Now Digging, Feeding my Friends and a Facebook App Worth Installing!

OK, just a quick update that serves two purposes:

1. I've signed up to a couple of new services. And I installed a Facebook application! I can't remember the last time I did that!
2. I am testing a new Live Writer plug in :)

OK, in an effort to try and organise myself a bit better online, I have finally signed up to the two following services/sites:

digg (http://www.digg.com)
I think digg is a great idea, and since I spend so much time checking out blog posts, I kind of owe it to digg them more, and hopefully one day get some digg's myself :)

Digg also serves as a great hub for finding new content.

FriendFeed (http://friendfeed.com)
Another fantastic site designed to aggregate data from several social networking sources as well as website's. I think key ones here are blogs, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Reader. Updates to all of these are then centralised on your personal FriendFeed page. Excellent stuff. Good news is that anyone who is a friend of mine on Facebook doesn't need to check it as you can also add a neat little application to Facebook that broadcasts updates to your news feed and profile. Very, very nicely done!

Special thanks to Loic Le Meur for inspiring me to do it via his blog post!

Technorati Tags: digg,friendfeeder,social networking

ASP.NET MVC Framework Source Code Released

For those of you that haven't heard, the ASP.NET MVC source code has been released on CodePlex. This is pretty awesome and, IMO an excellent demonstration of how Microsoft really are taking great steps to becoming much more customer driven. As I said to Scott Hanselman earlier on twitter, exciting times!

Now, I have yet to really get into ASP.NET and Web Applications since I am still working on the Windows element of my MCAD course, but I really look forward to seeing this mature so I can delve into it once I do!

Be sure to check out:

ScottGu's post on it here.
Scott Hanselman's post on it here.

Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,source code,codeplex,microsoft,MVC

Vista Network Issue - "Unidentified Network" & Loss of Internet Connectivity

UPDATE: See Items in Red under "Next things to try".

Ohhh Windows Vista baby, you were doing so well!

Right, I logged on to my PC yesterday morning to find I had no Internet connectivity. My first port-of-call? The "Network and Sharing Centre" of course! The nice little graphic on the screen there then proceeded to tell me I was on an "Unidentified Network". "Hmmm, that's odd" I thought.

So, I think "lets fix this damn thing". I run the network diagnosis this to fix it, and I am presented with a dialog telling me that I need to reset my router - I don't really believe this, but what the hell, I reset it anyway. Still no Internet.

Weird, so I then fire up the command prompt "cmd.exe" (with admin privileges) and run "ipconfig /all" to have a look at what's going on. I then see I have been assigned an APIPA address. I know this normally happens when there is a problem communicating with the DHCP server on the router. Now, this never fails on my router, so I figured I would fire up the craptop (my crappy laptop) to see if it works. I was able to connect without any issues both wired (using the same wire as on my desktop to check the cable) and wirelessly, as well as refresh my IP address via DHCP with the laptop. Right, this has just got really interesting, because my craptop is running Windows XP.

So theoretically its not an ISP, Router or cable issue. So it has to be something on my Vista desktop. I then think, "ok, maybe Vista is not liking the DHCP configuration, so I disable the DHCP Client (using "services mmc snap-in") and configure a static IP address (using the same network info from the laptop - other than the actual IP of course). I reboot and confirm the IP address information has been set, via "ipconfig /all" - but, you guessed it, still no Internet.

So, I'm starting to get more confused now. Static IP's nearly almost always work, they can just be a pain in the ass to maintain.

I start thinking maybe Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is the issue. I know I had it as an update around the time it all went bad, but I know the Internet has been working fine with it, but I don't care, its not working now, and that's the only change that my system has experienced recently. So, I fired up System Restore (in the "Backup and Restore" Centre), and restored to the point before SP1 was installed. Annnd... No joy (suprise).

I'm now getting increasingly angry and frustrated. I then think that maybe System Restore couldn't replace/fix some of the settings/drivers/lunar alignment/whatever. So I wipe the entire PC and reinstall Vista from scratch. After the setup completes, I know I am back to square one as I have lost everything, but guess what! STILL NO GOD DAMN NETWORK CONNECTIVITY! ARRGGHHHH!

I have tried a few other things following a google of the issue (which showed I am certainly not alone in this)..

So, to summarise:

Things I have tried (to no avail) - mostly in order:

• Running the "Diagnose" in Network and Sharing Centre.
• Rebooting the computer, TV, toaster,  light switches, kettle, flooring, walls, house, UK, Europe, Earth and Solar System.
• Assigning a static IP.
• DHCP release/renew.
• System restore to pre-SP1.
• Disabling IPv6.
• Clearing the WINSOCK/Ipv4/Ipv6 stacks.
• Checking the Router's DHCP configuration by using another (XP) computer on the same network (which worked fine).
• Checking the cabling by using the same cable in the above wired test.
• Applying the registry fix suggested in the Microsoft Knowledgebase (KB) article 928233.
• Disabling the second Network Interface Controller (NIC).
• Putting the computer to sleep and waking it up again.
• Uninstalling the Network Controllers via device manager and rebooting and letting Vista set them up again.
• Updating the Network Drivers.
• Leaving and rejoining the workgroup.
• Reformat the machine (GOD DAMMIT!).
• All of the above post-format.
• Praying and asking for an act of God.

My thoughts based on above:

• It can't be the router or cable, since both are still working fine with the laptop.
• It must be something to do with the desktop.
• I cant see how its a configuration issue since I have completely reformatted the machine.
• I doubt it's the NIC's because its a week-and-a-half-old computer.

Next things to try (and why):

• Try a different router. Maybe the NDIS of Vista, or something in Vista has triggered something in the router to reject it and/or Vista has [suddenly] turned against my router (the mutiny!).
  Was unable to try a different router - seems I am missing a connector for my other router, although I doubt this is the problem anyway, since my laptop is working fine! 
• Try installing XP on the desktop. This will help localise two issues. Is it Vista, or is it the NIC's? If all works fine in XP, then I know its Vista, if not, then I know its likely the NIC's.
  I am relieved in some ways, since installing XP DID NOT fix the issue (I don't want to give up hope on Vista - I REALLY like it!), looks like this really is a hardware failure. When I try to go into the network adapters properties, it seems to take ages to load to (and XP is VERY fast on this rig). Good news, received email back from vendor to arrange return and replacement.
• Pray some more and reset everything again. What? Every little helps right?

Anyone else had the same issue? Did you manage fix it? How?

Tweet! Tweet! This Geek Finally Gets on Twitter

Well, I finally done it, I have been watching twitter (http://www.twitter.com) for a while now, and been undecided as to wether or not I should sign up. I have now signed up and have it up and running.

Why did I do this?

Well, first off, I read this blog post from Scott Hanselman and it got me thinking. One of my main goals professionally it to try and network with more developers. Its amazing how much good it is doing me working with, and talking to more geek's. I am learning shed-loads, and it's nice to talk with others who are as passionate about their work as I am.

So what does this have to do with twitter? Well this is an ideal platform for exactly that, as Scott points out, this is great for opening up conversations and a great way to "stay in touch" in a much less intrusive fashion (like IM or spamming your inbox).

So, if you want to see me on twitter, you can catch me at my twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/robzyc.

Tweet!

Speech Recognition and Windows Vista

I am writing this blog post using the speech recognition function of Windows Vista.  Now it is taking some getting used to and I'm having a few problems - but I do not feel this is the speech recognition that is having problems but more that I do not articulate my words well.

One thing I will say (ha) is that I can really see the quality of the speech recognition engine improving as I talk to the machine more.

Points To Note:

• You can pretty much command everything!  Even in cases where the interface does not recognise commands using tools such as MouseGrid/"show numbers" enables you to overcome this.
• It's very easy to open supporting documentation for speech recognition by using the " what can I say" command.
• I think they used a speech recognition will greatly improve from my own vocal skills and strongly recommend others doing the same since we all need to talk!
• I need a better the quality microphone I am currently using a pretty cheap headset and I feel that it is interfering a lot with speech recognition.

I look forward to doing more use to communicating with the computer and hopefully become a bit more productive!

No Easy Way to Say It - Some Geek's are Dicks

I read this post on Jeff Atwood's blog (CodingHorror) and I have to say, it really upset me. As I commented on the post, us geek's can/are often privy to very sensitive, highly confidential information. The "normies" (non-geek's) give us implicit trust when they load our software/user our services, it should never be abused.

I have often seen a lot of information that could be used to really screw people, both in the workplace and personally (especially when sorting computers for friends/family). Since they have asked me to do a job/favour as a [trusted] geek, I do what I am supposed to do, sort the problems they are having, then privately give them the "heads up" on what I found/saw and advise them on how to secure their information.

For example, I had a friend who had posted their contact information on Facebook. They had listed quite a lot of information including full date of birth, and address, and it was publicly viewable, and a huge security risk (in the wrong hands you could actually be talking identity theft with that information).. Now many people are kind of oblivious to this, why? because they trust us geek's to bail them out. I got on the phone to them immediately and told them what I had found, then spent 30 minutes guiding them through how to sort their public profile out and hide confidential information. I also advised them on how to set up Google Alerts so they can actually find out what information is available on them via a Google Search. They were amazed at how much they learnt from me in that 30 minutes - and a little bit shook up, they truly had no idea. They didn't stop saying "thank you", and it made me proud and pleased to be able help them out. I also got that lovely little warm fuzzy feeling you get when you know you have done the right thing.

So fellow geek's, please don't be a dick, it makes the rest of us look bad.

Technorati Tags: geeks,ethics,privacy,security

Great Add-on for Vista Start Menu

I am a huge fan on SlickRun - its a great little tool that you can use to create "magic words" that execute commands when you enter them into the little command prompt thing.. I found it REALLY boosted my productivity.

However, when I moved to Windows Vista, one of the features I fell in love with was Instant Search. So I thought I would have a look to see if anyone has expanded on the functionality provided by Instant Search to provide something similar to SlickRun.

Well, I quickly came across Start++ a great tool developed by Brandon Paddock, a great guy who seems very passionate about what he does, which is what I like to see. So I instantly added his blog to to my RSS Reader (Google Reader)

Well, its a very, very similar concept to SlickRun, except that is runs from the Instant Search prompt. You can create shortcuts for the commands you want to execute, type it in the search, and if found by Start++, a little icon pops up with the name you entered for it. You then simply hit return, and it runs the command you specified.

Here's a screen shot of me executing my command to open my Live Blog:

Also, it has some pretty neat feature called "Startlets" - these provide the ability to integrate your string into queries for search engines and the like (such as Google, Live Search and Wikipedia) as well as the Indexing features of Windows Vista to play music and videos that meet your criteria (e.g. a particular artist).

Anyway, enough talk, go see for yourself!

Technorati Tags: Vista,Start++,SlickRun,Start Menu,Productivity,Shortcuts