Goobuntu

Google is rumored to be working on their version of a linux distro. It would definitly be interesting to see what Google brings to the linux table. Maybe everyone would finally stop having to pay MS for an OS unless they wanted to.

Here's a snip from a Slashdot comment. "Note that I'm not saying this will end Windows at all, but that it will end the Windows monopoly. Windows is good at what it does. The market doesn't need a new monolith - it needs real competition. That's the great part about linux and open source." (whole thing)

While I agree competition is a good thing and open source is great, as an admin I really hate having multiple system types to support. If the market comes out with tons of new operating systems it might make me wish for the days when everyone used Windows. Since this is just another flavor of linux I don't have to worry but before it was only people who knew what they were doing installing linux, now who knows who will be installing it.

Pocket Control PC

I have been using this software for a while now and it's one of the neatest things I can do with my phone. If you have a bluetooth enabled Windows 2003 smartphone and a bluetooth adapter for your computer you can turn your cell phone into a remote control capable of controling the keyboard and mouse. The software has two parts, a server for the PC and a client for the smartphone. You need to be able to Activesync over bluetooth but that's the hardest part. Once you are connected through Activesync install the software on the phone and run the server on the PC. Put the server into listen mode then click connect from the phone. If all goes well it will connect to the server and you will then be able to control the computer from your phone.

This is great for me since I use my desktop in my office to watch downloaded movies in the living room. I had no way to play/pause the movie without getting up and walking into
office so this solves that problem. Of course that's a simple example, you could use this for just about anything. I don't give a lot of PowerPoint presentations but I could use my phone as a remote to flip slides. Lots of people have bluetooth laptops and phones and I bet they have no idea they could do this.

Best part of all, it's completely free.

The blogs they are a'changin

I made a few formatting changes today, namely I added a hit counter (at the very bottom) and google adSense as well as removing my profile info on the sidebar. I put off adding the Google ads but we'll give it a go and see what happens. I am thinking about switching to different host so I can get more control but for now this will suffice.

Also I'm not sure but I may have been linking images incorrectly before. I usually find an image on the web somewhere then just use the add-image dialog and put in the URL of the image. I thought Blogger downloaded it then inserted the image for me so I wasn't stealing bandwidth. Turns out that may not be the case. Not that I get a ton of visitors or anything but I don't want to screw anyone over.

Bluetooth mice are hard to find

After looking at pretty much every bluetooth mouse on the market I've finally settled on the V270 from Logitech. Mostly because it was only $30 after rebate from CompUSA but it's a no-frills mouse that seems to work pretty well. I really wanted a laser bluetooth mouse but there doesn't seem to be any of those on the market that are designed to be used with a laptop. Logitech has one but it's a full sized and has a recharging base so it wouldn't work well on the go.

I actually gave up looking for a bluetooth mouse and got the MS Notebook Laser mouse 6000 but the scroll wheel button was hard to use and didn't really fit in my hand very well. I was thinking I could just integrate the extra reciever dongle internally in my laptop but then I found out that the only way to turn off the mouse is by clipping the reciever into the buttom of the mouse, there was no seperate on/off switch.

This is a much better solution, it has a functional scroll wheel button and a seperate on off switch plus I don't have to try and cram another reciever into my laptop. I just wish they would make more bluetooth mice.

PE to be made public with Vista

I've mentioned BartPE before, it's a really slick way of running XP from a CD allowing you to do all sorts of cool things. BartPE is a hack of MS PE, which has only been available to customers who sign a Microsoft Software Assurance agreement. With the release of Windows Vista however, MS will be releasing PE 2.0 to corporate customers meaning it will be a lot more available. I suppose legitimate home users will still get the shaft but I'm sure there will be plenty of copies available on P2P networks. It will be interesting to see how it compares to BartPE.

Picture Frame, Booting

Picture Frame, Booting
Originally uploaded by TomTheGeek.

I took an old laptop we had at work and turned it into a digital picture frame using Damn Small Linux. It has an SSH and FTP server on it so I can add pictures to it pretty easily. Here it is booting up.

I will be making a second one of these using my own laptop. It will be a little different because it doesn't have a HD and I will be using a wireless card in it. I want to try and use Linux if I can but my WiFi card isn't supported very well. If I can't get the ndiswrapper to work I will just use a BartPE boot disk like I am using now.

Happy New Year!!!

New Year 2006
Originally uploaded by kaypoon.

May 2006 bring you many cool gadgets and toys!!!