The blog of Rob Mulally

Another site Launch! Happy Illusion!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:26:00 +0000

Happy to announce another friends site online: Happy Illusion
If your into your fashion bloggers be sure to have a read!

Jackie has been blogging for a while on tumbler and featured on FML.

The End of an Vodafone Era

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:50:00 +0000

It has been a wonderfull relationship in the past, I enjoyed unparralelled customer service, great plans and great loyalty programs.

Alas, my latest experiences with vodafone have left me looking for something else.

* Network Coverage/Busy Network
* SMS outage over easter
* Previous customer service and sales issues.

I've decided to move to Telstra on their "Bring your own" Plan.

Couple of reasons:
* NextG
* I'm hoping to not get busy network issues
* They released the bring your own phone plans which are reasonable value inc 3GB data, unlimited SMS etc.

To help, I'm ready for a new handset, my Nokia N86 has been amazing, a true dream phone, rock solid put up with my neglect, I've used all of the features, FM Radio transmitter included! and the 8MP camera for the last couple of years has got an extreem workout! GPS tagging its way around the world.

However its time to move to a smartphone. So i'm looking at the Samsung Galaxy S2.

As long as it supports the NFC in australia when its released I'm onboard.

Wish me luck :)

Dodo Internet Outage won't connect

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:44:00 +0000

There seems to be an internet outage preventing customers connecting to Dodo ADSL.

While Dodo haven't been pro-active notifying customers it seems to only affect some users, if your connection drops its almost impossible to re-connect.

My connection dropped while typing this so i'm on 3G now.... Hope this helps 1 other person avoid spending a looong time on hold.

If anyone knows the link to "network status" on the dodo website please let me know, I couldn't find it on a public page.

I posted on whirlpool forums also: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1583123
if you want to check if you have the same problems as me.

Rob

Blueprint Creative

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 07:57:00 +0000

Fantastic news, my good friend Samantha Dodson and her business partner Bastian Storch have launched their website. The website for Blueprint Creative You can find out more about the team on their site! Don't hesitate to contact them for your sydney based small business advertising and creative needs!

Visit Blueprint Creative's complete projects page to preview their creative work!

wii 4.2e load backup games from your usb hdd

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:39:00 +0000

Well i have finally done it, its been bugging me but i have put up a step by step guide for softmodding the wii to allow playing backup games from usb hard drive.

You can read the full page over on my site where i have posted the pages and pictures under the wii information as wii 4.2E load backup games form hdd I hope others find it useful.

I really put this up for my own reference and on the site i give credit to the original author. Its really designed to be a reference for the most complex parts of getting the steps working and hopefully empowers others to understand what they are doing rather than just following the guide blindly.

I have put up an index page of all my wii guides for easy reference.

Feedback is always welcome!

Cheers
Rob

windows 7 corrupt folder can copy files but not open them

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Hello,

Just had a battle with windows 7, I managed to end up with a folder

a) I could copy the files out
b) I could move the files out
c) I could not open the files or i got an error

The reason i found out was that there was a trailing space at the end of the folder name.

I could see this clearly using command prompt, i used old dos commands
dir c:\users\profilename\pictures\
to get the location then
dir /x

which shows the folder names it also shows the old dos format which for me looked like 2000b61

I could see the trailing space in the name "c:\users\profilename\pictures\my folder "

after checking my moved files were ok so it was just the folder remaining I then used RMDIR 2000b61 and this removed the folder ok.

Hope this helps others!

Thanks
Rob

Nokia N86 Video Center not playing Mp4 from TED RSS Feed.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:14:00 +0000

Hi, quick post, Video Center was not playing Mp4 from TED RSS Feed.
I found the solution to this in a Nokia FAQ.

The solution was as follows:

What to do if I cannot play videos after updating my Nokia N86 8MP phone software?

This is an issue which may occur in Nokia N86 8MP phone software version 20.115. If some of the video clips cannot be played after updating the phone software to 20.115, the problem can in most cases be solved in the following way:

Start File Manager application by selecting Menu > Applications > Office > File mgr.

Select C: Phone memory
Delete the following 3 files by browsing to the file in the list and selecting Options > Delete:
MdfPluginArchive.txt
plugin_archive.txt
R1_Mobile_4_0.cfg
After deleting the above files, the playing of the video clips should succeed again. Note that the above files will be automatically recreated after playing a video. There is no need to delete the files again after the video playback has started to work.

I hope this helps others, this was very frustrating and most of the information I foudn online let me to believe that this wasn't going to be resolved without purchasing coreplayer! Hope this saves others money :)

Thanks

Rob

Dell D410 Windows 7 Audio Driver

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:24:00 +0000

Hello World,

Just did a Windows 7 Refresh Install on my D410, my first mistake was selecting the wrong model laptop on the dell website, but when I finally realised I found that the Dell Windows XP Audio Driver for the D410's Multimedia Audio Controller works and installs fine.

Link to Dell's D410 XP Audio Drivers - Works for Windows 7.

Hope this helps you.

Rob

I

Lazy Susan for LCD cheap cheap

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:53:00 +0000

My Latest Adventure into online shopping and home decor has me purchasing this little device I highly reccomend this as a "cheap" lazy susan for rotating a LCD screen or anything else that requires spinning.

There is a catch!, This little guy needs a bit of weight, the runners insize are ball bearings on plastic rollers so there is a little bit of friction to overcome. End result as long as the item is reasonably heavy its great, but its not a "smooth" spin as you would expect on a normal greased metal running alternative.

For the price point the limitations are worth putting up with. If your looking for something for the kitchen a woodern metal running is a great lookinging alternative that

will free spin with light weight items.

If i get a moment i'll take some pictures of my setup and a video of the spinning motion.

Happy Shopping.

Movies and Meta data in Windows 7 Media Center

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:03:00 +0000

Windows 7 is here, So you have Media Center in Windows 7 and you want to manage your movies and meta data so that you can view it in Media Centre, but to your supprise it doesn't show all the information and there is basically no meta data on your movies?

You want to get the Meta Data with as little manual work as possible.
You want to be able to view it and sort/filter by the meta data when in media centre.
You want it to look amazing! like this image.

If this is you read on, I don't have the 'details' or step by step below as the free products below have their own websites with tutorials. (if there is demand I may make a step by step guide.) Overview: I have created this diagram which shows the components involved. - Meda Center = built into windows 7 - Media Browser = Plugin for Media Center - Meta Browser = Tool to download meta data and DVD covers into your movies folder. (it can also rename your foldres and files also if you desire). Here is the Diagram I will explain it below (see the summary in the diagram) CLICK to ENLARGE

Learn how I created this with a visio tool online for free.

So here is how it works and roughly what you need to do if you want to Sort your Movies for Media Centre in Windows 7 and have a fantastic interface as well as automate as much as possible the downloading.

You just need to have all your movies roughtly sorted and in a folder each, I have myn sorted under 4 folders which is under 1 master folder. as seen in the example above.

Download Meta Browser (http://themetabrowser.com/) (I also use media Scout) - This program helps you download movie information and covers and saves it in your movie folders, it can also rename your folders (reccomended) and files (not reccomended as you may need to refer to this name incase you accidently select the wrong movie when matching it to online list, by not having this set you can see the movie name is wrong, delete the xml files and start again.) You can do this in Bulk or one at a Time.
Download Media Browser (http://www.mediabrowser.tv/) - This program will allow you to view the above movies and their data in Media Center, it will show the dvd cover and allow you to sort by actor/genre/year etc.

I always suggest trying the above with a sample folder first, and copy over a few movies (also have a sample TV folder as well.) This will allow you to practice and see how it works without potentially effecting your existing library or movies.

Tips:

I used a program called foldermonkey on a 30 day trial to move my AVI files into folders, now the trial expired I used a windows script to do the same. Meta Browser above uses the "foldername" to search for the movie so having them as clean as possible is a good start and helps.
When using Meta browser if it has trouble finding the movie try changing 1 to one or AND to & etc when movie names are complex, if you use the one at a time or bulk option there is a way (drop down) to view other close matches if there is more than one.
I have used a program called "Tree Size Pro" to view my folders after the intial sort and look for duplicates as well as folders that are un-usually large (this means usually I have mulitple movies in the folders.

If you find this usefull please leave a comment, enjoy windows 7 and the Media Centre with great cover flow , sorting/filtering by year!!!

If there is a way moving forward of quickly converting AVI files to MKV and importing the MyMovies.XML file into the MKV meta data please let me know!!

My Nokia N86 Hotmail and Gmail Configuration!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:15:00 +0000

** Before you read this outdated post, I have finally spent the time and found a much better way to get all this done, sync contact/calander/hotmail/gmail/facebook messages everything for free, have a look at http://www.emoze.com/ I will definatly write up on this later but there are pleanty of reviews that help.
If this helps you please leave a comment below to let me know!! finally my Nokia N86 does everything I expected out of the box and its free and very customizable depending on your data plan!! **

** Original Post ****

I finally have purchased an N86, I’ll post about what happened with My N86 and Vodafone Australia another time, for now I'm too busy playing with my new toy.
The Nokia N86 is fantastic, a few things I'm getting used to but overall the ‘gadgets’ it has packed in (and why i chose it) are great, I’ve been using it one handed a lot while doing other things further justifying myself to have stuck to a non touch screen for this generation. But on to the topic of this post.
Hotmail and Gmail Configuration (Nokia N86 8MP – Email Only):
Out of the box I went to http://email.nokia.com/ within 5 mins I had my email for my hotmail and gmail accounts on my phone.
(the only settings I had to change were to prompt me for an access point to select my home network or my 3G connection.)
This was fantastic, But i’m not done.
I have done a little more research and so far, Gmail is supporting the mail for exchange.
Hotmail and Gmail Configuration (Nokia N86 8MP – Email and Contacts)
This is where I am up to. I’m now trying to configure Mail for Exchange on my Nokia N86 8MP. I will post a link to how i did this asap!
Ok here are a few Facts That I wanted to put incase anyone else was searching, I will put them in point form as I need to get them out of my mind :)
- Nokia N86 8MP has Mail for Exchange Built In (Its newer than any version I can find on the net (as of Sept 2009)
- So if your trying to follow Googles Gmail Instructions they are out of date.
- I might post more about this later, but basically if you want to get mail for exchange working you just need to enter a domain that gmail knows about and has settings for. So I entered myname@fakecompany.com and then it prompted me if it was and 'exchange' server.
- After doing my best to enter all the information I was not able to sync my contacts or emails via the Email for Exchange to Gmail on the Nokia N86.
- I find instructions from google on how to setup the phone sync features to sync the contacts list from gmail. I roughly followed these settings.
Current Status:
Mail (using the built in mail tool)
- Hotmail (via email.nokia.com - see site for easy instructions)
- Gmail (via email.nokia.com - see site for easy instructions)
Contacts (Sync from Gmail Contacts List)
- I used the export from hotmail and imported all contacts to gmail. and I roughly followed these settings. (Apparently some people have this working via Mail for Exchange where they can just sync the contacts)
So far the Mail for Exchange that seems to be built into the Nokia N86 and Nokia N97 doesn't seem to work with gmail. If you have managed to get this working please provide me a link to where I can find this information. Also if you have any way of getting this working for contacts with that also would be great.
My Current Aim for my contacts is: Hotmail <--- Net ---> Phone <--- Net ---> Gmail.
Again apologies for the rough point form just collecting information I discovered so far in what I thought would be a simple task!

Emsco is Back

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:39:00 +0000

Great news everyone, Emsco is almost back up, Scott and Josie have been working hard and the site is being built now! emsco Windows Australia. I'll keep you updated when the new site is finished! Go Josie!

Easy Morph Photos of People Free Software

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Well, I have to be quick, but I came up with a project that I had to get out of my head, I wanted to easily morph photos of people (In this case myself). I wanted to morph pictures scanned from my licences and passport photo's.

Here is a quick list of the programs and tools I used (All Free) and the final result.

I have listed the programs in order of use any if anyone wants just let me know and I will flesh out this information with how-to's if required.

Project Aim:

Easily Morph photos of myself (people) using free software.

Using only licences or 'cards' with photo ID's morph them in rough chronological order.

Only Free Tools to be used.

Upload it to the Web and share it with rough instructions on how it was produced.

Free Programs and Software Used:

MSPaint / HP6110 Scanner
Vista Snipping Tool
FotoMorph Free Addition
Windows live Movie Maker.

Tips:

Scanning at medium quality (at least 300dpi) To ensure the photos of people are good quality.
When viewing the photos scanned in zoom in on them before snipping as this is a screenshot method and only used for 'easy of use' and because its free. zooming in preserves the quality of the photo when using the screenshot too. Save them Individually.
When choosing a file save name use something like this ... Year - Order - MovieA - MovieB as an example 2000-A-[B][C].jpg this will help order them in the file system in the date order and allow you to keep track of what vide they are a part of.
Exporting from the Morph Program ensure you match this project settings and photo positions as much as possible. (I have made this mistake) Crop you photos before loading them not in the tool to get the best accuracy.
Use more control points if the photos don't look good in the morph. This free tool is fantastic if you get the control points right.

End Result:

Windows 7 D410 Video Issue Intel 915 washed out colours

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:46:00 +0000

** Confirmed ok in windows 7 Full Release **

Just a quick post to say that I found a fix to my colour/color issues on my D410 running Intel 915 graphics chipset. Symptoms were 4 colours or overexposed colours when the power was unplugged!

Causes/Testing:

Occurs when video drivers installed. (usually after windows update)
Doesn't occur using basic vga driver.
Doesn't happen when power plugged into laptop. (Does when unplugged randomly)

This is the summary of the problem please let me know if this helps or you find a non-work around solution!

Right Click on the desktop and look for the Intel Graphics Options. or go start run and type in igfxpers then hit ok.
We are looking for the power saving features for the Intel Chip.
You should find 3 radio boxes and a slide bar.
one option is to slide the slide bar a notch and test until the problem disappears.
a second option is to untick the radio boxes to disable the power saving features. (Not ideal)

I'll post more detailed steps and screenshots when I can. I hope this helps. Enjoy! Now that its running, have some time to merge my avi meta data in windows 7 so I can sort my movies by date! I have also just done a re-install and had to remind myself how to get the Dell D410 Windows 7 Audio Drivers for Multimedia Audio Controller

Vodafone Australia Nokia N86 8MP release date and twitter...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:07:00 +0000

If you cant wait Buy it online at amazon or Search for another online store that ships to Aus

Vodafone Australia Release date for Nokia N86 8MP is : .... They don't know!

UPDATE: Vodaphone called me back on friday the 17th as promised, and unfortunatly the handset has not been approved etc on their network, so its at least a month from now according to their phone staff. Which means approximatly 17 August 2009

UPDATE 2: I called again just to check this date is still on track and the approximate date is still the same, this is the date they are expecting to have it in stock etc so inclding 5-10 days shipping means End of August till I have my hands on it... Perhaps I should have just bought it online :(

UPDATE 3: BAD NEWS! I called again on the 17th August to check and now am being told that its 3 months away.... Is vodafone pushing to give the N97 more sales or delaying for a christmas release? Either way this is bad news. I'm hoping to get another opinion from someone at vodafone and will be calling them again this week and will update this post.

UPDATE 4: OK NEWS! I called Vodafone this week and again has someone fantstic help me out, they said its more likely a month away so I'm willing to wait another month before I call for another update!... so now it looks like the end of september. :(

I continue to search for news on the Vodafone Australia Release Date. If you can't wait that long try searching online for the Cheapest N86 Online

Thats right N86 8MP is due to be released in Australia by vodafone, they are selling it already plan and all! I was very excited about potentially getting my new phone 5-10 days after I ordered it... until I found out it isn't listed as even being stocked in the warehouse (oursourced distributor)!.

As of 17th July 2009 (Emily Camerons Birthday by the way..) Nobody at vodafone is able to tell me when the phone will arrive. I'm going to wait untill tomorrow afternoon before I start to consider other options.

In my opinion you should sell something you don't stock without notifying the customer of this little.. detail before you start charging the for it! :).

I'm very excited about the phone and I'm aware of its limitations. I will definalty post a Nokia N86 8MP review as soon as I have my hands on it.

I will also update the date I get the phone to notify others thats its possible to ship, as its in stock.

Stay Posted Australia.

I've decided to wait it out and let my order stay pending with vodafone, if you can't wait check out the prices at Amazon or alternatively try another googler search here: Cheapest N86 Online

Buy Coke Zero ... What is the difference with diet coke and coke zero?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Buy Coke Zero! You can get coke zero on Amazon here is a link with referal:

Review Comming Soon.... For now enjoy your coke!

Parking Infringement Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Parking Infringements are not welcome at any time let alone when they hit you as a designated driver, while unemployed and you have paid for the privilege!

We had decides to drive to the city, with limited cash and being unemployed it was both the healthy option as well as the financially sound one. We chose our parking spot about 1km from our destination on a quiet street in the city. Parking next to plenty of other cars and checking the signs quickly as we parked.

Paying our cash in a parking meter using my credit card. At around 2 am we come back to our car and see that us and 20 other cars have parking fines (Parking Infringments) of about $180 dollars each. We did the right thing and goggled the sdro to see what our options were to claim a review of our infringement. While searching we came across others who were having a similar issue with the ticket now showing all the available options. Aussie Blogger Megs Parking Ticket Conspiracy shows our sentiments exactly.

We put together an review and sent if off only to have it rejected, with no real reason. The city council makes Millions of dollars in situations like this every year, in a spot where there are 100s of paid parking spots. There is a lot of about 20 spots that has a no standing section, with overloaded signs it’s hard to distinguish what is what and there is no warning near the parking meter when paying for your ticket.

The no standing section between 2am and 4am is there for a reason and rather than "fining" people they should be attempting to be stop people parking there, different coloured markings, signs etc.

If it’s no stopping for a reason other than collecting money, the city of Sydney should be acknowledging the inadequate signs and having them changed. Sadly however they have no need to with the sdro office claiming millions of dollars from situations like this every year there is no reason to stop punishing unfortunate designated drivers every Friday and Saturday night.

I have included pictures of the cars that got hit that night as well as the signs that are confusing and lead to a double income, people paying for the privilege to park there, then being stung collecting the cars later on.

Parking Infringements should be like speeding fines, not there to collect money but to prevent people parking; clear signage is the pinnacle of this process. When submitting a claim it might be worth while getting some professional help, even though at the time I was unemployed the signage was inadequate and I put together a reasonable argument with photos my review was short lived and basically a waste of time.

Don’t make the same mistake, get some help from professionals like:

http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com/

The City of Sydney and SDRO website for these claims are located at:

References:

Connect Bluetooth Keyboard to Nokia Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Yes I Connected my Bluetooth Keyboard to my Nokia Phone!. I'm not sure what has taken me so long to try this... but I finally have connected a bluetooth keyboard to my mobile phone, after learning some of the short cut keys, its actually amazing. I'll add more to this post later about what i have done and show some pictures. Basically this is the Simple Steps to Connect. Steps to Connect Bluetooth Keyboard to Nokia Phone

I navigated on my nokia phone to the office section and to wireless keyboard (wls keyboard) Application.
I then pressed the red button on my keyboard to start pairing.
I then chose options - find keyboards
I stopped the searching once the keyboard name appeared.

Then the cool part!

It asked me for a PIN. i chose 0000 (4 zeros) and hit ok.
It then asked me to TYPE it in the keyboard!!! and hit enter.
So on the keyboard i used the number keys and typed 0000 then enter. (4 zeros)(enter)

And away I went! You will have to get used to the keys, when browsing the:

Windows Key was helpfull.
As was the ALT TAB.
I found the context menu button on the windows keyboard also helped.

If i find a list of keyboard shortcuts for the nokia i'll post them. Hope this finds you and helps you! I love logitech keyboards. Edit: I found a great article that shows screenshots and had a step by step over at : www.allaboutsymbian.com Cheers Rob

Dane Jeffrey goes Wordpress

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:24:00 +0000

Dane Jeffrey had created his landing page found at Dane Jeffrey . Com Its a great example of a Wordpress page, simple clearly defined and easy to navigate. I think its about time, I setup my own landing page and I might just steal some ideas from Dane. Now.. what was my FTP login details again.....

pool basketball new sport low cost

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:23:00 +0000

What is Pool Basketball I hear you ask, if you search for Pool Basketball at Amazon you will find products like this:
However, This requires purchasing a product, what about the latest and greatest supper duper new sport. Pool basketball with a low low cost. Well Let me write up the rules and show you some pictures of how it can be played.

Welcome to pool basketball 101

Introduction:

As you can probably tell this is something special, I've tried to keep these rules as simple as possible. Lets get straight into it. Here is a photo of all the components you will need to get started.

Photo of Pool Basketball:

Items for Pool Basketball:

A - You need someone willing to play. Minimum 1.
B - You will need a ball. Minimum 1.
C - You will need an area for the basket, this might be the spa area or an area that has been roped off.
D - More Difficult Balls, all of the ones pictures are my current choice.

Rules of Pool Basketball

1 - Player throws the items from the goal area into the pool. As Random as possible.
2 - Player swims on back around pool to each item.
3 - Player uses "feet" only to move / kick / place the items into the goal area.
D - Player can be scored of number of items in time limit. or total time taken. I suggest using the Number of items in 1 min if there are lots of players, and the later if you wish to build endurance. It gets difficult after a few Min's of this swimming action.

Well That's it for now, I may end up going to amazon and getting one of these great pool basketball items but for the moment, I'm going to stick to my new sport. Enjoy Rob Mulally

My Sore guitar fingers and how to fix

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Buy Liquid Skin here: amazon: I've recently got back into guitar and something that comes with the territory is the callouses that form at the tips of the fingers. These can become dry and cracked. Lucky i personally have not got blisters.
Some things I've picked up from speaking to others and some online research is how to handle, fix and prevent sore guitar fingers and treat/prevent cracked fingertips.

Defiantly Don't!

Be very careful before using anything on your skin. Your skin will absorb chemicals into your blood stream.
Defiantly Do not use turpentine.
Defiantly Do not use hand cream or anything that softens the skin (i.e water).
Do not mistake the pain at the tip of the fingers for any join paint or wrist pain. This is a form of RSI and could mean you are playing with incorrect positioning of the arms or guitar.
Do not press too hard when playing, remember to use enough force to have the notes ring true without adding excess force. This will help with the finger tips but also endurance when playing.

Defiantly Do!

Warm up before playing by stretching wrists and fingers.
Playing a scale can help with this.
Persist, the initial pain is worth it!

Treatment & Prevention

Dipping tips of your fingers into surgical spirits. (this usually evaporates at room temperature and will help harden the finger tips.)
I've heard of some people use a product called LIQUID SKIN to apply over the tips of the fingers. Follow product direction for best effect.
You can Buy Liquid Skin from amazon:
Get a softer grade string or use nylon strings, this won't avoid the problem but it might help when starting out.
I personally don't recommend using anything that reduces or removes pain, pain is the body's way of telling us something is going on. If you manage to play for so long that you get blisters or cracked skin its best to rest and come back to it later. Without 'feeling' this pain you could cause some real damage.

I personally have found a few ways that I overcame the initial pain, at first the sharp pain felt like a needle stuck under my finger nail. After playing guitar I used to tap the tips of my fingers on a hard surface for 10 seconds at a time attempting to 'numb' the pain. This was handy if i had to play for instance a guitar lesson. After 60 seconds the shooting pain up my fingers usually stopped and I was back with only sore finger tips.

Do you have any other tips for helping with the above problems?
Do you have any other symptoms or issues from playing guitar?

Time Machine and Full Restores

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:34:00 +0000

While researching for Emily on how to do a full restore in case she needs to with time machine I came across this blog. Duncan Davidson - restoring from time machine He has a great step by step account of testing time machine in a catastrophic hard drive failure. He also links to a This post: Intentionally Deleting iTunes By Mike Solomon - "That’s how badass I am". It looks like in summary that Time machine can restore all files to a new machine besides some logs and obvious exceptions, which means that it offers a "file by file" or "all files at a snapshot" when restoring. My understanding is that it doesn't backup the full bootable drive so you will need to re install the operating system then use time machine itself to do the restore from a snapshot. This is what i was trying to find out and is appropriate for em's backup requirements.

Macbook and Vista Master Browser

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Are you trying to network a macbook with your workgroup?

Well luckily enough its relatively easy to do... Most of the time. This Discussion Details all the steps you need to consider if your having trouble and have already tried the nice and easy step by step guide to sharing files on a mac.

I unfortunately followed these steps and yes i could use the "cmd-k" connect to server option, type in the name of the server. using smb://computername/sharename works for me so that's what I'm using now. See this website for step by step guide to this proccess. Along my journey to settling for this 'work around' (I know its not really a work around but you will see why after my little story below). My desired results were: "Set all my computers to the same workgroup", (Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Mac OSX) and allow them to be visible in each others "network browser windows", so you can just 'browse' and click. Lucky for me this was all working for the XP, Vista and Windows 7 PC's, but I could not get the macbook to 'see' the windows based computers. This is the summary of the problem and some commands I found and used along the way. It should be mentioned here that the problem was as follows:

When Vista is the Master Browser the Mac cannot see any computers in the "network". But obviously still can connect using "connect to server" manually. When XP is the Master Browser the Mac can see any computers in the "network".

How to determine which computer is the Master Browser Simple If you can turn all the computers off on your network besides two of them. Mac - XP Mac - Vista In those combinations to see if the Mac can see the network computers. This is what i did, turned off vista machine and XP became the master browser. (Note: if your comfortable you can use the Start->Run->Services.msc and stop the computer browser service to have the same effect, this is what i found and efficient way to cause re-elections.) On the PC

Bring up a command window. (Start->Run->cmd)
Type: "net view" (not including "'s)
You should see a list of computers, \\computername
Then you can use the command: "nbtstat -a computername" Where computername is one of the machines in the list. on each machine untill you find the one with "..__MSBROWSE__." in the list of results. This is the current master browser.

On the Mac

Bring up a Terminal Window (Utilities, Terminal)
Type: "nmblookup -M -- -." (not including "'s)
This should give you the IP of the Master Browser. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
(Note the -- -. in my understanding is how to get the - symbol. The -- and . must be how to escape the characters otherwise - would be treated like the - in the -M command.)
Then you can run, nmblookup -A xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Where xx's represent the IP you got from the command before.
This then should list the Netbios names of the Master browser and the workgroups.
You will also see "..__MSBROWSE__." which indicates its the master browser.

Now What? If you have discovered like me that you cannot see a list of computers when Vista is the master browser, then these are the options i'm aware of.

a) Stop vista from becoming a master browser. (Registry Edit or diable browser service)
b) Enable the Mac to become a master browser. (terminal->sudo nano /etc/smb.conf, you are looking for os level = 2 and local master = no, You might want to do some more research of your own before modifying these settings.)
c) Just use the connect to server option on the mac.

I'm experimenting with B and C. Hopefully this problem will go away after a vista patch or when i roll my machines over to Windows 7. Hope this helps someone out there. This Post was brought to you by:

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Making cars and houses green while preventing cancer!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:26:00 +0000

Hopefully this year will be a corner stone in the "Green" movement for consumers to pickup and use green technologies that companies are providing, sometimes however there are things that have been around for a while which we can start to look at right now. Forever people have been tinting the windows on their cars, but not many are aware that it is even a consideration to tint the windows at home. Not only can the effect look amazing but the implications for the environment, yourself and your home contents are quite significant as well. I have been reading some articles posted at West Michigan Window Tinting where I read things that seem obvious now but were not at the time. A window tinting product called Panorama claims to stop 95% of UV light, this is not only significant for heating issues, but protection of your skin and your furniture as well. Everybody hates furniture fading due to sunlight and people in home offices love to absorb the heat and often deliberately set up the office so they are close to a window. Solar Guard was designed to help public entities lower their energy consumption and this can be used on your own home. I've included a diagram to show how Energy consumption savings are made when Window Tinting is applied to glass. So we have something that will, save energy reducing your carbon footprint and therefore a Green Product, it stops UV light and means you don't need sunblock when working in the home office nor protect home furniture from sun damage. Obviously when looking for a company to install these products do your research and make sure they have a lifetime warranty on their products.

Fire and the lasting effects.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Mulally) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Fire has devastated Australia again this year with the death toll at the time of writing this sitting at 180 with still more towns to search. Cool weather is helping but this story hasn't finished yet... Meanwhile the survivors of the fires have both mental and physical scares that are still with them, often when someone is in close proximity to a fire they are subjected to intensely hot smoke filled air, this air can be inhaled and burn/scar the throat. I dearly hope we have enough Ear Nose and Throat Specialists who can help those effected, as these types of internal burns are difficult to treat. My thoughts are with those effected by the fires. Donations are best made through the Red Cross.