JosephTBradley.com

Bug in newest JRE release

JosephTBrdly — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:16:19 +0000

I just upgraded to JRE 1.6 per the prompt, and now every new tab in IE gets me an “invalid certificate” error. After some searching, I found a bug report on it that was closed as a duplicate. Anyone else getting this? I’m using Vista Business SP1.

A view from the Windows 7 development team

JosephTBrdly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:30:29 +0000

One of the really bad things that happened during the Vista development cycle was that the teams responsible for new features weren’t organized in the most efficient manner. This resulted in features that weren’t finished or at least didn’t seem like they were. From the latest release of Win7 at the PDC, it seems that Microsoft really learned their lesson. In fact, I don’t think I’ve heard too much bad about Win7 yet (but it is very early on). Larry Osterman is a who works on the sound team for Windows 7, and he’s got a really great post on the new organization system that is responsible for the next version of Windows. For me, it was incredibly fascinating to see how the development teams are dealing with the problem of feature interdependencies, especially in the hyper security-aware environment that they work in. It’s a lengthy read, but pretty interesting, so break out some hot chocolate!

Merlin Mann: Maximizing your time

JosephTBrdly — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:43:50 +0000

If you haven’t heard of Merlin Mann, then you should take this time to get acquainted. No, not that one, this one. Merlin is the creator of 43Folders, which, according to him, is his website “about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work”. But that doesn’t mean that the only ones who will benefit from the site are guys from the creative department: far from it. Merlin has this amazing system for email called “Inbox Zero”, which I’ve really adopted, and have also been successful at getting others at work to adopt as well. Google has gotten Merlin to talk at several of their “Tech Talks” series, which they have made available to the public. In my opinion this is the second greatest contribution Google has made to the internet community, but, I digress. Lifehacker (another great site to add to your RSS reader) has had several posts regarding Merlin’s Google talks, and they just posted this latest one on maximizing your time. They note that it’s about 35 minutes long, so check it out over breakfast tomorrow, and see how much better your day (and week) can go. If you want to learn more about Merlin’s work habits, check out “How I Work: Merlin Mann”, also at lifehacker.

In addition to getting things done (also called GTD), Merlin is great at making presentations that are memorable and to the point. I’ve been slowly checking out his teachers on this, and trying to incorporate their methods into my own presentations when I can. If you’re interested in doing this for yourself, check out his post on better presentations.

The fight against impossible-to-open packaging

JosephTBrdly — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:26:36 +0000

Good news for consumers! Perhaps you heard of Amazon’s announcement that they would begin using more consumer-friendly (and environmentally friendly) packaging for their products. I just can’t stand the packaging that most products have now. It’s not incredibly deterring to determined thieves, is deterring to honest consumers, and can cause some serious injuries. an added bonus for manufacturers is that the new packaging creates less waste, and should be cheaper to use. Well, now, Sony, Microsoft, and Best Buy are joining in as well. Gizmodo has more here. I say, good riddance!

New Star Trek Movie in the Bond previews

JosephTBrdly — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:42:47 +0000

I’m really looking forward to this! From Gizmodo:

Planets outside of the Solar System photographed for the first time.

JosephTBrdly — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:10:56 +0000

That’s right – planets, as in more than one. This image is from Bad Astronomy, and you can click through below to read more, and check out another picture of two planets around another star. An interesting fact about this star: it’s only 25 light years away, and is visible without a telescope. In fact, it’s the 18^th brightest star in the sky! Scientists think the planet is about the size of Jupiter, and takes 872 years to orbit it’s star. The ring that you can see is from the planet’s gravitational effect collecting dust.

Check out Bad Astronomy’s post for yet another picture that shows two planets. Although it’s not likely these would be habitable, imagine how cool it would be if we found a planet orbiting a star which is readily visible from Earth.

Happy Veteran’s Day

JosephTBrdly — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:17:51 +0000

Vic Bider/PhotoLibrary, from Live.com

They sent him back to her. The letter came
Saying…And she could have him. And before
She could be sure there was no hidden ill
Under the formal writing, he was in her sight,
Living. They gave him back to her alive—
How else? They are not known to send the dead—
And not disfigured visibly. His face?
His hands? She had to look, and ask,
“What was it, dear?” And she had given all
And still she had all—they had—they the lucky!
Wasn’t she glad now? Everything seemed won,
And all the rest for them permissible ease.
She had to ask, “What was it, dear?”
“Enough,
Yet not enough. A bullet through and through,
High in the breast. Nothing but what good care
And medicine and rest, and you a week,
Can cure me of to go again.” The same
Grim giving to do over for them both.
She dared no more than ask him with her eyes
How was it with him for a second trial.
And with his eyes he asked her not to ask.
They had given him back to her, but not to keep.

“Not To Keep” by Robert Frost

Election Recap

JosephTBrdly — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:42:26 +0000

Like millions of Americans, I attended an Election Party, was frustrated by the network’s unwillingness to actually say the words “Obama won”, while instead showing how there was no way that McCain could win…

But, they finally did call it, and then there was the awesome concession speech by John McCain. Of course, Obama’s speech was great as well. However, it was really interesting to see the reactions. The Daily Bugle, for instance, seemed to have no clue that Obama could win, in Washington, there seemed to be an air of doom and gloom.

I’m really glad it’s all over though.

SecondLight: MS Surface with X-Ray vision

JosephTBrdly — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:51:53 +0000

SecondLight

Check out the footage of Microsoft’s second iteration of the Surface computer: SecondLight. According to PC News, the SecondLight computer was the highlight of today’s keynote from Microsoft Research. It works by projecting two different images at speeds that the human eye can’t discern. One is on the display, and the other is through it. This allows an object (like paper) that is placed above the display to reveal an entirely different image. The article doesn’t really do it as much justice as the video.

Welcome to the future: Samsung shows off super-thin display.

JosephTBrdly — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:02:34 +0000

This is just stunning. Samsung unveiled a .05mm thick display, which, mostly for effect, they hung in the air, and allowed to flutter in the air. For comparison, the average hair on the human head is between .04 - .25mm thick. In fact, they could have made it even thinner, but the circuits got in the way.

It was for another article, but this comment really sums up my thoughts of this. Except for the part about being a toddler in the ‘60s. :

…I’m not sure when I realized we lived in the future. Might have been when the mobile phone went from being a yuppy toy to being… I dunno… whatever wearing a watch is? Broadband intertoob certainly helped. I was looking at some photos of me as a toddler in the 60s and by golly it looks a long time ago. Sometime in the 70s we quietly became “modern”. Up until that point nothing much had changed for the average Joe over the previous 60 years. But in the 70s societal changes became obvious and that prepared us for where we are now. The “future”.