In “an alliance you thought you’d never see,” Microsoft has announced that the next Treo will run Windows Mobile 5.0. More comments here.
Category: Geekdom
The Programming Board Game
If you want to get your kids learning C++ by the time they’re in the first grade, better start ’em young.
Programmer Cheat Sheets
There are cheat sheets all over the Web for a variety of programming languages. The one great thing about this page is that it has over 30 of them all sorted and linked to in one place, saving me a ton of trouble.
Windows Vista To Come in Seven Versions
It’s bad enough that there are several versions of Windows XP (Home, Professional, Media Center, Tablet, 64-bit, etc…), but it looks like Windows Vista, the next version of Windows, is going to come out of the gate in seven versions: Vista Starter Edition, Vista Home Basic Edition, Vista Home Premium Edition, Vista Ultimate Edition, Vista Small Business Edition, Vista Professional Edition, and Vista Enterprise Edition.
Does anybody else find that a touch confusing? Reading the article just makes it worse. More discussion here.
The Secret Language Of Spam
Looks like somebody’s spamming software didn’t process the message properly. I just got this via e-mail (URLs removed):
It’s ${quick|fast}, ${easy|simple} and ${anonymous|very private}.
Our ${dat.ing|matchin.g} ${system|portal} has taken live ${dating|matching}
to a ${whole new|much higher} level.
Now you can {meet|get to know} someone in {seconds|nanoseconds},
${conversate|talk} to them and ${ensure|make sure} it’s all ${that you like|by your taste}!
It sure makes it easy to block this type of thing when every option for this e-mail is spelled out so nicely.
Overclocking Yourself
Leave it up so a caffeine-crazed geek, who has probably overclocked his computer as well, to test the various ways to speed yourself up.
More New Orleans Links: Lousy Gov’t Response, Heroes, Volunteers, and More
I apologize for all the Katrina links lately, but this is a massive story that is not going to stop developing any time soon (especially once we get official death numbers).
I do I wish I could make it down south right now — I’d love to help out with this in the best way I could, and this would be my cup of tea: A group of volunteers (with some help from some major corporations) is trying to wire up Houston and New Orleans so that they can get communication systems back up and going. Part of the community effort is getting documented here, and more on BoingBoing. So any of you with Wireless network, mesh network, VoIP, low-power FM radio, etc… , be sure to donate your time.
Note for geeks out there with Internet2 access (which means you’re probably in college), your traffic might be suffering a tad.
On a side note, I won’t get into my feelings about the government’s piss-poor response to all this (stories like this, this, this, this, this, this and this sicken me), but I do get very angry when I see stories like this of very valuable resources going mostly unused.
But on a brighter note, PayPal allows you to setup a fee-free donation page for Katrina victims, and there are a pile of colleges helping out students. Also, here’s a flickr photo collection from a volunteer who’s wiring up the Astrodome.
On a totally random note, here’s a nutjob that thinks Hurricane Katrina was a guided weapon (with more conspiracy theories here).
Thanks to Waxy and BoingBoing and many others for all these links.
Cracking Windows “Genuine Advantage”
Yes, I know this is old news (I’m behind in my reading, give me a break), but if you’re running a pirated version of Windows XP and still want to get downloads from Microsoft that are protected by their anti-piracy “Genuine Advantage” program, this one line of JavaScript will be very handy to you:
Before pressing ‘Custom’ or ‘Express’ buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter:
javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck=’all’)
It turns off the trigger for the key check.
Update on 8/28: Apparently if you run the Geniune Advantage program in Windows 2000 Compatibility Mode, it will work as well.
Technology, circa 1985
If Engadget was a BBS back in 1985, it might look something like this.
Technology Sucks
When you do what I do for a living, there are just times that you want to completely just step away and turn the computer off for a while. That why you frequently don’t see posts on this site on Fridays or Saturdays. It’s my days off work, and my days to just avoid my computer, chill out with my family, and take a break so that when I am forced to sit in front of this machine again, I’m in a better mood.
After the events of today (including the mess that inspired my earlier post), I had to step away. I turned off my laptop here at work, packed it up in my bag so I didn’t have to even look at it. I went outside, took a quick walk around the block, and came back to my office. Upon arriving at the office, I realized how little I wanted to turn that computer back on and I realized how dirty my desk and office were since I didn’t have my laptop covering up things. So I went back to our housekeeping department, grabbed some rags and some sort of all-purpose cleaner whose name I can’t remember, and started cleaning. I cleaned up my whole office, even scrubbing down my phone (there was a lot of gunk on there). I dumped out my desk drawer on the floor, realized I probably have more writing utensils than anybody in the building, and cleaned it out, too. I got out some business cards I was looking for, put them in an area where I could actually see them, and now my desk is much more organized and clutter free.
Now, a couple hours later, my office is sparkly, I’ve put up with the crap from the girls in the office who think I’m a slob, and I’m back to work.
So what do I do first? I blog this entry. Now maybe I’ll get something done. Really. I promise.
Maybe I should just shut this thing off again…