Why can't Microsoft get their act together?

Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question.

I've been noticing that I get static through the speakers on my new computer, particularly when I switch from one source to another... like listen to music through iTunes, then watch a video on the web.

I dealt with it for a couple weeks, but then I just got annoyed with it; it's a brand-new, high end computer with a decent sound card, and it shouldn't be happening.

I hit Google to see if anybody else was having the same issue, and found a relevant post on Microsoft's support pages. One of their own tech people actually told the person to go download drivers from the sound card manufacturer's website... why didn't I think of that?

So after an install and reboot, my sound is much better.

My question is, especially since my computer is so new, and the drivers I installed were released last summer, why is there such a performance difference between the OEM drivers that windows installed and the ones from the manufacturer that are nearly a year old?

-J

Newport Bridge Photo

I keep thinking about the afternoon I took the shot at the head of the page.

My work had sent me up to Rhode Island for the week for some training, and through the entire week, I had seen nothing but the area around the hotel while looking for something to eat, and the highway to where the class was; so I decided to stay an extra day (on my tab, in case anybody from work sees this), and took a short trip to Newport for Saturday afternoon. As I was crossing over the bridge on the way into town, I decided it would look pretty cool with the sun setting behind it.

My tour of Newport started at Fort Adams, a former military base that's now a state park. Without a sunset calculator, or even a compass, I did some quick guesstimating, and figured that the sun would be setting behind the bridge as seen from the point of the peninsula on which the fort is built, so I'd be back later.

So I continued my tour (driving around town, walking most of the "cliff walk," etc.) and got back to the fort about an hour before sunset, only to find that my guess as to the sunset position was WAY off. I started driving back and forth trying to find the best vantage point, only to find that for what I was looking for, I'd need to be on the Navy base right behind the hospital- out of the question. I eventually found a tiny park right on the water near the foot of the bridge that had a fishing pier jutting right out into the harbor. I managed to click off about 20 frames before the sun had set too much. I almost missed it, but I think it worked out well.

-J

Data Recovery from iPod

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm recovering from catastrophic data loss. I have not yet been able to get either of my older HDDs to function... if I get anywhere with that, I will definitely write about it.

The good news is, I've managed to get my music collection (at least the parts I listened to, anyway) out of my iPod.

As anyone familiar with iPods and iTunes software is aware, the system as put out by Apple is a great way to organize your music, but music transfer to the iPod is one-directional. For licencing reasons, it was decided to be handled that way so people couldn't pirate music from other people's devices. Most of my collection was actually ripped from my own CDs, so it wouldn't have been a total loss, other than a colossal amount of time.

I first installed iTunes, and made sure to check the box in the preferences to prevent my device from syncing automatically. I did not want it to sync to an empty music folder, thus deleting everything on board.

It's also necessary at this point to make sure the iPod itself is set for disk mode.

I then downloaded and installed a program called Copytrans, available from www.copytrans.net. It's actually a cool little program, and the trial version will allow you to copy 250 files, if that's all you've got. Otherwise, to purchase a licence is somewhere in the range of $20 US dollars. I considered that a modest fee considering the colossal amount of time it saved me.

Upon starting up the program (shut down iTunes first), you get a prompt that it's now OK to connect your iPod.

Just left of the top center of the window, you will find the start backup button, and just to its left, two radio buttons for either smart backup, or manual backup. There are also options for what you want to copy... number of times played, playlists, podcasts, etc. These are all selected by default. Considering the situation I was in (total data loss) I left everything selected and hit the smart backup button, and walked away. A few minutes later, all my music, playlists, podcasts (even one of the subscriptions was already set up) was all neatly filed away in my iTunes folder.

Worked like a charm.

-J

Picked up a new computer last week.

I'll likely be babbling about this off and on for a while.
I had some MASSIVE difficulty (more aptly called catastrophic failure) with my last computer, so I replaced it.
I've since discovered that I need to rework (again) my backup scheme. I've had difficulty in the past with one or the other hard disks failing, so I backed up each to the other. So far, the "good" drive will not read, and for the other, I need to find some way to connect it to the new computer. The new one has no data headers of the right type to read the old drive.
I'm freaking out, because there's two years worth of work sitting on either of those drives that I can't get to- most of it is total crap, but I can think of half a dozen frames that I need back. I know I should have backed it all up to disk, and kept it in my locker at work, or a safe deposit box, or something... my fault.
While I'm on the subject of the new computer, so far I love it, but it's ugly as sin. I'd love to meet the person at Dell that decided that white sides, smooth shiny black front and top surrounded by a nearly red orange metallic bezel looked good. It doesn't. I appreciate that people have finally decided that the basic beige box we grew up with is ugly, but so is this.

That's all for now,

-J

Greetings!

This site is under construction at the moment. I've finally broken down and set up a place to vent, generally ramble, and discuss my hobbies. More will be posted soon.

-J