Daily Cup of Tech

It has recently come to my attention that there are several applications online that perform a number of the same tasks that some of my big, bloated, expensive desktop applications do. I thought, “I wonder what else it out there?” So my quest began!

The result of that quest is 35 Web Based Application Alternatives. It provides a number (35 to be exact) of applications that you can use online either when you do not have your desktop version available to you or in replace of the desktop version all together. Very cool!

Oh, by the way, did I mention that they are all free?

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/25/computer-applicationsinternetproductivity/trackback/

My entry is going to be quick today as I lost most of my day to hardware failures and bad customer support.

Today was a living example of how to and how not to provide customer service. To begin with, I got great service from Dell and Telus today and I got horrible service from Wal-Mart.

Dell
I had a hard drive failure in one of my server drives. The short story: Contacted Dell at noon, had a new server and tech installed at 3:PM. Excellent service.

Telus
Was thinking about going to a different carrier for cell phone coverage. The short story: cut my present plan by $12 per month and a free phone on a two year plan that should have cost me $50.

Walmart
Went to get pictures of my three year old at Walmart. Session was to last 15 minutes. The short story: did not get into out 3:40 appointment until 5:00. When asked the problem, was told they were instructed to overbook by manager. When called manager, got answering machine that cut me off after about a minute. Still waiting to see if they get back to be in the guaranteed 24 hours.

Verdict
Will buy more Dell products. Will stay with Telus. Could not pay me to go back to Walmart.

Whew! I feel better. I promise more tech related stuff tomorrow.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/24/give-service-keep-customers/trackback/

Someone screwed up and I needed to fix it. A file needed to be edited on every computer on the entire network. What a pain!

But, with my trusty “when life gives you lemons, make lemon-aide” attitude, I turned it into a cool automation project with AutoIt and had the entire task done in about an hour (Take that Lenscrafter!).

I throught the whole story, script and all, into Modify Every Computer on the Network. It’s a quick read and a good script to have on hand.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/23/simple-network-administration/trackback/

People often ask me how I get my USB drive to automatically run a program or set up specific options in the contect menu. In fact, changing the USB drive icon is probably one of the most frequently asked question. All of these questions are answered in USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking.

This is a very in-depth article but it will let you make your USB drive do exactly what you want it to do. I even include an Autorun Dabbler’s Toolkit that you can load onto an empty USB drive and play with!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/22/autorun-usb-drive/trackback/

I saw this and immediately thought, “This is what I wanted to do back in the 80’s!” I had complete plans to redo my parent’s basement into what I called The Monkey House! But it looks like the MIT Crew has brought my dream to reality.

We’ve all had that moment where we want to just say, “Screw it! Enough work! Let’s party!” But, you have to set up the music, fire up the old fog machine and mood lighting, shut all the windows. By time your done, you have no energy left to party. So some ingenious people at, where else, MIT, came up with MIDAS. The best way to describe MIDAS is an emergency escape button.

If you are in a party mood, simply press the red party button. The blinds automatically close, music starts playing, display screen light up with music titles and messages, WinAmp visualizations come up on all the computers.

Check out the MIDAS website for some excellent photos and videos.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/21/nobody-parties-like-mit-geeks/trackback/

I know that those of you out there with a website or a blog are just dying to put my blog rantings on your site! OK. Maybe not dying but feeling a little squeemish at least? No?

Alright then. I’ll just come right out and beg!!!

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please! Put my stuff on your website! (So much for dignity and decorum!)

OK, enough kidding around. If you do find my articles and posts interesting and you would like an easy way to put them on your website, I have created a couple of easy ways to do just that. Simply go to the DCoT Webmaster Tools article. I have provided some cut and past code that will, depending on what you want to put on your page, either show a small graphic with the latest posts or a complete page with each of the post’s entire contents on it.

And if you do put this code on your webpage, be sure to post a link back to it in the comments section of this post or the article so that others will know of your generosity.

Thanks in advance.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/21/webmaster-tools/trackback/

I just got a phone call from my assistant and I just had to share this one.

He was visiting one of the small remote offices to move the a computer and printer to a new location. When he got there, he was unable to find the printer. His first thought was that it had been stolen, which not an uncommon occurrence. So he went about his business and continued to pack up the computer, planning to contact the police when he was done.

Upon completing the packaging of the computer, he was a bit warm from the effort and decided to get a drink from the common use fridge. Lo, and behold, next to the stockpile of drinks was the printer! Curiosity got the best of him so he contacted the workers from the remote office to see how they concluded the best place for the printer was the fridge!

As it turns out, one of the employees hear from somewhere that ink cartridges will last longer and not dry out as quickly if you keep them cool. Being one for efficiency, he thought it would be quicker to just keep the entire printer in the fridge rather than take out the cartridges all the time!

I have to admit, this is a new one on me.

If any of you have any good tech support stories (and let’s be honest, we all have at least one!), please feel free to leave it in the comments so that we can all have a chuckle. But please, change the names to protect the ignorant innocent.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/20/ink-on-ice/trackback/

We all hate spam! I would like all of the spammers out there to know right now that I DO NOT NEED any of the following:

• Viagra
• Cheap meds
• Stock tips
• Breast and/or penis enlargement
• Hot nude women

Please not that this is not a complete list and I reserve the right to add to it at any time.

In Spam Filter Busters, I show you several methods that spammers use to bypass your spam filter to make sure you get those necessary offers that are going to change your life!

Oh, and don’t miss the only good spam on the Internet at the end of the article (Hint: Monty Python!).

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/20/make-it-stop-spam-that-is/trackback/

No, you’re not going to be able to have your toaster deliver you breakfast via e-mail (though that would be cool, wouldn’t it?)! I’m talking about networking appliances and VMware has created a website that allows you to create an environment with as many virtual devices as your system can handle.

VMware Technology Network Virtual Appliances website is a downloader/tester/dabbler’s delight! You can directly or via bittorrent download predesigned virtual appliances that will work in either the VMware Player or VMware Server, both of which are also available for free!

So, what kind of virtual appliances can you download? Well, here are a few notable examples:

• HowNetWorks - a high-level network analyzer.
• Trellis NAS Bridge - network attached storage (NAS) virtualization for multiple CIFS/SMB and Unix/SSH servers.
• Kid Safe Desktop - stops illicit material from invading your child’s computer by filtering and blocking web content while they surf.
• Grid-Appliance - a plug-and-play solution capable of building virtual computing farms delivering supercomputing powers to end-users on their system.
• Ubuntu - free, open source operating system.

This is just a small list of the appliances that are available to install and run on in your virtual environment.

Over the next little while, I’m going to be looking at setting up a VMware server and I’ll walk you through the process. I’ll also show you some of the cool virtual appliances that I am playing with an hopefully you will get hooked as well.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/19/free-virtual-appliances/trackback/

 

When someone talks about free software, Microsoft is not the first company name that generally comes to mind. But, according to The Road to Know Where: Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft, this is exactly what Microsoft is doing.

This is an impressive list of files and applications that will make any freeware junkie drool!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2006/09/18/oxymoron-of-the-day-free-microsoft-software/trackback/