Test the Speed of your Internet Connection

Testing the speed (or bandwidth) of your Internet connection is easy. There are a few Web sites available that providees this service free for use. One thing to keep in mind is that the more hardware you have between the PC you are testing and the Internet connection the slower or possibly the less accurate the test will be. However, if you are the common household with dial-up or high speed internet, then you will most likely be fine running the test and gett accurate results. Do not try it at your work as they have too much in the way making the test worthless.

Here is the best site out there:
Speakeasy.net
-- Click on any city that appears. I try a close city and then one further away to compare. It will test both ways pulling (download) and pushing (upload) data.

Others have come and gone. So I'm not bothering to post them unless I find them to be more consistent and not a threat to the PC or home network being tested.

GMail

Nothing like it. Its free. Its innovative. All the other free email online providers copy features from GMail but not nearly as well. It performs very well. Its easy to use. Its have advance features that once you start playing with them you love them.

This is not an advertisement, however, the topic of email is a short conversation that occurs at least once a month. Ever hear people say they lost email messages? How about their email client could not send or receive?

First thing that is great about GMail that no one thought of prior to, was to do away with the concept of filing email messages within folders. Why? That's a Window's thing. Instead, they provided the greatest feature ever, labels. Not only can you apply a label, but you can apply more than one label to an email message. This makes finding a message in the future, days, month, even years later, so incredibly easy.

Another great feature is the growing free storage space. Never hit the limit. Never had to worry about paying for additional space.

Not even close to finally, but the last feature I'll mention here is Google talk. Embedded within the GMail interface when enabled by the user, and you can talk with anyone free. You can even send and receive text messages to mobile devices for free (the person using a mobile phone will incur normal mobile service fees by their provider - but you will not as a Google talk user.) Also, if the other person is using Google Talk you can have free voice chats. Its let's you know with a simple visible indicator if the person is available or not. If not, you can still send them messages and they will get them as email message the next time they check their email. They respond just like any email going forward.

That's my little rant. I'm done.

What's your Issue?

Have something you need help with - technical in nature? Just leave a comment. Perhaps help can be provided and for free.

Digital Signatures vs Electronic Signatures

There is a difference between the two terms. In fact for those of you that work in a regulated environment (i.e. 21 CRF Part 11) it is very important that you understand the difference.

The terms themselves are not carved in stone. However, the difference in concepts are. Digital signatures are a legally binding representation of a individuals signature. It can be held up in a court of law. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is one option provided by many vendors that allows a user to digitally sign an object. The PKI service issues a digital certificate which requires the user to provide certain forms of identification to prove to the vendor the person is who they say they are (a.k.a. non-repudiation).

Electronic signatures in theory are not a true legally binding signature. Instead, anyone can create electronic signatures and are usually referred to as a hybrid. This can be in the form of a user supplying a password or some other form of personal information that only they know that results in a personal "stamp" being applied to the object they are approving. The hybrid signature is only valid within the system of which the signature was designed for. For instance, many in the corporate world use hybrid signatures when approving electronic documents within an electronic document management system. Those approvals stamp information onto the electronic document. Within the control of the system the signature means everything. Take the document outside of the system and it can not be validated. Meaning, without a proper SOP or knowledgeable individuals about the system and document and the document approval is not valid. Also, if the document is shared external to the system and/or company, they have no way of validating the approval.

When it comes to sharing information with a regulatory authority (i.e. pharma industry) those reviewing the documents do not care about validating the signatures. They already accept the documents as being valid because the company must have filed with the regulatory authority that any documents submitted on behalf of the company are representative of the company and accurate to the best of the company's knowledge. The CEO or designated officials within the company have to submit this with their legal signature before any information can be shared with a regulatory authority.

Perhaps one day, the regulatory authorities will require signatures on all documents be submitted so that they can validate them. This can be easily completed, however, some coordination is required with both sides of the communication (company and accepting authority).

In summary, the exact terms used to describe the above details are sometimes misleading. Be careful what you call what when communicating the details. Make sure you are clear about the concepts and implement the specific technology to meet the need of the business or individual. If not, it could lead to legal issues or other negative impacts to those involved when using this technology.

Public Utilities (Internet, Phone, etc)

Over the past year I had a run in with a service provider that caused a great deal of headache with getting my billing straightened out. It took over a year of countless hours of wasted time making phone calls (getting hung up one, getting the run around, transferring me to no one or to someone that couldn't help, on and on).

My finally solution, contact the PUC or the Public Utility Commission.

Not too long after filing a complaint with the PUC I received a phone call from the service provider, a specific person with a name that continue to be my POC (point of contact). We put a plan in place and create a time line when we would contact each other. I was told that they have a case open with the PUC and can not close it until we have resolved all the issues. Not only that but the PUC was checking in with me to see how things were going. In addition, the service provider kindly credited my account for a period of time to help offset the trouble I went through. It helped.

Finally, the "little guy' wasn't pushed around around any longer. I had the big guns on my side and the over sized beast was paying attention in a mannerly fashion.

For information on your local PUC search the Web for your state public utility commission. I went down the path of filing online. Worked great! It a free service (taxes support) and they have laws that require these businesses

Morale of the story, don't give up if bureaucracy stands in your way when dealing with a business. There is always an option.

Next posting I will talking about how I had to use the Attorney General of my state to get a refund that was due to me. The nerve of some businesses.

Xbox 360: No Video Issue Fix

After years of battles and being victorious over the numerous failures of my Xbox 360, I finally hit a road block where I lost all video display and then eventually sound.

The console boots up perfectly fine, fans spinning, DVD drive working, can even hear the sound during the start screen, but no video. Then the sound went too. How embarrassing when you have people over to look at pictures through the media center to end up having a non-working Xbox 360.

Troubleshooting
Try the obvious...let the Xbox 360 cool down; remove all cables including power cord then plug in each cable one at a time powering on in-between cable plug ins (MS told me this one years ago during the first 3-red light incident); change video cable; switch TV ports; go to a different TV; etc.

Nothing helped, in fact, when I started troubleshooting, only the video was a problem. Within two days a thte end of my troubleshooting, I no longer had video or sound.

The Fix
I found on the Web a number of resources that led me to believe that the same fix for the 3-red light problem would fix the no video problem...the source of the issue overheating CPU and GPU...more specifically, the x-clamp design.

Its takes a few hours to fix, but once done, (1) you'll save yourself a lot of time having to deal with MS; (2) you'll save youself a great deal of money (if out of warranty); (3) you'll have a working Xbox 360 for a lot more time to come.

The 3rd benefit is from what I have read online. all that performed this fix has not had a single reoccurring incident since then.

The Best FREE Source Fix

I had to make two trips. One to the computer store (i.e. Microcenter) for the heat compound remover and new heat compound. The second to the hardware store for the screws and washers.

Analysis
As many sources online indicate, the x-clamps and the over abundant supply of heat compound installed by the manufacturer created an environment that exponentially increased the odds of a problem with overheating. Check out the heat compound manufacturer Websites and you'll see that they even tell you to only apply a small amount to the exposed part of the chip that will touch the heatsink directly. Any exposure to the surround circuitry can cause adverse effects.

Good luck with your fix.

Microsoft and their Xbox Live Points System

Note: This is not about the achievements points.

So, what are Xbox Live points
Microsoft has a fancy point system that requires subscribers to purchase Microsoft points if they wish to purchase items online through Xbox Live. For instance, a game has new maps for purchase through Xbox Live. You must have your Xbox Live account loaded with enough points to purchase the new maps. Same thing goes for Arcade games, gamer pictures, online video rentals, and everything else Xbox Live has to offer that is for purchase and not free.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Points for more details.

What's wrong with this
Microsoft has devised this strategy to make it easier for Xbox Live subscribers to purchase items without having to input credit card details. Why? Security? Maybe. Convenience? Most likely. Accounting practices don't have to flex much when you purchase the point cards from stores in your local currency. My biggest problem with this is that they don't even provide the option, for those of us that don't mind spending extra time making the purchase (in fact, at time I wouldn't have minded purchasing more than the standard denominations available).

Now that we got that out of the way, let's dig deeper into why these points exist. This is merely a thoery, but being that most understand how businesses function (soley on how the bottom line looks) we can rest assure that Microsoft devised this strategy to raise more profit. Think about it, you see a game or expansion map on Xbox Live for $10 or 800 points. Which refocuses you desire to buy the item? Well, $10 is kind of a lot when you think about it since I just purchase the game for $60 two months ago. But 800 points, I can't relate. I know I have 1600 points, what's spending 800 points now. How about this, I have 1600 points in my account, what else is it doing there except just sitting? Sure I'll use the points.

See, it is all a mind game. They detach the relationship you have with money when purchasing items on Xbox Live.

Pricing Structure
For the past few years the price has remained mostly stable...differing from store to store by a few cents. As of the time of writing this (Dec 2007) the market price for points is $1.25 per 100 points. Again, depending on what store you go to you could pay slightly more or slightly less. The average is $19.99 for 1600 pts. Only a few online retailers sell significantly cheaper but add in the shipping costs and it may not be a good deal after all.

Plus, the MS points are non-refundable. But what can you do? They got us.

DVR-MS

So you think you are stuck
Windows XP Media Center (MCE) saves recorded television and movies in dvr-ms format. So basically, you convert this format to something other than dvr-ms and lose all the show information (i.e. run time, description, etc.), or leave it on your PC. And hopefully, if you leave it, you have a plan in place for backing up and expanding your disk space so you can record more and more.

Another problem with this format is the lack of software products available that allow you to strip out the commercials and record to DVD for watching elsewhere (just like the days of VHS).

What to do?
My solution was to purchase a DVD Dual-Layer burner allowing me to store 8.4 GB, instead of the normal 4.7 GB on a single DVD. Fortunately, for me a free license came with the burner for Nero products. The best software product I have seen yet, is Nero Vision Express. It allows me to integrate numerous digital content formats and well as pull from digital picture and video already on the machine and capture video from my video recorder. In addition it fully supports dvr-ms. Also, what found to be a great plus, is that I could grab a snapshot of any point in the video and save it as what looked to be any image format for later viewing.

There are other products that some folks have mentioned to me, but those all seem to be limited to those that purchase a Media Center Edition computer from a major manufacturer.

So, using this product, I can strip out the commercials and even save it to DVD-Video containing menus and other features than DVD normally have.

Some helpful links

• DVR-MS (Microsoft Digital Video Recording) Defined


• Digital video recorder


• Here is the basic DVD-DL drive I purchase from a well-known electronics store that came with the license for the Nero product suite.


• How to automatically convert DVR-MS files for PSP Playback