Produce screen casts

I've always wanted to produce a screen cast of some sort. I think I will try to do a simple cast with Camtasia Studio.

But, as always, it is easier to talk about doing things than actually doing it! :)

Can Google Buzz trigger a new dawn for blogging?

Yesterday Google released "Buzz". It is a mix between Twitter, facebook and a blog. It is currently tightly integrated into Gmail. This is how it looks like:

All my postings on my blog will also appear in the Buzz. Could this trigger some kind of spark for my blogging?

My very own first blog spam

Is my blog famous or what? I have gotten my first blog spam! The first words of the spam is "Web casting, or broadcasting over the internet, is a media file".

The comment was posted on my Windows Media Player and MMS (streaming) problems post. I have removed the post now since the links in the post most likly is some kind of virus.

Don't disable SPI firewall on Netgear router if using VPN

In a previous post I mentioned that disabling the SPI firewall on a Netgear WGT624 v3 router could increase the throughput speed through NAT. Well Now I have disovered that there is a price for this. I can no longer connect to my company VPN via Windows buildt in VPN client!

How to improve fan control on HP/Compaq Mini

In a previous post I said that I had solved the fan problem on my Compaq Mini. The problem is that the fan is noisy and the control over the fan is bad. The solution? Build your own fan control!

The first step is to get all the tools. Your computer, a stapler (I used a stapler "gun"), office tape and a pincer of some kind:

Open the stapler and take out the clips. A stapler gun has coarse clips and that is good.

Use the pincer and remove about 2 clips

Use the pincer to bend the clips in a L-shape

Insert the clips into the fan exhaust of your computer:

Put some tape on it to put it in place:

Thats it! Now the fan is in your control! Well, to be specific the fan is not moving. And thats a good thing! For your ears! :)

I have used this construct for 4 months now, and I must say that the solution works! The computer gets a bit warm after a while. Really hot in the sun. I try to stay out of the sun and monitor the temperature with SpeedFan. Despite my solution I have never had any problems with instability.

Fixing lag/delay problem for Wacom tablet

I tested a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet. After installing the tablet and driver I noticed that there was a delay between the movement on the tablet (both using pen and touch) and the movement of the mouse cursor on the screen. It was very noticeably when comparing to a corded mouse.

I read some hints on the internet (this blog post: http://michaelauerswald.de/2008/11/06/wacom-intuos3-on-vista-lag-problem-solved/) that disabling the Wacom Virtual Hid Driver would help. And I think it did! Now I think the delay is almost equal to the corded mouse (and that is good).

In Windows 7:

• Open Control Panel
• Under Devives and Printers click Devied Manager
• Open the node in the tree called Human Interface Devices
• Right click on Wacom Virtual Hid Driver and choose Disable
• Reboot

Eclipse debugger tutorial

If you are interested in learning how to debug java programs in Eclipse I can recommend this site: http://eclipsetutorial.sourceforge.net/debugger.html. It has screen cast videos showing how to use the debugger. There are 7 lessons, about 10-20 min each. I consider myself semi-experienced in debugging, and even I found the lessons interesting. There are many hints and shortcuts presented that makes debugging easier.

The first lesson can be watched online, and the others downloaded as flash videos.