tombrennan.org

Although I’ve found a way to share user files on my PowerMac G3 (B&W) running OS 10.4 I found it nearly impossible to find anything online that would allow me share the secondary drive on my Vista laptop.

Enter SharePoints. This program allows someone designate a mount point for your share in the System Preferences of your OS X computer.  You can browse to the share that you want and name the point whatever you want.  Make sure to enable Windows Sharing within the SharePoints pane.

When you head to Vista’s networking window type in your username and password and you’ll notice your new share point is within the bulleted points of the network share.  Enjoy.

There are much better instructions on the SharePoints page.

written by tom

I bought a laptop a few weeks back and it was preinstalled with Vista.  Vista was the only supported OS on the laptop (no XP drivers wouldn’t work).  I quickly found out that my Blue Mic Snowball USB mic would not work in Vista.

Since I noticed the mic wouldn’t work with Vista I’ve been looking at Blue update page.  It looks like today I struck gold (or Blue in this case).  It looks like the low gain firmware update seemed to work with Vista.

I followed all of the on-screen instructions, after the download, and everything installed like a champ.  I even ran Cool Edit and ran two mics through (for my podcast) and everything worked OK.  My only complaint is that the low-gain upgrade brings the levels of the mics way down.  Hopefully Blue will certify the high-gain option for Vista soon.

written by tom

You can take these few steps and cut down on the amount of trash you and your house throws out. If you pay for garbage collection, this will help on your bill. If you get a municipal pick-up (aka pay through taxes) this will help the earth.

I have two small kids, a wife, and a dog. Our weekly trash can fit into a tall kitchen bag. That includes the baby’s diaper table waste and bathroom waste. We’re not perfect, but the amount of garbage we get rid of is a lot less than our neighbors.

Here’s a few helpful hints. You can take them, leave them, or go beyond them. They’re just some ideas to get your creative juices flowing on how to cut down on waste.

1) Recycle. I know this sounds silly but people still don’t recycle. Reuse cardboard boxes for tossing in your paper goods and other packages you get at the grocery store.

2) Buy in bulk. Head to the bulk-foods section of your local supermarket. Buying bulk seeds, flour, grains, nuts, etc will cut down on the packaging you find in other sections of the store and may even save you some money.

3) Use cloth diapers. I know this is a big one and not applicable to everyone who reads this. Cloth diapers mean there’s very little waste you create with your little one. The only thing you’re throwing out from you baby is the wipes. You will also save a lot of money.

4) Reuse. There’s no reason why you can’t use regular plates instead of paper in most situations. You can also get cloth napkins and toss them in the wash when the meal is done. In my county 41% of the trash in the county dump is paper goods. Granted that also includes newspaper and such, but I’m sure paper plates and napkins are in there too.

5) Compost. If you through all of your organic waste in a compost heap you will make awesome fill dirt or potting soil for when you work on the yard. You’ll also cut down on the smell associated with a garbage filled with old coffee grinds, egg shells, and the like. Here’s a quick guide on composting (external link)

6) Make your own meals. If time allows making your own meals saves you money (depending how many of you there are) and also cuts down on waste. Throwing out that pizza box or chinese food bag with 4 containers adds to the weekly garbage.

7) Watch out for individual servings. Do you really need to get the “Fridge Packs” that are so common these days? Buying a two liter of soda saves on waste and money. Buying powdered drink mix for the kids stops on the piling of juice boxes in the garbage. Who’s to say that bringing a bottle from home is not cool now with kids. Your kid may be the cool one if they reply to their classmates with, “I’m helping save the planet”.

written by tom

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now officially declined to investigate an inquiry into the behavior of telephone companies in American.

There have been many news reports claiming telephone companies like AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon have willingly sent information on their networks to the National Security Agency (NSA) in a way to support the “war on terror”.  In one case there was a report that AT&T gave the NSA access to install optical splitters at locations.  This would allow the government instant access to the Verizon network.  Some intelligence officials want retroactive immunity to phone companies in their service to our nation.
The Democratic head of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Rep. Ed Markey, has been asking the FCC for a number of months to launch an investigation into this “agreement” between the NSA and telcos.

Kevin Martin, Chairman of the FCC wrote to the US Attorney General saying that an investigation would jeopardize national security of the US.
The Attorney General’s office has not responded to Chairman Martin’s message.  When pressed for a response from Martin the AG’s office reffered him to J.M. McConnell the Director of National Intelligence.  McConnell said that this investigation would cause “grave damage to national security”.  Martin then responded to Congressman Markey.
Markey then release this statement on the issue:
“I am disappointed by the FCC’s response.  I still hold that it is well within the authority of the independent agency responsible for the enforcement of our nation’s communications privacy laws to investigate the very serious reports that the intelligence agencies were using telephone companies to obtain phone records and Internet data on citizens without proper, prior authorization. I believe the agency could conduct its own examination of such reports in a way that safeguards national security.”

written by tom

In a Duluth Minnesota courtroom Jennifer Pariser the head of litigation from Sony BMG took the stand.  She said in this case (Capitol Records v Jammie Thomas) that file sharing has damaged the record industry.  It’s not only P2P sharing, it’s normal people doing something that is violating copyrights.

Pariser said that labels don’t make their mony touring or in merchandising, like bands do.  Their only way to get money is to sell records.  And they haven’t been doing enough of that lately.  Since 2000 Sony BMG is half the size.  This is do to illegal file sahring.  She added “when people steal, when they take music without compensation, we are harmed.”

She also suggested that what millions of music fans do is also a copyright infraction.  Essentially ripping in your own CD is considered theft by Ms. Pariser.  She added, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ‘steals just one copy’”.

She also added that portable media players facilitate in this illegal ripping.  Since many songs on a device (like an iPod) are ripped in by the owner of the CD they are making a copy on the computer.  A “copy” is just a nice way of saying “stealing”, Pariser inferred.  Many PMPs come with software to rip in CDs (like iTunes).  This is all making more and more people “steal” music, in Ms. Parisers eyes.

Watch out Jennifer may be appearing in your court case when you get sued for making a copy of your own CDs.

written by tom