Adobe: Illustrator – How to get Effect – Pixelate -Halftone with Vectors March 13, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Uncategorized.add a comment
One way that will give you a clean halftone pattern using vector objects:
1. Draw a circle; 2. Copy the circle and drag the copy to where the top anchor of the copy aligns with the right anchor of the original; 3. Select both, copy, and align so the top anchor of the copy aligns with the bottom anchor of the original:
4. Repeat the copying/pasting until you have a nice little row of circles; 5. Select the entire row, and make a copy waaaay to the right:
6. Select all, give it all a black fill, remove the stroke; 7. Select the right row, and hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D (Object>Transform>Transform Each) and set the scale for 2% vertical and 2% horizontal (Hard to see them lil specks for a moment…):
8. Select the left row of big circles, group them; 9. Select the right row of small specks, group them too; 10. Select all, make a blend:
Adjust as needed. You’ll notice that if you drag the right row to the right, more rows will blend in.
Adobe: Illustrator – How to get Effect>Pixelate>Halftone Colour in one color
Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2012 to Manufacturing March 12, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Microsoft, Server, Software, SQL.add a comment
Microsoft this week announced that it has completed the development of SQL Server 2012, the next major release of its data platform. Code-named Denali and in development for several years, SQL Server 2012 will become broadly available next month, according to the company.
"Data is being generated faster than ever before, and organizations need a way to process and analyze all that data," says Microsoft Corporate Vice President Ted Kummert. "Whatever the type or size of data, SQL Server 2012 delivers the platform and familiar tools to manage data, generate actionable insights, and help drive business impact."
Microsoft Windows Server 8 Hyper-V March 3, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Microsoft, Paul Thurrott, Platforms & EcoSystems, Windows Server.add a comment
Wow! If I had to pick one word to describe my reaction to the new and improved Microsoft Hyper-V features in Windows Server 8, then wow would be it. A little smile crept onto my face when I saw all the features that will put Hyper-V on equal footing — or ahead of — the competition, from a pure machine virtualization-platform feature comparison.
Microsoft has been clear in its message that Windows Server 8 is the OS and virtualization platform, for both private environments and the public cloud. Hyper-V provides functionality that allows Windows Server 8 to be a true cloud solution. This typically means enough scalability, flexibility, and security or isolation capabilities to handle all the possible scenarios in a cloud solution that’s shared by different business units or even different organizations
Read More…Microsoft Windows Server 8 Hyper-V
Why even waste a single dollar on VM-Ware. I’ve been running Hyper-V configurations for many years without much difficulty. They have proven reliable and consistent with a proper infrastructure design. It’s benefited my SMB customers by migrating VHDs instead of reinstalling application when upgrading to new server hardware,
Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Internet Explorer 10 Secrets March 3, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Microsoft, Paul Thurrott, Platforms & EcoSystems, Windows.add a comment
Looking at Windows 8 broadly, I think the most curious and interesting thing about this new operating system is its dual–and dueling–personalities. This is most obviously seen in Windows 8’s new Windows runtime, or WinRT, which provides a Metro-style environment and the Start screen in addition to the more traditional Windows desktop. But it can also be seen in Internet Explorer 10.
IE 10 is a curious beast. There are two versions of this application, really two completely separate applications, in Windows 8. One is a Metro-style app and more locked down and constrained while providing a unique full-screen browsing experience that will be useful on tablets and other highly mobile devices. The other is a traditional desktop application that looks and works much like its predecessor and is fully extensible with third-party add-ons.
The two share the same rendering engines, of course, the same bookmarks, and some basic features like tabs. But the interaction between these two separate IE versions may be unclear to most users. Add a third party browser or two, or muck around with configuring a different browser as the default, and things get even weirder.
So let’s discuss a few of what I consider to be IE 10’s biggest secrets. Some of these are subtle, but those who upgrade to Windows 8 in particular, this will be worth understanding.
Read More…Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Internet Explorer 10 Secrets
Microsoft Download Manager – Cannot install in a Windows Server box » Everything about technology March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Microsoft, Server, Software, Solutions, Troubleshooting & Knowledge Bases.add a comment
For a long time now every time I try to download something from a Microsoft site that uses the download manager I come across different error messages in Internet Explorer, the latest one being: “An add-on for this website failed to run. Check the security settings in Internet Options for Potential Conflicts.” and it pretty much stays in a screen that looks like the following one:
If you observe the installation in another box with a different browser you will notice that the Akamai Download Manager being used by Microsoft is not working and the main reason behind that is because this ActiveX controller is coming from a non-Microsoft site. You can install it from Akamai directly from their site at: http://dlm.tools.akamai.com/dlmanager/versions/activex/dlm-activex-2.2.5.0.cab, however there is an easier and better way to address this. Go to the list of trusted sites and add the following one:
Microsoft Download Manager – Cannot install in a Windows Server box » Everything about technology
The Ones That Didn’t Make It: Windows’ Failed Rivals March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Archives, Microsoft, Platforms & EcoSystems, Windows.add a comment
A quarter century ago, a new package called Windows faced some pretty daunting competition.
By Harry McCracken | Monday, November 22, 2010 at 5:37 am
Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0 on November 20th, 1985. Twenty-five years and two days later, it’s not just hard to remember an era in which Windows wasn’t everywhere–it’s also easy to forget that it wasn’t a given that it would catch on, period.
The company had announced the software in November of 1983, before most PC users had ever seen a graphical user interface or touched the input device known as a mouse. But by the time Windows finally shipped two years later, after a series of embarrassing delays, it had seemingly blown whatever first-mover advantage it might have had. At least four other major DOS add-ons that let users run multiple programs in “windows” had already arrived.
Read More…The Ones That Didn’t Make It: Windows’ Failed Rivals
With WOA, It’s Windows NT All Over Again March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Microsoft, Platforms & EcoSystems, Windows, WindowsITPro.add a comment
February 14, 2012 11:31 AM
With WOA, It’s Windows NT All Over Again
Windows IT Pro
InstantDoc ID #142268
Rating:
(108)
Gather ’round the camp fire, guys, it’s story time. And tonight’s story is a tale of redemption, a story ’bout the greatest OS ever made, a sad stretch in the wilderness, and its rebirth this year as a champion of a new generation of devices. Yes, folks, I’m talking about Windows NT. And it’s back, baby.
Twenty long years ago, Microsoft raided the near-corpse of the struggling minicomputer maker DEC, taking, among other things, Dave Cutler and a cadre of his closest friends and coworkers. Cutler was frustrated when DEC cancelled the microkernel-based OS he was working on, and Microsoft offered the cure: a chance to design its own next-generation OS, called NT (for New Technology).
iPads aren’t less expensive than PCs — the average selling price of a laptop computer right now is about $450, below the starting price of the iPad, which runs from $500 to $830 — and this in no small way contributed to a broad misunderstanding of how successful the device would be. But iPads are significantly simpler than PCs. And the key bit is that, for most people, they do everything expected of a more complex PC, but in a friendlier, touch-centric way.
Read More…With WOA, It’s Windows NT All Over Again
I almost forgot the days when Windows NT came out of the box with multiple CDs for each of the Architectures. Even more recently I remember the Itanium DVD floating around. If WOA support Group Policy this will sell like hotcakes in SMB and Enterprise,
Tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer causes big stir on launch day – CNN.com March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in *New Products, CNN, News and politics.Tags: assets, British, card, circuit, computer, cost, debut, designers, distributors, Foundation, gallery, goal, graphics, hours, March, Mullins, Nick, playback, Raspberry, Read, Robert, Thompson, Tiny, width
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By Nick Thompson, CNN
updated 8:26 AM EST, Fri March 2, 2012 |
(CNN) — The debut of the tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer crashed its distributors’ websites on the way to selling out within hours of launch.
Looking like little more than a credit card-sized chip of circuit board, the powerful, fully-programmable PC can plug into any TV and can power 3D graphics and Blu-ray video playback.
Its British-based designers at the Raspberry Pi Foundation hope the computer, which has been in the works for six years, will spark new interest in programming among children.
"The primary goal was to build a low cost computer that every child could own, and one where programming was the natural thing to do with it," said co-founder Robert Mullins.
Read More…Tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer causes big stir on launch day – CNN.com
Microsoft to reveal more Windows 8 Enterprise details at CeBIT conference next week | The Verge March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Microsoft, Platforms & EcoSystems, The Verge, Windows.Tags: Apple, Bohn, CeBIT, computer, conference, diagram, Dieter, ecosystem, Enterprise, event, fact, February, Hanover, machine, manner, March, Microsoft, Read, Spaces, storage, theme, users, Verge, week, Windows
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By Dieter Bohnon February 29, 2012 11:00 am
During today’s Windows 8 keynote, Microsoft showed off a previously-known Enterprise features like Windows To Go, which allows a computer to boot into Windows 8 off of a USB stick. Microsoft also demoed "Storage Spaces," which allows a Windows 8 machine to act as a hard drive array, providing simple, massive storage to any computer on the network. It seems as though there’s yet more to Windows 8 Enterprise that the company has yet to reveal, but more will be revealed next week at the CeBIT conference in Hanover. The conference begins on March 6th and The Verge will be there to bring you all the details from the next Windows 8 event.
Microsoft also emphasized that enterprise users will benefit from the fact that Windows 8 offers the same experience on all manner of devices, from very small to very large and powerful. It’s a theme that the company hit on consistently throughout the entire keynote, and very likely going to be one of the big talking points when it comes time to directly compete with Apple’s iPad ecosystem.
Read More…Microsoft to reveal more Windows 8 Enterprise details at CeBIT conference next week | The Verge
That’s a great diagram showing how the ecosystem has reach in many spaces.
Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money? | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com March 2, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Uncategorized.add a comment
Jeremiah Grossman is the kind of guy you’d expect to be super paranoid when it comes to computer security. He was on the front lines at Yahoo more than a decade ago when a hacker named MafiaBoy was abusing the site with DDoS attacks. Now Chief Technology Officer at security consultancy White Hat Security, Grossman spends his time fighting web intruders for his company’s clients.
When it comes to computer security, he’s paranoid — and for good reason. He’s seen what the bad guys can do. But when he met with Wired at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, he said something surprising: He doesn’t use antivirus software.
As it turns out, many of his security-minded peers don’t use it either. The reason: If someone is going to try and attack them, they’re likely to use a new technique, one that most antivirus products will miss. “If you asked the average security expert whether they use antivirus or not,” Grossman says “a significant proportion of them do not.”
Read More…Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money? | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com
Great detailed article that is very correct on not necessarily needing anti-virus software. A properly configured Windows computer can very very virus resilient in conjunction with a properly educated user on the system.
Rule #1 Be aware of when you open links or click on pictures in web pages. Many malwares disguise themselves to look like valid Windows warnings. If you are not sure hit Alt-F4 to close
Rule #2 Make sure your daily use account is set as “Standard User”, make a separate account as “Administrative” i.e. call it Admin. On any new PC the very first account created has Administrative rights. Call it Admin then create another account for yourself, i.e. John
I will be publishing a full article in the near future.
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