Those of you who frequent mikedopp.com will be noticing some slight changes to the site as I move the Blog from the subtext blogging engine to a blogengine.net engine(somehow that feels redundant). I have been doing some testing with blogengine versus subtext especially on hosted sites. The results are blogengine is faster and cleaner(at least in my mind). A buddy of mine will be helping me out with the back end (MSSQL) conversion. So you may see some quirkiness as I move that. The issues when it comes to moving engines is first losing you google pagerank as well as losing links or at least link breakage. This in my opinion has been one huge reason I have been slow to move.  I should have all moved over by tomorrow. You the viewer/reader should feel nothing. However if you do please let me know. As I know you will. 

Enough of that on to the fun...

Links:

Gnupgp for windows. Need a more secure email?

Fan of Twitter and Firefox? TwitterFox. Join me on twitter "mikedopp"

Create a pdf out of anything on windows free.

Live TV from microsoft. In beta but you can still sign up.

Blogger? Add Social Bookmarks to your site.

3D desktop for your well Desktop

Do you use Delicious? Book marking? This app allows you to manage your bookmarks

Still have an IPOD? Don't like Itunes? Use the Free PodPlayer w/o Itunes

Shameless Plug o' The week:

Al Nyveldt Wicked Blogengine developer

A manual for new parents and clueless parents from a good/bad perspective.

Enjoy!

It is tax time again. Barring a Tax audit. It means tax returns for most of us hard working Americans. The question is how much are you going to pay to have your tax forms filled out for you? Because lets face it. Who has time and the energy to do it themselves? Yes your CPA and or H and R block but they typically charge you. Then there is Turbotax but who wants to pay 30 dollars without support?

Why not go free and no support. That's the true D.I.Y. way.

A brilliant excel guru (I want to say developer) thought it would be nice to create a excel spreadsheet for your 1040 forms. Instead of paying large amounts for software or a CPA try this cool little excel spreadsheet.  Made to do all your taxes.

Thanks Glenn Reeves!

Excel1040.com

So long ago and many many times infinity(2nd grade reference there). I downloaded the Internet. Any cool app I found. Some I wish I had kept. I then found myself in a pickle when the downloaded software had been updated or duplicated in another folder so I had multiple copies of different versions (good or bad) and no way to keep track of any of them. So I found Dupelocater.exe.

Drag folders from Windows Explorer into the DupeLocater.exe window and press Search.

When finished, drag the report duplicates to whatever folder you wish, or the Recycle Bin, or a viewer. 

NOTE: DupeLocater.exe does NOT care about file names. Files with identical content are considered duplicates.

Also DupLocater does not seem to like Windows Vista. Go figure.

Download Links:

Drop.io

mikedopp download

Skydrive Download (Windows Live authentication required)

A long time ago in a remote windows 95 machine I had a cool little game called Scorched Earth.

Scorched Earth is one of many games in the loose genre of "turn-based artillery games". Such games are among the earliest computer games, with versions existing for mainframes with only teletype output. Scorched Earth, with a plethora of weapon types and power-ups, is considered the modern archetype of its format, on which the popular Worms, Hogs of War and GunBound games are based.

Its slogan, "The Mother of all Games," was coined in 1991, during the Gulf War, after Saddam Hussein threatened the U.S. that if they stepped on Iraqi soil, it would be "The Mother of all Wars."

Download Scorched Earth Original(Requres Windows Live Signin) Scorched Earth

Download Scorched Earth 3D (Requres Windows Live Signin) Scorched 3D

The Question is why and the answer is: Please be better than Vista! Notice how much it still looks like Vista however you would have to expect that.

Start Menu

PowerShell

Display Properties

Control Panel

Desktop

Welcome Center

System Tray.

So I was surfing Youtube for my latest and greatest music videos when I got the urge to see if anyone had posted some interesting videos on Rockband.

To my suprise I found this dude had put together an app to use your drums that are included with the Rockband game on you pc.  This is so cool. I can now play the drums record my session and share it with the world via Youtube or your favorite video site. Another great how to get windows xp to recognize your usb drumset head on over to Matt Hackmanns Blog.

Remember when I talked about a free game will be given out for lack  of network performance from Microsoft? Well without much fanfare Microsoft decided the game: "Undertow"  would be the freebie. I understand that the game will only be available until tomorrow **unconfirmed**.  So get it fast before its not free.

"How to hack like a l33t w8nker!"

source:Ranum.com Thanks for the images.

Special plug for some awesome editorials on hacking/security.

Links:

Fix your corrupt Zip files

Live Blogging and Such

Source Code dot MSDN .NET

RU Botted? Another antibot screening app

Create your own online toons

Pocket Geek Game

Five Zune Tricks

Open Ports Site

All Corp logos you could want

A year of Agony

CalendarHub

Shameless Plug o' Week.

 Joe Levi and Duane Koford's new blogs.

I was pondering late last night how can I get along with the new Zune software. No more name calling and bashing the moderators at Zune.net forums. I needed to be a responsible Zunian(no I am not an alien. Just of Zune citizenship) and do more investigating.  Here is how the XML is laid out for both the Windows media playlist file and the Zune Media Playlist file.

Here goes my case:

Windows Media Playlist or WPL

<?wpl version="1.0"?>

<smil>

    <head>

        <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Windows Media Player -- 11.0.6000.6344"/>

        <meta name="AverageRating" content="0"/>

        <meta name="TotalDuration" content="5676"/>

        <meta name="ItemCount" content="1"/>

        <title>Happy</title>

    </head>

    <body>

        <seq>

            <media src="Fun\mikedopp_This_is_mikedoppcom.mp3"/>

        </seq>

    </body>

</smil>

Zune Playlist or ZPL

<?zpl version="2.0"?><smil>

  <head>

    <meta name="generator" content="Zune -- 2.1.888.0" />

    <meta name="itemCount" content="1" />

    <meta name="totalDuration" content="5458563" />

    <meta name="averageRating" content="0" />

    <title>7Habits</title>

  </head>

  <body>

    <seq>

<media src="C:\ZUNE\Music\New\mikedopp_dropitlikeitsdopp.mp3" /> 

    </seq>

  </body>

</smil>

So the difference is?

<?wpl version="1.0"?>

and

<?zpl version="2.0">

In my logical thinking as a Zunian I figured lets just make a template and be happy.

First things first in order for the Zune software to see your mp3's, wma's or wmv's you need to point the software to the right directories. This will assume you already know how to do so.

You will need to edit using notepad or my favorite notepad2 the <meta name="itemcount" to make sure the content number equals the correct number of well items in the mp3 etc directory.

The <media src=""> tag is very important in that you need an absolute path defined for where the media is vs. Happy directory \ song name.

Another concern was does the Zune care about the <meta name="totalDuration" content="5458563" /> ? The answer is no not so much. So my answer would be don't worry too much about this as the playlist will work just fine without it.

So here is the .zol file you can rename to "whatever.ZPL" and add your own tags and or information ie mp3 and or video.

<?zpl version="2.0"?>

<smil>

  <head>

    <meta name="generator" content="Zune -- 2.1.888.2" />

    <meta name="itemCount" content="1" /> <!-- make sure the correct number of itemCount per song-->

    <meta name="totalDuration" content="0" />

    <meta name="averageRating" content="0" /> 

    <title>Happy</title>

  </head>

  <body>

    <seq>

      <media src="C:\ZUNE\Music\New\mikedopp_dropitlikeitsdopp.mp3" />     

    </seq>

  </body>

</smil>

<!-- Zune Playlist notes:

     you definitly need to use the itemcount and keep it accurate. total duration can be 0 as well 

as averageRating Make sure you have absolute paths with media src and type them out.-->

Or you can open up Windows media player drag all the songs you want to be in a playlist as long as they can be seen by the zune software and save the playlist that was just created into the folder that you have the music and the zune software can see..

Once created right click on the .wpl file and rename it to .zpl. The zune software will do the rest.

Enjoy!

Novell's NetDrive.

Transferring files to and from your blog's web server can become a nuisance. Most of the pain is from having to use an FTP program to move your files instead of the file manager you are accustom to. Novell's NetDrive can make this file juggling almost transparent. NetDrive lets you map your FTP server just like a local drive. Manage your files exactly like you would your offline files and NetDrive will do the uploading and downloading almost transparently.

Licensing restrictions keep Novell from distributing netdrive.exe on their web site so you will need to find it on the web.

System Requirements: Windows XP-Vista an FTP Account to connect to. A lot of patience due the fact this software was buggy to begin with.

Very Hard to find little app. NetDrive.exe

I have 3 Invites.

Fulfill your invite wants and needs by leaving a comment for me or go to windowsobserver.com I will give to the first three to comment.

Xobni Insight is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that offers effortless email management and provides instant access to the most important information in your email.

After a quick install, you'll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly your Outlook productivity will burst to life with blazing fast email search, automatic phone number discovery, threaded conversations, and more.

Watch our demo video, or read below to see how Xobni Insight improves your email experience. Or better yet, sign up to try the beta right now.

I was going through all my old backups and laughing at some of the old software I thought was important. I noticed allot of cool stuff I had long past forgotten. So to define Retro would be "its old to me" so that makes it retro. I hope you guys enjoy this I will make a feed of it and post hopefully every Wednesday.

Some of this software may or may not work on your pc. I hardly remember the system requirements but I will do my best to give detailed info on how to run it. Enjoy!

This Week we start off with: MSBOB

Microsoft Bob, designed for Windows 3.1x and Windows 95 and intended to be a user-friendly interface for Microsoft Windows, replacing the Program Manager. At one point, the project was managed by Melinda French, who at the time was Bill Gates' girlfriend (the two later married).^[At the time French left Microsoft, she was Product Unit Manager for a group which included Bob and three other Microsoft titles. The project leader for Bob was Karen Fries, a Microsoft researcher. Microsoft originally owned the domain name bob.com, but traded it to Bob Kerstein for the windows2000.com domain.

Part of the reason I purchased a Wii was for the stand up get out of your seat and pray you don't put your wii-mote through the big screen tv movement. I might be a bit late on this but check out some of the cool "exercise gaming" you can do.

Wii Fit 

Or check out the Wii Weight Loss Program.

Makes it so I can cancel my GoldsGym Pass. Woot!

The mikedopp.com way.

What a week for some links too. I guess we get started.

Time Converter

Netdisaster

Pop Culture Translator

Obscure Google search tricks

How to cheat Buxto

Make your own google.. Mikedopple mikedopp+ google you get it right?

Impossible Machines (I could stare at this all day.)

Every Sys Admin knows about Hirens BootCD

SnapFoo Mobile Phone Blog (moblog to the geek)

Every Sign generator on the net.

Got time to doodle? Do it on the internet.

Exciting Links for the Boring Day. (ooook?)

a new infinite activation for vista. Um who uses vista?

ZML is for movies as allofmp3 was for mp3's

A very addictive non flash game.

Cool Stuff fer your blog.

Halo-3 Ringtones (free)

Xbox Hacking Network

Best Hacking Softwares (use at your own risk)

MusicBrainZ Mp3 Database

Wow that was fun.

Shameless Plug o' The day:

mmmm Mikedopp.net Cause it just doesn't get enough traffic.

Woot! is all I can say.

Sadly not for windows. However give it time.

Here is a link to the Classic Simcity

Link to the Open Source Project known as Micropolis

Someday Active X will be abolished. IE8?

Xbox LIVE Holiday Performance

As many of you know, I have been keeping you up to date on the status of Xbox LIVE. Here is an official message from Marc Whitten (Notwen) GM of Xbox LIVE on where we are and what we are going to do. Again, thanks for your patience.

Dear Xbox LIVE Members:                                                                                                    

During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records.  This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service. 

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break.  While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance.  I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state. 

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service.  And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge.  In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you. 

Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today! 

Sincerely,

Marc Whitten

General Manager, Xbox LIVE

Gamertag: Notwen

Sweet Cannot wait.

I am a avid reader of feeds. I love pulling down content and reading it. I view RSS Feeds like my daily newspaper. Needing a daily taste of tech news and gossip.

Online RSS Readers(web based):

PageFlakes   

Windows Live

Google Reader

feedburner

Email Readers:

Outlook

Yahoo

Client Side RSS readers:

RssBandit

SharpReader <-My favorite

Many Many More...

The Best RSS readers will allow import and export of OPML files. What is OPML? Good question.

"OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines. Originally developed by Radio UserLand as a native file format for an outliner application, it has since been adopted for other uses, the most common being to exchange lists of web feeds between web feed aggregators." -Wikipedia.org

Here is my everyday RSS "newspaper" Download me

  As you all know I love the Xbox360 especially the party games such as Halo3 and Guitar Hero 3. So naturally when I walked by the Gamestop in my local mall I noticed this large black box with big bold lettering "RockBand" and wow I was interested. I inquired within(Gamestop). Found a setup that matched my console(Xbox360) and inquired about the cost. $180 seemed quite steep but it came with the drums and microphone. What really sold it for me was how excited my wife was to play it.

So I brought it home. Unboxed the components and sure enough there was all the greatness that I paid for sitting inside. I hurried and setup the drums and pulled out the guitar as well as my Guitar hero guitar(because it works with this also *Bonus*) Turned on the Game and all the components lit up on the green circle of xbox360 love except the microphone.

After close examination I was very concerned it was yet another Logitech device. Grrr! So I looked within the box maybe I missed some documentation on setting up the microphone cause it was still dysfunctional. I did come across the pink paper entitled: "Stop Please don't return any Rock Band Hardware...."

I went to the support page: http://support.ea.com/rockband . No answers there either. I contacted the support number on the web site and waited 2 hours to talk to someone that had to explain that I needed a xbox360 controller turned on with the microphone to make it work.

So the whole reason for this was to let all those who are frustrated with the microphone like me. Calm down, relax. You now know how to work the blessed microphone  with the Xbox360. EA needs better than no instructions on how to make the microphone work.

Rock ON!