Taking off the computer geek hat and putting on the physics geek hat, here's a video to explain the Large Hadron Collider.
Good luck CERN!
2008-09-10
2008-09-05
Conference Call Lesson
It's not exactly a lesson per se on how to handle a conference call, but what you can relate to is what makes it funny.
Somehow I've seen all of this.
Somehow I've seen all of this.
2008-07-26
Lost Planet Movie
The Lost Planet Movie is in the making. If anyone can convert a game to a good movie, it's Capcom... anyone hear of Resident Evil?
[July 31 update] The writer for the Lost Planet Movie will be David Hayter, who's got some good geek movie cred having written X-Men and X-Men 2.
[July 31 update] The writer for the Lost Planet Movie will be David Hayter, who's got some good geek movie cred having written X-Men and X-Men 2.
2008-06-26
YouTube RSS
I've always hated to have to go to a site to check out the latest things, be it video or downloads or what have you. My pet peeve was YouTube, where you'd have to subscribe but could only see what's new in subscriptions on the page.
I've now found how to add RSS feeds for YouTube!
Thanks so the Google Operating System blog, to get the RSS feed for a channel (and every user has a channel) use this URL. Obiously, replace USERNAME with the channel name.
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/USERNAME/uploads?orderby=updated
The underlying technical specifications are available from the YouTube API Reference. There's now a handy link site for the general feeds such as Recently Feature and Top Rated: YouTube RSS Feeds.
I've now found how to add RSS feeds for YouTube!
Thanks so the Google Operating System blog, to get the RSS feed for a channel (and every user has a channel) use this URL. Obiously, replace USERNAME with the channel name.
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/USERNAME/uploads?orderby=updated
The underlying technical specifications are available from the YouTube API Reference. There's now a handy link site for the general feeds such as Recently Feature and Top Rated: YouTube RSS Feeds.
2008-06-20
Microsoft Product Activation... again
As previously mentioned, I had to activate Windows XP. Now that I've had to run installs on a bunch of Compaq Evo d530's, I have discovered that all of the OEM keys can no longer be activated online. Each activation says "the key number was mistyped" with error message 45128, though this error message is false as it was typed correctly.
A couple of years ago, Microsoft disabled the activation of OEM keys from major manufacturers as they usuall do their OEM install from an image anyway. There was too much risk of someone reading the OEM key off the side of a display computer and using that to activate their own computer.
The good news is the last activation was completely via the IVR, and still took only a few minutes.
A couple of years ago, Microsoft disabled the activation of OEM keys from major manufacturers as they usuall do their OEM install from an image anyway. There was too much risk of someone reading the OEM key off the side of a display computer and using that to activate their own computer.
The good news is the last activation was completely via the IVR, and still took only a few minutes.
2008-06-08
Microsoft Product Activation
I haven't had any issues with product activation for a Microsoft product in a long time, so it came as a bit of a surprise to be reloading Windows XP Professional on a computer and getting error 45131 from the Activate Product Online wizard.
I'm not sure what triggered this, but it's probably because the OEM key on the box was already activated once or twice (it's had a long history). The other cause could be the original Windows XP OEM media would have been pre-SP1, and I was installing with SP2 OEM media. Who knows.
The process was more painless than I thought, phone the 1-888 number, listen to a voice recognition script and provide the sets of numbers. Of course, it triggered me to a customer service representative anyway, but after confirming some questions (which product, where did the activation code come from, is this a reinstall) I was given back another set of numbers and presto magico... activated.
At least I'm putting on OpenOffice so I don't have to go through any Office issues.
This is good news to my nephews Duncan and Connor, who will now have a newer computer to use than the old Windows 98 model from 1998.
I'm not sure what triggered this, but it's probably because the OEM key on the box was already activated once or twice (it's had a long history). The other cause could be the original Windows XP OEM media would have been pre-SP1, and I was installing with SP2 OEM media. Who knows.
The process was more painless than I thought, phone the 1-888 number, listen to a voice recognition script and provide the sets of numbers. Of course, it triggered me to a customer service representative anyway, but after confirming some questions (which product, where did the activation code come from, is this a reinstall) I was given back another set of numbers and presto magico... activated.
At least I'm putting on OpenOffice so I don't have to go through any Office issues.
This is good news to my nephews Duncan and Connor, who will now have a newer computer to use than the old Windows 98 model from 1998.
2008-05-29
Lost Planet Colonies
This has to be the first time I've bought a video game... twice. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was an awesome game for Xbox 360, with the best online play (can you say head shot?).
So what happened? Capcom re-released it as Lost Planet: Colonies Edition with more online maps, characters, and game play - it's pretty well a whole new game.
So far my game stats don't show in the new edition, and because it's a new game my online level was back to Level 1.
The game was released on the 27th, and they didn't have it at Best Buy yet and they said it gets shipped to them on the release date (wtf?). Anyway, it was supposed to be in on Wednesday, and it wasn't on the shelf when I went in during the evening. After about 20 minutes of staff searching the warehouse, they found me a copy. Cameron was playing as soon as he was home from Cubs!
So what happened? Capcom re-released it as Lost Planet: Colonies Edition with more online maps, characters, and game play - it's pretty well a whole new game.
So far my game stats don't show in the new edition, and because it's a new game my online level was back to Level 1.
The game was released on the 27th, and they didn't have it at Best Buy yet and they said it gets shipped to them on the release date (wtf?). Anyway, it was supposed to be in on Wednesday, and it wasn't on the shelf when I went in during the evening. After about 20 minutes of staff searching the warehouse, they found me a copy. Cameron was playing as soon as he was home from Cubs!
Weezer
Spotted this cool new video from Weezer, Pork and Beans.
Let's play spot-the-homage. So far I've found Star Wars (light sabers), Will It Blend (Blendtec blender), web cams (start and throughout), Threadless (155 t-shirts!), and of course the Mentos and Diet Coke fountains.
Let's play spot-the-homage. So far I've found Star Wars (light sabers), Will It Blend (Blendtec blender), web cams (start and throughout), Threadless (155 t-shirts!), and of course the Mentos and Diet Coke fountains.
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