Tech On A Dime

Use Your Existing Webcam as a Home Security Camera with Homecamera.com

2010-06-03T23:49:00.001-05:00

A few weeks back we had some issues at my house. They involved my nine year old thinking that he had the right to get up in the middle of the night and do…whatever he wasn’t allowed to do during the day. He played video games, read books all night, ate ice cream…basically had the run of the house. Since he was quiet enough not to be heard, we sometimes had a difficult time figuring out how long he was up and what he’d gotten into. So, I started looking around for ways to capture his nocturnal behavior. What I ran across turned out to be a pretty slick service from homecamera.com that can be used for any type of home monitoring by using an existing computer/webcam setup.

Homecamera.com is a free service (currently in beta) that requires you to download a piece of software onto your local computer for the image/video capture. The software allows you to configure things such as motion capture:

Once the software is configured and running, you can control certain functions by logging into homecamera’s web site. This allows for remote control of your camera, and is ideal for those “did I leave the light on?” moments. This would also be useful for nannycam situations. An image or video can be snapped at the click of an icon:

I was initially a little apprehensive about using a cloud service to store images from within my house, but the more I thought about it, the more remote storage of the images made sense to me – especially if you’re using it as a security camera solution. Hypothetically speaking, if I was capturing images through my webcam and storing them locally, and my house was robbed, more than likely the computer (with the stored images of the perps) would be at high risk of theft. By sending the captured images into the cloud, even if my house was completely emptied, I would be able to retrieve images of the bad guys captured by my webcam.

Homecamera also stores captured images and videos in easy-to-access file system-like format:

While I wasn’t able to stop my son from his midnight gallivants (we resorted to a ear-splitting door alarm…don’t judge me! He’s sleeping now, isn’t he??? :)), I did manage to stumble across an impressive free service that could save you some money if you have a well-placed webcam and a need for in-home monitoring.

Combine PDF Pages Into a Single Document with PDFHammer

2010-03-23T22:47:00.010-05:00

Let's face it, PDF editors are expensive. I found myself in a position recently where I had scanned a multi-page document a page at a time, but wanted to keep it together as a single file. Thank goodness I ran across a free browser-based tool that allows such a combination with a few mouse clicks. Just a warning for those of you with paranoid tendencies: since PDF Hammer is online, it does require you to upload your .pdf files to their site.

Start by visiting PDF Hammer by Nitro. Obviously Nitro will try to upsell you to their paid version, Nitro Pro on the right-hand side of the page. For what we're wanting to do, the free online version is fine. Click on the blue arrow to "Start PDF Hammer":

Next, upload the files you'd like to combine using the "uploads" box to the far right. As you upload each file individually, a preview will appear in the main window.

Once you've uploaded all of the files you'd like to combine, click on "Export Final PDF" at the bottom of the page.

PDF Hammer will show the screen above as it combines the pages into a single file, and then you will be prompted to save your new, combined file via a download dialog. Once you save the new document, you will have a brand spankin' new multi-page PDF in a single file.

From what I can tell, PDFHammer does one thing and it does it well, through a simple, well-designed interface.

Find the best deals online with the InvisibleHand browser addon

2010-01-17T20:41:00.005-06:00

Firefox/Chrome. In my constant quest to spend as little money as possible, I recently ran into a fantastic little browser addon called “InvisibleHand”. When shopping online, this addon references a database of prices from the web’s most popular retailers, and lets you know if the item you’re looking at is available elsewhere at a lower price. Once installed, it works via popup notification :

It also allows you to view the prices from other retailers via the “view all offers” button:

As far as I can tell, the prices being compared are just the straight-up retail price – no taxes or shipping are taken into account, so it may still be worth hitting a few of the lower prices on the list just to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

InvisibleHand is a fantastic tool for those bargain shoppers out there who don’t have time to visit every single retail site looking for the lowest price of an item. I’ve tested the addon in the Windows/Firefox and Ubuntu/Chrome combinations. The functionality seems to be identical in both cases.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Load All of Your Software With One Click Using ninite.com

2009-12-11T22:07:00.001-06:00

Windows XP/Vista/7. Recently, I upgraded my hope PC from Windows Vista to the latest Microsoft offering, Windows 7. I prefer the clean install to the “in-place” upgrade in order to ensure a more pristine image. I’ve done my share of OS upgrades in the past, and something that always seems to take longer than it should is the download and re-installation of common software packages. It’s an endless cycle of going to a webpage, downloading the latest version, clicking through all of the install options…then moving on to the next web site.

Luckily, the folks at ninite.com have provided an outstanding free service that takes the latency out of the install process. It’s dead simple, and unbelievably convenient. A quick visit to their site shows you a list of commonly installed applications available for download on the web. Select the apps you’d like to install by selecting the corresponding checkboxes.

When finished, clicking on the large “get installer” button at the bottom will download a file to your computer that looks like this:

Now is where the real fun begins. Double-click on the installer icon, and … go away. Or stare at the screen. Or do whatever it is you do when you’re not manually installing endless pieces of software on your new OS. The installer will automatically download each and every application that you selected and install them using the default install settings. A progress bar keeps you updated on which application is being installed during the process, but after about two it won’t matter because you’ll be off watching “Big Bang Theory”, anyway.

A quick sample of the applications available: The four free major browsers, Skype, iTunes, Picasa, Gimp, MS Office (trial version, of course), OpenOffice, AVG Free, The Adobe essentials (Reader, Flash), CCleaner, 7-Zip, Steam, Audacity, WinRar…need I go on? There’s also an option to submit an app suggestion, so it seems that ninite continues to expand their offerings.

Ninite.com is most convenient when installing a whole batch of apps, but could also be used for a single install if you want to skip all of the installation questions. If you’re installing a clean version of Windows 7 (and if you’re currently running Windows XP – you are), give ninite a try. I think you’ll be impressed.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Keep Programs Patched with Secunia PSI

2009-09-23T23:51:00.005-05:00

One of the annoyances of PC ownership is keeping all of those 3rd party applications up-to-date. Outdated applications can lead to incompatibilities, less functionality and security vulnerabilities. Windows keeps some Microsoft programs updated via "Windows Update" but, unlike Linux, there is no way to add program libraries to the automatic updater on a Windows machine. Until Microsoft develops a better way to integrate updates into the operating system, users are stuck relying on each individual application to check for updated versions of itself, or worse, periodically manually checking for program updates.

However, there is an alternative. Personal Software Inspector (PSI) from Secunia is a free download for Windows that keeps track of the applications running on your machine and alerts you if patches are required. PSI runs in the system tray and lets you know (via tray notification) if something has changed on your system.

PSI sports a high-level dashboard showing the overall state of your system with historical graphs dating back several weeks:

Also included are detailed views on all applications detected that PSI is able to keep track of:

...and browser plug-ins:

Secunia PSI also knows where the updates for unpatched programs are located, and places a link to the update page under the detected application in the "insecure" tab:

Personally, I like to set PSI to launch at Windows startup, and also to un-tick the box that says "Show only "Easy-to-Patch" programs" in order to see as much data about my unpatched apps as possible, and to make sure that I'm notified of any change to my computer in near real-time:

I've been running Secunia PSI on my PC's for nearly a year, and have been very pleased. It is fairly unobtrusive, and has allowed me to keep my apps updated much more quickly and without as much forethought as would be required without it.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Extending Your Home Internet Streaming Network with a PlayOn Media Server on Windows Home Server

2009-09-03T23:34:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been trying out some alternative entertainment options. I've canceled my satellite television and have installed an antenna on my rooftop. I also built a Windows Media Center PC to act as a DVR/Internet TV box. Everything has been working great...on the one TV that connects directly to my Media Center PC. But what about the other two TV's in my house? Sure, I'm saving $70 a month by not having satellite, but my return on investment time line gets much longer if I build a Home Theater PC (HTPC) for each set.

A cheaper alternative for getting Internet TV delivered to a television set is to use a set-top box that you may already be using on that set: your game console. I happen to have an Xbox 360 attached to my downstairs TV, and have been serving up videos from my home server since the beginning of the summer. The integration between Windows Home Server and the 360 works great, but I'm limited to video files that exist on the server. I cannot play Hulu through the 360 or Netflix without an Xbox live gold membership. As you can probably tell by my canceling of satellite - I'm not crazy about recurring payments so I don't like the idea of a gold membership. However, I did run across an alternative method for a one-time $40 price-tag: PlayOn.

PlayOn, from MediaMall technologies uses a PC with a web browser and Windows Media Player 11 to stream internet video like Hulu and Netflix to uPnP compliant devices such as game consoles or PC's. By installing PlayOn on my Windows Home Server, I'm able to view Hulu, Netflix and YouTube directly on my Xbox 360. PlayOn is also compatible with PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and (via the free Playit plugin), Windows 7 Media Center.

My experience with the tool has been somewhat mixed. I originally could not get Netflix to work on the 360 at all, and received an error message each time I tried to play a stream. After some e-mails with PlayOn support, I was eventually able to get it to work by starting PlayOn in "application mode" instead of as a service. I was told by PlayOn that "A small percentage of PC's block PlayOn for unknown reasons and there is not much else we can do to resolve it." Since then, however, a few reboots of the server seems to have fixed the issue and Netflix will stream when PlayOn is running as a service. However, a Netflix stream always fails on the first try after the Xbox boots. Subsequent tries work much better. However, when traffic volumes are heavy Netflix through PlayOn either gets quite jittery or buffers frequently. I don't have the same experience when streaming Netflix directly through the browser.

I've had almost identical Netflix jitter/buffer issues when running PlayOn through the Playit plug-in for Windows Media Center.

The Wii, however, was a different story altogether. Both Hulu and Netflix were unbearably jittery. This is probably due to the Wii being a wireless-only device, while my Xbox and HTPC are hard wired 100MB. It could get better, however, as the Wii is currently listed "in beta" for the PlayOn tool.

It's probably worth noting once again that the Netflix jitter/buffer issues on the Xbox and Media Center are intermittent, which is why I chalk it up to bandwidth contention on the Internet.

I do think that for $40, the flexibility that PlayOn gives me on my different TVs will pay off in the long run. I'm also interested in eventually extending the capabilities of my PlayOn media server by experimenting with some of the plugins that are also available. If you've tried any, let me know how they work.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Is Google Getting Ready to "Do Evil"?

2009-07-09T22:06:00.011-05:00

Wow! The tech world has been all aflutter about the announcement that Google is releasing an Operating System to run on netbook (at least initially) computers. Bloggers and Tweeters are salivating at the chance to knock "the man" (Microsoft) down a peg by waving goodbye to much-maligned Windows in favor of an open-source alternative. On the surface, this sounds like an incredible thing. A freely available, open source Operating System with the trademarks of Google (simplicity and web 2.0 savvy - plus the afore-mentioned freeness!) stamped all over it. So incredible, in fact, that it sounds too good to be true.

I think that it probably is. While I won't go as far as to predict outright failure of the OS, I do think that consumers will end up paying more than they realize for this new-world computing vision. If Google is eventually successful in unseating the evil Microsoft empire, we may find that we've simply replaced an emperor with a czar.

Allow me to do a poor impression of Robert Cringley for a moment. I'll do my best to piece together what I've observed in the past few months into a somewhat less-than-obvious vision of the Google future. In 2010 Google's Chrome OS will begin showing up in netbooks. It will be lightweight, taking the "the browser is the OS" mantra very literally. Antivirus, anti-malware, anti-spam will all be contained within the Google cloud, as hinted at by this comment in the Google blog post: "users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates". The only way Google can guarantee this is by housing it within their data center walls, similarly to how they control all of their service offerings. Google will of course allow full-fledged browser access to any Internet site but will most likely include links or gadgets to their own service offerings as a convenience to users and a benefit to themselves, thus grabbing more market share for services with every free copy of Chrome OS distributed into the population.

Once users are slowly moved off of desktop apps into cloud services, Google will begin to charge for their once-free cloud services. That's right. Gmail, Apps, Voice, everything we have integrated into our lifestyles and feel that we can't live or do business without. They may not start charging for everything at once - after all, it's Google's style to do a little bit here and a little bit there, but rest assured, once we are hooked there will be a movement towards charging for services. Why do I think Google would start to "do evil" by the little guy? Here's 5 reasons I came up with:

1. The Ad business on the Internet, Google's main source of revenue, is too volatile. The "great recession" has shown that when the going gets tough, the tough pull ads off the Internet in order to cut costs.

2. There's no money in open source. Two of the most well known open-source projects, OpenOffice.org and Mozilla Firefox could be in dire straits shortly simply because there's no good way to make money by giving stuff away. OpenOffice's future is shaky due to the Oracle purchase, and Firefox probably wouldn't even exist if it weren't for that little Google search box in the corner. Side note: Do you ever wonder what would happen to Firefox if Google Chrome had the market share that IE does?

3. There is money in recurring monthly service charges...lots of it. Just ask Verizon, DirecTV, AT&T, or Comcast. There's even more money in confusing bundles of recurring monthly service charges. Imagine paying a $20/month fee to use a bundle that included Gmail, Docs, Blogger, Webmasters, Voice and Wave. Of course, Chrome and Chrome OS would continue to be free ("subsidized" by Google much like cell phones by telco companies). Is $240 a year a good deal? Maybe, if you feel your lifestyle requires them. But, what it essentially means is that instead of paying a one-time fee of $120 for Windows 7 Home Premium (which should last you about 3 years), you're paying $720 over 3 years for the privilage to download Chrome OS. Makes Microsoft's purported old-world business model sound somewhat enticing, doesn't it?

4. Google needs to do their best to look anti-competitive to keep the Department of Justice off their backs. Continuing to give away free services in order to undercut other service providers (you know, those without the advertising revenue that Google currently relies on) just looks bad when you're coming under increasing scrutiny for anti-competitive practices.

5. They're starting to move in this direction already. To summarize, when Google recently announced the removal of their "beta" tag from Gmail and Google Apps, they also very quietly de-emphasized the free version of apps in favor of a free trial for the premium version. Don't underestimate the significance of this subtle move. It's a hint of a philosophical shift from those who claim they "Do no evil".

What does all this mean? Possibly nothing. I really hope that I'm wrong about all of the above and that the world of Web 2.0 and beyond is simpler, free of cost, free of viruses, and more open from a technical and collaborative standpoint. My fear, however, is that the consumer will eventually end up paying for all of this "freedom", potentially even more than we do now.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

What is OEM software?

2009-07-06T21:09:00.007-05:00

What's this OEM stuff?

One of the more confusing aspects of software purchasing surrounds OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) licensing. Microsoft, specifically, offers OEM versions of Windows to system builders at a price lower than retail software. Lower price? That's right, and you, too, can take advantage of OEM pricing if it makes sense for you.

What's the difference between retail and OEM?

There are a few differences. First, OEM software is packaged differently than retail copies. In other words, retail versions of Windows come in a prettier box. Another difference is in the EULA (End User License Agreement). Microsoft assumes that whoever is buying the OEM software is building a Windows computer system for re-sale, and therefore will be providing support for said system. If you are installing an OEM copy of Windows on a computer then you, in effect, are the system builder and are therefore responsible for the support of your own system. Lastly, OEM software is not transferable from one computer to another. I've read that "computer" in this case really means "motherboard" in order to account for other types of hardware upgrades that are acceptable. I've never verified this, but reportedly an OEM copy, once installed on a motherboard, will not install on a different motherboard. Retail copies of Windows, however, can be transferred from computer to computer. Lastly, OEM versions cannot be returned once open. There may be other subtle differences, as well. Though most consumers wouldn't know the difference, in the case of Vista Ultimate, the retail version included DVD's with both the 32 and 64 bit versions while the OEM version included either the 32 or the 64 bit version.

Do I need to worry about Retail vs OEM?

Only if you're building a computer or "upgrading" from one OS version to another (from Vista to Windows 7, for example). If you're buying a computer or laptop from a retail outlet or manufacturer (such as Best Buy, HP or Dell), it will come with an OEM copy of Windows and support from the manufacturer. If that is the case, then you won't need to worry about the retail/OEM question at all, since you won't have a choice in the matter. However, if you're building a computer from scratch or upgrading versions, you will want to explore whether OEM or Retail (as well as full install or upgrade, but that's another post) is appropriate for you.

Is OEM Legal?

Completely, as long as you follow the terms of the EULA. Don't rely on the information in this article, though. You are responsible for agreeing to the EULA, so be sure to read it before you click.

So what's the upside of OEM?

About $150 in your pocket, in the case of Windows Vista Ultimate. Savings on other versions may not be as drastic, so make sure you weigh your options carefully.

In light of recent pricing announcements from Microsoft, consumers would do well to make sure they explore all avenues prior to purchasing their next version of Windows.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

The Windows 7 Rip-Off

2009-06-25T21:55:00.008-05:00

Alright, it's time to give equal time to equal crimes. Earlier in the week I ranted a bit about Apple charging iPod touch owners for security updates. As if to not be outdone, Microsoft today announced pricing for Windows 7, and it's not pretty. I'm going to ignore, for the time being, the fact that Windows has gone the wrong way by offering more versions of 7 than they did of the ever-so-confusing Vista. OSX comes in one flavor only, which would be the equivalent of Microsoft offering only the Windows Ultimate editions and not starter, home basic, home premium, professional, business, enterprise, etc, etc ad nauseam. I'm even going to ignore the fact that Microsoft turned their backs on the Vista Ultimate purchasers by not offering any special pricing for 7 Ultimate upgrades. Ultimate purchasers, incidentally, are typically compute enthusiasts and therefore most well equipped to dump Windows altogether in favor of a Linux distribution. Lastly, I'm not even going to mention that the faults with User Account Control (UAC) should have been included in Vista SP2 instead of bleeding into an entirely new OS.

What confuses me the most about the pricing strategy is that it does not provide for a growing segment of the population: the multiple PC household. Microsoft obviously knows about this market segment. They offer 10 client licenses with Windows Home Server and 3 with Office Home and Student edition. Not only are they aware, but it's the direction Microsoft has envisioned for some time, dating back to when they first proposed the PC as the center of home entertainment around the turn of the century. So why, instead of capitalizing on this vision and rewarding those who have embraced it, is Microsoft alienating multi-PC homes by trying to squeeze every last nickel out of them for the latest OS? Apple offers OSX Snow Leopard full install for 5 clients for a suggested retail price of $220 (although Amazon currently lists it for about $130) or about $100 less than a single Windows 7 Ultimate license.

I have three PC's on which I was hoping to install Windows 7. A Windows XP desktop, a Windows Vista Ultimate desktop and a home theater PC (HTPC) that I'm currently building. I'll need at least one full install ($320) for the HTPC build, and 2 upgrades ($220/pop) for the desktops. In order to get Windows 7 on these three machines, I'm out $760 - $540 more than Snow Leopard would cost me and for two fewer licenses! Apple tax? Not in this case.

My next post will describe the benefits of purchasing Windows OEM versions instead of retail.

Update: It is now being reported that Microsoft will sell a family pack version of Windows 7 Home Premium, guessing the cost to be about $150 for 3 licenses.

Update to the Update: Microsoft, in true Microsoft fashion, has now pulled the plug on the Windows 7 family pack after only 2 short months. I can once again stand by my previous assertion - rip off confirmed.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

The Apple iPhone 3.0 Rip Off - for iPod Owners

2009-06-19T22:48:00.015-05:00

Apple has done it to us again. By "us" I mean iPod touch owners, or the sensible younger brothers of the life-of-the party iPhone fans. With the 3.0 software upgrade, Apple has decided to shaft those of us without a $60/mo carrier subscription with a $10 upgrade fee. Granted, it's not as bad as the $20 charged for the 2.0 upgrade, but that's probably attributed more to the fact that they decided to charge $30 for the Snow Leopard service pack than out of the goodness of their hearts.

Last time around, apologists attempted to explain away the fee as an accounting requirement, which never made much sense, especially considering that they have been freely updating the iPod classic since its inception. Even if this is the case, this article freely admits that the pricing of the upgrade is not included in the requirement and has been left completely to Apple's discretion. In other words, if they wanted to charge $.01, they could.

Admittedly, I love the features included in the update and didn't feel too bad about paying for them. That is, until I learned that the upgrade included forty six bug fixes, including a particularly nasty one uncovered by this year's PWN2OWN hacker competition. Anybody in the tech profession is conditioned through experience that these types of security updates are not optional. Leaving your systems open to these types of vulnerabilities is an invitation for disaster. iPod touch owners have been forced to pay for 46 critical bug fixes in Apple's OS. Typically, software companies will issue bug fixes - especially for security vulnerabilities - without cost both as a concession that the OS should have been free from such issues to begin with as well as in an effort to keep the Internet as safe as possible.

Apple would be much more responsible if they broke their updates into bug fixes and feature enhancements, and charged only for the latter. Why don't they? I think there are a couple of reasons. Apple is very concerned about the perception of their products. They charge top dollar for the Apple brand because they have sold the "it just works" mantra. Apple prefers to razzle-dazzle consumers and media at trade shows with slick new features to distract from the ugly side of the software business - bugs. After all, what about 46 security vulnerabilities "just works"? In this way, they can continue to sell their differentiation from Windows, which is generally perceived as more buggy and susceptible. Image is everything.

Secondly, and also probably secondarily, Apple is a company that makes money hand over fist. They are just darn good at it, and their shareholders expect it. Thus, any chance they have to bring in an additional revenue stream they jump at. This motive would seem to be supported by the fact that they charged $10 instead of $.10 for the most recent upgrade.

So, until Apple decides to act more responsibly toward the computing community at large, iPod owners are stuck paying for fixes for bugs that never should have existed in the first place.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Save Money for Free! Home Finances with Mint.com

2009-05-18T21:27:00.005-05:00

About 18 months ago I started to get serious about finances. Several things came together in a perfect storm to persuade me in that direction: inflated gas prices, rising food costs and the decision to send my son to a private school. My wife and I decided that it was time to start planning in a way that we never had before. So, I brought home a box copy of Quicken 2008, and away we went.

Quicken brought me to a whole new level of fiscal responsibility, but I found the app a bit cumbersome and nonintuitive for financial beginners. Moving the app from one computer to another was not straightforward, and running the database from a separate computer (such as a server) was not made easy by intuit. Quicken forced you to enter the database path every time you launched the app.

After using Quicken for about 10 months, I started reading about a free online service called Mint.com. The reviews were mainly positive, with the exception of the security concerns inherent with any online (cloud) application. Soon after the Mint.com reviews started rolling in, Intuit announced a free online version of Quicken. Being that I was already familiar with Quicken I decided to give it a fair shot. Upon reading through the capabilities, however, I was amazed to learn that Intuit provided no way to upload current quicken database entries into the online version. In essence, I would have to start over from a financial trending perspective. I wrote my displeasure to Quicken, and to their credit they offered me a "seat" on their customer improvement forum, but by that time I'd already made up my mind. If I was going to be forced to start from scratch, I might as well try something completely new. Mint.com, here I came!

My plan was to continue using Quicken for as long as I could (or for a year, whichever came first) but to also use Mint.com simultaneously in order to build up spending trends in Mint.com and to not lose them in Quicken....confused yet? Well, essentially it meant doing dual-entry of my finances for about a year, once in Quicken and once in Mint.com. What I discovered, though, is that Mint.com was so easy and Quicken so clugy that I abandoned Quicken completely after only a single month of dual entry. It was quick, straightforward, and convenient - I could access it from any computer with a web browser (and many mobile devices, as well), not just a single machine with a heavy client-side application installed.

Let's back up for a second, though. Truth is, I didn't enter the online financial world on a complete whim. As a technology professional I'm well aware of the risks associated with online activity of any kind, let alone activity that includes money. Many people are still wary of online finances, and they should be aware of the risks involved. It's true that large financial institutions are huge targets for hackers and data miners looking for the opportunity to find and sell/use huge amounts of financial data. However, they also boast some of the best security systems and personnel available. Not only are certain aspects of financial institutions networks starting to see regulation, but it's also in their best interest to keep their customers safe. Compromises are costly both from an operational perspective (re-issuing all new numbers and cards to customers) and from a reputation perspective. Contrast that with your home broadband connection, which is a much smaller target with less return - but also protected by consumer-grade security products and (potentially) computers with vulnerabilities due to late or missed security updates. Here is a great article countering some of the popular arguments against online banking.

But back to Mint.com. This online app is a double-whammy from a money-saving perspective. The service does not cost any money to use, and because it is easy and convenient I find myself updating my financial information almost daily. The more I reconcile my financials, the more aware of my budget I am and the less likely I am to exceed it. I spend less...and I spend less!

Incidentally, here is what Mint.com says about their security: How they keep you safe

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix - first impressions

2009-04-28T23:32:00.015-05:00

I've been following the Ubuntu distribution for a couple of years. I first installed 7.04 as a dual-boot on my Windows Vista desktop workstation. It was pretty cool, but I had some issues, such as getting my wireless adapter to work, which didn't matter much since I used a wired connection on that machine. It was also my first look at Linux so there were just too many things that I wasn't used to, such as the file structure, installation of programs and command line syntax. I eventually discovered that I mostly used that big, beefy desktop for things that Ubuntu either didn't do or didn't do very well, such as first person shooters and video editing. Needless to say, most of my time was spent in the Vista partition, so I eventually reclaimed the hard drive space and said adios to the Fiesty Fawn. Time passes....

After the release of 8.04 I decided to give "The U" another try. I installed a 64 bit version into a VM, again on my Vista box. The VM was nice because I've always hated dual-booting. Again, the OS itself was pretty good (the last version of Linux I'd seen prior to 7.04 was Red Hat with Xwindows circa 1999...yuck!), but nothing I'd leave the familiarity with Windows for.

More recently I installed 8.10 on an old HP desktop to see how well it would run on legacy hardware. I was also starting to get interested in replacing Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One, as it was getting to be a tad sluggish. However, I encountered several show-stopping issues that I couldn't seem to work my way through, even with the help of the discussion boards. Connecting to my Windows Home Server file share proved difficult, and working on an openoffice file directly from the server was not even possible. I also had problems connecting to a printer shared off my XP desktop. I eventually got tired of troubleshooting and put the experiment away to take care of other matters.

So, it was with caution that I approached the latest Ubuntu release, 9.04 (code name Jaunty Jackalope). However, in moseying over to the Ubuntu download page I saw something I least expected - a Canonical release of 9.04 specifically for netbooks, called Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR)! The screenshots looked interesting, and I saw my netbook model on the "green" list (not the exact term, but essentially it means everything works out of the box with a couple minor bugs), so I downloaded the file to give it a whirl.

The Netbook image is packaged so as to run from a USB flash drive as opposed to being burned to CD from an .iso image, as netbooks do not have CD ROM drives. I made a bootable flash stick with the image using unetbootn and ran it for about 2 days. I had problems getting my wireless LAN to work consistently, which made me very nervous. After all, what good is a netbook without the "net"? However, one last Windows XP freeze pushed me over the edge.

Installing UNR directly onto my hard drive made all the difference in the world. I was ecstatic to find out that my wireless showed up immediately, which was a great first step. Another great surprise was that I was able to "browse" directly to my Windows Server share AND work with OpenOffice files directly on the server. Check, Check. Next, it was time to set up the network shared printer. I chose the HP deskjet since I've heard bad things about Lexmark and Linux. Surprise! I was able to browse to the printer on my Windows SMB network, and Ubuntu found and installed a native driver. Lastly, I downloaded KeepassX, a password vault utility that is able to read the password database created by the application I used under Windows, Blackbox. So, no retyping! All the major objectives completed, the rest has just been customizations and tweaks.

So here I am, writing my first blog from Linux. I've been running off of "the remix" for about 3 days now, and I'm loving open-source world. My skepticism is slowly turning to belief in Ubuntu's ability to go mainstream. Granted, I'm not going to give up my Windows desktops, but for what I need on a netbook I've not yet found a downside to version 9.04. UNR boasts the simplicity of a UI designed specifically for netbooks and the flexibility of Linux. I really think this is my entry point into learning the Linux world, and I'm looking forward to the journey!

Screenshots:

Desktop: App Categories on left, folders on right, apps in the middle. Also note, minimized running apps in the upper left, and vitals in the upper right.

Firefox (with Chromifox theme):

File Browser:

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Peer to peer file sharing: a bad rap

2009-04-20T21:11:00.007-05:00

Perhaps you've heard - peer to peer file sharing is inherently evil. Or so it would seem based upon recent coverage in the international media. What is this mysterious technology and why is everybody so up-in-arms about it?

File sharing on the internet is not new. It burst onto the scene in the late 90's through websites such as napster.com where users would share music files with one another over the internet. Needless to say, the music industry was not pleased that their copyrighted content could be distributed to such a massive audience without so much as a penny's worth of income into their ledger, so they brought lawsuits against the file sharing sites and eventually won. Napster (now owned by Best Buy) still exists, but solely as a way to purchase and download music files, not for file sharing. Napster worked by keeping track of which computers on the internet had what files. When you wanted a music file, napster would search the directory for the file and instruct your computer where to find/download it.

Today's peer-to-peer networks function largely the same way. Torrent sites, however, include a twist. The peer-to-peer network is not one-to-one. In other words. you don't download a file from a single "peer" computer on the internet. When you request a torrent download, your computer is made aware (by the torrent server) of many computers that have the file, or even just a part of the file that you want to download. Your computer (using a torrent client), then downloads several pieces of the file from many different locations and re-assembles them as a single file.

There are several problems with peer-to-peer file sharing. Most obvious is that it is used to distribute illegal content, such as movies or software. The illegal distribution of copyrighted content is what draws the most attention to P2P. Big companies with big money and big lawyers see the revenue slipping away as old business models struggle to keep up with new delivery mechanisms. If P2P file sharing is ever squashed, this will be the reason.

Secondly, it is very easy to unleash a malicious file, such as a virus, into "the wild". The one-to-many model of torrents allows malware to spread quickly, increasing it's reach exponentially as more users share an infected file. Apple's OSX was recently hit with a botnet thanks to P2P file sharing. Security professionals will tell you never to open an attachment or run a file from somebody you don't know. P2P file sharing violates that principle by it's very nature, since you don't know where any of your downloaded files originated.

Third, P2P file sharing creates network traffic. This is kind of a "duh" statement since everything you do on the internet results in network traffic. However, recently telecommunications companies have pointed to the use of P2P traffic as a primary reason for tiered pricing models being introduced. They claim that a very small percentage of P2P users hog up a large chunk of the available bandwidth, leaving the rest of the customer base to foot the bill. Their solution: charge higher amounts for the privelage of higher monthly usage. I'm not buying this one, personally. I might be pursuaded if my ISP actually came to me and told me that they were lowering my monthly bill becuase I'm not in that small percentage using a majority of the bandwidth, but that's not how it will work. No, I'll still be paying my same monthly amount but my monthly usage (which used to be unlimited) will be capped at a certain amount which I will be penalized for exceeding. But, it's all for my benefit. *exit soapbox*

For all of the bad press, there actually are some legitimate uses for P2P file sharing. How many of us have lost - or were never provided - our Windows XP install CD? I was in that boat. I had an HP that I bought in 2002 that did not come with an OS disk of any kind. After 6 years of use, I desperately wanted to re-load my OS to clean everything up and start from scratch. I even contacted HP and offered to buy the media (the license was attached to my case...all I needed was the disk!). They informed me that they were only provided a limited number of disks and since I purchased my computer so long ago I was not eligible to recieve one. Microsoft would not provide one; they want you to buy their new OS, instead. All the "proper channels" exhausted, I turned to torrents. Lo and behold, my CD was out there. I now have a clean, snappy, legal XP load thanks to this avenue.

How can you get your hands on that lost XP CD? First, proceed with caution due to the malware mentioned above. Second - seriously, don't be tempted to grab the one that says "hacked" or "keygen". It's illegal, but most of all it's wrong. Third, you need a torrent client. Bittorrent and uTorrent seem to be a couple of the most popular. Here's a nice guide for installing and configuring Bittorrent. Pay special attention to the section on setting up your firewall to allow Bittorrent traffic through. Once you've got your torrent client installed, you'll need to visit a torrent website, such as The Pirate Bay, My Bittorrent, or Sumo Torrent. There are many others, as well. Once you click on a torrent file to download, your torrent client software should launch and start downloading the file from several peers. Next, be patient. P2P takes awhile.

While P2P tends to find itself associated with pirates and bandwidth hogs, there is great potential for legitimate use of this technology. Be cautious, but not dismissive.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Free Safe Web Browsing: OpenDNS

2009-04-07T20:56:00.017-05:00

We live in a world overflowing with abundant information and content. Answers to questions we used to ponder for days are now only a mouse click away. If used correctly, the benefits of this type of open access are obvious. However, anybody with a family that includes young children knows the dangers of such readily available content. Everything from hate speech and pornography to online predators and malware can infiltrate your computer system without your family even leaving the house. Large enterprises spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on appliances to safeguard their networks from objectionable content. However, thanks to the great folks at OpenDNS, you can take advantage of one of the foundational technologies of the internet to prevent unwanted material from reaching your computer.

The internet depends on a protocol called TCP/IP to move information from one point to another. TCP/IP requires that every node connected to the internet has a numbered address. Of course, numbers are more difficult to remember than names....would you rather keep track of 65.55.21.250 or www.microsoft.com? DNS servers exist on the internet to translate the name you type into your browser (www.microsoft.com) to an IP address (65.55.21.250) that is connected to the internet. OpenDNS supplies a set of DNS servers that anybody can use to translate names into addresses, but with the additional feature of filtering out undesired sites and displaying instead a message warning that the destination contains unsuitable content. For example, if you choose to filter out sites that are known to contain adware, instead of displaying a site with the "adware" tag, OpenDNS will return a web page notifying you that the site you are trying to access has been blocked due to being a known adware site.

OpenDNS is free, thanks to a community of volunteers that is continuously tagging and categorizing websites. It's also easy to revert to your previous DNS servers, so there's no risk to try it out.

To enable OpenDNS content filtering for your network, follow these steps:

1. Create a free OpenDNS account here

2. In order for OpenDNS to know who you are so that it can filter your requests correctly, you need to set up a "network" from the OpenDNS dashboard. Click on the "network" tab. If you are setting up OpenDNS from the network you want filtered, OpenDNS will detect your IP address and ask if it should use that IP for your network. If you are not on the network you'd like filtered, you can manually enter the IP address. If this is the case, OpenDNS will send you a confirmation e-mail with a link that you must access from within the network you want to have filtered. This is to prevent you from being able to block all of your neighbors websites :)

3. From the OpenDNS dashboard, click the "settings" and choose your filtering level. For simplicity, you can choose a level (high, moderate, low, etc.) which filters out predetermined categories, or for greater control, you can choose the specific categories you'd like to filter. You can also specifically block or allow individual websites.

4. Tell your computers to use the OpenDNS DNS servers. If you only have one computer, you can configure it to use the OpenDNS servers right in the operating system. If you have multiple computers accessing the internet through a router, I would advise configuring your router to use the OpenDNS servers instead. If you configure your router to use OpenDNS, it will tell all client devices (computers, gaming consoles, mobile phones) on your home network to use OpenDNS, also.

That's all you need to get going. There are some additional niceties that you may discover by exploring the OpenDNS dashboard. Statistics, for example, allows you to monitor DNS requests from your network.

One more thing I'd recommend: the IP update tool. As I described above, OpenDNS uses your IP address to identify how to filter your content. The only problem with using the IP address as an identifier is that your IP address will change over time. That's simply the nature of broadband internet. So, in order to automatically update OpenDNS when your IP address changes you can install the software in the link above. If you prefer not to install software on your PC, You can also manually update your IP address within OpenDNS, but this requires that you remember to do so after each power outage, router re-boot or circuit drop. What happens if you don't update OpenDNS when your IP changes? OpenDNS will not recognize your new IP and will not be able to filter the categories that you've specified.

I've been using OpenDNS for about a year and have found it to be a simple, unobtrusive tool that helps put my mind at ease when the kids are browsing the net. Is it perfect? Of course not - the most tech savvy will likely find ways around the filtering, and there's always the possiblity that a site gets mis-tagged, but my experiences with this free service have all been good.

Highly recommended.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Top 15 Free Downloads

2009-03-28T23:09:00.037-05:00

I love free software. Whether it's software that runs on the desktop itself or in "the cloud", if it's free, I'm there. I've got several computers at my house, and I do everything I can to look for free alternatives prior to shelling out my hard-earned cash for some overpowered software bundle that I only need once every 2 or 3 months. I'll limit this list to downloaded software, and perhaps will address internet services in a later post.

If you're already into free software, this probably isn't the post for you. There are no huge surprises in this list. However, if you're the type that runs to a big-box store every time you need a new application, read on. There may be something in this list that will save you the trip!

#15 - Blackbox Password Manager -
This is probably not a unique idea or application, but it works well for what I need. You know all of those username/password combinations you've got to remember for various systems and websites? Enter them into blackbox and never click on the "forgot my password" link again. Blackbox stores your passwords in an encrypted file only accessible by entering a master password (you've got to remember that one). Once you're in, just find the website name or URL from the list and copy over your username and password. Blackbox will give you feedback on the strength of your chosen password, or will generate and store a random strong password for you. Very easy to use. Windows Only.

#14 - Emerge Desktop/Circledock
These are actually two separate apps, but I use them together so I'm going to cheat a little bit and call them both #14. Emerge Desktop is a replacement desktop shell for Windows XP or Vista. Essentially, what that means is that it makes your desktop look and operate differently. Windows Explorer (the Windows shell you're used to) tends to leave shortcuts all over the desktop and the taskbar can be slightly annoying at times. Emerge removes all of the clutter and makes the desktop/start menu accessible by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. It takes a little getting used to, but I've come to like it a lot. Circledock is what I use instead of desktop shortcuts. It's exactly what it sounds like - an icon dock in a circular shape. It's very customizable, too, as you can see by my screenshot. I've chosen the "Eye of Sauroun" for the center of mine. My wife rolled her eyes when she saw that one....

#13 - Freecommander
Freecommander is a very handy file manager. I've heard it described as "what windows explorer should have been". While I'm not that harsh, I do think a lot of the features included in Freecommander would have made sense in a default in windows file manager. For example, when moving or copying files around on a windows machine, dragging the icon to the correct spot can get a little tricky. Sure, you can drag the icon up, down and around while folders expand if you hover long enough, etc...but wouldn't it just be easier to be able to split the screen to view both the "copy from" and the "copy to" sections? How many times have we accidentally dropped that bugger in an unintended folder only to realize that we have no idea where it went? Freecommander makes dragging and copying of files easier by splitting the screen so that we can view both the "copy from" and "copy to" locations simultaneously. It's highly customizable; I've stacked my screens horizontally in this shot. There is a lot of search filtering capability and even an icon that accesses the Windows control panel features.

#12 - UltraVNC
VNC is a remote desktop protocol that allows you to control a computer from a different computer. Confused? Well, say you've got two computers in your house, one downstairs and one upstairs. If you're trying to configure or troubleshoot both of them at the same time (setting up a folder to be shared between them, for example), you could keep running from one to the other, trying this and that, until your knees give out and you lay in a heap on the steps wondering when your wife will be home from her jog and trying to keep the cat from licking your face...or you could install VNC. UltraVNC is a windows-only version that allows you to control your "downstairs computer" by clicking on an icon on the "upstairs computer", thus saving your time and your knees. Other versions of VNC will work on Windows, Linux or Mac.

** note: I actually prefer Windows Remote Desktop for remote connections. Unfortunately, Microsoft has unjustly decided that Remote Desktop will only be available on certain versions of Windows, and is typically not included in builds targeted at the home user. So, if you don't have XP pro, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you'll have to find an alternative. UltraVNC fills that void nicely.

#11 - iTunes/Firefly Client
iTunes is not a surprise winner in the media player category. Apple has long been on top of the multimedia trends, and iTunes is no exception. With iTunes, you not only play media, but you can also browse and buy music, movies, and TV, create playslists, burn CDs, subscribe to podcasts, or get suggestions based on your library contents. In contrast, Firefly Client (pictured, right) is a very lightweight Java-based music player that allows you to stream music from a central location. It's interface is very iTunes-like and intuitive. I like to use Firefly Client on my netbook and iTunes on my desktop machines, which have faster hardware and more memory. iTunes is available for Windows and Mac, and Firefly Client will run on any machine that runs Java.

#10 Paint.net
Want something more than Microsoft paint but not as heavy as Photoshop? Paint.net is a nice compromise for the right price. Crop, cut, remove backgrounds, re-color, or apply filters to your heart's content. I'm not exactly a graphic artist so I'm sure there's many, many more features that I've not even discovered. Paint.net allows you to work with layers just like the big boys.

#9 AVG Free Anti-Virus
Make sure you choose the free version of this software, AVG is notoriously tricky trying to get you to click on the pay version. Once you've got the free version installed, it works like a dream: Lightweight, unobtrusive, and easy to configure. AVG will run scheduled scans, scan your incoming and outgoing e-mail for viruses, scan web links and automatically update it's signatures at a scheduled time of your choosing.

#8 Pidgin
Pidgin is a universal messaging client that runs on Windows or Linux. With Pidgin, it is possible to combine multiple IM services (AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk) into a single client. Since Pidgin is open source, there are several great addons available if you're heavy into customization. My favorite is the Facebook addon, which allows you to interact with Facebook IM as well as the services listed above. The most difficult part of configuring Pidgin is knowing the correct server settings for your different IM services. I found all of the information I was looking for with a few quick Google searches.

#7 Thunderbird
Mozilla's e-mail client is free of charge, highly functional and highly customizable. Thunderbird is also open source and is as simple or as complex of an application as you want it to be. At it's simplest, Thunderbird can be set up to send SMTP and receive POP3 e-mail for a single e-mail account. I would not suggest stopping there, however. With addons, you can also snap in a calendar, new skins, "send later" features, IMAP, and my favorite, Google Calendar integration. I use IMAP and the Google Calendar extension to help with my movement between multiple PC's, to keep my e-mail and appointments synched. With the flexibility of addons, Thunderbird is the most adjustable, powerful free e-mail tool on the 'net. A word of caution, though. Since Mozilla spun Thunderbird off to Mozilla Messaging, it has been plagued by sliding dates and unsureity. The future of Thunderbird seems cloudy, which is a shame because it truly is a great product.

#6, 5, 4 and 3: Google Pack: Google Earth, Picasa, Skype, Spyware Doctor
These plus a few other apps can be downloaded via the Google pack software package. Google Earth is difficult to describe if you've never seen it. Essentially, starting with a moons-eye view of the Earth, you can zoom in anywhere to see satelite quality images. It's worth trying, just to experience it.

Picasa is my favorite photo-organization tool. Zip quickly through the hundreds of photos on your PC, and upload them to Picasa's online counterpart for easy sharing. Picasa also comes with simple photo editing such as cropping, resizing, and redeye removal, plus some more advanced features I haven't tried.

Video calls have never been easier than with Skype. If you've got a webcam and a friend on the other side of the world or the other side of town, there's no better way to communicate than with this simple tool.

PC Tools Spyware Doctor is a great little spyware scanner with an intuitive interface and scheduled scans. In addition to malware scans, Spyware Doctor also runs quietly in the background to detect against real-time threats from the browser, or against your file folders or network settings.

#2 OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice is an open source office productivity suite that includes word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier file formats. I've had mixed reactions from people who have tried OpenOffice. Typically, if you are not a Microsoft Office power user, the transition to OpenOffice is relatively painless. Where you'll see a difference is when trying to open Microsoft files with heavy formatting, or, in the case of powerpoint, specialized transitions. If you have MS Office files with only moderate formatting, or are starting from scratch without the need to re-use old MS files, then OpenOffice is the suite for you. The only caveat about OpenOffice is that it does not support the newest MS Office XML file formats (.docx, .xlsx, etc.), and it's unclear if/when it will. Microsoft and the open source community had a knock-down, drag-out over which format would be "the" standard open source version of choice, and although both were accepted as standards, there may still be hard feelings. Despite that, MS Office does support ODF so there does appear to be at least some continued interoperability on the horizon.

#1 Mozilla Firefox Browser
Ironically, it was Microsoft's move to IE7 that prompted me to try out some other browsers. Since I've got to switch anyway (thought I), I might as well switch to the one I like the most! I first tried Safari, which had recently been opened up to Windows users. It was ok, but not enough to make me switch. I reluctantly downloaded Firefox 2 thinking that it could not possibly live up to the hype I was hearing about it from the tech community. After all, how much different can a web browser be? Once I discovered the customization and the options the open-source developers were dreaming up I was hooked. Now, it's going to take several major developments on the browser front to get me to switch again. Just like Thunderbird, this browser can be as dead simple or as full-featured as your combination of addons dictates. In other words, you are in full control over what your browser does, so it can be tuned to your browsing habits. Installing and removing addons could not be easier, as long as you can click a button, and new ones are being developed every day. A few of my favorite addons include all-in-one statusbar, which groups your history, bookmarks plugins and more into a side-pane that can be auto-hid, Fireshot, which takes "snapshots" of web pages and either saves the picture to a file or to the clipboard, and noscript, which prevents any javascript from running on a page unless you specifically allow it. These three are a very small sample of the addons I have tried, and I'm sure there's more that I haven't discovered yet.

I hope you've found something new and useful in this list. Like I said, there's nothing extremely bleeding edge here, but these are some solid, proven tools that may fill a gap in your workflow, or at the very least keep a gap from appearing in your wallet!

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Wake up and Hibernate: Tips for Windows, Ubuntu and Windows Home Server

2009-03-23T22:04:00.038-05:00

It seems that you can't pick up an IT trade mag anymore without reading something about "Green IT". Green is not only "in" because of it's friendliness to the environment, it's also an excellent cost-savings measure. While fortune 100 companies are looking for ways to better optimize their data centers, you can also reduce your energy bill by making your home IT more efficient.

Hibernating is when your computers write all information about the current user sessions and processes to hard disk and shut off. The result is that your computer components will not be consuming energy while not in use, which saves you money and has the side benefit of eliminating annoying fan noise (noise pollution reduction? Al Gore, if you could see me now!) Also, when you do want to use your computer again, it is not necessary to go through the entire bootup/login process again, as all of that information is recalled directly from the saved session. Hibernation in Windows XP is different than standby/sleep, as explained here. Further confusing matters is the newest powersave mode in Windows Vista called "Hybrid sleep". If you're interested, details about that mode can be found here.

I have experimented with hibernation on several different platforms with mixed results. Below I've documented my experiences.

Windows XP
In XP, you can set your computer to hibernate after a period of inactivity. In my experience, this does not work very well. When I first set it up the computer hibernates as expected after about an hour. After a period of time, however, the computer stopped hibernating on it's own and stays on all of the time. I usually end up forcing it to hibernate manually before I head off to bed at night.

Before hibernating either automatically or manually, though, you need to enable hibernation globally. To do this, go to start->control panel, click on "performance and maintenance", then click on "power options". Under the hibernate tab, click the "enable hibernation" checkbox and click ok.

To enable hibernate after a period of inactivity, go to start->control panel. Click on "performance and maintenance", then click on "power options". In the drop-down box, select the amount of time to wait prior to hibernation, and then click "ok".

To force a manual hibernation, you'll need to click start->turn off (just as if you were going to shut down) and then press and hold the shift key. When you do this, the standby icon should change to "hibernate". While still holding the shift key, click on hibernate. If you're feeling extra lucky, you can also edit the registry to show both the hibernate and standby buttons on the shutdown menu. I have tried this method with Windows XP SP3 and it worked well for me. However, as this is a registry hack please proceed with caution.

** Edit - I've seen a lot of searches hit my page looking for how to wake Windows XP from hibernation. I think it depends on your motherboard, but I've always had to hit the power button to bring my XP machine out of hibernation, and have never had a problem doing so. If you want to wake your XP machine automatically, follow the steps listed here.

I have had problems waking XP from sleep mode, to the point of having to hard boot it for revival. That's another reason I prefer hibernation to sleep.

My Vista machine wakes from hibernation with a mouse click.

Windows Vista
After doing some research on the 'net, it seems that many people have had problems with hibernation being disabled globally in Vista and have been unable to turn it back on. Evidently, this needs to be done via command prompt as described here. It's a single command, very simple to execute.

Once hibernation is enabled (or re-enabled, depending on your situation), hibernation settings can be adjusted from the windows GUI. Click on the button formerly known as start (the orb), and in the search bar type "power". The search results should return "power options" under programs. Click on it. The power options window should show your power plans. Choose the power plan of your liking and click on "change plan settings" directly beneath it. In the edit plan settings window, click on "change advanced power settings". In the advanced settings window (as seen on the right) Expand "sleep", then expand "allow hybrid sleep" and click on the drop down to select "yes". Now, expand "hibernate after" and select the drop down to select the amount of inactive time the computer will wait before hibernating. Click OK.

I've had very good luck with hibernation in Windows Vista. In fact, my Vista machine hibernates most of the time which is good because it is the largest machine in the house (500watt power supply), and therefore consumes the most power of any computer I own.

Ubuntu Linux
I'm least experienced with Ubuntu, but I have played with it a little bit. When I have used Ubuntu, I have been able to manually place it into hibernation via the shutdown menu (I think it's called "suspend"), similarly to what I do in Windows XP. It resumes just fine, with the exception of some extra rainbow-colors on my top and bottom taskbars. That may be due to my archaic AGP graphics card, though. After hitting several Google links pertaining to Ubuntu and automatic hibernation, I'm convinced that there are more issues than the casual user is willing to deal with. If anyone has more information on whether hibernation due to inactivity is working in Ubuntu, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

Windows Home Server
What? Hibernation on a server? Yeah, it's really cool. For those of you with a Windows Home Server I would highly recommend a free addon called "lightsout". The installation is not as straightforward as enabling hibernation in Windows Vista or XP, but it's not terrible. Basically, you install the addon as you would any other (Place in the software/addins folder and install via the home server console), and then apply a few tweaks to your network cards to make sure the server can automatically wake them from hibernation for scheduled tasks like daily backups. You can schedule specific days and times for the server to hibernate and wake itself back up. There is a great step-by-step explanation at We Got Served that I will not attempt to duplicate here.

Of course, when hibernating a server you need to plan carefully. The idea of having a server is to enable you to access your files whenever you need to, and from wherever you happen to be. So, hibernating during the day is not an option for me. I schedule my home server to hibernate from 12:00am to 6:00am every day. It only hibernates when I do! As you can see from the graphic, most days during the timeframe of 12am to 6 am, there are no computers powered on at my house.

This is a huge improvement from the days when I had 2-3 desktop PC's and a server powered on all the time. The energy savings are well worth the extra couple of seconds I have to wait for the computer to wake from hibernation. Al Gore would be so proud!

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Honey, I Shrunk the Laptop...

2009-03-20T21:06:00.022-05:00

Okay, not a particularly clever title, but you've got to admit, the hottest trend in personal computing, the netbook (from "internet notebook") looks as though it was hit by the incredible shrinking ray gun. I started looking into netbooks about 6 months ago when it became readily apparent that they were the only machines I would be able to save up for in any reasonable amount of time. At the time a few success stories were starting to emerge, the ASUS EePC and the Acer Aspire One. Also jumping into the frey were the HP Mini 1000 and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. I settled on the Aspire One, being the least expensive of any with similar or identical hardware specifications. Two versions of the Aspire One were available, one with an 8GB SSD (Solid State Drive - essentially flash memory) running Linux or a 120GB hard disk drive running Windows XP.

I was enticed a bit by the model running Linux, but couldn't resist the 120GB hard drive and Windows XP option for $30 more. I love the idea of a quieter, more energy efficient solid state drive, but I wanted more than 8GB. SSD's are the future, but for me they are not the present. Also, now that I've played around with some desktop Linux distributions I'm fairly certain that I'm not quite ready to give up the simplicity of Windows networking, either. Besides the stats already mentioned, my Aspire One came with a 8.9in screen, 1GB RAM, 3 USB ports, a 10/100 Ethernet port, an 802.11g WLAN card, a webcam, a headphone/microphone jack, built-in speakers and a VGA-out port. I paid $350, but the prices keep dropping and some of the Linux versions have been spotted for as low as $200 on rare occasions. The standard 1.6Ghz Intel Atom is more than sufficient for Windows XP, though it would be nice if the boot time was a little quicker.

After using my netbook for about 6 months, I can honestly say that I get more bang for the buck out of this machine than any other I've purchased. I use it nearly every day, and the portability is incredible. I liked it so much that I bought one for my wife for Christmas so she'd leave mine alone! The only two gripes that I have: I bought a wireless laser mouse because I couldn't stand the touchpad. That's more due to the fact that I don't like touchpads in general, though. Also, the battery life left much to be desired. The standard 3 cell that came with the box was supposed to get 3 hours of life, but I think 2:10 was probably more accurate. I did find a nice 9 cell aftermarket battery on ebay for $66 that stretched my time between charges to about 6-8 hours. I don't know exactly because I almost never push it to that point. The only downside is that the new battery is quite a bit larger and adds to the weight of the computer. If portability is what's important to you, you might want to stick with the stock battery. Some users will balk at the absence of an optical drive, but I've found that I've never had a need for one once I get network connected.

Because of the screen size, the best application for netbooks are for things like reading e-mail, social networking, and browsing. Light word processing is also feasible. I would not give up my primary workhorse PC for a netbook, however. I still need a beefy desktop for video editing & burning, 3D gaming, photo editing, virtual desktops, streaming video, and productivity applications that benefit from a larger monitor. I use mine for the exact purpose that many others do, as a portable supplemental machine to compliment an existing home network.

Ultimately, like any PC purchase, your needs will determine your purchase. The prices of traditional laptops should continue to decrease due to pressure from the netbook's successes and technical advances like the Intel Atom. If you've been thinking about buying a notebook for the purpose of portability, you'd be wise to give these mini-competitors a glance.

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Introducing: Me!

2009-03-18T22:24:00.003-05:00

Once again, welcome to my new blog! I suppose introductions are in order. I'll start.

I am a married father of four and have been involved in technology in one form or another from a very young age. I am currently involved in telecommunications architecture and data center strategy, but also have a background in project analysis (with a networking focus) and network engineering/design. I also head up the computing/technology team at our church, using my interest and aptitude for technology to help support the needs of the staff, members and prospective visitors. Continuing on the nonprofit theme, I am the board representative on the technology committee for a small private school, which was my first experience with a network built completely out of donated materials.

While I've had exposure to both ends of the spectrum ($0 budget for the school versus comparatively limitless resources in my "normal" job), I have a passion for finding creative technical solutions in order to both meet requirements and save money. I've noticed that it's very difficult to have a technology habit while on a budget. The two don't go together very well, and with four kids and one income, we are most definitely on a budget! Luckily, my experiences along these lines has translated well to my volunteer endeavors, and also continues to allow me to quench my "hands-on" thirst while pushing me to continue learning along the way.

My goal for this blog is to share my experiences, thoughts on emerging trends, solutions and frustrations. I hope something I post here will spur some thoughts or opinions that can be shared. I will not pretend to be an expert. I'm just Joe-techie trying to figure things out, same as the next guy.

If you've wandered over here for whatever unfathomable reason, go ahead and drop me a line using the comments box! Let's take this puppy for a spin!

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.