BUT, there was one thorn in my side during all this — the Linksys wireless adaptors some of our computers use. We’re upgrading all our computers to the 64-bit version of Windows 7, and that requires a special driver.  Linksys published this driver years ago, but I could no longer find it on their Website.  Other sites linked to the page on their Website where it should have been, but it just wasn’t there anymore.  This is how the six-hour nightmare began.

I searched Google for the driver.  I searched forums.  I searched everywhere I knew to look. I read about complicated workarounds.  Some people said you should use alternate drivers by other manufacturers.  But no real Linksys driver… until I finally came upon ONE user who happened to have saved the driver file before Linksys removed it from their site.  With this one file, I was able to install the wireless adaptor in less than five minutes and get the computer online easily.  Here it is, for those looking for it:

http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Adapters/PLEASE-HELP-WUSB54GSC-64-bit-driver-needed-please/m-p/339424/highlight/false#M28097

My question is:  Why did Linksys not make this file available online themselves? (The latest driver listed on their Website was from 2002 and for WinXP only.)  I can only guess that it has to do with the fact that they’re now part of Cisco.  In the effort to rebrand, the linksys.com site redirects to the cisco.com site.  Some of the content must not have made the switch.  An innocent enough mistake… other than the fact that I have hundreds of dollars of Linksys gear that should not be obsolete, and they’re now paperweights, thanks to Cisco’s mismanagement of their driver database.  The drivers exist to make these adaptors work with Win7, but Cisco just hasn’t put them online.

Maybe they want you to buy even newer gear???  Well, not me! If that’s how they manage their driver database, I can only imagine that gear I buy today might become unnecessarily obsolete in just a few years too.  No thanks, Cisco.  I’m off to find a different brand of wireless technology to use.  Users shouldn’t have to rely on other users who happen to have saved driver files before they were ripped offline by the manufacturer.

And for anyone out there who’s been luckier than me, I’m still looking for a x64 driver for several other pieces of Linksys gear.  Until I find them, I’ve got some really nice blue paperweights on my desk.

Photo courtesy: azn_racer_fan

http://vimeo.com/12646483

http://vimeo.com/12496701

I guess it’s not Apple’s fault that the WiFi was so bad. Or was it?  Weren’t they smart enough to have two distinct networks — one for use by presenters and one for use by the pool of reporters?  And why should they be using WiFi at all?  Looking up the New York Times is something you should be able to do on 3G.

I’m still forming my opinion of the iPhone 4. I generally think very positively of what I’ve seen so far.  The 720p video camera looks great.  The display is gorgeous.  Multitasking is da bomb.

My chief concern is that the technologies they claim are based on open standards really may not be. Take “FaceTalk,” for instance.  This has the potential to revolutionize video phone conversations — but only if it’s a standard that can be adopted by other carriers and phone makers.  Why not go with something more generic like Skype or qik.com (like the HTC Droids do)?  Oh yeah, because if you tie FaceTalk to the cell phone number, then AT&T will probably get to charge you for all the minutes you spend talking on it — even though you have to BYON (bring your own network).  That is to say that FaceTalk isnt available via Edge of 3G — only WiFi.

What do you think?

Repentance is not:

• getting caught
• blame shifting
• focusing on sins you didn’t do

Repentance is:

• conviction by God
• confession to God and others (agreeing with God)
• not minimizing or managing the sin (“If Jesus died for that sin, then that sin must die.”)
• restitution (bringing healing to those you’ve wounded)
• reconciliation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKbdT1gy9Tw

Got a photo or video question you want answered? Leave it as a comment below!

Scenes like this are popping up all around us. I love spring (mostly because I hate winter).  It reminds me that no matter how harsh the deep freeze of winter has been, summer always comes.  And no matter how dark the night has seemed, the dawn always comes.  Thank God that the same can be said of our emotional and spiritual lives.

Sermon – Spring Is Coming from Bill Whitt on Vimeo.

Minutes after I sent this email, three of my coworkers were anxiously searching the third floor for the nonexistent homeless man. It took a few minutes before they finally realized they’d been fooled.  In total, I tricked about seven people with that email!

So, what’d you do for April Fools?

• Having your basement flood sucks.
• The new Japanese place in Bluefield ain’t that bad!
• I’m getting more creative each year at finding new ways to procrastinate when it comes to doing my taxes.
• Coming soon to a Web browser near you: The latest divisions of Whitt Media — RapidRetouch.com and BDubRecords.net.
• Now that I finished learning CSS basics, I realize why every Web designer hates IE6 so much.
• Always carry a Beta58 with you.  You never know when you’ll end up at a church that uses VocoPro mics…

Whew, well that felt good to get off my chest.  That doesn’t count as tweeting, right?  Man, this Twitter detox is hard!