Tech Space

More issues with my Lenovo T61

Thomas Powell — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:17:04 +0000

Here’s a nice shot of the nVidia driver context menu wackiness in windows XP. The longer a window is open, the more of these that appear. (Considering the window in question is Safari, that time span is probably 2-3 hours.)

Meanwhile, I spent 10-15 minutes trying to get the laptop to recognize that my external monitor was plugged in, and then trying to close windows for a graceful shutdown.

Message rules to filter automated messages and subscriptions

Thomas Powell — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:32:32 +0000

My word/phrase list:

unsubscribe
to stop receiving
subscription preferences
as a web page
this message has been sent to
like to opt out
online privacy policy
do not want to receive
you no longer wish
prefer not to receive
to opt out
this email was sent to

Advice:

The space allowed for rules is VERY limited. You can have roughly 40 rules active at a time [sometimes far fewer]. It’s best to lump all the sorting of one specific type into the same rule, because the search terms do not seem to take up as much space as the rules themselves do.

While you can right-click and “Create Rule…” on every message type you want to filter, you will run out of rules space very quickly. Maybe in minutes.

Step-by-step:

I worked through some rules that helped greatly reduce the amount of newsletters, etc., that show up in my in my main inbox.

I started by creating a new rule [Tools->Rules and Alerts->New Rule...]

I started from a blank rule…

Select a blank rule

Next, I needed to match messages “with specific words in the subject or body”. [Really just the message body]

Look for messages with specific words in the subject or body

Click on the “specific words” text to bring up a pop-up where you can specify the words.

Pop-up to specify search text

Type words in an click “add” until you’ve added all the phrases to search for:

Finished search list

Next, check “move it to the specified folder” and click the word “specified” in the bottom part to tell Outlook where to send the messages.

Move to specified folder

Optionally, you can specify exceptions [such as internal e-mails].

Exceptions step

Be sure to check the rule’s checkbox in the “Rules and Alerts” window to enable it.

If you want to run your newly created rule on existing messages, click [Apply] then [Run Rules Now...] and check the rule to run.

Can I just get a new laptop?

Thomas Powell — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:21:03 +0000

Major PC issues. VPN/Wireless/System not playing well together.

Finding the about screen in Word 2007

Thomas Powell — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:53:43 +0000

I had to dig to find this:

I used to be able to get the version number via the Help->About… functionality. Pretty standard Windows pattern.

I wanted to see if the pushed update of Office 2007 SP2 had been applied this morning, and eventually had to look it up.

It is now under the Office logo menu, which I expected. What I didn’t expect is that it’s buried under the Word Options selection at the bottom of that menu.

In the Word Options menu, go to the Resources tab/menu, and the last item in the right pane of that window is the standard “About” information.

How I studied for the Sun Certified Java Programmer [SCJP] 6 Exam

Thomas Powell — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:08:03 +0000

Including an inline review of two SCJP study guides.

Disclaimer: This is not a guide to passing the test with zero experience and no preparation. The SCJP exam will quickly expose lack of working knowledge. I have roughly 15 years of experience with programming in C and derivative languages, including about 1 year of Java 1.1 through 1.5 and about 2 years of experience with C++.

Studying:

Note: Book links are paid Amazon associate links.

Week 1:

Took class that walked through the J2SE 5 book, SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide (Exam 310-055) (Certification Press). Took the “self-tests” at the back of each chapter and reviewed the “Two Minute Drills” as part of the class.

Week 2:

Downloaded the jPrep app for my iPhone, which helped review some concepts in flash card format, but other than that, did limited studying until Friday of that week.
Downloaded SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Exam 310-065 [SCJP 6]. This is the Java 6 version of the book I used in the class. The self test questions are tough, and hard to get correct a second time through if you don’t know the material itself.
Downloaded A Programmer’s Guide to Java SCJP Certification: A Comprehensive Primer (3rd Edition)[Programmer's Guide] through my Safari Books Online account. I do not recommend this book. See Week 3.
Read roughly the first chapter of the version 6 book while traveling.

Week 3:

Took the “self test” questions at the end of every section of the SCJP 6 book. Got only 51% correct.
Hand wrote the answers or a fuller explanation of the answers for every question I got wrong.
Took the Programmer’s Guide mock exam. When I checked the answers, I noticed that the questions would say something like “select the 2 correct answers” and the answers would give 3 answers, or vice versa. Once I realized how bad the editing was on this book, I stopped using it.
Re-took the “self test” questions at the end of every section of the SCJP 6 book. Got only 88% correct. This time, I read through the answer explanations for the incorrect answers, and then re-read the “Two Minute Drill” sections for my two worst sections.

I believe that the SCJP 6 helped me because the format of the questions [choose all that apply] was ultimately harder than the format of the actual certification test questions. The Programmer’s Guide “mock test” format was closer to the actual test format, but I spent way too much time reconciling the test answers and test questions for it to be useful.

Other factors and more detail that you may not care about:

I had the opportunity through to take a class [June 7-June 11 2010] to become certified as a Sun Certified Java Programmer for Version 5. The book used in the class was [SCJP 5 study guide]. At the end of the class, we were presented with the option of registering for either the SCJP version 5 or SCJP version 6 exam by the end of June 2010. I took the risk that I could study the gaps between the Java 5 and Java 6 and pass the SCJP version 6 exam. Little did I realize that the studying effort would be a little more challenging than I first thought.

I had originally read through the Java 1.5 Tiger: A Developer’s Notebook (Java 5,Version 1.5) when Java 1.5 was brand new [5 years ago]. Since then, I have done a small amount of maintenance programming, which got me familiar with a few of the advanced concepts. In addition, the concept of generics was familiar as C++ templates and I have my basic computer science engineering classes from 16 years ago as a foundation for it all.

Boxing of an Integer and conservation of space in Java

Thomas Powell — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:43:01 +0000

Apparently, boxing of an int literal initialization into an Integer class will result in two different objects being assigned the same space in memory if the number is 127 or smaller, but different spaces in memory if the number is 128 or larger.

Take BoxTest.java:

 Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 |  copy code |? 01  2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0">(.*?)
02 public class BoxTest {
03    public static void main(String [] args) {
04       // These two objects will occupy different spaces in memory.
05       Integer i1 = 128;
06       Integer i2 = 128;
07  
08       System.out.println("i1 = " + i1 + ", i2 = " + i2 + " => ");
09       if(i1 != i2) System.out.println("different objects");
10       if(i1.equals(i2)) System.out.println("meaningfully equal");
11  
12       // These two, smaller objects, will occupy the same space in memory.
13       Integer i3 = 127;
14       Integer i4 = 127;
15  
16       System.out.println("i3 = " + i3 + ", i4 = " + i4 + " => ");
17       if(i3 == i4)  System.out.println("same object");
18       if(i3.equals(i4)) System.out.println("meaningfully equal");
19    }
20 }

The output:

[~/Dropbox/java/tech0x20] javac BoxTest.java

[~/Dropbox/java/tech0x20] java BoxTest

i1 = 128, i2 = 128 =>

different objects

meaningfully equal

i3 = 127, i4 = 127 =>

same object

meaningfully equal

My experience with the Starbucks Mobile Card

Thomas Powell — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:57:10 +0000

When I initially heard about the Starbucks mobile card test only being expanded to Target stores, I wondered if the reason was because of infrastructure. After all, there are west coast tests of the mobile card in full scale stores.

After trying to use it, I now believe that the choice of Target Starbucks as test locations was due to their lower volume.

I presented my iPhone app mobile card for payment. It took a minute for the cashier to realize what I was doing (how long into the test?)

She was unable to scan the mobile card after a couple of attempts, and then had to make a couple of attempts at manually entering the card before the system would accept it as payment.

Another cashier was confused with what was even going on with my iPhone and the order. At some point, I can imagine that I would have been public enemy #1 if this were a standalone Starbucks at rush hour.

I successfully paid for my drink with the mobile card, but I don’t think I ever will do that again, at least not until I see others in line successfully paying in this way.

MacBook Pro setup list.

Thomas Powell — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:26:22 +0000

Some things that I’ve set up on my MBP:

Terminal Settings
- ~/.profile
  - Changed prompt
  - Default is ‘\h:\W \u\$ ‘ [ Computer-Name: current-directory username$ ]
  - Changed to ‘[\w] ‘
  - man bash, find “PROMPTING” for escape codes
Editors

TextEdit – for simple text files, quick code tweaks
XCode [default code editor] – for longer code edit sessions and code viewing
macvim – for text file batch editing, power code substitution

Programming

XCode

git for Mac

Twitter

TweetDeck for Social Media Monitoring

Nambu for compact Twitter monitoring with lists

Tweetie for Twitter as a stream only

Mail

Mac Mail 4.2 connected to Exchange server is more useful than Outlook on Windows with Desktop Search or Xobni

Initial Impresssions of the iPad

Thomas Powell — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:29:40 +0000

Initial verdict:

I like the iPad itself. However, the price is at least $100 more than I can tolerate. In reality, it’s $200 too much, but I’m giving the benefit of the doubt because of the screen size.

I would probably pay $500 for an iPad with contractless 3g, but for WiFi, it seems like too much money for too little.

From a developer perspective, I like that there is a “Universal” development option for some of the app types, as well as a “Split View” which optimizes the experience for iPad only.

Other thoughts:

WiFi is VERY tempermental. [TUAW post on it]
Typing is almost as fast as a physical keyboard
Really would have liked leaving the protective wrap on it. Touch was very responsive with it on. Speakers were covered, though.
The internal speaker is pretty weak.
Running iPhone apps on the iPad is often worse than running Win 3.1 applications on more recent versions of Windows.
Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access works very nicely.

The Apps:

The USA TODAY free app is a nice quick view of the news.
TWC MAX+ [The Weather Channel app]
iBooks has a wonderful free selection of children’s books.
Netflix app streaming is good, minus the whole weak speaker thing.
Tweetdeck runs pretty slowly.
Tweetdeck has search functionality on a per-column basis.
The Amazon Kindle app is beautiful on the iPad
GoToMeeting app makes excellent use of pinch-and-zoom and panning. It’s also to nice to have such a meeting session up on an external device and using separate computing resources. [Like having meeting TV].
Epicurious app – I can really see the Epicurious app on the iPad being what all those internet connected kitchen devices were always meant to be.

iPad opinions and articles

Thomas Powell — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:56:01 +0000

The Truth About the iPad [It Replaces the iPhone?] 2010.04.08

Ars Technica reviews the iPad 2010.04.07

iPad Teething Problems 2010.04.06

paidContent – The Numbers on the iPad’s Debut – 2010.04.04

As Expected, No One Wants Those Expensive Newspaper Apps – 2010.04.04

Mashable – Analyst: 700,000 iPads Sold [REPORT] – 2010.04.03

3 Businesses the iPad can Transform

The iPad for Small Business — It’s not just a toy.

The iPad’s here, now what?

iPad Apps: The Next Gold Mine or Just Fool’s Gold?

Negative

Former top Mac evangelist says iPad may fail

Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either)

01	2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0">(.*?)
02	public class BoxTest {
03	public static void main(String [] args) {
04	// These two objects will occupy different spaces in memory.
05	Integer i1 = 128;
06	Integer i2 = 128;
07
08	System.out.println("i1 = " + i1 + ", i2 = " + i2 + " => ");
09	if(i1 != i2) System.out.println("different objects");
10	if(i1.equals(i2)) System.out.println("meaningfully equal");
11
12	// These two, smaller objects, will occupy the same space in memory.
13	Integer i3 = 127;
14	Integer i4 = 127;
15
16	System.out.println("i3 = " + i3 + ", i4 = " + i4 + " => ");
17	if(i3 == i4) System.out.println("same object");
18	if(i3.equals(i4)) System.out.println("meaningfully equal");
19	}
20	}