If you're not yet using OpenDNS to see what's happening on your network - take it from me - you should.
OpenDNS, the world's largest and fastest-growing DNS service, is free to use and gives you the tools to easily see which Web sites are most visited on your network. If you see problem sites in your network stats, you can easily block them with OpenDNS's industry-leading free Web content filtering.
It also makes your network faster and more reliable. OpenDNS will quickly become your most valued tool in your IT toolbox.
http://www.opendns.com/
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Do it right
This is a 'low tech' commentary piece, but I just have to put it in. The trailer's running lights have not worked since we hooked up as we were moving cross country, after a shop had checked everything out, and given the green light on the operating and safety conditions of the trailer.
This hasn't been a major issue since we mostly tow in day light but with short winter days, night falls rather quickly. So I have started to work on the issues one area at a time. First the plug, no better. I figured I would also add a solar charger to the brake battery since we infrequently trailer. Next I replaced the socket on the truck, and well I have running lights, but no brakes. ERRG.
So I was testing the lines, and noticed that there was a dead 12V lead. Why was it dead? The relay had never been installed, I installed it, so we should now have a charge circuit for the battery, and allow us to have our accessory lighting to work in the trailer. BUT something is shorting out. So I am trying to figure out if they swapped the wire colors on me, or if they hooked it up wrong in the first place. I am going to have to jack it up, take a wheel off and take a look at the brakes, hoping that I did not mess them or the brake controller up in the process of this whole endeavor.
On top of this, I noticed that the accessory wire that was poorly routed for the camper topper, was pinched and shorted when the hitch was put on. This is the same company that cut the wire harness rather than install a plug and play T-wire harness upgrade for the truck. Has the system worked like it should have for the past years? Not exactly, the trailers lights have not worked inside. Why do we pay people to do crap work, just to have to go behind them and fix what they have messed up? Just do it right in the first place and it will be a much better place, with happier people. I have spent a large amount of time on this, and I can't just take it somewhere, it has no brakes! So I am stuck working on it either late at night or all weekend.
This hasn't been a major issue since we mostly tow in day light but with short winter days, night falls rather quickly. So I have started to work on the issues one area at a time. First the plug, no better. I figured I would also add a solar charger to the brake battery since we infrequently trailer. Next I replaced the socket on the truck, and well I have running lights, but no brakes. ERRG.
So I was testing the lines, and noticed that there was a dead 12V lead. Why was it dead? The relay had never been installed, I installed it, so we should now have a charge circuit for the battery, and allow us to have our accessory lighting to work in the trailer. BUT something is shorting out. So I am trying to figure out if they swapped the wire colors on me, or if they hooked it up wrong in the first place. I am going to have to jack it up, take a wheel off and take a look at the brakes, hoping that I did not mess them or the brake controller up in the process of this whole endeavor.
On top of this, I noticed that the accessory wire that was poorly routed for the camper topper, was pinched and shorted when the hitch was put on. This is the same company that cut the wire harness rather than install a plug and play T-wire harness upgrade for the truck. Has the system worked like it should have for the past years? Not exactly, the trailers lights have not worked inside. Why do we pay people to do crap work, just to have to go behind them and fix what they have messed up? Just do it right in the first place and it will be a much better place, with happier people. I have spent a large amount of time on this, and I can't just take it somewhere, it has no brakes! So I am stuck working on it either late at night or all weekend.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Defaulting to FF
A couple of ways to do this.
Start...Set Program Access and Defaults...
Inside of FF goto menubar Tools..Options..Advanced..Check box Default FF browser
Start...Set Program Access and Defaults...
Inside of FF goto menubar Tools..Options..Advanced..Check box Default FF browser
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
MPG -> DVD
Q: I do not know why it has to be so very hard to get files from the digital camera (format MPG) to a DVD that I can play in the DVD player. I would have thought it would have been easy. Not so. I have spent several hours on this. The program that came with the camera will not write to a DVD, it claims it can not find the it. Others will write to the DVD but they will not play on a DVD player on the TV.
A: Get a Mac... I will be update this for PC die-hards in the next couple of days.
A: Get a Mac... I will be update this for PC die-hards in the next couple of days.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Remotely located iPod dock
Using the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub I have my iPod Nano setup to auto connect/disconnect from the Mac when placed in the JBL Soundstage Dock.
Doesn't sound too complicated really does it? I have the JBL in the kitchen, and there is no room for a computer to hangout in there. I also have not had any time to run ethernet ports to the kitchen. So I have a pair of WAP11 AP setup for point-to-point to go from the main router closet, and connect in the kitchen. The main wireless routers can be setup to have the open network infront of the private, to limit exposure to my data.
So the Belkin software is setup to connect to the Nano automatically upon recognizing it has been connected to the dock, as well as load iTunes. Having Belkin load iTunes is a failsafe setting, to ensure that iTunes will sync. When iTunes is closed, the Nano is disconnected, again this is a failsafe, as iTunes and the Mac appear to do this if directly connected.
The setup in the kitchen needs a little cleaning up (wires are a little wild, not too bad). The biggest bonus of this setup is that many of the items are actually ontop of the cabinets. The wife can get her Nike+ data online with minimal interference from me, as long as the Mac stays running. (7 year old, never formatted, laptop with recently dead battery).
The Belkin also allows for connection of a total of 5 items, and I regularly have my X10CM11, iPod Shuffle, and Kodak DC connected.
Doesn't sound too complicated really does it? I have the JBL in the kitchen, and there is no room for a computer to hangout in there. I also have not had any time to run ethernet ports to the kitchen. So I have a pair of WAP11 AP setup for point-to-point to go from the main router closet, and connect in the kitchen. The main wireless routers can be setup to have the open network infront of the private, to limit exposure to my data.
So the Belkin software is setup to connect to the Nano automatically upon recognizing it has been connected to the dock, as well as load iTunes. Having Belkin load iTunes is a failsafe setting, to ensure that iTunes will sync. When iTunes is closed, the Nano is disconnected, again this is a failsafe, as iTunes and the Mac appear to do this if directly connected.
The setup in the kitchen needs a little cleaning up (wires are a little wild, not too bad). The biggest bonus of this setup is that many of the items are actually ontop of the cabinets. The wife can get her Nike+ data online with minimal interference from me, as long as the Mac stays running. (7 year old, never formatted, laptop with recently dead battery).
The Belkin also allows for connection of a total of 5 items, and I regularly have my X10CM11, iPod Shuffle, and Kodak DC connected.
GrandCentral --> GoogleVoice
Question
Are you using the Grand Central service at all? I don't really use it much, and get a lot of wrong numbers.
Response
We try not to not give out our house number. And to 'new' people we only give out GrandCentral (soon to be GoogleVoice). For any of those odd numbers, I just label them wrong number and/or block them. Wife no longer gets calls on her cell directly. She did get lots of credit collectors (looking for other people), we just blocked them, and they have not gotten through since. Everybody pretty much calls the GC# though her dad does not apparently trust it for some reason (falls under the category of Jody-rig'd). Some people also think that calling the GC# is different than calling the cell or house number, and will call both or all three.
I love it though. I was on the phone the other day, and my cell battery was dying, and I ran to my office, pressed *, and the call transferred to my office, without the person knowing. I do that also when I answer my wife's calls at the house, and I think she will answer her cell, like her mom calls, I talk with her for a bit, and then I press * and my wife's cell phone rings, and we can all three talk, and then I hangup, and they continue to talk.
With GoogleVoice you can do SMS through your GC(to be GV) number. And you can connect an incoming call to an existing conversation with pressing 5. When we moved here, we just gave out the GC number instead of the house number AND missouri cell. This worked well on our side, because it turned out our number was published as a fax machine for a new nearby golf course, very annoying with autodialers calling every 30 minutes at 3AM on the weekend.
I also have it hooked up to gizmo, so if I every travel out of the country, and I can get computer access, I can 'skype', but with my own phone number, and for free, setting up the GC interface to call Gizmo.
If I had a data plan on my cell phone it would be even more useful, but I can't afford that, with 2 cellphones, an aircard, and a landline, communications is ~$200/mth. Due to that load I cant even start to consider things like TIVO, cable, SatTV, SatXM, Netflix, or RIM.
Google purchased Grandcentral 21 months back, and they now are re-releasing it as GoogleVoice. I dont have it yet, but am excited that some new options will be coming on line.
I recommend if you are going to be getting a new number, get a GoogleVoice number, and set it up with your home/cell/work phones. You will no longer have to worry about keeping your cell phone number when changing carriers, you currently can have free in/outbound VOIP based calls, you can peer it with the GIZMO project, and there are so many cool feature of the system that only VOIP can provide, like the call transfer feature.
Are you using the Grand Central service at all? I don't really use it much, and get a lot of wrong numbers.
Response
We try not to not give out our house number. And to 'new' people we only give out GrandCentral (soon to be GoogleVoice). For any of those odd numbers, I just label them wrong number and/or block them. Wife no longer gets calls on her cell directly. She did get lots of credit collectors (looking for other people), we just blocked them, and they have not gotten through since. Everybody pretty much calls the GC# though her dad does not apparently trust it for some reason (falls under the category of Jody-rig'd). Some people also think that calling the GC# is different than calling the cell or house number, and will call both or all three.
I love it though. I was on the phone the other day, and my cell battery was dying, and I ran to my office, pressed *, and the call transferred to my office, without the person knowing. I do that also when I answer my wife's calls at the house, and I think she will answer her cell, like her mom calls, I talk with her for a bit, and then I press * and my wife's cell phone rings, and we can all three talk, and then I hangup, and they continue to talk.
With GoogleVoice you can do SMS through your GC(to be GV) number. And you can connect an incoming call to an existing conversation with pressing 5. When we moved here, we just gave out the GC number instead of the house number AND missouri cell. This worked well on our side, because it turned out our number was published as a fax machine for a new nearby golf course, very annoying with autodialers calling every 30 minutes at 3AM on the weekend.
I also have it hooked up to gizmo, so if I every travel out of the country, and I can get computer access, I can 'skype', but with my own phone number, and for free, setting up the GC interface to call Gizmo.
If I had a data plan on my cell phone it would be even more useful, but I can't afford that, with 2 cellphones, an aircard, and a landline, communications is ~$200/mth. Due to that load I cant even start to consider things like TIVO, cable, SatTV, SatXM, Netflix, or RIM.
Google purchased Grandcentral 21 months back, and they now are re-releasing it as GoogleVoice. I dont have it yet, but am excited that some new options will be coming on line.
I recommend if you are going to be getting a new number, get a GoogleVoice number, and set it up with your home/cell/work phones. You will no longer have to worry about keeping your cell phone number when changing carriers, you currently can have free in/outbound VOIP based calls, you can peer it with the GIZMO project, and there are so many cool feature of the system that only VOIP can provide, like the call transfer feature.
rig'd
*Jody-rIg'n' a term made sometime in the late 20th century to denote the fact that I can make something work, but it might not work if I leave, it may look ugly, or you may have to have the ability to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time to get it to work. Mostly concerning electronics, but could be electrica, plumbing, landscaping, etc. Credit is given to either Gray or Justin for the creation of this term, though it may of originated from other parties unknown to me at this time.
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