Author: spye
-
Recovering
For years, I maintained a blog on my own website, even as that site took several different forms. I enjoyed the act of regularly writing, putting thoughts to paper so to speak, and sharing what I’d learned with others as I did. It was a creative outlet, an opportunity to practice writing and getting used…
-
Windows 8 Activation Process
For anyone whose Windows 8 OEM or MSDN installation fails to activate with a “DNS does not exist” error, you can solve the problem fairly easily by retriggering Microsoft’s activation process by doing the following: From the Start screen, press Win+R to get to the traditional desktop and bring up the run dialog. Type cmd and…
-
On Patents
Patents drive me crazy. While on the one hand, they protect the intellectual property of a company or individual, on the other hand, they are completely ruining the technology industry. Instead of spending time innovating, and building systems for the betterment of our society, companies are embroiled in litigation with each other over incredibly vague…
-
Technology at its Worst
Every once in a while, a completely ridiculous activity is needed on a computer, and it seriously makes me question my entire profession. In the past 16 hours, I’ve had two fully baffling user experience situations that have almost had me ready to toss my computer. Microsoft’s User Experience The first involved Windows. I run…
-
On Microsoft’s Surface…
For those who didn’t see it, Microsoft’s mystery announcement yesterday was the introduction of the Microsoft Surface–their “answer to the iPad.” You can watch the video here. Personally, I think last night’s presentation was a step in the right direction for Microsoft, but only a step, when what they really needed was a jump. RIM…
-
Why I Feel it Necessary to Correct Stuff
Consider this scenario: you receive an email, or come across something online that concerns you, upsets you, worries you, excites you, woos you, or renews your faith in humanity. You share it with your friends on facebook… either to warn them, or to warm their heart, too, depending on the context. Then some jerk decides…
-
Windows 8 is Getting There…
I like what Microsoft is trying to do with Windows 8. I really do. But they still have three fundamental flaws they don’t seem able to overcome. They still have Ballmer at the helm. Get someone with a character like Jeff Bezos or Tim Cook and they’d be all set. They still don’t have a…
-
Focus Mode
November is nanowrimo – National Novel Writing Month. While the goal is to produce a novel of 50,000 words by the end of the month, I’m likely to be far short of that. However, I’m also not writing a novel. I’m taking the time to focus on writing a guide, if you will, to teach…
-
Responding to Failure
By now, I’m sure most people have heard of the global outage experienced by RIM a few weeks ago. Shortly after the outage, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis offered a public apology for the issue, and RIM itself offered free apps and a month of free technical support in response, which were received with mixed reactions.…
-
What’s Next?
I consume a large volume of industry news on a daily basis, most of which is general business and technology oriented. It seems that a vast majority of the content is focused on what’s next. Focused on tomorrow’s technology. Focused on what’s the next big thing. Focused on Company X’s new, soon to be unveiled…