Z Trek: The Alan Zeichick Weblog
Iron Man – Recommended
We rarely attend opening weekends, because we can't stand crowded theatres. However, the early reviews for Iron Man made it seemed worth going... and it was worth it.The movie was fast-paced and funny. Robert Downey Jr. made a great hero, delivering…
It’s going to be hard to wait two years for The Hobbit
Peter Jackson's cinematic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, is a masterpiece. Particularly the extended editions, it's hard to imagine movies that are better than his interpretations of those wonderful novels.Jackson got nearly everything right.…
What’s Microsoft up to, withdrawing its Yahoo bid?
Microsoft has withdrawn its unsolicited takeover bid for Yahoo. As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote to Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, on Saturday (see the whole letter here):Also, after giving this week’s conversations further thought, it is clear…
Achtung! Alles lookenpeepers!
I was chatting with a young gentleman here at Interop and made a reference to all the blinking LEDs in the Interop NOC with the phrase "Achtung lookenpeepers!" The young person had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained that "back…
Keep your digital gadgets sparkling clean!
This just in from a friendly public-relations person:Alan,I wanted to let you know about a great new product hitting the market next week — the La Fresh Tech Pack, a compact mini travel zip-up bag that contains individual towelettes to clean…
Hurray for Floyd the Inflatable Pig!
We can all sleep easy again, now that an inflatable pig has been found.According to the BBC story, "Floyd inflatable pig is recovered,"A giant inflatable pig which floated away during a Roger Waters concert at the weekend has been recovered…
Alex Handy and the amazing Atari 2600 chips
My colleague Alex Handy, who serves as senior editor of our new publication, Systems Management News, has two passions. One is for old computer hardware. The other is for gaming.Thus, imagine Alex's delight when he came across a real find at…
Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror: A blog worth enjoying
If you're not aware of Coding Horror, you should check it out. Jeff Atwood's developer blog varies all over the map, when it comes to software design — and other related topics.His most recent post, for example, touched on the ease of building…
Questions about Windows XP Availability? Dell has the answers!
Dell knows what its customers want. It knows that while most of its consumer and business customers are happy to run Windows Vista on their new desktops, notebooks and workstations, others are not.So, despite Microsoft's announced phase-out…
Andrew Binstock interviews Donald Knuth
The inventor of TeX doesn't believe in designing code for reuse. The man known for his incredible compilation of algorithms, "The Art of Computer Programming," isn't a fan of multicore development.Donald Knuth is a computer scientist's computer…
Windows XP Service Pack 3: More security
Microsoft officially released Windows XP Service Pack 3 to manufacturing, and according to the company, it’s going to available on the Web on Tuesday, April 29.It’s been about four years since Windows XP SP2 came out. What does the new version…
Microsoft blinks, a little, about retaining Windows XP
Microsoft has long insisted that it would stop selling new retail and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) licenses of Windows XP after June 30, 2008. Sure, some consumers and business customers said that they’d like to be able to keep buying…
We love you, Chief James Ibori!
It's sure nice of the former governor of the Delta State in Nigeria to write me offering to bring me all this profit. Yet somehow, I doubt that it's really Chief James Ibori writing to one of our info@ email accounts.Subject: LETTER OF INTENT!Goodday…
Systems Management News applies for BPA membership
Shelton, Conn., April 22, 2008 — Systems Management News has applied for business publication membership in BPA Worldwide. The magazine is published by BZ Media LLC (Huntington, N.Y.).BPA Worldwide will track circulation for Systems Management…
Love my little Flip Ultra video camera
Here I am at STPCon, the Software Test & Performance Conference, and we’re shooting great video with a $140 video camera.I purchased the Flip Ultra video camera in January, after I asked a friend of mine – a professional videographer –…
How quickly memory-card readers go out of style!
Two of my computing devices have built-in card readers, and that's great.My Fujitsu LifeBook T4010 tablet computer has a built-in SD Card reader, which is handy when I'm using my Canon S2 IS digital camera.My big 30" Dell monitor not only has…
Explaining Mommy’s cosmetic surgery to children: What a crazy and sad world
There are many wonderful children’s books written to help young people deal with terrible things in their lives. Books help kids cope with the loss of a loved one, such a parent, grandparent, sibling, friend. Books help children understand…
Cell phones will soon plague European airspace
Bet you thought that Europeans were savvy, sophisticated and civilized. Well, going by a recent decision by the European Commission, they’re not.As reported by BBC News,Mobile phone calls will be allowed on planes flying in European airspace…
Keep tight on those passwords, ladies and gentlemen
The old wartime expression was, "Loose lips sink ships." Should a modern-day equivalent be, "Loose lips sink networks?"InfoSecurity Europe today issued a press release that says,A survey by Infosecurity Europe of 576 office workers have found…
Get your issue! Get your SysManNews premiere issue!
Today is the official launch of Systems Management News, the newest print-and-online publication from BZ Media.How can you help us celebrate? I so glad you asked!• Download the premiere 4/15/2008 issue as a PDF.• Visit and explore our great…
How to get mentioned on my blog: Send cool toys
Today's treat from the post office box: a seven-wheel Encrypta cryptex, courtesy of SanDisk.SanDisk is showing encrypted USB keys at Interop, and wanted to meet with me to see them. If I get a chance, I'll swing by.As I wrote a couple of months…
Macs can do anything better, including generate their own power
I always chuckle when rereading the "Top Secret Leopard Features Unleashed!" post from Roughly Drafted. I even have it bookmarked.Written in August 2006 — a year before Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard came out — it details some of the great features…
Czar or Tsar?
The Russian word, Tsar, is loosely translated as "Emperor," but comes from the old Latin word Caesar. Sometimes, Tsar is spelled Tzar. More rarely, it's Czar.In the United States, arguably the most famous tsars are from Russia. Tsar Peter the…
Systems Management News: We have liftoff!
They did it!Kudos to Dave, Mara, Dan, Alex, Michelle, Jeff, Catherine, Brenner, Michele and the entire Systems Management News gang: The debut April 15, 2008, issue of the newspaper shipped to the printer on Monday. Ya-hoo! We've got launch!And…
A critique of Apple’s marketing to Windows users
I was chatting with my colleague Ted Bahr about Time Machine, the backup software included with Mac OS X 10.5.2 "Leopard."Ted is a multi-platform guy. He uses an iMac at home, but in the office, he has an ancient Dell laptop running Windows…
Microsoft wins OOXML approval from the ISO
There aren’t hanging chads, but there’s something fishy about the just-completed standards vote for OOXML.Microsoft, creator of the Office Open XML file formats, pulled out all the stops in order to win OOXML's approval as an ISO/IEC standard.…
I.B. Phoolen is back!
BZ Media's columnist-about-town, I.B. Phoolen, is back with two stories.The first is in SD Times, and the second is in Software Test & Performance Magazine.Read I.B.'s blog for the story links and descriptions.Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeic…
Four steps for reinstalling QuarkXPress 6.x for Mac OS X
Quark recommends that modern Mac users run the latest version of QuarkXPress 7.x with Intel-based Macs using Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." However, it's my experience that you can run Quark 6.52 on those machines with very few problems.Yes, some…
A bunch of miscellaneous Time Machine tips
Here’s a collection of tips for using Time Machine, the backup software built into Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard.” These are random tips, which answer questions that I had, or which people asked me. I found the answers from by trial-and-error,…
The question is, ‘What is an Approved CQ’
I had the honor of returning as a judge for this year's Eclipse Community Awards, presented last week at EclipseCon. (I also judged the awards in 2006 and 2007).This is one of my favorite awards to judge, although it's not easy to determine…