Daily Cup of Tech

One of the better ways to securely delete your data.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/08/28/secure-data-deletion/trackback/

While trying to install Ubuntu to an older system today, I thought time had stopped! It was taking literally five to ten minutes to work through the installation screens! I figured that there had to be a better way of doing this and, sure enough, there was!

When you are on the Ubuntu download website and your are looking at downloading an ISO for the desktop installation, there is a checkbox that indicates that you want to download the alternate desktop disk. This disk is not a LiveCD. Rather, it is more like the old text installers that we have come to know in the past.

It has been designed for the slightly more knowledgeable Ubuntu user who is comfortable with a text interface and making more decisions on his/her own. According to the website:

The alternate install CD allows you to perform certain specialist installations of Ubuntu. It provides for the following situations:

• creating pre-configured OEM systems;
• setting up automated deployments;
• upgrading from older installations without network access;
• LVM and/or RAID partitioning;
• installs on systems with less than about 256MB of RAM (although note that low-memory systems may not be able to run a full desktop environment reasonably).

Obviously, there are some very useful capabilities that come with this version of the CD. Well worth a look at!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/08/22/ubuntu-text-installation/trackback/

This video tutorial uses VideoDownloader and SUPER to embed YouTube video into PowerPoint when you are offline during the presentation. (Feel free to use these links instead of trying to copy the ones in the video.)

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/08/21/youtube-in-powerpoint-offline/trackback/

After about three days of being offline, it appears that VoIP phone service Skype is now back up and running. But what caused all of the problems?

According to Skype, it all started when a massive amount of people’s computers rebooted when the completed a Windows update and then attempted to all reconnect with the Skype network at the same time. The Skype network could not handle the heavy load and down it came!

Now that the smoke has cleared, it’s time to start passing out blame! (I say this tongue in cheek!) Do you thing that Skype should hold Microsoft responsible for the failure of their network system?

Background Reading

• Skype blames outage on user reboot - Times Online, UK
• Skype issues apology for ‘outage’ - BBC News, UK
• Could Skype Outage Have Long Term Effects - VoIP News Australia
• Windows Users Caused Skype Outage - TechCrunch
• Skype denies failure was due to DoS attack - IT PRO
• Skype Works on Software Flaw Suspected in Worldwide Outage - Washington Post
• Skype glitch highlights competition - Monsters and Critics

As usual, if you have more to say than what is in the poll, let us know in the comments.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/08/20/should-skype-sue-microsoft/trackback/

After a week of submissions and a week of voting, we have a winner in the logo contest!

The winner is Entry 8, submitted by Luke S.

Luke has won a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate, a T-shirt and a coffee mug, both with his logo on them.

Congratulations Luke and thank you to all of you who submitted entries in the contest.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/08/18/we-have-a-winner/trackback/