Each time I return to Gettysburg, I seem to find myself at Little Round Top, shooting from the top of the castle-like monument there.  It offers a good view of Devil’s Den and the fields beyond, all the way to the PA Memorial and Pickett’s Charge to the north.  So I know that I already have this particular shot (I think I even posted it here last year), but no matter, here’s this year’s rendition:

Panorama from Little Round Top

Panoramic shots are something that I keep saying I’m going to do more work with, although it seems that I rarely manage to.  In part I blame this on the locations I often end up at, which many times are cluttered and offer little in the way of wide-open angles.  I also blame it on my own lackluster memory, which often fails to remember to try out new tricks.

I’ve read some articles on panoramas and worked with a couple of different software sets, and I’ve pretty much condensed it down to two options – either shell out big bucks for special pano equipment, or settle of the down and dirty approach.  I go for the second option.

Down and dirty works like this: shoot in manual mode, with the same settings in each scene.  Do not adjust focal length between shots, and lock the focus at the hyperfocal distance, then switch it to manual so the focus point remains the same throughout.  Most importantly, be sure to overlap each shot by at least 33%, otherwise you’ll get faulty match ups.

Canon’s included pano software works okay, but I see it as another workflow step that can be avoided by just using the Photomerge feature in Photoshop, which works just as well, if not better.  It will take a while to process, especially if you computer has weaker guts.  But once it’s done, you’ll almost always see that the middle is fatter than the ends, so you have to crop in somewhat to square it off (this is why I always shoot panos wider than appears necessary).  Then it’s adjustment layers as normal.

The pano above came out really well this time around – if you zoom into the full-sized version, you can even count the troops in a column near the intersection by Devil’s Den.  I really need to remember this technique and pull it out of my bag more often.

Dear Readers,

Now You Can Follow The Computer Savvy Weblog Via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Computer_Savvy

I know that sometimes it can take a really long time to get the latest version of a lot of software @ www.download.com. But this time around it was available via Softpedia.com before download.com. Enjoy the latest new version of AVIRA Free anti-virus is now available via the link below…

AVIRA Free Anti-Virus Version (9.0.0.415) Download Link

I have checked this link and it works…Enjoy….Please report via comment or e-mail if this link is broken….

Till My Next Post,

Remy “Se7en”

I haven’t spent a lot of time in LinkedIn lately (finally updated some info today), but some changes LinkedIn released over the past couple of weeks caught my attention.  First, LinkedIn now allows your Twitter status updates to appear in the LinkedIn status.  This is part of a LinkedIn-Twitter agreement.  Twitter’s co-founder, Biz Stone and LinkedIn’s co-founder, Reid Hoffman discuss the value of the integration in this video, which also shows how you can activate the integration:

I’d highly recommend checking the box, “share only tweets that contain #in” (note, they’ve also added the hashtag #li since this video was made).  This is similar to the Selective Twitter Status within Facebook (which I use when I’m in the Twitter web app or other app that doesn’t allow sychning of Twitter status with Facebook).  Unlike Facebook, however, your audience within LinkedIn is primarily a professional audience, and more than likely won’t appreciate seeing all your Twitter updates, especially if you’ve got the weekly email updates turned on, which will show a compiled list of all your updates.  If you turn on the “#li” capability, only the updates within Twitter given the hastag #li will appear within LinkeIn, thus allowing you to control what status updates will appear.  This works best for me since I’d prefer just to send only professional networking/work-related updates to LinkedIn and can do so by using #li within Twitter for those updates.  Certainly, there’s the school of thought advocating all updates from Twitter going to LinkedIn– the question really comes down to what you’re more comfortable with.  Over time, I may change my preference on this, but for now I’d rather start off selectively Twittering to LinkedIn.

As a side note, you may want to check out Ping.fm, which allows you to update all of your social media status’ (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Brightkite, Yammer, etc.) all at once or just selected ones.  (I used to use Hello Txt but have found Ping.fm have wider coverage and to be a bit more user-friendly, especially on the iPhone web browser).

LinkedIn also re-did their user-interface.  Apparently, this hasn’t gone out to the general public yet according to the LinkedIn blog post (I’m not sure why I got the update and other did not), so I included a screenshot below so you could see it.

New UI for LinkedIn

The biggest change is in the navigation, which has moved from the left to the top.  Overall, I like it compared to the old UI, as it gives it a much cleaner look.  It also gives much deeper levels of navigation to sub-categories of the main category items, which was limited in the old UI.

Another area where there was a noticeable change is in your Profile (see below).  The side navigation is gone (again, at the top), which helps make it appear cleaner.  The biggest change, however, is more info in your profile appearing above the fold, which is important when someone is cruising your profile.

LinkedIn profile UI changes

Finally, another update worth looking at in LinkedIn (okay, it’s not that new, but it did happen within the past few months, but didn’t get a lot of publicity), is the LinkedIn-Slideshare synch.  I’m a big fan of SlideShare, especially for my job, where I’m doing a lot of presentations that I like to share, which I share on SlideShare.  It makes a ton of sense to synch those to LinkedIn, especially since the presentations are mainly professional content– content pefect for my professional network on LinkedIn.   It’s easy to install the synch while in LinkedIn (you have to have a SlideShare account obviously, which the synch will prompt you to create if you don’t have one already.  If you don’t have a SlideShare account, I’d highly recommend adding content before you synch or turn off the utility until you do– you want content to actually appear in your LinkedIn profile and not have anything appear).  Once installed, I’d recommend having the SlideShare utility (which will display your latest three SlideShare presentations), display on your profile page (displaying on your home page is a personal preference), which will allow anyone who views your profile to see your content and increasing your “value-add” to your network.  One major downside of LinkedIn (which hopefully they’ll be addressing soon), is that you don’t have control over where the SlideShare utility (or any other) will appear on your profile.  It could end up buried deep in your profile, requiring the user to scroll.  Ideally, you could determine where the utility would appear– SlideShare clearly is one you’d want to show up prominently.

There are definitely other utilities I’d recommend having in your profile (WordPress, Amazon, etc.)– maybe a topic for a future post?…In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the UI changes, Twitter-LinkedIn synch and SlideShare-LinkedIn synch.

It’s that time of year again. The holiday season is rapidly approaching which means busy times and plenty of food to go around!

I have found that Bon Appetit has the best Thanksgiving guide around. Check it out here – They have everything from the best turkey recipes to sides and appetizers. Highly recommend this site.

What are all of you making for Thanksgiving? What are your favorites? Feel free to post some winners here!

My favorite is my grandmothers Sausage Stuffing…but sorry, it’s a family secret!

Server:
netsh / advfirewall set allprofiles state off

Desktop:
- run: dcomcnfg
- Component Services -> Computers -> My computer
- My Computer / right click / left pane and select COM Security
- Under edit limits for access permissions, click on Anonymous and allow Remote Access

That’s all…

Blog นี้แจก macro code สำหรับ visual studio ชื่อ PasteQuoteString
หน้าที่ของมันคือ ทำการ paste string ที่อยู่ใน clipboard ลงใน code ของเรา
โดยจะใส่ double quote ครอบไว้ให้ และใส่เครื่องหมาย string concatenate ให้ด้วย ในกรณีที่ string มีหลายบรรทัด

code สำหรับ macro เป็นดังนี้

Sub PasteQuoteString()
    Dim str As String = ClipboardAccess.ClipboardText
    str = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(str, """", """""")
    str = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(str, _
        "^(.*)$", """$1 "" & _", Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Multiline)
    str = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(str, _
        "\r "" &", " "" &")
    DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.Text = str.Substring(0, str.Length - 3) & vbCrLf
End Sub

เอาไปใช้งาน โดยใน Visual Studio ไปดูที่เมนู Tools –> Macros–>Macro IDE
แล้วใส่ code นี้เข้าไป (ใช้งานแบบเดียวกับ macro ใน MS Office นั่นแหละ)

macro นี้เกิดขึ้นมาจากปัญหาในการทำงาน คือเมื่อเวลาเราเขียน sql ขึ้นใน Sql Server Management Studio
แล้วต้องการ copy sql นั้นไปใส่ใน code เรา ซึ่ง sql นั้นยาวมาก จะคัดลอกไปแปะโดยตรง
ก็ต้องมานั่งเติมเครื่องหมาย double quote กันเยอะ เลยทำ macro มาช่วยในการเติมเครื่องหมายเหล่านี้

ตัวอย่างเช่น ถ้าเรา copy sql นี้

select *
from Table1
inner join Table2

แล้วไปเรียกใช้ macro PasteQuoteString ใน visual studio ก็จะได้ผลลัพธ์แบบนี้ขึ้นใน code

"select * " & _
"from Table1 " & _
"inner join Table2 "

อ้อ ผมทำไว้สำหรับ vb syntax เท่านั้นนะครับ, C# ก็ไปลองดัดแปลงกันเองดู ไม่ยากเย็นอะไร

Configuare OpenSSH a prova di bomba

Siamo talmente paranoici che abbiamo fatto, quasi, tutto quanto consigliato qua per rendere il nostro server con OpenSSH a prova di bomba. Per un uso casalingo io non ho impostato però nessun firewall (mi fido delle impostazioni che ho messo sul mio router netgear dg834g) cioè nessuna regola di iptables sul sistema dove è veramente installato OpenSSH server.

Fregare gli attacchi brute-force

L’unica cosa che mi scoccia sono questi essere infimi, e poco pericolosi, chiamati script-kiddies che tentano degli attacchi brute-force sulla porta 22. Non che sia una gran scocciatura ma i file di log, più precisamente i /var/log/auth.log, tendono a riempirsi paurosamente. Ho trovato una soluzione KISS usando un programma, scritto in Python, chiamato denyhosts. Il concetto è semplice: si guarda i file di log e se un determinato IP fallisce la connessione ssh lo blocca ficcandolo in /etc/hosts.deny.

Una precisazione su come funzionano /etc/hosts.allow e /etc/hosts.deny. Questi sono dei file che configurano il TCP Wrapper: una spiegazione esaustiva si trova negli Appunti di Informatica Libera di Daniele Giacomini. Riassumendo: se un IP è regolamentato da una regola in /etc/hosts.allow tutto fila liscio, se invece questo IP non è previsto in /etc/hosts.allow il sistema guarda /etc/hosts.deny. Quindi in /etc/hosts.allow, se vogliamo fare in modo che gli IP della nostra sottorete non vengano bloccati, mettiamo questa riga:

sshd: 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.248

Ovviamente questo è solo un esempio preso dalla mia configurazione. Se non sapete niente di reti e sottoreti non capirete una tega, forse potrebbe venirvi in aiuto il programma ipcalc:

ma anche Wikipedia…se non basta fatevi un corso universitario di Reti di Calcolatori o leggetevi un libro a riguardo o rompete i coglioni a un SysAdmin (non io: non lo sono!).
In /etc/hosts.deny non mettiamo nulla: se ne occuperà automaticamente denyhosts. Per esempio una riga che aggiunge denyhosts è la seguente (ovviamente l’IP bloccato è di fantasia):

# DenyHosts: Sat Nov 21 13:05:13 2009 | ALL: 123.123.123.123
ALL: 123.123.123.123

Figo no? Ora non ci resta che editare il file di configurazione di denyhosts che si trova, su Arch Linux, in /etc/denyhosts/denyhosts.cfg.

Configurazione di denyhosts.cfg

Prendo paro paro il mio file di configurazione con una spiegazione tutta mia. Le FAQ sul sito e i commenti su denyhosts.cfg sono molto esaustivi ma degli esempi in più non fanno mai male e non vi faranno sicuramente schifo (vero?). Comunque sia sto usando la versione 2.6 di denyhosts.

SECURE_LOG = /var/log/auth.log Ovviamente questo è il file che denyhosts parsa per andare a pescarsi gli IP da bannare.

HOSTS_DENY = /etc/hosts.deny In un sistema Linux è qui che ci sono le regole per il TCP Wrapper degli IP a cui è vietato l’ingresso nel sistema.

PURGE_DENY = 2d Ricordo che stiamo parlando di uso domestico, quindi abbiamo un indirizzo dinamico raggiungibile magari, con l’ausilio di dyndns come ho fatto io, con un URL www. Ma abbiamo sempre un indirizzo dinamico e ad ogni caduta di connessione (grazie Telecom) cambiamo spesso IP. Quindi gli script-kiddies non punteranno sempre a noi pensando che siamo sempre noi cambiando, magari, gli username e password. Insomma non siamo un bersaglio fisso! Quindi è inutile riempire /etc/hosts.deny di IP. Anche perché magari pure gli script-kiddies hanno IP dinamici come tutti i comuni mortali (a parte i compuer zombie ma si spera di no). Quindi è meglio ripulire /etc/hosts.deny abbastanza spesso. 2d infatti sta per 2 day: due giorni.

BLOCK_SERVICE = ALL Ok, abbiamo solo sshd attivo come servizio. Sarebbe più logico mettere BLOCK_SERVICE = sshd. De gustibus. Questo cambia ovviamente le occorrenze di /etc/hosts.deny che dal mio esempio precedente diventerebbero

# DenyHosts: Sat Nov 21 13:05:13 2009 | sshd: 123.123.123.123
sshd: 123.123.123.123

Denyhosts è molto configurabile, può controllare o tutti i servizi o solo quello che vogliamo noi.

DENY_THRESHOLD_INVALID = 2 Ogni due tentativi da parte di un username invalido (che non esiste sul sistema o che non è specificato in AllowUsers o AllowGroups in /etc/ssh/sshd_config) l’IP viene bannato. Metti che uno al posto di scrivere cicciobanza scrive cicciobnza…lo banniamo subito? Diamogli una seconda possibilità.

DENY_THRESHOLD_VALID = 3 Diamo invece tre tentativi a un user valido nel sistema, magari ha la giornata storta e sbaglia la password (che comunque, siamo stati bravi, è un’autenticazione chiave pubblica/privata).

DENY_THRESHOLD_ROOT = 1 Diciamo che se uno tenta subito root lo banniamo immediatamente..vero?

DENY_THRESHOLD_RESTRICTED = 1 Questa è una sboronata. Possiamo specificare degli username (in /var/lib/denyhosts/restricted-usernames) a cui possiamo dare tot tentativi. Io ho messo 1 perché ci metto i classici: mysql, test, user…i soliti username che non andrebbero mai usati…

WORK_DIR = /var/lib/denyhosts Si commenta da sola, io la lascio così di default e consiglio di fare altrettanto!

SUSPICIOUS_LOGIN_REPORT_ALLOWED_HOSTS=YES A dire la verità non ho ben capito. Sembra che denyhosts si faccia dei sospetti di attacco anche sugli hosts della nostra sottorete e ci avverta di questo. Ho lasciato YES ma approfondirò in seguito…

HOSTNAME_LOOKUP=NO A dire la verità non ho capito molto questo. Non ho capito cosa se ne faccia denyhosts del nome host dell’IP associato che blocca. Approfondirò anche questo…

LOCK_FILE = /var/run/denyhosts.pid Si commenta da solo, lasciamolo così com’è.

ADMIN_EMAIL = Lo lascio vuoto, non ho nessun Postfix o simili installato sul sistema che invii mail di avvertimento quindi…

AGE_RESET_VALID=1m Resetta i tentativi, dopo un minuto di inattività, di un utente valido. Del tipo, scannate password, aspettate un minuto: avete ancora 3 tentativi (riguardate DENY_THRESHOLD_VALID).

AGE_RESET_ROOT= Se uno tenta root non gli diamo altre possibilità.

AGE_RESET_RESTRICTED= Se uno tenta mysql non gli diamo altre possibilità.

AGE_RESET_INVALID= Se uno tenta un utente invalido non gli diamo altre possibilità.

DAEMON_LOG = /var/log/denyhosts Si commenta da solo. Comunque è meglio aggiungere /var/log/denyhosts in /etc/logrotate.d/syslog-ng in modo che logrotate faccia la rotazione anche dei log di denyhosts.

DAEMON_SLEEP = 1m Ogni minuto denhyhosts controlla i file di log. Ci saranno comunque dei tentativi, in un minuto, gli script kiddies provano circa 5-10 username al colpo.

DAEMON_PURGE = 1h Il periodo, quando denyhosts è daemonizzato, con il quale controlla le occorrenze di /etc/hosts.deny e le toglie (in base ovviamente a PURGE_DENY)

Queste sono configurazioni base e utili per un sistema casalingo. Più fico sarebbe sincronizzare /etc/hosts.deny anche con IP bannati da altri che usando denyhosts e che condividono le informazioni (tutto sempre configurando denyhosts.cfg) ma è troppo per noi. Io ho provato ma, come ho già detto, non siamo bersagli fissi.

Software Compliance Audits usually come as a surprise to companies. The audit notice may have come from any Software Publisher (SP) for ascertaining the companies’ licensing position for all products of the SP in context.

Generally SP have a third party contractor (Audit firms) who conduct these audits for the SP & report the findings. This is done to ensure independence & fairness of the activity.

Below are the steps to be acted upon in case of a Software Audit/Review notice -

1. Do not panick! Software Audit is not going to be a lethal activity unless you have been completely ignorant of the License Compliance all the while till now. The first thing you have to do is inform your Senior Mgmt about this & make sure that this is not being taken lightly by making a business case.

2. Do not avoid/refuse for a Software Audit. However you have all the right to claim time to prepare yourself for this activity. Generally SP have strong market intelligence relating to their customer base. If you have been notified to undergo the audit then it indicates that your organization’s overall software compliance status is not satisfactory. However this is just a perception that SP has of your organization.

3. Buy out some time from SP (1 week or so). Hire a freelance software auditor OR internal resources to carry out an internal audit of the software usage & license. I would suggest to hire a Freelance Specialist (like me) who has thourough understanding of licensing. Your internal whose main role is to perform other tasks would not have this ability.

4. Gathering information of software usage will be done in sometime. However to know what your entitlements are for licenses under different agreements is a daunting task. Usually you will require expert knowledge on Software Licensing models of SP Softwares to understand what type of licenses you hold.

5. Assess whether there is deviation in overall licensing status of particular SP products in context. Here you might also need to update your Senior Management of the internal findings.

6. Inform the SP of the deviations & convey your intention to them of procuring the required licenses. Generally once you do this the software audit notice should be called off by the SP. However if the SP is bent upon getting it done then happily comply to it as you already know what are the gaps.

Whether OR not the software auidt happens you know about the gaps in licensing position and be prepared to bear the cost of procurement.

Hope this helps…

Den här bacongratängen funkar kanon både som tillbehör eller som egen rätt  – och smakar goody-goody! - ja när Eirik som inte går på någon diet tyckte det var riktigt gott jaddå är jag mycket nöjd ..he..he. Det gäller nog å hålla tungan rätt i mun när man kryddar maten också!

100 g gratäng ger 47 kcal

Jag blandade ca 450 g hemmagjord blomkålsmos (vatten/buljong, blomkål, krydda) med va 100 äggvita och 125 g torrwokad kalkonbacon (6% fett) och hällde därefter blandningen i en lättoljad eldfast form. Över smeten spridde jag ut 50 g grillade kalonskivor och 30 g hårdost (5%) och bakade det hela i ugnen på ..hm..ja kring 200 grader i ungefär 20 minuter.

En stor smörklick samt några äggulor i smeten skulle verkligen smaka fantastically … men det får vänta tills man går in i “off-diet-mode”… receptet ovan funkar ju finfint än så länge.

Kryddor:

• Stark paprika
• Färskriven muskat
• Garam Masala
• Seltin
• Peppar

Näringsfördelningen för hela receptet:

Och efterrätten då?? Ha..ha… ja skratta ni bara… lättare julstämning blev det iallafall här hemma då både min son och jag tyckte vår lilla syntetiska julmustpudding-efterrätt blev rätt så god, julmust-lovers som vi båda är var ju det här ett must å testa…  och inte blev det för sötsliskigt heller som med t ex saft – fun-light is so off!

1 paket snabbgelatin + lite eco vaniljpulver blev blandad i en bunke lagom fylld med julmust light och fick därefter övernatta i kylen. Smakade allra bäst tillsammans med lätt pepparkakskräm gjort på lätt kesella, några droppar sött och en lagom dos väldoftande pepparkakskrydda… serverades med lite kanel på toppen… ho-ho-ho

Tidigare inlägg med liknande ingredienser:

Lättlagad: fromage och glass av proteinsmoothie

Proteinfromage med äppelkompott, vanilj och citronmeliss

Lättare och proteinrik panna cotta med färsk fruktsås

As the prominent tourist destination, Bali has abundance choice of accommodation. It is ranged from budget Bali hotel, guesthouse run by local people, Bali cottage, Bali bungalow, Bali boutique hotel, luxury Bali villa, to the international 5 star Bali hotels. The Bali accommodation spread up throughout Bali.

Cluster Bali accommodation is not only to be found in crowd/centre tourist area, but also found even at secluded area. Bali hotel styles vary from traditional style to modern design. The tourists in Bali mostly favour Balinese style hotels. You’ll be easily to find a Bali hotel that suits your needs either beach/lake side, cool mountain area, rice field view, hilltop, riverbanks, tropical garden, traditional village surroundings, town-centred, etc.

However, there are many things to consider when choosing your Bali travel accommodations. The decision could make your trip fun or a disappointment. Choosing the right Bali hotel is a must. Most travellers spend more time in airline ticket reservations and bargains but less time in choosing the right Bali accommodations. Thus they may end up on the wrong side of the bed during their stay.

To get the most out of your Bali hotel accommodations, remember to book as early as possible and make your dates more flexible. Bali Hotels that specialize for business people will consider weekends as off-season. Family vacationers could tap into these special packages during weekends. Primarily, you should choose your Bali hotel based on name, amenities, features, price, packages and location.

Here are some considerations in choosing your best Bali travel accommodations:

1. Bali Accommodations should be family-friendly. Always ask if your Bali hotel offers children activity areas with educational and fun activities supervised by duly trained caregivers.
2. Your Bali hotel should provide a swimming pool for children, day care service, crib rental and child-proof electrical outlets.
3. Stay in a Bali hotel that has electronic room-key cards and has a security viewer installed on their doors.
4. Make it a priority to choose a room on the upper floor.
5. If you’re the one who likes to spend more time in your Bali hotel room and the balcony, you should ask for the available amenities and the conditions of the surrounding environment.
6. Depending on whether you’re on a private or business trip, ask your Bali hotel about the availability of laundry service, hair dryers, coffee makers, newspapers, free meals, fax machine, bar, cable television, parking, shuttle service, internet connection, etc.
7. The Bali hotel property layout and its location may speak more of its surrounding environment. Noisy locations such as construction on adjacent property, car traffic and noisy waterfalls are not specified on Bali hotel flyers. So be sure to ask about it.
8. Beautifully landscaped surroundings with trees, flowers and inner courts also enhance your travel pleasure. Moreover, gift shops and restaurants all add up to a wonderful travel experience.
9. The location of your Bali hotel with respect to main attraction is equally important. It could save you money on taxi and bus fare.
10. Make sure that the room service is provided 24 hours a day.
11. Check out the room itself. Is it brightly coloured or classical? It sets the mood of your travel.

In order to get the most out of your travel, whether for business or family vacations, be sure to know everything about the Bali hotel you are planning to check in to. Ask friends and relatives who have been there. Don’t just depend on the Bali hotel’s web page, which is undoubtedly biased. Having to stay in a Bali hotel, which you don’t like, could ruin your trip.

Now You Can Follow The Computer Savvy Weblog Via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Computer_Savvy

Hello everyone so today I am going to talk about Sony’s new PC PSP connectivity program called “Media Go” is this software  really better then the old PSP Media Manger 3.o .Well here is your chance to find out so read and enjoy my review.

AA. How Much Does It Cost ? – Free, just need a USB cable and a PSP any version

BB. Is it Better then Media Go 1.2 ? – Hell, ya in almost every way…

1. Is Media G0 a resource hog ? – Not really….

2. Is Media G0 Stable ? – Yes, and even improved a little bit this time around.

3. Can You Update Media Go ? - Yes

4. Are There Any Ads In Media Go ? – Nope none that I saw. Other then banners for the new games out on the PSN store. But they are not really “ADS”

5. Can You Use The Program With Out Your PSP Connected ? – Yes indeed you can…look around and add and subtract items from your play lists and convert them without your PSP even being connected at all. Which is a really great feature (You can not download or Preview Media from the PSN STORE without your PSP Connected such as the PULSE video series)

6. How Is The Conversion Software With Media Go ? – I found Media Go Conversion software a little easier then the 1.1A version. But not by much.

7. Does Media G0 Recognize 3rd Party Memory Sticks ? - Yes, Media G0 does appear to recognize pretty much any memory stick you can throw at it. So no worries…

8. Does it work on XP ? – Yes

9. Does it work on Vista ? Yes but, only with service pack 1 installed

10. Does it work on Windows 7 ? Not tested but I believe so

My overall rating is 4 out of 5 – The main reason being for the score is that Media Go still has a long way to go to improve the conversion software. Other then that some really GREAT IMPROVEMENTS. Completely worth the download………….

Till My Next Post,

Remy “Se7en”

You’d think with the amount of time I spend in the kitchen, I’d have planned ahead for every meal and would always have my meat defrosted when it was time to cook dinner or have my eggs at room temperature when it was time to bake bread or cake.

This is rarely the case.

Since I don’t have much foresight, I’ve developed a simple method for achieving these things quickly without cooking the meat or eggs in the slightest.

I should preface the meat tip with an explanation of my aversion to microwave defrosting.  Perhaps you have had better luck with it, but I’ve found that I usually end up partially cooking the meat in order to get it thawed all the way through and for some reason, cooking the meat in the microwave in defrost mode makes it taste a little funky.  Am I alone in this oppinion?  In any case, I want to cook it with the spices/sauce/vegetables/etc.  for whatever dish I’m preparing, not naked and lonely.

OK, so to quickly defrost meat, simply fill a bowl with extremely hot tap water, seal the meat in a ziploc bag and plop it in.  Change the water when it becomes tepid and feel the meat to check temperature.  It usually takes 10 minutes-1/2 hour, depending on the amount and the thickness.  For chicken breasts, I put each one in an individual bag rather than a large ziploc bag because they will stick together and that slows the defrosting.  I do the same with fish fillets.  I haven’t yet tried this with hamburger or sausage but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

As you may or may not know, eggs should be at room temperature when using them in bread & scratch cake recipes–the former to keep from inhibiting the yeast action (cold=bad in bread language), and the latter for better structure in the cake.  You can quickly bring eggs to room temperature with the exact same method as I use for defrosting meat.  Crack your eggs into a sandwich bag (putting all of them in one bag is OK), seal it, and plop it into a bowl of hot tap water.  It will only take about 5 minutes or less, depending on how many eggs are in your bag.  You can also put the uncracked eggs in a bowl of hot tap water, but it will take much longer to bring them to room temperature and there’s no way to tell for sure if they’re warm until you crack them.  In the bag,  you can feel them through the plastic.

There you go!  Hope this tip comes in handy for you.

Convincing evidence suggests that it takes only one thing to get a woman’s attention: money. But if you eliminate cash and gifts of Manolo Blahniks from the equation, it is unclear which of the more intangible attributes contribute to a man’s sexiness.

Top 5 Character Traits

84%
1. Faithfulness
More than 8 out of 10 women rated “faithful to me” in the top 10 attributes they find sexy in a man. A woman’s tendency toward attachment is a biological imperative, a matter of raising offspring right. Reassure her (often) that you’re not going anywhere.

75%
2. Dependability
Three out of four women say they look for a man who makes commitments and follows through. Being responsible—even if it’s just remembering to pick up salad dressing on your way over to her place—sends a positive signal that someday you might commit.

67%
3. Kindness
Young women may still fall for the bad-boy type, but more-mature women are turned on by kindness, because kindness inspires confidence. In other words, if you treat the waitress well, your date figures you’ll treat her well, too.

66%
4. Moral Integrity
Having the guts to tell the truth means to a woman that you have the guts to be a good, caring, decent partner over the long haul. White lies are okay; just avoid any that are tinged with gray.

51%
5. Fatherliness
Being a good dad (or having the potential to become one) is about being a good role model—and about being patient and caring, qualities women like in a partner. If you’re not a father, then tell her about your favorite niece or nephew, or the employee you’re mentoring at work.

Today I spend my afternoon to configure a part of a full Flash website that interact with Flickr and that retrieve data from my account without any appication authentication but only with my Flickr key.

First of all I was really impressed about how many languages you can use to bring Flickr photos and use in own desktop application or website (Real Basic, cUrl, Perl, Delphi, C…).

When you want retrieve photos from Flickr you must have a Flickr key that is totally free and you can activate one directly in the right section of Flickr site.
In the same section you can find whole documentation and lots of services expose to retrieve any kind of data from a photo, from Exif data to user or friends informations.
For AS3 we have a couple of interesting library; first one is as3flickrlib very well documented but it’s so long to start work with it because you must to find a frob ID then a token and finally you can start to work with Flickr API.
The other one is SWX, that is written by Aral Balkan and it’s too easy to mesh up any kind of popular service like Flickr, Twitter and so on.
Aral gives us availability to use SWX Service Explorer to take a look at the data and how to mesh up your application with public API, I really love it on Flash Lite too!

This is very interesting because you can retrieve all API in this library and in few line of code you can work with public services.
This is a simple example to call Flickr services with SWX, you can download source code too:

swx = new SWX();
swx.gateway = GATEWAY_PHP;
swx.encoding = "POST";
var callDetails:Object =
{
serviceClass: "Flickr",
method: "photosSearch",
args: ["", "", "#mart3"],
encoding: "POST",
timeout: 5,
resultHandler: resultPhotos,
faultHandler: faultHandler
};
swx.call(callDetails);

Another interesting way to work with Flickr API without any authentication is using REST API.
REST (Representational state transfer) is a very simple way to request data from a database, update, delete them or to create new record using HTTPHeaders and XML.
You must know that AS3 doesn’t have PUT and DELETE method but there are some libraries that create a workaround to solve this limitation and they work very well with REST (as3httpclientlib for example)
I start to approach REST a couple of months ago with Ruby on Rails and I think is amazing.

Flickr gives us REST API too, and you can see that is so simple create a Flickr gallery with REST and Actionscript 3.

We have some API that works without authentication like photos search and we use this service to retrieve data for our Flickr gallery.
First of all we take a look at service documentation on Flickr, you can see that we have a lots of opportunity to find data on Flickr; we can search photos via userID, tags, text on title or description and so on.

In Actionscript 3 we’ll use URLLoader class and prepare some url to retrieve XML data from REST.

private const FLICKR_SERVICE = "flickr.photos.search";

private const API_FLICKR:String = "c6c31464878505403f9bbbf6214ae413";

private const PATH_SEARCH_FLICKR:String = "http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/";

		

public function FlickrRest(){

			

	var varsFlickr:URLVariables = new URLVariables();

	varsFlickr.method = FLICKR_SERVICE;

	varsFlickr.api_key = API_FLICKR;

	varsFlickr.tags = "#mart3";

			

	var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest();

	req.url = PATH_SEARCH_FLICKR;

	req.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;

	req.data = varsFlickr;

			

	var urlL : URLLoader = new URLLoader();

	urlL.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, retrieveImages);

        urlL.load(req);

			

}

You can download source code and final sample from this link.
Finally I’d like to explain how to compose photo’s url to retrieve them on Flickr.
Flickr url is composed by some variables that you can find in REST XML or SWX result object

1.  set FARM (ex.: http://farm”+flickrXML..photo[i].@farm+”.static.flickr.com/)
2. set SERVER (ex.: +flickrXML..photo[i].@server+”/”)
3. set Photo ID with underscore  (ex.: +flickrXML..photo[i].@id+”_”+”)
4. set Secret code (ex.: flickrXML..photo[i].@secret+)
5. last parameters is which size you want to get photos, you can use “_s.jpg” for small size, “_m.jpg” for medium, “_l.jpg” for large and so on.

I hope that could be interesting for many developers, if you have any suggestions or idea about mesh up with Flickr, feel free to drop a comment.

Dear Readers,

Now You Can Follow The Computer Savvy Weblog Via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Computer_Savvy

Here is The Official List Of Fixes and Improvements For AVG Free Anti-Virus version (9.0.709)

Program update AVG Free 9.0.709

Fixes & Improvements

Core: Detection of the next modification of Virut has been added.
Core: Fixed conflict of NTFS cache server with Kerio mail sever and accounting software.
Update: Fixed synchronization problem causing restart request.

So here is the link to the above information straight from the AVG Free Forum: http://forums.avg.com/ca-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=25409

—————————————————————————————————————-

Hope this answers all the questions I’ve been getting about what are the improvements made to the new AVG Free (9.0.709)

Till Next Time,

Remy “Se7en”

Dear Readers,

Now You Can Follow The Computer Savvy Weblog Via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Computer_Savvy

Hey everyone…This new version of AVG Free Anti-Virus is still not available via www.download.com. This new version of AVG Free Anti-Virus is only available Via Automatic or Manual Update. But when the new version is available @ download.com. I’ll let you guys know………….

Important Notice: This version is only available via Automatic or Manual update at this time…I’ll keep you updated when that changes…

Till Then,

Remy “Se7en”

Some Tips & Tricks for healthier cooking (check back often for updates)

1) It goes without saying: Always thoroughly wash your hands before cooking.  Out of consideration to others, if not for yourself.  

2) Thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables before using.  Especially if you buy non organic.  There are so many pesticides and chemicals on commercially grown fruits and vegetables.  It is important to wash the outside of melons (cantaloupe, melons, watermelon etc) since your cutting  knife will first touch the outside, and then transfer to the inside of your melon.

3) Always Leave skins on Potatoes (even when mashing, baking, wedging, in soups, & stews).  When you chuck the skins you loose most of the nutrients!

4) Add 1 tsp. ground flax seeds to your drinks.  It’s tasteless, and one of the smartest things you can do for your body on a daily basis.  Click here for benefits of ground flaxseed:
Flax Seed Benefits

5) Invest in two different cutting boards i.e., one red & one white; one wooden & one plastic etc.  ALWAYS use one for meat and one for Fruits & Vegs.  This way the blood from the meat will not contaminate the fresh food (Cross Contamination).

6) Always wash all utensils and cutting boards with a minimal amount of bleach added to water.  I like to keep spray bottles on hand for counters too.

Use 1 tablespoon of Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water & Air Dry dishes to kill the following:

Staphylococcus aureus (Staph.) & Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli)

Read: Facts About Bleach