Read this quote today and it is so funny yet true..
“We started out like Romeo and Juliet, but we ended up in tragedy.”
If you don’t get it, then, well, you don’t get it. 🙂
Categories
As a short follow up to a post I did a little while ago on SELECT’ing the instance and machine names from SQL Server, here is how you get the Current Database Name
SELECT db_name()
Funny because I was looking for that online, and my Google search led me to my past blog post, so I figured I would actually blog about this specific function as well.
Technorati tags: SQL Server, SQL Server 2005, Current Database Name, Database Name, db_name(), SELECT
Categories
iPhone. iDontGetIt
The iPhone. Ok, I finally got to play with one – thanks Mickey. It is pretty cool, but still. Windows Mobile can do everything plus more than the iPhone can, so why aren’t the fanboi’s wetting themselves over Windows Mobile devices? Why aren’t companies like SmugMug, 37Signals, Digg, etc making specific versions just for Windows Mobile? Windows Mobile has been out for many many years. It can do portrait, and landscape. It can do video, music, and maps. It can do SMS, email, web, photos, GPS (via Bluetooth) and more. Why isn’t anyone doing anything about that? What is so great about the iPhone? Because really, you have to use iTunes? iTunes blows. It really does. I swear it has to be the most poorly developed application out there for Windows, with Quicktime a close second (Ballman back me up here)
It is funny when all of sudden, all these people are discovering you can actually do things on your mobile phone, where Windows Mobile users have know this for years. The biggest difference is that I can develop an application in an afternoon using the .NET compact framework for my Windows Mobile, that actually INSTALLS on the device, and has access to EVERYTHING (file system, registry, innards of the OS – and if I go the C++ route, even more so!). On the iPhone I can make a web app – whoo hoo! Big deal, there are tons of web pages that I can access on my Windows Mobile device. And with sites like T9Space.com, I can get them to render, somewhat well.
One other HUGE dealbreaker here is this: I can hook my Windows Mobile device up to my laptop, and boom – I have a modem. Can you do that with the iPhone?
I listened to the naysayers before it came out. The flip-floppers. What were they thinking? 2 year contract? at&t – the worst of the worst. But they say “its an iPod” – wait a minute, iPods sucks too…why? because you have to (unless you are uber geek) sync them with iTunes!!! Oh wait – its multitouch!! – ok, that is about the only thing it has going for it. That isn’t something so groundbreaking that I am going to switch from my T-Mobile Dash smartphone for.
I just wish companies/developers would realize that there is a huge market out there for Windows Mobile – why don’t you develop specific apps just for that? Why why why! I ask you??!?! The iPhone is $300 a sale more into Apple’s bank account, for no real reason. It is locked down. It is like a TV that will only play CSPAN. Come on guys, open up to Windows Mobile. I usually tell people – ask me what I CAN’T do on my Windows Mobile device. I haven’t found a good answer to that yet.
Why would all these tech enthusiasts, total geeks, etc, totally be in love with a device which is just crippled, and not open? It is just limited in so many ways, I just don’t get it.
iAmStillNotConvinced.
Technorati tags: iPhone, Apple, SmugMug, 37Signals, TadaList, Digg, Windows Mobile, iTunes, QuickTime, Kevin Rose, Don MacAskill, Jason Fried, T-Mobile, T-Mobile Dash, iPod, Josh Bancroft, AT&T, Smartphone, Microsoft
Ok, so today was at Starbucks, and wanted to move on down the road, so I wanted to hibernate. To no avail, no option to hibernate my laptop in the shutdown area. Just sleep, shutdown, restart.
After 10 minutes of F’n around, I figured it out. Turn off “Allow Hybrid Sleep” in the advanced power settings in the power settings in control panel. Wow – that’s exactly where I would expect to turn it on!
Start->Control Panel. In the search I typed “hib” and an option to “Turn hibernation on or off” under Power Options comes up. Click on that. Then there is a link “Change advanced power settings”, click on that. Dig through the settings until you find the “Allow Hybrid Sleep” under the Sleep option.
Nothing like making an option to actually turn on or off hibernation…man.
Technorati tags: Microsoft Vista, Windows Vista, Hibernate, Hibernation, Power Settings, Advanced Hybrid Sleep, Control Panel, Laptop, Power Options
Stumbled across TVU Networks last night, http://www.tvunetworks.com/
Its P2P streaming TV, pretty cool actually, but eats up the bandwidth. It has some good channels. CBS (from San Pablo, CA), ABC News, SCI-FI, and others. Just another trick in the bag for people who have “cut the cord”.
Categories
Bouncing Souls – Hopeless Romantic
A few years ago I was in a punk band for about 2-3 weeks, and this is one of the songs we learned, after we actually got everyone tuned to the same key.
Really not liking the vocals, should be an octave higher, I didn’t feel like screaming at 4:30 in my apartment though 🙂
Whenever I go to Starbucks to work, I connect to T-Mobile hotspot, since it is included with my phone plan. Cool right? Well, not really. At home I have Comcast, whose DNS really really sucks. So I used OpenDNS, which rocks, and never has issues.
Thing is, because T-Mobile hotspot uses DNS to verify you and make you login through their “intranet” page, you can’t use OpenDNS, so I have to go switch my DNS Settings every time I want to connect, that is no good, gotta be an easier way right? Oh there is…dug into “netsh” (I tested this on Windows Vista)
Create two batch files:
————————————–
Set DNS Dynamic.bat
netsh interface ip set dns “Wireless Network Connection” dhcp
————————————–
and then…
————————————–
Set DNS OpenDNS.bat
netsh interface ip set dns “Wireless Network Connection” static 208.67.222.222
netsh interface ip add dns “Wireless Network Connection” 208.67.220.220 index=2
————————————–
this assumes that your wifi connection in your network connection is named “Wireless Network Connection”. Run the Set DNS Dynamic when you are at Starbucks, run the other one when you get home. Easy!
I find this really helpful because in Vista, to get to your network properties for TCP/IP is like 18 steps/clicks, which is really a debacle when you just want to get on the Internet at a coffee shop!
Technorati tags: T-Mobile, T-Mobile Hotspot, OpenDNS, Starbucks, Comcast, DNS, DNS Settings, Networking, netsh, Batch Files, Wi-fi, Wireless Internet, TCP/IP
I use MSN Windows Live Messenger as my main IM client, I have most of the people I IM with on there, all my contacts in my mail.live account, it syncs with my T-Mobile Dash running Windows Mobile 6.0, etc. But, as you can see, I am using WordPress instead of MSN Spaces (Windows Live Spaces) or whatever they are calling it these days (they change the names of this stuff like monthly, I swear).
Anyway’s, in Windows Live Messenger, when a contact updates their space, you will see on your contact list in Messenger a little yellow star next to their name and you can go to their updated space/blogs/photos, whatever.
I wanted this to happen for me, but I don’t want to use MSN Spaces. Did some digging and found a WordPress plugin that will do it all for me – cool!
You can find the plugin here: http://privism.org/blog/live-sync/
There were a few tweaks, I had to modify the PHP so that the sync all would work with WP 2.0, and also the sync all timed out once, so I had to re-run, but it picked up from where it left off.
Now, anytime I post here, it will cross post to my space: http://stevienova.spaces.live.com and people that are on my Windows Live Messenger list will see that I updated it. Just another way to get your updates out to people who might not know what RSS is, or a Feed Reader, etc.
Technorati tags: WordPress, Plugin, MSN Space, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, Crosspost, Blogging
Categories
Friday the 13th, lookout!
Oh oh, its Friday the 13th. Watch for falling piano’s, and black cats, and whatever else you might think of that is superstitious in any way. Or dead guys with machete’s and hockey masks. So far half the day is gone and I haven’t had any bad luck, so I hope that it will continue that way.
What can be unlucky about a beautiful day, a Friday no less, in summer, in Portland? Phh, nothing I can see…. yet 😉
One thing that I find totally different than Minnesota, is that in Portland, you can get Tater Tots on basically any menu at any bar or restaurant. These things remind me of like 3rd grade lunch hour, they are salty as hell, not good for you in the slightest, yet really good, with ketchup or ranch..
Steve Novoselac's Blog 