Adventures in stupid technology
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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…
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iPhone + Twitter + Facebook + Digg = Timesuck
One thing I’ve learned by going back to school with a bunch of “Millennials” (aka Generation Y) is that these kids are definitely more up-to-date, connected and informed than my generation (Generation X). They’re in constant communication with each other through Facebook, Twitter, IMs, and texts; busily updating their various networks of “friends” on “what’s…
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TV got scared to death
A few months ago my decision to buy a plasma TV in 2006 finally caught up with me. I’d just finished watching the Blair Witch Project, when my TV suddenly clicked, popped and then turned off indefinitely. In its defense I should mention that leading up to this lackluster finale it had been suffering some…
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Keep your hardwood floors clean
My new place has hardwood floors throughout. With two cats and a litter box it can be a chore to keep it clean. Every week cat hair accumulates under tables and in corners and walking barefoot yields tiny rocks stuck to your feet…ew! I used to sweep the place regularly, but while relatively effective at…