VNC sharing w/ OS X and XP

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Gary Ralston describes a cross-platform, screen-sharing system he worked out, using VNC:

It took a while, but I found a workaround with VNC for a Windows machine to screen-share my Mac running Mac OS X 10.3.5. While free, the solution is inelegant - you have to set everything just so to get the connection working.
On the Mac, we ran Share My Desktop 1.2 . On the PC, we ran TightVNC.

On the Mac:

1. Set the Mac to 1024x768, Thousands (256 or millions will fail)
2. Launch 'Share My Desktop'
3. Enter port 5901 (VNC uses ports 5900 and higher, one port for each monitor, as far as I can guess)
4. Enter a password
5. Press 'Share My Desktop'

On the PC:

1. The PC seems less sensitive to bit depth and resolution settings. We got it to work with 16 and 32 bit at 1024x768.
2. Use Tight VNC client - try fast and best compression versions.
3. In Tight VNC preferences, reduce the default compression to get an acceptable picture (we used a setting of 5 with good results between machines connected via cable modems. 9 is pretty pixilated.)
4. Address the Mac using the public IP address, a colon, and '1' (so 24.69.4.235:1) (This works fine behind a router - forward public port 5901 to the local IP address of your host Mac)

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I've done something similar. Microsoft's RDC is much better for controlling a Windows machine.

Hello. Bloggerbot and Google GBrowser.

Hello : Introducing BloggerBot

They still don't have a good OS X solution. I'd looked at Flickr, but I'm thinking this makes more sense for photosharing. I might even install the peer-to-peer client on my mother's machine -- though that's probably asking for trouble.

Hello's original design was around a peer-to-peer model. That requires installing an instant-messaging client on each machine. Obviously a dumb idea -- until Google incorporates that peer-to-peer component into their GBrowser (in which case photo sharing will be a relatively modest piece of the puzzle).

In the meantime Google has kludged a semi-clever interface layer between Hello and Blogger that allows one to share photos with non-Hello users via the good old fashioned web.

To use it, do this:

So you'd need to do this:

1. Download Hello and create a Hello account.
2. Create a Blogger account -- accept the default of the Blogspot server. This is pretty easy too.
3. Implement the Hello/Blogger integration (The "BloggerBot" looks to the Hello server like any other peer-to-peer client. It exchanges messages with the Hello server and creates Blogger posts, then updates the Blogger server - in my case, blogspot.)
4. Upload photos and add comments.
5. Point users to the Blog URL.

Apple Store's bewildering speaker selection

The Apple Store (U.S.)

A bewildering array of iPod speakers and accesories. I do wish my iPod had a digital output (Maybe the newest iPods have this?).

I'm particularly interested in compact firewire powered speakers.

GBrowser, Google, Microsoft and Netscape Constellation

Could a 'GBrowser' Spawn an 'MBrowser'? - Mary Jo Foley (Microsoft Watch)

When Sun first fielded Java, it was 'just' a programming language. Then Sun expanded it into a 'platform' by adding other layers of software to the Java core.

It seems that Google is embarking on a similar path. In addition to providing a search engine, Google is now offering Web mail. It acquired photo-storing/sharing vendor Picassa. And in the not-too-distant future, Google could add a browser to its repertoire, as well....

Microsoft's focus on Google could become even sharper if rumors pan out regarding Google's intent to become a browser purveyor. The company has registered the 'Gbrowser.com,' 'Gbrowser.net' and 'Gbrowser.org' domain names. And if you piece the clues together, as some company watchers are doing, the Google browser won't be any old browser. It will be more of a development and operating environment, allowing users to work offline as well as online. Some might even go so far as to call it a 'platform.'

...My bet? While Opera, Safari and Firefox seemingly weren't enough to convince Microsoft that the company should find a way to swallow its antitrust arguments and release a new version of IE, Google's entrée into the market might be. I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft release some kind of stripped-down browser (IE Lite, though they won't call it that) some time in the next year-plus.

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This is very familiar to anyone who remembers Netscape Constellation (1996, almost 10 years ago!). Constellation incited Microsoft to crush Netscape forever. Now the hand of Netscape is thrusting out of the grave. Microsoft will need to redouble their efforts to acquire or destroy Google.

Mary Jo Foley also notes that Microsoft has decided that it will fight hard to keep closed their networking communication protocols. In other words they have declared that the "lock-in" between their desktop and server solutions is critical to their business models.

Between Google and Linux Microsoft's paranoia must be working overtime. Of course a few billion dollars and an armada of lawsuits should suffice to defeat both of these enemies. (The only real concern is China. If China decided that it needed Linux as a matter of national security, that might be hard for Microsoft to overcome.)

Greig is the Uber Geek. And a Canadian to boot.

PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column

Like many of us, Andrew Greig put a WiFi access point in his house so he could share his broadband Internet connection. But like hardly any of us, Andrew uses his WiFi network for Internet, television, and telephone. He cancelled his telephone line and cable TV service. Then his neighbors dropped-by, saw what Andrew had done, and they cancelled their telephone and cable TV services, too, many of them without having a wired broadband connection of their own. They get their service from Andrew, who added an inline amplifier and put a better antenna in his attic. Now most of Andrew's neighborhood is watching digital TV with full PVR capability, making unmetered VoIP telephone calls, and downloading data at prodigious rates thanks to shared bandwidth. Is this the future of home communications and entertainment? It could be, five years from now, if Andrew Greig has anything to say about it.

The advantage Andrew Greig has over most of the rest of us is that he works for Starnix, an international Open Source software and services consultancy in Toronto, Canada. Starnix, which deals with huge corporate clients, has the brain power to get running what I described above. And it goes much further than that simple introduction.

Somewhere in Andrew's house is a hefty Linux server running many applications, including an Asterisk Open Source VoIP software PBX. There is no desktop PC in Andrew's house. Instead, he runs a Linux thin client on a Sharp Zaurus SL-6000 Linux PDA. Sitting in its cradle on Andrew's desk at home, the Zaurus (running a special copy of Debian Linux, NOT as shipped by Sharp) connects to a full-size keyboard and VGA display, and runs applications on the server. Another cradle, monitor and keyboard are at Andrew's office, where he also doesn't have a PC. Walking around in his house, the Zaurus (equipped with a tri-mode communications card) is a WiFi VoIP phone running through the Asterisk PBX and connecting to the Vonage VoIP network. Walking out of his house, the Zaurus automatically converts to the local mobile phone carrier, though with a data connection that still runs back through Vonage. At Starbucks, it's a Wifi Vonage phone. At Andrew's office, it is a WiFi extension to the office Asterisk PBX AND to Andrew's home PBX. That's one PDA doing the job of two desktop PCs, a notebook PC, and three telephones.

Yeah, but what about that wireless TV? How does that work? Andrew's server runs Myth TV, an Open Source digital video recorder application, storing on disk in MPEG-4 format (1.5-2 megabits-per-second) more than 30,000 TV episodes, movies and MP3 music files. "As each new user comes online, I add another TV card to the system so they can watch live TV," says Andrew, "but since there are only so many episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, nearly everything that isn't news or sports is typically served from disk with full ability to jump forward or back at will. We've reached the point now where the PVR has so much in storage already that it is set to simply record anything that isn't already on disk." ...

....Unlike most other wireless networks, Starnix uses 802.11a, which matches the 54 megabits-per-second speed of 802.11g, but does so in the five GHz band where there is less interference. Even more important, while 802.11g (and -b) have a maximum of only three non-conflicting channels, 802.11a in North America supports 24 non-conflicting channels for at least eight times the total bandwidth...

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Greig can distribute the TV because he's set himself up as the world's smallest cable TV company.

This story made my jaw drop. If it's not a spoof of some kind (this isn't April 1, right?) it's truly astounding. I've been campaigning for Apple to do a multi-user thin client for years, but neither they nor Microsoft are willing to risk the market disruption. That may be the true strength of Linux and other open source solutions -- they don't give a damn about market disruption.

iMac G5 Review - the definitive Macintouch version

iMac G5 Review

They like it.

Windows Product Activation (WPA) - wpa.dbl and wpa.bak

Windows Product Activation (WPA) - wpa.dbl and wpa.bak

HINT No. 3: It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the Windows\System32 folder.Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a ‘Repair’ reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status. However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.

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Gee, I thought it sounded too easy ...