What you find when googling "BurnLounge sucks"

I found this great post (among many others) while researching BurnLounge. BurnLounge sounds like a good way to make money as long as you don't mind going to hell. Here's one member's comments, found at indiemusician.com:

"Okay, how about an objective opinion from someone without an axe to grind, who's actually a Mogul, and who is not one of these cultish fan boys?
Here it is:
In January a friend approached me about BurnLounge, so excited he was about to pop. I said sure - why not? That $450 figure is only if you're stupid enough to purchase the utterly useless 'university package.' My initial investment was just $140 or so.
(For those not in the know - the 'university package' is pushed HEAVILY because (OF COURSE!) it makes the guy who sells it to you a nice chunk of change. The only actual money I've seen from BurnLounge came from - you guessed it! - the idiot I signed up who blew $300 on the 'university package.' So what IS the university package? It's a bunch of CD/DVD's that help you convince OTHER people to sign up - sort of like those marketing things you see on 4:00 a.m. infomercials. And yes, you read right. For half a dozen DVD's, you pay THREE HUNDRED bucks. But hey, the guy right above you makes like $50 off your stupidity, so that's cool, right?)
It's now been more than five months since I signed up. I told the pal who got me into it that my own business was far too busy at the moment to do much with it for at least six months (and besides, I actually MAKE money with my own company :) )
So I signed up one guy, and then watched. Just watched to see what would happen. Here's the results:"

Another good link to BurnLounge discussion is http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/19/burnlounge-still-ripping-consumers-off/ or http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/16/burnlounge-sell-digital-music-snakeoil

Fix Disappearing SendTo "Compressed (Zipped) Folder" in XP

For those who have always relied on WinZip, there's a little-documented feature of Windows XP that lets you unzip and zip folders of files very easily. Just right-click a folder and go to SendTo > Compressed (Zipped) Folder to create a zip archive of the selected folder. If you double-click the icon, it will open seamlessly. To add a password, just open the archive window and go to File > Add a Password...

One problem I've seen is that for some reason, this icon in the SendTo folder has a tendency to disappear. Here's the solution. Type:

rundll32 zipfldr.dll,RegisterSendto into the Run window and run it. The icon will re-appear under SendTo! By the way, it's also a good idea if you first choose Compressed (Zipped) Folders as your default app for opening .zip files. Right-click and go to Open with... to choose this.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

Damn Print Job Be Gone!

Here's a cool solution for the notorious Print Job that will Not Delete. The original link:
Gizmos Grabowski: TIP: Can't Delete Print Jobs:
1. On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.
2. Enter the following:
net stop spooler (and hit enter)
3. Delete all files in the following folder:
C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers
4. Once the spool files are deleted, start the spooler again:
net start spooler

You can also find some useful suggestions in the comments below.

Make 7-Zip Yours

It's great free utility day here on My Net Gems! Here is another kick-bootie tool that is très useful!

The main features of 7-Zip:

* High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
* Supported formats:
o Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
o Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
* For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
* Self-extracting capability for 7z format
* Integration with Windows Shell
* Powerful File Manager
* Powerful command line version
* Plugin for FAR Manager
* Localizations for 63 languages

Did I mention it's FREE?!!

Awesome screen capture freebie

I'm on a cool free tools kick today. Here's another gem that everyone should load onto their PC immediately!!

PrintKey is activated when you press the PrintScreen Key and allows you to capture the entire screen or any portion of it. You can then make changes to the screen capture and save in a variety of formats including .gif, .bmp, .jpeg, .jpg, .emf and .wmf. You can also swap colors, convert to grayscale or black and white, change picture size and send to the printer all from this little freeware program. Tested and works fine with Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP

This description comes from a great PC fan website called New Life Windows 98. Thanks, Harry O!

PageDefrag - Free Windows defrag tool from Microsoft

The words "Microsoft" and "free" are not often used together. So, it's worth noting this software --which I just heard about--which provides some system performance enhancement benefits gratis.

PageDefrag v.32: "One of the limitations of the Windows NT/2000 defragmentation interface is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system.

PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. In addition, it defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop).

PageDefrag works on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003."

Geeky but old Windows Info

I found this page with some old but interesting info. A lot of it is still applicable. (I was searching for info on hacking Windows Explorer.)

Computer Viruses and Parasites - How they work and how to remove them
Windows Explorer configuration - How to make it friendlier
Computer Language Comparisions - C++, Delphi/Pascal, VisualBasic 6.0
Notes on Database Development - MS Access | Delphi | Visual Basic | Java | Firebird
Problems with System Upgrades - Includes a list of suggested debug tools.
Browser Wars - Some children just don't know how to play together
Internet Explorer - Various notes and comments related to Internet Explorer
HTML Examples - Learn by example
Various notes - Just a collection of unrelated technical data

Thanks to Robert Clemenzi for publishing this info!

Cool Windows Search Tool!

Agent Ransack - home: "Agent Ransack is a free tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack displays the text found so you can quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file!

Agent Ransack provides compelling advantages over similar search tools:

* Regular expressions that allow complex rule based searches.
* Immediate contents results view.
* Various wizards to walk the user through the searching process.

Agent Ransack is provided FREE of charge for the benefit of the Windows community."

Just Say No to the VC

SmartBiz.com: Small Business Resources - Bootstrapping 2.0: Smart, Marketable Ideas Trump Outside Capital: "One of the first lessons an avid outdoorsman taught me is that when you’re facing the unforeseen elements of nature, it isn’t smart to rely on outside help for survival. We sometimes forget that the same is true for business, particularly in light of the venture capital-fueled dot-com boom and rise of advanced Web-based (or Web 2.0) tools that are helping to redefine the concept of “bootstrapping,” or building a business without outside capital."

This is a great article that highlights what I think is an important principle that many entrepreneurs miss. Sometimes, big success starts with prudent but smart investment.

Dump file and directory listing to text file (DOS batch)

Ahh, the magical world of ".bat"! Having always used a GUI, I feel like some kid who missed out on years of television. Here's a gem I found that lets you get a directory listing from anywhere on your hard drive, using the "SendTo" directory. That's an invisible folder, kids, so make sure to turn that on in your Windows Explorer--at least for this. (Tools > Folder Options, under the "View" tab)

Windows Vista News Roundup

Amazon.com featured some nice links to news and info on Microsoft Vista. Here are the first 3. You can click the "Next" link to get to the others. Looks like Bill Gates will be making a few extra bucks this year!

Amazon.com: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade Additional License Pack - 1 PC: Software: "1. Windows Vista Home Premium (from reviews.cnet.com)
Windows Vista Home Premium is essentially warmed-over Windows XP Home Edition. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we ...

2. Microsoft Vista Basic (from reviews.cnet.com)
Windows Vista Basic is essentially warmed-over Windows XP, Windows XP SP3. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we ...

3. Six Versions of Vista Set for Second Half of 2006 (from www.winplanet.com)
The forthcoming load of operating systems includes two for businesses, three for consumers and one starter system for what Microsoft ..."

Fun with Spanish

This is an amusing joke a friend of mine passed on to me today. A Google search produced many mentions of what I knew was a popular "forwarded" email. Here it is:

The Spanish Computer

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'

'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether 'computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora' ), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador') , because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

THE WOMEN WON!!!

Electric Car Energy Source Breakthrough

Some cool electric car technology is coming out of Texas! Click here to read more about barium-nitrate advances--especially if you drive a Hummer.

Outlook XP gets ready for new DST

I just heard about this today! In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act. The Energy Policy Act changes the start and end dates of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier (March 11th, 2007) and end one week later (November 4th, 2007) than what had traditionally occurred. All computers will be effected as well as programs which deal with calendar information. For a link to update Windows XP, click here. This is Microsoft Knowledge Base issue KB928388. MS Outlook 2003, 2002 and 2000 will also be affected. The Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool will take care of these versions of Outlook. Outlook 2007 already has the time change factored in. There will also patches for MS Exchange. When available, the tool will be available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

For more information about how to prepare for changes in daylight saving time in 2007 for all affected Microsoft products, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007

New music from dead composers

Not only is UC Santa Cruz home of the fighting Banana Slugs, but it's also home base for David Cope. He makes new compositions based on the work of famous classical composers--all with the help of his computer, EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence). Feed your iPod these fake classics!

The pleasure of finding things out - Richard Feynman

I've heard so much about this guy that I've got to screen this one. 40 min documentary interview with Dr. RP Feynman- one of the greatest physicist of our times and a Nobel Laureate. Specially uploaded for students of NSIT. To download it, click here. If that doesn't work, try this link.

Cult of Mac

Every Mac news junkie should keep this blog on their RSS feed list: Cult of Mac. Leander Kahney and Pete Mortensen do a great job covering Apple product news. With all of the changes going on at Apple, they should probably change the name to "The Apple Cult" or "The Branch iPodians".

Write The Caption

Some of the funniest people are just plain folks who would never be caught dead standing in front of a brick red wall in a dimly lit nightclub. Here's another great Write The Caption site from the Charlotte Observer. Example: "We've replaced Rudolph's original nose with Folgers' Crystals!"

Great PHP/MySQL book!!

My latest book review on Amazon.com. (Apparently, my first, although I'd swear I've done some others on an older account.)

Amazon.com: Your Profile: Reviews

I've bought and begun so many technical books that just had me bored or baffled in a few pages. This book is a refreshing change! Larry Ullman is a very talented writer/teacher who not only has a thorough knowledge of his subject, but also has the skill to communicate that knowledge in such a way that he doesn't talk down to you or leave you in the dust. Although I'm not too far along in the book, I can tell that this is going to give me a good grasp of PHP and MySQL, something I haven't found in a lot of online resources I've tried. It's rare that I feel this way about a technical book, but every time I pick this book up and read a bit more, I am more and more glad I chose this book over some of the others. Another excellent part of this purchase is that the author has made himself available to answer questions. How great is that? It's like getting access to a professor for a fraction of the cost of taking a class. I plan on buying other books from this author as needed.

10 Worst Domain Names

Picking a good domain name that's not already taken is becoming increasingly difficult these days. In fact, just picking an unambiguous domain name presents a formidable challenge for some people. Here's a list of really unfortunate domain names.