We just picked up our upgrade phones this week on release day and have been messing with the Siri functionality. You may not know this but Siri can text status updates to Social sites for you. Here is how to configure it for Facebook and Twitter. (more…)

I recently started trying to learn Ableton for messing around with recording music. In looking at all the options it seemed to be the most flexible in that it can do loop based music as well as the old long form way of recording into tracks. Further it handles any changes all live so you can create in the moment. You can add effects, instruments, clips, loops etc all while what you are doing is playing (more…)

I have been using virtual machines for some time and the technology just continues to improve. This past week I placed several full systems onto a single laptop and am just astounded how well the systems operate. Some of the systems came from virtual infrastructure, others were live stand alone machines, and yet other cam from images of systems. The operating systems encompassed XP, Windows 7, Server 2003, Server 2000. The conversion and configuration was straight (more…)

I often get asked what are the apps I use most frequently on my Iphone / Ipad. I am not a crazy app-ologist or heavy gamer I am just a normal user without any endorsements. I tend to use things that are cloud connected when possible so i can access the information from anywhere. A good example would be Gmail as my email, calendar, docs and photograph sharing. All the gmail products integrate directly with iphone and ipad standard apps and are also available in any browser anywhere.

So without further adue:

• Lastpass – Super secure password and document vault. Two factor authentication
• LogMeIn Ignition – Logmein client for Ipad / Iphone that works slick even on 3g
• Evernote – Remember everything, web clip from a browser, pic from a phone (more…)

There are a bunch of way to stream live and recorded TV to you devices but the latest solution I have found is a new release on WinTV from Hauppauge. The latest software update has a an extender built-in to push the signal from you Hauppauge (more…)

The winds of change are constantly blowing and things evolve. It wasn’t that long ago when people would only use an alias for email and chat, and simply shopping online was a scary proposition. Fast forward to today where people freely place all there information online (more…)

I recently had peculiar set of  events leave me with a single AD Server placing  it into a UNC Rollback state.  I replaced the server with a back-up image, tried restoring the System State in DSRM, no luck. Every avenue I tried left the system in the same state upon reboot. After hours and many failed attempts this was the last remedy for me…

Restored the Image of the Server (to put the system back to square one) then restored the system state in DSRM, this did NOT work (still in UNC) , opened REGEDIT and deleted the key

“Dsa Not Writable” under “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters

Upon reboot the Active Directory services started and netlogon and the balance came up as expected. Obviously reg edits are at your own peril. I couldn’t find any work around solutions on the web other than rebuilding Active Directory from scratch and that really isn’t a solution at all in my book. So if your faced with a similar problem give this a shot, let me know if it helps you too.

The environment is operating in mixed mode and this was on a Win2K server SP4.

The Internet as we now it is under attack by some in Washington and by many of the providers like cell phone providers, cable companies and others with special interests. These companies are working to pass the Internet Freedom Act, which will allow them to manipulate the the traffic on their networks across the internet. Many free services such as Skype or Hulu directly compete directly against these companies. As an example cable companies were recently ordered that they could NOT inhibit traffic from Hulu a website that streams TV and movies for free. If the Internet Freedom Act passes providers will once again be able to tweak service at will. This will be bad for competition, bad for the consumer, and only benefits theses big companies.

Tell the politicians you to leave the internet open and free to everyone.The Internet Freedom Act is not good, it is simply a catchy name to limit our rights, limit our choices and give innovation the boot. You can go to http://www.savetheinternet.com/ and learn more about why Net Neutrality is a good thing and sign the petition against the Internet Freedom Act. The Internet is what allows us all to communicate openly, The Internet Freedom Act will gag you and your freedom of choice.

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There is handy application called Stitcher. It allows you to stream radio stations and podcasts straight to your Iphone or computer on demand. This isn’t a novelty on it’s own, but what you can also do it stack your favorite channels to make your own playlist. Stitcher offers many pre-configured channels covering technology, health, news etc. Many of my favorite podcasts from NPR and TWIT were already in there and it is nice to have the opportunity to checkout new ones I was unfamiliar with. Where Stitcher shines is that it doesn’t need to sync to provide any of the content and may be configured and accessed through a single account for the browser and or Iphone.
Drawbacks….if you listen to a show and leave the application it has to start your show from the beginning, it doesn’t remember your place..this isn’t good for long shows. Upside….Free www.stitcher.com

Also of mention on the application front for streaming music is SomaFM. Stream music via browser or iphone with several commercial free channels…Two of my favorites are Boot Liquor and Covers. This is great for when you just want something a little outside the mainstream and here is the link http://somafm.com/listen/ If you hear something on the channels you like you can bookmark it for buying on itunes later. The stream quality will change depending if your phone is on WiFi or Edge so you always get the best quality with minimal buffering. Drawbacks….on Iphone the channel will play for 20-30 min and you need to press play again. I presume this is to reassure SomaFM your still listening and they are not wasting bandwidth. SomaFM is commercial free and is listener supported.

Pandora is a new kind of radio that plays only music you like. Pandora works via a browser and Iphone application that allows you to make your own station(s). Simply enter an artist or a song and it will serve you that artist or song along with similar tunes. You can vote each song up or down if you like and skip it if you hate it. This is a great way to experience artists you have never herd of and the tunes served typically do fit the profile well. You can see information about the artist and bio when the songs playing. Pandora is commercial free and allows you to save many personal channels. The application and service is free. http://www.pandora.com/#/stations/create/

So when you are tired of the same old playlist, step outside the box and expand your horizons with these great browser and Iphone applications.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Ever wonder what someone's Twitter Feed looks like to them with the people they follow, wonder no more. CTwitterLike is a very basic web service that does just that, simply enter the persons Twitter Name and presto you see their feed. http://ctwitterlike.appspot.com/   —- Spooky

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Download now or watch on posterous

Theperfectgift!.wmv (1233 KB)

The title said “The Perfect Gift”, I will let you all decide.

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I found this great Iphone app "Tweetero", post tweets, pics, videos, even tags a location link automatically for you via Twitter. App and services are free. The interface on the phone is clean and very usable, unlike some where they can be clumsy. The app was developed by the creators of Yfrog so, Pics and Vids are shared via Yfrog and short linked in you tweet. If your at a desktop you can also use Yfrog via the browser to share your media via linking or embedding, best part is no account and registration is needed, just share and go. Many Twitter apps give you your feeds, but this one does it all and you can't beat the price.

Also of mention regarding Twitter and Social feeds is Yoono
Yoono is an add-on extension for Firefox that will give you a window on the edge of your browser and display all the feeds from your Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, AIM and related social networking accounts. It updates the feeds regularly, allows you to post and can be easily closed or opened as needed. Another extension worth a look..

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Every so often I inventory my methods for managing my daily data like to do lists, tasks, appointments etc. I am always looking for ways to make things easier to manage and review what technologies can help in the endeavor.  Most recently with my purchase of the Iphone I have been looking for the one killer app to allow me to brain dump and collect thoughts and cool web finds. What i am settling toward is a combination of a few applications that integrate well together.

Google services Gmail, Calender, Docs and Picasa have become my primary presence online. Accessible and integrated to my Iphone this provides me the one stop two way service anyone would expect. Anyone who puts down Iphone’s email (more…)

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Many may be unaware the service available via Google’s Picasa. For those of you uninitiated types Picasa is a free photo library manager and photo editor for your Mac or Windows PC. It continues to evolve steadily with new features and provides free online web albums for storage, sharing, and light weight back-up of you pictures.

One feature many are not aware of is that if you use the Picasa web albums feature you may upload your files from your Iphone via email. Login online and go to settings in Picasa and turn-on email upload. This will ask you to enter some secret characters which will be appended to your gmail account. ie….EmailID.Secret@gmail.com.

Another thing I did was add this new special email to my email address in my gmail contacts. See article on sync of gmail contacts and email on this site.

Now when you are out and about you can snap a photo with your Iphone and tap email, enter the email and it will upload to a drop folder in your web albums. You can control the view of this Drop Folder folder such as making it public or private and manage your pictures as you do any of the others.

Another bonus is slideshows…in Picasa web albums you can click a folder and click”link to this album” on the right side and there is options to link or embed the album(s) and you can even create a slide show that will update with pictures in the folder automatically. Below is an example…

Picasa is a neat application and the workaround for email adds by Iphone works great!

Well I did it…upgraded to a new Iphone 3G this past weekend and threw my old Motorola Razor in the drawer for well served tired electronics (and as a back-up). I went back and forth over the Blackberry Bold and Apple Iphone (Storm is only available on Verizon)

I must say when I read at the Apple website I could sync to MsExchange I was excited. When I discussed this feature with the “phone guy” i was told it was another $15 a month….NOT the right price. I think this may have been for the “mobile me” service through apple but regardless I wasn’t paying anymore than the bare bones price.

I purchased the phone and started my 30 day trial. The Iphone has been great through it initial break-in and feel out. I use Google Applications, Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Picassa the works…configuring the Gmail account was a snap, but i wanted a calendar that i could push sync as well. I don’t want to maintain many copies or need to transfer or sync manually.

Well low and behold you can sync the Google Calendar and Contacts easily without any additional fits or fees. There is a tutorial here on configuring the phone to interface with your existing Google calendar and presto. Leave it to Google to step up and get it done without fuss or expense.

It is key to have a central hub for and this configuration works like a charm providing updates and syncing via any computer browser or my phone. This configuration provides the best of all worlds. Google has an application in the Apple app store that provides a hub to ALL things Google for the iphone as well.

Once configured your email, contacts, and calendar are in sync and update automatically. You even can have simple task management all in one simple place all in sync over the air. Well done Google!

Windows 7 Alpha has been released and promises an change for Microsoft. A big surprise is many of the applications that have been stuffed into windows for years will be taken out. Outlook Express, Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery. The plan is to make the O/S a bit thinner. The applications along with other will be available for download via Windows Live.

It would seem Microsoft is positioning Windows Live to become a search and services portal and by somewhat forcing Windows users through the site there hoping some will stay and steer away from Google.

A key aspect of Windows 7 is it being coded in a more modular way. The same basic pipes are still there but the plan is by modular coding and testing they can have a more secure infrastructure and fewer bugs. This is really a result from the Vista burn that Microsoft is still shaking off today. A big feature set Microsoft is working with vendors on is faster booting and load times and improved accessory management (play DVDs without Booting the entire O/S).

I have to admit I am excited about the upcoming release. It seems Microsoft really gets it right about every other release so if things hold true it should be a winner. I read Steve Balmer is pressing the schedule of the release up nearly two years, if this is true and he pushes to hard not allowing time for testing it could be a disaster. Time will certainly tell.

GAG is a graphical boot manager for loading mutiple operating systems on a single machine. GAG allows for installing multiple windows installations on the same hard disk and operating systems off remote disks. It supports hard drives up to 4tb. The GAG configuration interface may be pasword protected as well as each O/S install may password protected as well. It is an excellent app and best of all it’s free. Get it Here.

If you are a person who uses many applications and leaves them open and hot-keys between apps and struggles with room and clutter on you’re windows desktop then Deskspace is for you.

Deskspace is a desktop manager that provides 6 desktops for your windows system. Hitting a hot key displays your desktops in a 3D cube which can be rotated easily by mouse or using arrow keys. You can drag applications to new windows and see all applications on all windows from the app utility in the tool bar.

The XP Power pack provides multiple desktops, but Deskspace provides a really refreshing graphical means to interact with the desktops and applications.

The application is fast, easy and highly customizable. http://www.otakusoftware.com/deskspace/

I’m creating a website where residents of Lebanon Maine may visit to share insight, exchange ideas, discuss topics, and post opinion all in an effort of improving our Town management, educating residents and hopefully reduce spending and taxes while improving services. I will be posting any of Lebanon information there as well.

I invite you to visit, register, and become involved. http://ourvoice.stadig.org

I saw an excellent podcast over the weekend at http:/revision3.com Systm regarding the usage and configuration of MythTV. MythTV is an O/S extension that is coming bundled into several Linux distributions and provides Tivo like experiences in recording, streaming and storing all sorts of media. The set-up requires you to get you’re geek on, but not in an extreme way and should be easy enough for person comfortable with installing windows say to perform. The system doesn’t use extreme resources, any old Pentium class machine will work. They recommend getting a TV tuner card that does some on board processing to lighten the load. The MythTV box will identify UPNP devices automatically so you can stream to you’re PS3, Xbox, and media servers. The package I saw demonstrated looked ready for prime time and serves as an awesome way to extend the life of the old machines taking up space in the garage.

MythTV isn’t for everybody but it certainly is worth a good look. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV

I came accross a great tool called WOAS Wiki on a Stick. The wiki is a self modifying XML file that can run stand alone on a laptop, usb stick, or even a floppy. If you’re the Wiki type this is a great tool for keeping notes, calendar, or documentation repository. uses standard mark-up and allows embedded images and java script. it can be downloaded here WOAS

Here are couple quick tips and features you might be unaware of for Google’s Chrome browser.

CTRL + T  opens a new tab

CTRL + SHIFT + N automatically opens up a Chrome ‘incognito’ window which allows you to surf on a PC without leaving behind any digital footprints.

SHIFT + Escape allows for fast access to Chrome?s Task Manager utility that allows you to nix browser processes that have gone awry. Great for seeing memory offending web applications.

CTRL + SHIFT + T will open recently closed browser tabs. SO if you closed a tab or two inadvertently simply use this command and they are back. Exactly like Firefox does.

Larger Comment Boxes Comment boxes on Web sites soliciting feedback can sometimes be way too small. With Chrome you simply click on the corner of any Web-based comment field and stretch it out as large as you like.

Peel Tabs Chrome allows you to peel browser tabs off a browser so they can become their own browser window. Chrome also allows you to take two separate Chrome browsers and drag them together creating one window with two tabs.

Another Incognito Right click any link and selct  “Open link in incognito window.” This allows for browsing ingonito like CNTL+Shiht+N.