Z Trek: The Alan Zeichick Weblog
Have you calibrated your Mac’s battery today?
It was embarrassing! I was sitting in a address at a conference in San Francisco, taking notes. My trusty 12” PowerBook G4 told me that it had about 45 minutes of battery life remaining, more than enough for my purposes. (I often use that…
Don’t lose your electronic stuff, it can be costlier than you realize
I haven't lost a cell phone yet. In the 1990s, I left a brand-new Sony Discman, on its maiden cross-country flight, in a seat-back pocket. It was never to be seen again.Also, in that decade, I dropped my Day-Timer datebook at O'Hare Airport,…
California DMV does good job with online driver’s license renewal
It's a pleasure to write praise for a government agency, instead of a complaint. In this case, the California Dept. of Motor Vehicles deserves the compliment.Saturday, August 9: My driver's license renewal form comes in the mail. "Congratulations,…
Google’s Gmail service outage
Within the past few days, Google has suffered short-term e-mail outages on its Gmail service.The company acknowledges one outage, but there were several periods this week when Gmail wasn't accessible via its Web interface or through POP3. (I…
Domain scams continue, this time from SK Holdings Company Ltd.
I've written about several domain-name scams before, such as the Century Net Group Stocks Limited one, the Karl Fischer one, and the Asia Domain Name Registration Limited one.Going by the number of hits to my blog every day from people searching…
Google insists that Z Trek is a ‘spam blog’
Twice now, Blogger (owned by Google) has imposed limitations on my blog, claiming that it "has characteristics of a spam blog."Charming.The first time came on at the end of July. An email from Blogger warned that my blog was locked, and would…
Bola Rotibi on software quality, or lack thereof
Good enough is good enough. But how good is good enough?That's the question being asked by Bola Rotibi, one of the industry's savviest analysts. You may know Bola from her time at Ovum, one of the U.K.'s leading analyst firms. These days, Bola…
Honey, Apple shrank the wireless Bluetooth keyboard
Apple currently offers two keyboards for its desktop and notebook Macs. • If you opt for the wired standard keyboard, you get a full-sized keyboard with full alphanumeric keys, function keys, 22-key numeric keypad and 16-key cursor keypad.…
A Must Read: The best spam subject line of the week
It's a "A MUST READ! FROM PRINCE JEFRI BOLKIAH"Gosh, that makes me really believe that this message is sincere. It is, however, very funny. It begins with:I beleive i can call you friend. I am Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei. I am the youngest…
Microsoft is not mailing you about downloading Internet Explorer 7
A malware spam began showing up last week, claiming to be from "email hidden; JavaScript is required," and with the subject line "Internet Explorer 7." It's dangerous, so be careful.I've received hundreds of these messages so far, all the same — but that doesn't…
Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment only proves that Windows Vista demos well
Like many commentators, I'm unimpressed with Microsoft's so-called "Mojave Experiment." This marketing campaign from Redmond wants to change perceptions of Windows Vista, by getting people to admit that it's not as bad as they previously thought…
Don’t fall for "CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert" malware spam
Malware spam emails claiming to be from CNN started showing up on Monday, Aug. 4. They are dangerous.With a subject line, "CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert" or "CNN.com Daily Top 10," these legitimate-appearing emails had message bodies with messages…
Don’t fall for "CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert" malware spam
Bogus, and malicious, emails claiming to be from CNN started showing up on Monday, Aug. 4. With a subject line, "CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert" or "CNN.com Daily Top 10," these fairly legitimate-appearing emails had message bodies with messages…
The adventures of Calvin and Jobs
What happens when a precocious six-year-old teams up with a lovable toy CEO? It's not Calvin and Hobbes, but Calvin and Jobs.The parody apparently ran across two pages in Mad Magazine, but it's all over the Internet. Here's one place where you…
Millbrae or Millbrea: Caltrans must be from Southern California
The San Francisco suburb is called Millbrae, not Millbrea. It's not like the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.Yet twice in two years, Caltrans has misspelled the town's name on a major highway sign.The first instance was in May or June 2007,…
A struggling AMD cancels its 2008 Global Vision Conference
I received word this afternoon that Advanced Micro Devices canceled its biennial Global Vision Conference, which was set for this October in Dana Point, Calif.The 2006 AMD Global Vision Conference, held in Los Angeles, was incredibly rewarding.…
It’s 08:08:08 on 08/08/08
August 8, 2008, 8:08:08 AM. I would be remiss in not acknowledging the beautiful symmetry.Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Maybe there really is a Rockwell Automation Retro Encabulator
Rockwell Automation wants you to go to their Automation Fair 2008, Nov. 18-20 in Nashville.You may be familiar with the popular Rockwell Automation Retro Encabulator. The video's been floating around the Internet for a long time; I blogged about…
From a pile of components to Ubuntu Linux in 25 minutes
When my teenager learned that I was heading to LinuxWorld this week, he said, "I'd like to try Linux." Good for him; he's already bilingual, with a MacBook for schoolwork and a buffed-up Dell desktop for gaming. Why not Linux too?I promised…
SPTechCon: The new SharePoint conference from BZ Media
I'm very excited to announce BZ Media's newest event, SPTechCon: The SharePoint Technology Conference. It'll be held here in the Bay Area next January. Here's the official press release, which hits tomorrow. You're reading it here first!The…
Guinea Pig athletes take over the Olympics!
There are some wonderful action shots of athletic guinea pigs training for Beijing in the Daily Mail. Our family's three cavies (Cookie, Bella and Jenny) have never expressed any interest in these types of competitive sports. They prefer to…
Midori is not Singularity
Since SD Times published its story about Midori, a number of pundits have suggested that Midori might be a rehash of Microsoft's Singularity project. (One person with that view is CNet's Ina Fried, but others have written that as well.)When…
Microsoft’s Midori to sandbox applications for increased security
The third installment of David Worthington's exclusive series about the internals of Midori — a new operating system from Microsoft — has been published on SDTimes.com. It is widely believed that Midori will replace the current Windows,…
Jacobson, Milinkovich to keynote EclipseWorld 2008
Don't miss these dynamic keynote speakers at EclipseWorld 2008...OPENING KEYNOTEWednesday, October 298:30 am - 9:15 amMike MilinkovichMike Milinkovich is the Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation. In the past, he has held key management…
Microsoft maps out migration from Windows
The second installment in the SD Times exclusive on on Midori, Microsoft's next-generation operating system, has just been published.Part 2, aka "Microsoft maps out migration from Windows," by David Worthington, will be followed shortly by an…
Dunkin’ Donuts screws up cards, Starbucks gets them right
Dunkin' Donuts, my favorite coffee chain, offers cards that you can use to buy coffee, donuts and other tasty treats. The company promises, "Auto-Recharge and never run out of funds." They're lying, and yesterday I canceled the the auto-recharge…
Did Windows Vista remove your favorite Windows XP features?
The Wikipedia contains a fascinating article, "Features removed from Windows Vista," describing things that were in Windows XP that aren't in its successor.The long list of removed features is broken up into 15 main categories:1 Windows Shell2…
Exclusive: Microsoft’s next-generation Windows, code-named Midori
July 29, 2008 — Microsoft is incubating a componentized non-Windows operating system known as Midori, which is being architected from the ground up to tackle challenges that Redmond has determined cannot be met by simply evolving its existing…
Attention U.S. developers: You’re too caught up in complexity
According to Alex Neihaus, VP of marketing for Active Endpoints, "US companies have become too caught up in the complexity of their current systems." Why? Because you haven't download a trial version of his company's business process management…