Speed your windows boot time with Soluto

 

I know, my Mac boots in less than 5 seconds, but my Windows PC takes eternity to startup.

I tried Soluto, a free software that analyzes and optimizes your boot time sequence, available at http://www.soluto.com/. Well, my boot time passed from 5 minutes to about 3.

Not great compared to a Mac but still much better!

Saluto allows you to disable or defer boot time applications, suggests you what to do, and shows you what other users have done for each application.

 

Unserwater Video S.Severa - summer 2010

Blogging on the road, traffic, procedures and CMS

I'm blocked on the bus, in the traffic, after bad weather and a couple of small tornados have given their best to add some more entropy to the everyday caos in Rome.
The bus is surprisingly empty and I actually found a seat!
That's a chance to download a blogging app on the phone and see if it actually works; that' the blogging "on the road" and the "traffic".
If you read this it actually works!
My chosen app is "blogpress", works ok.

Procedures.
I work in a large company and am a customer of our IT department. Everything has a procedure, but to access the procedure there is a procedure to be allowed to submit requests, what a mess! You find out things are having problems when after days nothing happens, and so you start calling people and find out you have to submit a new request to someone else. So for me procedures = large waste of time.

CMS
I've been using CQ5 in the last few days. Wow, it looks quite a big jump ahead, but still we need tweek many things.

Got off the bus.. blogging while walking could be risky!!

iTunes pre-order feature does not work!

This is the text I sent to Apple through their support page:
I pre-ordered "High School Musical 3: Senior Year", it never downloaded (it said it would be available 10/23/2008, yesterday), today 10/24 it is available to buy. What the heck is the pre-order feature for? I had promised my children to have the music yesterday. Thought I could trust your store, and if this is the only way I can communicate your support is also utterly inadequate. I will give all evidence of this deficiency on my blog and to all my friends and through my social networks. I hate not being able to maintain my promises and its all your store's fault.

This is th pre-oder in my account (it states music will be avialble 10/23):

I'm waiting from Apple's response and will follow up.

Update (11.47 AM) I recieve a fantastic email from Apple:
Gentile Alessandro Canepa,apple

L’ordine in anteprima "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" di "The Cast of "High School Musical"" è disponibile. Per scaricarlo clicca sul link qui sotto o apri iTunes e seleziona Controlla acquisti nel menu Store. Se hai impostato iTunes in modo da scaricare automaticamente il contenuto acquistato in anteprima, controlla nella tua libreria.

Hours after the album is freely available they tell me I can download it, what a service!!!

Changing the look of my blog

I'm trying to change the look of my blog, it's a work in progress.
As a consequence I'm seriously hating the templating system used by blogger...
Anyway I found a base template that I like and I'm working on tweaking it to my needs.

Update: Argg! Why doesn't IE 6 support transparent PNGs?? The result really stinks! I'll start all over again..

Really good disk encryption and much more: Truecrypt 5

I have been a long time user of Truecrypt and have used it to protect personal and business documents on hard disks and even more on USB dongles (with what is called virtual encrypted disk).
Recently the TrueCrypt foundation released version 5 of their software which includes at least a couple of great new features, entire partition with pre-boot authentication and storage device encryption.
Another really cool feature for what they call "plausible deniability", which essentially allows you to have two passwords, one that gives access to your files and a second to use in case someone forces you to reveal it, in which case you are granted access to a set of valueless files you have previously saved.

The most recent release, 5.1a has also solved the problems related to hibernation, which was previously blocked when full disk encryption was activated (not so great for laptops).

I have encrypted my laptop's system disk and one great side-effect is a visible improvement in disk performances, evidently the new disk access drivers implemented have been so well optimized that they outperform Microsoft's native drivers even while adding the encryption layer.

MySQL AB messes up European geography

I recently received a MySQL newsletter on the "MySQL Northern Europe Customer Conference 2007", great, I thought, they'll do a southern Europe conference too..
I checked their site, and indeed they will, in Paris.
In Paris?? Southern Europe? Yes, and one in Munich, Germany (which is, by the way, north of London):

• MySQL Northern Europe Customer Conference: London, Tuesday, October 16th 2007
• MySQL Central Europe Customer Conference: Munich, Thursday, October 18th 2007 (In German)
• MySQL Southern Europe Customer Conference: Paris, Tuesday, October 23rd 2007 (In French)

They might have to check their geography; North, Central, and Southern Europe have never been so close (and messed up)!
What about Norway and Spain? These are all Central European conferences for me..

Inside the iPod Touch

iFixit (http://www.ifixit.com/) has opened and disassembled an iPod Touch.
It seems most of the space is dedicated to battery and screen while the electronics are all crammed in the bottom where the connectors are.
What remains unclear is whether there's the components needed for bluetooth or not.
As all other electronics from Cupertino it is a great work of engineering and design.
You can find all pictures here.

iPod Touch order cancelled, let me wait and see it first

Last Friday I canceled my order for the iPod Touch on the Apple Store (a plus for their on-line store, nice thing to be able to do..).

Reasons:

• don't know if it will be open to third party software or not
• might have a conspicuous price drop after just a couple of months (iPhone docet)
• had a feeling I would repent having bought it in such a hurry
• bluetooth would really make a difference for me (is it there or not?)
  

I'm a bit sad about this choice, but as soon as it will be out, I will run to the Apple Store try it hands-on and wait for someone to open it up and see what's inside, and then I will decide whether to buy or not.

Maybe I just don't trust Apple enough...Technorati Profile

Windows Mobile 6 on the Samsung i600

A couple of days ago I successfully upgraded the Samsung i600 mobile phone to Windows Mobile 6.
Having an Italian branded phone the operation was a bit tedious, it required de-branding the phone and setting the phone country to Netherlands in a hidden menu, downloading the upgrade from the Samsung website and setting the phone back to Italian.
The procedure is well described (in italian) in this forum.

The differences in the new OS appear mainly cosmetic, since the announced improved radio component software is very difficult to evaluate if not in a lab.

The most visible changes are some improved features in Outlook, which has better designed views and, for example, the possibility of deferring appointment alerts, previously they could only be deleted.

Internet Explorer is said to have been improved but the only difference I have perceived is an new animated logo, a blue ring.
Whereas rendering is still very bad.

A new feature which might be very useful, since software from Redmond is traditionally very buggy, is Windows update which, unfortunately, I have not managed to get to work (great if it was a bug in the bug fixing app!).

As far as previously present bugs, the Samsung RSS and Podcast apps are still internet configuration unaware and don't work through eventually configured proxies.
Too bad because one of the things I like in windows mobile is the logic behind the internet configuration.
You can add a connection and say, for example that it connects to your "office" and then configure a proxy that connects from th "office" to the "internet". But if applications don't read the configuration it is pretty useless.
Not that I will ever use this phone instead of an iPod!
I don't understand why the update is not easily available in some countries (the Italian, Austrian and French flags are shaded o the Samsung site), but as always when companies place stupid barriers the online community finds a workaround..

Update: Does Apple's iPod touch have Bluetooth?

I just found this news on engadget, wow it would be very nice if it did have bluetooth I could connect it to my phone which has high-speed mobile connectivity and a decent camera!

I Just ordered the new iPod Touch!!

I couldn't resist, the new iPod Touch is so nice, and it expands on how I use my iPod today (mostly audio books and podcasts) so I ordered it immediately (delivery is expected on the first days of October)!
What I hope is that, apart the applications which Apple has included (which seem already very useful), a whole set of new and imaginative applications will be developed by the Open Source community. The multi-touch interface together with Wifi could be the starting point for a whole new set of on-line applications, but I wonder if Apple will open the iPod Touch to third-party software, or will it be necessary to hack it?

Let's wait and see...

Getting the Gmail App to work on a Samsung SGH-i600 (blackjack)

On my Samsung i600, Google Maps works fine (its a windows mobile exe) but i had problems running the Gmail app, I would find the "download Gmail for Samsung Advanced MIDP2" link but I would receive an error on clicking.
It turns out that its a java app and there seems to be no JVM on the phone.
After some googling and surfing I found these instructions for installing a JVM, the Java MIDP emulator on the phone (from mxit.defza.com):

1. Go to handheld.softpedia.com.
2. In the search box type IBM MIDP and search (GO).
3. In the results page click the “IBM MIDP 2.0 Java Emulator” (Link) item.
4. Proceed to download. (It’s free; +-2.5MB size) You can choose any location when they ask you for the “download location”.
5. Install it etc.

Installed it and now, clicking the link installs the Gmail app which works, not at all perfectly and with horrible unreadable graphics, but it works.
Unfortunately the emulator is not well integrated in windows mobile and it is unable to detect my web proxy settings, so it works only on a direct internet connection and not on my office's private APN.

Audiobooks in no man's land

I often listen to the podcasts of the TWIT network (This Week in Tech, www.twit.tv), most of which are sponsored by Audible.com. A few days ago, I decided to try their service (until then I bought audiobooks through iTunes). Incredibly, every single book that interested me was present when I wasn't authenticated, but disappeared when I loged in. I asked their customer service, and they explained they didn't have the rights for selling those audiobooks in Italy.Yesterday I looked for the last book, On Intelligence, and even this was not available so a decided to cancel my Audible account and also sent the mail that follows.

I don't understand the logic behind this issue, maybe someone has bought the rights for these books in Italy, but why then can I buy them in paper form Amazon.co.uk?

Digital divide? Who knows..

Dear Sirs,
I do not care if I lost 2 credits in leaving your service, but I realized it is of no use for me, every single book I wanted to buy is not available for my country, Italy. I don't have any idea of what is the sense of this since no one else provides audiobooks locally, and I'm not at all interested in translations.
To be transparent in your service, you should post a warning, upon registration for Italians (and other countries with the same restrictions), that many of the books that seem available when you are unregistered are not when you login.
It seems that most of your catalogue is cut in half as soon as one logs in.
I would also suggest that you list the books anyhow, instead of hiding them (avoiding th user to check and double check), posting a message regarding the reason it is unavailable.

If you have a chance, I suggest you to remind the rights holder who does not allow these audiobooks to be sold in my country, that this kind of barrier is an incentive to piracy.
Everyone should have the chance to buy content easily and at a reasonable price.
This does not mean that I will pirate these books.
I will only have to buy them, in paper, from Amazon (where they are available), and this makes your service useless to me.

I have put Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson in copy, since their great podcasts are the reason why I tried your service and they should be informed in case they might be interested.

Regards,

Alessandro Canepa

UPDATE (1/8/2007)
Audible's answer:
Dear Alessandro,

I understand that you have some legitimate concerns regarding the service we provide and the audio that is available in your region. I really do apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you in regards to this situation. I can assure you that we, audible.com, is aware of the issue that many customers like yourself are having. This is a large concerns for us and we are diligently working with our publishers to obtain the necessary rights to make all of our books available to you and other regions. Unfortunately though, this is a lengthy process that our content department must try to overcome. Your business is very important to us and we are not happy to hear that you are not satisfied with the service. I will present this email to my superiors to make them aware of the issue. In the meantime, if there is anything I can do to make your time with Audible more pleasant please let me know. Again, I do apologize for the inconvenience and I hope that you are able to use our service in the near future once we have been able to make more of the books available to you.

Sincerely,
Mauro B.
Audible Customer Support.

Disk is still KO

I tried changing the electronics, attaching the disk both to a laptop and to a desktop but nothing. The Bios simply does not even notice it and I can't runa any utility on it (like spinrite).
Too bad, if I hear of some other way I will try...

Fixing a broken hard disk

A few days ago my external UDB 60MB Lacie hard drive died, it does nothing just tirns on the light when connect. Since its way over the warranty period, I opened and found a Samsung disk inside, tried to connect it directly to one of my laptops but nothing, its dead.
I can't even run utilities such a Spinrite because it remains undetected by the BIOS.
What next?
I found the same exact disk on e-bay a bought it, when it arrives I'll try swapping the boards between the two and if the problems are in the electronics it should work. Electronics have no soldering now and can simply be unscrewed and replace. I hope in some good luck...

Trying HD content on my new HDTV ready Samsung

Recently I decided to buy a new LCD TV, the task was a bit complicated. After a first screening based on specs (Sony, did not have their Bravia specs online and I finally obtained them by phone), I chose to see them work side by side. The Samsung, HDTV ready, with its 3000:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m luminosity was my choice.

The next step after finding the best possible connection to the DVD player and digital TV, was trying HD content. Currently the only way I know of getting HD content is by PCs and the XBOX 360, which I don't own.

The pc connections available on the Samsung TV are the HDMI connector with a DVI-HDMI cable (which is still a bit too pricey and my laptop, a Thinkpad T30, has no DVI) or with a standard HD15 SVGA monitor cable. I found a ten year old cable and it worked, but only with standard video resolutions. The TV has a 1366x768 16:9 capability, after some Googling, I downloaded a video card tweaking utility: Powestrip and finally managed to set the correct output.

The last challenge was obtaining HD content, this I found from Microsoft and Apple. Unfortunately you need to buy Quicktime Pro to see video full screen, so I finally stuck to trying with Windows Media Player and the result was awesome!

The next step? Doing the same thing with my Linux box, but I'm worried I won't find any HD content in linux handled formats.

Moving from php-Nuke to Joomla

After the defacement of one of my websites powered by php-nuke (CoppAmerica.com), I decided to change software. Trying the various possible alternatives among which Post-nuke and Xoops, I decided to go with Joomla.
Believe it or not in a couple of days I was able to migrate all stories, users, and content elements and managed to put up a test site. I quickly adapted the first theme I came across and after another few days of testing put the site in production.
I still have to dominate all aspects of Joomla, but the management side is really straightforward, the code seems very well written and the developers are very careful on tracking and patching security issues. Adding to this solid foundation is a very active developer site powered by Sourceforge.

Googlebar Lite much lighter and just as good for me

Since I started using firefox, Googlebar has always been a "must have" extension, now I have switched to Googlebar Lite and for me its just as good, but far lighter (only 68k).

read more | digg story

How Permanent Is Your CD-R?

An interesting article on archival life of CD-R's, a must-read for everyone relying con CDs.
"low priced CD-R’s may not be readable, at all, and error in as little as two years".."but 70 years would be low for a quality CD-R with the norm being 100 years"
So we better keep this in mind..

read more | digg story