Andrew Pollack's Blog

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  1. 05/02/2005Intuit (Quickbooks) wasted 2 hours of my day today, by screwing up my software just to advertise to me!I hate these people. My poor accounting skills have left me little choice by to use their software or become hopeless tangled in my own finances. That said, I've never seen a product cause me to have to spend so much of my time looking at advertisements ......
  2. 04/29/2005More on the generic server -- and some code.....So I've finished two big pieces of the "current projects" list. Now I have a full blown DNS client that lets me pick a dns server and request any kind of data from it. That means I can do reverse lookups, pointer lookups, ownership checks, and real time ......
  3. 04/27/2005The Generic ServerSometimes a lot of the things you want to do start to all have some core things in common. Recently, several of my pet projects (those nobody is as yet paying for) have all but cried out for back end server functionality. I've been needing something that ......
  4. 04/22/2005Alan Lepofsky points out a few great hidden hints in his Tables blog entry...I learned at least three things that if I knew, I'd long since forgotten. In particular, check out his "Extra HintS" part at the end of the story. Nice job Alan. Its also nice to see Alan finding his own style and space on the web. This is the first time ......
  5. 04/22/2005The case for using on disk compression for your Notes Data directoryI did some very extensive testing & reviews back in the 90's when Stacker and its ilk were on the market. Microsoft bought out much of that technology and its now pat of the operating system. You can select a folder, a file, or a drive and elect to ......
  6. 04/21/2005IBM Travelstar drives are not waterproof. Aka: What not to do when starting a presentation...Well, I'm back from Munich and a great time was had, I must say. The H&T people outdid themselves with this show. It was their most well organized and run to date. I did have one problem. It was kind of a big one. 3 minutes into my first session, "Domino ......
  7. 04/17/2005Hello from H&T Verlags Conferenz in Munich!Hello all! I've been busy working on things like a hueristic anti-spam engine and a service provider application, but I wanted to say hello to you from Munich -- one of my favorite cities. Special thanks to B.G. who picked up Rocky and I, along with his ......
  8. 04/08/2005Does your company really think you're valuable?Business Week is running a big story about IBM's Sam Palmisano finding a new vision for IBM. The idea is that you won't just use IBM to get your I.T. project done. No, a company will be able to outsource everything but its "core business" to some kind of ......
  9. 04/06/2005Crack found in space shuttle tankI didn't have a lot of time to read this, but I came across a Google News headline titled "Crack Found in Shuttle Tank". Now, I'm sure I'll have more time to go back and read this, but in the mean time I must say that I'm very angry. The very last thing ......
  10. 04/05/2005The media in general is conspiring to scare the hell out of me.Lets get something really clear. The only calming factor I've had, which I've been able to count on, as a father with three girls -- one rapidly approaching teenhood, and another one not at all far enough behind -- is that regardless of what teenaged boys ......
  11. 03/30/2005(Another) Review of TeamStudio's new LotusScript class browserRather than a simple announcement, I've decided to give an early review of Team Studio's new object browser tool. It fills a big gap by providing a fairly good object browser to use with your LotusScript agents and classes. Its not perfect, but it is ......
  12. 03/28/2005So, why re-invent the wheel?One of you sent me an email asking how the code I wrote was different from simply using: import java.net.*; InetAddress addr = InetAddress.getByName("www.yahoo.com"); System.out.println("IP Address = " + addr.getHostAddress()); I have to admit, its not ......
  13. 03/25/2005DNS Lookup from LotusScript anyone?I've written some code and I'm thinking of making it available as a toolkit in a compiled script library. Using LotusScript with ls2j and a java object I created, you can easily pass in a name server and host name and get back the ip address of the host ......
  14. 03/24/2005Creating a single outbound SMTP server for your Domino DomainI get more questions about smtp routing than anything else. Here's some notes taken from a recent presentation I gave at LotusSphere 2005 that should help you resolve some of the problems. The idea here, is not to have all your Domino servers routing mail ......
  15. 03/23/2005Geekfest -- what does your home office look like?I originally posted this in response to Bill's question here Lots of people have a home office. Lots are geeks. Are you up to the challenge? What does your geekworld look like? My office is a few hunderd square feet of space off the kitchen area, with ......
  16. 03/23/2005Does Bank One really think sending me deceptively written marketing will make me a customer?Like all of you, I get credit card offers almost daily in the postal mail. I've noticed a trend though. I can almost guess the card vendor based on the type and level of deception they used to get you to open it. I've had one recently that was ......
  17. 03/23/2005Well -- Customer's data restored, my own server upgrade done, and I'm back to blogging. What a week. A customer managed to destroy about 50 gigs of data and found out their backups were 90 days out of date -- that took some real effort to clean up. Then I had my own server to upgrade. If you notice this site moving a bit faster, its gone ......
  18. 03/17/2005Did you know that using Java Agents is inherently multi-threaded? I nearly cooked my processor finding out....I discovered something interesting yesterday. I'd written some code for a project I'm working on dealing with spam management. The code examines native mime, parses and pulls out target URL's and does some things with them. This means a huge amount of ......
  19. 03/17/2005My darn desktop6.ndk crashed.....gr...If you, like me, have hundreds of database icons on your desktop and haven't got a good backup of your desktop6.ndk file -- make one. It is immensely frustrating to have to re-create that hierarchy. It brings me back to thinking about a solution that uses ......
  20. 03/12/2005Got Snow? Take a look at these pictures ......
  21. 03/10/2005Microsoft buying Groove - good for SOHO, good for Microsoft, irrelevant to IBM strategy.The truth is, Microsoft needs Groove, and Groove needs Microsoft. Microsoft needs inspiration and direction to make their play in the so-called “groupware” or “collaboration” space more complete. Groove needs backing, and a compelling suite of surrounding ......
  22. 03/04/2005How much investment do you make in your clients....when they'll never know?Its Friday night, and I'm waiting for Battlestar Galactica to start on SciFi (we already know I'm a geek) and trying to come up with something interesting that's not too contrived to put on this blog. After all, you people have been patiently reading ......
  23. 03/02/2005What a difference a week makes. Here's pictures of the latest additional foot of snowIts a good thing there was SOME sublimation between the last storm and this one or we'd be just burried.... ......
  24. 02/22/2005Verizon DSL -- 3 days of frustration for 4 days of connectionI ordered Verizon DSL for the condo we're staying at in Florida. Ordered in plenty of time with an activation date the 14th of February. Of course, when I arrived it didn't work. The DSL modem synced up fine with the CO (so it wasn't a line issue) but no ......
  25. 02/22/2005Ah, warm, calm, and relaxed at last. New car, and pics from the sand in FloridaIts sure been a stressful couple of weeks, but at long last I've got space to take a breath. First, I replaced the old car with the Pacifica (dealer pictures, not mine) shown at the end of this email. I went to a dealer I've known for years who's always ......
  26. 02/11/2005So, what's your favorite new-car comparison site? There's a really important reason I ask....Last night, about 5 hours after I backed into the garage, the Durango went up in flames. At 4am, the smoke detectors noted the haze and set the alarm off, and everyone got quickly out of the house. I then went back in and grabbed an extinguisher and put out (mostly) the car fire in the garage. Then, I went and got another extinguisher and used half of that to get it more out. Finally, I found a way into the garage from outside. and after pulling the manual release on the door was able to open it and let ......
  27. 02/09/2005Thanks, Rocky! What a great mug!Rocky just sent me one of these by mail. It came out really great! I'd never considered usign Cafe Press, but I think I'll check into it now. They really did a nice job. The picture barely does it justice -- the image comes out just ......
  28. 02/04/2005Lungs for George - Please help. * Updated Address for NTAFIn all the years I've been participating in the Lotus Domino community, I've never asked for a contribution or charitable donation to be made for any particular cause, though I've seen it done once or twice. Please forgive me if you find this an inappropriate posting to this space, but the matter is quite important. A short distance from the small town where I am, as many of you know, a volunteer firefighter is another volunteer named George Carman. George is a regular guy who chooses to donate his time ......
  29. 02/04/2005Topping my the list of people who don't get it.... John Dickinson at Messaging PipelineIn this article, an author goes out of his way to project a positive image for a colleague with one heck of an image problem. John spends four of the first five paragraphs in a story (which any first year journalism student knows are supposed to represent ......
  30. 01/30/2005Pictures from Lotusphere 2005 ......
  31. 01/30/2005Major software vendor uses update process to disable features, force upgradeAccording to this article, Intuit Software has disabled some working functionality in its QuickBooks 2002 software in order to push users to upgrade to newer versions. I'm a user of their 2003 product, and I was a user of many previous versions. I've ......
  32. 01/30/2005Great minds think alikeThis image was taken (with permission) from the screen of an IBM employee's laptop. It shows the Notes Icon that's been used for a discussion database around integration of Lotus Domino with IBM Workplace Rich ......
  33. 01/28/2005"Data from the used underwear were downloaded each day to a computer"How can you not drop everything, and go read a story that has quotes like this? Apparently "Each participant wore a special, high-tech set of underwear, which were rigged with sensors and data loggers originally designed to monitor jet fighter motion. The ......
  34. 01/27/2005How will Workplace Rich Client and Workplace Designer play for the Lotus faithful, and what about ISVs?Here at Lotusphere, some of the real news is that Workplace Rich Client and Workplace Designer are going to be very popular tools with the Domino crowd and also with the traditional I.T. shops who prefer central control. That's a pretty big change by ......
  35. 01/26/2005What does a background mean?What should the backdrop for the new IBM Workplace Rich Client look like? I mean, if you’re not working on anything, or if the things you’re working on don’t fill the space. Personally, I’d like it to be transparent. If it’s over your Win32 desktop for ......
  36. 01/25/2005how do you rate vendors at trade shows?My own rating scale runs from "I gotta get me one of these" -- Will Smith's line from Independance Day, to "Coyote Bad" -- where you'd be willing to gnaw your arm off at the elbow to escape the handshake trap of the sales ......
  37. 01/25/2005Lotusphere, Monday -- opening session, and my first twoSome random 1am thoughts from the day... Lotusphere for me this year, is the best in a very long time -- maybe ever. Attendance is up, and people are here buying products and consulting time. I've picked up more business this so far than all previous ......
  38. 01/24/2005Notes from Lotusphere, Arrival to Sunday NightHi all – it’s been a terrific time so far, and just getting started. First, let me say that I’m so honored by the people who have come up to me and said “Hey, Andrew, I read you!” It’s so amazing to me that you take time out of your day to read my ......
  39. 01/21/2005I've established my Lotusphere Base CampI've made it to the Swan, and am establishing base camp. The weather is good now, I hope to make the ascent for the summit before it turns to storms. More later. For now, its time to lay in provisions in the form of a cheap cooler, ice, beer, soda, and 25 ......
  40. 01/20/2005C.U.L.T. Shirt Prize Announced!That's right, we're stepping it up this year. Instead of the traditional $100 handed out, we're going to hand one person a brand new Creative Labs "Zen" Extra 30gb MP3 Player! So, are you going to let your geek flag fly on Wednesday ......
  41. 01/20/2005Another failure of Free Trade Agreements - Stock up on your HP printer consumables now...I picked this story up from Slashdot -- The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HP plans to start using DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies to region code printer cartridges. Why? The fall of the U.S. Dollar makes them cheaper for folks in ......
  42. 01/19/2005This just in -- New information about Workplace Designer!Special thanks to Brandon Smith, Chris Reckling, and others who helped make it possible to get special permission to publish the following. Please keep in mind, it was written two days after I got the information, but permission to publish was held until ......
  43. 01/19/2005Great new tiny wifi router, access point, bridge from DLINKJust got this one in. Its about the size of my business card, but range is pretty good. It does all things you would expect in a wifi router, or in a wifi access point, or in a wifi client (bridge). The thing is, it does all three. Even more, you switch ......
  44. 01/19/2005If you see me at Lotusphere, say hiIn keeping with others' comments in various fora over the last few days, I just wanted to extend this invitation. If you see me, say hi. I'd be happy to introduce you to those around me. This may be security guards ejecting me from a business partner rep ......
  45. 01/17/2005Feedback requested -- BP108 - Admin Zero to Hero in 60 MinutesI've just finished the presentation for this session. They've got me scheduled to deliver it twice next week. The first time, I'm in a room set up for nearly 700 people, but at the same time as "What's new in Domino 7", "What's new in the Domino Designer ......
  46. 01/12/2005Geeze, I sure hope those t-shirts don't need any more revisions...Or that Adobe has a big sale on this software really ......
  47. 01/12/2005Taking apart the Radicati predictions 1 by 1Well, the Radicati (don't say Microsoft bought and paid for too loud) Group has predictions out again. Lets take a look at them shall we? 1 We [Radicati] expect IBM Lotus Notes/Domino to continue losing market share to MS Exchange and other players. Q4 ......
  48. 01/10/2005A professional rubber band counter!It goes to show you just how careful you need to be when raising children. This note came home with my 5 year old today.... ......
  49. 01/08/2005Child labor implicated in the production of C.U.L.T. shirts for 2005! An anonymous tip totally unrelated to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the AARP, the Democrats, the Republicans, or Microsoft today reported that child labor has been used to produce materials related to this year's CULT 2005 T-Shirts. The CULT (Certified ......
  50. 01/08/2005A good little link-checker for your site, and its freeI've just set up a new linux based machine which will host a few partitions for me. Among them, will soon be this server, 'www.thenorth.com' -- which will run on the new parition "IDHL/thenorth". As I start moving stuff over to it, I need to check for ......
  51. 01/07/2005Lotusphere 2005 draws near.... the C.U.L.T. shirts draw nearer....Perhaps these will be of interest to some of you. The spy cam in effect... ......
  52. 01/06/2005Wow, I've been busy. Here's a meaty tech post, about the intermittent time-out issue some of us have seen in Domino/Notes communicationSorry I haven't been posting. I'm working on some new things here, and have been REALLY busy on client work. BTW: I am aware of at least one IBM person working on this problem. As a courtesy, I will not mention the person's name as they are not a frequent ......
  53. 12/22/2004Big Fish -- Remembering those larger than life peopleLast night I watched one of those movies that critics and viewers both are completely split on -- I loved it. http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/big_fish/ The movie is the story of a man, who not content with the banalities of every day life ......
  54. 12/20/2004Congrats to John HeadHearty congrats to John Head, who has gone back and now finished his degree. John is now a man of letters. Excellent work, John. I'm glad someone has the patience for it. ......
  55. 12/20/2004Wow -- O.C.R. that really works WELL. A great new printer/scanner that fits my need perfectly.My new Epson CX6600 printer/scanner came with the usual assortment of utilities and photo tools. Normally, I wouldn't look twice at them but for some reason I did this time. I'm impressed. The tools are outstanding, as is the printer. You may have noticed ......
  56. 12/20/2004So really, rather than being defective, apparently I am a "Hunter living in a Farmer's World"I've been reading a fantastic book by Thom Hartman called "Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception". Originally written with the central metaphor describing the traits of the person who as this "disorder" as Hunter/Gatherer living in society ......
  57. 12/17/2004 Updated -- I've released my first truly hybrid .NET / Domino production application today* Updated * I've talked before about the power of hybrid applications. This one, out in the wild tonight gives the ease of use associated with native applications combined with security and flexibility of the back end Domino system. A professional quality ......
  58. 12/17/2004Of careless peopleTwo men set out on a long, late tripof coffee or tea, barely a sip. Dark night, long road, one sleeps in his seatthe other one too, lets slumber creep. Yours truly at last laying down to restmuch undone, the place a mess. Alas our travelers have failed to ......
  59. 12/10/2004Have you reviewed your telecom costs lately?In the course of about 2 hours, I've cut my telecom bills by more than $200 a month starting next week and gotten a whole ton of better services. First, at Verizon Wireless I'm turning of Barb's old cell that's now out of contract and she's not using. ......
  60. 12/09/2004Preview the new site....Any feedback would be welcome...well, most would anyway. I hope to make it live tomorrow. ......
  61. 12/08/2004What I'm not hearing talked about, in IBM's sale of its PC business...So IBM is selling its PC business. Its in all the press, so you can read the details there. What I don't see much mention of is one of the biggest reasons why this is happening. Another business partner pointed out that the outsourced firm in Korea which ......
  62. 12/08/2004Delivering 2 sessions at LotusSphere 2005 in January! They're going to be fun.Well, they've allowed me back in this year. I'm really looking forward to delivering this new one. I think we'll have a lot of fun. If you have any ideas you'd like to see me incorporate, please let me know. Since this is a best practices track, I think ......
  63. 12/04/2004A few site notes....A few site notes -- Look for updates and additions in several of the side bar items. I've finally gotten around to updating ......
  64. 12/04/2004Tomorrow is R.I.T. "Final" DayWith all the training for the R.I.T. I finally finish tomorrow. We're doing a joint exercise with Yarmouth -- the next town over. It should be fun. My 11 year old daughter will be along to take pictures so maybe some will end up here. Don't expect ......
  65. 12/03/2004Do you "Skype" ? I do now. What a wonderful way to waste time!Much better than chatting with a keyboard. Skype ( http://www.skype.com ) lets you use your speakers and microphone (assuming you have one) on your PC or laptop (most laptops have them built in) to have a real telephone like conversation with another ......
  66. 11/26/2004Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving -- making one of the dumbest American-Centric statements I've ever heardOk. I watched this show with my kids last night. It started off with a statement by Linus (no, not Torvalds) about how important the holiday is. He actually declared that "these early American's were the first to declare a holiday to be thankful". ......
  67. 11/20/2004Announcing NCT Compliance SearchIn Q.A. testing now is the first in a series of NCT Search 3.0 products. Compliance search differs from a regular search in a key way. It is designed not to sort results and give you the top most likely useful information -- it is designed to give you ALL ......
  68. 11/20/2004Watch this space! I have seen what's coming, and it rocks!I've got a document in being reviewed for NDA stuff and awaiting permission to post -- so keep an eye on this space. Soon I can tell you why I finally think Lotus Workplace may be a place I could write code, make money, and build the kinds of solutions ......
  69. 11/19/2004A favorite (sneaky) Domino technique I've never come across beforeI've been using "notesAgent.runOnServer()" for a long time -- and It ALMOST does what I want. I have always wanted it to detach from the current process so the client doesn't have to sit and wait for it. I wanted to do it without any API calls too. Well, ......
  70. 11/14/2004Dutch Violence against Muslims Continues On Volker Weber's blog in response to a topic posted just following the election I had be vehemently deriding some of the comments I'd seen by people there and in the European press about the choices we made in our elections here in the U.S. The most ......
  71. 11/14/2004Can **insert name here** beat Google? Is Intel's new chip faster than AMD's? Will SP2 bring the known world to a halt?It must be a slow news month in the I.T. industry now that Microsoft's strategy at the desktop has been set back so far, Intel has finally dropped off the escalating gigahertz numbers game, and service pack 2 didn't bring the world to halt. In the last ......
  72. 11/13/2004Well, it had to happen some time...It had to happen at some point. A strange confluence of events left me in the "command" role at a small fire scene today. We were the second engine due, meaning we should have gone to the hydrant but the other engine made a wrong turn so we ended up at ......
  73. 11/13/2004Adobe update finally stops hanging Firefox when I read PDF files on lineFinally! I've had the problem for a long time -- open a web site which is a PDF and it works, but then if you close that page or use the back button or some combination I never quite got my finger on it would hang Adobe Acrobat Reader and Firefox. It was ......
  74. 11/11/2004When to use .recycle() in your Domino Java agents...There are some things that drive me nuts about the way Domino has implemented the Java interfaces to the back end classes. One of them is the need to call .recycle(). The problem is that if you don't explicitly call recycle() on each object your have ......
  75. 11/11/2004Some jobs are so fun you have to do them twiceI went to put the snow tires on my wife's Honda minivan tonight because we're expecting our first bit of snow tomorrow. When I bought these, rather than paying twice a year to have all four wheels remounted and balanced I purchased some cheap wheels and ......
  76. 11/11/2004My 11 year old has far surpassed my limited musical talents nowI was listening to Ari play the recorder today, and had to ask her why she was working so hard on a tune for that when she's taking sax lessons now. The recorder was last year -- a part of fourth grade, but something she really took off with and earned ......
  77. 11/09/2004Really enjoyed Baltimore -- and that was surprisingSo a week or so ago I was in Baltimore to speak at the Advisor conference. Of course, the folks at Advisor did a great job as they always do. A surprise to me was how Baltimore has become more interesting. My knowledge of that city is very limited, having ......
  78. 11/08/2004Some of my favorite pictures from this yearI haven't posted any pictures in a while. Take a look at these, all from the last several months, and let me know if there are any you really like. [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ......
  79. 11/08/2004Bloglines processes RSS tag as a PERMALINK -- technically ok, but leads to confusion.As reported by a reader of this blog, Bloglines was parsing the tag of the RSS feed from this site instead of thetag when creating URLs. This caused many bloglines readers difficulties in accessing the brilliance (and the other 99% of the content) of this ......
  80. 11/04/2004Presentations from Baltimore on Domino / Notes 7, Domino 7 w/ DB2 Integration, and the IBM Workplace Rich ClientSchedule: 11/02/2004 08:00 AM, 11/03/2004 11:00 AMIBM Lotus Domino 7 Meets IBM DB2Andrew PollackTake a deep dive into an all-new aspect of Domino 7, and discover what it means to store Domino data in DB2. This session gives you a heavy developer focus. ......
  81. 11/04/2004Some assembly requiredFrom Rob Novak's presentation covering the installation of Websphere Portal Server, comes this slide comparing the difficulty installing that application to his new weight bench. The caption, if you can't read it, is "This is the Wieder Pro 4000 weight ......
  82. 11/04/2004Regardless of the resulting winners, the U.S. can stand proud as such a hard-fought election cycle completes peacefully and with overall fairness.Though the result wasn't entirely to my liking, I must say how pleased I am overall with the results of Tuesday's election. How great for our country that at the end of a year long vitriolic and divisive race, that record numbers of citizens packed the ......
  83. 11/01/2004Advisor Devcon - Baltimore 2004!Well folks, I made it to Baltimore. I think its going to be a good conference. If you're a reader of this blog, look me up while you're here. I'd like to meet both of ......
  84. 10/26/2004Please, make it stop!I tend to consume informational media of all kinds pretty much all day. That either makes me a fountain of obscure information or a complete bore -- the difference depends on how much you like or dislike hearing me rant about it. I wake up to NPR, BBC ......
  85. 10/22/2004The laptop has a new lease on lifeA new lease on life for this 'old' machine. I'd looked into replacing it because it can't handle more than 1gb of RAM. That's enough for most work, but for demos and things I wanted to go to 2gb so I can more comfortably run a few virtual machines at ......
  86. 10/18/2004Maine in OctoberIf you live in this area, October is the time to keep your camera nearby. All these are taken at the spur of the moment, while driving down the same roads I travel every day. The light is right and you just "see" the shot you need to take. Enjoy. Click to ......
  87. 10/18/2004And now, back to the Universal Rich Client discussionI think if you look through this presentation document you'll see why I'm so excited. Here's some highlights: 1. There is a huge unserved market of people who used to use greenscreen terminals and now use bad web applications or really bad customer ......
  88. 10/17/2004What can we learn from endlessly watching yet another "Reality TV goes Inside Industry "X" show?I was watching "American Casino" the other night. I've never seen it before, and really wasn't that interested in it, but I was working and it was on. I ended up really enjoying it, even though it was predictable, uninspired, repetitive, and filled with ......
  89. 10/14/2004Well, I held my nose and votedI'll be at the Advisor Devcon in Baltimore on Election day (maybe we should rent a car and drive to a bar in DC -- maybe the Crystal City Marriott -- that night to watch the results come in) so i did my absentee ballot. Yech. For President, I had the ......
  90. 10/10/2004And speaking of Flu -- it looks like I've brought it homeLooks like I've brought the Flu home thanks to enclosed space breathing on aircraft and such. ......
  91. 10/09/2004Forwarded from elsewhere....the new Florida Voting MachineIf you can't vote with this, you can't think well enough to ......
  92. 10/09/2004Its clear we'd rather go to war than fix our health care problemsIn the U.S., about 50% of the expected vaccine this year has become unavailable. Its a known fact that each year in our country, more than 36,000 people die as a result of complications from the flu. These are the youngest children, the most elderly, and ......
  93. 10/08/2004If Bush really is being prompted in the debates, he should fire the whole team who set it up.According to some, this picture is proof that Bush is getting help with his debate points. If true, how pitifully sad in three respects. First, that he would need the help. Second, that he would think nobody would find out. Third, that the idiots couldn't ......
  94. 10/08/2004No good choices to be foundWas responding to a note forwarded by family when I wrote this rant -- but decided what the hell, I'll blog it too... You know, its a shame again this year. Just when the Republicans have gone so far over the rainbow (hm, I don't think they'd like that ......
  95. 10/08/2004In Java, it could be expressed: (Person)andrewJayPollack.yearsOld++Strange birthday this year, as I'm getting older but feeling several years younger than last year. Healthy living, physical activity, and good friends will do that. In fact, I've managed to make it through 37 years now without voiding the warrantee. I ......
  96. 10/07/2004Found Camera at Logan AirportWalking back to my truck at Logan, around 21:00 last night, I found a note on my windshield saying "this must be your phone" and a small padded pouch. Inside the pouch was a camera -- a rather nice digital camera, nearly brand new. I've called the state ......
  97. 10/07/2004Presentations from H&T Verlags Admin + Dev 2004 in UKI'm going to add these to the site more formally at some point soon (I'm building a new structure for this sort of material) but in the mean time, here are the presentations essentially as delivered. I wish I could have taped them, as I think particularly ......
  98. 10/06/2004Lunch On-Demand at IBMI failed twice, but after considerable effort I was able to purchase Lunch "ON-Demand" at IBM's "Embassy" near Heathrow airport in England. I say "Embassy" because "Customer Center" or such doesn't describe it well at all. IBM's economy is larger than ......
  99. 10/06/2004The H&T Conference in London was great....Relief that I'm done though....I must say that once again I am amazed at what a professional production the H&T people put on. I am happy to say that in terms of real training value for the time and money, its a great deal for anyone in the area. I really enjoy how many of my greatly ......
  100. 10/05/2004Great slide from London -- more laterThe conference was great, I'll write a lot more later -- for now...Its been a long time since you could expect to see a slide like this on an IBM given Keynote.... Hats off to Bill Hume for delivering this ......
  101. 09/29/2004I sure wish I could be impressed with Spaceship OneWell, thanks to the X prize and a guy with some 25 million dollars to burn, we’ve proven that a talented engineer given enough money and a willing test subject can use existing proven technology and well known and documented science and engineering to do ......
  102. 09/29/2004Admin & Dev 2005 near London -- a great way to handle conference CD'sThese guys put on a great show. For such a small conference, the speaker list is great and the level of effort the organizers put in is outstanding. I've enjoyed both previous times I've done speaking engagements for them. One thing I really like that I ......
  103. 09/29/2004Two days off, spent at the county fairA relaxing couple of days at the county fair. This picture is from last year. I didn't bring a camera this time around so just for you I dug this one up from someone's collection. Our town hosts this fair each year, one of many such harvest fairs that ......
  104. 09/29/2004The not so golden gooseLast night as I was going to bed, we heard the distinctive honk of a goose outside. As a pool owner, this can be a very bad thing. 23:00 found me outside putting the pool cover on after chasing away the first of goose of the season. Actually, he was ......
  105. 09/26/2004So all clues point to Google Browser soon -- but they're not saying...or are they?Well, the google people are at it again. They're registered a domain, hosted the mozilla dev conference, and done a few other things that at first glance look like the worst kept secret in history. Remember though, these are the guys who created major ......
  106. 09/25/2004Ok Mac People: Name some fun software that's ok for kids and runs on older hardware....I'm giving my 9 year old daughter this G3 400mhz iMac. Its been upgraded now to 256 megs but only has 8mb of video memory. As a result, Tony Hawk Skater Pro 4 won't run. Now, to make the sale on ripping her PC out and replacing it with this iMac, I need ......
  107. 09/23/2004After an insane amount of effort, OS X -Panther is installed on the old iMacThis is why working with Macs can be frustrating to PC people. Here I am with a perfectly capable G3 iMac I found for $20. It came with 64mb and OS 9.0. First, it took links from friends, and many hours to find out just what the machine was. Then, if it ......
  108. 09/22/2004Finally, some meaning to that tired, useless mantra "Its standards based" from IBM trying to get me to try the new productsOk. Very little has irked me more in the marketing diatribe about the newer products than the hollow "Its standards based, Domino is proprietary" argument. It comes as dogma, to be accepted without further explanation as if it were obvious in the way ......
  109. 09/20/2004Curmudgeon declares Rich Client a winnerWell all; I had the privilige of talking with some of the designers, movers, and shakers on working on the new Rich Client. It'll be a day or two before I'm sure what I can and can't talk about in any detail, but at this point I can say a few very small ......
  110. 09/16/2004Wondering where I've been...For this week, and next, I'm blogging daily here: http://expertanswercenter.techtarget.com/eac/blog/0,295203,sid63_tax297876,00.html I'm a guess expert. I'm answering a few questions and writing a few thoughts. They just sent the advertising out that I'm ......
  111. 09/09/2004R.I.T. Training -- the most fun you can have on your hands and knees (in gear)Its amazing really. Just a couple of years ago I wrotethis descriptionof my first time in a live fire. I've put in hundreds of hours of training and calls since then, in the meantime getting certified to drive the Ladder and Heavy Rescue trucks along with ......
  112. 09/03/2004Response to a press inquiry about Senderid, Workplace, and IBM's directionI got a request from someone in the press yesterday for information on a few topics. Of course, the request came with the comment that he is under deadline and needs any comments quickly -- as is always the case. I try to be pretty complete when I write ......
  113. 09/01/2004A couple of things done really well in ND7 Beta M2 DB2 IntegrationSometimes things are just done RIGHT. Here's a couple of screenshots from the Admin client in the Lotus Domino 7 public beta. What you can see is how easy it is first to move a Notes database from storage in traditional "NSF" format to storage as a ......
  114. 09/01/2004Ok Apple OS-X geeks -- some advice pleaseI bought this at a garage sale for $20 -- working. After some cleaning (it was covered in stickers and the see through keyboard was literally filled with crumbs and other nasty stuff) its a great shape. I've added some ram (it came with 64 megs, now it ......
  115. 08/30/2004A great tip, and good example of using LS2J in LotusScript I don't normally do a lot of outside linking to places that require a member log-in to read the content, but this tip is particularly good. It may even be good enough to justify submitting your email address and risking getting some mail (though I've ......
  116. 08/30/2004Serious studying these days on the Workplace Rich ClientI've spent the weekend head down in red papers reading about the new Workplace Rich Client in preparation for a session I'm doing on it at Advisor in Baltimore. Its a lot to digest, and I've got some questions to get answered first, but I think a few ......
  117. 08/27/2004Longhorn to the slaughterhouse -- Now its low grade ground beefSoftware comes and software goes. You try things, they work or they don't and you move on. Personally, I don't think the story here is Longhorn's (or more accurately WINFS) ultimate failure. That's a symptom. The story is the icepick through the heart of ......
  118. 08/27/2004New meaning to the term "Bite my ....."A cancer patient has enjoyed his first solid meal in nine years - after doctors rebuilt his jaw by growing another one on his back. Four weeks after the pioneering operation, the man was able to tuck in to a sausage sandwich . The 56-year-old German was ......
  119. 08/27/2004Seeking PCMCIA Card Case -- Any ideas?I'm carrying more -- and more important -- PCMCIA cards lately. You see, the use of VMWARE (amazing tool) has pushed my laptop over the brink. My "old" Dell Inspiron 8200 has reached a point where a few of things are a bit weak. In particular the max of 1 ......
  120. 08/26/2004A big thank you to Ms. "S" -- who set up a wireless linksys with default accessI don't know who you are, but I know we were nearby. Last night I stayed at a hotel south of here with my kids. The hotel room internet wire didn't give me an IP. I tried wireless and in 10 seconds was on a wireless router in another room. Must have been ......
  121. 08/24/2004Lotus Domino 7 beta M2 - So far, awesomeSo far so good in my testing with Domino 7. I haven't done performance testing yet, but I've been running the server along with the trial DB2 and the client, designer, and admin all in a Windows 2000 Pro "Generic" virtual machine under vmware on my hotrod ......
  122. 08/22/2004Why can't my whole PC replicate?Why is it that My laptop is never quite in sync? I use it less frequently than my PC for the simple reason that my PC is way way faster. I recognize the value of having a single laptop with the "oomph" to be your only machine. I know NotesDawg does this, ......
  123. 08/22/2004Business vs. Personal in a community forumCultures are very different, often in subtle ways. What happens in a public or semi-public forum with a very mixed culture but enough long term bonds to also feel somewhat familial? In my family, as in many of yours, argument is the norm. Sometimes loud ......
  124. 08/20/2004What's REALLY interesting about the Google IPOGoogle, as a company, reminds me of some of my geek friends. They don't accept for a second that things have to work the way they have always worked. Its what made their search engine better than anyone else's for a long time. Its also why GMAIL works for ......
  125. 08/20/2004Thinking about "The Welcome Page"A strange experience yesterday -- and not the usual kind either. I was at a client's office talking about an application I'm building for them, and the conversation turned to the "entry point" on the application. This will be, for these users, the ......
  126. 08/20/2004What's your favorite new R7 feature from the Beta?I'm working to finalize the presentation for a conference that covers new things in the beta -- what are you favorites? I wouldn't want to over look ......
  127. 08/20/2004Bravo to the Brits -- new anti-spam measures take aim at the profitThis article from the BBC reports that a new policy adopted by the London Internet Exchange -- a network where most of the UK providers connect to transfer data between them -- will now shut down firms that benefit from spam even if the spam is being sent ......
  128. 08/20/2004LotusSphere 2005 Registration opens early with a discount for CLPsThis information was mailed to me. I'm happy to share it with you. I'm also glad to be hearing distant rumors of much increased technical depth and renewed focus on existing core technologies to give attendees value they can use immediately. Bravo to the ......
  129. 08/20/2004Dedicated bandwidth is very nice...You've got to love this kind of ......
  130. 08/18/2004Follow-up and pictures -- Andrew vs. Durango [] [] [] [] [] Background: Had an A/C leak. Went through an occasional can (of r134a refrigerant -- $4 at Wal-Mart), then after a while more and more. Leak detector had no effect -- could simply not find anything. Turns out, it was a common issue on these ......
  131. 08/18/2004China one-ups the U.S. by outsourcing its populationAccording to this story http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040818-105443-7992r.htm in the Washington Times, India's population will soon swell to overtake that of China. Soon, it won't be a billion Chinese that can't be wrong unless they first poll ......
  132. 08/16/2004Lots of fun tomorrow - Its heavy car repair timeWell my 98 Durango with nearly 100k miles on it needs a bit of work. The good news, is the replacement of the part itself is about 15 minutes. The bad news, is that to get to the part needing replacement and then to put it all back its going to take ......
  133. 08/15/2004If you're waiting for a storm, a map like this can be frustratingAs you see, if there was a way to avoid this storm, Cumberland has found it so ......
  134. 08/14/2004Well, it won't be as bad as Florida, but Charlie is due to call here in a few hoursFor me, this pretty much means flooded basement calls, a few down powerlines, maybe a car wreck or two to respond to. They're saying 3-4" of rain and some good but not excessive wind by the time it gets ......
  135. 08/14/2004So I find myself with a surplus of the much sought after gmail invitations. Anyone need one?Somone want to help me fill this ......
  136. 08/12/2004Toys 'R Us getting out of the toy business.... and what is K-Mart doing?[] Toys 'R Us not selling toys? K-Mart not selling anything? What's going on? The economy in our country is getting stranger and stranger. I'm an avid listener of "Marketplace" on our local public radio station and I've heard two stories recently that to ......
  137. 08/12/2004Is High-Def TV slow on the uptake because it misses a key point?[] High definition tv has been around a while now but seems slower on the uptake than other entertainment technologies. Its admittedly expensive still, but there hasn't been a huge demand for low end HDTV either. If there were, smaller screens and ......
  138. 08/10/2004My favorite new(ish) @Functions( )[] Well, its sure been a long time since I did a really heavy duty new Lotus Notes Client application with a full blown user interface. I have to admit, I've really had to reach back into that back of tricks from way back when. I've also had to refresh on ......
  139. 08/09/2004Time for a new approach to anti-spam lawsAnti-spam laws are hung up on definitions in two fatal ways. First, they try to define spam; and second, they try to define the techniques used to send spam. Often the latter is an attempt at the former. This is a hopeless legal strategy and too easily ......
  140. 08/07/2004Avoidance -- what tricks does your own mind play on you?I'm sitting here fighting with myself to do some work. The work is important. I'm being paid for the work. Deadlines are approaching. Not doing the work is in at least a small way self destructive. It is exactly at this moment that I come up with a ......
  141. 08/07/2004Easy hack at WiFi hotspots - Defensive measuresThe recent Defcon 12 hacker conference was the scene of the release of a brilliant new tool for creating havoc on public wifi sites. Now I'm not in favor of actually doing any of this but from a purely technical perspective, I must say I love this. What ......
  142. 08/06/2004Windows XP sp2 is rolling out -- will you be the first?[] Well, its released. Windows XP sp2. The biggest patch yet and as of last week so unstable that reports of major rebuilds on analyst systems to undue the damage of test versions. Are you going to be the first? I'm ......
  143. 08/06/2004The difference between a hardware channel and a developer channelI’m reading some things on IBM’s appointment of a new top channel guy, particularly interesting was Zarly’s take on it. Opinions abound of course. Mine is that IBM are desperate for someone to turn the program into something sensible. I hope Don turns out ......
  144. 08/06/2004You work all day, and what do you get?Well, another year older ......
  145. 08/05/2004Personal Technology Defence - Not what you think[] Personal Technology Defense - no, I'm not talking about defense technology, I'm talking about all the things you have to do to protect your own technology from the ways other people -- primarily advertisers -- want to use it to get to you. It was just ......
  146. 07/30/2004Some thoughts from the conventionI mostly listened to the convention speeches this week as I've been heads down programming on client work for 18-20 hour days. One that made a big impression was Al Sharpton. Now I don't care for Al's politics all that much -- he's too far off the center ......
  147. 07/29/2004Some great practical advice on personal credit securityThis was forwarded to me by a friend. It is a list that originally (supposedly) came from an attorney who's credit was stolen. I can't verify the source, but the advice is good. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first ......
  148. 07/29/2004One story about FX's "Rescue Me" show, and I'm #3 on the search listHow strange, that after simply writing a single story about FX Channel's "Rescue Me" I started seeing a crazy number of hits. Turns out that when I check I was (for the moment) the third search result returned for "FX Channel" and near the top also for ......
  149. 07/27/2004Stargate Atlantis : Science Fiction Formula - YawnOk. Create some really powerful magic technology, but then to make sure you still have a story you have to limit that technology. Now, you need a group of people large enough to have stories, but small enough to be alone and without help. Strand them out ......
  150. 07/27/2004Actual useful things that drive my brand loyalty - Great things smart companies are doingI was doing some catching up, going through my bills today and I came across a receipt from BJ's for a couple of air conditions that had rebates on them totalling forty bucks. Now if you have ADHD, you have to really think twice about taking something ......
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