October 31, 2014
October 22, 2013
Logging in Automatically and Other Windows 8.1 Tweaks
I run Windows 8.1 as a virtual machine in VMware Fusion. I let the host operating system take care of security, specifically:
If I lock my host OS, then you can’t get to the guest virtual machines. So, I don’t want additional screen savers or passwords on my virtual machines–life is too short to enter your password too often. With previous versions of Windows, including Windows 8 you could set your computer to automatically login using the netplwiz.exe or ‘control userpasswords2’ utility. After upgrading to Windows 8.1 the “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.” configurable option was no longer present for me. To fix this it was necessary to go to Control Panel > User Accounts and select “Reset Security Policies” (see image to the right). Then you could use netplwiz or ‘control userpasswords2’ to setup automatic login. Alternatively you can use the Windows Sysinternals Autologon utility to configure automatic login. Reboot for changes to take effect. You must also disable the lock screen–not only don’t I want to enter my password to login, I especially don’t want to have to swipe up a lock screen. This feature only seems worthwhile on a tablet, but even on a tablet that’s debatable. To disable the lock screen from the command prompt, launch gpedit. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administartive Templates > Control Panel > Personalization. Double click or right click and select “Edit”. Select the radio button to enable this option. Reboot. A couple of other desirable tweaks to Windows 8.1:
I’ll let you figure out how to turn off the screen saver and sleep features on your own and also set your desktop wall paper to also be your Metro start menu back ground. Now that Windows 8.1 is feeling more like a desktop OS again, I find it desirable to go directly to the desktop on login. To enable this, launch the desktop from the Metro menu. Right click the taskbar and select properties. Select “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start.” |
October 6, 2012
My Smart Phones through the Ages
August 30, 2012
VMworld 2012 Takeaways, Day 4
The Thursday keynote at VMworld generally highlights some inspirational technologies and their creators, generally not at all related to virtualization. In the 2012 Thursday keynote, Genius Machines, the speakers talked about autonomous algorithms that run the world, humanoid robots, and self-driving cars… In short, we are closer to the robot wars than ever.
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August 29, 2012
VMworld 2012 Takeaways, Day 3
Day three started off with no keynote. That is probably because there are a lot of parties Tuesday night, so a lot of reasons to sleep in. Personally, my first session of the day started at 9:30, What’s New with vSphere Automation. They were talking about new commands in esxcli and PowerCLI. The PowerCLI guy sounds a bit like Ricky Gvais, but not so funny. Takeaways:
I literally get to take away a PowerCLI and esxcli quick reference poster. Kinda cool since there isn’t much 5.1 documentation at vmware.com yet. Session 2, VM Scare? Heterogeneous Virtualization’s Impact. This guy is not into heterogeneous hypervisors. He’s from Gartner, so it isn’t because he’s trying to sell us something. In fact, Gartner makes their living off complexity–if the world is simple, what do we need consultants for? He’s basically saying there aren’t good reasons for using multiple hypervisors.
I got to ask about how far this recommendation extends to VDI, and he gave a bit of an “it depends” answer. He actually said that VDI is perhaps the only place where having a siloed approach makes sense. He had a couple of observations:
I like that last observation. It may be just because choosing a VDI solution is a complex process and I’d be happy to pass the job off to our user team. My first order of business when I get back to work next week. I went to the the session, Securing the Virtual Environment: How to Defend the Enterprise. What I learned? Our security guys need to understand virtualization. Today over 60% of servers are virtualized. There are special considerations that apply to virtualized infrastructure. The old rules and methods may not apply. It will become unacceptable to halt forward progress because the security guys don’t know current technology. Our security guys should get this book, Securing the Virtual Environment: How to Defend the Enterprise Against Attack. |
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August 28, 2012
VMworld 2012 Takeaways, Day 2
The day started with a less dramatic keynote than Monday. Steve Herrod, VMware CTO, gave an update on end-user computing. I like the prospects of Operation Horizon–the promise of delivering the user a single place to go for all their apps, desktops, and data. Last year Steve demoed mobile OS virtualization on an Android device. That was pretty slick, but it was for Android only. This year he demoed some interesting developments in the iOS space. While the Android solution is still more impressive and elegant, at least VMware was able to demonstrate a commitment to developing for iOS, since that is what most customers want. The biggest eyebrow-raiser for me is the integration of XenApp into Horizon. VMware is going head on at Citrix in the desktop virtualization space, and other fronts: cloud file storage, user portal, self-provisioning… It is interesting that they seem to be throwing in the towel on application virtualization. Not sure if they are running into too much resistance on the electronic medical records front, where hospitals seem to be largely committed to XenApp or what. Or, if they are having trouble innovating with respect to ThinApp. In any case, it is an interesting development. Personally, I’m not sure I want to support infrastructure for both View and Xen if I don’t have to.
Takeaways from session vCAT 3.0: Architecture to Implementation in 5 Easy Steps:
Now for the arguably geekiest session yet, Virtualizing Oracle for Disaster Recovery with Data Guard and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Takeaways:
How about benefits of virtualizing Oracle?
Daily Fails. So today had some fails that warrant mentioning:
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August 27, 2012
VMworld 2012 Takeaways, Day 1
VMworld got off to a dramatic start this morning with a drums and dancing spectacle and a passing of the baton from outgoing CEO Paul Maritz to former EMC COO Pat Gelsinger. Can’t say I have no concerns about continuity of vision and momentum. I’m also wondering what is behind the leadership change up after only four years at the helm. Word is Paul will still be involved as a board member and still walking the halls of VMware.
There were a few other notable announcements like dropping the vRAM-based pricing model and announcing a per CPU pricing model with no core count, memory, or VM count restrictions. Other interesting announcements were a focus on end-user computing and management tools. I wonder what implications this has for “coopetition” between VMware and Citrix and between VMware and any number of management tools providers currently on display in the Solutions Exchange. Anyhow, how about some takeaways from my first session, Architecting Auto Deploy for Availability and Scalability:
A tip from my second session, esxtop for Advanced Users: Set the power regulation setting in the BIOS to OS control to get more useful data out of esxtop. Otherwise the OS, ESXi in this case, will not be able to differentiate CPU/core activity and will only display total utilization. At least that’s what think he was saying. By-the-way, there sure seem to be a lot of people in this session… And all glassy eyed. Not a good choice for after lunch. They are probably all trying to make people think they are total wizards by sitting in on such a geeky session. That’s why I’m here. I’m probably going to sound like a geek here, but this session and a later session, Become a Rock Star with PowerCLI and vCenter Orchestrator nearly made me want to take some time away from my conference agenda to get on console and mess around with esxtop and PowerCLI. I have three back to back parties to go to and I’m wondering when I can remote into a server. What is wrong with me? It will have to wait. I’m sure I’ll be in no condition for command lining by the time I get back to my hotel room. Daily Fails: While VMware deserves a lot of commendation for pulling off such a massive conference, with a lot of complexity, and a lot of very impressive technology–and this year with a record 20,000+ attendees–I gotta report on a couple of fails from the conference so far:
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April 5, 2012
How to Always Keep a Program Running in Mac OSX
With IOS 5, you can now automatically sync your iPhone over the air, if your iPhone is plugged into a charging device and is on the same wifi network as the computer with your iTunes library. I really like this feature. I listen to a lot of podcasts, some of which come out daily. So, with over-the-air syncing, now I don’t have to plug my iPhone into my computer every day to make sure I’ve got my latest podcasts. I shouldn’t even need to touch that computer, but when I wake up in the morning and unplug my iPhone from its charger on my nightstand I am ready to go and can listen to that first podcast while I’m getting showered and dressed. That is unless iTunes is not running. Many times I have gotten up and a new podcast was not waiting for me. And it is universally because iTunes was closed. Now I need to open iTunes and wait for it to check for new podcasts and download then and then sync my iPhone. Many wasted minutes and my day is off to a poor start. So, how can I make sure that iTunes stays open?
I got this procedure from this MacWorld forum post.
If you have iTunes set to open on login, deselect that. This will take care of it.
Create the following plist file in the LaunchAgents folder of your home Library (~/Library/LaunchAgents) with the name user.launchkeep.itunes.plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>user.launchkeep.itunes</string> <key>KeepAlive</key> <true/> <key>Program</key> <string>/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes</string> </dict> </plist>
Load this launchd job by running the following command in Terminal:
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/user.launchkeep.itunes.plist
Now if you quit iTunes it will start right back up. In order to quit the app at any time other than logout or shutdown you’ll need to disable the job. To do that run the following comman in Terminal:
launchctl remove user.launchkeep.itunes
November 18, 2011
Some Unsolicited Advice about Posting a lot of Pictures on Facebook
Recently while checking Facebook, I saw that a friend had added 200 new photos to a gallery. I had to say something. So I messaged him with some unsolicited advice. I realized that there are others out there who need to hear this message so I am republishing it here as an open letter:
Dear Friend,
I wouldn’t bother saying this unless I was trying to be a friend, and not just a Facebook friend, but a REAL freind… And I don’t know how to say it other than just saying it… you need to be selective with the pictures you post. I really want to look at the pictures of your travels, but c’mon, 200 pictures! When I see 200+ pictures in this gallery, I physically groan and either unhappily slog through the gallery or don’t bother at all–depending on my mood and general busyness. Because I like you. And like your family. And I want to keep up with what you are doing. But seriously, you should stop posting every picture you take.
Here are some tips you didn’t ask for:
- Professional photographers take a lot of pictures and then choose only the best for publication. Take a cue from that. Pick a few that are truly representative of your trip. You don’t have to capture every moment, place or event. Select pictures that capture the overall feelings, impressions, beauty… from your trip. I use a max 10% rule. Only post 1 in 10. You will have to make tough choices. It is OK.
- Do a little post processing. It isn’t so intimidating when you only have one or two dozen photos to work on. In iPhoto there is an auto-adjust that is very often all that is needed to improve the color and exposure on an ordinary picture to make it a lot better. To make it come alive. This is important. One great picture will leave a stronger impression on the viewer than 200 “meh” pictures.
- If you are just using fb as a way to preserve your photos in the event of a disaster there are better ways to do it… Carbonite, Flickr, Phanfare, SmugMug…
- If you have friends or family who really want to see every single picture from your trip, Phanfare or SmugMug are good options. You can create private galleries and send invites to those people, or you can simply include a “to see more follow this link” in the description of your galleries on Facebook. Then everyone who wants to see some highlights from your trip can see that and if they want to see more, they can go to the SmugMug or Phanfare gallery.
Of course you can just say “I don’t give a rat’s a$$ if Kendall looks at my galleries or not. I’m gonna just keep doing it this way.” That would be fine and I won’t think any differently of you. Just trying to be helpful.
KG
June 9, 2011
Phanfare Update: Sucking Less, Again
This is an update to post Newsflash: Phanfare Sucks Again. On Monday, June 13, Andrew Erlichson posted a FAQ article regarding the acquisition. Check it out for the official low down.
Today I received an update from Andrew Erlichson, Phanfare founder and CEO. I get the impression that we had the same conversation by phone that he had with several other lifetime subscribers. In short, Phanfare needed to sell. They needed to partner with a larger company with the finance, marketing, and strategy resources to take an excellent product and make it profitable. If Phanfare had not arranged the buy out by Carbonite it is likely that they would have shuttered. That would have left all their customers without service, their data, or a refund. So selling to Carbonite was not an easy decision, and it was not a good solution, but it was the best Mr. Erlichson could do for all of Phanfare’s customers. Standard annual subscribers should see no change in service or pricing . And although lifetime subscribers are not getting a good deal, they can get three more years at no additional charge and most importantly this is a plan that will keep their data secure for the foreseeable future. For those not satisfied with this arrangement, Mr. Erlichson is now being totally clear that customers who so desire can get a full refund of their $299.95, original purchase price per the 2006 Terms of Service:
Phanfare may terminate a lifetime subscription at any time by returning the photos and videos to you and returning your original purchase price, currently $299.95.
Some people will quibble that the 2006 TOS also include a provision “to receive your photos and video back on DVD once at no cost”. Mr. Erlichson has been clear that they will not be burning and mailing DVDs. Users will be able to receive their data “via electronic download with a new program we are writing”. I would argue that it is better to download your files yourself, to a PC or attached harddrive anyhow. You will get your files sooner–it would take weeks to burn and mail all the requested DVDs. Also downloading to a PC or attached HD will allow you to have all your files in one place. The average Phanfare user would require at least two or three DVDs. Then you get in the business of searching through multiple DVDs looking for a particular photo. Better to download them yourself and have them all in one place. Personally, I would not wait for this downloader program to arrive and you don’t have to. If you are Windows user you can download your files today using Mirgatr.
One final thought: Mr. Erlichson requests that we not be too hard on Carbonite. And I don’t really intend to be hard on them here, more than to say that it really would not have been that difficult for Carbonite to have maintained the lifetime subscriber program and associate the program to “annual revenue” which is their practice. All they would have had to do as part of the buy out is place a certain sum of money in an annuity that would pay out according to their revenue requirement. The annuity would not have to be perpetual, as lifetime subscribers will ultimately die and the membership is not transferable. Would this quantity equal the $250,000 dollars we all paid to Phanfare five or more years ago? I don’t know. Because I don’t know what their revenue requirement is nor can I assume how long this annuity should last. But clearly there is a sum of money that could be annuitized and reasonably be expected to meet their revenue requirement. They opted to not do this. Why? Because it was an additional expense and it was slightly more complicated. Now is the convenient time to make a clean break from the lifetime program. I am wondering if it was worth it. Carbonite is in the process of issuing an initial public offering aimed at raising $100 million. Negative press could impact their final valuation. Making good by lifetime subscribers would surely have cost less than $500,000. Could this ill will affect their final IPO take by half a percentage point? I doubt it. Because, under the terms of the buy out, this presents absolutely no legal or financial liability for Carbonite. However, could negative press raise questions about the character of Carbonite’s leadership which would affect the final valuation of the IPO? Perhaps. So, why take the risk? Certainly they don’t want this story to go far. And I get the impression that Andrew Erlichson’s first official duty at Carbonite is to quiet the chatter about this lifetime program snafu and fast. And I hope he does, otherwise they could be in for a rough transition with Carbonite asking why they bought this thing in the first place.
At this point Mr. Erlichson is clearly left holding the bag as the only one responsible for satisfying the legitimate expectations of lifetime subscribers. I think that is exactly what he is now doing. As in 2008, it would have been better if they could have more accurately predicted lifetime subscriber reaction to the change. But also as in 2008, they are now listening to their customers and making their best effort to right the situation.
As for me, I am taking Mr. Erlichson up on his offer to refund my $299. In this way, my “credit” won’t be married to Phanfare, I won’t get locked into three years of service, and I can take my photos elsewhere when and if I please. In that vein, I am seriously checking out SmugMug right now, as it appears to offer near feature-for-feature parity with Phanfare at a $40 per year discount. SmugMug offers competitive upgrades for Flickr users and the rumor is they do the same for Phanfare users with discount code “PHANFARE”. I’m not sure if this is 20 or 50%, but either way not bad since the service is already 40% cheaper. UPDATE: The “PHANFARE” code does not work, but I contacted SmugMug support and they gave me a current coupon code for 50% off my first year. I cannot share the code here, but I imagine if you contact SmugMug directly they would offer you the same discount. For a bit more detail about moving to SmugMug, expect another post to that effect soon. In the mean time, this comment at the “Phanfare Suck Again” post does have a bit more information.
Ultimately, I have to say that I’ve loved being a Phanfare customer. I love the product, particularly the web, desktop, and iphone clients. I also think Carbonite is a fantastic company with a solid product. I think that this partnership will be good for Phanfare. These guys are just people and I suspect they’ve learned something from this mess. I wish Phanfare and Carbonite the best going forward.
Here is the complete “Additional Explanation” message from Phanfare founder and CEO Andrew Erlichson:
Dear Customers,
I have received a tremendous amount of feedback about our ending the Lifetime Program in the past few days and I want to share some additional thoughts of explanation with you all.
There are about 850 Lifetime customers. Phanfare was a small company and never grew to very large size. This transaction was modest in size, although the details remain confidential.
It became clear that we needed a larger partner to survive long term and that is why we began the process of selling the business.
Although we did try to negotiate to have Carbonite take on the Lifetime Program intact, the final agreement was that Lifetime customers would be offered a credit of their original purchase price of $299.95 by Carbonite and offered annual memberships.
Had we not needed to sell the company, we would have certainly continued the Lifetime Program indefinitely.
I wrote the Lifetime Program terms myself and I specifically created a way for us to end the Lifetime Program if we needed to in a scenario such as this. My goal was to protect Lifetime customers in a transaction from arbitrary action by a successor while bounding the liability of ending the program so as not to create a poison pill.
The agreement was that if we wanted to end the Lifetime Program at the time of an acquisition, we would return photos and videos and purchase price, which we proposed doing in terms of a credit. This agreement can be found in the Internet Archives.
The result will be that Lifetime customers will have received about seven years of service for their original fee and get continuity of service.
I am very sorry that we could not do better than this for the Lifetime customers. Many of you are personal friends and and I have come to know many more.
The Phanfare service is continuing unchanged under Carbonite and I will be running the Phanfare division as VP, Phanfare, reporting to Carbonite’s CEO, David Friend.
If you are certain that you do not want to continue at all with us, please write me and we will refund your original purchase price. This refund will come not from Carbonite, but from what remains of Phanfare, Inc. It will essentially be paid for by me, my employees and my shareholders. In that case, we will also return your photos and videos to you via electronic download with a new program we are writing.
Again my sincere apologies that we did not manage to create a better outcome for Lifetime subscribers.
A final thought. Don’t be too hard on Carbonite in this. The Lifetime Program is not profitable and while we feel a strong commitment to doing right by all of you, Carbonite is fairly looking after their own customers and shareholders and not taking on something that they don’t feel makes any business sense. I respect that decision and hold no ill will about it.
Sincerely,
—
Andrew Erlichson
aje@phanfare.com
Founder & CEO
Phanfare, Inc.