WyzGuys Tech Talk

Sorry to put a financial/economic article in my blog but we need to know this.

The insane are running this country!  We are now insuring deposits up to 250,000 but this expires on 12/31/09 the end of THIS YEAR! - Info comes straight out of the FDIC information sent to the bank's!

Basic Coverage for all depositors:
1.Until December 31, 2009: Under 12 C.F.R. 330.1(n)-Standard maximum deposit
Insurance amount, referred to as "the SMDIA" hereafter, means $250,000 adjusted pursuant
to subparagraph (F) of section 11(a)(1) of the FDI Act (12 U.S.C. 1821(a)(1)(F)).
Under the new law, as of January 1, 2010 the SMDIA returns to $100,000.
Up to $250,000 per depositor including principal and accrued interest. This increase is
effective immediately, but expires on December 31, 2009. The category “Certain
Retirement Accounts”remains at $250,000 after the expiration of the law on
December 31, 2009.
Important! Therefore, please remember the December 31, 2009 “expiration date”when
opening time deposits. Based on the current law, time deposits with a maturity date
after December 31, 2009 will revert back to the old rules of $100,000 per depositor after
December 31, 2009.

This is a rant.  This really bugs me!  I can not for the life of me figure out why anyone sending business e-mail is doing it from an account on AOL, Hotmail, gmail, Comcast, ATT.net, or any other ISP.  This goes double for those of you (and you ought to know who you are) that have a perfectly valid registered domain name that your web site is hanging out on.

Well, I do know the reason.  It's something like "I've been using this e-mail account since the invention of fire" or "everyone already has this e-mail address" or some other version of "it's too hard to change or I don't know how to set one up."

If you have your own business domain name, let's say MyBusiness.com, you should be using an e-mail account like MyName@MyBusiness.com NOT MyBusiness472@AOL.com!!!

When you place your Yellow Page ad, are you kind enough to put an AOL logo in the corner, with something like "E-mail proudly provided by AOL?"   

Those of you running truck fleets, do you get the painter to put a Comcast logo on your truck? NO?

Then please, please, please set up an e-mail address on your domain name and use it for your business correspondence.  If you don't know how, get someone who does to help you do it.

Thank you!

Chris Hanscom, aka Veign, a Microsoft MVP and frequent contributor to the Microsoft Expression Web Group, recently posted some links to further information about using the .htaccess file to customize some web site functions, like setting password protected areas or generating custom error (404) pages

If you are on a Linux server then you can use an htaccess file.

htaccess:
http://www.veign.com/blog/2007/01/on-linux-server-then-see-what-htacc...

htaccess Generator: http://cooletips.de/htaccess/
.HTACCESS files useful tips and tricks: http://www.garnetchaney.com/htaccess_tips_and_tricks.shtml
Using the .htaccess File: http://www.wise-women.org/tutorials/htaccess/

Even more fun with htaccess:
http://www.veign.com/blog/2007/02/even-more-fun-with-htaccess.html

htpasswd Creator:
http://www.veign.com/tools/htpasswd-creator/

Resource Center: http://www.veign.com/development-center.php
Veign's Blog: http://www.veign.com/blog
Web Development Help: http://www.veign.com/development-center-web.php

I don't usually do restaurant reviews in this space, but I had an exception experience last week.

Cheri and I were visiting Leadville Colorado last week and the conductor on the Leadville to Climax Railway recommended Quincy's.  All they do is Filet Mignon.  That's it - Filet Mignon (and vegetarian lasagna for the meat free) Monday through Thursday.  Friday through Sunday it's Prime Rib - but that's it.

When you do one thing only, usually it is done very well, and Quincy's is no exception to the rule.

The astounding part is the prices!   6 oz filet for $7.95, 9 oz for $9.95, 12 oz for $11.95, and $15 oz for$13.95.  This includes a salad, baked potato, and bread. 

I ordered the 12 oz and Cheri ordered the 9 oz.  They started us off with a salad and some bread, both of which were freshly made and excellent.  Then the steaks came, and whoever is weighing them...well let's just say they were generously proportioned.  My steak looked like the steak that Cypher was eating with Mr Smith in the movie "The Matrix,"  medium rare, red and succulent, with a full bodied flavor that only comes from proper aging.  Even the potatoes were fabulous.

Our entire tab with tip came to around $30.  If you are in the Denver area, it is probably worth the beautiful 2 hour drive through the mountains to get to Quincy's.

Microsoft bashing is a popular past time, which I admit to participating in myself.  And yet, I am a Windows guy, I run Vista and like it, or at least don't hate it.  My limited experiences with the Apple OS have not impressed me that much - not better, just different, and somewhat confusing, at least in the learning stages.

One of the issues that seems to pop up when I am supporting my Windows customers is the issue of software compatibility.  "Everything was working fine until I installed...." or "I ran these updates and now my system hangs..."  Just thought it was interesting that Apple released a couple of updates that messes up Windows.  Here's a post from John Murrell at "Good Morning Silicon Valley."

Apple extends customer-irritation program to Windows users: After a recent stretch of annoying various segments of its core constituency with an assortment of technical troubles (see "Another brush fire? Tap the goodwill reservoir"), Apple has worked its way out to its market's edge with a glitch that hit some Windows Vista users who installed the iTunes 8 update released earlier this week. The unlucky ones found themselves staring at the Blue Screen of Death when they plugged in their iPhone or iPod.

Today, along with the release of the iPhone OS 2.1 update, which targets its own set of bugs, Apple also posted a fresh version of iTunes 8 that rolls back the version of the USB driver that apparently caused the Windows problems. Victims were advised to uninstall, download anew and reinstall. Apple also dispensed some tips for Windows XP and Vista users who are running into sync problems with the iPhone or iPod Touch.

I have noticed that my clients with iTunes installations seem to have more problems than those who do not use iTunes.  Those of you using iTunes in a business computing environment may want to reconsider how important it is to your daily effectiveness, as it comes with a computer reliability and performance cost.