Webs’ Random Ideas

This is really more of an update to my project of creating an Internet Kiosk Management Server.

The gist of the project is this: Currently we have a boot CD Linux distribution for Internet Kiosks, or walk up Internet/Email stations at work. What this means is that I have a Boot CD with a fully contained Operating System that runs off the CD. So no hard drive or floppy is needed. The system boots directly into Mozilla Firefox with no other applications or options available to the user.

Sounds wonderful right? Well yes, but I have been running into issues with this current system, called Boothbox. As mentioned in my previous posts on this topic, I have run into issues getting Boothbox to run on Dell Hardware. The problem is Boothbox is based on a really old kernel. And updating the kernel in Boothbox just wasn’t working out for me at all.

So a new system is in store.

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… I got your technology controlled, automated household right here! No seriously I do. People say they are still waiting for it, but with a some Linux skills or if you can befriend a geek, automation of daily house chores can be done.

This is some really friggin cool stuff. First we have a cat that posts videos and twitters every time it eats:

First, a proper “cat studio” is required. I picked up a laundry basket, some thin anti-slip mat and a couple of new food bowls for under $15 total. The laundry basked got a side removed by my trusty Dremel tool, and the anti-slip mat was cut to fit and hot-glued in place. After that was done, I had a spare light fixture with a clamp lying around to add to the mix for better lighting.

Motion is a great webcam application that fits my needs exactly. More specifically, when it detects motion, it records a video - think like a security camera, but way, way smarter. When Motion no longer senses any movement after a defined period of time, it encodes the captured video, and then it can run a script or set of commands afterwards. Bingo!

Wow, that actually sounds pretty do-able. I know you may be asking yourself, “What the hell good is that?” Well, think outside the box.

Imagine having a pet and going a vacation for a week to anywhere. Now you no longer have to worry about if your cat has enough food. Open any device with a network connection and has capabilities to display video. Bam! Now you know if you should tell your neighbor to grab the hidden key and add some more food or water.

Want to create a security camera system on the cheap with some amazing capabilities? Want to monitor a child and only be alerted when the child is restless, moves, or wakes up? Or are you just curious about what your pet might be up to while you’re away?

Okay, but what about other chores?

Well we have a link here where a blogger shows he can set up a system where plants notify the owner when they need more water.

The future is coming pretty fast. I would expect to see commercial one stop automation products to come out in the next year or two. And new homes will likely start having some of these features built in. When I build my own house down the road, these are items I’m going to be planning for.

I always do the same thing before installing an OS, no matter which OS it is. I grab my handy Ubuntu 7.10 disk, boot up, and partition the drive. I don’t really install it as my favorite OS is Xubuntu, but the partition editor is really easy to use.

It’s important to note this can be done without touching a pre-existing OS install. Follow the directions below and you can be all set for a dual boot. Here is what I do when I need to partition drives:

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Reader Ted introduced me to Randy Newman and I really enjoy what I’ve heard so far. Not only are the lyrics insightful, witty, and well thought, but the music is well produced. The piano, and sometimes instrumentals, behind the lyrics are themselves enough to listen to without any lyrics.

Somebody else apparently likes Randy too as the video below was created a fan using the song “God’s Song”. enjoy!

Below the fold are the lyrics…

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I went through and deleted a bunch of SPAM accounts. At least they appeared to be SPAM. So if I accidentally deleted your account do not be offended. Just please re-create and come tell me off in a comment on this post

This one still has me baffled a little, as from what I can gather the differences seem very miniscule. From the MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual, scroll down to the comments and find “Eric Stevens”:

Please note that REPLACE INTO is a much slower performer than an UPDATE statement. Keep in mind that a REPLACE INTO requires a test on the keys, and if a matching unique key is found on any or all columns, a DELETE FROM is executed, then an INSERT is executed. There’s a lot of management of rows involved in this, and if you’re doing it frequently, you’ll hurt your performance unless you simply cannot do with any other syntax.

The only time when I can see where you’d actually need a REPLACE INTO is when you have multiple unique constraints on a table, and need to drop any rows that would match any of the constraints. Then REPLACE INTO becomes more efficient from DELETE FROM… INSERT INTO…

Makes sense to me.  I also found another link, I have now lost, that alluded to REPLACE being useful for older versions of MySQL and when a different database structure was used. I have no way to verify that, but it sounded scholarly.

Anyways, It seems to make more sense to use UPDATE to me. Does anyone else have thoughts or know more? I guess that’s the wrong question since everyone knows more about MySQL than me… Does someone with more knowledge want to weigh in?

I am in the process of moving my hosting over to a different company. If things seem a little laggy the next week that might explain it. I think I got all my Wordpress stuff moved, but at some point a switch over is going to occur. I will post a notice when this happens to make sure everyone is aware.

Problem:
Multiple users have reported their shared calendars disappearing. They will log off and back on the next day to find their shared calendars are gone. Sometimes they will restart or shutdown and the shared calendars will disappear. Sometimes they will log off, restart, or shutdown and the shared calendars do not disappear. The issue seems very sporadic.

Configuration:

• Exchange Server 2003
• Office 2007 and Windows XP on all clients
• Clients running in Cached Exchange Mode
  

What I have tried:

• Installing all MS XP and MS Office updates
• Searching the web
• I found the two links below and neither makes any sense. There is nothing in the XML file about shared calendars.
• Some Google Groups posting that mentions items from the nav pane being stored in an XML file
• Another article mentioning similar information and recommends running the resetnavpane switch

Possible Solution:
The information for the list of shared calendars a user is connected to appear to be stored in the Exchange account for that particular user. Which means this information is also stored in the OST file locally. So the most likely scenario is the OST file is somehow corrupt.

Well our users have a Roaming User Profile (RUP). Their local user account folder on the computer is replicated to a server, and the information is snyc’d. So our best guess is the RUP setup is screwing up some files. We will be removing this setup from one user’s account to see if it has an affect as we no longer have a need for RUPs.

UPDATES:

05/09/2008 -
Good news with the RUPs, our control group (the user with the RUP) just reported having her shared calendars disappear. Our test group (the user without the RUP) has yet to report the shared calendars disappearing on her. So we will now remove the RUP from our control user and see what happens. I will keep anyone reading this post up to date!

Reader Ted dropped me a line today with a link for an article on a piece of software that can sift through messages and create a stunningly accurate profile on the author of said message. WarmTouch and how it nailed a grenade-stockpiling cyber extortionist.

WarmTouch uses a scoring system to guess at a suspect’s psychological characteristics. An overuse of the word “me,” for instance, might suggest an exaggerated sense of passivity, an indication the person may feel like a victim. The program can sniff out other clues about the individual, such as whether he is more of a loner (as evidenced by frequent use of the word “I”) or more of a team player (indicated by using “we” instead). The program also pays close attention to rhetorical questions, which are said to be a strong indicator of anger.

Sounds like an interesting piece of software to add to the digital forensics suitcase as the article discusses the accuracy of the software.

Which is something I would tend to buy into. I think people generally write in the digital world with their own passion, emotion, and general feelings on issue x, whatever x may be. Sometimes this writing occurs without regard to the feelings of others. I think this may be due to the disconnect that exists between communicating in the digital world and the real world.

This disconnect exists because we don’t physically see the other person we are dealing with so the human element has been lost. I think this is what keeps people from espousing half the stuff you can read on any Digg.com thread in real life. In real life many people do not wish to attack the feelings of others (especially if a job, promotion, or relationship is on the line) so we think a little more about what we say. In the online world we can write what we want and say, “If you don’t like it, don’t read it!”

Ted joked that a plugin for Wordpress and MoveableType is soon to follow. Joke aside it would be interesting to see the difference it would make with certain bloggers, say the more bombastic ones. Hell what about applying that plugin to Faux News?

From Think Geek, the Super Pii Pii Brothers…