Windows Blue?

Windows 8 has been out for a short time and Microsoft has traveled a challenging and difficult road in it's attempt to get people to move from Windows 7 or even XP to it. This is simply because Windows 8 is a very different operating system from anything that came before. Windows 8 is built around the idea of "touch" and mobility. Windows 8 works best on tablets and touch screens. I have been using it almost exclusively since October 2012, both on touch and non-touch screens.

For the most part I like it. However I am probably not the problem for Microsoft. I embrace change in technology and I quickly grow tired of using the same old thing. This probably explains why I dumped my IPhone earlier this year and moved to a Windows 8 phone.

Anyway Microsoft obviously is not sitting on it's laurels with 8 and an upgrade is rumored to be arriving shortly. Details recently emerged regarding "Windows Blue", an upgrade to Windows 8.

Early reports show the interface will allow for gesture controls and locking apps side-by-side.

This seems to indicate the new version of Windows will once again be mobile-device centered.

"Windows Blue" if that is it's final release name, demonstrates what I believe in the long run is a smart bet on Microsoft's side.

And that is that computing is going mobile in the not to distant future.

Passwords from the Federation

If you are a regular reader of this fine tech blog or perhaps if you are a co-worker, a friend, an acquaintance or simply someone who runs into me regularly then your surely know I am a Trekkie. This love of all things Star Trek of course resulted in the use of countless Star Trek related passwords. Recently I made an effort to change all my passwords, as I have often recommended right here. One of my efforts is to not use Star Trek related passwords any longer. That being said there are many great ones out there and here are a couple very cool Star Trek passwords.

NCC-1701

Yes this is the most basic of Trek passwords. I have used this one fore more accounts then I want to admit. NCC-1701 is, of course, the registry number of the Constitution Class USS Enterprise.   

NCC-74656

Many non-Star Trek fans know “NCC-1701". Accepting this let's jump ahead a few years – and a few successful series – and use the registry of Voyager as a solid ship-based password.

11001001

TNG's first season introduced the Bynars.  These weird Boolean-based li'l aliens strive at completing dangerous computer upgrades. 11001001 was the name of a file they stored within the Enterprise's computer to aid them in transferring massive amounts of data. It was also the name of the episode and, if someone isn't a Trek fan, it makes a pretty good password out of only two numbers.

SC937-0176CEC

In the episode “Court Martial,” Captain James T. Kirk reads into the record his long string of commendations. In addition to these accolades, we learn his serial number as well.

S179-276SP

Earlier in the very same episode, we learn some great details about Mr. Spock. In addition we also discover his serial number (not quite as long, so perhaps not as secure).

6565827D

When find another great password from watching "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home". If you ever get caught red handed gathering photons from a nuclear wessel, this code is all you have to give the interrogating officer. When Pavel Chekov wasn't able to beam away from the USS Enterprise in time (no, not THAT Enterprise, a different Enterprise) he figured honesty was the best policy. He gave his name rank and service number – baffling everyone with talk of the United Federation of Planets.

11A11A2B1B2B3000Destruct0

What we have here is the four-part spoken codes for the auto-destruct sequence of the Enterprise. As first divulged in TOS's season three episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” the first part is given by the Captain, the second section from the second in command, and the third part by third in command. Then, the last bit is given by the Captain to kick off the 30-second countdown.

Qql3Qkl1

When Kirk and Spock beamed down to the mental asylum on Elba II in the episode "Whom Gods Destroy" for some reason they decided to create a secret code to communicate back with the Enterprise. It was almost as if they knew that Garth of Izar  would be there and that he would have mastered the Antosian art of cellular manipulation.

Scotty's first part of the code is “Queen to Queen's Level Three,” a move in Tri-D chess. The proper response is “Queen to King's Level One.”

173467321476C32789777643T732V73117888732476789764376Lock

You can't keep a Vulcan from the koon-ut-kal-if-fee during pon farr, and you can't keep a Soong-type android away from the call of its creator. The episode “Brothers” shows Data taking control of the ship and using Picard's voice to lock-out others from the computer. The above code, the most hardcore of alphanumeric codes in the history of television, would take 8.467×1080 combinations to break. This one should therefore be reserved for only the most important security measures.

CX-937-

Nog was the first Ferengi in Starfleet, so this means he was the first Ferengi to memorize a number that didn't have to do with maximizing profit. In the episode “Rocks and Shoals” he begins blurting out his serial number but, by the time he gets to the second dash, he's told to shut up by none other than Elim Garak! As such, we never hear the end of his code. Therefore, it is up to YOU to finish it, hence making it the most unbreakable password ever.

Ok that's a lot of very cool Star Trek passwords. I have used a couple of them myself in the past but you will never get me to tell you which ones.

Original article and much of the content for this article originated at www.startrek.com.

Don't Click That Link!

It seems to me that I have been spending a lot of my time working on staff computers infected by Trojan horses and other cyber baddies. Why is this problem growing? I wish I knew. However I wanted to take the time to post one of the most important things you can do to avoid infecting your PC.

Don't click strange links!

If you get an email from a friend or other associate that has several people attached and the email contains a strange looking link, chances are they were hacked. I would contact your friend other then through their email and ask them if they sent it. If they did not, have them read this post and then change their passwords.

I said passwords, as is in, more then one. That is because once someone has access to your email account, they could potentially gain access to your other online accounts.

Here is just one example of what can happen if you email account is hacked. Once your email is hacked the hacker could gain access to your email account and browse through your emails to find an email from your bank. They then go to your bank's website. The first thing they'll try doing is using your email password in case you used the same password for your email as for your bank. If that doesn't work, then they'll try the forgot password feature and within a minute they could have access to your bank account. If this happens your computer problems could quickly turn into financial problems.

I cannot stress this enough. If you are not sure of where the email came from and that it is legitimate do not click on any of it's links. Simply delete the message and take a deep breath.

What's Taking Up All That Hard Drive Space?

If you have a hard drive that is quickly approaching capacity, sorting through the files and folders for the ones taking up the most space can be a really time-consuming process. Finding large unnecessary files can be a trying and time consuming task.... and frustrating.  I found a free application that helps with this.

Folders are sorted from largest to smallest in file size after the scan is complete. You can then browse through the folders looking for space eating hogs.

For help identifying space hogs, turn to Jam Software's  TreeSize Free, which is available for Windows. Once downloaded and installed I would suggest selecting "Launch TreeSize Free as Administrator". Select "Finish" and Launch the program. The application will then go to scan automatically. If you have more then one drive you will need to select the drive letter you want to scan. and select the drive you want to take a look at. The application shows you, in gigabytes, megabytes, and kilobytes, how big each folder is, ranked from most to least.

One of the nice things you can do with TreeSize Free is drill down into subfolders to see what sort of space is being taken up. If I want to right click on a folder and see what the files are like or delete them. 

A word of caution friends. As always be sure you don't need the file before deleting it.

Windows Phone & Facebook - Good Together

Yesterday Mark Zuckerberg announced “Facebook Home,” a launcher for Android phones. It basically turns any Android phone into a Facebook phone, and they even announced a new phone called the HTC First that will run it out of the box. Mark Zuckerberg talked a lot about making phones about people instead of apps. Sounds like a good idea, right?

First - It drives me crazy that companies like Facebook feel obligated to sell their product to only one company. This has been going on for years and I guess this is just the latest example of the problem. There has also been a rumor that Facebook is working on their own smartphone as well. I for one would never actually use a "Facebook Phone" and the new exclusive to Android "Facebook Home" app sounds like this could almost turn your smartphone into one.

However you can have a nice trade-off between your social life and your smartphone without going all in on Facebook. I know this because I believe one of the things that the Windows Phone has gotten right is their "people integration". I don't think this is what Microsoft calls it but it is how I have started referring to it.

Since it's launch Microsoft has made Windows Phone all about people. This has been a common point of emphasis from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8. By connecting your Windows Phone to your Facebook account your friends, recent photos, posts, and more are right on your home screen.

Facebook on my Home Screen. Facebook Photos also appear on the "Live" Photos Tile. The Facebook tile here is in it's small form. The Photos tile in it's medium form.

In Windows Phone you can pin friends to the Start screen. You can see Facebook photos right in the Pictures app. Facebook Messenger can be used in the same app as your regular text messaging. Plus, if you happen to use more than just Facebook for social networking (like most people) you can see all of that stuff too. Zuckerberg isn’t making Android phones about people, he is making them about Facebook friends. Most of us don’t just have friends on Facebook.

The "People" app slides right or left allowing the user to easily go to sections such as "what's new", "recent", "together" and "all". "Together" is where you can create groups such as "family", "work" or "friends". This allows you to set up with the ability to send "group messages" quickly.

The Windows phone also interrogates all of your social media accounts into your "People" app. This is where you can look up phone numbers, make calls, send text messages and even read through everyone's most recent activity on social accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

Another place where Facebook is smoothly interrogated with the Windows Phone is "photos". Opening the "photos" app not only shows the "camera roll" but each of your "Facebook albums" as well. This is a great way if just want to browse you Facebook photos or if you are looking for something specific.

So as you can see, the big "Facebook Home" announcement yesterday for the new Android phone is a big "blah" to anyone using a Windows Phone.

SkyDrive Gets a iOS Boost

If you are looking for "free" cloud storage check out Microsoft's SkyDrive. I have been a fan of this product since it's launch in August 2012. You can sign up at www.skydrive.com. The web interface is well designed and easy to use. Once you have a SkyDrive account you can link it to your Microsoft Office products for fast and convenient access anywhere. If you want more SkyDrive apps are available on most platforms. A free account will get you 7 GB of storage. You can upgrade from there if you want.

Yesterday, April 3 Microsoft released a much needed upgrade for iOS. This upgrade was delayed due to legal haggles between Apple & Microsoft and I am glad to find that an agreement between the two huge corporations was found. SkyDrive is in many ways superior to Dropbox.

Microsoft's announcement yesterday included:

"Today, we're excited to release v3.0 of the SkyDrive app for iOS that includes improved photo features, an updated UI, and a number of other new features and enhancements. You can install or update the SkyDrive app for iOS now via iTunes," Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
Microsoft has finally released this app for iOS after issues with Apple centering around a 30% revenue cut that Apple wanted if users were to purchase additional storage for their SkyDrive accounts via the SkyDrive app. Looks like Microsoft settled this issue but details of what took place behind closed doors remain a mystery. Who knows what Microsoft agreed upon to allow Apple to make this app happen.

"We worked with Apple to create a solution that benefited our mutual customers. The SkyDrive app for iOS is slightly different than other SkyDrive apps in that people interested in buying additional storage will do so via the web versus in the app," Microsoft revealed in a statement.

So what's new in 3.0? Microsoft has added support for the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, as well as updated the app icons and user experience. There is a better photo managing experience and improved opening and sharing of files. Microsoft has also made many other small changes, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

I am holding out hope that Microsoft adds media player support so that music can ne played directly from your SkyDrive account. Rumor is that this is in the works so keep your fingers crossed.

Check out SkyDrive at www.skydrive.com.

"This Gas Is So Clean...It Goes Directly to the Dr. Pepper Bottling Plant in Dallas." ~ Tom Blanton, Trinity East

Irving, TX City Council. Thank you.

Go to 8:00 to Hear the Dr. Pepper Declaration from Tom Blanton of Trinity East/EXPRO Engineering/Keystone Exploration. Listen to ALL of this Irving, TX City Council Meeting Briefing 2 weeks ago ~ if you can. It may open your eyes to some gas-industry spin that has successfully managed to "get it done" all across North Texas.  We note how Mr. Blanton refers to "The Luna Site," [sic] as if it's already been approved by the City of Dallas. 



(The day after this March 20, 2013 meeting, the Dallas City Plan Commission voted down the 3 Permits once again. 8-7; 9-6; and 9-6.  The Dallas City Council will now need to have 12 votes out of 15 to approve these permits. That vote has NOT been scheduled at this time.)



This was by far some of the best questioning of the industry we've heard by a City Council in the Barnett Shale ~ and all of it in broad daylight!




Note: Mr. Blanton refers to a "Perfect Seal" at around 20 Minutes. And how there is "no way that a fresh water zone could have been contaminated by a production casing failure."  Oh, and at 22 minutes be sure to hear Mr. Blanton tell Councilman Gallaway how many wells Trinity East has drilled IN TOTAL. Be amazed. It's all quite revealing. 



According to Mr. Blanton, Trinity East wants to drill and frack 60 shale gas wells on 3 Sites at the borderline of Irving and Dallas in Dallas City Limits. This includes construction of a Processing Plant and/or a Refinery 1/2 mile from North Hills Prep in Irving and at the Northwest Entryway to the City of Dallas.



In Summary:  Trinity East has drilled a total of 12 wells in the Barnett Shale and 100 wells in Texas.  Two (2) wells were drilled at the border of Irving and Dallas by Trinity East in 2008 and 2009, respectively.  The Dallas Lease's well FAILED. Trinity East now wants approval (from Dallas) to drill up to 60 wells (in the Trinity floodplain) after having that production casing FAILURE (during fracking) at 3400 Tom Braniff in 2009.

 







See this previous Westchester Gasette blog post about the Trinity East "FRAC Job" casing failure.