Windows 8 Observation

I went into an electronics store a couple of days ago (I won't name which one) and browsed the selection of laptops on display to get an idea of the sort of prices I would pay for various levels of specifications. Most (if not all) of the laptops were running Windows 8…and I was immediately shocked at the number of them that were displaying 'Windows has encountered a problem…' style messages. It was just after opening time and I assume that the laptops were being booted or rebooted.

I've experienced these messages on my Lenovo T61 regularly, but I assumed that it was due to the slightly older makeup of the hardware…one quick reboot and the error would go away…but to see it on so many new laptops in the shop was a real eye opener!

Is this showing a weakness in the Windows 8 booting and error checking…or is it due to the myriad of hardware options available and driver issues? I would be surprised to see so many new laptops with actual hardware issues in one place at the same time. I think I will investigate this a little more.

Site Testing

Working on testing of new site…and requested more content from the client. First tests to do with functionality and later on the week will be for UX - usability. 

SQL Report

Just finished working on a PHP/MySQL report…writing code for a contract I left three months ago [yes - unpaid work, but I like the guys there]. It was surprisingly easy to remember the database structure and how the data links together after all this time…a good sign that I am not becoming senile!

So complex-ish SQL written, PHP code put together, lots of comments in the code, tested and emailed. Good job!

The downside of using open source for that project is no SSRS!

Development

Took advantage of the an offer to purchase Lucid from the escapers.com - this tool puts together code graphically to provide webpages. This particular company seems to put together really interesting applications that are actually beautiful to look at. If you have a Mac, it is worth downloading the trials of Flux and Lucid…just to see innovative development environments!

Prototyping

Received a shipment of electronic parts today, which will enable us to put together some of the small projects that we have been designing. Going to use the two Raspberry Pi computers to control the prototypes and code using existing libraries and Python…before moving on to firming up the designs and re-writing in something like C.

Laser Printer

Installed a new laser printer today on the network. Had a few problems initially with the driver and one of the laptops…but a quick reboot and things started to work. Generally impressed by the Brother HL-2250DN network laser printer…once it gets up and running, it churns out 26 pages per minute. The printer can also print duplex, which for a printer costing £70 is nice.

Overall - recommended.

Indev Mail Act-on

When I updated my MacBook Pro to OS X 10.8, a few of the extensions that I had installed to improve Apple's Mail application were disabled. I've not taken the time to find updates for them - being honest, I was working out if I could get away with not purchasing them. Over the three months I've been on OS X 10.8, I haven't been clearing down my inbox, leaving the existing mail rules to shift the messages with identified keywords or senders to the appropriate folders. This meant that the actual inbox has become filled with messages…over 6000 of them!

In my defence, I have some smart folders set up [unread messages, today's emails, yesterday's emails and flagged messages] and primarily interact with my mail using them. I rarely look in the actual inbox.

I decided this evening to spend some time cleaning the inbox and create additional rules to move important messages into set folders and then move the remainder of the messages to junk or spam folders. I quickly realised that it was going to take a long time without some of the extensions I have used. I went hunting and found the latest version of Mail Act-on…I purchased it and the associated extensions (Mailtags and Mail Perspectives). I cannot stress enough how good these apps are for speeding up interaction with Apple's Mail application!

If you have an Apple computer, use Mail as your primary email application…then I would suggest you buy a copy of these applications and take some time to learn how to use them…you won't regret it! Highly recommended.

New Year…new site

I've got to get a new website completed this week and up and running for sometime next week. Getting right back into the swing of things early in 2013!