June 2006
Wednesday 28 June
- Hear the change... or don't (16:03) - For anyone who objects to the new sounds in BitWise 1.7.2, the old sounds are available for downhere here. The zip file contains a Sounds directory with all of the old sounds. Simply copy some or all of the files into your BitWise Sounds directory. I briefly debated posting this download with sounds like burps, flatulence, toilet flushes, screams, chainsaws and maniacal laughter. I guess I just didn't want any lawsuits filed by angry bosses when their computer started belching...
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Friday 23 June
- Computer users to Microsoft: we're not all stupid (17:53) - I have been following with some interest the recent hubbub over Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program and the validation checks that have surfaced on Windows XP. For those of you not familiar with the issue, basically Windows XP now "phones home" to see if it is legitimate when you boot, and if not, displays information about genuine Microsoft software. While I can see how some people might find this as an inherent sign of mistrust of computer users worldwide,...
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Monday 19 June
- BitWise 1.7.2 Released (13:55) - BitWise 1.7.2 was released today, featuring some minor enhancements and many bug fixes. One change that will be very noticable is that BitWise now has new sounds, kindly developed and donated by FreakyFwoof. For Linux and Mac OS X users, the IP address detection has been vastly improved, now querying the interfaces directly rather than relying on /etc/hosts. The behavior on Windows has always been correct and has not changed. You can read about the rest of the changes in...
Wednesday 14 June
- I'm not crazy! It's true -- people don't read! (20:32) - One of my common lamentations about web site creation & design is that people do not read. You spend all this time creating nice, informational pages, and then you get asked questions that could easily be found by reading those very pages. To help combat this, I have been relentless about keeping pages as short as possible, using as few words as necessary to get across the relevant information. Sometimes people think I'm crazy based on how much time I...
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Wednesday 7 June
- Merging the ideals of Commodore and Apple (or, the $100 laptop) (21:17) - There has been a lot of talk over the recent years about the digital divide. I do think that the digital divide is real, so I have followed with interest the $100 laptop that has been in development for a while now, and a recent story at ComputerWorld shows just how close these laptops are to reality. The idea behind these laptops is to eliminate the digital divide by making a computer available to [almost] anyone in the world at...
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Thursday 1 June
- A wee bit of plumbing advice (20:19) - I would like to offer up a bit of free advice for anyone considering a plumbing project: Do not commence a plumbing project on a national holiday. This is especially true when the plumbing project requires that you shut off the water to your entire house because the thing you're working on (e.g. my bathtub) does not have its own shutoff valve. This leads to my second bit of [somewhat less useful] advice: When you build a house, be sure...
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