Introducing Track and Field Clipboard

It is a fairly simple idea and I had even talked about it before, but this past week I decided to actually build it. As someone who has been around Track and Field meets since I was very young, it was a perfect opportunity for me to build an application for an Android Honeycomb tablet. The basic idea is to replace the clipboard, paper, and pencil used to record scores for field events with a tablet.

When Google gave a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to everyone attending Google IO (including myself) there was a less than subtle nudge to "go forth and create apps." Not wanting to spend all of my time playing Angry Birds and now Plants vs Zombies, I decided to actually build a fully functional and useful application.

While I have one other application on the market and another long term project that has an Android component, I wanted to specifically focus on Honeycomb. While the application I build could have targeted phones, that was not my goal. The use case for a small screen is far less attractive, but the biggest motivation for only focusing on Honeycomb was simply to learn some of the new APIs and methodologies. I have spent some time working with the compatibility API for fragments and developing a pure Honeycomb application seemed like a more enjoyable activity.

Now a little bit about the application itself. I finally settled on the name Track and Field Clipboard for the application. Breaking with my long tradition of open sourcing my side projects, I have decided to keep this application close source. However, it is available for free on the Android Market. There is the possibility of me adding some advanced features in a paid version of the application if it gains some adoption.

The application is designed to be very easy to use. You create an event, add participants, and then record marks. The field events that are supported include Discus, Shot Put, Javelin, Long Jump, and Triple Jump. High Jump and Pole Vault are not supported since the rules for those competitions are significantly different and more complex.

The main benefit of using this application as opposed to an analog piece of paper is the automation that it provides. If the competition has flights, the athletes that qualify for the finals along with the order is automatically determined. Each participants best mark is highlighted to provide an accurate summary of the results at the current moment. Additionally, each participants current place is also available along with a view that summarizes the results. After you have finished with the event, the results can be emailed.

My goal here is to have this application just be slightly ahead of its time. There is not a large adoption of Android Tablet users at track meets yet, but with some luck that may change in the next year.

I need to thank Cassie for her help with the graphics (as always). I also need to thank my father for helping me work out some of the details to make sure they matched what would be expected by the user. He also served as my first actual user at the Bluegrass State Games yesterday.

In the end, my goal is to help bring technology into a new area and provide a good user experience. Hopefully I can find some users. More likely, I hope some users can find my app.

DPX-Tools Version 0.3.5.0 Released

I typically would not announce a release of a new version of my DPX-Tools software, but this version is somewhat special.  This update really only includes changes to the DPX Answers application.  This application is what I used for my masters thesis.  While I have not quite finished my thesis yet, I'm definitely in the home stretch, I have finished all of the coding.  This latest release of my set of tools that are able to open and interpret files created by DyKnow Vision includes a new ability.  The application can now automatically analyze and cluster student answers.

I will preface this by saying my actual thesis is a method for clustering student answers that is not actually included in this latest release and I have not released the source code for this application.  I developed my thesis closed source and have not yet decided what I will do with the code after this semester has concluded.  To explain how this was accomplished, I'll provide some context.  When you launch DPX Answers, it searches for DLL files that include classes that implement the IClusterAlgorithm interface.  This interface along with other functionality that DPX Answers depends on is implemented in the ClusterLibraryCore.dll and GradeLibrary.dll files that are included with DPX Answers.  These files are closed source as well, but my intention was to release these files under an Apache 2.0 license.  The classes in these files provide the buffer between the open source GPL code that makes up DPX-Tools and the closed source algorithm that I wrote for my thesis.  Since I personally wrote all of the code I do not have anything to worry about with mixing open and close source code, but I still want to make sure this code is not encumbered.  This is my first attempt at a plugin architecture for a desktop application, but things seem to work as advertised.

After the application launches, if it is able to identify a clustering library this it loads into memory.  When a file is opened, after the contents of the Answer Boxes have been interpreted using handwriting recognition, the clustering algorithm will merge together what it thinks are identical or near identical answers.  The goal here is to reduce the overall amount of effort required by the person grading the student responses.

From a technical standpoint I am very proud of the design of DPX Answers.  The application is highly multi-threaded, since processing the the Answer Boxes is a CPU intensive activity.  Worker queues are used to perform handwriting recognition and the Dispatcher is used to maintain the GUI interface.  This application is the most complicated desktop application I have written to date.  While I was having problems with major memory leaks for a time because of some GUI elements, I believe I ended up with a simple, but functional application that focuses on a very specific problem.

Overall I am very pleased with where I landed with my thesis.  I will be spending the next few weeks putting the final touches on my thesis and preparing for my defense.  It is almost impossible for me to calculate how much time I have spent working on the code that makes up DPX-Tools.  The DPXReader library, which is able to open a DyKnow file and render the ink content, took me hundreds of hours to develop along with the various applications that utilize its functionality.  As I finish my degree at UofL, I will no longer be using DyKnow Vision.  I have worked very hard developing this software and hope that someone else will find this code base and the applications useful.

The Finish Line is in Sight - Summer 2010

This semester is unique in that I have a large number of projects & papers that I will have completed. Two of the projects are for the classes I am taking this semester and the other two are papers that I hope to have published. I've already heard the good news about one of the papers and will learn about the fate of my other paper in August. First my class projects...

OpenNoteSecure is an Android application that I created for my CECS 564 Cryptology Term Paper. The goal of the application was to store information securely on an Android phone using encryption. The paper I have written about the project, Storing Encrypted Plain Text Files Using Google Android, is almost finished and I will post it to my website after the semester is over. This is my first Android application that I have created and it is available on the Android Market. I have learned a lot about using cryptology libraries and developing Android applications through this project.

This semester I am also taking IE 563 Experimental Design, a class that has proved to be very useful. My project for that class was testing the accuracy of Window's handwriting recognition software. The source code I used (other than the database schema) was included as part of DPX and is available in the subversion repository. The paper about the project, tentatively titled An Analysis of Type II Errors Using Windows Handwriting Recognition on Individual Words and Numbers, covers the statistical analysis based on the data I collected from handwriting samples. After this semester is over I also plan on posting this paper along with the source code, executable, and some instructions to my website.

The paper that I coauthored with three of my classmates comparing my groups capstone project to another similar project was accepted by CGames 2010. Our paper, Comparing Multiple Game Engine Designs To Develop A Unified, Abstract Layer For Supporting Multiple Game Play Scenarios, discusses a method for abstracting the common elements of our game engines and proposes a new design pattern. Both projects were unique in that they implemented game engines and the similarities and differences between the two projects are very interesting. We will be attending the conference here in Louisville where we will present our paper. Luckily, the conference falls after the semester is over so there will be time to prepare our presentation and attend the conference.

Lastly, and probably what I am most proud of, was the paper that I submitted to WIPTE 2010. Titled, A Method For Automating The Analysis Of Tablet PC Ink Based Student Work Collected Using Dyknow Vision, my paper discusses a tool I developed, DPX Grader, for automatically extracting handwritten scores form panels. My goal is to use what I learned from my analysis of handwriting recognition in the above mentioned class project to develop a tool I am calling DPX Answers that extends what I have done with DPX Grader. My goal is to semi-automate the grading process of student work submitted using a Tablet PC. This is rather ambitious, but I am excited to start major development during the break between semesters. I hope to present this application along side DPX Grader at WIPTE 2010 should my paper be accepted.

There is just over a full week of school left in the semester and I am not finished yet. My class projects are not finished, I have a few other smaller projects and homework assignments standing between me and the end of the semester. Back to work!

My First Android Application: OpenNoteSecure

Yesterday I published my first Android application, OpenNoteSecure (which is open source), to the Android market. It is a simple application that stores encrypted text files on your phone using AES or DES. It was built for my Cryptology project this semester as a demonstration for securely storing information on your phone.

I will eventually have a paper that will analyze the security of storing information on an Android phone using the encryption that is implemented in the application. Once I finish the paper at the end of the semester I will post it online. It is a fairly simple project, but learning about how to develop Android applications has been worth the time.

You can download the application using the QR code. To my surprise it has already been downloaded a few times. If someone finds this application useful it will have been worth the effort.

The State of Development

I have been doing quite a bit of development lately, and since most of what I do is open source I thought I would provide some type of update. I have managed to keep up development on some of my projects, but others have not received any attention.

Card Surface

Development on this project essentially stopped after the spring semester was over. (Such is the development cycle of a capstone project.) However, Card Surface is a fairly functional application that is actually playable. While it is not a fully polished project, it does work. Version 0.0.3 is available for download and includes Blackjack. I am not sure what is in store for the future of this game, but I am very proud of the work that we have done.

DyKnow Panel eXtractor

This is the most active project that I have been working on lately as the deadline for papers submitted to WIPTE 2010 quickly approaches. My focus has been on two new components. The first is a complete rewrite of the deserialization method used to ready DyKnow files. My new approach directly maps the XML components into properties in classes and uses the built in Microsoft serialization functions. I have also created a collection of unit tests to validate the accuracy of my implementation on a variety of DyKnow files. The new application I have been working on is DPX Grader which is a new program that reads in and analyzes graded student work. DPX Grader is able to recognize text and output a CSV file. This new application is the focus of my paper that I will submit to WIPTE.

Organization Budget and Finance

This project has mostly been at a stand still since I announced it on my blog. It is installed on SSSC's server, but has not been used yet. Hopefully it finds some use in the new fiscal year.

Seeker Game

Two main improvements have been made to Seeker recently. The first is a modification to the assignment algorithm that increased the previous contract restriction from one to four. This means you can't have a contract on someone that you have had a contract on for your last four contracts. The other improvement was to the leaderboard. The monthly and semesterly leaderboards are now able for each month and semester respectively.

Student Council Attendance

There really has not been any work on this tool recently. My plan is to try to submit improvements to this tool as a capstone project for the CECS department this fall. It may be a long shot, but there are a large number of improvements that need to be made and the generalization of some components and the removal of some of the views needs to completed.

Student Educational Arrangement Tool

This tool has had no major development recently other than the release of version 1.0.0.0 of the application. There are a number of outstanding issues for this project and several improvements that could be made, but this is not high on my todo list.

KivaKatch

This is my first attempt at an Android application and is very early in the development cycle. I was very actively developing this application and learning about the Android SDK up until the start of the summer semester. I hope to resume development when I find some free time. This is also my first project that is hosted at GitHub.

What is Next?

There is one new application that I will start development on in the next two months. SSSC is hosting the 2011 NAESC National Conference and a website to manage the registration needs to be developed. While PHP & MySQL is my obvious choice for developing a web application, I have been taking a look at Google App Engine as a possibility. This is likely not going to be a big project and will have a very focused goal, but it will definitely be open source.

Back to work...

What operating system will I end up using tomorrow?

The battle lines have finally been drawn. Microsoft has thrown Windows 7 into the ring, Apple OSX, and the final contender has been Linux with its army of open source developers. I will coincide the point that companies have supported Linux, but this has been centered around the server market. In that case a robust system that includes a combination of Windows Server and Linux based systems, along with other systems. The consolidation of this market is highly unlikely in the near future. Additionally, I feel this aspect of computing has little influence on the future of computing, it has become a transparent layer confined to the inner workings of data centers.

The point of interest is the desktop, but the battle may have already moved to a new front. While Microsoft and Apple fight for the desktop, Google has hoisted the flag of Linux in order to take over the internet. Immediately after Google Chrome launched, a new web browser by Google that this blog post is being typed in, I conjectured that Chrome was designed to be an operating system. Anyone familiar with how operating systems are composed would likely have reached the same conclusion. The architecture was simply too complex for an ordinary web browser.

What does it mean now that Google has entered the operating system market with Chrome OS? Not much at the moment, but there are some long term consequences. The trajectory of Windows and OSX moving forward are in the same direction. While they differ in some major aspects, they are only a few degrees apart. Even Ubuntu is on the same path as Microsoft and Apple, but Chrome OS has taken off in an entirely new direction. Think of it like everyone is trying to colonize Mars by building bigger and bigger ships, but Google just sent a tiny one man rocket to Pluto.

Chrome OS seems to have a major shortcoming in that it does not support any native Linux applications, even though it would be technically possible to run them. Why make such an anti-geek decision? The answer is not clear at the moment, but a few things can be guessed at. First, the system will be easy to use and target the average consumer. Taking the Apple approach of tightly coupling the hardware to the software will make the experience very pleasant. They are taking a Microsoft approach by providing a platform that developers can build applications on that will reach many millions of people. Restricting Chrome OS to only a web browser may not work at this point in time, but as we move to a more cloud based society, this may become the best option for security and sustainability.

The general trend at the moment is towards more centralized computing power. This pendulum has moved back and forth over the years, but with ubiquitous network access it may find itself stuck at the centralized computing position in the near future. While it is not possible to perform high definition video editing entirely in the browser now, nothing is stopping someone from making a method for doing this type of work. Think of even the most complicated applications, PhotoShop, AutoCad, Mathmaticca, these could all be rendered in the browser in some method. While a high power server will need to stand behind these applications, the front end does not require much processing power. I can not think of a single application that could not run by having a very stripped down, browser based interface into a system that stands behind it. Companies are already working on this with video games that require high frame rates and quick response times. While for consumers it makes sense for companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to provide the processing power, companies could run their own local services that they manage to insure uptime and responsiveness.

What is the conclusion to reach here? The point to take away is that we do not know what the future will hold for technology. While I support the improvements that Microsoft has made with Windows 7 and find some of their applications, such as OneNote, to be central to my daily productivity, the next big thing is still out of focus. Chrome OS is focusing on Netbooks today, but this is only the beginning. However, I can imagine a world where all of our devices run a front end platform that is simple a window into the internet. It does not matter who made the window or how it works, by this point in time the web will become the universal human language. My hope, my dream is that this arrives in such a fashion that is open and free. Will Google deliver on these dreams, I can not say. However, it appears that the move is towards the centralization of computing and the ramifications of this have yet to be felt.

Engineering Students and Competent Computer Management

As a Computer Engineering & Computer Science major I have a lot of experience keeping a computer up and running smoothly. Actually, I have quite a few personal computers that I keep up and running. So do almost all of my classmates in my major. I keep my antivirus up to date, expect the monthly updates for Windows, avoid creepy / dangerous software, and backup regularly.

The requirement for all Speed School Students to have a Tablet PC for the use in the classroom has proven to be a very interesting. With a total of 7 different majors, not everyone is an expert computer user. Requiring students to manage a computer that is mission critical for their education is a difficult proposition.

What is the underlying problem? The average computer user is not skilled enough using Windows to keep it up and running without any problems. Excluding the abuse of hardware, which should be expected from any educational environment, the main problem is software. At this point, many people would point to Windows as the problem, but I will take a step back and attempt to identify the underlying cause.

Since the requirement for student's is a Tablet PC requirement, the only choice in operating systems is Windows. While Linux provides some support for pen based input, it is years behind what is offered on Windows. While Mac has the possibility of a 3rd party tablet, it is targeted towards graphics and not towards students. Windows is really the best option, and with Windows 7 it is actually a very powerful and friendly operating system.

From personal experience, I have been very successful at using my Tablet PC in class to take notes. Many of my friends have been very successful as well. In a simplified model of reality, there are three classes of computer users.

The first class, highly skilled, I would put myself in this category along with most CECS majors and many of my friends. A highly skilled computer user has no problem troubleshooting their own problems, they build their own desktops, they rarely contact tech support for anything other than a hardware problem, and keep their computer running smoothly almost all of the time. How is this type user able to do all of this? The simple answer is they are not afraid to tinker and guess. This type of computer user experiments, makes mistakes, and learns from experience. This type of user at one point in time was my next type of user.

The second class, skilled, is what I believe most students should fall into, it doesn't mean that most students do. In many ways this is just a competent computer user. They know that it is important to install updates, run antivirus, and avoid making bad decisions that may cause their computer to become infected or cause problems. In many ways this type of user is just smart enough to know how to get themselves into trouble. On the flip side, this type of user should also be smart enough to know how to avoid getting themselves into trouble. A skilled user is able to diagnose simple problems such as wireless connectivity, or install new software, and have a generally positive experience using their computer

The last class, casual, is probably what most of the general population falls into. A casual computer user is able to use a computer for general computing tasks such as word processing and surfing the internet. In general, this type of user may be extremely competent in using the internet, but not knowledgeable about how to keep their computer up and running smoothly. This user does not always know they need to install updates, and unless they have patching set to automatically install them, they may be horribly out of date. They may or may not be running antivirus. Additionally, this type of user may make some bad decisions such as disabling their firewall or installing dangerous software. When their computer works, they are typically just fine, but if they run into a problem such as wireless not connecting, they may have trouble fixing the problem on their own.

While any class of computer user has the possibility of catching a computer virus, a casual computer user is most likely to continue using their computer after it has been infected with a virus, even as the performance of the computer is dramatically reduced as a result of the infection.

I strongly believe that an Engineering student, regardless of their major, should be a skilled computer user by the time they graduate. While many students will not enter college with the necessary skills to manage their own computer, they should be required to learn how to over time. Should these skills be covered in a specific course? No. These skills should be acquired in the spaces between the rigidly defined curriculum. In our modern society, regardless of your field in engineering, you should graduate college as at least a skilled computer user. If your job expects you to design bridges, manufacture chemicals, manage projects, model a assembly line, or implement any complex system, at the very least you should be able to fix your wireless problems and keep your computer up to date and virus free.

YubiKey, Authenticate Me Please

I enjoy really geeky gadgets and potentially one of the geekiest things I have purchased lately was a YubiKey from Yubico.

For someone not very technical it might be a little hard to understand what a YubiKey actually does. From a security standpoint it is quite simple, it authenticates you. It looks like a very thin flash drive with a button on top. When plugged into any computer it acts like a USB keyboard. This means it works on anything with a USB port that supports a keyboard.

The point of having a YubiKey is to have a one time password. Just like the name implies, a one time password is a password that only works once. Evey time you click the button on the YubiKey generates a unique password that will only be valid once.

How a YubiKey Works

Stored inside of the YubiKey and on the server that authenticates the YubiKey is a secret key that uses strong AES 128 encryption to encrypt the message, OTP, that is sent to the server. The encrypted message is encoded in mod-hex (32 characters long) using an alphabet that is common to all keyboards. It actually doesn't use the letters, rather it works at the lowest level using scan codes that are common across all keyboard.

The actual message that is encrypted is broken down as follows:

• Private identity (6 bytes) - Uniquely identifies the YubiKey
• Usage counter - Increments every time the YubiKey is used. Insures every OTP is unique
• Timer field - (24 bits) - Initialized with random number which then counts up using an 8 Hz timer
• Random number (16 bits) - Initizlized with a random number
• Checksum - CRC16 Checksum of all of the fields

All of this information is encrypted to authenticate that you have the encryption key that was used to encrypt the message. The security of the entire system is based on the ability to keep the encryption key private and the inherent security of AES encryption.

What I've Done with my YubiKey

I have left my YubiKey authentication in the hands of Yubico so I am able to log into the Yubico wiki and forums in one click. I have also played with authenticating my own PHP web applications. It is a fairly simple process to run a client authentication on a web server.

Yubico is very open source with their product and provides authentication server and authentication client for many different languages and platforms. This includes my favorite language on the web, PHP. The authentication process is rather simple using the Standalone Yubico PHP class linked to from the Yubico web services clients page on their site.

The amazing part of the system is that you do not need a user name or password to log in if you want to use single factor authentication. It is for sake or argument, impossible for anyone to generate a valid OTP without having my Yubikey or the private encryption key which is kept secret. This means all I have to do to log into my own site is plug my YubiKey into my computer and press the button.

I have only played around with this authentication so far, but will hopefully be adding MediWiki YubiKey authentication to https://www.jaredhatfield.com/ soon.

Another Cool Feature

While the entire point of a YubiKey is to have a one time password, it has another functionality where you can store a static password in the device that it will simply type in on demand. With the added feature of having each YubiKey have two modes that it can operate in depending on how long you press the button (OTP + OTP, OTP + Static, Static + Static) I will be playing with this feature very soon.

This means you do not have to remember a very long password and can simply have a YubiKey type it in for you. This is very useful when you look at having long wireless encryption passwords or passwords used on encrypted drives or file containers.

I will continue to play and post on this topic when I have made more progress.

Tekzilla: Online Backup and Carbonite - Yeah, that was my email!

Rewind one week, I was watching Tekzilla and they mentioned that in the next episode they would be doing a segment on Online backup. Me, being a HUGE fan and user of Carbonite, immediately paused the episode and emailed them.

I patiently waited a week until the next episode aired. I forced Cassie to watch it and just as I had hoped, my email was used on the show! Yes, I am in fact the Jared the mention in the show! Here are a few quotes they pulled out from my rather lengthy email...

Before I started attending classes in Fall 2006, I purchased a two-year subscription to Carbonite for my tablet. It backs everything up without any interaction so I don't have to worry. For my new computer it took about a week to backup the 50 gigs I threw on it, mostly pictures and songs.

I've only used it once to restore a big group of corrupted files, but it was fairly painless.

She definitely hates it. It seems to nag at her constantly that her backup is out of date and simply won't back it up on its own. Also, Mozy seems to slow down her tablet even when its set to low priority. She isn't willing to shell out $50 a year for Carbonite, but she definitely agrees that Carbonite is way better.

They also mentioned how I've experienced hard drive failures in the past. They also didn't miss a beat mentioning how I've lost all of my family pictures from the summer of 2003. Apparently I've been burned... I'm inclined to agree.



Here is the entire episode... The backup part about Carbonite starts at about 19:22




Just because I could... here is the clip uploaded to YouTube. I ended up having to edit this clip on YouTube because it took 15 seconds for the movie to start. I'm not sure, but this clip might be pulled down by Revision3. I don't know how strict they are about posting clips.



As a regular viewer of many Revision3 shows, I was very excited to see that my email was used in the show. Not only was my email used in the segment about Carbonite, it basically was the segment! This was the first time I've ever emailed into a show like this. I have to say, I might email in a little more often, especially when it involves something like Carbonite that I am really passionate about.

In conclusion, I would have to say this brightened my holiday. It always makes a geek happy when someone talks about him. Rock on Tekzilla!

Skype Outage

Today I was having trouble logging onto Skype on my desktop and though nothing of the problem.  Then, when I turned on my laptop and found it to not be working there as well I became suspicious.

My first though was that there was some problem with my ISP but I was able to browse the Internet normally so that was not proving to be the problem.  After browsing Skype.com I was able to track down the problem to a major outage that will last from 12-24 hours.  This is very out of character for Skype as in my previous experiences I was able to connect to Skype even when the most limited Internet access was available.

The Skype post about the problem indicates it is a software problem and they are working quickly to resolve it.

Apparently they work faster than I can blog because now Skype is now logged in.  Hopefully it lasts.

Virtual PC 2007 Hardware Support - Toshiba M405

I was browsing around the Internet looking at virtual pc information and I just happened upon a blog.  (Virtual PC Guy's WebLog - This post in particular: Updated Toshiba m400 BIOS with VPC Compatibility)

Simply put, with a BIOS update my Virtual PC would speed up considerably.  I promptly downloaded the BIOS update for my laptop (a M405 not a M400 like the post I found indicated) and it did indeed support the virtualization.  To top it off, it even indicated the support was for Virtual PC 2007!

Needless to say I was jumping for joy.  I even reinstalled Virtual PC 2007 (just incase) and performed two hard reboots leaving my PC off for several minutes.  However, upon attempting to load Virtual PC 2007 I was not able to activate the hardware support.  I still haven't found a solution to this problem.  I have posted something on the above blog and will see if there are any other suggestions.

I really would like to get this working, but I might be a while before I trace down the problem.

Pownce - I have one friend!

One guess who that friend is... yes, I forced Cassie to get an account.  Now that I have someone to interact with I can actually use some of the features.

It is something like a public instant messenger.  I have a feeling that it would work best if you are VERY critical of who you add as your friend.  I see potential here with groups, such as SSSC.

It would make collaboration on documents and fliers better.  For instance, if you wanted someone, or anyone who was part of a "set" to look over something, you could send the file out  over Pownce and get replies back from people.

Also, unlike Facebook events that are typically planned ahead of schedule, if there is a last minute thing and you want to get the word out, this seems like an effective method.

However, almost all of the features offered in Pownce are available through other software.  I am too much of a fan of Skype, but I could see myself using Pownce to collaborate.  Hopefully the software evolves more and with an API, it could integrate tightly into Facebook and actually go mainstream.

Office 2007

I'm now running Office 2007 courtesy of Speed School.  I have been running OneNote 2007 for a while, but this is my first experience with the ribbon.

So far, I am still really lost in the new interface, but I can see the potential.  It will probably be really similar to my Vista experience of just pure confusion at the new interface, but it becomes familiar rather quickly.

The main problem with Office 2007 will probably be the backwards compatibility.  I don't use Office all that much except for OneNote which I use to take my notes for class.  I also use Word for witting papers and the such and Excel for tracking all of my grades.

The basic function of the applications are the same, but the interface is completely different.  Also, 2007 seems to fit in nicely with Vistas more stylish design.  I'm a little nervous of not knowing how to do some important things, especially in Outlook which I use for tasks and a calendar.

I'm also curious about the inking function, but I haven't even found out how to use it yet.

If I get more time I'll blog more about Office, but overall it is worth the upgrade.  However, what do I know, I upgraded for free.

Acrobat Reader Under Vista Install Trouble

I was having a heck of a time installing Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 under Vista.  I finally figured out how to get it to install.  The problem was that the installer would simply hang and not progress.  There would be nothing displayed on the screen and the setup process would need to be killed with the task manager.

The solution to the install problem is to simply run the setup in XP SP2 compatibility mode.  After that option is set under the properties the install progressed with no problems.

Windows XP under Windows Virtual PC 2007

I haven't geeked out in a long time so I decided it was time for a new project.  I don't have any pressing homework (due tomorrow, this weekend will be awful) so I decided to get XP up on my laptop.

It really wasn't all that difficult.  I simply obtained a legal version of Windows XP professional and then downloaded Windows Virtual PC 2007.  Luckily, Virtual PC 2007 is a free download and works under Vista Business edition.

The install was painless, but the fact I'm performing this on a laptop, I don't have the raw power that would make things go 100% smoothly.  I'm currently working on patching Windows and I'm not sure what I'll do with it once I get it up to date yet.

I know I want to get a version of Windows 98 virtualized (just for fun).  And maybe a Linux distro or two.  I'll probably post more when I get some more free time.  My initial impressions are that everything seems to slow down when I have the virtual computer running.

Windows Live Writer: first impressions

I've been using Live writer for a very short time, but I feel that I have posted enough to actually write something of a review about it.

In short, I like it.  I is a stable and useful way to create blog entries.  I especially was satisfied when I realized the many different useful plug-ins that were available.  I have currently installed a grand total of 3.  First, the DiggThis plug-in that allows an easy addition of a Digg button to a post.  Next, I added the Ink Blogging plug-in, although I doubt I'll ever use it.  I just added it because I have a tablet.  Last, and most useful, I added a Flickr Image inserter.  The Flickr plug-in will probably be the most useful.  I'm able to search Flickr, including my personal pictures, and insert them without having to make a big deal of copying and pasting the correct size picture and everything.  It will save some time when it comes to posting.  The only down side is there is no way to automatically upload imported pictures to anything other than an FTP server.

I'm not sure if it is because I have a slight drop in the amount of homework right now, but I have been blogging more since I started using Live Writer.  I really like how I'm not forced to go to Blogger and log in and start writing.  Launching an application is faster and it more convenient.

I am glad there is a useful integrated Spell Checker.  I would only blog in Firefox specifically because it had an integrated spell check.  Other features I like are the automatic draft saving.  I turned the frequency up to 1 minute just so I won't lose any of my hard work.  I also was excited (and am testing out in this post) the built in PING feature.  So far I've added FeedBurner and Technorati, but I might have a few more places to PING as as well.

I haven't found any quirks that annoy me enough to mention.  I am still a little confused on how to edit old posts, but that is because I am not familiar with that feature yet.  The categories tool is much more powerful than any web based interface I have seen.  I'll continue to use Windows Live Writer for all of my blogging.  On an interesting but unimportant side note, unlike Blogger, the time that the Publish button is clicked is when the post is published (time stamp wise), rather than when it was first started. 

Hopefully Live Writer only improves my blogging habits.  It is really a quality piece of software.  Way to go Microsoft.

Testing Windows Live Writer

I saw a link on blogger about Windows Live Writer and I thought I would give it a try.  It seems to be interesting.  It is a strange cross between a web editing tool like FrontPage and a typical AJAX like text editor.

I'll be blogging with this software for a while and when I get around to it I'll write something about how it is to use.

First Impressions are good.  It is not that I disliked the blogger interface, it is just that a more powerful (and even offline) too is more attractive to me.  Plus, the preview feature on this that inserts the post like it was actually posted to your blog is really awesome.

Favorite Firefox Add-Ons

I'll admit it, I am a Firefox junkie. Although I do use IE occasionally, Firefox is use for all of my regular browsing. I also have Opera Browser installed. I really don't use it, but I do like the interface. One of the main reasons I won't switch is because I like my Firefox Add-Ons so much.

I'll give a quick rundown of the add-ons that I must have. There are actually not that many that I use. My preferences over time have changed, but the functionality these tools provide really help enhance my browsing experience.

I guess the easiest way to go through this is list each add-on one by one. I'll just work my way down the list one by one.

First, and probably most important, is FoxyProxy. This is a simple proxy selector that sits in the bottom right of Firefox. It is very powerful, but I only use it in a very simple regard. I couple this with Hamachi and FreeProxy. This setup encrypts my internet browsing traffic between my laptop and my desktop computer where it actually is sent out unencrypted. This is especially useful here on campus because to get Vista on the wireless, the connection is unencrypted because of incompatibilities.


Next on the list is IE Tab that simply makes a tab in Firefox use Internet Explorer. This is especially useful when visiting website that don't render properly in Firefox. (The Speed School of Engineering official website comes to mind.) You can see the difference between having the Firefox engine and the IE engine running in the below screen capture.


This is probably my favorite of all of my add-ons I use. PermaTabs can freeze Firefox tabs so they can not be closed and are there when it launches. I have three tabs that are ALWAYS open. They are Yahoo Mail, Digg, and Facebook. I know it would be simple just to leave them open, but having them this way assures they will not get mixed in with all of my other tabs that always seem to pile up.


Moving down this list we come to the sad story of how Vista has affected my life. TabEffect is a simple little add-on that performs a 3D spin effect every time you switch tabs. There was really no actual usefulness in this add-on, it just looked great. I actually had a few people ask how I was making the tabs in Firefox do that and pointed them toward this add-on. The problem under Vista is that the effect flashes a white screen after the tab rotates. It was just annoying enough for me to disable the add-on, but I can't bring myself to remove it.

Next on the list is Talkback. Nothing major to see here so I'll move on to the last item on the list.

I was a very frequent user of Yahoo! Toolbar at one time. I have since used it less and less. I could probably get away without using it but all of my old bookmarks are stored in Yahoo! Bookmarks and it is still nice to have those. I sometimes click the Yahoo! Mail button at the top if I need to reload the Yahoo! Mail page, but other than that it goes unused. I don't even need it for the search bar because Firefox has one built in that has even more features that Yahoo!'s.


My favorite add-on is definitely PermaTab. It has really changed the way I browse the internet. I'm a little more efficient and I definitely frequent my email, Digg, and Facebook more than I should, but I'm not hurting anyone.

I really need to search for some more add-ons that will help enhance my browser even more! (I promise you that is not as lame as it sounds... maybe it was just a little lame. Compared to the fact I wrote this entire blog entry about add-ons, it definitely wasn't lame.)

Tablet PC: Vista vs. XP - A Student's Prospective

In my earlier post (iTunes is Evil and Blogger is Broken) I mentioned that this post was lost. Apparently Blogger is just a little cranky. When I logged in today I noticed that the post was back, the entire thing! I am a little relieved that I didn't lose this post because it is on a rather interesting topic.

I've used Windows XP Tablet Edition for two semesters in college and now I am in my third semester and have switched to Windows Vista. I've own a Toshiba Protege M405 which is a decent tablet to work with. In my earlier post about about Tablet PC Hardware I discussed Vista and XP but mostly with regard to battery life.

First, I'll discuss some of my basic recommendations. Cassie, who also has tablet (Gateway), originally had only 512 MB of RAM. It is possible to run decently with only 512 MB but I would not recommend it. My tablet shipped with 1GB, but even under XP this was not enough for my multitasking needs. When I upgraded to Vista, I ran with only 1 GB because it took a while to get my RAM to install. With 2GB of RAM under Vista, a computer seems to work remarkably better. I would not recommend anyone use Vista without 2 GB.


Using XP and Office 2003

For classes I would run several programs concurrently. Besides all of my background processes (Skype, Carbonite, Hamachi, ext.), I would use Outlook 2003 and OneNote 2003 during class. I wouldn't recommend having too many extra programs running (Firefox?) because it is difficult enough using a tablet to take notes. Distractions do not help, and they also help drain the battery at an accelerated rate.

Taking notes during class is only half of the picture, the other half is using those notes for homework and studying. While I am studying or doing homework and I need to reference my notes, I typically run Firefox and iTunes. This is in addition to Outlook and OneNote. Also, depending on the homework, I'll have Journal Note Writer and maybe even Excel, Word or PowerPoint. With only 1 GB of RAM under XP, resources start to run a little low rather quickly. However, I never ran into any serious problems, although I always wanted more RAM.


Using Vista and OneNote 2007

I haven't upgraded to Office 2007 yet, although I am running OneNote 2007. The difference between Office 2003 and 2007 is incredible. The restructuring of the notebook system makes it much easier to manage classes and and keep organized. Also, in general there are small usability tweaks that make the experience a little more pleasant. While OneNote is still not the perfect tool for a student, it is the best thing to use at the moment.

Since I'm focusing on students I should probably mention Windows Journal, Journal for short. While I wouldn't recommend using this to take actual class notes it is perfect for homework assignments. Even for my classes where I can't submit assignments digitally, I like to write them on my tablet and then print them out. There are several advantages to doing work on a tablet. I should also mention that Journal is also available under XP and that Journal files can be read from a non tablet (Windows) computer with the correct, free, software.

There are several benefits to using Journal for homework. First off, having digital ink is just a lot of fun. Seriously, it makes writing very dynamic. It is easy to use multiple colors and moving and resizing is possible in ways that just are not available using normal paper. Also, turning in assignments means you don't lose a copy of your work. This is especially useful for studying.

In a later post I'll try and talk about DyKnow, a propriety software title use by UofL's Speed School as a method of distributing notes in class.

Overall, I am happy I upgraded from XP to Vista on my tablet. There are some serious problems with Vista, but in general it has been a good experience. The handwriting recognition and the tablet features in Vista are far improved over XP. Although battery life will suffer, the trade off is worth it.

Free Cell Under Vista - Accept or Deny

I haven't really played the built in games in Vista very much, but I did finally get round to playing my favorite of the lot, Free Cell. I do remember when I first installed I couldn't find any of the built in games. Eventually I discovered that they needed to be "installed" under one of the obscure panels in the control panel.

The rules of Free Cell are simple, but I'm not going to explain them here. The funny part of the new version is the dialog box that appears when you attempt to move a stack of cards into an empty slot.



It looks oddly familiar. I really think I have seen this dialog box before. Here is a close up of the Free Cell prompt followed by a prompt about connecting to a wireless network.

This is a Game

This is Actually Important

I guess this is just the new style of asking the user to make decisions. It is just humorous that it looks almost identical no matter if you're in a game or actually managing the system.