Archive for January, 2009

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Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008

January 30th, 2009

Since we have been developing with SQL Server 2008 here at work on my latest project I have been keeping an eye on its available updates and fixes (at least until they come out with Service Pack 1). Cumulative Update Package 3 has been made available now.

Per Microsoft:

A supported cumulative update package is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problems that are described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing these specific problems. This cumulative update package may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by any of these problems, we recommend that you wait for the next SQL Server 2008 service pack that contains the hotfixes in this cumulative update package.

After scanning down the list it seems that we could benefit from at least two or three fixes listed:

  • FIX: You may encounter a deadlock scenario when you use table variables in SQL Server 2005 or in SQL Server 2008
  • FIX: When you use a ReportViewer control to view a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services report that contains two pages, the formatting for the second page is lost
  • FIX: When you print a report by using the SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Client-Side Printing functionality, the spacing is too small or too large

I would probably take Microsoft’s advice and hold off installing this update if you’re not specifically seeing any of the issues mentioned in the fix list.

You can download Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 here.

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Posted in programming, software, sql server

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Windows 7 Beta – get yours now before it’s gone!

January 30th, 2009

Microsoft is offering free downloads of Windows 7′s Beta release.  You can get your copy here.  They were originally going to keep the beta open until sometime in March I think but due to the overwhelming number of people that have signed up they’re going to be ending it very soon (actually according to the site, in the next few days).

So far I’ve been very happy with it.  I am running it on my Macbook Pro with VMware Fusion 2.  Even though VMWare doesn’t officially support it yet it went on automatically when I picked Windows Server 2008 64-bit as my operating system when I setup a new VM for it.  All I had to do was put in the product key that Microsoft emailed me when I signed up for the beta and it was up and running in no time.

I only allocated 40GB of Hard Drive space to the VM and 1GB Ram (I have 4GB total).  So far it has been running great on that and seems to be much quicker than the Vista VM I had setup before.  From everything that I’ve been hearing Windows 7 is basically a cleaned up and more stable version of Vista.  So far I agree.

The next steps for me will be to install Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.  Since Windows 7 comes pre-loaded with Internet Explorer 8.  One odd/annoying thing that I’m finding is that the Beta version of IE 8 that comes can’t be upgraded to the RC1 version they just put out this week.

For those of you that don’t know.  RC means Release Candidate, and is the final testing version before a software product is released with it’s final version.  The release cycles are typically:

  1. Alpha
  2. Beta
  3. RC (Release Candidate)
  4. RTM (Release to Manufacturing or Release to Marketing)
  5. GA (General Availability)

Here’s my advice to you as far as Internet Explorer 8 goes.  If you insist on using IE, make sure you’re using at least IE 7.  I would not start using IE 8 until it’s released in a final version.  If you’re only using IE because that’s what came with your computer, do yourself a favor and go and download Firefox (for free) right now.  It is way faster than IE, much more secure, and will give you a much getter browsing experience.

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Posted in mac, software, windows

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Flip MinoHD vs. Kodak Zi6 Comparison Review

January 29th, 2009

As I mentioned back in December, I received a pocked HD camcorder for Christmas and decided to try it out against another comparable camera that was out on the market to make sure that when all was said and done that I had the better of the two units.

The two cameras that I tested were the Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder and the Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Camera.  Both were purchased from Amazon.com and as you can see from the links here had pretty comparable features.

Here’s a breakdown of what I felt were the pros and cons for each model:

Camera Pros Cons
Flip MinoHD
  • Smaller size
  • Wrist strap on side vs. bottom
  • Software supports MAC
  • Software decent for managing device and movies
  • Battery is internal and can be charged by USB port
  • No expandable memory
  • Internal battery can’t be replaced if it goes bad or loses capacity over time
  • More expensive
  • Software upload to YouTube feature doesn’t take advantage of YouTube’s new HD options
Kodak Zi6
  • Feels more solid
  • Screen much more clear, bigger is much better for viewing
  • Zoom button much better
  • “Trackball” much more responsive than buttons on Mino
  • Uses external batteries, easy to pickup a pack from a store if you’re in a pinch
  • Uses external storage (up to 32GB), you can swap out cards if not at your PC. Mino only has 4GB internal memory
  • Small internal memory
  • Can’t plug it into my 15″ Macbook Pro USB slot when the power cord is plugged in. Have to use a USB extension cable.
  • No Mac version o the software :(
  • Seems to default to HD vs. HD 60 (60 = 60 frames per second vs. 30, the default) — this may be configurable

So which one did I keep?  The Kodak.

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Going back to TiVo

January 29th, 2009

Man, somehow a week or so ago I stumbled upon the fact that TiVo works with CableCARDs.  What does that mean, you ask?  It means that I can dump Comcast’s crappy HD DVR service and get a real DVR, a HD TiVo!!  How have I missed this for all this time?!?!  I must be slacking in my old age.

Why would you do that, you ask?  Well, the TiVo is 100x smarter than Comcast’s service in that it can hook in with the home network and talk to other TiVos.  Also, since it hooks into the network it can do all kinds of cool stuff over the web like allow you to schedule shows while at work and even stream movies from Netflix (yes, we have that service too) directly.  Also, the TiVo can interface with the computers on your home network to play music and show pictures.  Add the fact that you can record copies of shows that you record on to DVD and I think you’ve got a feature set that makes Comcast’s box and service look like a fisher price toy.

The only thing that I was unsure about was how much Comcast would charge me for CableCARDs.  Well, after a quick call to them a little while ago I learned that they give you the CableCARDs for FREE!  I asked twice and she confirmed it.  We’ll see if that’s actually the case when I go to pick them up in a week or so.  There’s always some screw up when it comes to dealing with them.  I’m definitely excited that I can now not pay them $30+ a month for DVR service on my two Comcast DVRs.

After hunting around I ended up placing an order on Amazon for two TiVo TCD652160 HD DVR units.  I also added two TiVo AG0100 Wireless G USB Network Adapters so that they can talk to each other and get hooked up to my local network.  Add in some current monthly service specials that TiVo offers and my total monthly cost will definitely be much lower than if I had stayed with Comcast.  Sure I’ll need to recoup the costs of the boxes, but considering I’ve had my one Comcast box for over 4 years I think in the long run I’ll come out ahead in this deal, and have a ton of more features and a much better “user experience” while doing it.

More reviews and initial impressions to come once I get the new hardware in, the CableCARDs picked up from Comcast, etc.  Hopefully things will go smoothly and I’ll be up  and running sometime next week.

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Apple 24″ LCD Cinema Display – WOW!!

January 16th, 2009

As I mentioned last month I was considering getting an Apple 24″ LED Cinema Display to compliment my Macbook Pro.  A few weeks ago when I finally got my fantasy football winnings for this year I pulled the trigger and ordered it from PC Connection.  After checking around with a few places I was pretty happy with the deal I got from PC Connection.  Due to them not charging for any taxes I was able to get a better deal there than I could have gotten through my neighbor who gets discounts from Apple through his work.

Considering that I work with dual 19″ monitors at work daily I didn’t think I’d be too impressed with a 24″ and was really actually kind of bummed that a decent 30″ like a Samsung 305T or a Dell UltraSharp 3008WF was so expensive.  I must say that I am more than blown away after using the 24″ Apple display.  At first I was really considering not getting the Apple since it didn’t have any HDMI or DVI inputs (for watching HDTV, etc).  But after I realized that I really wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be using this monitor to watch TV and the fact that without this monitor I would have to buy a Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter ($99 – to hook up a different monitor) and an extra power adapter ($79 – for convenience) the decision got much easier.

What really stands out the most with this display is just how bright the thing is.  With the LED display it goes from off to maximum brightness in an instant.  Also since it’s LED based the power it uses is much less than a comporable LCD display.  Having both LED displays in the laptop and the monitor really make you realize how crappy older flat panel monitors are.  Once you use an LCD display, you won’t want to go back.  In addition to the power savings that the LCD offers this monitor boasts the same environmental (“green”)  changes that Apple made to the Macbook.  Everybody’s “going green”!

Overall I’ve been very happy so far with the display.  Unfortunately the room that I’m turning into my office here at the house is a work in progress so I haven’t been using it daily, but when I have used it I have really been sad when I’ve put it away.  As much as I may like to, having it sitting on the dining room table with a family of 5 just isn’t practical :)   Once the office is done and I get it mounted (I picked up the VESA compatible mount too) I’ll definitely post more about it and how well the dual setup with the Macbook Pro works.

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Posted in gadgets, mac

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Setting up SSL with IIS for ASP.NET

January 12th, 2009

On my project at work I recently had to deal with securing our IIS 6 website with SSL and forcing that no non-secure requests would be honored.

require-ssl

What I quickly found was that IIS didn’t offer a way to automatically redirect any non-secure requests to a secure version of the same page, or some other page (i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/login.aspx redirect automatically to https://www.yoursite.com/login.aspx).

Luckily after spending a good amount of time Googling I found this post that involves a handy tip that you can use to change the custom error page for error 403;4 (the one displayed when you try to view the non-secure site).  I won’t re-state everything from his blog post, but it definitely has everything you need to get around this problem if you’re in the same boat.

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Live action recreation of Super Mario Brothers

January 12th, 2009

Japanese live-action recreation of Super Mario Bros. (from the same show that brought us Matrix Ping Pong)

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Posted in general

Picasa for Mac, finally!

January 11th, 2009

Google has finally released a version of their Picasa desktop application for Mac.  I have been waiting for this for a while and it couldn’t come a minute sooner.

Our iPhoto library here at home is over 63GB and has almost 16,000 items (photos and movies) and gave me a big scare a few weeks ago when the library wouldn’t show any pictures except for the ones that I had imported from my camera in December 2008 (this was still in December).  Luckily I was able to copy the library off to another hard drive, open the backup copy and do some maintenance to get it working.  But we did lost the pictures that had worked from that December upload.

I think what I would need to do with iPhoto is break our 1 big library into smaller libraries, maybe by year to keep that running more smoothly.  I think I’m going to work on pulling everything out of iPhoto and moving it into Picasa.  This is also because our Flickr service is up for renewal and I don’t think I want to continue with it.  I have been putting pictures on Picasa’s Web Albums lately and I like that much more than Flickr.

Between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Picasa, I really must say that I’ve been very impressed with all of the Google products that are now a part of my daily life.

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Posted in mac, software

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Wirelessly charge your gadgets

January 11th, 2009

At this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) a company demoed a device called Powermat.  What this does for you is basically allow you to have a mat that you would lay your cell phone, your iPod, etc. on to have it get charged.  You wouldn’t have to worry about having 2 cell phone chargers and an iPod charger plugged in creating that nice wire rat’s nest we all know and love.  A small scale version doing what was described here should be on sale later this year.

Future products could be “hotspot” areas on you kitchen counter for appliances, areas on your bedroom wall for your LCD TV, etc.  Pretty cool, huh?

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Manage your finances with Mint

January 8th, 2009

If you looking for a great program for managing your personal finances, you should check out Mint.  Not only does it have great tools to help you understand where you’re spending your money it offers you ways that it can help you save money.  It syncs up with pretty much all financial institutions and can pull in transactions from your banks, credit cards, investment accounts and even loans (auto, mortgage, etc).

I’ve had pretty good luck with it keeping in sync with all of my accounts.  The only ones that it has had problems with are with my Emigrant direct savings account and my Maryland College Savings accounts.  With options to handle pretty much every security question that each institution deals with, you only have to setup your accounts with them once and it syncs automatically from there on out.

Here’s what I really like about Mint:

  • It’s free
  • It’s secure
  • Offers automated budgeting
  • Comprehensive drill-down reports and graphs showing where your money is going
  • Tons of alert options and automated reports (i.e. tells you if a credit card changes your interest rate)

Honestly, I could go on and on.  And to top it all off, they just released an iPhone app that’s free too!  Considering that I will be swapping out my Blackberry at work for an iPhone in the next few days I couldn’t be more excited (that’s a whole separate post in itself).

Mint’s been around for maybe a year and a half now and seems to have worked out all of the issues I encountered back in September 2007 when I was using the Beta version.  To be honest, it had a bunch of quirks back then and lacked the ability to add custom categories.  I didn’t stick with the Beta long and closed my account.  But a few months ago they came out of their Beta and had a bunch of new features available compared to when I had been a user before, so I decided to give it another whirl.  I’m glad that  I did because I use it almost daily now and I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve tried Quicken Online (which used to be like $2.95 a month but is free now), Quicken for the Mac, Microsoft Money, Mvelopes (not free) and a few others that I don’t even remember now and when it was all said and done Mint seemed to have the most to offer and the obvious right price.  If you’re looking for a way to get started with wrangling your spending, sticking to a budget, or even just trying to figure out where your money is going you should definitely give it a try.

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