Innerdimension.net
I was perusing around the Monster Networking forum and found some interesting article links, some on finding a Technology job in a tough market, and others on certifications and making those certifications work for you.
Making Your Credentials Work For You
Over on Half-Life 2 Files there is an article about a pirated warez version of Half-Life 2, released via the Bittorrent netowrk. This user sent word of this to Gabe Newell @ Valve and he had this to say:
We’re running a bit of an experiment. We’re keeping track of the accounts that do this and will be shutting them off.
Basically Valve released a “warez” version to flush out the leechers, and in essence banning them from Steam. Therefore, you should probably just buy it, like everyone else. : )
Over at HL2 World, they’ve created a Half-Life 2 Wiki for a one stop information shop regarding Half-Life 2. I’ve created the Half-Life 2 Installation FAQ portion of the site, after my own experience with the install, and poor response from Vivendi support with my problem. They’ve since added my issue / resolution to their support site, and I’ve added items that they have posted into the FAQ as well. You can see the Installation section here, and let me know what you think / or if you have any suggestions / additions.
I finally got my pictures off of my HP PhotoSmart 318 digital camera, and I’m disappointed with the results, especially the fact that the scoreboard of Pitt’s victory came out as one big blur.
Here’s 2 highlight pictures:
Right after the game:
The Grotto(sp?) at Notre Dame (Click Link for larger picture)
As you can see by the larger picture, the relatively low megapixel count makes the details look a bit washy and noisy at the same time.
All in all a fun weekend!
Over on Rainy’s he has a project called Rainlendar. It’s a simple Calendar / To Do list app that sits on your desktop and gives you easy notice of your appointments, to dos, etc. and even syncs with Outlook!
Here’s one of the standard themes on my desktop:
There’s several other themes as well on his site.
Done. Click the link on the right side to download. It’s getting /.ed right now so be patient.
If you’ve used a previous version and kept the default home page, a new start page awaits with 1.0, featuring google search and a tip section for FireFox.
Today is the 5th Anniversary of Greg Moore’s death at the 1999 CART Season Finale at Fontana, California.
Here’s some links to pages / videos about Greg:
Videos:
Links:
Greg Moore Foundation
SLAM Motorsports Greg Moore Area
ESPN Article about Dario Franchitti and Greg Moore
Greg was a great rising star that left before his time. We miss you Greg.
Lots of things happening over the course of this week. Here’s some of the snippets:
Apple announced 2 new iPods: the iPod Photo, and the iPod U2 Special Edition.
The iPod Photo has a 65k color screen, and has 40 and 60 GB models. The price, however is pretty steep at $499 and $599 respectively. The iPod U2 Special Edition is the 20GB model for $349 and includes a gift certificate to the iTunes music store.
If you haven’t yet heard, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released to stores on Tuesday. I’m about 10% through the game, and I like it so far. They’ve added a bunch of new additions and nuances to the gameplay style. My only gripe is that the hud map is much more difficult to view than Vice City.
TiVo released version 1.3 of their TiVo Desktop for Windows software, which fixes the GDI+ vulnerability from Microsoft. Still no support for AAC files though.
SpreadFirefox reached their 10,000 donation mark for the ad in the New York Times, raising $250,000 in the process. Look for the ad sometime around November 9th, when Firefox 1.0 is supposed to be released. I’ve been using the new RC1 test candidate this week with no problems, so hopefully it will be on track for that date.
Here’s some things I’ve stumbled upon over the past few days that caught my eye.
First there’s news over on Gizmodo that Windows XP Service Pack 2 causes performance slowdowns on laptops. You can read the snippet and the standard Microsoft “there is no problem” response here.
Next up is an article on governmentsecurity.org that describes places that viruses and trojans hide on startup. It’s a nice resource and includes several registry areas to look into. You can find the whole article here.
And on the spyware / adware topic there is an article on DaringFireball.net that discusses a USA Today column by Kevin Maney describing his issues with spyware and the issues and frustration that is building the trend to switching away from windows. You can find the commentary and the link to the USA Today article here.
On Saturday, Apple opened it’s new store in the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh. This is the first Apple location in the Pittsburgh metro area, and the first one that incorporates Apple’s “Studio” concept. The store is of average size, and fits nicely in the Walnut St. shopping district, which includes such stores as Banana Republic, Williams Sonoma, and Gap. Unfortunately my camera ran out of power so I was unable to take any pics, but I’ve added some pictures from other people who were also at the opening.
Front of the store at night
The wait on Opening Day
It’s Open!
Inside of the store from the front. Notice the Studio section in the back.
Picture of the Apple Studio from the desk
All in all it was an enjoyable experience, even though the wait was an hour and a half to two hours. The line had lots of great people to converse with, and after spending 2 hours in line, I even was asked for color advice for an iPod Mini purchase (She bought the silver one).