Short: Hide Twitter’s “Who To Follow” ‘Feature’
One of the reasons I deleted my Facebook account
was because of all of the useless 'features' they threw in, one of which was a box suggesting who to be friends with. Well, Twitter recently added a similar feature called 'Who To Follow" that suggest people you should follow based on people that are followed by the people you follow. Right.
Well, fortunately this 'feature' is easy to disable if you use Firefox or Google Chrome. Simply install the Adblock Plus extension for Firefox (or Adblock for Chrome), subscribe to a filter list, and then manually add the following filter:
twitter.com###recommended_users
Done! No more "Who To Follow" box!
Short: Microsoft Hints at MSE Support in WHS
I received an email today welcoming me to the Microsoft Security Essentials beta (which is odd, as I've been in the MSE beta since it was first launched), as the following paragraph jumped out at me as I skimmed it:
Notice to Windows® Home Server customers: Microsoft Security Essentials Beta is not supported on Windows Home Server (WHS). Beta testers who have installed Microsoft Security Essentials Beta on WHS should consider uninstalling Microsoft Security Essentials Beta to avoid potential incompatibility problems. Those who plan to beta test Microsoft Security Essentials Beta unsupported on WHS should wait until the next Windows Home Server update rollup currently scheduled to occur on or about September 1, 2010.
Emphasis mine. It's not a lot to go on, but Microsoft may finally be officially adding support for their own anti-virus product to Windows Home Server. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!"
Short: Microsoft Security Essentials Upgrade Error 0×80070050
I downloaded the Microsoft Security Essentials Ongoing Beta from Microsoft Connect this evening, and as before it installed normally. However, when I tried to update it to the latest version (the setup file on Connect is very out-of-date) the definitions came in fine but the core product refused to upgrade and only provided the error code 0x80070050.
Event viewer wasn't helpful, a reboot didn't fix it, and neither did uninstalling/reinstalling. On a whim, though, I decided to try to the upgrade through Windows Update (after enabling Microsoft Update) and what do you know, it worked!
TL;DR Version: If you get the 0x80070050 error code while trying to upgrade MSE through the MSE program itself, enable Microsoft Update via the Windows Update Control Panel and do the upgrade from there.
Short: Wherein My Nexus One Saves Me Money
I found myself in need of a new microphone for my computer, as the cord on my cheap Staples-brand one broke. After spending the day looking around town for a nice set that fully covered my ears, I found these at Future Shop:
Razer Carcharias - Image Credit: hardwarelogic.com
However, at $99 CAD, they were a little outside of my price range. All was not lost, though - I walked up the counter and asked if the clerk could do anything about the price. After being initially rebuffed ("Sorry, this is the best price I can offer"), I pulled out my Nexus One and loaded up Barcode Scanner. I proceeded to scan the UPC code on the box, then do a Product Search. I showed the clerk that, according the results listed, I could get the same product from Wal-Mart for $69 CAD.
Five minutes later, I walked out with my new $69 headset. And I can honestly say, they are the best headphones I've ever owned.
From the Search Results: Processors
To the person who found my blog by searching "does intel quad q6600 work with windows":
Yes. Yes it does.
Low on Server Disk Space? Have Symantec Endpoint? There’s Your Problem
This morning, I received an email from a charity I do some consulting for saying that they were getting a Low Disk Space warning on their primary terminal server. After remoting in, I confirmed that on the 120GB primary partition, there was less than 100MB free. Odd, considering that the server only has about 40GB worth of user files on it.
A quick check (done by selecting likely folders in the root of the drive and opening the properties window) confirmed that C:\ProgramData was using an extra 40GB space that it shouldn't. Further digging revealed that C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\Xfer contained somewhere in the neighbourhood of 48,000 file, each ~20KB in size.
Solution? Delete and recreate the Xfer folder, then run Live Update again. Low disk space problem solved, but would someone at Symantec care to explain just what the hell happened?
Update: Found a temporary fix here: http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/symatec-ep-making-alot-files-under-xfer-folder
Apparently, the issues results from EndPoint rescanning files in quarantine every time new definitions arrive. If you have a lot of files in quarantine, your disk space will disappear that much faster. Go figure. Apparently they've fixed some instances of this, but not others, as it was supposed to have been solved in MR4, but is still present in MR4 and MR5.
Short Review: Google’s Nexus One (Rogers/AT&T Version)
Now that I've had a few weeks to play around with my Nexus One, here are a few observations I've made:
- I can't live without the CyanogenMod ROM. Android 2.1 is nice, but the tweaks available in CM 5.x are too numerous to mention and offer many features that go well beyond what the N1 can do out-of-box. If you have an N1 (the TMO version, or the Rogers/AT&T one), get CyanogenMod. You'll never go back.
- The screen is, by far, the best I've seen on smart phone - it trumps my old iPhone 3G at every turn. Some people argue that the screen has a purple hue to it, but to them I ask, have you heard of Colour Temperature?
- The last three phones I've had (an iPhone 3G, an HTC Dream, and an HTC Magic) have all had noticeable lag on the main screens and when load applications. The N1, both with the stock ROM (that I had left on for all of around an hour) and CyanogenMod simply scream. There's nothing slow about this phone.
- For all of those who say that the signal quality on the N1 is crap, please actually get one before forming an opinion. I've seen an increase in signal strength/quality on the N1 over the other HTC phones I've had, and over the iPhone 3G. Additionally, I've been able able to clock download speeds greater than 3Mbit/s on Rogers' HSDPA network. Not too bad at all.
- The camera is amazing - the fast auto-focus, bright flash, and fine-grain controls are simply amazing, and at 5 mega pixels, the picture quality is simply staggering for a smart phone.
- My only real complaint about the N1 is battery life, but then again, I'm always complaining about that (the exception being my MSI Wind U123 with it's 9 cell battery that gives me 8 hours of use). Under heavy usage, I have to charge the phone nightly. For that reason, I bought an extra battery with the phone, however as I have a power inverter for the car that features a USB port, I didn't really need to get the spare.
That's really about it for now. Overall, the N1 is an excellent phone, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it anyone.
Short: Kensington 0, Me 1
Kensington makes a decent desktop lock. However, they're nothing that ten minutes and a pair of wire snips can't take care of - it's a very effective way of unlocking a case when the key has been lost for years....
As a side note, the magnets in old hard drives make for a perfect method of removing small metal shards from ones flesh. Just sayin'.
Short: Google’s Nexus One Now Available in Canada!
Yes, you read it right. I'm surprised there hasn't been more news about this, but the Nexus One is now for sale in Canada, and it works on Rogers, Telus, and presumably Bell. Mine is already on order, and I'll report back when it gets in with an unboxing and information post.
So far, it looks like the only difference between this Nexus One and the TMO one offered previously is the radio. As such, most cooked ROMs should work with it (as long as they include a library that allows access to the slightly different radio) - so hopefully, we won't have another Magic 32A/32B issue on our hands.
More to come soon!
Update: According to Twitter user @AngioNicholai, the AT&T Nexus One runs CyanogenMod 5.x without issue!
Update #2: Additional confirmation by @PaulOBrien.
Update #3: First-hand confirmation! Cyanogen's 5.0.4.1 works beautifully on my new Nexus!
Support
Hosted By:
TDRevolution
If you've found this site useful, consider donating to help cover my hosting costs:
Twitter Feed
- You cannot unsee the Dog Masks. http://i.imgur.com/XSVIy.jpg #MetroTwit 1 day ago
- Two things that would get me on #MetroTwit - Native retweet, and the ability to mark your position in the timeline. 1 day ago
- My review of iTunes 10 in 99 characters: *Thhhhhhhhbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb* 2 days ago
- So what now? http://twitpic.com/2l14is #android #angrybirds 2 days ago
- Our TV has no concept of audio normalization. #firstworldproblems 2 days ago
Tags
Categories
- "It's a Feature" (24)
- Android (22)
- Apple (10)
- Beta Testing (10)
- Gaming (11)
- Google (16)
- Hack (7)
- Hardware (34)
- howto (22)
- IDNK (1)
- iPhone (9)
- Linux (13)
- Makes Sense (8)
- Meta (15)
- Microsoft (34)
- Networking (7)
- Non-Tech (14)
- OS X (4)
- photography (2)
- Rants (28)
- Scripts (3)
- Servers (16)
- Short (36)
- Software (28)
- Support (28)
- Tales from Support (11)
- Tomfoolery (10)
- Troubleshooting (49)
- Twitter (6)
- Virtualization (1)
- Windows (11)
- Windows 7 Beta (7)
- Writing (1)
- Xbox 360 (3)