Adventures in stupid technology
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iTunes x64 on Windows mission impossible?
Today I spent two hours trying to get the 64-bit version of iTunes to work in 64-bit mode. Apple has been distributing 64bit versions of its iTunes software since version 7.4, but somehow no one can get it to run in 64-bit mode on Windows VISTA/7. The quick time symlink trick, the orca launch condition…
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Great tasting BBQ Baby-Backs
My all time favorite BBQ Ribs will always be at Houston’s Restaurant in Pasadena. This recipe, however comes close to the their popular Knife and Fork ribs with Cole Slaw and String Fries at a fraction of the price. It takes some prep work, but if you are planning on being home for most of…
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Use ATI Remote Wonder II for SageTV
The ATI Remote Wonder II is an excellent RF remote especially for HTPC systems. Rather than depending directional infrared signals, it operates using x10 radio frequency signals (~433 Mhz) that can penetrate walls and greater distances than infrared. This makes it much more responsive than than traditional remote controls especially in situations where you need…
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Gmailify your Hotmail
I have an old Hotmail account which I use occasionally (mostly for registering things). The trouble is that it gets lots of spam and the interface is kind of slow and cumbersome to use. I’ve always wanted to have my Hotmail messages in Gmail, but forwarding just didn’t cut it. Now that Hotmail allows POP…
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Context menu issues with gVim in Windows 7 x64
Over the years I’ve developed a serious vi editor habit (mostly from my days working as a system administrator). I use it for coding in PHP, c, and perl because it is convenient and lightweight. Since gVim has been available for Windows, I have never had any issues running it on my home computer and…
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Miniaturize your pictures using TiltShiftMaker
Last year I first discovered a flickr group dedicated to tilt-shift photography and miniature faking by running across a couple of amazing images. Back then to create tilt-shift pictures involved either obtaining an expensive tilt-shift lens or modifying existing photos using Photoshop or GIMP. Now TiltShiftMaker.com allows anyone with a picture to create a tilt-shift…
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Windows 7 RC 64-Bit first impressions
My school’s MSDN Academic Allicance portal recently got updated with the long awaited Microsoft Windows 7 release candidate ISO image. Now that finals are over, my computer isn’t constantly tied up with seemingly never ending homework assignments or school projects, so I’ve had a chance to take the wraps off Windows 7 64-Bit.
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All I want is a nice 404 page
The other day while trying to show off my website I fat-fingered the URL and got a standard 404 page not found error. Halfway through typing the URL I had expected to see this page, what I hadn’t expected was a bunch of hostgator advertisements all over it. So I did a bit of digging…
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A detailed look at Exchange Server & OWA 2010
The beta became available a couple of months ago, but I’ve just haven’t had the time to install it till this weekend. The installation is easy and straightforward if you’ve got all the requirements in place. That said, don’t even bother trying to deploy it on a fresh install of Windows 2008 64bit Server. You’ll…
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Upgrading a RainingData D3 DBMS from NT/UNIX to 2003
D3 is a PICK based DBMS system used by many government institutions and large businesses. I was recently tasked with upgrading an existing RainingData (now TigerLogic) D3 installation from a failed NT server to windows 2003. Although a bit convoluted as far as steps go, the upgrade was surprisingly pain free and straight forward. Had…