Tech Potporri

Ho-Hum.

Lavie's got the only car (I may get a rental tomorrow) right now. It is a lazy Sunday. Cool. Breezy. Bright. I'm too tired to take a nap. Alvis has decided to re-arrange her bedroom (this is a childhood milestone) so her clothes, gear, stuff, furniture, etc. is strewn across her room and the hallway. But she is making good progress. On top of that, she is 2/3 done with a school project we need to finish up today. I haven't hit the "concerned parent" level yet, but we are getting closer.

One of the very first things I used to do when I got a new system was to slap a firewall on it. Now our systems are sitting behind a hardware router/firewall. But a good firewall doesn't just keep stuff from getting into your computer, it also monitors and limits what gets out. Back when I started, the big test to run on a system was Gibson Research's LeakTest. Still a handy tool. However, the baddies have gotten much more clever at attempting to evade firewalls. A new site I discovered recently is Firewall Leak Tester. This site state's its purpose is to not only provide a multitude of outbound traffic firewall tests, but also to give a comparison between different firewall products. I found it to be very informative. Some user's might not care, but I still find that a firewall is a must, and that outbound monitoring is as important as inbound traffic monitoring. All too often I have caught "legit" applications attempting to "phone-home". How well does your firewall solution stack up?

Another important task when trial-testing software is figuring out where it goes on your system. I wish more vendors would write software that unpacked into a central program folder then used an .ini file for it's settings, instead of heavy registry modifications. Anyway, to find out what a program really does when it installs you need to be able to compare "before and after" lists of what files and registry settings got installed, modified and changed. The program I prefer to use is called Install Watch (from Epsilon Squared). This is a free application that takes a system "snapshot" prior to software installation, then takes another post-installation and shows you the differences. It is wizard based so it is very easy to use. A review here. A second product I have recently seen is What Changed (from Vista Software). It is also free. The interface is very simple and plain but it gets the job done. It is a standalone exe file so no system installation is required. Great to keep handy on a USB stick.

If burning media is your thing, consider adding BurnAtOnce to your bag of tricks. It is free software that supports CD media and (with a little update) DVD media as well. It can even make bootable CD media. Also don't forget the handy Folder2Iso freeware. A standalone .exe file, you arrange a folder (subfolders/contents) and then point this app to it. It will create an ISO format file that you can then burn or use with virtual drive software like Daemon Tools. I find these two applications are very handy when planning out and testing software tool cd's at work. I have saved a ton of $ on bad-cd burns by making test images and testing them virtually.

Lifehacker has a post on how to "Set up a home wireless network." Even though Lavie's laptop has wireless built in, I still am not ready to install a wireless router. This guide does give you a pretty good idea of the steps you will need to take putting one in. Eventually I will probably install one. I have heard good things about this model. Leo Lapore and Steve Gibson gave me the idea of cascading routers on a home network to isolate components. I have my cable modem, next would be the wireless router, and plugged into that would be my current router. That should (theoretically) prevent anyone from accessing the router downstream (were that to happen) but I guess someone could (wirelessly) sniff the traffic from the bottom router coming up the pipes if they cracked the wireless security. Anyway, I like the idea of the convenience of a wireless Internet connection, but still (even with it locked down) I have some concerns. Has anyone actually tried putting home routers in series this way?

It appears a new Ghost in the Shell movie is in production. GITS: Solid State Society.

Additional GIS:SSS linkage from DannyChoo:
GITS:SSS--models and drawings,
GITS:SSS--promotion trailer (video!)

Finally, Lavie is working hard at getting up to speed in her desktop publishing assignment. She is close to getting approval for the purchase of an Adobe design suite. Her employer might also set her up with a second workstation--Apple style! Cool. One of the neat things she uncovered was a site that uses web-magazine publishing software from NXTbook Media. Sample from Bentley.com. Slick!

Anyway, Drawn! had a post about a technical drawing illustrator Kevin Hulsey. His site has some awesome work, but as an added bonus, he has a "students page" corner where he shows some l33t graphic arts techniques in technical illustation. The best part is his two-part step-by-step walk through of a cruise ship cutaway illustration.

I hope you also enjoy the new Blogger picture of us in the top-left column. Lavie thought a family "photo" would be nice--so there it is!

See Ya!
--Claus

McDonald's Premium Roast Coffee: A Review

McDonald's hit the news recently with the introduction of a new Premium Roast Coffee to their menu lineup.

I recently had the opportunity to pick up a Premium Roast model and check out its performance. This review was mentally composed over the span of 6 hours while monitoring a network drive being restored from tape-backup. (It failed--by the way--and we gave up trying to restore it.)

The Case:

For this review I chose the Small Form Factor (SFF) case version, also known as "small." McDonald's also releases their new roast in a Mid-Tower unit (medium) and a Tower unit (large). I really liked the portability of the the SFF model. It was light and very portable. Colorful graphics splashed on the case proclaiming its features reminded me of the "Intel Inside" label days.

The cover lid had a modern, high-tech design. It used a screwless assembly that made removal a snap. Access to the contents was quick and allowed for easy user modifications and hacks. More on that later. To prevent energy leakage, the designers made a handy swing-away port feature. It is a tiny square that covers the primary port, but can be flipped back and snapped into a recess to keep port access unrestricted. I found the snap to be very pleasing, but easy to disengage. Most of McDonald's competitors do not have this port cover feature. I have only seen it used on one other vendor's product.

Case sides were thin but sturdy with no sharp edges or join-seams. They are slightly textured and the grip was comfortable.I was unable to get the case to leak any contents while using no matter what location the portal was oriented on the case. This is important because I have used Starbucks case model many times and found that if the access port is aligned over the case seam, product leakage often occurs with sometimes bad consequences. Ergo-dynamic design allowed me to sample product with confidence and not worry about being choked with too much output, even when hitting a bumpy section of roadway.

The Contents:

Version 2 of McDonald's Coffee has been promoted as a much richer blend then their version 1 model. Color was much darker. The taste change was notable. It was much stronger and heavier a flavor. But the acidity level seemed mild. I would have to say that it was smoother. Temperature was sufficiently hot. After a number of sips, I decided to do so user-hacks. I went for the two-sugar, two creamer hack. Modifications were quick due to the aforementioned lid design. The hacks brought the flavor in line with a heavier General Foods "International Coffees."

Performance:

When the system cooled off, I performed a quick "reboot" in the microwave. Performance when re-heated was not too bad. Because the contents were not in an insulated case, performance drops quickly. The caffeine content--although not scientifically benchmarked--seemed sufficient to ward off this coffee drinker's mid-morning headache if the regular morning "cup of joe" wasn't taken.

Conclusions:

Overall I was very surprised by McDonald's Premium Roast Coffee. I was not expecting to be as satisfied with my trial unit as I was. The container was comfortable, though somewhat flashy. Taste was much bolder and enjoyable, but not at all bitter. It had "thickness of taste" (not to be confused with viscosity). Too many times I have coffee that looked dark but tasted like watered down black-tea.

I must confess that my coffee-house of choice still remains Starbucks. The quality of the coffees, the varieties, the relaxing atmosphere and the cute baristas all make it a destination place. McDonald's just cannot compete with that (neither in atmosphere nor cute baristas). HOWEVER, I don't think their business model is to directly compete--and if so--it is going to work. If I have the family in tow and we are going to pick up a fast breakfast--I will be much more willing and likely to swing by McDonald's now instead of their other fast-food competitors. And in a pinch, if I can't find a Starbucks before I get dug into for a major project, I won't think twice about picking up a cup of morning coffee from McDonald's now.

While McDonald's new Premium Roast Coffee still will not be my primary choice of morning coffees, it has taken a comfortable lead in the number two spot.

Related Coffee Links:

Man Pursues $3.7 Million in Starbucks Ice Coffee Cold-Burn Lawsuit (yes--I get it...)
The "real" Stella's Case on the McDonald's Hot Coffee lawsuit.
Liebeck v. McDonald's Corp. [Wikipedia]
Mandolux Desktops: Coffee & Beans (triptych), Caffeinated Love (dual)

See you in the skies,
Claus

And yes...the picture above was captured directly from their Website--I didn't make it up. They are wholly responsible for that copy.

Wrecked.

It's too late to rant. I'm too tired.

Long story short, a few blocks away from the office on my way home, I was sitting behind a stop-sign waiting to make my turn. Dude across the street at the facing stop-sign decides to pull out across the intersection (cross traffic has right of way).

Slowly pulls out.

Slowly.

In front of an oncoming car.

And get's t-boned.

Bad.

Physics at work--momentum (or is it inertia?) causes both cars to spin out into mine.

Parked behind a stop-sign. Did I mention that already?

Woman who hit the non-yielding driver had her airbag deploy. Dude's car is probably toast.

Lots of witnesses behind me--officer has a ton of statements.

My car's front end is worse for the wear, but no pieces seem to have fallen off.

Had to have it towed to the shop.

Lavie and Alvis came by the office to pick me up and take me home.

I'm tired. Nothing I could have done. I was just parked behind the stop-sign. Stopped. Collision carried into mine.

Know how a NASCAR driver feels caught up in "the Big One" no fault of their own. Race over. Skip the pits. To the trailer, buddy.

Sigh.

Got home and tried to pay a bill--store closed. Sighs. Still had grocery's to buy, dinner to cook, clothes to fold. Alvis to tuck in bed.

Tomorrow I have a BIG project at work to execute. Have to borrow Lavie's car tomorrow. I'll worry about a rental on Wed. Sigh.

So, I did everything I was supposed to. I was being a defensive driver. I was responsible. Wrecked.

Did I mention I had just changed the tire on car in the office parking-lot because it was flat? Yep. Five minutes later I was wrecked. Lot of good that did. Sighs.

Topper? OK.

Dude who caused the accident is under-age. A juvenile. No driver's license. No insurance. Nothing.

Guess who gets to pay? Because I'm responsible and have my license and insurance, and everything. Yep. Me. Small claims court you say? Maybe. I will see.

Sighs.

Time for bed.

Wish I was a Time Lord with a Tardis. Just caught the new (to the U.S.) Dr. WHO on Sci-Fi network. It was really good. Could have used one of his sonic screwdriver thingies. Sighs.

Wrecked.

And I really feel a deep sense of loss at having to leave my car at the scene getting towed to the body-shop.

I feel like I left a man down in the field of battle.

Stupid huh?

Tomorrow is another day....
--Claus

PS.--I'm fine, friends and family. No self-body damage. Just my heart. Wrecked. I hate that.

Rebuilding Firefox and the Bitty Browser

During all the interent issues I've been having, somehow one of my Firefox extensions went south and killed some scripts that allowed me to post images to Blogger as well as the Techblog comments.

I made a backup of my Firefox profile and then deleted it using the handy run command: firefox.exe -profilemanager. For good measure I reinstalled Firefox (and the latest Java application). Then set about reinstalling Firefox and all my extensions.

That would sound like a big thing, but for two things: 1) I restored the bookmarks file from my backed up profile and 2) I keep screenshots of how my Firefox browser window is set up along with the list of all the extensions I load. Took me about 20-30 minutes to put it all back together again. Although I find I am still coming across certain "tweaks" that have to be done as I encounter them.

And the extension that I tripped over? I suspect it was Quick Java. I had used it to disable Java/Java Script as an example to show the cable technician something and forgot to re-enable it. When I finally did, that's when things stopped working. I've used it before on my other systems without problems, so I think it was just an alignment of the planets or something....

Anyway....Alvis is playing Zoo Tycoon. She is a real wonder at it. She was so cute teaching me how to play the game. She has all the the elements down. Customer happiness, firing lazy keepers, building enough restrooms and snack machines. It's a really fun game. She has my pants beat at it. I couldn't even keep a pair of black bears happy and she has a giant zoo up and running. Sheesh.

On to my Linkage pile for the week:

Wallpaper Madness!

Freddie's Wallpaper : Found during a Google search for dual monitor wallpapers. This site has one of the widest collections of the high quality anime/manga desktops I've ever found. There are some other subjects as well. Well worth a look.

Wallpapers Zone : (Warning! Not Safe for Work!) French site. Great desktops and some duals here. One section at the bottom "Erotique" and one at the top "Stars Et Top Models Femmes" might get you some skin. I find foreign wallpaper sites a great source of fresh materials.

KDE-Look.org : KDE is a Linux GUI, but this site has a ton of wallpapers--Linux and not that look spectacular. I usually find Linux wallpaper sites have a lot of custom designed artwork. Very creative stuff.

File Recovery!

When you delete a file (and empty the recycle bin) a file is usually gone for good. Not really. As long as the file hasn't been secure deleted (free), and the section on the hard drive the file was at overwritten with new data, there is a good chance the file can be recovered. My file recovery software of choice is PC Inspector File Recovery (freeware). I have used it many times to recover files off hard-drives that were "fdisked" but not secure wiped. However, a new (free) Open Source offering called PhotoRec looks promising. Don't let the name fool you, it may also recover files from flash memory and hard disk media.

Software!

Flow : A beautiful Flash based game where you guide a little organism to eat stuff and grow bigger. [via: downloadsquad]

Ubuntu is a Linux build that is growing in popularity. They also offer a "Live Linux CD" you can boot most systems with . I was reminded by AMCP Tech Blog that Ubuntu offers to ship you free sets of the cd's. Really Free. A long time ago I ordered 10 cd's from them and sure enough, I got a big mail-pack a few weeks later. No charge. So if you can't download a Live Linux CD and still want to try it out, check out Ubuntu ShipIt.

Speaking of Linux, the folks at AltHack.com show How to Run Linux on a USB stick. Handy and pretty easy guide to follow. If your motherboard supports USB system booting, this is even faster than a Live Linux CD.

Got a SATA drive and want to plug it into an USB port? Ever resourceful, Dan's Data has the product you need: USB 2.0 to SATA converter.

Merijn (of the number one, pro-grade, malware removal tool HiJack This) has just released a new version of his StartupList tool. Very nice addition to your malware whooping bag of tricks.

Koma-Code has a freeware app called USB ToolBox 2. It attempts to be an "all in one" solution for applications. Just download and install the file on your USB stick and all your handy apps are in one place. It isn't my cup of tea, but someone might find it useful.

PowerTips

One of my email accounts has been getting a steady accumulation of phishing spam. I've been doing my net-civic duty and reporting these offenders to the respective banks' anti-fraud departments. SANS has a great article about a new technique financial phishers are trying: Get 'em to take a survey!

Windows Defender error 0x80004003. Invalid Pointer: Fix? Try manually setting your scan drives first. More helpful tips and searches in the Microsoft AntiSpyware Forums.

ProBlogger does a review on Performancing's Metrics tool. This is a statistical tool for bloggers similar to GoogleAnalytics and MeasureMap. I actually was able to enroll in this one (unlike those other two...) and am finding it very nice and easy to use!).

TagCloud. Nice and fun little enhancement for bloggers. Publish to your own website.

Weird but Fun:

The Pi-Seach Page. If you are into Pi then you must see this fun site.

Below you should see the Bitty Browser (embedded) in action! Might be handy for some bloggers. I chose the TechBlog for my homage example, but you can configure it to anything you want! Play around with it below. Scroll, browse, etc.... Neat huh?



Another small form factor (SFF) pc decorated in anime images: Pimp my Cube.

For the Japanese fans:

Elegant Obi's for Summer. These are the cloths that Japanese women use to wrap around their kimonos.

And as they say....That's a wrap!
--Claus

Time Warner RoadRunner -- Gold Star Service

Success!

The cable technician arrived at about 10:30 am.

He went right to the cable modem box, unhooked it and did a line test. Looked good. Went back to the van and brought back a brand new--new circuit board fresh smell--cable modem 1/3 the size as the original. He said that the older ones were refurb/recycled and they were starting to fail. I can attest that the old one was VERY warm--I made sure it was stood on it's side to get maximum air flow. Plugged it in and connected the connectors. A quick call to HQ to have the MAC address reset on our account and BAM (Emeril quality) the net was back in blazing glory.

I surprised him by doing my system's IP renewal via command-prompt (DOS). That got us chatting about the impressive dual monitor setup my bro. set me up with. That led to malware discussion and shop talk. I ended up giving him some malware-busting pointers for his own pc and pointed him to some open-source apps he likely needed to try on his system.

Once we got done with our "war-stories" he went out and checked all the cable-splitters and such on the outside of the house. It's a real rat's-nest. Each technician has his own standard and it really showed. We traced out them all, and he pulled the dead ones. Then he replaced all our splitters with shiny new ones and put "weather-proof boots" on all the coax connections. That had the effect of boosting the cable (TV) signal strength as well so the (analog) cable quality is much better (ie. clearer)--bonus!

A few last minute tweaks on his network side and we were ripping. Time of entire service? About 30-40min with an extra 20 min of shop-talk tacked onto that.

Results? A new speed test showed my Kpbs rate on the test maxed at over 13344 Kbps. Yes. That is on the home-level TW Road-runner service--no typos. Average rate appears to be around 5000-8000 Kbps consistently. Sweet.

Also, he says that the RoadRunner IP's are indeed "dynamic" and can be reset by leaving your cable modem unplugged for a while and/or that Time Warner itself recycles the modem periodically to force an IP change. Static IP's are available for business class customers. Good to know.

So I reconnected the router and got everything back and was working fine--and then....I lost IP again. Totally. UHGGG!

First place I went was to the router and changed the setting from "static" that it still was set on, to "dynamic" using the little nugget of wisdom I had gained. Yep--that did it. Only how come my router let me though using the (old) static IP of the previous modem for a couple of minutes before? I guess it took it a while to figure out things had changed.

Anyway....back up and Blazing fast.

Just in time too, DannyChoo opened up a new website Figure FM where mecha/anime/figurine fans can post their collection items.

Give Time Warner a Gold Star for their (residential) Road Runner service.

Sweet! At least one more post to come today...got some linkage backlog to clear.

Repairs done, back into the sky,
--Claus

PS. (I''ll post the picture proof of the speed test once Blogger sorts itself out again...)

Road Runner Cable Stalling

Ok. If you don't see another post for a little while, our Road Runner cable Internet connection is almost dead.

In my March 8th post, I mentioned that I was noticing some page-load stalls. I could still get RocketBoom, but it kept freezing up on the downloads. Downloads of, well....downloads....also would get partially done, then stall out--regardless of website or type of download. Then after a couple of minutes, they would pick up again.

I called the Time Warner help desk and after convincing them I was a real-life sysadmin and did know what I was talking about, got them to run a set of tests on their end to the cable modem. The rep. reported the highly technical report analysis findings as being "all lights are green," but a little low, however not enough to be concerned about.

By the way, how can network quality lights be low but still green? Do they mean dim? I don't really approve of using a color gradient to describe network issues. I prefer technical details like packet-loss rates and Time to Live and Time data. But if colors are what Time Warner prefers, maybe they could switch to a Crayola Crayon Method: (Brick Red=bad, Mountain Meadow=good, Neon Carrot=we better monitor this.)

Anyway...I was asked to call back when I saw the problem "really bad". OK, fair enough--I'll get my daughter's box of crayons out and call back when my Internet network quality hits "Razzmatazz."

Today it is REALLY bad. Above, you can see the speed test I was running on their own site. I had a 11Kbps rate. I don't think that number is even listed on their little cool color chart. It is like, sub dial-up quality.

I did all the usual tests before calling. I checked Alvis's Linux system, Lavie's Laptop, and our XP system. All poor. Then I tried shutting down the ZoneAlarm firewall and even our anti-virus app (since I was still sitting safely behind our physical router/firewall). Same problem. Then I shut down the router and piped the signal directly from the cable modem to the XP pc. Same thing--really bad quality. Finally, I grabbed one of my Linux Live CD's and booted my XP box directly into Linux, bypassing the XP OS entirely. Same thing.

Soooo, by this point my l33t sysadmin skillz were telling me that I don't think it was my hardware or my software that had the issue. Back on the phone to TimeWarner. Got a tech pretty quickly and again went over my troubleshooting steps. Asked him to run a test down to their cable modem box. Guess what he saw....?

Yep. Packet loss. LOTS of packet loss. Way so much packet loss that they transferred me to a local office and I (hopefully) have a technician coming out tomorrow to 1) test their lines out here, 2) test their modem out here, or 3) replace the lines and/or the modem. We will see....and I will keep you posted!

Here are some "third-party" cable/dsl/network speed test links off their website:

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/bandwidth.asp
http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~leslie/testpage.htm
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
http://www.cable-modem.net/features/oct99/speed.html
http://www.testmyspeed.com/

I'm not griping. Really. The technicians got on the line both times very quickly with me and didn't waste my or their time when I explained all that I had done in troubleshooting before. They scheduled me for a next-day technician's visit (on a Sunday) and we have been very happy with our experience with Time Warner's Road Runner network service. I just hope it turns out well tomorrow. To put it in lingo I used to use in a prior life..."Time Warner now has an opportunity for customer service excellence achievement."

In other news.....Full Metal style,

I know that the TV cable signal has nothing to do with the digital Internet signal. I just am in a nervous state that the TV cable will go out tonight. It's the final episode (51) of Full Metal Alchemist on Cartoon Network tonight. It looks to be a real doozie.

So, if you missed it because your cable went out...here is a link to an episode summary of the show....spoilers are ahead if you click...just don't blame me.

See you soon,
--Claus

Starship Dimensions

The other day while trolling around the chon.com's other citizen bloggers, I came across this fascinating link offered by Ree-C Murphey: Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions.

Fair warning...this is a graphics intensive site. Be sure you have a good broadband connection!

Jeff has collected a vast number of sci-fi ships (and some historical ones as well) and offered them to scale for comparisons. Want to know how big the Death Star is compared to the BORG ship? This place has got you covered.

Use the tabs on the top to pick your scale. Some vessels appear on multiple tabs and some just on one so check them all out and use your scroll bars to take it all in. Wowzers!

For some scale, some earth buildings are included along with Godzilla and the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man.

If you use Internet Explorer, you can even drag and drop them to compare side by side!

Brilliant!

Too bad they don't have any on the Last Exile vanships...oh well.

Busy skies!
--Claus