I've been playing around with http://www.live.com and I've gotta say it's pretty neat.

 

The search engine is very slick with the option to add more or less detail to the results, save searches as macros and use macros published by others.

 

I've added some gadgets that let me see my hotmail, the weather, store favourites and do unit conversions.

 

I'd like more flexibility in the page layout but it's otherwise pretty fun.  As more gadgets come along, I look forward to trying them out.

When you write a driving game, good AI is AI that can drive well - not AI that has better physics.  Increased traction and inertia are not fair.

Work gave me a new phone for my new role - an O2 XDA Atom running Windows Mobile 5.0.  Initially I wasn't that impressed due to the slowness and occasional hang.

 

Yesterday I updated it with the latest build and it seems to be running much better.  Much more reponsive.

 

Feature wise it's pretty cool.  A 2 MP camera, FM radio, GPRS and WiFi.  Certainly ensures that their claws are firmly about my throat.

 

A friend asked me how he could get DVD content onto his video iPod to watch on the go.  I took this on as a research project and added DivX conversion to the goals.  I've come up with a nice little summary of tools that make the job incredibly easy.  Everything is free except the DivX Pro codec ...

 

A lot of good info here - http://www.doom9.org/

 

DVDDecrypter - http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Rippers/SetupDVDDecrypter_3.5.4.0.exe

 

I generally use the following settings which give you the option of doing one chapter at a time (useful for DVDs of series) and allow you to selectively remove streams such as other languages or subtitles.

 

1. Mode -> IFO I.

 

2. Tools -> Settings -> IFO Mode tab -> File Splitting -> None -> OK. (if you're going to burn as DVD again, you want to leave the file splitting at 1GB).

 

3. On the Input Tab, select the chapter you want to rip.

 

4. On the Stream Processing tab, select "Enable Stream Processing".

 

5. Untick all streams except the video and the english audio stream.

 

6. Rip.

 

This provides a source for encoding to .avi.

 

For conversion to .avi or iPod, the audio is often too soft.  This AC3 filter gives you a control panel applet you can use to boost gain - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3filter

 

 

Download and install the converter -

 

 

Mode: MPEG-4 > A-VBR

Bitrate: 210 kbps

Resolution: 320x240 (320 x 176 for 16:9).

Passes: 2

Min Rate: 200

Max Rate: 512

Audio - 56kbps/24000Hz

 

 

You'll need a copy of the DivX Pro codec and then Dr DivX - http://labs.divx.com/DrDivX

 

Here's two profiles I've created:-

 

118MB/Hour

Video Tab: Crop Off, Resolution - 400x224, 16:9, Bilinear, Noise Red Off, 25 FPS, Keyframe interval 175.

Audio: MP3, 56 kbps, 24khz, Stereo, CBR.

Codec: Insane Quality, 2-pass, 210 bitrate, Adaptive Multi Consecutive, h.263 Optimized, Enhancements off.

 

250MB/Hour

 

The trick is getting the keyframe interval right for the bitrate you choose - requires some playing around.

 

 

DVDShrink - http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html

 

This will recode the video to fit on a single layer disc.  Also gives you the option of dropping languages to provide better quality video.

So I think I've mentioned that I work in support.  A common gripe just cropped up again so I thought it was time to complain -

 

If you want to know how to overcome a problem, perhaps actually trying to find the answer yourself would be an idea?!  When I take on an issue and MSN Search it for a grand total of 3 seconds and have the answer, that tells me you're lazy - especially when your job title claims you're a professional with a clue.

 

... And yes, I said MSN Search - it's fast, produces excellent results and formats them better than that other one that has its name dropped in every other comedy.

 

OK I've done a few more days and have a slightly different view point.  This certification does cover material you should know about securing computers.  What it doesn't do is cover it in anywhere enough detail.

 

If you just want to pass the exam, you won't be knowledgable enough to be useful.

 

If you want to know what you should know, study to pass the exam and then dig deeper.  Most importantly, dig deeper and then focus on product specific implementations depending on the products you use day to day.

 

L8r

So I've taken a while to make an update - mostly due to training I've been on last week and this week.  I'm currently sitting through a CISSP Fast Track that turned out to be a revision course - not what I expected and as such, I've not read a thing.

 

Two days in (out of five) - what do I think?  Well some of the material is relevant to the real world but isn't anything new to me.  The rest of the material is high level theory of various "models" that are important to government and military applications (generally US-centric).  On top of that a lot of it's dated and seems to be there purely to make old people feel like they still know something relevant.

 

It feels like most of the people sitting through this class have one thing on their mind - pass the exam.  While that's understandable, it scares me that industry professionals working in the security space would take this point of view.  I'm more inclined to understand the subject in a practical sense and then worry about certifications later.

 

If things continue as they've gone so far, my own assessment of this certification would be that it's not worth the paper it's printed on.  Yet another case of learning the buzz words and common gotchas, ticking the right boxes and walking away with the bit of paper.

 

I'll probably get around to sitting the exam sooner or later - resumes tend to look better when someone else says you know what you're talking about.  Go figure.

 

I'm not sure how much I can and can't say so I'll just say very little.  Based on some feature demos I've seen, Windows Vista is going to be SUH-WEET.

 

All the kewl kids are going to have it and all the uncool kids are going to want it.

 

I'm happy to say that I've played the Serious Sam II demo.  Ah good old Sam.  It's got the same carnage as the original with better graphics, funner guns and vehicles.  I may have to consider the full game.  Most importantly, it's got CO-OP.

 

As a single player game it's a little like the original - rediculous.  You pretty much never lift your finger off the fire button and there are just too many bad guys (probably a result of the monster generators that keep popping up).

 

CO-OP is likely to have that same fun factor as before - you just laugh at each other getting spanked by the constant onslaught of monsters. The arcade feel and the bright colours make this into something a lot of game developers are forgetting - a game (If you want realism, there's always oil hungry world leaders that'll give you a job).  I give it two thumbs up.

 

FontHit Font Tools is kewl (and free).

What is it?  It's a font explorer that lets you look at the font before installing it.  This is really useful when you've got a lot of fonts to choose from.

 

Exact Audio Copy - there IS no other tool:-

You get yourself a copy of LAME:-

Extract LAME to some location on your HD and then install and run EAC.  Follow all the defaults in the setup wizard and you've got yourself an excellent MP3 solution.

 

Pop in an audio CD, use the freedb option to title all the tracks and create ID3 tags.  Rip.

 

It's a beautiful thing.  Really, really beautiful.

My fondest gaming experience EVER was when a bunch of friends and I got together for a LAN session and fired up Quake 2.  We played multiplayer.  Not just any multiplayer mind you.  We played CO-OP.  Yes that game style where it's you against the machine.

 

We tackled an epic custom map as a team.  It had never been played by any of us before and the thrill of trying to stay alive to avoid respawning back at the start was exhilerating.

 

My next most favourite gaming experience was similar.  Serious Sam, CO-OP from start to finish in a single sitting.  A friend and I had nothing to do at work for a day so we got SERIOUS.

 

Multiplayer deathmatch, capture the flag, objective based, team games are great but they require dedication, many hours and twitch skills that this aging gamer no longer possesses.

 

Sitting next to a friend in the same room and taking on hoards of AI is a fun alternative.  It's free of the cheating opponents found on game servers and offers a storyline.  A storyline that you and your friends can participate in and look back on fondly.

 

Game developers!!  HEAR ME!!  Give me CO-OP and I will give you money!!

 

So I finally get around to playing HL2.  I used to be all about the FPS but life caught up with me and I don't get to game as much as I used to.  It might be the fact that I no longer work in a place where they don't care that Q3 is running 80% of the day.  Anywho - I get to playing HL2 and I'm enjoying myself when suddenly - POP - the machine is no longer providing me with a picture and is having nothing to do with keyboard or mouse input. 

 

Hmmm ...

 

A display driver update later, it happens again.  Try D3 (which previously ran fine) and again - POP.

 

After the reboot I check the thermals on the display card and what do you know, I'm running at 90 degrees C.  I think to myself "it wasn't this way back when I played D3 all the way through".

 

I open the case to investigate and find that the air intake of my 6800GT cooling unit (you know, the 14.7kg of copper heat sync and the fan o' noise) is completely caked in dust.  Quickly modifying the vacuum cleaner with a piping bag nozzle, a balloon and some tape (queue the MacGyver tunes) I extract 9 metric tonnes of dust and close the case again.

 

30 minutes of HL2 axion and I haven't had an issue.  I check the GPU core temp and it's at an acceptable 70 degrees C.  Much better.

 

The wonders of modern technology.  I can't wait until the next generation of computer hardware.  It'll need a grease and oil change as well as the new air cleaner.