Archives
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Apple Mouse Marks Mighty Change
Various pundits want to proclaim Apple's new multi-button mouse as a major departure and admission that clean design (in the form of a one-button can't be screwed up manner) isn't always acceptable to the consumer.
Recall that the original Macintosh keyboard did not have cursor keys. The original vision was to have the mouse perform all functions, while the keyboard was solely for text input. Steve Jobs and Macintosh team wanted to force people into using the mouse for all operations, even scrolling pages of text.
After several months, Apple realized their folly and made a keyboard with a number pad and cursor keys. I don't know if that was introduced along with the "Fat Mac" in October 1984 or was slipstreamed into the Macintosh production line. I know that it hard to get one of those original keyboards. I am looking for one by the way!
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MSN Desktop Search
I've been using the latest MSN Desktop Search with the MSN Toolbar. The latest version adds tabbed browsing to Internet Explorer, but I turned it off. Similar to when I spent several weeks with Firefox, I just didn't feel comfortable with the tabs. I'm just too used to ALT+TAB and ALT+F4 to navigate. I know CTRL+TAB and CTRL+F4 will do the same, but why bother?
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Good mailing list for Active Directory Programming
Carlos Magalhaes has been quietly running a fine mailing list for developers working with Active Directory and related technologies. ADSI or the .NET System.DirectoryServices libraries are covered and there is excellent response time and good discussion.
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Microsoft Windows Internals Review
I’ve always been a bit twiddler – whether it’s doing machine code on an 8-bit RCA COSMAC microprocessor or writing 16-bit drivers for Windows 3.1 or doing Windows Server 2003 storage related development, I’ve never shied away from getting into the meat of the system.
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Twisted Podcasting?
Arik Korman, director for my buddy Bob's radio show has started a Podcasting blog. Arik is a fascinating person, and he infuses his podcast with the same production skills that has helped make the Bob Rivers Show top-rated in the Seattle market.
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Firefox Prefetching Google Search Results
Google is taking advantage of a feature of the Mozilla open-source to prefetch the top search result. So, if you search on something, the pages referenced in the first result will be loaded in the background.
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Bill Gates' Think Week - An inside view
Robert Guth of the Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article on Bill Gates’ twice-yearly solo retreats, known inside the company as “Think Week”.
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Grammar check article on Slashdot
I submitted an article to Slashdot today and it was accepted! Within a few hours, it collected over 200 comments.
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Create New Folder in Explorer – why not easier?
Since I started working with the Windows Explorer shell in Windows 95, I’ve often wondered why there isn’t a “New Folder” toolbar button.
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Windows Media Player not adding albums to media library
Have been moving my music collection around and noticed that nearly half of the files didn't get added to the media library when monitoring the folder, or manually scanning it.
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Backup Favorites Quickly
A friend and former co-worker at Microsoft recently sent out an e-mail to several people describing a way to backup the Favorites folder to a writable CD/DVD-ROM drive. I started thinking that it could even be easier:
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Microsoft vs. Slashdot
Is anyone else getting sick of the anti-Microsoft bent Slashdot has? For years I avoided the site because of it's slated, often fact free view towards Microsoft, Windows, etc. A year ago however, I subscribed to their daily news summary and have found most of the stories interesting.
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Google toolbar tip - Shift+Enter
When using the Google toolbar, you can press SHIFT+ENTER after typing a search query to open a new browser window with the search results. Nifty.
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Hollywood's Walk of Fame is getting out of control
Today I read that actress Susan Lucci got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. It seems like every week there is a new star being handed out. I did some checking and sure enough, it is every week! January 7 was Soupy Sales, January 21 was the rock band Journey, today is Susan Lucci, and Monday the 31st has Keanu Reeves. Basically all you need is $15,000USD and an accepted application form. I think they should consider raising the fee and slow down the new stars. Maybe keep the Walk of Fame a little more exclusive.
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Defending Your Computer
My good friend Dave Dockery of Synergy Publishing has put together a nice seminar on cleaning PC's infected with spyware and other unwanted pieces of software.
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My only in-flight emergency
The other day my friends Bob and the crew on the Bob Rivers Show (KZOK mornings, 6-10am) were chatting about their worst flying experiences. I decided to call in with my own as a pilot.