Over the past few weeks we've been testing the Microsoft ComfortCurve Keyboard 2000 and we love it!  Its keys are nice and responsive, it's comfortable to use, and its buttons are in very intuitive places.  The best part is it's practically a steal - we've seen it for as low as $15.  It has only one minor flaw which is that there are very few multimedia buttons.  There are play/pause, volume up/down, and mute.  But there are no buttons for stop, previous, or next.

There were however browser Back/Forward buttons.  And we never use the mute button.  For some reason, SharpKeys, which we've used in the past wouldn't do the job.  The keyboard came with software called IntelliType but it used a great deal of RAM and, oddly, slowed down our cursor a great deal.  No matter.  This is an excellent excuse to point out again just how much we like AutoHotkey.

A company called Targus makes remote controls designed for use with PowerPoint presentations.  They allow you to control your presentation from some distance away from the actual computer running the show.

While this sounds like a great idea in theory, in practice these remotes are BEYOND frustrating.  The reason is that there are too many buttons, and pressing the wrong button at the wrong time will make the presentation quit working.  And no matter how carefully we instruct the presenter to recover from such incidents, ("If everything stops working press this button labeled Magic Fix-It Button!") ostensibly they will forget.  Every.  Single.  Time.

These buttons, they must be disabled.

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Everyone seems to have their list of free Windows applications they can't do without, and here's ours.  All of these are free for the download and their authors deserve a serious hat tip for all of their excellent work.  We list them in alphabetical order:

AutoHotkey
AutoHotkey is the quintessential keystroke and mouse automator that you really must try to see just how powerful it is.  You can automate almost any program by sending it keystrokes and mouse clicks.  You can remap keys on your keyboard or mouse.  One of our favourite features is that you may compile your finished script into a single EXE that may be run on any Windows computer.

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With the growing popularity of VoIP, more and more homes and businesses do not have a POTS (plain old telephone service) line.  VoIP is excellent technology for voice calls (hence the letter "V" in "VoIP") but that's about all it's good for.

Finding a reliable fax solution was interesting to say the least.  Most people we asked for advice told us, "Faxing is archaic technology.  Forget that and use e-mail instead!"  We certainly rarely send faxes, but as long as our customers wish to fax in orders, we are going to need a reliable way of receiving them.  Now, we've found one!

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We always seem to want to convert various forms of measurements to some other various forms of measurements.  We used to have bookmarks for every conversion necessary: one for distance, one for weight, one for currency, and so on.  Then, Mango discovered Google Calculator.  Google has outdone itself and created the easiest conversion tool we've ever seen.  You simply write your conversion in plain English into the Google search box.  And with Firefox, the Google search box is just a CTRL+K away.

Examples follow.

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Recently we were attempting to build a DVD with Adobe Encore CS3.  Due to Encore's oddities, it took two days to figure out how to do it.  We look forward to the day when Adobe's video editing software will reach the same caliber as its industry standard Photoshop.  Perhaps at this point mentioning "I use Premiere" at a professionals' meeting won't be met with stifled giggling.

Until then, here's how we solved two most notable quirks.  The first was an error message that occurred upon build that went along the lines of: PGC "xxxx" has an error at xx:xx:xx:xy internal software error : %0, line xxxx - PGCINFO: name= xxxx, ref=BPGC, time=xx:xx:xx:xy

This error referenced a point on the timeline approximately one second from the end of the clip.  The last second wasn't significant so we simply trimmed the last second from the clip.  The error then referenced a point on the timeline TWO seconds from the end of the clip.  This was frustrating.

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We got so excited setting up the VoIP system at my office that we decided to set it up at my home, too.  We didn't have a PBX to worry about so could choose pretty much any hardware we wanted.  We decided on a Linksys SPA921 IP phone.

In the world of all things wireless, it seems that corded phones are marketed at those who can't or don't wish to afford a cordless phone.  Thus, to keep prices low, quality is often low.  For ages, we've wanted a really nice corded phone...but we haven't been able to find one, until now.

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A company that we deal with has been using VoIP for ages and loves it, so we decided it wouldn't do for us not to have the same shiny toys.  The thought of saving $100 a month made things even better.

Looking for Mango's recommended PAP2T settings?  Scroll down.

For those of you who are just joining us, the PAP2T is known as an Analog Telephone Adapter or ATA.  It allows you to use any standard telephone or PBX and route your calls over the Internet using VoIP.  VoIP is typically less expensive than a typical phone line because a VoIP provider does not have to deal with costs of infrastructure such as running phone lines to customers.

The provider that was recommended to us was DigitalVoice.ca.  (Edit: Due to subsequent service quality issues, we do not recommend this provider any longer.  We still recommend the PAP2T very highly.) We bought a PAP2T to test them out and were pleasantly surprised. We had a horrific experience with a different provider called Primus a few years ago, and we expected quality loss at the very least.  Call quality with PAP2T using the G.711 codec was actually better than an analog phone line!

The reason we like this device is that it can be configured to do practically everything but card tricks.  For example, the Linksys/Cisco dial plans are the best we've seen on any ATA.

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Mrs. Mango and I have a diesel Smart car, which I just absolutely love.  He holds a surprisingly large amount of cargo (such as enough equipment for a two-camera video shoot along with the operators), he's all kinds of fun to drive, and as a bonus he's cheaper than the bus.  We've even named him.  Affection aside, I made a Google map with locations of all the Diesel Stations in Vancouver, BC that I could find.  This of course required going to the computer and looking up the map any time we needed gas in an unfamiliar area.  So when I got a TomTom GO720 GPS, I thought it would be a grand idea to create a POI list of the Google map.

As it turned out, this was VERY much easier said than done.

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And now!  It's time to play..."Guess what the error message means!"

Ladies and gentlemen...the error of the night IS: "This operation cannot be completed because of database engine failures.  Please try again later."  This error occurs in Microsoft Publisher when attempting to create a Mail Merge using a CSV file.

Does it mean...

a) Your CSV file was deleted.
b) Your CSV file is corrupted.
c) Your CSV file has a stupid period in the file name.

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Here is, as far as I know, the best way to make Toshiba Laptops' Play/Pause/Stop keys work with iTunes.

iTunes only has limited support for multimedia keys out of the box.  They work only when the iTunes window is activated.  So, here's a plugin one can use to make it work even when minimized.  I found the plugin on the Aqua-Soft Forums site.  You can browse the thread if you want, or just download the plugin: iTunes multimedia keys play pause stop minimized.  Just put it in the C:\Program Files\iTunes\Plug-Ins folder.  (In rare cases, it won't work in this folder - see the thread for more info.)

Next, we need to make the Toshiba multimedia keys work like normal multimedia keys.  For reasons known only to Toshiba, the keys on my laptop have completely different scancode mappings from standard multimedia keys.  Fortunately, on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, we can remap them.

Here's a registry file I built that solved the problem for me (I use a Toshiba Satellite M70): Toshiba multimedia keys play pause stop.  Just download this to the desktop, and double-click it to run it.  You may wish to back up your registry before doing so, though I have yet to see any issues caused by this.

For more information about scancode mappings, or if the file above didn't work, keep reading...

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I make icons about once a year, and every time I go to do it, I always seem to have uninstalled my icon making program in my endless quest to keep Murray neat and tidy.  I took a peek at the error log today on my company's web server and found a seemingly endless list of 404 errors for favicon.ico, so I decided to make one.  I found a great little online tool to do it, and here it is: Online Icon Maker

Being the programmer that he is, Mango has set up a few test servers on his laptop.  While we have the greatest confidence in our software, we like to subject ourselves to our efforts first, before a production server.

While traveling the other day and without an Internet connection, Mango discovered that none of his local servers would work due to a DNS issue.  He'd placed their names in his HOSTS file with the IP 127.0.0.1, but without an internet connection, the only name that would resolve was "localhost".

Microsoft actually had a solution for this exact problem.  It's a virtual adapter called the Microsoft Loopback Adapter.  Here's how to install it: use hosts file with cable disconnected

In case anyone is wondering, to open the services.msc console for a remote server from a command line is:

runas /user:(administrator account) cmd.exe&&services.msc /a /computer=(computername)

Apparently, according to Google, I'm the only person in the world that's ever figured that out.

This one day at the previous job, we were trying to map this USB printer via Terminal Services.

Emphasis on 'trying' as it wouldn't automatically map. It had to be manually mapped at every logon, which was problematic, as I was the only one with that kind of access.

I noticed the LPT printers mapped without a problem, so I shared the printer, mapped it to LPT2, and installed a printer to LPT2. Then, I connected to the Terminal Server. It mapped beautifully.  I tricked it!!

This was a solution that the tech before me, the point-of-sale company's techs, and apparently five Microsoft phone support techs couldn't figure out.  I should have been somewhat happy about this.  However, the tech before me, along with the point-of-sale company's techs had proven themselves less than competent on several occasions.  And Microsoft is, well, Microsoft.  Out-teching them was not an accomplishment to celebrate over.

But I digress.  Back to Terminal Services and its eccentricities.

This does not entirely make sense to me.  A good analogy for this solution would be getting lost and going to a gas station for directions, only the directions they give you are "put on a disguise, drive 'round the block, and come back." So you put on one of those fake moustache and glasses things, drive 'round the block and back to the gas station, (where now nobody recognizes you) and THEN they give you directions to where you want to go.

Windows...

Well, I've tried CD Stomper, LightScribe, and now this.  My only regret is that I wish I had tried this first!

CD Stomper was...well, paper labels.  'Nuff said.

LightScribe worked relatively well, but it was slow, the media was expensive, and the finished product only looked satisfactory.

The Signature Z1 works like a hot damn!

The Signature Z1 is a thermal printer for CD and DVD labels.  Instead of ink like an inkjet printer would use, it uses a ribbon and heat-transfer technology to transfer your designs to a disc.  And it's FAST!  An entire disc will take less than a minute to print.  There's no worrying about getting a paper label on straight.  And the best thing is, inexpensive, generic, unbranded discs not only work, they're in fact recommended.

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I've been wanting a mixer for ages and finally picked one up.  I chose a Yamaha MW10.  It has a nifty little USB interface that, in essence, allows it to perform as an external sound card - perfect for people like me who previously thought they were destined to a lifetime of less-than-excellent-quality laptop sound.  I was able to install it in no time flat - all that was necessary was plugging in a USB cable.

The mixer is nice and compact - small enough to fit in a backpack if necessary, but big enough to look cool.  And, in the end, isn't that what owning gear is really all about?

I've only attempted to record piano music twice in the last eight or so years, but I decided this would be an excellent way to test out the new mixer.  After much frustration before discovering that my piano (Yamaha P250) liked being recorded in stereo, and NOT under ANY circumstances in mono, I was able to come up with a relatively decent rendition of Dan Hill's "Sometimes When We Touch". I hope you enjoy.

I was writing a program the other day that would talk to a web server.  It wasn't working, and I couldn't figure out why, because the particular technology I was using gave me very little to work with in the way of, oh, I dunno, OUTPUT??

Well, that's a rant for later.  But what I ended up finding, and solving the problem with, is a great little program called SmartSniff.  SmartSniff allows you to capture TCP/IP packets that pass through your network adapter, and view the captured data as sequence of conversations between clients and servers.  Once I started it up, I could monitor what my program was saying to the web server and I immediately saw where I'd gone wrong.  The problem was easy to fix.  This will also be good for times when I need to write a program to "mimic" some other application.

The best part about SmartSniff is that it works really well.  The second best part about SmartSniff is that it's freeware Visit SmartSniff's website by clicking TCP/IP Monitor/Sniffer.  I'm also providing a link to download SmartSniff in case their site is down and you need it in a hurry.

I was helping a bloke set up his network. He had a Linksys WMP11 wireless network card.  There is a bug in some versions of the installer for the WMP11 that sets a registry value incorrectly. The registry value has the path to a particular file, only it's set to the install path. Result: When the driver CD is in the CD-ROM drive, the wireless card works. Eject, and it quits working. A quick solution is to copy the install files to the hard drive and do the install from there, but uninstalling doesn't remove registry settings, so that won't work unless you're installing the card for the first time.

The short version is, the last time I'd seen this was at least a year ago and had no clue what in the registry I had to fix. I couldn't find the original forum where I'd found the answer either.

For those of you who aren't interested in the story, are continually seeing the dreaded "WMP11 is not installed", and are not able to use your network, here's the solution: The registry key set by the installer reads as follows:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PCANDIS5\ImagePath: \??\D:\AutoRun\PCANDIS5.SYS

Just replace D:\AutoRun with C:\Windows\System32, reboot, and you should be on your way.

But if you're a technician on site and charging by the hour, feel free to read the rest of the story, which I shall now continue.  You will remember from two paragraphs ago that we couldn't remember how to fix the problem.  We did not have the benefit of this website.  With a heavy heart and trembling hand, we did what any good technicians would do. We prayed to Jesus.

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