If you use Microsoft's Developer Toolbar, you know that its pretty cool and a great source to get a Website DOM. You can use the tool to debug information, or to figure out why objects aren't being displayed correctly.

One problem that I have with the toolbar is the Ruler. For some reason every once in a while when I type in Shift-R I see the ruler tool. This is very annoying. However, this is a bug within IE and not the Developer Toolbar. For some reason the Ctrl key is still recognized as being pressed.

The quick fix is to press both Ctrl buttons. This resets the keyboard and you'll be able to type in a capitol R with no problem.

The following is an example of duplicating an Orcle database from one schema to another schema. You may want to do this when you don't want to touch production DB during development.

This task is export the database contents of the SCHEMAA and importing them to SCHEMAB

exp and imp are Oracle command line Utilities. On some Oracle installations they are found in: D:\oracle\ora92\bin

MYDATABASE is a DBA:

## - Export SCHEMAA Data:
exp MYDATABASE/MYDATABASE@o6 file=schemaa.dmp log=schemaa.log rows=yes indexes=no OWNER=SCHEMAA

## - Import SCHEMAA to SCHEMAB
imp MYDATABASE/MYDATABASE@o6 FROMUSER=SCHEMAA TOUSER=SCHEMAB  file=schemaa.dmp

Use your computer to connect to a computer that is located elsewhere and run programs or access files.

This is a "quick way" to get Terminal Services loaded, ie its faster than finding the Application in the Start Menu

Start > Run > Type in mstsc

If your working with different databases, the above graphic is handy to have. You can use this to determine the correct syntax to use to limit your row count.

I found this email while searching for some files on a CD from 1999. A good-bye letter from a failed dot com:

For over five years, ConsultLink has worked to provide
a better means for companies to find consultants. We feel
that we have succeeded in achieving our primary purpose:
supporting the matching of consultants and client projects.
Since the acquisition of ConsultLink by Portera in August
1999, we have seen many significant changes in the consulting
market in general and in its online presence. As a result, after
much careful consideration, we have decided to discontinue
the ConsultLink service at Portera. Portera will instead focus
all its energies on its very successful core business as a vertical
service provider for the professional services industry. Our
ConsultLink website will go offline on November 30.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you for your support and feedback over the years.
Carol Lashman
VP, ConsultLink Services at Portera

John W. Flora
Relationship Manager, ConsultLink

The following was the banner screen for a Forum that I had on Delphi Internet. I found this while searching for some files this past week.

Brings back lots of memories...

                     Welcome to the Haunted House Forum!
                                         ~

          ~
          ~                ~
         / \
~       /   \                  ~            ~                     ~
       /     \
      /       \           November is National Aviation History Month ~
     ----------
    I [] []    I       ~          October 1995:
    I     /\   I                 Friday the 13th
    I   /    \ I           Rocky Horror 20th Anniversary
    I /        \                   Halloween!
    I---                   ~
    I      []   I            Chat with our Special Guests!
    I           I  Enjoy your Cappuccino with THUMB every morning a 7am!
    -------------  Tell your Horror Stories to LADY_CASPER every night!

Has anyone ever registered for Winzip? Almost every customer that I goto I always see the WinZip expired screen. So, why doesn't anyone register for it? Well I guess its not worth the $30+ registration fee.

Microsoft was nice to include an unzip application in the latest version of Windows. Which is a good idea. Even Apple has an unzip program as part of the operating system.

If your looking for a good cheap replacement for WinZip, here's a couple of choices for you:

• Freezip
• Stuffit Expander
• Zipeg for Windows

Be a smart developer and put FreeZip in your toolbox, and learn how to Quickly Uninstall Winzip. Then add it to your resume and watch the leads come in.

In case you haven't notice, Walgreen is quietly getting into the consumer media business. No they aren't setting up a Music store to compete with Apple and Amazon. What they are doing is selling blank DVDs cheaper than Staples and Circuit City.

I know Walgreens isn't the first place you would think of when you shopping for DVD-R disks. When you think of Walgreens you usually think of a drug store that sells various items such as Tylenol, Band-Aid, and Shampoos. Well it appears that Walgreens wants your electronic business too!

Last week Walgreens had 50 packs of TDK for $14, or $.26 a disk. Not a bad deal on quality DVDs. This week Walgreens has 25 pack Sony DVD-R or DVD+R for only $8.99. Yet another good deal!

Compare this what the large electronic stores are selling:
Best Buy -(No advertise deal this week.)
Circuit City - Memorex 25pk $6.99
Staples - Memorex 100pk $24.99

If you are looking to purchase blank DVDs you should check out the Digital Media FAQ. They have a list of the various dvd manufactors and the quality of their DVDs media. A very useful shopping guide for consumers.

This is important since poor quality DVDs may result in a lot of "coasters," which are DVDs that didn't get burn correctly. So, are you really saving money when you buy cheap DVDs if 20% of them don't burn right? What's the reliability of the ones that did burn?

Also better quality DVDs will last longer than cheaper counterparts. I have been burning CDs since October 1999 when my laptop first crashed and I lost almost all my data. Since then, I do regular backups of computer files and photos. Occasionally I'll do a "double backup" on really important files since as Photos or Documents that I don't want to loose. This is because while I might be using a good DVD/CD the disk might get damage because I didn't store it correctly.

The "best" DVD manufactor is Taiyo Yuden and you can usually find a good deal at SuperMediaStore.com or at Meritline.com. Most people don't need to have to highest quality DVDs, but it might be good to use these for photos or to back up online music purchases. I would suggest ordering a 50 pack and having it available.

With hard drive media being so cheap, does it really make sense to burn DVDs any more? That's a question someone posted in the dealmac forums. Well, that's a topic for another blog. In short, it depends on what you are backing up, how frequently you need to access it and how you plan on using the data.

The following is a SQL Query I wrote on April 27, 1999 for PlayLiveGolf.com. This was single sql query was designed to determine a tie breaker in an 18-hole online golf tournament.

The results of this query is important since the difference between winning and being in second could cost someone several thousand dollars.

This was never fully tested since PlayliveGolf.com never was launch since the founders were caught up with some legal issues with the SIC

SELECT a.user_id,b.username, a.t_game_score FROM tour_instance a, golf_user b WHERE a.tournament_id= 2 AND a.user_id=b.user_id ORDER BY a.t_game_score,a.hole18_score, a.hole17_score, a.hole16_score, a.hole15_score, a.hole14_score, a.hole13_score, a.hole12_score, a.hole11_score, a.hole10_score, a.hole9_score, a.hole8_score, a.hole7_score, a.hole6_score, a.hole5_score, a.hole4_score, a.hole3_score, a.hole2_score, a.hole1_score, a.hole18_putt, a.hole17_putt, hole16_putt, hole15_putt, hole14_putt, hole13_putt, hole12_putt, a.hole11_putt, a.hole10_putt, a.hole9_putt, a.hole8_putt, a.hole7_putt, a.hole6_putt, a.hole5_putt, a.hole4_putt, a.hole3_putt, a.hole2_putt, a.hole1_putt, a.hole18_drivedist, a.hole17_drivedist, hole16_drivedist, hole15_drivedist, hole14_drivedist, hole13_drivedist, a.hole12_drivedist, a.hole11_drivedist, a.hole10_drivedist, a.hole9_drivedist, a.hole8_drivedist, a.hole7_drivedist, a.hole6_drivedist, a.hole5_drivedist, a.hole4_drivedist, a.hole3_drivedist, a.hole2_drivedist , a.hole1_drivedist

I put a "Summer of Rails" graphic on the homepage. I did this so people know what I am working on this summer.

I recently purchased Agile Web Development with Rails and should be finished with the book this week.

I plan on converting the Quicktime Gallery to a Rails project, to improve performance and to get a little more experience with programing in Rails. I don't plan on converting other parts of this site to use Rails, unless there's some real benefit.

Should be a fun project! I'll let you know if there's any problems with the migration.

If you are experience problems with Safari, in particular if you are unable goto a URL by hitting return the problem is with an exetention that is not compatible with the latest version of Safari.

The follow error appears in the console:

Safari[310] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: *** -[BrowserWindowController searchField]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4aebb0]

The solution is to disable the Sogudi Utility.

Simple Uninstall Instructions:

• Remove the "Sogudi" folder from "~/Library/InputManagers".

If you are getting the following error using ADODB with PHP:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function mssql_get_last_message() in C:\...\adodb\drivers\adodb-mssql.inc.php on line 496

Suggested Solution:

• Install MS SQL Server Client libraries on the machine that has the adodb
• Verify that the ntwdblib.dll file is in the ...\system32 directory. If not, copy it there
• edit your ...\apache\php.ini file and uncomment the line extension=php_mssql.dll
• Make sure that the php_mssql.dll is in the PHP Extensions folder.
• Stop and Restart Apache or IIS

Sometimes error messages get a little too technical, like this one I found in the System Event log:

Time Provider NtpClient: This machine is configured to use the domain hierarchy to determine its time source, but it is the PDC emulator for the domain at the root of the forest, so there is no machine above it in the domain hierarchy to use as a time source. It is recommended that you either configure a reliable time service in the root domain, or manually configure the PDC to synchronize with an external time source. Otherwise, this machine will function as the authoritative time source in the domain hierarchy. If an external time source is not configured or used for this computer, you may choose to disable the NtpClient.

Makes me think of the caveman in the GIECO commercial, that just says "WHAT?"

I found the following hint yesterday when searching the internet for tips on using Microsoft Remote Desktop:

For advanced users there is a trick that you can use. All attached drives appear as SMB-like shares from the computer TSCLIENT. So, you can see all attached drivers by using the Start Menu, selecting the Run option and in the Open: field type:
\\tsclient And then press OK.

I frequently type in the following:

\\tsclient\Macinto\Users\cryan\Desktop

This translate to:

\\tsclient\\Users\\Desktop

The is only the first 7 characters of the hard drive name.

If you use Microsoft Terminal Services, every once in a while you see the above message. The problem is that it doesn't tell the administrator any solution to fix this problem. In fact, the Administrator isn't even notified that a problem exists! Users have to contact an Administrator of the machine to let them know that they can't get access using RDC.

A more effective solution would be to "ask for the order", let the administrators know that the Remote Desktop connections exceeded the licenses and what steps they need to do to can get new licenses.

If you do get the above message and you want more Microsoft Remote Desktop Licenses, check out this technet. An alternative solution would be to look an Linux solutions, including Apple Remote Destop, which offers unlimited icenses.

If you are looking for a function like ifDefined for ColdFusion, you won't find it! Its not called IfDefined, its called isDefined. Here's an example code:

<cfif isDefined("Session.login") and EmptySession eq 0 >
  ...
<cfelse>
...
</cfif>

Incidently the above code is one way to reset a ColdFusion session. You should experiment to what works best in your enviroment!

I was working on Red Hat today and took a couple of notes:

Finding what drives are available on the system

fdisk -l

Mounting the found device

mount /dev/hda1 /mount/somedrive

If you are having problems connecting to a Oracle Instance using Aqua Data Studio that has a similar tag:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@//58.37.64.169:1521/MyDB

On a Macintosh you are best to use SQLGrinder. I have found that Aqua Studio doesn't handle service name varient too well.

The Oracle thin driver supports two variants of the database specifier: the service name and sid variants. Oracle highly recommends using the service name version of the connection URL. In fact they no longer describe the sid version in their current documentation. We describe both because some users may be more comfortable with the traditional sid over the new service name.

Package javax.servlet does not exist
Apple.com says: For some reason, the necessary packages are not in your classpath. Debug your classpath to make sure the javax.servlet.* classes are there. If the classes are not found, the resolution is to download the servlet.jar and put it into /Library/Java/Extensions or in your classpath. The servlet.jar can be found with many open source distributions (such as tomcat).

Update
This morning I got the above message, but it turns out that the classpath in build.xml file was pointing to the wrong directory. If you are getting the above error, make sure that your classpath in build.xml is set correctly.

It's amazing how quickly card readers have come down. Here's three orders that I placed in the past few years.

December 31, 2004
Sandisk 512MB XD Picture Card Retail @ $85.00

February 10, 2006
Olympus 1GB XD Picture Card Retail @ $73.99

August 24, 2006
FujiFilm 1GB xD-Picture Card Retail @ $39.99

Today the 2GB xD-Picture Card retails for $65.87 at Amazon. I wonder what the price will be like a year from now.

Wow has times have changed. The above is the root level listing of my G4 400 series computer on January 21, 2001. This shows you all the applications that I used all the time on my computer.

What I thought was cool then is no longer cool today. What ever happended to CD Master, Fusion Recorder, VideoShop. Six years from now, I wonder what I'll be thinking of the applications that I use today.

The main use of this computer was for video encoding, that's why you see a lot of video applications, such as Video Shop, Media Cleaner and Fusion Recorder.

A lot of thought went into ordering the applications on the main window. The way the listing works is:

• Top Row are all the Root Folders, including the System Folder.
• Second Row contains all the importaint applications that I use. With IE, and BBedit being the most frequent.
• Third Row has all the secondard Applications. Netscape is first because it flows better having it below IE.
• Forth Row contains Utilities and Video Applications.
• Fifth Row has all the fun apps
• Six Row are rarely used but essential applications. Anarchie is on the bottom row because I didn't do much FTP on this computer since I only had dialup access.

I found the above graphic file in my CD collection. I remember taking a snapshop of it hours before the announcement came that they lost the court decision.

Napster was a great service and I was able to download lots of music that I had on Audio tapes but not on CDs or on the computer. It also made it easy for new artist to make it big with the need for the big record labels.

Quotes/Notes from Harvey Mackay from his best seller, "Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt"

What matters with anything you intend to use is what you can do with it, not what you can get it for. If I had played it smart, I'd never owned the property, or Mackay Envelope, for that matter.

A dream is always a bargain, no matter what you pay for it.

I've kept notes on every out-of-town trip for as long as I can remember. Not the usual stuff about what hotel to stay at in each city, but much more detail than that. What floor to stay on and even what room to ask for. Will it be an ocean view or mountain view? Every hotel has it room overlooking a mine shaft or next to a dumbwaiter or that were skipped over in the last renovation.

Intellectuals - Paul Johnson

PR people are experts at papering over weaknesses and making them appear to be strengths.

"Would the number-three brain surgeon in the world retire?"

"I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work"

Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.

Want to have a little fun with Mac OS 10.4?

Create a new folder with the following file name:

Use the Charater Pallet to help you get the right charater set.

Now try to delete the folder.

You can't!

Just purchased an Epson Stylus CX7800, and the initial reaction is that its a very good printer. This printer is to replace my Epson Stylus 880 and Canon N650U scanner.

There's two reasons why I wanted to replace my old printer. First its about 7 years old, and second I wanted something that would allow my to scan images.

I have an old scanner and having a printer and scanner on my computer desk was taking up too much desk space.

Having an all in one unit is great because it means that its one cable to my computer, freeing up 2 USB slots. Before I had a printer, scanner and a Memory Card Reader connected to my Macintosh. Now the CX7800 does all with one USB cable and one power cord.

The only thing that recently noticed is that there isn't mention in the documentation that this is in fact a USB2 printer! That means that the built in memory card reader replaces any USB2 that I was using before. The computer instantly recognizes when I insert a card.

It was pretty easy to configure my Macintosh G4 with this printer, and scanning works great with Photoshop CS2. I still haven't been able to figure out how to do borderless printing from Photoshop or iPhoto. Hopefully that won't take too long to learn.

Printing does seem a little slow, but the quality is great! I need to configure disclabel so that I can print really awesome labels.

I selected the Epson CX7800 over others because I didn't need to have a fax machine. I don't send that many faxes and there is excellent fax capability built right into Mac OS 10.4.

At $140, its a good deal! It replaces a printer that cost me $99 in 2000 and a $45 scanner both bought a Frys in Campbell, California.

Download some Macintosh icons I created for the Epson Stylus CX7800

How to select all the Layers contents in Photoshop CS

In old versions of Photoshop it was pretty easy to select all the contents of a particular layer. I usually use this to put round corners on the selected image. In the latest Photoshop the process changed slightly.

Image Ready CS2

By Default Auto-Layer is enabled, which means that when you click an image it auto selects that layer. If you click on the Marquee Tool (M), then Right Click or Control-Click on a Mac, and then select "Load Selection" then the option to the right, such as "Layer 2 Transparancy"

Photoshop CS2

Using a Mac, Use the Command Key (Apple Key) and click on the Layer Icon in the Layer Palette.

Recently Microsoft did a security update which required a restart. They included this little popup to alert users to restart their systems. The only problem is that there are many servers that can't be restarted because they have databases or Webservers. So users will continue to see this dialog box, every once in a while, and have to click Restart Later.

On some systems the mouse moved to the Restart Now button, so it could be accidentally clicked. Great job Microsoft!!!

This is a screen capture of the root directory on my Powerbook G4 400 series, in August 2000:

Technology has come a long way in the past few years.

Using WireTap Pro and Audio Hijack has saved me a lot of money!

In the 80's, for fun I used to record radio shows using cassette tapes. A fairly good quality tape from Osco or Strawberries would cost about $2 each tape, and hold about 60 - 90 minutes of audio. If I wanted to record 52 hours of any programing, it would cost between $90 - $100!

Today, using Wiretap Pro ($19) or Audio Hijack ($16), a DVD Disk ($.75 a disk) and the built in DVD drive in my Macintosh. I can do so much more than before.

I can now record more audio at better quality. I can set a timer to record radio shows when I am not at home. DVDs will be around for a long time - cassette tapes don't last that long and sound quality can deteriorate over time. Also DVDs disks take up less space than cassette tapes.

I preferrer to use AAC Protected format, because AAC Protected provides bettery quality audio than from MP3s. Its the format Apple Computer uses for purchase songs on iTunes, so if its good enough for them its good enough for me. If I was recording something other than radio, I might be a little more picky.

Fact: 4 hours of Audio recording using AAC Protected format at 192 kbps will results in a file size of 332.4 MB.

Which means that only 13 audio clips will fit on a Standard DVD. This comes to 52 hours of audio that will fit on a DVD. Not bad!

The only downside of storing it on DVDs is that I can't play them right from the DVD. However, I suspect in a few years that may change, and I'll be able to put the DVDs into a car stereo and hear 50 hours of radio whenever I want.

If you have WireTap Pro or AudioHijack:

1. Find a Radio Station, usually Talk Shows or News Programs are best.
2. Record Non-Stop for 24 - 48 hours, with a break just before the top of the hour.
3. Burn the Audio files to a DVD.
4. Keep the DVD in a safe place.
5. Years from now play the audio, and see how life was back in 2006...

Every once in a while I'll list the contents of my Dock. The toolbar usually contains the applications that I use the most.

Dock items listed in the order they appear, items are separated by Dock Separators.

• Finder
• Safari
• FireFox
• Mail
• Interarchy 7

• BBedit
• XCode
• DEVONthink

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel

• Adobe InDesign CS2
• Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Adobe ImageReady CS2
• Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard
• Dreamweaver 8 (Trial)

• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner

• Pages
• Keynote
• iWeb
• iPhoto
• iTunes

• Aqua Data Studio
• Terminal

• Toast Titanium
• Chicken of the VNC
• Remote Desktop Connection
• Adium
• TextEdit

Photoshop comes with a Puzzle Filter but "not a lot of people know that" it's called - Texturizer. It's probably lurking in Filter/Other. The easiest way to make it work is to choose the Puzzle.psd file (it should be on your CD) when you click on Texture: Load Texture. Once it's loaded select the Scaling, Relief and Light Direction and say OK. That's it!

If you don't like the effect of the Puzzle.psd file you can simply draw your own (you could just scan the back of a puzzle!) and save it as a Greyscale, flattened file (mustn't have transparency). Then go to Filter/Other/Texturizer and load this file.

Be sure to check other Filters in the Filter folder, you might find some good uses for your next graphic project!

Recently I put together a booklet in InDesign CS2. The following are the Indesign Character Styles that I used.

If you are having problems getting mssql_connect() to work in PHP and you are running Windows 2003, you should replace all the ntwdblib.dll with one from Windows 2000.

This is because the ntwdblib.dll in Windows 2003 has strict permission issues.

The one that worked for me is dated Sunday August 06, 2000 and is 268 KB.

Fios Results

Desktop Result:
Download Speed: 4943 kbps (617.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1625 kbps (203.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Laptop Result:
Download Speed: 4403 kbps (550.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1764 kbps (220.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Normally I don't give tips about computers or electronics on my daily factoid. This isn't a computer focus Weblog, and its not ment to be. If your looking for real good computer news, Slashdot is your best choice.

With the recent positive news on the economy, 7.2% economic growth and the unemployment rate lowering to 6 percent. It appears that the economy is finally moving in a positive direction. Here are several reasons to update your database today:

Price Changes
Once the economy starts to pickup, you will likely see licence changes at Oracle, IBM and Microsoft. These changes will mean the total cost of ownership will increase. The intial price might not change, but the cost of support might be higher. You'll be surprise on the deals you can get today!

Timing is Perfect!
The hardest part of database migration is scheduling downtime for the migration. You don't want to do a migration while your company can't afford to be down. Consider this to be the off season, make your pitching changes now so you will be ahead of the game later.

Plenty of Help
There are plenty of database consultants and integrators available now. If you wait later, you may not have the install flexibility that you need.

Yesterday was the release of Unreal Tournament for the Macintosh. However, I wasn't able to find any place that had them available. I checked the local Apple Store at the CambridgeSide Galleria and several places online. Oh well, Its only a game.

I am working on converting this 'notes' section to something Weblog style using PHP and MySQL. I still haven't found a design that I like yet. Hopefully this weekend!

I'll be heading back down to Cape Cod! Maybe I'll get to enjoy more fried clams at Cooke's Seafood or Sir Cricket's Fish & Chips.