NeutralAxis

Finally, Irritrol has put out an update to their out of date PC Control software for control of irrigation and lighting systems. I’ve just installed it today and like it much better, but it remains to be seen if it is less buggy than their previous software. After running it for a few weeks I’ll do a full review. The current beta version is 2.0.37. You can see my review of the original software here. Also, I plan to test it to see if the software will run on my always-on Linux server using Wine.

Exterior work is finishing up at my renovated house and to keep an eye on progress with the exterior deck work, I set up a webcam, using WebcamXP software. (continue reading…)

Prey is a Windows, Mac, Ubuntu Linux (via Wine), or Android software installation that assists in the event of a portable device becoming lost or stolen. When reported missing via the PreyProject website, the software on the device activates and reports back to the owner several parameters that could be helpful in recovering the device. [Updated 03/29/11]
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I’ve had trouble lately with the voicemail “play” button not working in Google’s mobile web app for Google Voice.  Nor would it work from the native iPhone mail app or the Gmail web app.  Found the problem though. (continue reading…)

Earlier this month I described how to make an image of a drive in a new computer using Clonezilla.  Today, I reversed the process and restored that image onto a new drive.  This thing looks so dangerous, it might eat children. (continue reading…)

There’s a glitch in RocketDock that only shows itself in Windows 7 where stack docklets lose their settings when the computer is restarted.  The problem is related to Win7 security and is easily fixed.  Here’s how. (continue reading…)

I took the plunge and updated to Thunderbird 3  now that the Lightning Calendar (1.0b1) has been updated to work with it.  There are a few differences, both positive and negative, in the change. (continue reading…)

In a previous post, I described how to make custom iPhone and iTouch icons for web pages you host yourself.  That procedure couldn’t be done for web pages you didn’t control, such as a Google Spreadsheet.  Here’s an option for creating custom icons for that sort of situation as well. (continue reading…)

Lightboxed images on a website are those where when you click on a thumbnail image, they expand into a larger image, usually with a semi-transparent background so you can still see the page behind it.  The Lightbox 2 plugins work well and are popular, but don’t have the ability to scale or resize the image if it’s larger than the available screen size, which means that high res digital photos may require scrolling to get to their close or navigation buttons. (continue reading…)

LastPass is a secure online password vault that keeps track of all your various passwords automatically.  A vulnerability of LastPass and other similar programs has been from keyloggers and screen capture programs that could capture its single master password to allow a hacker access to all the other passwords.  For some time, LastPass has offered paying users what they refer to as multi-factor authentication systems which overcome these potential breaches.  They are now providing non-paying users the benefit of multi-factor authorization with their Grid system. (continue reading…)