Jonathan Torley’s Blog

Wow, what a busy time I’ve had lately.
Seriously, things have been cray-z.

Now I have a macbook pro. Could’ve come in a better way, but not really at a better time.
More on this when i get leopard (and have time again.)

For now though, test yourself with this: http://www.freerice.com/

Simple, really. They give you a word, and you choose it’s definition from four other words available. Every word you get right, they donate ten grains of rice through the United Nations. Test yourself, see how good your vocabulary is.

Not much has been happening for me in the way of IT lately. The holidays have been, on the whole, a time of stagnation as far as learning new things about IT go.

Although, my girlfriends computer has been infected with a virus. More accurately, virii.

In the process of cleaning out the computer, I’ve come across a few nifty tools to help get the job done, and then a few tricks as well.

I’m not going to list them all, but I’ll post some links that might be informative.

TweakGuides Tweaking Companion : Not a bad read. Some things I didn’t know, some things I did. Worth it in the end (atleast, when i get them all implemented.)

Sysinternals : Awesome stuff. Very awesome stuff. Especially the Process Explorer, Manager, the Autoruns program and the SDelete program (the last, really only if you’re a security freak.)
Well, ok, so there wasn’t that much that was really worth mentioning. Maybe for those that don’t already know them, these are good too:

HiJackThis : Good for cleaning out various types of infections.

AVG anti-virus : Free, and decent quality. At least it’s not one of the virus ‘removal’ programs that really aren’t removing anything.

I also learned a LOT about the way the registry works, as well. Far too much to really convey by way of blog, or at least, what remains of this post.

This is what remains of this post: .

Well, as pointed out by ByteClubber Xavier on one of his more recent posts (which I linked to for convenience (whether it is the convenience of me, who would not have to make two links, or you, the reader, you decide.)) there exists another charity site (one of many) on the internet.

Not that I’m unhappy though. Charity is probably one of the only ways many people (definitely not excluding myself) will be able to buy their way into heaven. The difference is though, that ripple.org is free. So you have no excuse if you don’t contribute 10,000 page-clicks.

The possibilities of redemption of the masses aside, what else is going on in the internet that is charitable? WoW knows..

Anyway, let’s talk about something else. Or complain. It’s mid-exam period (that’s where I’ve been lately, fulfilling obligations), and I need to let off a little steam. It seems that Starcraft 2 is out, and that is hardly a fact that has gone unnoticed by ByteClub.

What am I complaining about? Just the fact that there’s a little list going around with aspects of gaming that people think need to DIE PAINFULLY. I think it might’ve started here.
If you think sequels are bad, and your opinion counts for something, the market will prove you right.
So shaddup.

Secondly, more than anyone, I imagine the Germans have more to complain about (as far as WW2 games go) than anyone else.
Nothing racist or hating, by the way. Just what I think.

Anyway, I’m off to study for an absurd exam (Web Programming) and a significantly more difficult one (Data Communications and Security).

Good luck to all who will fall to victim to the rigors of standardized testing!

User Interface

HP Solution Center

This is a piece of software, made and distributed with many, new Hewlett Packard appliances. The software is started automatically when the device is powered on/connected and offers an interface for the functionality provided by the device.

User Interaction flaws: The software is very slow to load, sometimes taking longer than the time required to scan an image.
The user interface is overly complicated with functionality, and still does not provide some more basic options.
Not all controls do as the user would expect, some often wasting considerable amounts of time if it made undesirable changes.
The software probably became the way it is through a want to put all user controls at the user’s fingertips (“One Click Scanning” etc.) without any limits to the complexity of a single screen/display.

Solutions: Minimize the number of slow processes run at start-up, and clearly label controls (“One Click Scanning” should do just that).
Having less controls on the main start-up screen would allow for a quicker load time, and splitting the functionality into groups would clean up the user interface.

Other solutions: As most devices use TWAIN methods, most programs can cater for them without the HP Solution Center as an intermediary. This means it can be disabled or uninstalled.

Windows Media Player 11

Overview: Windows Media Player 11 is exactly what it says and more, with the capabilities of holding a library of music, burning and ripping CDs, adding and retrieving media with portable devices, and even having a customizable user interface. It allows the user to almost completely manage all media on their computer.

Weaknesses: This media player is the software “jack of all trades” in that it does everything and does nothing well. One of the biggest flaws is it’s want to synchronize to every type of portable media device connected to the computer, which causes the media player to crash whenever a storage medium not intended to play music is attached to the computer (for example: an SD card for a camera).

Root cause: Poor handling of external devices.

Suggestions for improvement: Revision of the way the application tries to interface with devices that are connected to the computer. Options to disable synchronizing with devices need to be added.

Windows Live Messenger

Actors:
User
Messages
Files

Pain points by actor:
User -The user requires a way to see which of their contacts (other users) is online
-The user requires a way to communicate with other users over the internet
-The user requires a way to transfer a file to another user over the internet
Messages -Need to be delivered without possibility of failure
Files -Need to be transferred over the internet without any loss of data or corruption

Function:
-Sends messages from one user to another over the internet, and confirms that the message was received.
-Transfers files between users over the internet and checks the integrity of the data.
-Transfers data between users allowing for voice and/or video conversations.
-Allows a user to send an email to a contact using the user’s email account.
-Allows a user to read their email by opening a new browser session

Form:
-Connects to the internet (MSN messenger service)
-Depends on a server and other users to send messages and files
-Graphical user interface, with individual windows for each conversation
-Event driven (when a message is received, when a message is sent, when a contact comes online, etc)

Improvements:
-Although it is a Microsoft Corporation product there are many advertisements in it, and at the bottom of every conversation window is an ad. Microsoft don’t really need the money and could easily do away with them.
-Email is only accessible by opening a new browser window, and it does not use the default browser (always Internet Explorer). However, opening a link in a conversation does use the default browser, so a great improvement would be to fix this inconsistency and always use the default browser.

Vision Statements
What are vision statements? Wikipedia.org states that:
“A Vision statement: outlines what a company wants to be. It concentrates on future; it is a source of inspiration; it provides clear decision-making criteria; and is timeless”
Although this is not completely true, it does have a few truths to it.
For one, a vision statement could be just a simple goal, such as “A personal computer in every home running Microsoft software.” (paraphrase of Microsoft’s vision statement) or even something such as “Sell the best product” although that wouldn’t motivate people as well as something more defined.
Most importantly, a vision statement is motivational and inspirational, and instils confidence about the company’s ability to reach it’s vision in all who read it.
As for being timeless, setting a specific date isn’t a problem: “We will be one amongst the top three transporters of goods and people in North America by 2010.” This powerful vision statement (example courtesy of Wikipedia.org) has set a definite date, but that doesn’t mean that it can inspire after the year 2010. If the goal has not been reached, it can motivate people to still try, or if it has been reached, remind them of goals they have achieved (although writing a new one is always good, too!)

“You don’t get million dollar ideas from a ten dollar vision.” (courtesy: http://www.timethoughts.com/goalsetting/vision-statements.htm)
There isn’t a simpler way to put that without a good, quality vision you won’t get the good, quality ideas and inspiration you need to achieve your goals. Set your hopes high, and create something that gives you a clear and idyllic goal.

Of course, another worry might be that you will never reach these goals, and hurt the morale of the people who failed to meet them. This is always a possibility, but an easy solution is within reach.
Make two vision statements. One can be a short term goal, and be attainable (although not always easily. Aim for something that gives a real sense of accomplishment when it is obtained) and the other can be something that continually motivates.
A few key points to remember about making a vision statement are that:

• It should be clear
• It should have an expressive and motivating feel
• It should be aligned with the company’s values
• It should be memorable and long lasting

The ONIX HY-107 mp3 player by ONIX is a simple little mp3 player, targeting people who want the increasingly popular ability to carry their music with them, but don’t have a budget that can cope with the massive blow that an iPod could deal to it. Unfortunately, it seems you get what you pay for.

There isn’t really a website for the company that makes this product (it’s from china) but its model number is HY-107, and a quick search of the internet only reveals people asking for help with the player and some of its less useful features.

It connects to your PC via USB (just plain old USB) and has a capacity of 512 megabytes, which equates to approximately 100 mp3s, encoded at a high level of quality. But don’t worry; you can fit many more low quality mp3s, which suit the mp3 player just fine. It seems that the good people at ONIX believe that if you can’t afford an iPod, you can’t afford high bit rates, and so all sounds that come from the Onyx player are trashed, and sound like they origin from a tin can.

Interestingly enough, they give you the ability to share these awful sounds with a friend, as the Onyx player offers a second headphone port.

Stranger still, the Onyx player seems to possess some sort of legendary battery life, such that is spoken of in tales of old. I tested the capacity of the battery over the course of a week, and determined that, when playing from a single port, it can last in excess of 13 hours. Pretty impressive for $30 at Big W.

One downside is that it has a considerably poor user interface, which is not only inconsistent in that the buttons do different thing at various times (for example, Enter isn’t always Enter), but the interface is actually slow. This is mostly evident when changing track, because the current track fades out, and the next fades in. When I tested this, skipping ten tracks took as long as fourteen seconds.

The most irritating flaw is left for last though; as you will not believe how exceedingly hard it is to add music to this device. It works quite simply as a file storage device, although you have to install their driver first. This might not seem so bad, but putting the files in any semblance of order is an impossible feat, as it randomly places them in the un-editable playlist. Windows Media Player’s “Sync” functionality has a better attempt at this, and files are at least grouped by album or artist, although these groups are placed randomly in the directory. All attempts to order things properly have failed me, and result in me being almost forced to listen to a single playlist for several weeks. Dreadful business, that.

So, to summarise:
Pros:

• Compact design
• Long battery life
• Capacity for two sets of headphones
• Affordable

Cons:

• Poor user interface
• Low sound quality
• Difficult to add music

All in all, although the product accomplishes what it was set out to do, which is to be affordable and play mp3s, you really get what you pay for. And that’s not much. 3/10. (0 being the lowest, 10 being the highest)

Well, it may have been a while since I wrote anything here, but that’s mostly because of Swinburne University and my enrollment in the Bachelor of Science(Professional Software Development) course.
Now then, semi-important stuff.

• Data Communications and Security - This is a course with a workload capable of sending the average university student crazy, but fortunately, we PSD students aren’t your average student. Seriously though, the workload is epic, and for difficult-for-beginners subjects such as:
  • TCP - How packets are sent with acknowledgments, and corruption checking (and several other things), but we haven’t been using that too much.
  • UDP - How packets are hemorrhaged from the socket. Using this, we will implement our own TCP-esque controls and checking at the Application Layer
  • The Internet Protocol Stack - A rather interesting way of dividing up the way data is sent over a network. Not too hard to grasp though.

  Put it all together, and what do you get? Protocol design for a peer to peer file-sharing program, that uses a central server to maintain a list of available peers. A rather ‘fiddly’ assignment, that I’ll post up here later on.

• Web Programming - Easy cake. Just a class about teaching PHP and how it can be used with MySQL. Final assignment is a virtual shopping cart. Not too hard (actually, some people I know finished it within days of it’s release, obliterating the overly long deadline), so I’m going to challenge myself with building a PHP/MySQL based forum in my spare time.
  You never know though, these words might come back to haunt me.
• Data Structures and Patterns - Not bad, not great. The first assignment was a rational calculator based on reverse polish notation, that read and wrote to either the console or the console and a text file. This was pretty easy, but looking back on it, my class design probably wasn’t the greatest, so I may not post it.
  The upcoming assignment is a big one (at first glance) though. The given task is to write a maze solver, with two different methods of solving a maze. One is given, and that is the “Right hand method”, which I am sure we all know. The other, however is not given, and just makes me wonder: “Short of something needlessly complicated to randomly check the path, what other methods are there?”
  Odd. I can’t think of another. Maybe he’ll accept the “Left hand method”..
  Seriously though, important stuff. Knowing how to sort a list properly can make a BIG difference in time when you compare it to an inefficient method. Reasonably common knowledge (”Use the fastest way possible”) but sometimes it’s good to know just what “the fastest way” really is.
• Software Development Practices - This class has a pretty simple goal for a pretty simple reason: Teach you to design software properly, so that it works properly. I think that this is a good lesson to learn, and poorly designed software just will not work the way it is intended. Or if it does, it will take much longer to make. Our assignment is to design a piece of software ourselves, and implement it (atleast partially) for higher marks. Working in a group with Adam Christopher and Allan Jones, we’re making a Media Management tool, which is intended to be as simple as humanly possible.
  As part of this subject, we’re required to make a few blog posts about various things, and my first will be coming up shortly.

So, that’s that. I’ll be posting soon, probably about SDP, and maybe something else of interest.

Now, this might not be news to you out there that use Windows (and like it pretty) but not too long ago, WindowBlinds 5.5 was released, courtesy of StarDock. In the earlier versions that I tried, nothing worked properly, but seeing as it’s becoming increasingly popular, I had to ask myself “Does it deserve another chance?”
Basically, WindowBlinds allows you to use various skins aside from the traditional .msstyles that Microsoft offer, but also offers other functionality. By itself, you can use skins made by other people, change certain functions (for instance, double-clicking on a toolbar rolls it up now), and also mix and match things like explorer icons. As for speed issues, it uses almost nothing of resources (and I heard somewhere about speeding XP up if you have hardware acceleration potentials).
With one of it’s companion products, the SkinStudio, you can make skins all by yourself, in a very simple and straightforward way. It was made for artsy kinds, meaning that it requires absolutely no coding on your behalf, but feel free of course to jump in there and make some nifty scripts. I can’t really sing enough praise about how well this works (and I haven’t even been paid to say this) and how easy it is to put your own personality into your windows (further than the background, of course.)

Both of these products have a free version, with limited capability, but have enough power to make your workspace your workspace. For twenty dollars each though, the best option for most of you will be to stick with the free version, although for a nice roundish fifty dollars you can purchase their Object Desktop package which includes full versions of these and various other quality products.

All of which are Vista capable since 5.5.

Here are two shots of my XP, using a very simple theme by Uladk. As he said, it’s his first, and it’s incredibly simple to make something as quality as this. In about 30 minutes of exploring SkinStudio, I made something similar, and implemented a few changes to the way things work.