Discounts
Recurring Donations
Version 1.09 was released on the 12th of October. There is a looong list of new features, improvements, and bug fixes. You can see that list here.
Download the latest version here.
iron wil
p.s. No, KeePassX has not been updated yet.
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Brad Stone, Denise Howell, and Jerry Pournelle
Beating Comcast with a hammer, Web 2.0 fails to satisfy, and PC sales jump…
get yours here.
iron wil
Nuthin’ But Apple
Hosts: Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte
Topics:
Check out Paul’s Blog at http://www.internet-nexus.com and the SuperSite for Windows http://winsupersite.com for more information.
get yours here.
iron wil
Listener Feedback 26
Hosts: Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte
Our regular mailbag episode with a dozen questions and comments from our listeners including our Great Idea of the Week…
iPhone & iPod Touch SDK [Software Development Kit], iPod Touch WiFi Security, Windows Home Server, UPnP Problems, Windows Vista, and Skype Supernodes.
get yours here.
iron wil.
I am starting a Master’s Degree program, next week. After reviewing the financial situation with my wife we have decided that I can get a laptop. Now, everybody has their own opinions, I want a MacBook - a 17″ Pro to be exact. Here in is my dilemma, I can get a 13″ Black MacBook with a minimum hardware profile right away, the 17″ Pro will take a few more months.
I will probably dual boot XP because the University that I am attending [online] only supports the Microsoft platforms - which bugs the hell out of me. So, I have an old laptop that I am borrowing until we [the wife and I] can make a decision. To be honest, I think that I could enjoy a light yet powerful notebook - a 2.16GHZ with 2GB of RAM. I will not be doing any “heavy lifting”, I just need something to for class that is portable. I have read many posts regarding how much someone loved their old 12″ or 13″ iBook. They enjoyed that fact it didn’t break their back to carry it yet it still supplied plenty of computing power; on the other hand, I am a power user.
I like having lots of screen real estate, when I attended my 4 year, I had a dual [19"] monitor pc. I loved it, It was very easy to work on and I found that I was able to accomplish my work faster. I really like the 17″ screen for a laptop. My wife had a 15″ Dell when we got married that we used for several years, until it died, and I adapted to the smaller screen quite well. I believe that I can adapt to the smaller screen on the 13″ and with Exposé I feel comfortable that I can manage the smaller workspace.
On the other hand, with 17″ of screen I can manage a lot and still have room for more. I won’t have to even think about getting another laptop when school is done, because I will be able to use the 17″ long into the future [maybe 4 years] without complaints or a longing for something “bigger and better”. Of course, the 13″ may surprise me.
Sigh - still 17″ of glowing real estate!!! Now, we can’t forget that the new 17″ Pro’s also come with RAM expandability up to 4GB! which means I can game on it if I wanted to and not have to worry about resources. We are talking about plenty of power for future use and it would be large enough to serve any mobile computing needs. It would also mean that I would have to get a new bag [briefcase or backpack] to carry it and it would be a lot harder to ‘hide’.
I am at a cross roads and I am not sure what to do. I am not worried about OS X - Leopard or the new iLife, because I plan on picking up the family pack [5 licenses] so that we can have that for both of these computers and any that may join the family in the future. I have that all settled in my mind.
Now, I just have to decide.
What do you have to say? Any thoughts?
iron wil
I came across an article on Patch Shorts today about how the author’s wife switched to Ubuntu Linux.
I usually enjoy these stories because they provide a perspective on Linux that can only come from a [Linux] convert. Although my OS of choice is OS X, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Ubuntu.
To enjoy a well written OS Switcher story, click here.
iron wil
If you are savvy enough to know what a Windows Home Server [WHS] is, then you may have already seen this article by Ars Technica. On the 14th of October, the posted an in depth view of WHS and how it works. You can read the article here.
I am quite impressed by Microsoft with this product, it is rather innovative and very forward looking. To offer a product that makes it easier for families or small offices to have an easy to use Back-Up solution. It seems smart, using single-instance storage, where the system only keeps a single file on copy even when that file is located across the home network. I am curious on if this means all files or just system files; thinking that a document pulled of my wife’s computer, edited, but not renamed would mean it is two separate files[?].
I like that it has centrally managed shared files and access permissions. A really nice feature is that the system requirements are low “1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 70GB hard drive, and a NIC [Network Interface Card] are the minimum requirements . . ..”1 This makes it easy for some one with a bit of knowledge to build their own system. One would have to buy the OS, but that is priced at about 200$. I have a feeling that my parent will end up with one in the next year or two.
I must agree with Ars Technica that additional features like Anti-Virus [AV] and Update Management are must haves for the next version of WHS. Including, unbiased AV support for products like AVG or ClamWin. Things it does not support are OS X and Linux, plug-ins could fill this gap, I am interested to see where things go.
iron wil
Notes: Ars Technica, Home is where my server is.
