Author: Robert

  • GSmartControl for Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. Information and Tests

    It’s surprising how few good tools there are for Windows for hard drive Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System (S.M.A.R.T.) functionality. In addition to providing basic attributes like ‘Power-on Hours’ or ‘Temperature’, SMART can also include self-test ability and logs about recent errors. Windows itself offers zero SMART information. Even hard drive manufacturer’s utilities, such…

  • Error 1327 “Invalid Drive” while installing or updating applications in Windows

    Symptoms When trying to install or update an application, you receive an error message similar to the following: Error 1327. Invalid Drive: Z: I’ve encountered this error installing Google Earth and another application, and it also apparently happens with many others including Microsoft and Adobe applications. Cause These installers/updaters are failing to access the drive…

  • AT&T U-verse for the Curious Consumer – The Residential Gateway and Wiring Options

    AT&T U-verse for the Curious Consumer – The Residential Gateway and Wiring Options

    AT&T U-verse is an Internet, TV (IPTV), and phone (VOIP) service delivered primarily by fiber and existing copper. This article is targeted at consumers who would like a little bit of light shed on the in-home hardware (what it does, how it works, and the different ways it can be set up) and wiring options.

  • bebooper

    bebooper [bee-boo-per]: beep + boop + computer -noun Those things in movies that look like computers, but beep or boop every time something is clicked on, whir whenever there’s a progress bar, or ever show an “ACCESS DENIED” message in a 36 pt. or greater font size. These devices are often also likely to be…

  • View Your Google Apps Calendar in Outlook 2007/2010

    Microsoft Outlook (2007 and 2010) and Google calendar both support the iCalendar format, which means you can view your Google calendars in Outlook. This is great if you, for example, want to be able to see your Google Apps personal calendar and Exchange work calendars in one place. It looks like this: If you’re a…

  • s3nukem – Delete large Amazon S3 buckets

    s3nukem is a slightly improved version of s3nuke, a Ruby script by Steve Eley that relatively quickly deletes an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket with many objects (millions) by using multiple threads to retrieve and delete the individual objects. Improvements include: The key retrieval thread will pause when the queue contains…

  • WREST (Website REST)

    WREST [rest] = Website + REST -noun A RESTful API service that is made available to its own website. The distinguishing behavior from a regular RESTful API is that calls coming from the client are identified the same way as other calls made by the client’s browser (viz., the client’s cookie(s)) rather than by API…

  • haircro

    haircro [hair-kroh]: hair + Velcro -noun When hair is cut very short (using, say, #2 on clippers), the hair holds hoodie hoods on like it’s Velcro — but it’s hair! 

  • Two Subnetworks on One LAN, and Linux arp_filter

    It’s a rare situation in a small networking environment that having two subnetworks on one broadcast domain can be an issue. I would normally avoid such a scenario (and it’s usually easy to do so) but I recently got AT&T’s U-verse, and the do-it-all device that it requires (a 2Wire 3800HGV-B “residential gateway”) has forced…

  • Beware of DVI-I Cables (they are Not Compatible with DVI-D Devices)

    I recently moved my flat-panel displays further away from my computer, but the DVI cables they came with weren’t long enough to connect the displays to the computer in their new location. So, I ordered some longer DVI cables from Newegg.com. Turns out that both of my displays’ ports are DVI-D and that the cables…