Windows Forces you to use UAC to Add a Printer

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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If you want to use Windows Vista and you want to be able to print to a network printer, you’re going to have to use UAC. You turned it off? Turn it back on. You’re using the in-built “Administrator” account? Log-out and log-in as a normal admin. Microsoft says you have to use UAC to get a printer installed. If you don’t, you get this ugly message:

“Windows cannot connect to the printer. The specified print monitor is unknown.”

Exactly why this message shows up isn’t clear, it has nothing to do with the printer you choose to use or the process you take. This particular message is displayed when trying to add a printer via the wizard:

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Ultimate Tag Warrior and WordPress 2.1

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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For anyone trying out WordPress and interested in keeping their tags alive: don’t. Ultimate Tag Warrior is completely broken with WordPress 2.1 and you can lose all your tags by upgrading to WordPress 2.1. In the more recent SVN revisions of WordPress 2.1, any time a comment is added, deleted, or unapproved, you lose all the tags for that particular post. It’s a damn shame, because UTW is an excellent plugin, and WordPress 2.1 is a big improvement over 2.0.

Bunny’s Technorati Tags is a more basic tagging solution, but it’s verified working on WordPress 2.1. If you can figure out how to switch from UTW to Bunny’s TT you can easily switch back when Christine releases a new version of UTW that’s compatible with WP 2.1 via her import from custom-field feature. Just be very careful, make database backups, and use Google when you get stuck.

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The Need for Creating Tag Standards

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Web 2.0, blogging, and tags all go together, hand-in-hand. However, while RPC standards exist for blogs and the pinheads boggle over the true definition of a “blog,” no one has a cast-in-iron standard for tags. Depending on where you go and who you ask, tags are implemented differently, and even defined in their own unique way. Even more importantly, tags were meant to be universal and compatible: a medium of sharing and conveying info across the internet — the very embodiment of a semantic web. Unfortunately, they’re not. Far from it, tags create more discord and confusion than they do minimize it.

To Space or Not to Space, that is the Question

This one is probably the most obvious obstacle and the most destructive when it comes to tallying tag popularity or making those pretty tag clouds: Can tags have spaces in them or not?! If tags don’t/shouldn’t have spaces, then what do you do with multi-word tags that you just can’t shorten? Do you replace the spaces with underscores, dashes, or just take ’em out? Does it matter?

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Windows Vista Forgets its Name – Again

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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The worst bugs are those that you can’t fix without formatting. Most people – before they knew any better – used to recommend formatting as the “tool” of choice for fixing any bug or issue with the operating system or even a piece of software. But as people learn and experience new things, they find alternative (read: less painful) ways of dealing with these issues and making them go away. But what about the bugs that can’t be dealt with otherwise? Like this one: You install Windows Vista, you give it a computer name, you join a domain and change it. Two weeks later, Vista forgets its name, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

It’s a bit complicated when taken out of context, but just look at the image below (click it for a hi-res screen capture), it might make things more clear.

Basically, Windows Vista reverts to the “automatically determined” computer name internally, while all settings point to the name you gave it. The name it uses is the default name provided during setup, whether or not you accepted it at the time. This was a reported bug during the beta, and it’s still driving us crazy now.

A Clarification on WordPress

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Day before yesterday, we posted an article about how WordPress was king of the blogging world, and how close to impossible it would be for it to lose its position. Amongst the comments, trackbacks, emails, and pingbacks directed our way, we find it necessary to clear up some points. For sake of communication and clarity, we’re using bullets to explain:

Most importantly: that wasn’t a review of WordPress. Just a discussion about how WordPress amongst others “spoils” developers!

  • WordPress isn’t necessarily the best engine, just the best platform. The difference is, it might not have the best code and features out there, but as a product together with its community, resources, and developers, it’s the platform for you to use.
  • The reason why WordPress will find it much easier to remain at the top compared to others that have taken the fall is that it’s open source, friendly, and free. That means people are more willing to help it out. Business 101: “open & flexbile” companies take much more and much longer to fail than “closed & rigid” companies do.
  • We’re not saying WordPress will remain the best product, but that even if a far better product came out (like the promising new-comer: Habari), WordPress will remain the tool of choice simply because of how widespread and prevalent it has become.
  • WordPress is not a company, it’s an open-source project. Automattic is the company. They come together, but WordPress is a separate entity, that continue developing and improving with or without Automattic. Don’t confuse the two.

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Atom isn’t RSS!!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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For the last time: Atom isn’t some new version of RSS! It’s not a different kind of RSS and it’s not some alternative-form of RSS either! Atom is one RDF-compliant standard, RSS is another. They have absoloutely nothing to do with one another, and they’re not compatible! You can’t mix and match the two, and pretending they’re one and the same only makes things worse for you and your readers. Nor is it a “sub-format” of RSS. Just because the both serve the same basic purpose at-heart, it doesn’t mean you can say they’re one and the same – that’s like saying OS X is another format of Windows!

What makes it extra-embarassing is when a blogging engine, attempting to sell itself to the more “technically advanced” bloggers out there, has this as a “selling point:”

RSS Syndication

With RSS, your content can be made available for syndication.  ExpressionEngine supports all major RSS formats, including the new Atom format.

Umm.. Hello? So much for “redefining the standard for publishing systems.” Somehow we don’t think that’s what pMachine had in mind when they made that tagline up for ExpressionEngine, their new up-and-coming blogging platform.

“Car 2.0?”

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It looks like Bloggers and tech start-ups aren’t alone in going for smooth curves, design refreshes, and a new, prioritized take on how things look to the audience just as much as how they feel and what they do: automobile manufacturers have just joined the game! Case-in-point: the new Ford Interceptor. Talk about different!

It’s still a Ford, though it looks more like a cross-breed between a Mustang (the top of the car), a Cadillac (the overly deep body), and a BMW (the wheels and the rear – from what we can see of it). It looks rather eerie, and only too fragile.

According to MSNBC, this is part of a new plan by Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors to attempt to regain market share lost to Japanese automakers. It seems they don’t understand it’s not just about the way things look, it’s also about how reliable they are and how good of a name they have to back them. Give the average American a choice between equally priced BMWs and Cadillacs, you shouldn’t be surprised by the result.

WordPress 2.0.6 and FeedBurner Disconnects

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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This article provides a workaroud for WordPress 2.0.6 and chronic FeedBurner disconnects. It’s essential that you upgrade to WordPress 2.0.6 immediately in order to prevent your blog from being taken over by hackers! Upgrade, then follow these instructions to get it to play nicely with FeedBurner afterwards.

The Problem

After upgrading to WordPress 2.0.6 or WordPress 2.1 Beta, your FeedBurner feed will, at times, give you an “invalid xml” error, and “FeedMedic” will show you something like this:

Your server disconnected us before sending the full source feed content. If your blogging platform is TextPattern, this is a known bug, and a fix can be found here: http://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?id=11247

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How WordPress Spoils Developers

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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When you’re done reading this article, check out our clarification for more info.

WordPress took the online world by surprise. Undoubtedly the single most influential tool in the blog-boom, WordPress has not only revolutionized the web as we (used to) know it, but also completely changed the daily ins and outs of web development forever. It’s not just about the power and perfection of the package, but also the coding standards, community benefits, and open source modeling. In short, WordPress has changed the face of web scripting for everyone.

The most obvious impact WordPress has had – on everyone – is that there really isn’t much room for another blogging platform. No matter how good of a competing product someone might make, it’s near impossible for anything to ever overtake WordPress as the tool of choice for the job – no matter what that might be. WordPress isn’t perfect, and we’re the first to admit it. It certainly isn’t the most lightweight blogging platform nor is it the ultimate CMS, but that most definitely hasn’t stopped it from conquering the market.

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EasyBCD: 100% Clean Award

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It takes bigger and more complex programs a little longer to be verified 100% clean, but EasyBCD has just been branded “100% Clean” by Softpedia’s product review team.

Not that anyone ever questioned the authenticity nor has it ever given anyone reason for concern, but it’s always good to have independant 3rd party verification from a trusted source.

You can download EasyBCD from Softpedia here — be sure to rate it while you’re there!