I will be honest: I am a bit of a luddite. The other day, I was so happy to plug in a network switch and it worked. There was a distinct possibility it wouldn't because the cable from the switch to my device is a bit ratty and I don't know anything about switches so I was worried I was connecting it with the wrong cable. So I was so happy that at first I succeeded. I didn't hide my astonishment.

However, this post is about another type of technology. When I first heard of Apple Remote, I asked myself, why? Then, I realised that my house is all wired up with sound (not that we have figured that out yet, but how hard can that be?) and that I could connect my computer to it, and sit anywhere in the house, and control the playlist. Even in the toilet. That would be kewl. Perhaps even guests to my house could be given access and have voting rights. So I figured I needed to play with it. So I downloaded the app but couldn't make it work.

I am running Windows XP SP3 with Norton's Internet Security 2008.

First I tried to configure Norton's Smart Firewall by allowing anything that looked like iTunes or Remote might need (iTunes, Remote, Bonjour) by changing from 'Auto' to 'Allow'. No change.
Then I tried to turn off the firewall. No change.

Then I tried to change the configurations of Windows Firewall, checking that everything that this process might need is checked under 'Exceptions'. No change.
Then I also turned off this Firewall. No change.

Then I got frustrated. No change.

Then I started sneaking around in the settings and found a sneaky setting that needed to be changed:


Control Panel > Security Center > Windows Firewall > Advanced > Network Connection Settings > (checked and selected) Local Area Connection > Settings > (checked) Remote Desktop

Bingo!

(checked) means make sure it is checked
(selected) means make sure it has been selected/highlighted
(checked and selected) means make sure it has been checked and is selected/highlighted.




Turning Windows Firewall back on - no problem.

Turning Norton's Internet Security Firewall back on - no problem. Unfortunately I am unable to go back from 'Allow' to 'Auto' to test if the Smart Firewall changes had any effect.


So now I have my firewalls back on, I am controlling my iTunes desktop software with my iPod Touch :)

I do wonder though, is this a possible future security risk? Could devices posing as as iPod start doing things they shouldn't?

"An author who allegedly invented a Harry Potter-style character years before JK Rowling but died penniless has launched a billion-dollar lawsuit against the boy wizard from beyond the grave."

JK Rowling 'copied Willy the Wizard', news.com.au, viewed 12.20pm 16 June 2009

For those who have skimmed this and missed the point, how does someone who has died penniless launch a billion-dollar lawsuit? The answer is that the estate of the dead penniless-author launched the lawsuit.

Today, I got an email from Five Simple Steps, the website associated with Mark Boulton's book, 'Five Simple Steps - A Practical Guide to Designing the Web'. In that email, is a note that Mark Boulton will be releasing a book entitled, 'Designing Grid Systems for the Web'. This sounds like the book I thought 'Five Simple Steps' was going to be, so on one hand I am really excited that a grids-based designer is coming out with grid design for the web, but on the other hand, I am really concerned that it can't or won't live up to its promise.

However, I think Mark Boulton has promised a significant book with the design of the site for the new book, 'Designing Grid Systems for the Web' and 'Designing the Invisible'. Compare that to the cover for Josef Brockmann-Muller's 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design'.

Here's hoping!

I have washed my hair like a normal person today! Yes, I have been washing my hair, but not like a normal person. A normal person buys shampoo and conditioner from the supermarket and uses that. OK, so I am not yet quite like a normal person. I bought Deep Nourishing Hair Science (the Ego brand: that which also does QV Cream and QV Wash) shampoo and conditioner from the pharmacist and washed my hair with that. So far, so good.

I used to use a special product called Green, diluted, because I have both eczema and asthma and most products irritate and harm my skin.

We'll see how we go :)

"Adults typically utter approximately 941 words per hour."

Study finds TV bad for brain development

Wow, that is incredible! That is one word about every four seconds. Do we ever shut up?!

Two years later and the post about the gold scam is still getting comments!

Do you know I have never heard from OCBA what the final decision was? I haven't been left with a very good impression of OCBA. Basically, in Australia, you are on your own. What a let down!

Moral of the story: get an accountant and run it past them first. That is no guarantee but does reduce your chances of being scammed.

On my last mental health day, I am writing a limerick for a Dick Smith Competition for a new Nokia phone.

This is what I have so far:

I'd like to win a Nokia 5800
So the MusicExpress can be thundered
It's Bellisimo,
And Fortissimo,
So long as it stays fully funded!

Yes, I think the last line needs some work ;)

'Hope my old phone can be refunded'?

Or I could go traditional with,

With a brand new Nokia 5800

Perhaps,

'This poem I think I have blundered'?

Someone else's imagination I should have plundered!

I figured out the SleepMillis (that was a part of the legacy code, that must have been included in an interesting way in the makefile). Now I have an interesting and annoying linker error. I compile and link a DLL just fine. Then I successfully compile the start of a program that uses the DLL but the linker fails. It returns an error: undefined reference to '__imp__'function name' '

Is it because the function has never been propertly linked in the DLL or is it the program shell that isn't being linked to the DLL?

If anyone knows, please give me a hint!

Why are people born before 1966 considered to have immunity?

He said a person was considered immune to measles if they had received two doses of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine or were born before 1966, adding that the matter was especially important for infants, pregnant women who had not been immunised and people with poor immune systems.

Passengers on Dubai-Perth flight exposed to measles

I keep running across a SleepMillis function in legacy c++ code. Does anyone know where this comes from and where the documentation is? It doesn't seem to be in the standard library. Which library is it in? Is it a compiler thing?

Happy Birthday, motokomaharet!

You go to Target to buy some kitchen scales and can only find coffee and fairy floss makers.

You try to update someone on a TV series you are watching and you start off with "You know how Rob has a nuclear weapon in his garage?"

In short [and curly]: "C++ is where your friends have access to your privates".

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/CPP/Q_24185105.html

Somehow I feel disjointed from the world. That or I have lost my sense of humour.

Yesterday I watched Melbourne Comedy Gala for Oxfam on channel 10, that had a huge range of stand up comedians, and really, I only thought three groups were funny: Adam Hills, Fiona O'Loughlan, and Otis Lee Crenshaw. Most of the rest relied on the crude for humour. I don't think crude things are funny simply because they are crude. To me, they are just crude. I don't remember main-stream humour being this low-brow. What has changed? Me? A generational change? The recent economic boom? A mix of factors?

It's Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

It begins with a short person who kicks tremendous ass in a sepulchre. This person meets a sympathetic villain and together they encounter starcrossed love and a hug. The story winds up in a boardwalk during winter and features a red herring. The overall narrative is a comedy of errors.

From Cool Bits Story Generator

Link stolen from lindra, and my hair ain't yeller

I am supposed to be filling out a Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator survey form thing, but some of the questions are impossible. Examples:

If you were a teacher, would you rather teach
* fact courses, or
* courses involving theory

How can you even separate the two?

When making a decision, it is more important to you to
* weigh the facts, or
* consider people's feelings?

People's feelings are facts, and need to be considered and weighed! How the heck are you supposed to answer that!?

Can you choose both?


Then we come to the word pairs section, where you choose the word that appeals to you most, based on its meaning:

* build
* invent

They don't necessarily mean different things: when you invent, you build.

* create
* make

Again, one and the same? You can 'make' a new design, and you can 'create' a new design.

How am I supposed to pick a word here?

It is important to accept your limitations. A journalist in today's edition of The Advertiser shows us why. They have written about the Apple iPhone and the HTC Dream, comparing various features. However, the individual in question is not very familiar with computer terminology and thus, confused the concepts of memory and storage. The memory for Apple iPhone is listed as either 8GB or 16GB. That is not memory: it is storage. The memory is in fact 128 MB. The memory listed for the HTC Dream is 192MB, which is the actual memory. The storage is different, the phone comes with a 1GB SD card, and can be upgraded to 32GB with higher capacities possible.

All this information is available through Wikipedia.

All the journalist had to do was admit his limitation in knowledge about computers and phones, and properly look it up, not just rely on the marketing website to consumers from Telstra and Optus.

Anyone have any recommendations for a solicitor/lawyer specialising in property law, preferably in or near the CBD?

When asking permission, do you need an actual answer to go ahead? Is a lack of response an implied yes, or should you take it as an implied no?

I would think that to dig up other people's property and responsibility, you would need a physical record of their agreeance.

Any thoughts?

Anybody notice when we lost the ability to search within our own journals? How are we supposed to find things now?