Thursday, August 7, 2008

Student benifits!

Student benifits!
I'm currently doing a Bachelor of Communications and Information Technology at UCOL, Palmerston North.

A few days ago I received an email stating I am registered with the MSDN Academic Alliance: Online Software System. I visited the link included in the email and was very pleased to find out I have access to free downloads which include; Windows Vista Business, Windows 2008 Server, Visual Studio 2008 and many more! This is great, I can download hundreds of dollars worth of software for free.

I think I'll be reaching my monthly download quota very early this month!

http://www.e-academy.com/



Update Windows Live Mobile or not?
This week we got the news Microsoft has released an update for Windows Live Mobile. No, don't go updating your Windows Mobile Pocket PC yet. Read on.

First the good news: this update enhances Windows Live on your Windows Mobile. Great. But if you have Windows Live Messenger on your device (installed by an OEM), don't install this update yet. Read more.

Windows Live Mobile is really cool - it enables push e-mail for your Windows Live accounts (this includes Hotmail and even the Geekzonemail accounts).

Here is the bad news: Microsoft stopped providing Windows Live Messenger with Windows Live Mobile - a departure from earlier versions. And if you have an old Windows Live Mobile version with Windows Live Messenger, installing this new version will disable the Messenger component.



The Windows Live Messenger files are still in the system, but the program won't start at all. Uninstalling the "update" will automatically revert to the previous version and enable Windows Live Messenger again.



What is really annoying is that Microsoft makes Windows Live Messenger available for RIM BlackBerry users, but leave Windows Mobile users in the cold, waiting for operators to release their software (which we all know ain't gonna happen any time soon).

If you don't have Windows Live Mobile on your device (some OEMs don't include it), then you can download it now - and use a third party software for communicating with friends on Windows Live Messenger. Try one of the following:

- Fring (free, multiple IM systems, Skype, SIP, Twitter)
- Pocket MSN
- MSN Messenger Force



Schools’ too-tight Internet security - Manville News

Geekzone Jobs: search and forums
A few months ago I created a Jobs forum on Geekzone to allow for some of our readers to exchange job information, post requests for specific skills, etc.

Of course it's no competition for the big job sites around, but it seems to be working ok for our community. We do have some of the job agencies posting some ads there - and why wouldn't they, it's free!

Anyway, after talking to the guys at JobX, New Zealand's newest site for job search, we decided to add a Job Search to Geekzone.



One of the first joint initiatives was their sponsorship at the Geekzone Pizza evening in Christchurch - by chance we selected a pizza place just next to their offices, so that helped too.

The Jobs forum is still active and I expect it to get busier every day, but I think the Job Search will bring an even bigger selection for you.

Good luck!



The Windows Mojave experiment results
Yesterday I posted about Microsoft Windows Mojave, an experiement in perception.

A set of people were asked what they think is bad on Windows Vista during the Mojave Experiment. Their answers were recorded.  They were then shown "Microsoft Windows Mojave", a new operating system that impressed everyone.

Microsoft then revealed "Windows Mojave" and "Windows Vista" are the same one.

I have just found out the full "Mojave Experiment" results will be available 29th July on The Mojave Experiment website.



Microsoft ActiveX Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access RCE
Microsoft ActiveX Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system.  Targeted exploitation was reported on July 7, but X-Force has been monitoring toolkit-related mass exploitation since July 10.  As of July 24, exploitation has continued to escalate.  See technical description for more details.

Another DRM infested music store closes - music becomes worthless
Back in April I wrote about Microsoft's music store closing, thus rendering any music purchased from that store worthless. Why? The music is DRM infested, and thus will stop playing after they switch off their servers that are needed for license veri... (more in the full post)



What makes life? (Kinstens Interpretation)
Is it a rose that opens in the morning light?
A new leaf upon each twig, that grew from humble beginnings?

 The branch that broke will turn into the scar for life.The scar of emotion runs deep within us all, this injures everyone slowly but surely.  Until the only way out of your own emotion turns to destruction.  Destruction turns to chaos.  Chaos turns to the way the world is operating at present with only a small amount of reason and intelligent thought.

 Don’t believe everything that you see,
Because seeing isn’t believing,
Feeling is.

 
If I was to die today,
Would I be remembered tomorrow?

 
Would life go on without me?
Or does someone else’s existence end with mine?

 
If truth is letting people know the details of something real,
Does that mean reality is a truth only known to you?
Or is truth and reality far more complicated than that?
You could believe anything that someone tells you,
Or decide to think they are lying.
Either way your own decision is what you choose to believe.
Which in turn makes reality your own creation of thoughts comprised of facts given by not only yourself, but other people as well.  How these facts are interpreted depends on the translator.  You!  

 If something is too difficult, would you try your best to solve it, or simply give in and let someone else figure it out.
 

 Thought, emotion, truth, justice, wisdom, creation, intellect, visualisation, hands on experience.
Does everything come down to what the individual is capable of, or rather what the individual is willing to accomplish. 

 You have to experience happiness to know sadness.  You have to experience love to know hate.  If there is one thing that lives alone in this world, without needing to relate to another.  Show me this thing, for it will be a beautiful thing indeed.

 To fly is to fall,
To swim is to run,
To walk is to crawl,
To speak is to be silent,
To create is to imitate,
To build is to destroy,
To make peace is to make war! 

 Everything exists for a reason, and there is always balance.  When there is too much of one thing there has to be an equal amount of the other to compensate for the balance lost with the first.
 

 
Begin your day with birds in mind,
Never let the dawn show its face,
You will crawl upon any road given to you,
And you will find the path that suits you.

 Am I going insane or is it just a figment of my imagination.  If I was going insane, would I be trying to figure it out, or would I just ignore it and let things happen as they do.  Because when thoughts take over my life, I feel responsible for all the thoughts that are approaching my life.
Never get too involved.
Never hold a grudge.
Never begin something if you do not intend to finish it.



Optus introduces unlimited calling plans in Australia
Isn't competition in the mobile marketplace fantastic? It's a concept that unfortunately New Zealanders are missing out on due to the cosy duopoly that exists between our two mobile providers - Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone.

Optus have just launched unlimited "timeless" mobile plans into the Australian marketplace. For A$99 per month you get unlimited calling to other mobiles and landline phones in Australia as well as unlimited SMS and MMS messages. This $99 pack however isn't quite $99 - it requires the purchase of a A$14.95 mobile pack that gives you 200MB of included data.

For A$129 however you receive unlimited calling, SMS and MMS along with 2GB of data.



Now compare that to what you're paying in NZ. Competition really is a great thing.



I've had it up to there with Orcon
You can read the rest of my story on my WordPress blog, but the service these guys have given me is unbelievable, BAD that is.

This is my status for today for the rest follow my link below.

So if you read my previous blog you will know that our phone line died yesterday. So This afternoon I rang Orcon to find ut what is happening. I rang the 0800 number and selected landlines and waited for a response which came pretty quickly and I got a very polite response from Jamie who advised me that she had to pass me on to a different department because the other department was responsible for the port change. She also explained that the port change affected the landline and the broadband connection.

So off to another department and another woman who advised me that they were still waiting for a technician to advise the date when someone would do a port change!

I said “Are you telling me that I have no phone and that you can’t even tell me when someone will advise when they will look at it?” Correct, it might be this afternoon, they do work on Saturdays so someone might turn up then or, well they just don’t know because it is another department.

I asked if they would forward incoming phones to a mobile and they have agreed to do that, but why couldn’t they suggest that in the first place? Basically this now means that people can contact us without having to know our mobile numbers and without having to pay for the toll call, but it does also mean that we have to pay mobile call rates for the outgoing local calls, but at least we have communications.

But we have no idea when our home phone line wll be reconnected.

Since last night I have had 2 people come to me saying that they had been planning to move to Orcon and now won’t. Would you like to be in on a sweepstake as to when I will have a home phone line? Or perhaps hw many times my internet will disconnect today? Yes, funny isn’t it, I still have a Broadband connection at home even if I don’t have the phone. I just checked, so far my broadband has disconnected 18 times today.


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