RIM: "Oops"

I don't know about you, but before I put anything into production, I fully and completely test it before doing so. And once testing is complete, I plan on implementation on a weekend, not a Tuesday evening.

I have trouble digesting RIM's explanation of the outage last week. They contend that this was supposed to be routine upgrade, and a service wide interuption was not expected. They also went on to explain, and I beleive to get sypathy from fellow geeks, that with technology, things don't always go as planned.

Beleive what you want, but I think there is no way that their explanation makes sense.

My FiOS is on the way !

I am so excited! I am finally going to get FiOS! Surfing the web at the speed of light. Who could ask for anything more. My next mission, is a new PC.

I ordered the triple play from Verizon. I was one of the first Vonage customers. Now, I feel like I need to drop them. With the ongoing lawsuit with Verizon, and before that, the botched IPO, I feel like the ship is sinking and the Verizon rescue helicopter is there waiting.

So I will have "normal" phone, fiber internet, and Digital TV... Ok, so all my eggs are in one basket, but this basket is not going anywhere, anytime soon. I have not heard anything in regard to the digital tv from verizon. I am hoping it will be fine.. Ordered the DVR to go with it as well. Everything will be installed on the 30th.. I'll post pictures of the install on this blog as well as my experiences.. So keep checking back..

Blackberry Goes Down

Looks like Blackberry users will need to read and send messages the old fasioned way this morning. It seems as though RIMM is experiencing a system wide problem that is effecting all users in the US. RIMM stated that they need to "reset" their system, but are concerned that the backlog of messages will create an even larger problem.

I'm glad I have my Q using ActiveSync. Say what you want about Microsoft, but I can check my mail this morning. :)

Securing a Website

I was recently charged of the task of creating a secure site for clients to log into and retreive archived reports, podcasts etc... Ok, so simple task, right? WRONG? I am by no means a web developer or designer. I had several tasks to complete..

1. The site needs client login. Only clients who pay for the services are allowed access.
2. Since we only want the people who pay for the service to access the material, we need client side certificates.
3. Users name and password must be secure. So the down and dirty .htaccess will not work here.

I am sure that other tasks will arise the more I research this.
I have decided to use MS Access and ASP to do this. Wish me luck... :)

On another note; If you want an easier solution for to accepting credit cards on your secure website, may I suggest that you check out http://www.advantageprocessors.com/.

These guys offer competitive pricing and low credit card transaction rates. http://www.advantageprocessors.com/ has solutions for your brick and mortar and your "click" and motar retail needs. They are also looking for good, experienced sales people.. Here is the careers link: http://www.advantageprocessors.com/careers.php

Samsung M500 Review

I just bought the Samsung M500 and I must say, i am very impressed. With all the features that this little phone has, I have not had any freezing issues that you would get from other phones or PDA's. I also use a Motorola Q for work. I would much rather carry around the M500 over the Q any day. Not that you can compare these phones, the Q works great for email, but that's about it.

The Bluetooth feature is easy to use and set up. I have it set up to use a headset and the hands free in my car. Photos are pretty good for a phone, I just need to learn how to keep my hand steady. The music player is standard, sounds pretty good with the included stereo headphones, but if i want to listen to to decent music, I'll use my iPod.

Sprint TV is pretty cool. Streams nicely with little re-buffering. Watched Comedy Central on the train ride home with a full battery, after an hour of watching Sprint TV, my phone was ready to be recharged.

I thought I would miss the full QWERTY keyboard for text messaging, but the T9 feature has come a long way and is pretty easy to use. This is my first true Mutimedia phone, so I may just be impressed because I don't know any better. I have heard horror stories about the A900, Razr and other multimedia phones, but this one has me really impressed.

Vista Activation Loophole

Back in the day, In the "Old Country," Microsoft would trust us to purchase the correct number of licenses we needed. All we needed to do was enter a CD-Key that was located on the CD sleeve during installation.. If we had a key, we must have bought it; Right?

Well, it seems as though Microsoft caught on to us. We were giving the CD's and their keys to friends, family, coworkers and strangers on the street. Some people even went as far as to zip the CD and put it and the key on an FTP site that we could download it from.. So they created this nifty little "activation" process.

The problem with this "activation" process was that IT professionals were not given enough time test new releases with their network, hardware and software. We had 30 days before we needed to activate our copy. Then the software could not be installed to any other machine at any time, unless you called Microsoft and begged them...

Microsoft's answer to this problem was to create their Open License with Windows XP, but all of the "Bad Apple" IT pros started giving these away too...

Here is an article by Joel Hruska which outlines how to extend the activation period for Vista, in some cases, for up to a year.

Daylight Saving Time - 2007

Daylight Saving Time 2007

Beginning this year (2007), as some of you may or may not know by now, Daylight Saving Time begins 3 weeks earlier and ends a week later. This change is due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It is expected that the US will save approximately 10,000 Barrels of oil each day.

I beleive that Bill Gates had something to do with this.. It seems as though this year happens to be the year that mainstream support for Windows 2000 Server and Professional has ended.. So, this means no patch for all those Windows 2000 machines out there... UNLESS... You pay $4000 to extend that support... Or upgrade.... Or hire a techie, like me, to fix it for you.. Either way, if you are small business with Several 2000 machines still in production, your paying for this change in Daylight Saving Time..

There is hope, however. Microsoft did release a utility that makes it easy to change the DST settings on your PC. You can download the TZEDIT utility and read the instructions on it's use. This utility works on Windows NT 4.0 as well.

For everyone else using Windows XP or later, just run windows update and consider yourself patched....

Microsft Exchange, SQL, SMS and other server software needs to be patched as well.. Don't forget about fax machine, Blackberry's, Windows Mobile and other little electronic gadgets that display the date and time...

Just remember, all this work is for the good of the country.. :-)

My First Attempt

This is my first attempt at blogging. I'm not sure that I will be very good at it, but if you've read some of the blogs that I have, then it may just be right on the money...

I will use this area to post information on new and existing technologies, some unusual observances, and whatever else comes to mind at the time. This is my blog, so I'll do what I want on it... If you don't like it, get your own blog... :)

So keep reading, I'll try to keep it up to date and post at least once a week, if not more..

Thanks

TechGuruJeff