February 2005 - Posts
I’ve released an update to MCE Controller that fixes a bug where it would prevent Windows logoff and shutdown. Head over to http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller to download it.
MCE Controller allows the Media Center application of Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) to be integrated into an advanced control system by enabling programmatic control of the user interface via a TCP/IP connection.
To put it simply, MCE Controller, allows you to simulate a press of any button on the MCE IR remote control by sending a text command to a TCP/IP port on the MCE machine. For example if MCE Controller receives the string “mypictures” it will tell Media Center to go to the “My Pictures” page.
This application was initially developed to enable integration of MCE into a Crestron whole-house audio/video system. However, it is general enough that it can be utilized from any control system that supports sending text strings to a TCP port. Most control systems, such as Crestron, Premise, or AMX, support IR emitting. For many applications, emitting the MCE IR commands will suffice. However, for some installations the reliability of IR emitting and other factors may make IR emitting problematic and MCE Controller offers a robust solution.
MCE Controller can act as either a TCP client or server. When acting as a client the target host and port can be configured. When acting as a server the incoming port can be configured.
MCE Controller runs showing only a taskbar icon. By double clicking on the taskbar a status window is displayed that shows a log of all activity. You can also right-click on the taskbar icon for a menu.
What's new for version 1.0.4:
- A problem where MCE Controller would prevent a Windows session from logging off or shutting down was fixed.
- I forgot to mention a key (pun intended) command that MCE Controller supports in the 1.0.3 documentation. The "key:" command allows you to simulate any alphanumeric keyboard key press. For example "key:3" is the same thing as pressing the 3 key on the keyboard. This command is implemented internally in MCE Controller rather than via the MCEControl.commands configuration file; which is why I forgot to document it.
An MSNBC article says animal lovers are all up in arms over this stuff. I think it’s just about the funniest thing I’ve seen recently and I want some!
"It sends the wrong message to children, that it's OK to harm animals. And that's the wrong message, especially from a so-called wholesome corporation like Kraft," said society spokesman Matthew Stanton.
What a crock. Next thing you know they’ll be complaining about standard gummi bears, cinnamon bears, and animal crackers; when I was a kid we all loved biting the heads off first (still do!). I hope Kraft keeps it’s backbone and notices that the current MSNBC Poll on the subject shows the winers are outnumbered 4 to 1.
In The Furrygoat Experience: DVR Clog Steve coins a new term that I like: “DVR Clog”. I love it!
DVR Clog. The state of affairs when your digital video recorder is full of shows you want to watch, but don’t have the time.
Chris talks about his home server on Channel9.
“Let’s go to my white board…here’s a diagram of my home network…” He’s actually a pretty good artist. And I thought he was just a great developer.
Chris’ office is basically across the hall from me. Let’s just say it’s rarely quiet.
Check out these great Channel9 videos on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). If you’ve ever wondered what all the fuss over MCE is watch John Canning and Charlie Owen expose it all.
There’s about an hour of video here, but if you really want to understand this amazing product it’s worthwhile to watch it all.
This news.com/NYT article sure hit home. I didn’t say so in my post last night about needing a new printer, but the whole reason I discovered my printer wasn’t working was my daughter had an emergency with her science fair project. Her display board required a few items printed out on tabloid sized (17x11”) paper and my Epson Stylus Ex is the only printer in the house that can do that…
Ohhhh… check out the new Dell 2405FPW Wide screen LCD that ExtremeTech just reviewed. I am such a sucker for big, high-resolution displays. I was one of the first on the block to have an NEC 6FG back in the day; I still have the hulking monster too! Right now I have a Dell 20” 2100FP 1600x1200 LCD in front of me and at work I’m lucky enough to have TWO of them in a multi-monitor setup.
I’ve wanted a 24” LCD ever since I saw the Samsung 240T on MarkL’s desk a few years ago. But they’ve stayed at the near $2K price range for a while. Dell will never sell the first of something, but they are more than happy to sell the millionth (and then keep selling them).
As soon as I can justify getting one of these for my office at home (I hope Julie doesn’t read this) I’m getting the Dell. Then I’ll set this 20 incher up next to it in a multi-mon configuration. When I built my house I planned for LCD displays. I had conduit placed in the wall behind my desk so that I could eventually have up to 3 LCDs mounted there with no cables visible. I’m such a geek.
The 2405FPW is not yet available in the US today, but according to this press release, it will be here March 1.
My trusty old Epson Stylus Ex printer has died. Looks like the black print head died and I'm skeptical getting it serviced would be worth while given its 5 or 6 years old… Actually sounds like a great excuse to buy a new gadget!
Our other printer is an HP G85xi mutli-function. Does a fine job of photos for kids projects, scanning, faxing, etc… It's upstairs by the kitchen where my wife & the kids can access it.
We also have an HP C130 4x6" photo printer we use for printing up pics for the extended family. Works great.
The Epson is in my office and it's the printer I use for everything. I don't do a ton of serious photo printing, but want something that will do a really good job when called upon.
One of the nice things about the old Ex is that it is a 13" wide printer and can thus handle Tabloid paper and other big jobs.
So, I want to get something that can do 13" wide stuff, has really good photo capabilities, is reasonably fast for standard non-photo printing, and will last at least as long as the old Epson has.
Looking around, I see Epson has just released the Stylus Photo R1800. None of the literature says much about it's performance in non-photo jobs, but it sure sounds like a nice photo printer. Steve's Digicams has a review of the Canon i9900 which sounds like an amazing machine.
However, none of these reviews talk about printing good 'ol text and graphics in (mostly) black & white. This makes me wonder if you really shouldn't use a photo printer for regular jobs. Is this true? Do I really need to buy two printers?
Or should I just get a lower end 13" capable printer and forgo the "really good photo capabilities" requirement?
Here’s a feature request for the team at MindJet responsible for the fantastic MindManager X5 product I wrote about last week; presented as a mind map of course!
I have a Dell Insipron 8600 laptop with built-in Bluetooth support. The touchpad is not bad, but when I'm doing heavy work in MindManager I am moving the cursor around a lot. I wanted a mouse I could take with me to meetings and the road...
For a while I carried around a tiny USB mouse someone had given me as swag but it was corded and the wire was always in the way. Then I bought a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse and used it for a few weeks. Better; but it's wireless mechanism is proprietary and required me to plug a little USB dongle antenna into the laptop. A pain in the butt, especially given the laptop has built in Bluetooth support and I knew there were Bluetooth mice out there.
However, the Microsoft and Logtitech BT mice I had seen were all "full size". I wanted something small like the cheapo tiny USB mouse I had. A quick MSN Search query for "Bluetooth mini mouse" pointed me at a few options; I took a chance and ordered a Bluetake BT500 mouse from www.radtech.com.
I received the mouse on Monday and had no trouble getting it setup even though the instructions that came with it were for the Mac. Sadly there were no Windows specific instructions included, although I did find a doc on the Bluetake site that might have been helpful if I actually needed help.
The Dell/XP Bluetooth tools seemed to “just work”. The mouse is responsive, smooth, and feels good in my hand even though it’s tiny. The scroll wheel is a bit jerky and sometimes takes 1/2 a roll or so to “engage” and actually make something happen. But I consider that minor.
One problem that I did encounter was every time I turned off the mouse, suspended my laptop, or restarted it, I would have to “re join” the mouse via the Bluetooth wizard in XP. I finally figured out that I needed to go to the Bluetooth Configuration control panel applet (not the task bar thing that Dell put on the machine) and add the BT500 device to the list of “Devices allowed to discover this computer” as shown below.
Now the mouse and PC talk together automatically every time. Apparently the batteries on this little guy will last 4 or more weeks. If I find otherwise I’ll post a followup, but for now I think this is a really great device.
A few months ago a I happened to glance over at a co-worker’s laptop during a meeting. He had some app running that was showing a wild looking spider like diagram that I had never seen before. I asked him what the app was and he said “MindManager. I use it for keeping track of my thoughts and ideas. You can download a trial from www.mindjet.com”. I followed his advice and my life changed as a result.
My thoughts are generally pretty disorganized; at least when I'm forming them, and that can take a while. I’m constantly juggling 10-15 things simultaneously and have a tough time focusing on a single thing for long stretches of time. I obviously do OK managing this, but I often feel out of control and know that I forget things I shouldn’t. I’ve tried many tools to try to keep me more organized; until I found MindManager the best tool for me was grid-lined paper notebook that I tried to carry around (along with my Tablet PC or laptop). This method helped me mostly by forcing me to write down my thoughts, further etching them into my memory; I rarely referred back to my notes.
Being a visual person, I was always drawing diagrams showing relationships between components, resources, people, objects, time, etc… Again, the real benefit was how my memory was improved by doing this. It really didn’t help make me more organized. Microsoft Office OneNote is a suitable replacement for my paper notebook, but for some reason I still gravitated to the paper version.
MindManager fits into the category of software known as “Mind Mapping”. While writing this post I scoured the web for a few other Mind Mapping packages and spent a few minutes playing with each. I remain confident that MindManager is as good as or better than any of them. I have been blown away by the number of useful features, seamlessness of the UI design, and quality of this product. It feels just like a member of the Microsoft Office family and is rock solid.
“OK, great”, you say, “but what the heck does this thing do?”
For me, it organizes my thoughts by letting me draw diagrams showing the relationships between things. It has a really slick and intuitive UI for first throwing down your thoughts and then organizing and formatting them. I have “mind maps” for my team, the product we are building, my decision process on what new laptop is right for me, my career goals, and so on. For the current milestone my team is working on I have a map that has four main nodes:& Exit Criteria, Deliverables, and Schedule. Each item off of these nodes has priorities labeled, owners identified, due dates, and relationships to other things called out. At a glance I can see the whole picture and I can add notes or other items at any time.
MindManager does a really good job of exporting to PowerPoint helping create PPTs. It also exports to Outlook tasks, but I don’t find that useful. The printing support is very solid as well.
I have no affiliation with MindJet other than as a very satisfied customer. I am just so in love with this product that I want others to know about it. Try their time-bombed trial version for yourself and let me know what you think.
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