Chrome - Google's Web Browser

Multi-process enabled, free, and more competition to the web broswer world.

It can be download from:

http://www.google.com/chrome

An fun and informative method of delivery to learn more about Chrome:

http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

How to install AVG Free Anti-Virus without LinkScanner

Installing AVG 8.0 Free Edition without the LinkScanner component can be accomplished using the following parameter with the install executable:

/REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

Example of a complete command line:
c:\avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch
(Of course, the location of the installer may be different than the above example.)

This can be run even after AVG 8.0 Free Edition has been installed. However, the virus definitions may need to be updated again after completing this.

Source:
http://free.grisoft.com/ww.faq.num-1241

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP

A helpful set of free utilities called Microsoft PowerToys <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx>. Today, the "Image Resizer" from this collection elimanted the need to install a full blown image editor to perform quick resizing of images before attaching them to an e-mail.

Safari 3.1 update adds Web Inspector

The Safari 3.1 update adds a nice new feature called Web Inspector. The web inspector has some features developers may have seen before in the firefox extensions firebug and yslow.

To enable the develop menu go to Safari->Preferences->Advanced and check the box that says "Show Develop menu in menu bar"

Then from the Safari menu you can chose Develop->Show Web Inspector.

Apple TV and Philips LCD TV sound issues

I purchased the 160GB Apple TV a few weeks ago. From day one I had issues with the sound with my configuration. I have the Apple TV connected to a Philips 42" LCD TV with HDMI cable. I then have the coaxial digital audio out from my TV to a Pioneer receiver. With the setup I can always get sound from my TV speakers, but not all sounds are output to my stereo.

The audio path is:
AppleTV -> Philips LCD TV (HDMI) -> Pioneer Receiver (Digital Coax)

Here are some observations:

• The startup audio on Apple TV plays fine through stereo, this sound is about 15-20 seconds long, after that the only sound that can be heard from the stereo is the sound of the button chirps using the remote.
  
• If I toggle between HDMI inputs on the TV ending on the one Apple TV is hooked to, the sound will play through the stereo for 4-5 seconds then cuts out, but I can still hear it through the tv. After it cuts out I can only hear the remote chirp sounds
  
• After playing around with it a bit, I ended up finding one audio clip that will play normally
  

Some searching lead me to this thread where people had similar issues: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6601200

A call to Apple support eventually led me to a product specialist who said they don't support a setup where the sound passes through a middle device.

I ended up hooking the audio output directly from the Apple TV into my stereo, which sounds fine but a little inconvenient in that I have to use 2 remotes to switch from Directv to Apple TV, maybe its time for a Harmony One.

Anyway, the issue seems to be something to do with the Apple TV 2.0 upgrade and how the Philips LCD TV processes audio. If you have had similar issues, please comment.

WinDirStat

WinDirStat <http://windirstat.info/> is handy tool. It is very similar to TreeSize. Both tools provide reports of disk usage on a given volume. However, WinDirStat has a better graphical interface, appears to be complete its reporting task in less time, and has entertaining animations when performing its work (you'll have to try it to see - think Pac-Man).

Below is a screen shot of a completed scan of a volume. You can click on the various graphical chunks which will update the other two window panes accordingly. It is fun, free and useful to track storage usage of volume.




I discovered WinDirStat while reading the following NetApp blog about Vista's large installation base, <http://blogs.netapp.com/incorrigible_techno/2007/12/28-gb.html>.

March 13, 2008 additions:

1. Thanks to Jim (see comments) for pointing out the Mac OS X equivlant - Disk Inventory X http://www.derlien.com/
2. There is KDirStat for "Linux, BSD, and lots of other Unix-type systems (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, ...)" http://kdirstat.sourceforge.net/
3. KDirStat was the original, WinDirStat is a "clone", and then came Disk Inventory X (sources are from the previous two links).
   

List of do nots for PHP programming

As there are discussions posted on this blog about PHP programming (maybe not at the moment ;-) the following is relevant and applicable to programming techniques including and beyond PHP. This is list as noted by the author is "completely subjective & Eclipse oriented".

"40 signs you really are a lousy PHP programmer"
http://reinholdweber.com/?p=19

There were terms in the list that I did not know. Examples included REST (Representational State Transfer) and DRY (Don't repeat yourself).

iPhone fullscreen web apps

Along with the iPhone sdk, apple has also added some updates for web developers, including the ability to create iPhone web apps in dashcode and ability to run web apps in full screen mode. To get full screen mode working all you need to do is add the html

<meta name="'apple-touch-fullscreen'" content="YES">

to the head of your web page. This sounds great but does not appear to be working yet. I tested this in both the iPhone simulator "Aspen" and directly on the iPhone itself. I also would have thought this to be an option on the dashcode page attributes, but it isn't, atleast for now. Also, the css animation effects don't appear to be working on the iPhone but those do work in the simulator. This most likely won't be available until the release of the iPhone 2.0 software.

Mark Russinovich Blog & Vista SP1 file copy improvements

"Mark Russinovich's technical blog covering topics such as Windows troubleshooting, technologies and security."

Mark is of Sysinternals fame. Sysinternals is a great resource for Windows based tools and tips (including BgInfo and Process Explorer).

There is an interesting entry in Mark's blog that was brought to attention via a Microsoft "TechNet Flash" e-mail newsletter. It discusses details of Vista SP1 file copy improvements:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/


March 18, 2008 additions:

• SP1 may slow down file copy performance. "Slowing down Vista with SP1" - http://blogs.computerworld.com/vista_sp1_slow

Examining Load Average (via top, uptime, etc.)

"In general, the intuitive idea of load averages is the higher they rise above the number of processors, the more demand there is for the CPUs, and the lower they fall below the number of processors, the more untapped CPU capacity there is. But all is not as it appears."

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9001

OpenWrt on Linksys NSLU2

With a help from a online few resources (listed below), I was able to flash the firmware of a Linksys NSLU2 (Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives) to utilize a more capable OS with more options than provided by the default firmware.

Future plans include installing and setting up:

• Samba server - http://wiki.openwrt.org/SambaHowto
  
• Print server - http://wiki.openwrt.org/PrinterSharingHowto
• Media server
  

There are many other devices (e.g. available ASUS WL-500g Premium, Buffalo NAS devices, etc.) that can be flashed with various operating systems (DD-WRT, OpenWrt, etc.) that provide additional better and more options and features than the stock firmware that is included with the devices. These embedded devices utilize Linux. Searching online for these OS and devices yields a multitude of projects, forums, and documentation. Here is a sampling for the flashing the NSLU2:


NSLU2-Linux - OpenWrt / HomePage
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/OpenWrt/HomePage

Kamikaze 7.09 on NSLU2
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=13034

Wiki about OpenWrt on NSLU2
http://tisnix.wikispaces.com/SlugNix

Windows 2003 Server OS Unnecessary Services

The following are list of some unnecessary services that are not needed (depending on the services being performed) on Microsoft Windows 2003 Server OS:

• DHCP Client - Dhcp
  Not needed if using static IP addresses
• Print Spooler - Spooler
  Not needed if there is no printer to be used
• Help ad Support - helpsvc
  Not needed if not planning to use Windows built-in help
• Windows Audio - AudioSrv
  Not needed if there are no audio devices to be used
• Wireless Configuration - WZCSVC
  Not needed if there are no wireless devices to be used

Although the following URL is about Microsoft Windows XP, it is still a relevant resource.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Printing PDFs

Creating Portable Document Format (PDF) files from applications that do not natively create the format is helpful when trying to maintain formating of a document, making it easy to share with others, or printing at a later date. For example, when purchasing an item online, the final order step will often suggest you print the page for your records or you discover an article online which may only be published for a short time that you want to save for your personal reference which. What if you do not want to waste psychical paper and ink or toner, or you are working on a system that does not have connectivity to a printer?

Consider printing to a PDF file. Some applications such as OpenOffice provide the ability to export to a directly to a PDF file (see the File menu). However, by default, applications such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer do not provide this functionally.

Discover CutePDF Writer <http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp>.
Installing this free software package along with the free (and required and recommended) Ghostscript writer will create a new printer on your system called "CutePDF". Whenever the need arises to create a PDF file for the current document you are viewing, simply print it and select "CutePDF" as your printer. You will be prompted for a filename and location. Once the "printing" process is completed, a PDF file

CutePDF Writer supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista (x32/x64).

(Apple OS X natively supports printing to PDFs - so I am told.)