The Pocket Moleskine

Windows Symbolic and Hard Links

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:52:32 -0500

Symbolic links - and others - have been on *nixes for, well, since the Stone Age I think. And they’re damn useful.

On Windows it’s another story.

If you’re like my friend Kurt, you might say: “Yeah, it’s another story all right. ‘Cause Windows doesn’t have symbolic links!” Now Kurt, and those of you like him - well-meaning, but a bit hasty (in other words, a Mac person) - actually don’t have the real story. The real story is that Windows has had symbolic links since Windows 2000, or more specifically, NTFS 5.0. This used to be called “junction point” functionality, and was renamed “reparse point” functionality by the time Windows XP came out.

Bungie Reflects on Halo 3: ODST

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:50:24 -0500

Bungie Reflects on Halo 3: ODST:

Bungie, when developing Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST

News
(54)
Previews
(32)
Review

Videos
(83)
Screenshots
(123)
Cheats and Walkthroughs

made the bold decision to bench their All-Star character and start a team of rookies. But did that really hurt them in the long run? Is there value in making something in just over a year, even with the Halo name cranking up the pressure cooker? Are there lessons to be learned going into Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach

News
(23)
Previews
Review

Videos
(7)
Screenshots
(10)
Cheats and Walkthroughs

? We asked the always-affable guys at Bungie these questions (and more).

Review: HeadRoom BitHead headphone amplifier

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:33:47 -0500

Review: HeadRoom BitHead headphone amplifier

Beatbox Music - Trailer Music

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:44:27 -0500

Beatbox Music - Trailer Music:

One of the largest libraries of production music online.

100+ Open Courseware Collections for Aspiring Web Devs

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:59:57 -0500

100+ Open Courseware Collections for Aspiring Web Devs:

Web Development

Learn web page authoring, the basics of HTML coding and programming skills here.

Software Engineering for Web Applications: This MIT course gives intermediate to advanced instruction in Web security, accommodating user demands and more.
Web Page Authoring: Get the basics of working with HTML coding so that you can start experimenting with colors, text, links and more.
Ruby on Rails: Learn about plugins, Ruby tools, and style information from the Ruby wikibook.
Visual Basic 6: When making websites that need to accommodate Internet explorer, turn to this collection of free tutorials.
Server-Side Web Development Distributed Lectures: Learn all about server-side programming, Web servers, creating PHP programs and more from these lectures.
Web Programming, Development and Data Integration: This class covers everything from Dreamweaver MX to databases to copyright and patents.
HTML Basics: You can’t be a web developer if you don’t know HTML. Learn the basics in this course from the University of Washington.
Introduction to Creating Home Pages on the World Wide Web: This collection covers a basic network overview, dos and don’ts of web design, and more.
Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the Internet: This course can be taken in Chinese, English, and Turkish, over YouTube, iTunes, or Google Video.
Firefox: The Mozilla Developer Center publishes this tutorial for Firefox caching and more.

Multimedia

Working with multimedia can give your designs and your business the extra push you need to attract more clients. Discover ways to create multimedia designs in this list.

Introduction to Flash MX: Sofia’s course introduces web devs “to the Macromedia Flash multimedia authoring environment.” You’ll learn about animation, sound and more.
Multimedia and World Wide Web: This DePaul University class is broadcast through iTunes.
Designing Social Media: Designing social media sites and outlets online requires an understanding of unique concepts.
Social Visualization: This MIT class challenges Web workers to “examine ways of visualizing people, their activities and their interactions,” especially online.
Introduction to Multimedia Programming: Watch these videos to learn all about multimedia projects and concepts, including regions, presentations, binary notation, and more.
Building an Internet Radio Station: This course covers the basics of creating an Internet radio station, including legal issues, examples of successful Internet radio stations and more.
The WebDeveloper.com Secret Guide to RealAudio: This tutorial maintains that “making RealAudio files is easy and can be completely free.” Learn how in this tutorial.
Multimedia: Interactivity, Composition and Synchronization: Consider technology standards, multimedia distribution, and the culture of multimedia in this French-language class from the ParisTech “Graduate School.”
Multimedia: The Tutorials for Web Developers site has a whole section devoted to multimedia questions and tips.
Fundamentals of Computational Media Design: Consider digital art and traditional art in this MIT class.
Creating Interactive Multimedia: The University of Southern Queensland offers this class students wanting to improve their web development and design skills.

Web Design

From fonts to colors to shading to graphics, read below for free courses in web design.

Three-Dimensional Modeling, Animation and Rendering Using Blender 3D Software: This class from Tufts University helps web designers and developers create 3D images on the computer.
Computer Graphics: Learn about perspective, lighting, shading, algorithms and other computer graphics topics in this MIT class.
Algorithms for Computer Animation: This graduate-level course will give you advanced training in developing images and animation.
Introduction to Web Design: Learn about Basic HTML coding, fonts, colors, and more in this Indiana University course.
Virtual Reality: Gain an understanding of virtual and computer design through texture, sensors, lighting, shapes and text.
Design: Learn about the basic principles of design and what it takes to organize a design project in this course from The Open University.
Cascading Style Sheets: Learn how to manage colors, fonts and other design concepts with the help of this collection.
Graphics: Find tutorials for Flash, Photoshop and more here.
Graphic Design: Miami Dade College’s class in graphic design basics is offered through iTunes U.
Illustration: This course focuses on using Adobe Illustrator to create designs on the computer.
Getting the Most From Your Effects: So what if you can’t keep up with all the new design downloads or afford to purchase cutting edge software? Understand how to make the most of the tools you already have with this free guide.
Website Design: This collection connects designers and developers to great tools, free templates, and loads of tips for creating effective, profitable sites.
Information Visualization: Learn all about color, interaction, graphs and trees, perception and more design concepts in this course.
Introduction to Computer Graphics: This undergraduate course from the University of British Columbia covers lighting and shading, textures, curves, and other visualization basics.

Freelance/Entrepreneurial Collections

Turn your hobby into a lucrative career or side gig by freelancing. These classes and courses will help you get started.

Podcast for Freelance Graphic Designers: If your specialty is graphic design, listen and watch these podcasts that give tips on making your career successful.
Introduction to Copyright Law: If you’re working for yourself, you need to be extra certain about copyright laws and infringements.
20+ Ways to Make Money Creating Online Cartoons: This short tutorial could give you a boost in marketing yourself, getting motivated, and making a few extra bucks.
agO Design: This collection of Web design and freelance tutorials will connect you to must-have tools, advice for “creative block” and more.
Communications and Information Policy: MIT gives students and Web developers a peek into “the technology and policy context of public communications networks” in this class.
Internet and Copyright Law: Check out this tutorial for another look at Internet copyright law.
Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager: MIT’s business law class is designed especially for those running their own businesses.
Freelance Tutorials: This inclusive collection features courses that help new freelancers decide whether or not a self-driven career is right for them, searching for jobs, and working with clients.
Podcasts: These aren’t exactly classes, but these podcasts from FreelanceSwitch have great tips, support and stories just for freelancers.
Business: The Tutorial Blog publishes business-oriented tutorials and courses just for freelancers. Learn how to better manage your projects, correctly invoice clients, and be more productive.
Web Careers: W3Schools gives web developers tips to start their own web worker career.

Finance and Business

For more specialized help with managing your web business and finances, turn to these classes to learn about web standards, management techniques, accounting and more.

The Business of Web Standards: In this tutorial, Web workers learn how to design quickly while maintaining quality sites.
Entrepreneurial Finance: Learn how to handle your own finances, as well as your creative pursuits, in this MIT class.
Business Operations and Management: This collection from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center includes classes that will help you start up your own web development business.
Accounting Courses: Classes in this collection include “Preparing a Balance Sheet,” “Accounting 101,” and “Preparing a Cash Budget.”
Pricing: Understand demand, pricing strategies for new and old products, and consumer behavior in this course, so you’ll know what to charge your clients.

Usability and Connecting with your Audience

If your designs can’t connect with an audience, your clients won’t be happy and you won’t be making any money. These classes from MIT and other authoritative sites challenge you to design for real human beings and an active Internet community.

Queues: Theory and Applications: Understand the nature and purpose of queuing systems in the service and computer industries in this course.
Principles of Digital Communications I: This class may be especially important for developers whose websites will appear on cell phones and other mobile or wireless devices.
Affective Computing: Learn how computers and humans interact by studying emotion, voice, behavior and other concepts.
Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications: Learn how to create applications and interfaces that highlight common sense reasoning.
The Anthropology of Computing: Get a social history of computers in this course.
People-Centered Designing: Though you’re working with computers, it’s important to know how to create designs that affect real human beings.
Using Web Standards in Your Web Pages: Update your design and development skills by learning how to make old browsers and new web standards coincide.
Software Accessibility - Where are we Today?: Discover how to make the most of technology and the Internet through alternate input devices, sound, visual images and more.
Making Sure Your Theme Works with RTL Locales: This tutorial helps developers who need to design a site that can be read in Hebrew, Persian, Arabic and more.
Theme Change in Firefox 3: Update your client’s sites so that they are displayed correctly in Firefox 3.
Back to the User: Creating User-Focused Web Sites: This two-part series helps you “use your real estate wisely” and create relevant designs to attract customers.
User Interface Design and Implementation: Learn “how to design good user interfaces” by understanding the basic concepts and practical tools involved in the process.

Advertising and eMarketing

Learn how to advertise your own business and give your clients’ sites a boost with these general and Internet-specific marketing courses.

How to Find Clients: Advertise yourself and figure out ways to find new clients in this tutorial for Web developers.
Marketing Courses: Try out these marketing courses to advertise your services online.
E-Marketing: This Spanish-language course from the University of California - Irvine gives a great introduction to e-marketing.
Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business: Get a thorough understanding of what search engines can do for your business and your client’s websites in this UC - Berkeley course.
Listening to the Customer: Help your business grow by giving your customers more than well-designed websites. This course will teach you the skills you need to analyze market trends and customer behavior, which will help you create more effective designs and sites.
Entrepreneurial Marketing: If you’re thinking about turning your Web dev hobby into a small business, learn new marketing techniques in this MIT class.
eMarketing 101: Chapters in this course cover topics in blogging, e-mail marketing, viral marketing, and more.

Programming

Master programming skills in C++, Java, PHP, C#, Ruby and more here.

Java Programming: Let Sofia show you how to work with Java and understand object-oriented programming.
Learn to Program in C++: Learn all about C++ in this thorough tutorial from Cprogramming.com.
C# Programming for Beginners: This course, from C# Corner, shows you “how to write and compile C# programs, understand C# syntaxes, data types, control flow, classes and their members, interfaces, arrays, and exception handling.”
The Java Tutorial!: Here is another Java-oriented course to help you write applets, troubleshoot Java problems and more.
PHP: Visit this site for information and how-tos on PHP basics, functions, forms, html entities and more.
Programming: PHP: This Wikibooks guide discusses the basics of programming with PHP, and it provides links to other great PHP and Web development resources.
Ruby Learning: This website “helps programmers have more fun!” Check out the Ruby Study Notes for an introduction and support for Ruby.
Programming Methodology: Rice University’s general programming course features topics in computer architecture and C++.
Information Science and Technology: Read lectures in computational linguistics and advanced computer architecture from the University of Tokyo here.
AJAX: Learn to work with AJAX when using XML, JavaScript and more.
ASP is FUN!: This free class teaches the basics of ASP coding, working with a database, ASP functions, troubleshooting and more.
Fundamentals of Red Hat Linux: This free course includes a section on configuring the Internet, setting up domain names and more.

General Computer Collections

These refresher courses will keep you current in computer science, Internet culture and Web development.

Information on the Web: Improve your Internet search skills so that you can find what you need more quickly.
Tutorials for Open Office: Learn how to use OpenOffice for your work with the help of these tutorials.
Protocols in Multi-Serve Networks: Consider how your design or site connects and communicates with other humans and computers all over the world.
Machine Vision: For a scientific approach to creating images and communicating symbols, take this course from MIT.
Introduction to Computers: This UC - Berkeley class covers topics in website design, copyright issues, virtual reality, the nature of data and information, and more.
Principles of Computer Systems: This intro course from MIT may help you take your Web development and computer business to the next level.
Ambient Intelligence: This class considers the future of technology, where “people are surrounded by intelligent and intuitive interfaces embedded in the everyday objects around them.”
Web Building Tutorial: Learn about web standards, web design, web security and more in this free tutorial from W3Schools. This collection even includes a web glossary.
Web Hosting Tutorial: From hosting e-mail to hosting domains to hosting databases, this tutorial covers it all.

Miscellaneous Collections

From bug reporting to ethics to typography, this list features a mish mash of web development tutorials and concepts.

Mozilla Web Developer FAQ: Get help working with Mozilla browsers here.
Bug Writing Guidelines: Learn how to write bug reports in this tutorial.
Setting Up Extension Development Environment: This Mozilla-centered tutorial discusses debugging, working with different extensions, and setting up a development profile.
First Impressions on the Internet: Keep these tips and design concepts in mind when creating a web page meant for any type of audience.
Media in Transition: Get a history of the ever changing technologies and communication systems in this course.
Human Computer Interfaces: This French-language class from the ParisTech “Graduate School” explores human interaction with computers and technology.
Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier: MIT’s class explores Internet regulation, the fourth amendment, policy-aware Web and other topics related to law and the Internet.
Image Processing and Artificial Vision: This class covers “image processing and the main techniques used in artificial vision and multimedia applications.”
Holographic Imaging: Learn how to create your own holographic images in this MIT class.
Digital Typography: This MIT course is from 1997, but it offers a solid history of typography and challenges students to develop new digital applications.
Using Timers to Benchmark PHP Applications: This open course from the Dev Shed helps web developers create benchmarking scripts.

iPlayer launch delayed indefinitely on 360

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:32:39 -0500

iPlayer launch delayed indefinitely on 360:

The launch of iPlayer on Xbox 360 has been indefinitely delayed after Microsoft has refused to budge on its policy of only allowing paying XBL subscribers to access additional content.

According to a source within the BBC’s Future Media and Technology department talking to the Telegraph, Microsoft wants to ensure that only those paying for Xbox Live Gold accounts can access extra content, including the recently launched Sky Player, for which users need a Gold subscription as well as a Sky subscription.

Making Humor Work in Games

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:06:58 -0500

Making Humor Work in Games:

Luckily, we do have a few exemplars on both sides of the comedic spectrum to help us measure the success of humor in gaming. Take Psychonauts, for example; Double Fine’s last-gen pet project set a new benchmark for funny games, and with good reason.

Instead of existing as a meaningless gimmick, the humor in Psychonauts feels completely organic, being a thorough comedic (and psychological) exploration of several uniquely hilarious personalities. Protagonist Raz doesn’t mindlessly spout Gex-caliber one-liners as he travels through weird worlds; Tim Schafer and company expertly crafted Psychonauts’ humor to be a holistic part of a fully-realized universe.

The jokes in something like D3’s Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, on the other hand, didn’t benefit from this same creative insight. It’s hard to pin down the definitive unfunny game, but Hazard delivers just about every overused gaming joke under the sun. It’s a generic, mediocre action game — and the humor is intended to save it, repeatedly quipping on the subject of why it sucks. Hazard cracks wise with toothless, inoffensive jokes about tutorials and spawn points, subjects that became old hat for web comics nearly a decade ago.

Sony planning paid PSN subscriptions for 2010

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:18:26 -0500

Sony planning paid PSN subscriptions for 2010:

Kaz Hirai confirms premium level will be added on top of PS3 and PSP’s online service, which will remain free to play online

State of the EE industry and outsourcing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:41:21 -0500

State of the EE industry and outsourcing:

The truth is that everyone has a hand at sending jobs overseas.

Let’s take a look at the unions and engineers first. The largest single stockholding group in the US is retirement funds… for unions. The pressure to maximize profits, that is causing corporations to look for offshore answers comes directly from those being pressured by the rank and file to make sure that retirement fund is healthy. So the workers being laid off, teachers, government employees. And if those funds start to dip because the stock market is on the skids … like it is now … the union pressure the corporations to up their contributions to the fund.

Second, US workers, including engineers, had a competitive advantage for many years because they had unbridled greed, superior technical competence and lofty ambition. But they have left the field by exchanging ambition for complacency. The attitude is, “we are the best so we must be compensated.” As I have pointed out earlier this week, low cost trumps quality in today’s electronics world. Outsourcing centers have adopted good old American greed and have come close enough to matching US competence to make the choice comparable. They have also adopted the long-term attitude that was once the hallmark of American business. They are willing to sacrifice monetarily in the immediate to establish dominance later. The attitude of entitlement of American workers is making them a poor choice in today’s economy. That attitude is not nationwide. Many workers are taking huge salary cuts in order to stay competitive. That willingness to sacrifice is not, however, taking hold within the electronics world.

Third, government still seems to think that the big stick is a carrot and can’t figure out why US companies are leaving the US for other countries. At a talk in Monterey a couple of years ago, former Seagate CEO Bill Watkins said, “If I get approached by a country that tells me if I move my corporate headquarters to their island, they will give me office space and eliminate my taxes as long as I hire locally, I’d be crazy not to take them up on it.” Watkins pointed out, even before the crash in ‘08, that US government makes no effort to keep US companies in the US.

Fourth, corporate management in the tech sector is lead by sheep. They see a competitor do something and they go do it too, often at the prodding of the board and investors. That’s what got everyone excited about off-shoring in the first place. There was little research done regarding the long term benefits. Now we’re seeing some of the early adopters of the practice rethink their decision. Offshore jobs increased job mobility in India, so companies had to increase the amount of training for workers that might last only 6 months. IP theft in China has cost the electronics industry billions of dollars. The financial justification of going overseas is a lot less viable now than it was 10 years ago, especially when you factor in the significant drop in quality.

IBM continues to mislead the public regarding layoff count

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:20:11 -0500

IBM continues to mislead the public regarding layoff count:

IBM Corp. has cut nearly 10,000 jobs this year, according to reports, although Big Blue still refuses to fess up to most of the layoffs.

The Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, an IBM union, claims IBM has implemented 17 separate layoffs for a total of 9,308 jobs this year, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. That’s been known for some time.

Here’s what is new: Big Blue is expected to cut a total of 16,000 jobs this year, many of which are in the United States, according to the union. This comes at a time when IBM is thriving despite the downturn.

Activision's Modern Warfare 2 Price Gamble

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:33:35 -0500

Activision's Modern Warfare 2 Price Gamble:

Some readings of Activision’s figures for the game suggest that the average selling price of MW2 was actually lower than that for Grand Theft Auto IV, which carried a perfectly normal SRP. For Activision, of course, this is perfectly fine. It’s not all that bothered about how much consumers paid for the game - as long as retailers paid the inflated trade price, then the publisher laughs all the way to the bank, regardless of how much those retailers then chose to debase their own margins in order to remain competitive. One wonders whether this had been Activision’s plan all along. From the moment that the price hike was announced, commentators sucked in their breath and marveled at what an immense risk the publisher seemed to be taking with a goose that had previously been guaranteed to lay golden eggs. Yet it may well be that Activision knew perfectly well that retailers would never sell Modern Warfare 2 at full price. Anticipating the price war that broke out between supermarkets and online retailers - with specialist stores unwillingly caught in the crossfire - it knew that it could gouge its “partners” with a higher trade price, confident in the knowledge that consumers would not feel the sting. If that is the case, then one side of the industry can only take its hats off to Activision’s clever maneuvering, even while the retailers who have just helped to inflate the company’s quarterly figures lick their wounds and glower. They’ll get their own back, of course - MW2 will turn profits for companies like GAME, GameStop and GameStation for months and even years to come as copies cycle through the second hand market - but right now, Activision is the victor, having sneakily managed to hammer retail margins for one of the biggest releases of the year into the ground. However, everyone knows that this isn’t a situation which will be repeated too often. Supermarkets will only treat a small minority of extremely high-profile, seasonal releases as loss leaders, and specialist retailers simply can’t take this kind of margin squeeze indefinitely. The next publisher to try and shove its SRP up may well find that retailers are not prepared to soak up the difference this time - leaving it in the exposed position of passing the price hike on to consumers for the first time, and almost certainly doing so with a far less attractive and anticipated product than MW2.

IBM announces advances toward a computer that works like a human brain

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:19:50 -0500

IBM announces advances toward a computer that works like a human brain:

Researchers used an IBM supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore Lab to model the movement of data through a structure with 1 billion neurons and 10 trillion synapses, which allowed them to see how information “percolates” through a system that’s comparable to a feline cerebral cortex. The work is part of a federally funded effort to study what’s known as cognitive computing, starting with what IBM project manager Dharmendra Modha calls “reverse-engineering the human brain,” or designing a new computer by first getting a better understanding of how the brain works. “The brain is amazing,” said Modha, a computer scientist who can wax poetic about the capabilities of human gray matter. “The brain has awe-inspiring capabilities. It can react or interact with complex, real-world environments, in a context-dependent way. And yet it consumes less power than a light bulb and it occupies less space than a two-liter bottle of soda.” A key difference between human brains and traditional computers, Modha says, is that current computers are designed on a model that differentiates between processing and storing data, which can lead to a lag in updating information. The brain works on a more complex physical structure that can integrate and react to a constant stream of sights, sounds and other sensory information.

Wall Street Journal - These Hobbyists Add to Calculators, Multiplying Their Fun

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:48:49 -0500

Wall Street Journal - These Hobbyists Add to Calculators, Multiplying Their Fun:

The WSJ highlights the DMCA legal battle between Texas Instruments and calc hackers.

Criterion-developed Need for Speed coming 'next year'

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:26:24 -0500

Criterion-developed Need for Speed coming 'next year'

"Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard, Inc. - President and CEO: “…the goal that I had in..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:53:52 -0500

“Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard, Inc. - President and CEO:
“…the goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks that we brought in to Activision 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. I think we definitely have been able to instill the culture, the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like we are in today. And so, while generally people talk about the recession, we are pretty good at keeping people focused on the deep depression.””

- Activision games to bypass consoles, CEO wants to take the fun out of making video games

Nintendo's missteps

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:26:13 -0500

Nintendo's missteps:

Nintendo understands that its basic problem was with its software. It didn’t manage to keep a solid, high-quality feed of top titles pouring into the market over the first half of this year, leaving the Wii to rest on the laurels of Wii Sports and Wii Fit when what the market really needed were new things to reignite interest. A huge number of the Wii’s owners are downstream consumers, uncommitted newcomers to the gaming market, and after an immensely promising start, Nintendo failed to deliver the kind of software that encourages those people to swim upstream and get more deeply involved in gaming.

It’s not, by any means, too late. Those people aren’t going anywhere. Their Wii consoles may continue to gather dust and they may continue to buy only a minimal amount of software, if any at all, but it’s highly unlikely that they will migrate to the offerings of any of Nintendo’s rivals or dispose of the consoles entirely. Nintendo still has a window of opportunity to engage those consumers by offering them software and experiences which appeal to them and encourage them back into the market.

Calvin and Hobbes Search

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:10:43 -0500

Calvin and Hobbes Search:

A COMPLETE index to all the Calvin and Hobbes strips. No actual comics, but this is a great searchable archive.

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media: A Guide

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:04:52 -0500

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media: A Guide:

Put simply, the goal here is to clean install Windows 7 on a virgin, unused PC. You can boot and run Setup with the Upgrade media for Windows 7, but when you go to activate, it won’t work.

Thanks to Kevin Fisher and a bit of testing, I have a simple workaround that does work.

After performing the clean install, ensure that there are no Windows Updates pending that would require a system reboot. (You’ll see an orange shield icon next to Shutdown in the Start Menu if this is the case).

Then, open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from “1” to “0”.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose “Run as administrator.” Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm

Then tap ENTER, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

Voila!

A couple of notes here.

Others have reported that simply installing Windows 7 using Upgrade Media and then activating just works. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try this, but my guess is that there was a version of Windows on the hard drive that Setup detected, thus making the install and activation work properly.

I have not tested this yet, but I assume if you launch Setup from within your previous version of Windows, choose Custom, reboot, and then wipe out the previous Windows version during Setup, that that will work as well.

And I’m just about positive that the old “install twice” hack from Vista will work too.

Perltidy Style Key

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:19:27 -0400

Perltidy Style Key:

A list of settings that can be applied to the Perl script Perltidy

Rethinking Feedback to Keep Players in the Game

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:59:34 -0400

Rethinking Feedback to Keep Players in the Game:

Despite attempts to balance difficulty for a wide range of people, the players will still experience failure. More importantly, many of these folks will stop playing because of these failures. It’s rare for people to leave a restaurant because they don’t like the food, and it’s not too common for people to walk out of a movie because it’s bad — but game players do put down the controller and leave the game all the time. What’s worse, when game players have a negative experience, they are likely to tell their friends, family, and community.

When someone quits a game prematurely, we haven’t just lost a player; we’ve created a detractor.

The Pocket Moleskine

Windows Symbolic and Hard Links

Bungie Reflects on Halo 3: ODST

Cheats and Walkthroughs

Previews

Review

Cheats and Walkthroughs

Review: HeadRoom BitHead headphone amplifier

Beatbox Music - Trailer Music

100+ Open Courseware Collections for Aspiring Web Devs

iPlayer launch delayed indefinitely on 360

Making Humor Work in Games

Sony planning paid PSN subscriptions for 2010

State of the EE industry and outsourcing

IBM continues to mislead the public regarding layoff count

Activision's Modern Warfare 2 Price Gamble

IBM announces advances toward a computer that works like a human brain

Wall Street Journal - These Hobbyists Add to Calculators, Multiplying Their Fun

Criterion-developed Need for Speed coming 'next year'

"Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard, Inc. - President and CEO: “…the goal that I had in..."

Nintendo's missteps

Calvin and Hobbes Search

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media: A Guide

Perltidy Style Key

Rethinking Feedback to Keep Players in the Game