Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Ok, so a while back (during the initial launch of Windows 7) there was a link that Microsoft was hosting for this tool. After shenanigans were called on the inclusion of open source code the link went away. Now the code is back on Codeplex for your downloading pleasure.
http://bit.ly/8FRFLy
That is all for now, Cheers
Tags: codeplex, download, ISO, USB, Windows, Windows 7
Posted in Software, Windows | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Ok, I will start with this, Synergy was (and is) one of my favourite pieces of software. Unfortunately the code has fallen by the wayside for whatever reason. To the developer I have to say Thanks for the increased productivity and the ability to unhook the occasional physical KVM.
Now onto the fork in the code?
But seriously…
Synergy+ is a fork of the original open source code that stopped being maintained. The new version is being kept up with its new home on the Google Code (http://bit.ly/3R1ced).
For those of you that have never heard of Synergy or Synergy+ it is a piece of software that allows you to share your keyboard and mouse over an IP network. You can configure a machine (the server) to share it’s keyboard and mouse with any number of additional machines saving you from having to have them (or easy access) everywhere.

Around my office I run a Ubuntu server, a MacBook Pro, a Windows 7 laptop and a Windows 7 desktop system. All of these share a single keyboard and mouse and have their own displays.
If you are ever in need of a KVM and are either unable to get one, give this software a shot. In an upcoming blog I will detail how I have my systems configured complete with screenshots.
A special thanks goes out to Sorin and Nick, the new maintainers of the code.
Again, until next time…
Cheers
Tags: KVM, Linux, osx, synergy, Windows
Posted in Software | No Comments »
Monday, March 9th, 2009
My first requirement for iWork and come and gone. Over the weekend my Son was attending a birthday party and wanted to have something to give to his friend since his actual present won’t be released until March 21st.
I must admit that I was a little concerned as we had a whopping 15 minutes to come up with a design and phrase it to everyone’s satisfaction… Oh before I go on, this was the first time that I had started or used pages as well…
After sitting down in front of my Mac I decided that it could be spelled out best in a certificate. So off to start pages and create a landscape document.
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Tags: apple, iwork, mac, Software, word processing
Posted in Mac OS X, Software | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Hey all you Windows 7 Beta testers out there.
Microsoft has released an update for the Media Center bug in Beta 1 (Build 7000). The bug has a nasty tendency to eat the beginning of some mp3 files if they also contained meta-data.
If your Windows installation has already chewed up some of your files MS notes that you may be able to recover them with the “Previous Version” backup that may be automatically stored (a system restore point and drive protection will have to be on).
Here is the link to the MS download page
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/961367
Tags: beta, microsoft, mp3, mp3 bug, patches, Windows, Windows 7
Posted in Software, Updates, Windows | No Comments »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Well here we are running the beta of Windows 7. This one has been anticipated here for sometime and so now comes the fun.
I have to agree with most of the reviews that I have seen on the internet… Overall so far 7 is running faster than Vista SP1 and we are still looking an code that has not been optimized.
For the seasoned XP aficionado, W7 can be a little strange. Even against Vista there are a number of changes that have been implemented “based on user input”. For instance they have debuted Libraries for media types. What it looks like is that Microsoft is really just grooming people for WinFS whenever it makes it to the public stage (WinFS for those who don’t know it is a file system that is maintained in a monolithic database, as in bye-bye drive letters)
I think my biggest issue is with the new format of the taskbar. While it is very esthetically pleasing the execution is lacking. The removal of the generations old task list layout could work well, however due to the confusion resulting in icons located between running tasks new users may have an interesting time (see screen cap)
One of my favourite innovations is the Aero Windows Peek feature which allows you to get a view of either your desktop (to check on gadgets) or applications that are running. Here are a couple of caps showing the feature in action.
Keep an eye out here as I will be documenting more of the features in the latest release of Windows 7.
Tags: 7, beta, reviews, screencaps, Software, Windows
Posted in Software, Windows | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
I found a broken link online referring to this and with a little big of digging got the correct address. This tool provides an abstraction layer to your WiFi card under XP that allows you to create multiple virtual wireless cards.
With this tool you could connect to multiple wireless networks simultaneously and ever create profile specific NICs. Follow the link below for more details and the download.
Microsoft Research Virtual WiFi – Microsoft Research.
Tags: HAL, microsoft, wifi, Windows, wireless, xp
Posted in Internet, Software, Windows | No Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
Has all that desktop clutter got you down? Productivity taking a hit because you can’t find anything on your Vista workspace?
Luckily Microsoft has included a quick and easy way to instantly clean up your desktop. As simple as a right click away is Desktop Zen…
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Tags: clean, desktop, hide icons, tip, vista, Windows
Posted in Software, Windows | No Comments »
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
Now that I have had a chance to use the most recent version of Firefox (3.0.3 at the time of this writing) I figure that this would be a good opportunity to list my favourite extensions that will help you to enhance, secure or otherwise improve your experience. Please check out my top 3 addons after the fold.
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Tags: addons, extensions, Fast Dial, firefox, Internet, NoScript, Perspectives, security, Speed Dial, vista, Windows
Posted in Internet, Software | No Comments »
Friday, November 23rd, 2007
One of the latest apps to be forged by the Mozilla team is Prism. It is an effort to move web applications out of your browser and turn them into (essentially) self-contained applications.
Prism (formerly, Webrunner) is a prototype application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.
Mozilla Labs Blog » Featured Projects
It does this by creating a browser instance that is dedicated to one purpose only. Be it Facebook, GMail, Hotmail or Twitter. Setting it up an "App" is a breeze. It is as easy as entering a URL (web address), a title, browser features to include and where you want links installed.
Click below to view the rest of the post including screen caps of creating Prism Apps.
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Tags: facebook, gmail, mozilla, prism, twitter, web 2.0, webapp
Posted in Internet, Software | No Comments »
Monday, November 5th, 2007
With a little bit of work I have been able to add photos from my Gallery2 install into a widget in the WP sidebar.
Currently I am showing random images from the site, though I have yet to see if it is going to honour permissions (with the synchronized WP users). I was able to do the install with the help of the FAQs and information from the Gallery site (http://codex.gallery2.org/Integration:WPG2).
On the whole the installation was pretty painless and went quite smooth. The only issue I had was with the provider and my lack of an ssh shell to work with on my account. This brought on the fun of uploading a few thousand files from the "bells and whistles" download version I grabbed.
The gallery can be seen at http://gallery.iambryan.net in all its glory. You will require a user account to view anything past the wallpaper section (you will find a link to register on the site)
If you have any questions on the details with the installation or would like some help feel free to drop me a comment or an email.
Cheers
Tags: gallery, gallery2, installation, integration, widget, wordpress
Posted in Internet, Software | No Comments »