Jared Rimer's Technology blog and podcast

uaa bus driver myths

crashmaster — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:25:52 +0000

Hi.
This is a critical note about the uaa buss, this prevides highdef audio.
Thats what softwarepatch reads.
It should read this is the interface for high def audio cards.
Without it you will have no sound.
And if you disable it for any reason then reenable it this will happen.
1. to enable it you need sighted help.
2. you will need a new copy of nvda because nvda will not start.
you will need to uninstall hal and sam because orpheus1 or whatever will not be recognised, also orpheus needs removal.
you can leave your dcm or mirror driver allone.
Now system sounds will not work till you varify each sound in the control panel.
things should work after this.
reinstall hal and update it.
your settings and old maps should still exist.
you need to update to any patched versions though.
you also need to update maps.
One thing that I noticed that is not fixed is the fact on startup of the system the taskbar start button that is usually put up does not get announced at first.
its ok though if you tab to it, it will be announced.
Its probably just me being picky.
I am always that way, essentually you are back up.
Oh be prepaired to have to switch back to your sound card that has the hd audio.
I don’t have the hardware to do this but I wander what would happen if you had the uaa off on the hidef card but had a second card in there that was not high def and switched to it?
Just a stupid thought as I will not do this again.
Also be aware for stupid users.
who ask you to get their system’s set up and then don’t bother continuing.

welcome to another todo

crashmaster — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:18:32 +0000

Hi all.
well its been a little.
I personally wouldn’t trust norton with my life at least anything after 2002 that is in the middle of 2003 symantec got the good norton stuff from norton corp.
They made it dictatorial, ie if you want to turn off autoprotect it will say but its off, turn it back on every 10 seconds.
This was especially anoying if you had removed it from the registry by force.
reformat time please.
It was also hard to remove, ie after an uninstall you couldn’t set the things to start they would just exit.
This really sucks.
I still rate norton disk docter over scandisk and win docter over regscrub xp
speaking of which what do you guys with vista use to clean your registeries
I finally finnished cleaning the system, wander how long it will last for.
Trying to find out if the stupid speech rec can be not put in startup, and if it can be closed and will not try to communicate with itself and the net in general.
if it can then I can avoid the stupid firewall when updating the system, honesly its like only an hour
anyway I hope this will work out.
zonealarm is no real use to me except with nvda.
It would be easier if the thing was not cracked.
Honestly I do dabble in such things but its obvious that the manufacturors have made it hard to get things going.
Fine! they did it, I’m buying.
Not this user, now if this system goes down, I am so cutting back.
Let me think, no joystick, no photos, no scanner, ok ok the photos and scanner as well as office and other things are needed.
But seriouslly the screensavers can go, the joystick and a few nice things like ie7.
Also all the extra weird video players installed pluss the extra junk can go, the extra poker for example.
To be honest all that system needs is office and maybe for the next while.
hmph.
I think after this user finnishes with uni I will clean all the uni software from the system.
That gives me a load more room.
maybe I’ll clean the photos although thats shared so maybe not.
Still I will be watching the system.
If this user does get me hacked off any more I can probably do something ruthless like delete his account.
That will fix a load of issues.
Oh boy.

New head set, continuing podcast as scheduled

tech — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:53:34 +0000

Well,
My trip to the store was successful, and I’m broadcasting as I write
this covering for a show, then doing my own on an Internet Radio station.
In the meantime, I still have some things I’d like to cover in the podcast,
and I may work on that later today or tomorrow. I hope everyone is doing
well otherwise.

Podcast delayed

tech — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:45:29 +0000

I hope this is temporary, but I’ve been working on our podcast 81 which is
packed and is an hour already. I have not yet covered everything I want to,
but my microphone just gave out. This sucks, isn’t technology supposed to
work? I’ll hopefully be able to get a replacement tomorrow. Keeping
fingers crossed.

Host of Internet Spam Groups Is Cut Off - washingtonpost.com

tech — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:17:51 +0000

Host of Internet Spam Groups Is Cut Off - washingtonpost.com. was sent to me by Kelly Sapergia. This article is very interesting, and some words are linked to other articles that may be of interest. This was sent to me on November 12, 2008 along with some other news that is in the upcoming podcast.

Trojan.Win32.Delf.aam: How to Remove Trojan.Win32.Delf.aam and Recover Your Folders

tech — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:55:38 +0000

Trojan.Win32.Delf.aam: How to Remove Trojan.Win32.Delf.aam and Recover Your Folders. is a guide. If you have this virus, you may want to read this link provided by Mary Landesman.

Product Review: Norton Internet Security 2009

tech — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:33:45 +0000

Product Review: Norton Internet Security 2009. is looking interesting. However, if it is faster, does this mean its faster with or without access technology? It sure looks promising if NIS is more friendly, especially on your resources. I don’t know about Norton 360, butI along with other tech people who do help people don’t recommend Norton any more. However, if anyone ends up trying NYS 2009, registor and give me your thoughts, or write me at tech@menvi.org. Read the article and see whether you may or may not agree with this product Review. I do have respect for Tony’s opinion.

an update

crashmaster — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:14:25 +0000

Hi all
Well avg has a program update.
I would have sent this but currently the isp is bing a real hastle.
Last night the entire net went offline.
Today I got back on and everything is up, almost.
I can’t send any email.
For now thats ok, I don’t really need to send mail for now, however I was pissed because of the fact I missed my nasa highlights for last night.
In other news a user on the main server wants a firewall, and new draggon naturally speaking.
Vary well but this is one of the users that is realy messy.
I am removing programs and clearing things to the best of my ability
I am also cleaning things.
the system iis old and quite slow although with sojme things its real fast.
There are some limits to what I can do as this user gets viruses from uni and needs full avg on.
Turning this off would aleviate a load of issues I feel but ait can’t be done, yet.
There are a load of things I really could get rid of, but again, others use the system.
photos, and photo package files litter the system as well as 2 poker games a risk game and several screensavers and a mapping program all of which are off limits.
I managed to remove a security module that can be done without, at any rate this user was the only one using it.
At the moment I am clearing his registry and cleaning temp files.
I need to spyscan the box.
Hopefully this will solve some heartakes.
but I am limited by what I have to play with.
The main admins have suggested a reformat.
Frankly a reformat will not fix it.
The system is old, and needs updating.
Also it won’t matter because of said messy user.
He really has no sense in being tidy.
So there is this added abuse.
On top of this he expects me to fix the thing.
So last night I was up from 4pm till midnight doing just that.
If all works well I will have the bulk of it done by lunch time.
I then hope I can get things to run right.
But if not this user will have to cut back on avg, cut back on his stupid good for nothing anoyance firewall, and stuff himself down a deep hole.
I am sick to my ram chips over this.
This is not how I invisioned spending the weekend.
This system has been working nicely for 6 years.
6 years!!! with out reformatting.
I have avoided this by actually caring.

an update to today

crashmaster — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:49:16 +0000

Hi.
Ok guys for those that got the ms updates for office 2007 help the access help is up under optional updates its about 20mb.
Those on dialup don’t get this, its not worth the wait.

nanother quicknews

crashmaster — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:26:16 +0000

Hi.
well the windows security cirts package is released for the next period.
Its in optional updates in windowsupdate.
Digital tv is quite good, I have a freeview box on my new hdtv and the sound is quite good.
Some channels tend to have higher or lower volumes and some crackle and hiss a tiny bit.
I am pleased with the digital tv especially as my family says it displays the channels as names rather than numbers and that you can load a program which will broadcast at the normal time your tv will go on to it.
its not sky but its quite good, we get 6 more channels.
nothing really new to report.
the net is as dry as a desert.
So I will go away, need to update things and get mp3s of the server

Digital TV, real or converted, is holiday priority - Holiday Guide- msnbc.com

tech — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:34:17 +0000

Digital TV, real or converted, is holiday priority - Holiday Guide- msnbc.com. seems very interesting. Take a look. Enjoy this read.

Where has the technology podcast gone? Jared Rimer reporting

tech — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:36:02 +0000

Well folks, The last podcast was concepted on November 1st, and it has been three weeks since a show. I did not have time to complete one for Noovember 8th as things were going on. November 15th came around and I had planned to sit down to do a cast, but we had fires in the area, and then I fell sick. So we’re on the 22nd of November, and I’ve recovered quite a bit, but still not in the condision to really sit down to record. I’m hopefully thinking of doing one during Thanksgiving weekend, as I will have the weekend off of work. Don’t worry, my other podcasts have been effected by my resporatory infection, so don’t feel bad. Being out in smoky condisions didn’t help my tech brain at all, it just killed it. I’ve got plenty, including some stuff from Mary Landesman, Trend Micro, and who knows what else I may decide to put within the vast amounts of things that I have saved in my Inbox to read. I thought I’d mention what was going on. Don’t forget you can donate to us through Pay Pal if you wish, its not required, and no button will be placed on the site, as I will not push it. But you can send your donation to tech@menvi.org or write me with any suggestions, comments, or whatever about what you’ve heard. I already plan on making some changes to the upcoming podcast by a suggestion I got by a telephone listener. So I hope you will stay tuned, I hope to start posting some of what I will be talking about within the coming week. For now, I leave you, and we’ll see you soon.

another quicknews, aah what the heck there is no updated

crashmaster — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:30:43 +0000

Hi all.
Quick news.
windows update has updated their software.
Also there are the hd realtechs drivers 2.08 and the alc drivers 2.08.
Not that I am updating anymore.
at any rate I have no idea what I would update in any case.
Not much in either of my journals.
Nothing much to do really.
Still playing music, although flopped this week which sucked.
Started playing night of parasite.
Podcasts on the net quite thin although I am downloading books.
Tomorrow most of the family come back from tramping.
As you can see its still not much.
Back to tech, or piano, or something, man its hot here.
laters.

quicknews firefox 3.04

crashmaster — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:20:27 +0000

Hi.
acording to uscert all mozilla products have security issues, you should upgrade to the latest versions.

update on last post

crashmaster — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:50:00 +0000

Hi.
This is for the uaa driver.
I posted earlier.
The trouble chuting guide says installing xpsp3 should fix the issues in this driver but if not you should upgrade.
From what I got from scot at softwarepatch.com you will have audio but just not hd audio.
If you click on the microsoft uaa driver and get this device is not working properly and you have xpsp3 loaded and all updates then you may want to load this in if you care about hd audio.
If you got an hd audio card then you may want to concider this.
It makes games more realistic.
I have noticed in games such as terraformas that the hd cards well the realtech I have does not handle that well with playing the game but games like gtc really handle nicely.
If you have good headphones such as senheiser hd202 or higher or cos you will get a quite good sound with base, etc.
You don’t even need surround sound on, it really sounds like vertual reality.
I have not found any downsides to this yet.
So if you have this bus and its not working you should update.
On the other hand I wouldn’t update if you are not a gamer, if you re using your system and its ok I wouldn’t bother about it.
The file is 30mb after all thats not small.
Worse if something goes wrong then you may not have sound and that really is bad news.
If you have sighted help you may get it on, but if not you will need to use your recovery disks and reformat, so if you are not sure, don’t.
this driver does not apply to all new systems either, if your uaa device is working then no issue.
If you had the origional installs of xp or 2k or 2k3 then you will not be able to have hd audio till this support is loaded.
Check if you have an hd card and if you have a uaa buss, and if it is working.
I don’t know how far back the origional disks go back to but I may say xpsp1 disks and maybe the xp retail no service pack disks, xpsp2 should be ok, but someone can edit and fix this, that knows what all this is.
In conclusion I wouldn’t touch it unless you need to, go to www.softwarepatch.com and read the troublechuting guide to see if you meet the conditions.
I will check the other system I have here, I just hope I don’t need to install anything.

more updates

crashmaster — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:44:36 +0000

Hi.
hp 3500 driver update 9 is out on softwarepatch.
also the microsoft uaa bus driver.
This is where it gets weird.
this driver is supposed to fix issues with new systems not detecting the features or some such.
The guide on the site dictates on how to install this thing, however it also says that if the driver is found and works fine then, well you already have it.
this is something I will now quary.
no point trying to apply this if I don’t know what it does.
Unless your uaa bus driver does not work, that is in which case download the update.
I am going to query this and see what the story is.

Is Your Bank Really Merging?

tech — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:52:19 +0000

Is Your Bank Really Merging?. This is a great article that should be read. Important information in it.

GW Micro making a step for deaf blind

tech — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:35:10 +0000

This was posted yesterday. A massive headache prevented me from doing much last night, so hear goes.

Greetings,

We have posted text versions of each section of the Window-Eyes tutorial
on our Tutorial web page. In
addition to downloading and/or streaming the audio versions of the
tutorial sections, you can now choose to read a transcript of the
sections, including the speech that Window-Eyes provides. This is an
excellent resource for deaf/blind users.

A single text file containing all sections will be available shortly on
the same page.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Aaron
–

update listings

crashmaster — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:22:21 +0000

Hi.
the listings are on softwarepatch.
there is also n update for a logitec cordless mouse look into the site for more info.
updates listed update xml core and smb.
the xml core is the important one since loads of things are in xml
As a data format its small and can be indexed, loads of things use it from drive imagers to games to websites so its important to keep this updated.
Nokia pc suite 7.92 is out www.blindsea.com has the stuff for nokia phones in an easy format.
I may come back later depending on what I find on here.
I have only got started.
On the up side it looks like summer is finally here so starting early is a good thing.
Hopefully things continue as smoothly as they will.
The shuttle launches saturday at some point, well it is saturday for me.

updates

crashmaster — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:38:11 +0000

>Hi all.
>This is a multipart post
>Or something.
>its that time of month.
>The following has been released.
>Note yet again softwarepatch does not have the listings yet so the patchy barebones info from us cert will have to do.
>Windows xp/vista have updates.
>Unfortunately I will have to post the listings when I get them.
>Msxml 4.0
>ms office xp 2k3 2k7 security update.
>this includes the junk email for outlook.
>
>all of these are security updates.
>
>Directx november 2008 is now out on softwarepatch.
>This is a standard 4 monthly update.
>All updates are for the xna framework and direct 3d.
>Also included are the 32 and 64 bit versions as well as the cabinets for directx10
>The update is around 86mb in size now.
>
>Warning! the next lot of updates should not be downloaded if you use dialup.
>You can but each is betwene 2 and 20mb in size.
>Why microsoft has decided I will never know but under the optional update section of windows update on office 2007 there is all the help for every program, word, excel, powerpoint publisher one note and script editer.
>I think thats about the entire 2k7 office system.
>In a side note
>http://odf-converter.sourceforge.net/
>is where you get the new odf converter.
>Remember when it was 1.0 for word now it is for everything excel powerpoint and word.
>Not publisher yet, but the version is 2.0
>You don’t seem to have to install bits of dotnet if these are already loaded and the installs are faster.
>You need to uninstall the 1.0 update first though, which is no big deal.
>
>Note! directx nov 08 may crash after completing on some networks at least it crashed when updating on my network on the secondary duelcore system.
>If this happens you will not have speech, push the reset button.
>now rerun the update from a flashdrive or simular.
>I don’t care for this much in the wake of the security bad things that got on the server a couple months back and the trogen that got itself on my reasonably secured system last week.
>All these things are easy to clean but it has made me rely on the net share more than my flash drive.
>I will catch you later when I have those listings.

A site for getting ring tones for a low price

tech — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:33:03 +0000

Well folks,
Another little gem if you’d like to call it, dealing with Ring Tones. This site is called funtonia and it looks like you can get a 12 month subscription for unlimited downloads at $1.99 a month or a 3 month subscription billed at once at about $6. Thats not bad at all. Please let me know what you think of this site and how you like it. I’m definitely learning a lot with my new phone about putting ring tones on the phone and all of that good stuff, and someone just happened to send this site along. I thought people might like that site as well. The only thing is I need to get my CVV code, as I forgot it. Thought I knew what it was, but now I am not so sure. Oh well. Hope you find this useful.

Next bus on your mobile and PC from the code factory list

tech — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:54:41 +0000

I got this from the Code Factory list. I took a look, it doesn’t have MTA in Los Angeles yet, but I may do that suggestion to them. Check this out. It refreshes a bit, so your best bet is to use your mouse to navigate via web.

Hello Family,

Introducing Next Bus.

Using satellite tracking, not schedules, NextBus tells you when the next
public transit vehicle will arrive relative to your GPS enabled mobile
device.

Keep an eye on this one folks, as I am sure it has a bright future for those
using public transportation.

While there are many areas that have not yet been added to the system, as
the song says, “It’s just a matter of time.”

A special thanks to Elaine for pointing me to this very exciting resource.

>From your mobile web browser go to:
next bus mobile.

To learn more about the company and how to contact it via phone, email, etc,
on your standard resolution computer go to:
www.nextbus.com.

Enjoy,

Mark

quicknews spybot

crashmaster — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:49:59 +0000

Hi all.
spybot has updates to its imunisation database and several support libs for detections as well as the usual fair of stuff.
No real news, I was thinking about scrounging an article of my bits but I have loads on my plate this week, and apart from all the stuff I have I really have not much to report

Podcast 80: its finally here

tech — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:30:00 +0000

podcast 80 is now here. Its got tons of topics.

Book Review: Crimeware

tech — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:28:04 +0000

Book Review: Crimeware. may be something to look at. I know I will be looking at this one.

stuffage

crashmaster — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:19:17 +0000

Hi all.
this is a quick update to say that after a long wait flash for firefox and java 6.1 as well as the shockwave 11 minor update is now on softwarepatch.com
For those using firefox you can use flash as well as ie.
both don’t seem to intifeer with eachother and that at least will fix some things.

What are Social Engineering Attacks?

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:04:35 +0000

What are Social Engineering Attacks?. Thats the question of today as we continue to catch up on different articles and things for podcasts. However, Mary does answer this very well, so read this. The comments also make sense. Here you go.

IRS Pushing Forward With Risky Systems

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:56:47 +0000

IRS Pushing Forward With Risky Systems. is a bad move. Tony Bradley makes some good points. First of all, you move forward with any type of system that you identify as not being secure. If it doesn’t work, can you please scrap it and move on to try something else? 2 billion dollars worth of tax payer money went in to this crap? You aught to be kidding me. Click through and read this one, then either comment there, or here, or send me an E-mail. Contact info available on the about the blog page. should not This is outright rediculous.

Mobile Phones: The Next Frontier for Malware

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:49:51 +0000

Mobile Phones: The Next Frontier for Malware. is an interesting article. I recently and briefly mentioned a mobile phone that I got as part of news notes for the now released podcast 79, and I wish I could keep up as this article was sent some time ago within a newsletter. However, be that as it may, I read this, and this is something to be concerned about that Tony talks about here. There is a PDF file and a Network World article that is linked to this story, that you may be interested in. This is definitely going to get interesting.

Technology podcast 79 is finally here! News, notes, a braille sense update, and much more! October 26, 2008

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:45:41 +0000

Hi all,
Welcome to Podcast 79 of the Technology Podcast series. We have a braille sense update, news, notes, and much more. download your copy right here and enjoy!

Ohio Shuts Elections Web Site After Suspected Breach

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:23:01 +0000

Ohio Shuts Elections Web Site After Suspected Breach.

SanDisk Puts AV on USB Flash Drives

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:18:02 +0000

SanDisk Puts AV on USB Flash Drives. is an interesting article. I hope others do the same.

Trend Micro first line of defense issue 62: October 24, 2008

tech — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:05:33 +0000

Hello everyone, Issue 62 of the Trend Micro Newsletter talks about gaming threats. I cover this on the up coming podcast which is being taped at this time. You may read and comment on the articles here.

GW Micro releases beta three of the sense hnotetakers!

tech — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:37:29 +0000

Introducing Sense Firmware Public Beta 3

Available for immediate release is a new firmware update to our popular Sense notetakers; Braille Sense Plus, Voice Sense, and Braille Sense (Original). This third public beta release introduces many enhancements, bug fixes, and new features (including support for Audible). In addition, Sense Navigation (our popular GPS package) has many new enhancements; including new sounds, faster route creation, and the ability to turn on or off the voice prompts.

For all the details and download links to this new update, please visit the Sense notetaker public beta page.

The only way to upgrade to this new firmware is by using the offline update. Once we officially release the firmware, both online and offline update methods will be possible.

If you have any questions, please give our technical support department a call at 260-489-3671 or send us E-mail at support@gwmicro.com.

If you haven’t already, you may consider joining the gw-notetaker mailing list where the Braille Sense Plus, Voice Sense, and Braille Sense (Original) is discussed. You can get information on joining this list at http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Email_Lists/.

Window-Eyes 7.01 is now available!

tech — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:20:36 +0000

Posted yesterday to the GW lists.

GW Micro is proud to announce the official release of Window-Eyes 7.01.

Thanks to customer feedback and the tireless efforts of the Window-Eyes Error Reporting feature (and those who choose to send in error reports) Window-Eyes 7.01 boasts more stability, reliability, and performance than ever before.

Window-Eyes scripting is changing the accessible landscape of computers, and the increased stability that Window-Eyes 7.01 provides means being able to spend more time focusing on script development. Window-Eyes 7.01 also resolves several issues that affected localized versions of Window-Eyes, and has increased Window-Eyes marketability across the globe.

While Window-Eyes 7.01 is a minor upgrade, it packs a significant punch including a few new features along with several bug fixes. A complete list of all changes is included below.

Window-Eyes 7.01 is a FREE upgrade to Window-Eyes 7.0 users. To install Window-Eyes 7.01, you must already have a working copy of Window-Eyes 7.0 installed (Retail, Demo, Evaluation, Dongle, Everlock, and LTO/Payment Plan versions are all supported). To download the upgrade, select the “Window-Eyes Update” option from the Window-Eyes Help menu, or navigate directly to www.gwmicro.com/upgrade, and enter your serial number manually.

If you have any questions or comments please contact us at support@gwmicro.com, or via phone at 260-489-3671.

Enjoy!

Enhancements between Window-Eyes 7.01 and Window-Eyes 7.0
We have resolved several memory leaks, and fixed several stability issues thanks to the Window-Eyes error reporting feature. Window-Eyes 7.01 is a significant improvement over Window-Eyes 7.0 in terms of stability and responsiveness.

We fixed a problem where Window-Eyes could hang while leaving and entering Browse mode quickly.

We fixed a problem where list boxes were not reading correctly in Visual Studio 2005/2008.

We fixed a a problem where Browse Mode would not refresh when a link was activated in Firefox 3.

Many upper Unicode characters (most above 7fh) were not getting translated correctly in English grade 2 braille. This problem has been resolved.

If the user profile path contained Unicode characters that didn’t map into ANSI, you were not able to install script package files. This problem has been resolved.

Window-Eyes would only read part of words with upper Unicode characters in PowerPoint 2003. This problem has been resolved.

Added the WEUpdate script to the factory default scripts. This script will automatically check for Window-Eyes updates and let you know if there is an update available.

iTunes
We resolved several issues relating to iTunes, including support for using the Window-Eyes Find command while in the iTunes store, resolving the issue of not being able to activate links using the Insert-Tab dialog, resolving the double reading in listviews and treeviews, speaking expanded and collapsed when you open and close tree view nodes, speaking the pull down menus correctly under Windows Vista, and resolving a problem where set files could not be associated to the iTunes window (or any window whose title was null). In addition, Window-Eyes does not automatically enable Browse Mode when the iTunes Store option is selected, meaning you can successfully arrow through all of the main items without suddenly getting tossed into Browse Mode.

Scripting
If Window-Eyes is localized in a language that a script was not localized in, the hotkeys won’t work because they’re not localized to the Window-Eyes language. To resolve this issue, we have added a new property to the Key object called UntranslatedName. From now on, our policy is to hard code default hotkey names in your script, always in English, even if you are writing the script in another language, because Window-Eyes will always be able to interrupt English hotkey names. They can still be displayed to the user in the script language, but they should be stored in INI files, and in scripts as English. This way no matter what language Window-Eyes is localized in, or what languages the script you are trying to use is localized in, the hotkeys will always work. Once again, default hotkey names should not exist in the XML resource, because they should never be localized. Keyboard.Key will accept both Key.Name and Key.Unstranslated name. Refer to the documentation for more information.

Added Mouse.ButtonDownEx and Mouse.ClickEx methods. Both methods provide the ability to enhance their respective functions with key modifiers. In addition, ClickEx fixes a problem of interrupting speech after performing the mouse click.

If a null string was returned through various Speech event handlers, speech would get disabled. This was mainly a problem with Visual Basic which would return null for speech events that weren’t specifically hooked. This problem has been resolved.

The scripting error dialog would sometimes pass a blank string for the error description. Now, if Window-Eyes cannot retrieve the error description, a default message will be used rather than displaying a blank string.

You can now use language id strings in the XML resource, such as “en” or “en-us” instead of having to use a hexadecimal number.

If was possible for a script to not successfully restart, but you would still hear the restart message. This problem has been resolved.

We fixed a problem where scripts could error when invoking Keyboard.Registerhotkey on launch.

We fixed a problem where you couldn’t Control or Shift-Click using the keyboard (meaning you couldn’t tap the Control key and then press the Left Mouse button hotkey to perform a left click).

We fixed a version comparison problem when installing script package files.

Window-Eyes now ensures that any read only attributes on script files being installing, uninstall, or used when created packages are cleared. This resolved a problem of script files not getting installed, or removed correctly.

The Window-Eyes Scripting Manual has been updated.

security news

crashmaster — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:19:30 +0000

Hi all.
this to advise of 2 things.
the first is that java 6.1 is out.
this version has a faster installer, and seems to run faster to.
it needs to run a extra program within the system, but otherwise it seems ok.
jaws has not crashed with it yet so java 607 must have had issues.
the second thing came from us cert.
These things are quite vague but there is a windows update for versions 2000 and higher to address abug in the windows server.
It describes how one could get remotely system access as the \system account which is for the os only.
This should be patched as soon as.
its not to big, the java thing may take up to 10 mins to get on broadband.
thats it.

at news and avg

crashmaster — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:38:18 +0000

Hi.
new avg program update, includes new languages, setup interface and engine upgrades.

dolphin products v10 is out.
for those of us that are not buying these we will have to wait for the freebees.
that being the interceptors which are always good as these will support newer vidio chipsets and new sam which will support more bits and pieces.

flash

crashmaster — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:25:52 +0000

Hi.
quick news that flash player for ie 10.12 is out.
I am trying to get with softwarepatch.com an update t firefox to and the wave player if the shockwave was indeed updated.
so hang tight.

Technology podcast 78A: information of importance

tech — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:52:22 +0000

Hi all,
I usually don’t release one file and call it a podcast, but this special podcast 78 is of extreme importance for a special reason of security. I recorded this podcast this morning October 19, 2008 right after I woke up. I hope everyone will enjoy this program, and I know that there may be questions. Contact information is given, but you may also find it on the about the blog page of this blog. I’ll see everyone for podcast 79 when it becomes available. Thanks for listening.

Technology podcast 78: Its finally here!

tech — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:00:56 +0000

Podcast 78 is finally here after a long week and some harassment by a caller, which has been discussed although we do not mention names. Here are the show notes.

In this podcast, we have some thoughts about My Telespace, klango information, GW Micro news, news of interest, and

Identifying Identity theft as well. Identifying identity theft from about was also played.

download the 48.9mb file right here.

Enjoy!

Two things of interest from volume 179 of Top Tech Tid Bits

tech — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:53:27 +0000

Two things from Top Tech Tid Bits caught my eye recently as I’m catching up. Here they are.

One of the new evils to threaten the unwary computer user is sites pretending to offer antivirus programs which are really themselves viruses. This article from Windows Secrets newsletter discusses the phenomenon and how you can protect yourself:
http://windowssecrets.com/links/$P20d/2f9e94h/?url=WindowsSecrets.com%2F2008%2F09%2F04%2Fts%2F%3Fn%3Dstory1

MarvelSoft has created Digital Jukebox, a $49.95 self-voicing program to manage music, load your mp3 player, download podcasts, play Internet radio, play audio books remembering where you left off, and, in short, handle music listening and reading through an accessible interface.
http://www.braillebookstore.com/view.php?T=Digital+Jukebox

new updates list

crashmaster — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:32:13 +0000

Hi all.
windows update has released about 10 new updates, windows, ie and office as well as activex.
www.softwarepatch.com has released updates, most of which are old news like firefox 303 skype 3.8 and java 6.07.
for those that really just want the nitty gritty the only real update for us blindies are the 2008 redist packs for vc08.
These are extra libraries for the system, better to be safe than sorry.
also the following is out for refference purposes.
ms pro photos2, msvpc 07sp1
roboform 6991
cute pdf 2.7 which is really not much unless you want imaged pdf files you can’t read.
yahoo im 9
zune 3 if you have said system.
and thats it.
The net is quite quiet in fact seems to wish to be if it wants to.
No major updates have been out yet although directx will be due for a release soon, to be honest I havn’t really looked into it, but softwarepatch.com is quite slow of late.
Its still good, don’t get me wrong but stuff that gets released may take a few months or it may be there on the same day or a day after or even before.
I will see everyone later.

Technology podcast 77 is now available!

tech — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:46 +0000

OK, I’m now ready to release podcast 77 which contains news, notes, and beta 2 commentary of the sense products. download your copy of the podcast right here. Enjloy.

all the badness

crashmaster — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:18:50 +0000

Hi all.
The following are out as of the last 2 weeks.
windows update
this is actually faster, some users will have to update parts of the advantage software to.
windows certs.
I know its optional but the net security certificates do expire this will update with the latest batch.
ms search 4 appeared again on some systems so watch out for it, so you can remove it from the update cue.
spyware blaster has updated databases and avg has another program update.
Actually avg 8 has been getting faster and faster on each update even on slower systems.
spybot has critical updates to its t timer and ie plugins.
mozilla firefox is at 3.03 update from the help menu
skype has a minor update described as a bugfix.
At this point you may be wandering why no articles from me for the last little while.
Firstly its because of the issues surrounding the systems here.
I hope to get out of this system soon, do the next 2 systems then hopefully just go and finnish things.
ofcause no knowing what will get chucked at my rear ofcause.
my plan is to make an effort to actually have nothing to do, and not come back here to fiddle with anything.
One thing I will need to do is actualy read a book as I have not been doing that for a while.
Although not tech I should really tell the world at large that as of next year I may get a job playing jazz piano for retirement homes and other places.
This means that a load of time has been spent finalising a song list for use for this purpose as well as scheduals.
As a result I will to try not to be at the centre of everything if I can.
I will keep up to date but I really want to get away from the pc.
Articles will be posted here but not as frequently, check my journal I may post here or there depending on what is the closest thing that I can handle.
laters

GW Micro featured by the Indy Star News

tech — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:32:09 +0000

This was posted to the GW Micro lists on Saturday September 27th, 2008. I hope you enjoy.

The following story can be found at: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/BUSINESS10/809270400/1110/BUSINESS10

Assistive technology can help improve lives
As a technology columnist, I often get caught up in the gee-wizardry of gadgets.

I go gaga over touch-screen surfaces, storage capacity, crisp pictures and blinking lights. I rave about features and functions that, to be honest, only speed up tasks that I could just as easily do the old-fashioned way.

There’s a difference between toys and tools, however — especially when it comes to technology.

And on Friday, I got some great examples of that during a stroll through the inaugural Statewide Assistive Technology Conference at the Indiana Convention Center. It was hosted by the Indiana Assistive Technology Act Project, known as INDATA (www.eastersealstech.com).

Dozens of companies were there to demonstrate their products to customers with disabilities.

Assistive technology includes devices that help people with disabilities perform everyday tasks, such as communicating or using a computer.

These devices aren’t cheap, though. We’re talking hundreds or often thousands of dollars.

Take the not-even-a-month-old EyeMax System from Pittsburgh-based DynaVox Technologies. For $15,000, the price of a new car, someone who is unable to move can use this device to verbally communicate with others using only his or her eyes.

It’s an amazing piece of technology that I’ve been told has been around for five years, but only recently became reliable.

Understanding the concept is easy: Stare at a phrase or letter after letter to spell out a word on what’s basically a laptop-sized touch-screen computer. Then stare at “speak” and the words will emerge from a speaker embedded in the EyeMax System.

Actually putting that concept into practice, however, wasn’t so easy, although I imagine it will get easier with time. DynaVox sales consultant Doug Trent warned me about the learning curve.

I felt like I was learning to use “the force.”

Across the aisle, Fort Wayne-based GW Micro was demonstrating some of its products for people who are visually impaired.

The Sense View Duo, which sells for about $1,000, is a souped-up magnifying glass that takes digital pictures of faraway objects, like billboards, and allows users to zoom in on them. It also lets you do cool stuff like flip the contrast so black letters on a white background become white letters on a black background — a popular feature among those who have macular degeneration.

One of the cheapest products on GW Micro’s table was the screen-reading application Window-Eyes.

It matches each keystroke with a verbal description. So, type the letter “a” and you’ll hear “a.” If you type the capital letter “A,” the pitch of the voice will rise as an indicator. Also, the application will read back a previously typed paragraph. Scrolling through a Web page will produce the same effect.

“It’s important as a blind person to be able to go letter by letter, word by word,” said Douglas Geoffray, vice president of product development and support.

As the name indicates, Window-Eyes only works with Microsoft Windows, not a Mac or Linux. It sells for $895 — expensive to me, but a bargain compared to the Braille readers that go for $4,000 to $10,000.

Braille readers resemble tiny moving keyboards that display in Braille words as a user scrolls across a computer screen.

The coolest assistive tech gadget that GW Micro was selling Friday had a Braille reader attached to it.

The Braille Sense Plus, selling for $6,000, is basically a personal digital assistant. A bulky, clumsy-looking PDA. It stores addresses and appointments, lets users send e-mail, using MSN Messenger, browse the Web, and even has GPS that’s tailored to the blind.

Sales manager Jeremy Curry compared it an iPhone.

With all the toy-like features to go gaga over, I guess he’s got a point.

GW Micro announces beta 2 of the sense products

tech — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:16:26 +0000

Introducing Sense Firmware Public Beta 2

Available for immediate release is a new firmware update to our popular Sense notetakers; Braille Sense Plus, Voice Sense, and Braille Sense (Original). This public beta release introduces many enhancements, bug fixes, and new features (including support for Audible). In addition, Sense Navigation (our popular GPS package) has many new enhancements; including new sounds, faster route creation, and the ability to turn on or off the voice prompts.

For all the details and download links to this new update, please visit the Sense notetaker public beta page located at http://www.gwmicro.com/sensebeta/public.

The only way to upgrade to this new firmware is by using the offline update. Once we officially release the firmware, both online and offline update methods will be possible.

If you have any questions, please give our technical support department a call at 260-489-3671 or send us E-mail at support@gwmicro.com.

Technology podcast 76 is now available!

tech — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:30:59 +0000

Hi all,
Technology podcast 76 is now available where we have a wide variety of topics. We include something from Shane Jackson as well in regards to the Ipod Nanno and the Mac. We hope you enjoy. I enjoyed doing this cast, and I hope you enjoy listening to it. We’ll see you on the next cast where I’ll go through E-mail, comment on interesting things, and hopefully have some more things for you.

Truth or fiction sends out a virus alert about a scam

tech — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:04:19 +0000

Hi all,
This may be very important for everyone. Usually I don’t post many of these from truth or fiction as most relate to topics not related to computers or technology in general, but this one is, and so be aware of this. The notice as I got it is below, take care of yourself.

To: TruthOrFiction.com Subscribers
From: TruthOrFiction.com Team
RE: TruthOrFiction.com Virus Alert

A warning from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) about a new scam that is spreading via email.

This one will appear to have some authenticity, however, because it will pretend to have been sent from someone you know.

The email says that a friend of yours is stranded in a foreign country and needs quick cash. The email asks you to wire or transfer money to him or her and promises to repay you as soon as your friend returns home.

Some versions of the email will refer you to a link to learn more about the dilemma, but the BBB says don’t click the link. It will infect your computer with the same virus that was used to send the email from your
friend’s computer—and your friends will receive the same request for money except that it will appear to have come from you.

The warning says that the virus is hidden in a screen-saver and that many anti-virus programs will not find it.

According to the BBB, if your name and address end up being used to send the scam emails, that is regarded as identity theft and you are urged to go to www.ic3.gov to report it. That is the Internet Crime Complaint
Center operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center.

Window-Eyes 7.0 is available from GW Micro!

tech — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:00:52 +0000

GW Micro is proud to announce the official release of Window-Eyes 7.0. The maturity of Window-Eyes has reached unprecedented levels in this latest version.

The addition of scripting support provides users with the tools to enhance the accessibility and usability of third party applications, the operating system, and even Window-Eyes itself. GW Micro has always stood by the statement that Window-Eyes does not include complicated and proprietary scripting support, and that statement remains true with Window-Eyes 7.0. Instead, the addition of an industry standard scripting interface using tools that already exist in the Windows operating system allows users new to scripting, seasoned programmers, and everyone in between to take full advantage of this powerful new feature without getting bogged down in a complex and rigid programming environment. Users not interested in creating scripts can still take advantage of scripts written by other users through an intuitive script management system.

GW Micro is also proud to offer a centralized script repository where both script users and script developers can gather to distribute and discuss Window-Eyes scripts. More information can be found at the Script Central web site.

Window-Eyes 7.0 contains several other features, including many Browse Mode enhancements, the inclusion of a new Eloquence synthesizer, support for both Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8, and overall increased speed and stability. Window-Eyes 7.0 is fully Unicode compliant, allowing for more localization options for virtually any language. In addition, Window-Eyes 7.0 is the first screen reader to provide support for iTunes 8, including access to the Apple iTunes store.

Thank you to everyone involved in the public beta cycle. Window-Eyes continues to lead the way in adaptive technology because of the dedication of our customers.

Window-Eyes 7.0 is a paid upgrade for existing Window-Eyes users. If you own Window-Eyes 6.1, you may purchase an upgrade to Window-Eyes 7.0 for $175, plus shipping. If you already own Window-Eyes 6.1, and have an active SMA, you will be receiving your Window-Eyes 7.0 CD in the mail soon. Please be patient; all Window-Eyes SMA CDs are our first priority. You may also choose to download your Window-Eyes 7.0 upgrade for immediate installation. To download the Window-Eyes 7.0 upgrade, to check the status of your SMA account, or to determine your upgrade eligibility, go to the Window-Eyes Help menu, and choose the Window-Eyes Upgrade option. Alternatively, you can visit the upgrade web page, and follow the instructions.

If you own a version of Window-Eyes older than 6.1, refer to the GW Micro Window-Eyes Upgrade Catalog page by click here for the web page for applicable upgrade costs.

Window-Eyes 7.0 supports Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit versions of Home, Professional, and Media Center), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (all 32-bit versions), and Windows Server 2008 (all 32-bit versions).

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at 260-489-3671, or support@gwmicro.com.

The gw-news list is an announce only list used for GW Micro news and product information.

GW Micro Price Change announcement

tech — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Effective Immediately - Price Reduction for the Portable SenseView and Portable SenseView Duo!

Due to improvements, the prices of the Portable SenseView P430 and the Portable SenseView Duo M430 have lowered. The new price of the Portable SenseView model P430 is $795 and the Portable SenseView Duo model M430 is $995.

Since the new price of the PSV Duo is a significant drop to a brand new product, we felt it was important to offer refunds. This refund must be claimed within 60 days. If you bought a Portable SenseView Duo directly from GW Micro, please contact us to work out the refund. If you bought it from one of our dealers, please contact them to work out the refund. This will take some effort and time so please be patient when you call.

Please remember this refund is only for the Portable SenseView Duo model M430 not the original Portable SenseView model P430 and it must be claimed within 60 days. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us by calling 260-489-3671 or email sales@gwmicro.com.

Windows Vista and NVDA with the UAC

tech — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:18:05 +0000

Shaun Everess sent me this blog post which from the sound of it, makes it so that the UAC is accessible. This was posted to the NVDA E-mail list to which he sent me this. I know Window-Eyes reads UAC right out of the box, not sure about JFW or Hal. But if you are having problems, this may be of use to you. Have a great day everyone.

google, and what would you do with out things

crashmaster — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:45:48 +0000

Hi.
Firstly I searched the net, and aparently some user somewhere has tried google brouser and even though its got limited keyboard support there is no basic accessability features, and not all info needed is revealed to screenreader software, this person tried with window eyes and I think nvda.
Ironically I found this on google search.
Now the security thing.
Yeah this rfid stuff is scary but so is everything else security related, we will just have to watch out.
One way to be semi safe is to make note where you are going.
It probably will not always save you but if you keep a regular rout you will generally be safe.
I have several sites I go to and mostly stay in those bounds, not a garantee but I know where I am.
A friend of mine always gets viruses on his system, The main reason is that he romes round not necessarily knowing where he is going which is fine except that you don’t know where you are.
And if you say so what, well there are 2 concidderations one must take in to account.
1. security well I don’t know where I am going, I’ll just drive round the net.
Ok, Oh I got a virus, where from?
um, I don’t know, beter reformat.
Really thats the basics of it you don’t know and often you just drive round the net and don’t care you don’t know.
2. this is people related.
Even if you don’t care about security and like to drive round what about if you get some bit of info to pass round.
I got this, where from, I don’t know, somewhere.
So you miss on things.

On the what did happen when we did not have all the tech we used to have.
I did something on louis bralle once, think he did stuff in 1830.
In that time you only lived to 30 years old, thats everyone.
We didn’t have a longer lifespand then 46 or something.
Aparently you could read and write with big letters in tactile but it costed loads of cash.
I have no idea what happened before tech came out, but probably it happened that all the disabled were put away out of sight of others, we probably did not have any rights and in fact there are still people that still say the disabled that are born should be killed and disabled people sould be abborted before that, so without technology we wouldn’t even live or if we did it would be boring.
So I think we should concidder ourselves as people in general lucky to even be here.
Ok its not perfect but what is? This is not a disabled/handycapped thing but in general life/humanity thing.
nothing will be perfect its what we make of it, and we can try.
Yeah this thing where people don’t use computers at some work places is also an annoyance for our able boddied counterparts to not just us.

I can remember what happened in the 1980s.
I was born 1982.
At that time blind people were only just going out of instatutions here in new zealand, I think I was one of the first to mainstream.
Interestingly after I left school things started happening fast, sertainly the way math and other such things were done back then wouldn’t be done now, we know more, but thats always the case isn’t it.
We always know more after we have done something and wish we could have done it differently then.
As a result of this time I don’t actually know math, well I do know simple stuff but advanced stuff is a bunch of junk to me.
I also can’t write a really good essay with a word count of say 100-200 words, because I run out of ideas, etc.
Back to the tech side.
The only computers at the time were big and clunky.
at least laptops for the blind were.
The first thing I did with the computers we got at home in 1991 was to turn them on and off, on and off, on and off till I was told off.
In 1993 I got my first system, for thee day the toshiba 1850 was quite high quality.
with 4mb ram an 81.2mb hard drive, a 600kb mono display which I made colour to use its memmory for my own.
I also had braille ofcause, using perkins stuff.
I had dos 5, wordperfect 5.1 mastertouch 1.32 and keysoft 1.33f installed.
I was given little training, and even then All I could use was the internal keysoft ap.
in 1995 the net came along.
At the time all I was able to do was play games of disks, and though I had friends who had the net all I did was play with games from disks etc.
By this time I was able to modify some stuff but not much.
It was around early 96 that due to me not positioning the laptop right I dropped it on my foot.
This broke loads of things.
And kicked me off to what i would later do in life.
Stuff was fixed but cost me a load, I went through 2 hard drives, the keyboard motherboard, 2 floppy drives and a screen.
also a power board and 2 modules.
The computer was back but with a difference.
For some time software would have to be installed by the org I got the pc from and well they decided not to do this anymore.
I managed to get my system loaded by a friend of my dad’s that did unix programming and he got things going, This in itself was not a problem however through the course he would talk thinking i knew more things than I did, I was supprisingly able to understand him some what.
And this got me thinking, what is outside my small box.
Heck whats round.
I started fiddling with stuff, and within a couple months of reformats had the system prity much under control.
At this time I was entering high school in 1997 it soon became aparent that the system itself was not really going to be trusted, I had after all dropped it and besides, 1 task for things is not the gratest although I could play games in the library with my internet running computer friends.
I had not got the net yet.
The next system I got was a toshiba 310cds satelite.
For its time it was quite good, a pentium 300 with 2gb hard drive space 32mb ram and a 1.5mb graphics card and hello? a yamaha opl3 sax sound chip.
and external pc card speech synth.
No internal?
At that time there were still internals being manufactured.
I wish I had been more vocal and requested one of those because things may have been a bit better for me.
the system had win95 on it, osr2 and office 97.
It did what i asked of it however everything was largely still on floppy disk.
if you downloaded things from the net you had to redownload them after formatting.
Believe me I had a load of time to crash and doodle the system.
in 1999 I updated the system to win 98 a thing the system was not designed for, I also got a xircom cm256 pc card for net access which I used for a couple years till it died.
In 2001 I went flatting, and a year after I came back.
Once again the system was showing its age, having a system it was not designed for loaded, plus the fact games and such were getting better and better, and taking space, I decided to get another system, I was going to university, and needed a new system.
The next system was the nec versa premium it had a 20gb drive 128mb ram and a 2mb video card.
well maby up to 64mb card on shared memmory.
it ran win xp home.
And it was a rotwiler of a thing to run.
It bit me every 2 weeks and even though I did fix this issue after a couple reformats it still would bite me.
In fact it was a question if I turned it on if it would work, I suspected a fan issue but never was able to prove it.
After that I got a new system, well the old one had failed at weird times and after a bios update, on the way to get fixed dad left it on in the car rendering it a smoking wreck.
My current system is a toshiba, well the one after the nec was also a toshiba.
an a 10 which I still have as a replacement box and as backup.
I did have a small backup box a p100 with win98se on it with 128mb ram, for linux and uni but that was not for much else.
The satelite a10 was and is the best system I have had, compaired to the other systems I had it was relitavely stable, crashing without fail once every 2 years and needing formats from 6 months to 2 years apart.
It runs xp pro and has a 40gb drive 512mb ram and a 128mb video card in it and a crappy soundmax audio chipset.
This system served me as a standard system to jaunary 2008 and is still a faithfull partner.
it started with office xp but has 2003 on it.
It is my backup workhorse although its showing its age the lid is loose and its getting a bit crashy now.
The current system is a tecra a9, a top business system, which I got in june before the xp licences came to an end
as a result this is a vista xp hybrid.
It can have 1 system on it either vista or xp pro it runs xp pro now.
it has 2gb ram and a 160gb hard drive.
its also got wireless network connects and bluetooth.
it runs quite nicely.

I have now 2 external drives to keep stuff safe a 320gb drive which I don’t use much now since something in the case is wrecked, and a 500gb drive which I use loads.
I also have a cell phone now a 5700 xpress with talks.
I have a dvd writer, on my desk and an old external drive in my cupboard that came with the nec versa.
And I have loads of usb devices, etc.

In the computer rooms here we have a new p4 dulecore 2.20ghz, my system is only 2.02ghz the one in the second room has 320gb hard drive and a load of power, 128mb vid card intel as my current system has.
Its also got realtech hidef like this current system has to and runs xp pro and office xp since everyone else runs 2003.
The server that controls the hp 500 mono, cannon 2100 backup bjc and the hp 810c colour printers plus shares file has 512mb ram on it xp home and is one of the new amd athlon 64k processers, one of the first and is the only running single core in here. apart from the a 10.

Previous systems that exist.
Where did all the machines that were passed their used buy dates go?
Its a question I get asked loads.
The a 10 is backup system.
the p600 thing is at my uncle’s place being used as a work laptop. the p200 toshiba i did have I traded for some mp3 cds.
The 1850 is rotting under my desk.
the nec is junk I hope.
In the computer room the 733 system that ran 98 and xp as well as office 97 having 128mb ram and a 128mb video after crashing loads due to a possible bung board is now a backup unit.
a further p300 I have as the first family system has been retired to grandpa’s as an email station on a dialup network.
It spends most of its time offline and only gets turned on for mail, the fan has about had it anyway.

thats about that.
NOt sure what I would do without technology to be honest.
But it would be different if I didn’t have have any.
hmm I may just have not existed.
See you all next week

Technology podcast 75: Articles of interest, Magnitune news, and more

tech — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:15:02 +0000

Well folks technology podcast 75 is now here. We talk about a lot of different things. For example, I give some some Magnitune news as well as the only article on the Blind Access Journal that was dated September 14, 2008. I found it very interest, and I give my own views on the subject. I hope you enjoy this wide variety podcast, and I’ll see you next time right here on the podcast.

Don’t Underestimate the Need for Security

tech — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:13:52 +0000

Don’t Underestimate the Need for Security. is back. This time, Tony talks about the Internet for Beginner’s guide for about and links to an interview that he did with a white hacker. Its something worth looking at. What do you all think of this?