Piatech

Dilbert on Raises

2009-07-10T00:17:00.004-05:00

Peer Clouding

2009-02-10T13:56:00.003-06:00

Sharing your computing resources with your friends is sometimes a good idea. This article talks about mirroring shared files and providing services to each other. This is a good way to keep in touch and keep up with your friends.

OpenDNS

2009-02-10T13:52:00.005-06:00

Setup your pc or network with a better way to control your internet. OpenDNS provides a large cache to make your dns lookups faster as well as parental controls to set blocks on undesired content. There is even some new work toward blocking access to botnet domains to allow you to keep tabs on your systems and know if they have been infected.

eyeOS

2009-02-10T13:48:00.002-06:00

As more and more is said about cloud computing, here is a personal "cloud os" you can run on your own server at home.

From the website:

-What is eyeOS?-
eyeOS is the Cloud Computing Operating System. Work online -personally or collaboratively- with your files, office, calendar, contacts and much more. Your data is safe and always available --eyeOS is Free Software!

-Why is eyeOS Free Software?-
The idea of eyeOS is to create a free, open source (AGPLv3) product easy to install on a web server so you will have your own cloud system under your control. You can also participate in a great community of users and developers, able to create your own apps. Welcome to the eyeOS project.

-And what if I just want to use eyeOS now?-
If you do not want to install eyeOS in your own server, you can create an account in our free public server and start using eyeOS right now. Just go to eyeos.info and discover the power of eyeOS.

30gb Zunes

2008-12-31T19:39:00.002-06:00

So yeah there was a major problem today with all of the 30gb zunes going down.

So the fix for this is. Let your zune run out of power and charge it tomorrow morning and viola working 30gb zune again. What an easy fix.

I hear everyone whining and complaining about it. Well you know what....Shutayourface. It's one day and yeah it's disappointing but it's going to be ok and fix itself tomorrow. When you are working with millions of lines of code sometimes things get pasted up. I know that Ipod have had there issues in there code which have caused issues in the past. Hey guess what all products do. I'm sure that by tomorrow or friday Microsoft (or M$ for all those haters out there) will have a fix so this doesn't happen again. Microsoft is a huge company with tons of products you can't expect everything to be perfect everytime. Lets not forget the crippled Apple TV 1. So everything has it's issues. I really don't think that everyone needs to dog out Microsoft for some issues they have. All companies do and it's just a part of it.

And seriously why do you have to pay for upgrade for your osx that should really be free? Seriously ask yourself that. Microsoft can update ie, media player, and add other new features absolutely free. Why can't apple?

Enter the fanboy rant...Fuck Ipods seriously...oh and really FUCK ITUNES. Piece of shit port to windows. Seriously Steve do you have to hate windows so much you can't make Itunes work properly on it? I'll stick with media player anyday the week and never use itunes again. The Zune kicks the Ifags ass. Better interface and usablity...Oh wait you can't sync your ipod wirelessly unless you have an overpriced touch...ah I'm sorry. But wait every zune can no matter what size they are. Hmmm, interesting. I had an g4 Ipod for about a year before I got my Zune. I about fell over with how much faster the zune was and how much better the sound quality I received...And that was from the Iphone headphones. Seriously worlds apart in sound quality...End of Fanboy rant.

Yeah my Zune went down for just a day. I'm disappointed but at the same time it's just a day I'll live as long as I get good service from this great piece of equipment in the future. I love my zune and probably won't by anything other than zune for my portable music, podcasts and videos. Except my Sansa because I got a killer deal on it.

DD_WRT and my WRT-350n

2008-12-31T15:33:00.002-06:00

So for Christmas I got a Linksys WRT-350N. I take it home and the first thing I do is flash to DD-WRT v24sp1. So far I am completely happy. I spent serveral hours getting all of my settings moved over from my old router Dlink DIR-634M...now a wireless G access point and switch for my roomates equipment. I was really surprised at the ease of setup that dd-wrt allows you. I haven't even gotten into the major project that I want to do yet(Setting up two cable modems load balanced). I'll do a full post on that later.

So far this is what I have setup on the router.
1. ddns on dyndns.org and no-ip.com working flawlessly
2. pptp server for my vpn setup. Will probably switch to openDNS once I have more time for setup. This is helping me a lot as I was using Hamachi which works great but had a good portion of lag to it because it had to contact their servers before coming to me.
3. QOS works pretty good and I'm sure it will work great once I get it finalized and have all of my equipment in there.
4. The Major Project. I'm working on setting up a dual dhcp cable modem connection load balanced on this router. This is going to take a lot of time and I will have to get back with you on how it goes. Hopefully I have it running in the next week or two and I can give a full step by step on how I got it running.

I'm sure I will also setup a web server and some other things along the way. I will continue to post as I add services and configurations to this glorious router and firmware.

Fette's Vette

2008-12-07T23:06:00.000-06:00

Ars Ultimate Home Theater PC Guide: 1080p HDMI Edition: Page 1

2008-12-07T20:28:00.000-06:00

"A PC in your entertainment center

TiVo and its brethren get credit for introducing the average consumer to the concept of the digital video recorder (DVR) and opening the door to bigger and better things. The Home Theater PC (HTPC) is the computer enthusiast's answer to all the things that a DVR generally does, with the potential to do everything a full-fledged computer does. The concept had a bit of a slow start until Microsoft's release of Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005, which gave the very familiar Windows a living room interface and the hardware support that HTPCs needed."

Read more at source

Comand Prompt Tricks

2008-11-24T15:00:00.000-06:00

If you're a frequent command prompt user, you'll appreciate the way this trick simplifies your life. This tip will work on all versions of Windows 2000 and Windows NT. By default, the prompt that the system presents you in a command prompt window shows the current drive letter and the full pathname. This prompt is configurable. For a list of configurable options, go to a command prompt and type

prompt /?

I spend much of my day dealing with remote file systems, so I often find myself wondering exactly where the J drive is mapped to. To refresh memory, I use the Net Use command. To modify the command prompt to reflect the remote path, I typed the following text at a command prompt

prompt $m$_$p$g

where $m echoes the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) name of the drive letter that the command prompt currently displays; $_ inserts a carriage return and a line feed; and $p$g are the standard drive and pathname. This command caused the system to display the UNC name of my network drive.

To make this change stick on a Win2K system, you must modify an environment variable. You can do so from the Control Panel System applet's Advanced configuration option. All you have to do is click the Environment Variables button, create a system variable named prompt, and set its value to $m$_$p$g. This setting causes the system to display the remote network path every time you open a command prompt.

LastSharp silently downloads MP3s from Last.Fm playlists

2008-11-04T17:17:00.001-06:00

"Last.Fm is one of the better streaming music services around, but you're probably wishing you could save the tracks it plays. Brush up on your German (or just keep reading) and grab LastSharp, and you'll be downloading in no time flat."

Shorty

2008-11-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

"Shorty is a simple tool for creating shorter, human- readable links from long URLs. You install Shorty on your server, so the links you create with it never go away. You can also manage your links and see how often people click on them."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | David Tennant quits as Doctor Who

2008-10-30T11:35:00.000-06:00

"David Tennant is to stand down as Doctor Who, after becoming one of the most popular Time Lords in the history of the BBC science fiction show.

Tennant stepped into the Tardis in 2005, and will leave the role after four special episodes are broadcast next year.

He made the announcement after winning the outstanding drama performance prize at the National Television Awards.

'When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won't be with me,' he said."

Read the entire article @ the source.

XP Syspad » xtort.net

2008-10-29T07:35:00.000-06:00

"XP SysPad is a Windows system monitoring utility that allows easy access to Windows system information and Windows system utilities, such as the individual control panel applets, as well as putting the “hidden” applications in Windows at your fingertips. XP Syspad also recovers lost Windows & MS-Office product keys

With XP SysPad, you can easily access hundreds of Windows operating system utilities and system monitoring information. You can also recover your Windows 2000/XP product key, get your IP address, execute web queries, monitor any running system process, launch any program, search files, and more. For convenience, it also can minimize itself to the system tray. XP SysPad has well over 250 functions in all!"

Turning your WHS into a Free Proxy Server

2008-10-28T16:43:00.001-06:00

"There are more uses for your WHS then you can shake a stick at; whatever that may mean. The latest endeavor is using your Windows Home Server as an Internet Proxy. I personally use my Windows Home Server as a proxy to be able to view sites that my company blocks access to. Setting up a proxy can also allow you to control web content served in your home. If you have a child, you can block sites or even keywords to keep pages from being served."

Feature : The 38 Most Memorable First Enemies [Industry] - from GamePro.com

2008-10-23T20:31:00.000-05:00

"In gaming, first impressions mean everything. Particularly, your first fight has to be a good one. Sometime it means having a pushover of an enemy to inflate the player's confidence. Other times, it means shocking the player with something creepy to instill fear. Whatever the means of their introduction, the following 38 first enemy encounters will never be forgotten."

How to catch hackers on your wireless network | News | TechRadar UK

2008-10-21T15:27:00.000-05:00

How to catch hackers on your wireless network | News | TechRadar UK: "There are lots of tools around to help people carry out ARP-related exploits and if a malicious, Wi-Fi enabled neighbour decided to find out more about your network, this could be an effective way to do it.

The good news is that there are some defences out there. The bad? They can be costly and don't always deliver the protection you might expect."

Read the full article at the source.

And now for some porn...courtesy of FOX and House

2008-10-21T15:20:00.000-05:00

Apple Goes McCain On Microsoft With Mocking Attack Ads

2008-10-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

Midway: Play The Suffering For Free, Thanks To Your Tax Dollars

2008-10-21T15:16:00.000-05:00

"Midway's pretty alright horror adventure The Suffering can now be had for the low, low price of nothing. Well, close to nothing, thanks to your U.S. tax dollars, because the download of The Suffering for the PC, now up at FileFront, has been paid for by the United States Air Force. Hey, someone's gotta foot the bill for your 1.26 GB download of a four-year old game and our military forces have obliged. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy about my quarterly tax payments!

Sure, the game is horribly dated, graphically — and FileFront has actually been hosting it for a few weeks — but for zero bucks this close to Halloween, we don't want to hear any complaints. Just kidding, internet. Complain away!"

PE2USB

2008-10-13T16:33:00.003-05:00

6 Must Have Applications For Windows Mobile

2008-10-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

"These free programs will pimp up the abilities of your Windows Mobile."

Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager - Home

2008-10-02T20:33:00.000-05:00

"One of Vista's most talked-about new features is the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). A new set of thumbnail API's can be used to access thumbnails of open windows. This virtual desktop program takes advantage of this new API and uses some tricks of its own to provide a powerful virtual desktop manager with a full screen thumbnail based preview. You can have as many desktops as you want and can seamlessly switch between them.

But wait! What if you still are using XP? Don't worry, Vista/XP Virtual Desktops provides support for XP as well, although window previews are not live since XP doesn't have DWM."

Windows 2008 Server Core Configurator - Home

2008-10-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

"Server Core Configurator

If your using Server Core in Windows Server 2008, you'll know that there are always certain tasks you need to do upon installation to enable things like Activation, Firewall.

This Tool is a collection of scripts which will help provision and configure a Base Windows 2008 Server Core installation, The Server Core Configurator enables you to do all those "little jobs"; via a GUI, quickly and easily!

Product Licencing
Networking Features
DCPromo Tool
ISCSI Settings
Server Roles and Features
User and Group Permissions
Share Creation and Deletion
Firewall Settings
Display Settings
Add & Remove Drivers
Screensaver Settings
Windows Updates (Including WSUS)
and so much more..."

Remote Control Add-on for Active Directory Users & Computers

2008-09-28T03:12:00.000-05:00

"Remote Control is a small add-on that adds the option to right-click a computer account in the Active Directory MMC and choose Remote Control on that computer by opening a Terminal/Remote Desktop connection to that computer"

Bootdisk to Bootstick Convertor

2008-09-25T20:46:00.004-05:00

With BootDiskToBootStick you can make your USB stick bootable.
Serves as a source of a boot floppy or the binary image of a boot diskette
So you can finally be completely free of your old floppy drive!

Download
BootDisk2BootStick video tutorial (WMV)
BootDiskToBootStick V0.10 Multi-Language (English & German) XP / XP x64/Vista 32bit/Vista 64bit
Bootdisk Image: Windows XP disk standard (patched sector to 64MB).

Ready BootDisk Images available at:
http://www.bootdisk.info/

Links
Virtual Floppy Drive 2.1

Attention Microsoft. NET Framework version 2.0 redistributable package (x86) must be installed!

(Translated from German)