on my machine, or some issue relating to how the Mac gets data from the server and network. The fact that Apple Mail users have encountered the same issue with no apparent fix makes me think the problem might be in the network rather than the mail client - but that's way beyond my limited knowledge of these things. I don't know whether the local ("On my computer") Sent Items folder has the same problem, as it's configured so that no emails except drafts are ever stored in these local folders. Drafts saved locally are listed by recipient as expected.

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• Proper Imaging Procedures to Restore and Deploy Image with Separate System Reserved Partition

  - by alharaka

  UPDATE: As per my experience here, no one responded. If I do not hear back from TechNet forum members about it, I will post a bounty here, if it makes a difference. I have banged my head against a wall for what seems like all week. I am going to explain my simple procedure, and how none of it, absolutely none, seems to work afterword despite few alternatives and everyone on the internet telling assuming this is how to do it. Diskpart Commands to Create FS Structure REM Select the disk targeted for deployment. REM REM NOTE: Usually disk 0, but drive failure can make it external USB REM media. This will erase the drive regardless! select disk 0 REM Remove previous formatting. clean REM Create System Reserved partition bootloader and files. create partition primary size=100 REM Format the volume format fs=ntfs label="System Reserved" quick override noerr REM Assign the System Reserved partition the D: mount for now assign letter=C REM The main system partition, size not specified to occupy whole drive. create partition primary REM Format the volume format fs=ntfs quick override noerr REM Assign the OS partition the D: mount for now assign letter=D REM Make this the active/bootable partition. sel disk 0 sel partition 1 active REM Close out the diskpart session. exit Now, I thought this was madness, but it turns out the System Reserved partition and standard "System Partition" (C:, commonly both the boot and system volumes where you find the Windows directory AND the bootmgr/ntldr hardware files, this is where Windows 7 diverges) as mounted in the Windows PE session where I run these commands do not matter. See reference here. Since this needs to be BitLocker-ready, enter this crappy System Reserved partition that is separate 100MB of awesome that goes before the regular boot volume. I do this, then I proceed to the next step. Deploy System Reserved and Normal System Images REM C is still the "System Reserved Partition", and the image is just like it sounds. imagex /apply G:\images\systemreserved.wim 1 C: REM D is now what will be the C: system partition on reboot, supposedly. imagex /apply G:\images\testimage.wim 1 D: Reboot the system Now, the images I just captured should look good. This is not even sysprepped, but reapplying the same fscking image I prepared on the same reference workstation hours before. Problem is I get 0xc000000e could not detect the accessible boot device \Windows\system32\winload.exe or different kinds of nonsense revolving around being able to find the boot volume with all the right files. I try different variations of things, now none of them work. I tried repairs with bcdboot, with a fresh System Reserved partition or not, bootrec, and maually editing the damn BCD store with bcdedit. I tried finalizing the above process with and without bootsect /nt60 C: /force. I need to wrap up and automate this procedure. What am I doing wrong that does not make the image happy, but really just miserable.

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• Specifying prerequisites for Puppet custom facts?

  - by larsks

  I have written a custom Puppet fact that requires the biosdevname tool to be installed. I'm not sure how to set things up correctly such that this tool will be installed before facter tries to instantiate the custom fact. Facts are loaded early on in the process, so I can't simply put a package { biosdevname: ensure => installed } in the manifest, since by the time Puppet gets this far the custom fact has already failed. I was curious if I could resolve this through Puppet's run stages. I tried: stage { pre: before => Stage[main] } class { biosdevname: stage => pre } And: class biosdevname { package { biosdevname: ensure => installed } } But this doesn't work...Puppet loads facts before entering the pre stage: info: Loading facts in physical_network_config ./physical_network_config.rb:33: command not found: biosdevname -i eth0 info: Applying configuration version '1320248045' notice: /Stage[pre]/Biosdevname/Package[biosdevname]/ensure: created Etc. Is there any way to make this work? EDIT: I should make it clear that I understand, given a suitable package declaration, that the fact will run correctly on subsequent runs. The difficulty here is that this is part of our initial configuration process. We're running Puppet out of kickstart and want the network configuration to be in place before the first reboot. It sounds like the only workable solution is to simply run Puppet twice during the initial system configuration, which will ensure that the necessary packages are in place. Also, for Zoredache: # This produces a fact called physical_network_config that describes # the number of NICs available on the motherboard, on PCI bus 1, and on # PCI bus 2. The fact value is of the form <x>-<y>-<z>, where <x> # is the number of embedded interfaces, <y> is the number of interfaces # on PCI bus 1, and <z> is the number of interfaces on PCI bus 2. em = 0 pci1 = 0 pci2 = 0 Dir['/sys/class/net/*'].each { |file| devname=File.basename(file) biosname=%x[biosdevname -i #{devname}] case when biosname.match('^pci1') pci1 += 1 when biosname.match('^pci2') pci2 += 1 when biosname.match('^em[0-9]') em += 1 end } Facter.add(:physical_network_config) do setcode do "#{em}-#{pci1}-#{pci2}" end end

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• DVD playback with Windows Media Player 11 works fine, but when copied to HDD and then played back, t

  - by stakx

  I have several DVDs with short documentaries on it. Since the notebook I'm using (a Dell Latitude E6400) has only one DVD drive, and I might play back those short movies very often, I thought of copying them to the HDD and playing them back from there. However, I've run into a problem, namely stuttering audio. Problem description: When I play back these movies directly from DVD (with Windows Media Player 11 under Windows Vista), everything works fine. Smooth video, no significant audio problems (only the occasional click). But as soon as I copy any of these DVDs to the HDD and try to play them back from there (e.g. using the wmpdvd://drive/title/chapter?contentdir=path protocol, I get stuttering audio — audio playback sounds like a machine gun for a third of a second or so, approx. every 8 seconds. I have tried converting the VOB files from the DVD to another format (ie. ripping), but that resulted in a noticeable downgrade of picture quality. Therefore I thought it best to keep the files in their original format, if possible. Still, I suspect that the stuttering audio is due to some (de-)muxing problem, and that changing the file format might help. (After all, video playback is fine; therefore I don't think that the hardware is too slow for playback.) Only thing is, I don't know how to convert the VOB files to another Windows Media Player-compatible format without quality loss. I hope someone can help me, or give me further pointers on things I could try out to get HDD playback to work without the problem described. Some things I've tried so far, without any success: VOB2MPG, in order to convert the .vob file to a .mpg file. But that changes only the A/V container, not the content. No re-encoding takes place at all. Re-encoding with MPlayer/MEncoder. Lots of quality loss there, and I frankly haven't got the time to test all possible settings combinations available. Disabling all plug-ins, equalizers, etc. in Windows Media Player. Disabling all hardware acceleration on the audio playback device. Further info on the VOB files I'm trying to playback: The video format is MPEG ES, PAL 720x576 pixels @ 24/25 frames per second. The sound stream is uncompressed PCM, 16-bit stereo @ 48kHz. (Might it help if I somehow re-encoded the sound stream at a lower resolution, or as an MP3? If so, how would I do this without changing the video stream?) P.S.: I am limited to using Windows Media Player (11). (I previously tried MPlayer btw., but the video playback quality was surprisingly bad.)

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• Why do some games randomly turn my screen a random solid color?

  - by Emlena.PhD

  When playing some games my computer will randomly have an error that I cannot fix without turning it off and back on again. The screen changes to one solid color, which varies (off the top of my head I can remember seeing solid green, magenta, etc..) and the sound blares a single tone. The sound sometimes briefly restores and I can still hear the game sounds and even hear and still be heard by people in my Mumble channel, but the screen doesn't right itself so I'm still blind. What's more is this happens in some games but not in others. While the game is actually running, not while I'm still in the menu. However, it does happen if I'm afk or idle but the game world is still rendering. Games where the error occurs: League of Legends World of Warcraft Trine The Sims 2 Dungeon Defenders Safe games: games where it has never occurred: Tribes: Ascend Star Wars: the Old Republic Battlefield 3 So relatively older games cause the problem while newer games do not? I cannot predict when it will happen, it just seems random. However, if it happens and I try playing the same game further after restart it does appear to occur more frequently after the first time. But if I switch to a safe game it doesn't continue happening. Both of my RAM sticks appear fine, flipped position or either one on their own and games still run, computer still boots. I would think over-heating, but then why not all games? ALso, sometimes it happens immediately after I start playing, within seconds of the 3D world booting up. I'm looking to upgrade very soon so I want to figure out what component or software is fubar and replace/repair it. Any suggestions or recommendations of tools would be helpful. Below is some system information. Dxdiag does not detect any problems. Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120305-1505) System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. System Model: EP45-UD3R BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz Memory: 4096MB RAM DirectX Version: DirectX 11 DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode Graphics card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 Driver Version: 8.17.12.9610 (error has occurred w/several driver versions) Sound: I do not have a sound card, been using motherboard's built in sound)

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• UPS vs Solar Power in case of power failure for a server [on hold]

  - by Zen 8000k

  I am looking for a low power, low end pc able to run 24/7 without overheating and a way to support it in case of power failure. Power failures can be up to 72 hours. The pc dosen't need a monitor or keyboard. A modem must also be protected in case of power failure. When i say low end, i don't mean crap. The cpu needs to be x86 and have at least 1k cpu in this chart: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php What's the best way to do this? EDIT: more info. I need to run a home server. The server will perform light tasks mainly. A x86 cpu sadly is the only route for my use. I want to be able to run the server and the router/modem in case of power failure. Now, regarding how long the power will fail: 1) 1 hours is OK for most situations. (say 90%) 2) 3 hours is OK (say 98%) 3) 6 hours is more thank OK. (say 99.5%) 4) On extreme cases the power might fail days. I believe this is very unlikely to happen. More is great but, really, how ofter power will fail more than 3 hours? I believe once every year at best. Well, that's too rare to care about. Given the above, I am looking for a cost effective way to archive 1-3 hour power or 6 hour if possible. Solutions: You guys give me great ideas. 1) Power generator: no good as power will fail for 10 seconds before returning. Also I read online, "clean" power generators cost 1.5k+, so it's out of budged. Non clean generator might damage electronics, right? 2) Solar power: i don't know for sure about this. Sounds like a great idea, too good to be true, honestly. For only 200$ i get 100+w? What are the drawbacks here? 3) UPS: This seems to be the best. The only problem is the cost. Cost < 200$ = great 400$ = budged limit

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• What is it that kills laptop batteries?

  - by Mala

  There are many superstitions on what you must never do lest your battery become worthless - and by worthless I mean hold about 16 - 24 seconds of charge. This has happened to every laptop I have ever owned, and I just got a new one, so please help me sort out fact from fiction. Here are some of the things I've heard: Do not keep your laptop fully charged. You must run it completely down every so often. Do not use your laptop plugged in to the wall. Only plug it in when it needs charge. If you will not be using your laptop for a long period of time, don't leave it at full charge. Do not leave your laptop running 24/7. The first two I know to be complete fiction: this was true of old batteries such as you might have had in an iPod in 2003, but modern batteries function better when kept at or near full charge. Devices even have circuitry to prevent you from completely depleting your battery, as this is dangerous. The third point sounds probable, and I'd be interested to know if it was true. However, it doesn't really apply to me because I'm not really the type to leave my laptop alone for a day, much less a "long period of time" The fourth seems most likely of the above, but only because of causality: I have always done this, and my batteries have always crapped out on me. I've generally treated a laptop like a desktop with a battery backup, and that I can move from one room to another if necessary. The fact that my batteries tend to last less than 30 seconds has further entrenched this behavior. Should I be trying to break this habit? Are there any other things that ruin laptop batteries? I love that I can actually use my new laptop unplugged :) I'd like to keep it that way. Update: Additional question: If the computer will be used for an extended period of time plugged in, does it make sense to remove the battery first? Update 2: I know people with laptops older than mine, who actively use their laptops as much as I do, and their batteries still hold about an hours' charge while mine holds less than 30 seconds, hence my belief that something I'm doing kills them.

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• How can I change how OS X's 'say' command pronounces a word?

  - by jwhitlock

  OS X's say command is useful for some tasks (such as Skype's 'notify me when a contact comes online), but it is pronouncing some names incorrectly. Is there a way to teach say to pronounce a word differently? For example, try: say "Hi, Joel Spolsky" The 'ol' sounds like 'ball' rather than 'old'. I'd like to add an exception that say "Pronounce Spolsky like this", rather than try to teach new linguistic rules. I bet there is a way since it can pronounce "iphone" as Apple wants. Update - After some research, here's what I've learned: Text-to-speech is split between turning the text to phonemes, and then the phonemes are turned into audio using a voice. Changing the voice doesn't effect the phonemes. The Speech Synthesis Manager has some functions for turning text to phonemes, and a method for registering a speech dictionary that will add new text-phoneme maps. However, Apple's speech dictionary must be in a binary form - I didn't find any plist XML. Using dtrace while running say, I found some interesting files opened in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SpeechDictionary.framework/Resources. This is probably the speech dictionary, but they are all binary, except for Homophones, which is XML. Adding entries to Homophones does nothing - it is probably used in speech-to-text. They are also code signed by Apple - changing them may prevent some programs from working. PrefixDictionary CartNames CartLite SymbolDictionary Homophones There are ways to add text versions of application interface elements so VoiceOver works, a lot of which a developer gets for free, but there are tricky bits. The standard here appears to be to use a phonetic spelling as needed. My guesses are: say is a light layer of code on top of the Speech Synthesis Manager. It would be easy for the Apple devs to add a command line option to take the path to a speech dictionary plist for alternate phoneme mapping, but they didn't. It may be a useful open-source project to write a better say. Skype probably uses Speech Synthesis Manager directly, leaving no hooks to change the way my friend's names are pronounced, other than spelling them phonetically, which is silly. The easiest way to make a command line version of say is how JRobert suggested. Here's my quick implementation, using Doug Harris's spelling suggestion: #!/bin/sh echo $@ | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' | sed "s/spolsky/spowlsky/g" | /usr/bin/say Finally, some fun command line stuff: # Apple is weird sqlite3 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SpeechDictionary.framework/Resources/Tuples .dump # Get too much information about what files are being opened sudo dtrace -n 'syscall::open*:entry { printf("%s %s",execname,copyinstr(arg0)); }' # Just fun say -v bad "Joel Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky, Joel Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky Spolsky" echo "scale=1000; 4*a(1)" | bc -l | say

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• How to enjoy DVD on Apple iPad

  - by user44251

  I believe many people spent a sleepless night yesterday waiting for the new Apple Tablet to come, just a few days ago or perhaps longer I noticed fierce debate about it, its name, size, capacity, processor, main features, price etc. And now, they can take a long breath with the new Apple Tablet named iPad officially released on 28, January, 2010 (Beijing Time). But I know a new battle just begins. iPad, sounds somewhat like iPod and it really shares some similarities in terms of shape like smart, light and portable. It has a 9.7-inch, LED-backlit, IPS display with a remarkable precise Multi-Touch screen. And yet, at just 1.5 lbs and 0.5 inches thin, it's easy to carry and use everywhere. It can greatly facilitates your experience with the web, emails, photos and videos. Right now, it can run almost 140.000 of the apps on the Apple store. It can even run the apps you have downloaded for your iPhone or iPod touch. But so far, I haven't seen any possibility that it can work with DVD, probability there is no built-in DVD-ROM or DVD player which can play DVD directly. As Apple iPad states, the video formats supported are MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V), H.264, MOV etc and audio formats accepted are AAC, Proteceted AAC, MP3, AIFF and WAV etc, those are formats that are commonly used with iMac. This could really a hard nut to crack if you want to watch your favourite DVD on this magic Apple iPad. But don't worry, there is still way out, you just need a few steps for ripping and importing DVD movies to Apple iPad with a simple application DVD to iPad converter What's on DVD to iPad Converter for Mac DVD to iPad converter for Mac is a powerful and professional application designed for the newly released Apple iPad which can rip, convert your DVD contents to Apple iPad compatible MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V), H.264, MOV etc, and other popular file formats like AVI, WMV, MPG, MKV, VOB, 3GP, FLV etc can also be converted so that you can put on your portable devices like iPod, iPhone, iRiver, BlackBerry etc. Besides, it can also extract audio from DVD videos and save as MP3, AIFF, AAC, WAV etc. Mac DVD to iPad converter has also been enhanced that can run both on PowerPC and Intel (Snow Leopard included). It can offer versatile editing features which allows you to make your own DVD videos. For example, you can cut your DVD to whatever length you like by Trim, crop off unwanted parts from DVD clips by Crop, add special effect like Gray, Emboss and Old film to make your videos more artistic. Besides, its built-in merging feature and batch mode allows you to join several DVD clips into a single one and do batch conversion. And more features can be expected if you afford a few minutes to try.

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• SQL Clustering on Hyper V - is a cluster within a cluster a benefit.

  - by Chris W

  This is a re-hash of a question I asked a while back - after a consultant has come in firing ideas in to other teams in the department the whole issue has been raised again hence I'm looking for more detailed answers. We're intending to set-up a multi-instance SQL Cluster across a number of physical blades which will run a variety of different systems across each SQL instance. In general use there will be one virtual SQL instance running on each VM host. Again, in general operation each VM host will run on a dedicated underlying blade. The set-up should give us lots of flexibility for maintenance of any individual VM or underlying blade with all the SQL instances able to fail over as required. My original plan had been to do the following: Install 2008 R2 on each blade Add Hyper V to each blade Install a 2008 R2 VM to each blade Within the VMs - create a failover cluster and then install SQL Server clustering. The consultant has suggested that we instead do the following: Install 2008 R2 on each blade Add Hyper V to each blade Install a 2008 R2 VM to each blade Create a cluster on the HOST machines which will host all the VMs. Within the VMs - create a failover cluster and then install SQL Server clustering. The big difference is the addition of step 4 whereby we cluster all of the guest VMs as well. The argument is that it improves maintenance further since we have no ties at all between the SQL cluster and physical hardware. We can in theory live migrate the guest VMs around the hosts without affecting the SQL cluster at all so we for routine maintenance physical blades we move the SQL cluster around without interruption and without needing to failover. It sounds like a nice idea but I've not come across anything on the internet where people say they've done this and it works OK. Can I actually do the live migrations of the guests without the SQL Cluster hosted within them getting upset? Does anyone have any experience of this set up, good or bad? Are there some pros and cons that I've not considered? I appreciate that mirroring is also a valuable option to consider - in this case we're favouring clustering since it will do the whole of each instance and we have a good number of databases. Some DBs are for lumbering 3rd party systems that may not even work kindly with mirroring (and my understanding of clustering is that fail overs are completely transparent to the clients). Thanks.

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• Computer freezes +/- 30 seconds, suspicion on SSD

  - by Robert vE

  My computer freezes for about 30 seconds, this happens occasionally. When it happens I can still move the mouse, sometimes even alternate between tabs in google chrome. If I try to open windows explorer nothing happens. Also chrome rapports "waiting for cache". It also happens in starcraft II, during which the sounds loops. I have made a Trace as this topic describes: How do I troubleshoot a Windows 7 freeze or slowness? Trace: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_VkKdh535p6NklhSDdBLURUMnc I have looked at it, but I couldn't figure it out. My system specs are: AMD Athlon X4 651 Asus Ati HD6670 ADATA SSD sp900 Asus f1a55 mainboard 4 GB crucial 1333 ram 500 watt atx ps I'm running Windows 7, fully updated. Any help is much appreciated. Update: I tried something before your reply that may have helped the problem. I don't know for sure if it has, it's too soon to tell. A bit of history first. I had problems installing win7 on my ssd from the start. In IDE mode it worked, but I had the same problems as above. AHCI was a total fail, with it on before install as well as turning it on after install (including tweaking register). I didn't bother installing the AMD chipset/AHCI as it was reported to have no TRIM function and thus make problems worse. Eventually I did install the AMD SMbus driver as the stability issues were driving me crazy. It worked, no more issues, until I installed some extra drivers and software. Audio/LAN/ASUS suite, I don’t see the relation, but somehow it screwed up my system again. As a last effort I posted here on this site. After which the thought occurred to me turn on AHCI again as by now I had all necessary drivers installed anyway. (plus all windows updates downloaded/installed in the meantime) I did and stability didn’t seem great the first few reboots, but eventually everything seemed to work great. I tried to play starcraft II – an almost guaranteed freeze before – and I had no problems. I’m basically crossing my fingers and hope the problem is gone for good. I still think it has something to do with my SSD. In my research into the problem I noticed a lot of these issues with sandforce 2281 firmware, the exact same firmware I have. People reported the same problem that I had, freezes. Additionally they reported that during a freeze the hdd light stayed on, I noticed after I read this that this happened with my computer as well. None of this is conclusive evidence that my SSD is really to fault, but it is suspicious. And why turning on AHCI would fix it I don’t know. Thank you Tom for taking a look, if the problem returns I will certainly do what you advised.

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• How to Configure Source NAT (Private IP => Public IP Outbound)

  - by DavidScherer

  I'm running VMWare ESXi Free and have Zentyal SBS 3.2 running as a Gateway. I have 5 Public IPS (CIDR/29, let's call them 69.1.1.1 - 69.1.1.5) and currently Zentyal is bound to 69.1.1.1 as the Gateway, with the other 4 Public IPs set as Virtual Interfaces in Zentyal (wan2-wan5) I have machines sitting on the Private Network (10.34.251.x) that, when going Outbound (to Google for instance) should be seen by the Internet as an IP other than the Gateway (69.1.1.1), this is because our machines need to be able to communicate with 3rd party APIs that expect these requests to come from a specific IP. From what I could find, SNAT (Source NAT) in Zentyal is used to achieve this, but I'm not sure how to configure it and cannot find a specific piece of Documentation for it at Zentyal. I've tried setting this up a couple different ways, with no results and at this point I have no idea if I'm going about this completely wrong, or my lack of experience with networking and the associated terminology is preventing me from placing the correct values in the correct fields. I get the following form to set up "SNAT" rules in Zentyal: Perhaps someone can offer some guidance and definitions for the fields above? SNAT Address Is this the Public IP I want to masquerade? Outgoing Interface Should this by my External NIC (one connected to Public 'Net), or is it the "Private" interface? It sounds as though this should be the External interface as I want the traffic from the internal network sent Out over this Interface (using a different IP than normal, anyway) Source Is the the Source on the internal network (one of the private IPs?), a public IP I want to masquerade as, or something else entirely? Destination Is this a place on the Internet (eg, "Only do this for the Site Google.com"/IP) or am I allowing myself to become confused again? Service I'm assuming this allows me to restrict which services this rule will apply to, but is it for a service on the internal network or a service being accessed on the external network? If I can offer any further details or information to make what I'm trying to do more clear, I will happily do so. Honestly any kind of help here would be very appreciated. I'm not a NetOps or anything even close, I spend most of my day writing code and my entire "team" at this company consists of "me, myself, and I" so while I try to broaden my KB at every possible opportunity, I can only learn so much, so fast and I feel like with networking especially there's just so much, coupled with a learning curve for each solution that likes to (from my limited perspective) use slightly different terminology that what I'm used to (and I don't exactly have the necessary experience to cross reference this stuff with the stuff I already know in context).

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• System won't boot: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU issue or Corsair VS550 PSU issue?

  - by MGOwen

  Installed a new GPU, and PC won't boot. Turn it on and: No monitor signal at all (tried HDMI and VGA via DVI, on 2 working monitors). CPU and GPU fans DO spin, but No system beeps, no sounds from drives (they might make a small noise in the first 1 second or so, but there's definitely no OS loading or anything like that) If hit "power off" button it turns off immediately (no holding down for 3 seconds like usual) If I put my old HD 5670 GPU back in, everything works fine. But (plot twist!) card is not totally dead. My friend put it in his PC, and it works fine (he even played a game for 15 minutes, no issues). He has a Corsair TX850 850W and a Gigabyte MB. So my main theory is: the GPU isn't getting enough power from the PSU. But is it: Bad PSU? Seems unlikely, since it works fine with the other GPU. Also, the PSU Is brand new and 550W (single 42A/504W 12V rail). Overkill for this GPU. Corsair is a decent brand, but maybe just mine is faulty? Bad GPU? Could it be drawing more power than it should be, somehow, or something? Supposedly HD 7790 needs only 21A/75W on the 12v rail, though this one is factory overclocked a bit... but should that triple the power requirement? Something else? Could there be a motherboard incompatibility somehow? Both MB and GPU are less than a year old and PCI Express 3.0 x16. Things I've tried: Re-seating the video card Testing PC with old GPU (works fine, same PCIe slot). Checked AMD's stated amp/watt requirements of a 7790 and my PSU (see above). My PSU can output twice the amps (single rail) and 5x the Wattage a 7790 needs. Here are the full specs: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU Corsair VS550 550W PSU 4GB RAM AsRock H61M U3S3 motherboard i3-2100 500GB SATA HDD (2007-ish) blu-ray drive (new) PCI 802.11g card Edit: Motherboard BIOS Update seems to have fixed it. (If anyone has same problem and it doesn't work, comment here).

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• Windows 7 reboot and freezing, possible power problems?

  - by mikelbring

  My Gateway LX Series desktop is about 6-8 months old. When I bought it, it had Windows Vista. I then put the RC version of Windows 7 on it. About 3 months after I bought it, it would randomly start to reboot, actually just shut off. I monitored the temperature levels and they seemed normal. So I installed a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate OEM 64bit. It actually got worse and would reboot more frequently. I then contacted Gateway and they said my machine was built for Windows Vista (made me chuckle), and told me to update my BIOS. So I did, and it was fixed for a good couple months. Recently, it started to do it again. Now I noticed early on it was doing it most often, if not every time when I was either watching a flash video or playing a flash game. So I decided to download the drivers again and I also downloaded my motherboard drivers. Seemed to be okay. A week later it started doing it again. And now it's doing it even more frequently. Sometimes I would turn it on, login into Windows and *BAM!* it would shut off. Now I am at the point where I can hardly get it to turn on. It would freeze at the point where it says "Starting Windows", with the Windows logo. Sometimes it would say "Checking disk for consistency" or whatever and freeze there (not shut off, just freeze). I even got the prompt to launch startup repair. But that also freezes when it says starting Windows. It does not really freeze, just never loads up. I am kind of lost as to what's going on. I have a few ideas but nothing I want to pursue (graphics card? hard drive?). Another thing I did try was to boot into a live disk of Ubuntu and try to launch every program I could and get on the internet but I never got it to reboot. So it sounds like to me it's a Windows thing, but I have no idea. I am just stuck and would like to see if any one has any ideas or could lead me in the right direction.

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• windows 7 virtual wireless adapter keeps going to sleep

  - by conners

  Just a quick question that I can't see mentioned anywhere online. I have a Windows 7 box configured like these guys recommend http://www.itgeekdiary.com/windows-7-as-an-wi-fi-access-point/ simply so that I can have my Windows 7 box as a wifi access point or a wifi emitter. It's also called a Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter. But it powers off and shuts down automatically and stops working. Basically everything works as intended and then - well -it will stopped working when I am not at the Windows 7 PC for a long time. The problem seems to be that every time my PC goes to "power save / sleep" and in the morning the Windows 7 machine "wakes" but blooming heck the wifi has stopped and you have to power cycle the PC (which is very uncool). When I power Cycle I have to do the following as administrator C:\Windows\System32\netsh.exe wlan start hostednetwork I then tried a gazllion things involving services and power management and eventually discovered that if I run the following commands as administrator it will be ok (for a bit) but every 3rd ot 4th time I try this "trick" it simply fails. the trick that seems to work 3 out of 4 times (i.e. "most" of the time) C:\Windows\System32\netsh.exe wlan stop hostednetwork C:\Windows\System32\netsh.exe wlan start hostednetwork But why does this only work "some" of the time? What else I did by myself: on every manage adapter properties (that relates to the wifi) I right clicked [configure] [power management] /disabled/ "allow the computer to power off to save power" <- this made no difference Also (and this is a bit annoying) there is no system tray app/GUI for the Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter output signal ... none... so (lame as it sounds) the ONLY way I can check if it's on is to physically go to another device and SCAN.. lame so my question can probably be solved by any of the following: a) can I stop Windows 7 sleeping this wifi when the machine sleeps b) can I force Windows to force wake this process on wake? if so how? c) what is the service / process REALLY called and how do I restart it if it crashes d) how can I flush the wifi properly rather power cycle the host machine e) anyone have a link to an program or app that can sit in the system tray that shows windows 7 wifi hotspot emission status (on/off/etc etc) Since I am a programmer I can easily write a vbs script / windows exe to fix this (and I will share this solution) and the gui problem if I can work out the actual service that is running that netsh stops/starts

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• UITableViewCell selected subview ghosts

  - by Jonathan Cohen

  Hi all, I'm learning about the iPhone SDK and have an interesting exception with UITableViewCell subview management when a finger is pressed on some rows. The table is used to assign sounds to hand gestures -- swiping the phone in one of 3 directions triggers the sound to play. Selecting a row displays an action sheet with 4 options for sound assignment: left, down, right, and cancel. Sounds can be mapped to one, two, or three directions so any cell can have one of seven states: left, down, right, left and down, left and right, down and right, or left down and right. If a row is mapped to any of these seven states, a corresponding arrow or arrows are displayed within the bounds of the row as a subview. Arrows come and go as they should in a given screen and when scrolling around. However, after scrolling to a new batch of rows, only when I press my finger down on some (but not all) rows, does an arrow magically appear in the selected state background. When I lift my finger off the row, and the action sheet appears, the arrow disappears. After pressing any of the four buttons, I can't replicate this anymore. But it's really disorienting and confusing to see this arrow flash on screen because the selected row isn't assigned to anything. What haven't I thought to look into here? All my table code is pasted below and this is a screencast of the problem: http://www.screencast.com/users/JonathanGCohen/folders/Jing/media/d483fe31-05b5-4c24-ab4d-70de4ff3a0bf Am I managing my subviews wrong or is there a selected state property I'm missing? Something else? Should I have included any more information in this post to make things clearer? Thank you!! #pragma mark - #pragma mark Table - (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView { return ([categories count] > 0) ? [categories count] : 1; } - (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section { if ([categories count] == 0) return 0; NSMutableString *key = [categories objectAtIndex:section]; NSMutableArray *nameSection = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:key]; return [nameSection count]; } - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { NSUInteger section = [indexPath section]; NSUInteger row = [indexPath row]; NSString *key = [categories objectAtIndex:section]; NSArray *nameSection = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:key]; static NSString *SectionsTableIdentifier = @"SectionsTableIdentifier"; UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: SectionsTableIdentifier]; NSArray *sound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:key]; NSString *soundName = [[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 0]; NSString *soundOfType = [[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 1]; if (cell == nil) { cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:SectionsTableIdentifier] autorelease]; } cell.textLabel.text = [[nameSection objectAtIndex:row] objectAtIndex: 0]; NSUInteger soundSection = [[[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 2] integerValue]; NSUInteger soundRow = [[[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 3] integerValue]; NSUInteger leftRow = [leftOldIndexPath row]; NSUInteger leftSection = [leftOldIndexPath section]; if (soundRow == leftRow && soundSection == leftSection && leftOldIndexPath !=nil){ [selectedSoundLeftAndDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundLeft]; selectedSoundLeft.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundLeft]; } NSUInteger downRow = [downOldIndexPath row]; NSUInteger downSection = [downOldIndexPath section]; if (soundRow == downRow && soundSection == downSection && downOldIndexPath !=nil){ [selectedSoundLeftAndDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundDown]; selectedSoundDown.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundDown]; } NSUInteger rightRow = [rightOldIndexPath row]; NSUInteger rightSection = [rightOldIndexPath section]; if (soundRow == rightRow && soundSection == rightSection && rightOldIndexPath !=nil){ [selectedSoundDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundRight]; selectedSoundRight.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundRight]; } // combos if (soundRow == leftRow && soundRow == downRow && soundSection == leftSection && soundSection == downSection){ [selectedSoundLeft removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundLeftAndDown]; selectedSoundLeftAndDown.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundLeftAndDown]; } if (soundRow == leftRow && soundRow == rightRow && soundSection == leftSection && soundSection == rightSection){ [selectedSoundLeft removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundLeftAndRight]; selectedSoundLeftAndRight.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundLeftAndRight]; } if (soundRow == downRow && soundRow == rightRow && soundSection == downSection && soundSection == rightSection){ [selectedSoundDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundDownAndRight]; selectedSoundDownAndRight.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundDownAndRight]; } if (soundRow == leftRow && soundRow == downRow && soundRow == rightRow && soundSection == leftSection && soundSection == downSection && soundSection == rightSection){ [selectedSoundLeftAndDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeft removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundRight removeFromSuperview]; [cell.contentView addSubview: selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight]; selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight.frame = CGRectMake(200,8,30,30); } else { [cell.contentView sendSubviewToBack: selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight]; } [indexPath retain]; return cell; } - (NSMutableString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section { if ([categories count] == 0) return nil; NSMutableString *key = [categories objectAtIndex:section]; if (key == UITableViewIndexSearch) return nil; return key; } - (NSMutableArray *)sectionIndexTitlesForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView { if (isSearching) return nil; return categories; } - (NSIndexPath *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { [table reloadData]; [selectedSoundLeft removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndDown removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [selectedSoundLeftAndDownAndRight removeFromSuperview]; [search resignFirstResponder]; if (isSearching == YES && [search.text length] != 0 ){ searched = YES; } search.text = @""; isSearching = NO; [tableView reloadData]; [indexPath retain]; [indexPath retain]; return indexPath; } - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath { [table reloadData]; selectedIndexPath = indexPath; [table reloadData]; NSInteger section = [indexPath section]; NSInteger row = [indexPath row]; NSString *key = [categories objectAtIndex:section]; NSArray *sound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:key]; NSString *soundName = [[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 0]; [indexPath retain]; [indexPath retain]; NSMutableString *title = [NSMutableString stringWithString: @"Assign Gesture for "]; NSMutableString *soundFeedback = [NSMutableString stringWithString: (@"%@", soundName)]; [title appendString: soundFeedback]; UIActionSheet *action = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:(@"%@", title) delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel" destructiveButtonTitle: nil otherButtonTitles:@"Left",@"Down",@"Right",nil]; action.actionSheetStyle = UIActionSheetStyleDefault; [action showInView:self.view]; [action release]; } - (void)actionSheet:(UIActionSheet *)actionSheet clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex{ NSInteger section = [selectedIndexPath section]; NSInteger row = [selectedIndexPath row]; NSString *key = [categories objectAtIndex:section]; NSArray *sound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:key]; NSString *soundName = [[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 0]; NSString *soundOfType = [[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 1]; NSUInteger soundSection = [[[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 2] integerValue]; NSUInteger soundRow = [[[sound objectAtIndex: row] objectAtIndex: 3] integerValue]; NSLog(@"sound row is %i", soundRow); NSLog(@"sound section is row is %i", soundSection); typedef enum { kLeftButton = 0, kDownButton, kRightButton, kCancelButton } gesture; switch (buttonIndex) { //Left case kLeftButton: showLeft.text = soundName; left = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:(@"%@", soundName) ofType:(@"%@", soundOfType)]; AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID((CFURLRef)[NSURL fileURLWithPath:left], &soundNegZ); AudioServicesPlaySystemSound (soundNegZ); [table deselectRowAtIndexPath:selectedIndexPath animated:YES]; leftIndexSection = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:section]; leftIndexRow = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:row]; NSInteger leftSection = [leftIndexSection integerValue]; NSInteger leftRow = [leftIndexRow integerValue]; NSString *leftKey = [categories objectAtIndex: leftSection]; NSArray *leftSound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:leftKey]; NSInteger leftSoundSection = [[[leftSound objectAtIndex: leftRow] objectAtIndex: 2] integerValue]; NSInteger leftSoundRow = [[[leftSound objectAtIndex: leftRow] objectAtIndex: 3] integerValue]; leftOldIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:leftSoundRow inSection:leftSoundSection]; break; //Down case kDownButton: showDown.text = soundName; down = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:(@"%@", soundName) ofType:(@"%@", soundOfType)]; AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID((CFURLRef)[NSURL fileURLWithPath:down], &soundNegX); AudioServicesPlaySystemSound (soundNegX); [table deselectRowAtIndexPath:selectedIndexPath animated:YES]; downIndexSection = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:section]; downIndexRow = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:row]; NSInteger downSection = [downIndexSection integerValue]; NSInteger downRow = [downIndexRow integerValue]; NSString *downKey = [categories objectAtIndex: downSection]; NSArray *downSound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:downKey]; NSInteger downSoundSection = [[[downSound objectAtIndex: downRow] objectAtIndex: 2] integerValue]; NSInteger downSoundRow = [[[downSound objectAtIndex: downRow] objectAtIndex: 3] integerValue]; downOldIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:downSoundRow inSection:downSoundSection]; break; //Right case kRightButton: showRight.text = soundName; right = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:(@"%@", soundName) ofType:(@"%@", soundOfType)]; AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID((CFURLRef)[NSURL fileURLWithPath:right], &soundPosX); AudioServicesPlaySystemSound (soundPosX); [table deselectRowAtIndexPath:selectedIndexPath animated:YES]; rightIndexSection = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:section]; rightIndexRow = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:row]; NSInteger rightSection = [rightIndexSection integerValue]; NSInteger rightRow = [rightIndexRow integerValue]; NSString *rightKey = [categories objectAtIndex: rightSection]; NSArray *rightSound = [categoriesSounds objectForKey:rightKey]; NSInteger rightSoundSection = [[[rightSound objectAtIndex: rightRow] objectAtIndex: 2] integerValue]; NSInteger rightSoundRow = [[[rightSound objectAtIndex: rightRow] objectAtIndex: 3] integerValue]; rightOldIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:rightSoundRow inSection:rightSoundSection]; break; case kCancelButton: [table deselectRowAtIndexPath:selectedIndexPath animated:YES]; break; default: break; } UITableViewCell *viewCell = [table cellForRowAtIndexPath: selectedIndexPath]; NSArray *subviews = viewCell.subviews; for (UIView *cellView in subviews){ cellView.alpha = 1; } [table reloadData]; } - (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSMutableString *)title atIndex:(NSInteger)index { NSMutableString *category = [categories objectAtIndex:index]; if (category == UITableViewIndexSearch) { [tableView setContentOffset:CGPointZero animated:NO]; return NSNotFound; } else return index; }

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• Ask How-To Geek: Learning the Office Ribbon, Booting to USB with an Old BIOS, and Snapping Windows

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  You’ve got questions and we’ve got answers. Today we highlight how to master the new Office interface, USB boot a computer with outdated BIOS, and snap windows to preset locations. Learning the New Office Ribbon Dear How-To Geek, I feel silly asking this (in light of how long the new Office interface has been out) but my company finally got around to upgrading from Windows XP and Office 2000 so the new interface it totally new to me. Can you recommend any resources for quickly learning the Office ribbon and the new changes? I feel completely lost after two decades of the old Office interface. Help! Sincerely, Where the Hell is Everything? Dear Where the Hell, We think most people were with you at some point in the last few years. “Where the hell is…” could possibly be the slogan for the new ribbon interface. You could browse through some of the dry tutorials online or even get a weighty book on the topic but the best way to learn something new is to get hands on. Ribbon Hero turns learning the new Office features and ribbon layout into a game. It’s no vigorous round of Team Fortress mind you, but it’s significantly more fun than reading a training document. Check out how to install and configure Ribbon Hero here. You’ll be teaching your coworkers new tricks in no time. Boot via USB with an Old BIOS Dear How-To Geek, I’m trying to repurpose some old computers by updating them with lightweight Linux distros but the BIOS on most of the machines is ancient and creaky. How ancient? It doesn’t even support booting from a USB device! I have a large flash drive that I’ve turned into a master installation tool for jobs like this but I can’t use it. The computers in question have USB ports; they just aren’t recognized during the boot process. What can I do? USB Bootin’ in Boise Dear USB Bootin’, It’s great you’re working to breathe life into old hardware! You’ve run into one of the limitations of older BIOSes, USB was around but nobody was thinking about booting off of it. Fortunately if you have a computer old enough to have that kind of BIOS it’s likely to also has a floppy drive or a CDROM drive. While you could make a bootable CDROM for your application we understand that you want to keep using the master USB installer you’ve made. In light of that we recommend PLoP Boot Manager. Think of it like a boot manager for your boot manager. Using it you can create a bootable floppy or CDROM that will enable USB booting of your master USB drive. Make a CD and a floppy version and you’ll have everything in your toolkit you need for future computer refurbishing projects. Read up on creating bootable media with PLoP Boot Manager here. Snapping Windows to Preset Coordinates Dear How-To Geek, Once upon a time I had a company laptop that came with a little utility that snapped windows to preset areas of the screen. This was long before the snap-to-side features in Windows 7. You could essentially configure your screen into a grid pattern of your choosing and then windows would neatly snap into those grids. I have no idea what it was called or if was anymore than a gimmick from the computer manufacturer, but I’d really like to have it on my new computer! Bend and Snap in San Francisco, Dear Bend and Snap, If we had to guess, we’d guess your company must have had a set of laptops from Acer as the program you’re describing sounds exactly like Acer GridVista. Fortunately for you the application was extremely popular and Acer released it independently of their hardware. If, by chance, you’ve since upgraded to a multiple monitor setup the app even supports multiple monitors—many of the configurations are handy for arranging IM windows and other auxiliary communication tools. Check out our guide to installing and configuring Acer GridVista here for more information. Have a question you want to put before the How-To Geek staff? Shoot us an email at [email protected] and then keep an eye out for a solution in the Ask How-To Geek column. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Upgrade Windows 7 Easily (And Understand Whether You Should) The How-To Geek Guide to Audio Editing: Basic Noise Removal Install a Wii Game Loader for Easy Backups and Fast Load Times The Best of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2011 The Worst of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2011 HTG Projects: How to Create Your Own Custom Papercraft Toy Download the New Year in Japan Windows 7 Theme from Microsoft Once More Unto the Breach – Facebook Apps Can Now Access Your Address and Phone Number Dial Zero Speeds You Through Annoying Customer Service Menus Complete Dropquest 2011 and Receive Free Dropbox Storage Desktop Computer versus Laptop Wallpaper The Kids Have No Idea What Old Tech Is [Video]

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• New Product: Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 – Small, Smart, Connected

  - by terrencebarr

  The Internet of Things (IoT) is coming. And, with todays launch of the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 product, Java is going to play an even greater role in it. Java in the Internet of Things By all accounts, intelligent embedded devices are penetrating the world around us – driving industrial processes, monitoring environmental conditions, providing better health care, analyzing and processing data, and much more. And these devices are becoming increasingly connected, adding another dimension of utility. Welcome to the Internet of Things. As I blogged yesterday, this is a huge opportunity for the Java technology and ecosystem. To enable and utilize these billions of devices effectively you need a programming model, tools, and protocols which provide a feature-rich, consistent, scalable, manageable, and interoperable platform.  Java technology is ideally suited to address these technical and business problems, enabling you eliminate many of the typical challenges in designing embedded solutions. By using Java you can focus on building smarter, more valuable embedded solutions faster. To wit, Java technology is already powering around 10 billion devices worldwide. Delivering on this vision and accelerating the growth of embedded Java solutions, Oracle is today announcing a brand-new product: Oracle Java Micro Edition (ME) Embedded 3.2, accompanied by an update release of the Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) to version 3.2. What is Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2? Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 is a complete Java runtime client, optimized for ARM architecture connected microcontrollers and other resource-constrained systems. The product provides dedicated embedded functionality and is targeted for low-power, limited memory devices requiring support for a range of network services and I/O interfaces.  What features and APIs are provided by Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2? Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 is a Java ME runtime based on CLDC 1.1 (JSR-139) and IMP-NG (JSR-228). The runtime and virtual machine (VM) are highly optimized for embedded use. Also included in the product are the following optional JSRs and Oracle APIs: File I/O API’s (JSR-75)  Wireless Messaging API’s (JSR-120) Web Services (JSR-172) Security and Trust Services subset (JSR-177) Location API’s (JSR-179) XML API’s (JSR-280)  Device Access API Application Management System (AMS) API AccessPoint API Logging API Additional embedded features are: Remote application management system Support for continuous 24×7 operation Application monitoring, auto-start, and system recovery Application access to peripheral interfaces such as GPIO, I2C, SPIO, memory mapped I/O Application level logging framework, including option for remote logging Headless on-device debugging – source level Java application debugging over IP Connection Remote configuration of the Java VM What type of platforms are targeted by Oracle Java ME 3.2 Embedded? The product is designed for embedded, always-on, resource-constrained, headless (no graphics/no UI), connected (wired or wireless) devices with a variety of peripheral I/O.  The high-level system requirements are as follows: System based on ARM architecture SOCs Memory footprint (approximate) from 130 KB RAM/350KB ROM (for a minimal, customized configuration) to 700 KB RAM/1500 KB ROM (for the full, standard configuration)  Very simple embedded kernel, or a more capable embedded OS/RTOS At least one type of network connection (wired or wireless) The initial release of the product is delivered as a device emulation environment for x86/Windows desktop computers, integrated with the Java ME SDK 3.2. A standard binary of Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 for ARM KEIL development boards based on ARM Cortex M-3/4 (KEIL MCBSTM32F200 using ST Micro SOC STM32F207IG) will soon be available for download from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).  What types of applications can I develop with Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2? The Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 product is a full-featured embedded Java runtime supporting applications based on the IMP-NG application model, which is derived from the well-known MIDP 2 application model. The runtime supports execution of multiple concurrent applications, remote application management, versatile connectivity, and a rich set of APIs and features relevant for embedded use cases, including the ability to interact with peripheral I/O directly from Java applications. This rich feature set, coupled with familiar and best-in class software development tools, allows developers to quickly build and deploy sophisticated embedded solutions for a wide range of use cases. Target markets well supported by Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 include wireless modules for M2M, industrial and building control, smart grid infrastructure, home automation, and environmental sensors and tracking. What tools are available for embedded application development for Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2? Along with the release of Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2, Oracle is also making available an updated version of the Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK), together with plug-ins for the NetBeans and Eclipse IDEs, to deliver a complete development environment for embedded application development.  OK – sounds great! Where can I find out more? And how do I get started? There is a complete set of information, data sheet, API documentation, “Getting Started Guide”, FAQ, and download links available: For an overview of Oracle Embeddable Java, see here. For the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 press release, see here. For the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 data sheet, see here. For the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 landing page, see here. For the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 documentation page, including a “Getting Started Guide” and FAQ, see here. For the Oracle Java ME SDK 3.2 landing and download page, see here. Finally, to ask more questions, please see the OTN “Java ME Embedded” forum To get started, grab the “Getting Started Guide” and download the Java ME SDK 3.2, which includes the Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 device emulation.  Can I learn more about Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 at JavaOne and/or Java Embedded @ JavaOne? Glad you asked Both conferences, JavaOne and Java Embedded @ JavaOne, will feature a host of content and information around the new Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 product, from technical and business sessions, to hands-on tutorials, and demos. Stay tuned, I will post details shortly. Cheers, – Terrence Filed under: Mobile & Embedded Tagged: "Oracle Java ME Embedded", Connected, embedded, Embedded Java, Java Embedded @ JavaOne, JavaOne, Smart

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• If You Could Cut Your Meeting Times in ½ Would You?

  - by Brian Dayton

                  I know it sounds like a big promise. And what I'm thinking about may not cut a :60 minute meeting into :30 minutes, but it could make meetings and interactions up to 2X more productive. How? Social Media for the Enterprise, Not Social Media In the Enterprise Bear with me. I'm not talking about whether or not workers should or shouldn't have access to Facebook on corporate networks. That topic has been discussed @ length. I'm also not talking about the direct benefits of Social Networking tools like Presence (the ability to see someone online and ask a question in real-time), blogs, RSS feeds or external tools like Twitter. The Un-Measurable Benefits Would you do something that you believe will have a positive effect--but can't be measured? It's impossible to quantify the effectiveness of a meeting. However, what I am talking about would be more of a byproduct of all of the social networking tools above. Here's the hypothesis: As I've gotten more and more busy with work, family, travel and kids--and the same has happened to my friends and family--I'm less and less connected. But by introducing Facebook to my life I've not only made connections with longtime friends whom I haven't spoken to in years--but I've increased the pace and quality of interactions, on and offline, with close friends who I see and speak to every week. In some cases it even enhances the connections and interactions with those I see or speak to every day. The same holds true in an organization. Especially a larger one with highly matrixed organizational structures. You work with people on a project, new people come in with each different project and a disproportionate amount of time is spent getting oriented and staying current. Going back to the initial value proposition--making meetings shorter/more effective--a large amount of time is spent: -          At Project Kick-off: Meeting and understanding team member's histories, goals & roles -          Ongoing: Summarizing events since the last meeting or update email In my personal, Facebook life today I know that: -          My best friend from college - has been stranded in India for 5 days because of the volcano in Iceland and is now only 250 miles from home -          One of my co-workers started conference calls at 6:30 this morning -          My wife wasn't terribly pleased with my painting skills in our new bathroom (disclosure: she told me this face to face too) Strengthening Weak Links A recent article in CIO Magazine, Three Dangerous Social Media Misconceptions (Kristen Burnham, March 12, 2010) calls out the #1 misconception as follows: 1. "Face-to-face relationships are far more valuable than virtual ones." While some level of physical interaction will always add value to relationships, Gartner says that come 2020, most relationships and teams will be based on "weak links"--that is, you may not have personally met a contact, but you'll know of or may have interacted with him via social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The sooner your enterprise adopts these tools, the sooner your employees will learn them, and the sooner you'll begin to cultivate these relationships-of-the-future.   I personally believe that it's not an either/or choice between face-to-face and virtual interactions. In fact, I'll be as bold as saying it doesn't matter. I can point to two extremely valuable work relationships that I've had over the past 5 years: -          I shared an office with one of them -          I met the other person, face-to-face, only once Both relationships were very productive. The dynamics were similar. The communication tactics differed immensely. What does matter is the quality, frequency and relevance of interactions. Still sound like too much? An over-promise? Stay tuned for my next post The Gap Between Facebook and LinkedIn. I'll also connect some of the dots with where Oracle Applications and technologies are headed.        

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