OneNote on iTunes App Store – pretty slick!
Microsoft has not put very much effort in developing cross platform content for the App Store – but their OneNote application is definitely a step in the right direction.
Background: I was looking forward to testing the cross platform functionality. I have Windows 7 (64-bit) and Office 2010, and have been looking for a simple way to expand OneNote to mobile devices (iPad and iPod Touch). I have used Evernote and other similar programs, so was curious how this integration might compare.
The Good: The Microsoft OneNote app provides standard functionality without messing up notebook formatting.You can edit tasks and notebook contents. The picture integration is usable and works well – I think there is definitely some untapped potential for functionality in using the touch interface more – but for a 1.0 version it works.
The app is free for a “limited” time, but it definitely gives an idea of what’s possible when Microsoft puts even some minor effort into a platform.
The Bad: I had some issues getting the sync to work reliably at first. Did a reinstall and everything has worked normally since. They also pushed out an app update to deal with an authentication issue. No big showstoppers or missing functionality that wouldn’t make the app worth checking out. If you already use OneNote, this is a handy addition – but for new adopters (Evernote converts, etc.) it may be worth seeing what the next major update rolls out.
Whitehouse.gov releasing open source code
Ok- this is just a nice way to end the week.
Whitehouse.gov is releasing the source code to some of the custom Drupal content management system (CMS) modules in use on the site. Always good to see modules released to the open source community – especially by the public sector.
Windows 7 Ultimate on the Y4
Background
Decided to take the plunge and forget my dual-boot setup. I had done a couple of Windows 7 installs already so I figured that there shouldn’t be any major issues. So far my installs of Windows 7 have been smooth. Smooth enough that I figured I could take a chance with my primary machine (oldie Panasonic Y4).
Installation
I actually followed the walkthrough on my earlier post and made some notes below since some drivers are updated. Don’t get too excited – the Intel 915 chipset is still a liability. I still don’t have Aero support (tried various hacks and nothing) so I am stuck with the basic interface (no Aero Peek and can’t run DVD Maker).
For this installation – I copied the current XP drivers and the Vista Upgrade driver files to an SD card and kept in the internal bay in the Y4. Provided easy access and I was able to reformat the drive and clean up the partition table as well (of course I made a complete backup before doing any of this).
Did a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate and deliberately didn’t manually update any drivers after first boot. Ran Windows Update and it downloaded drivers for the Intel WLAN chipset, the Realtek NIC and the Intel 915 chipset. Then performed the following:
- Disable Intel Power Management in the Intel display properties section. Right-click on the Intel systray icon and go to Properties. Go to Display Settings then Power Settings and uncheck the Power Saving box. Starting seeing wonky behavior with sleep mode and this appears to rectify it.
- Install the TPM driver -Infineon chipset for TPM. I downloaded the TPM Vista driver for the Y5 (tpm_d080275 – ~93MB) from Panasonic. Expanded it into a driver folder, but then just updated the driver (i.e. I did NOT run setup).
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Install the hotkey driver (Update the driver from Device Manager – should be listed as one of the Unknown Devices). Browse for the driver. If you used the default decompression path, it should be located in C:VistaUpdrivershotkey. Update and reboot.
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Install the touchpad driver. Browse to C:VistaUpdriversmouse. Run setup.exe as Administrator. Install is straightforward, reboot when prompted.
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Installation of Sigmatel Sound driver. You need to snag the XP driver from Panasonic’s support site, or from your XP install partition. This is a weird one. You have to install the driver’s setup file. Then uninstall the driver via Control Panel. Finally, install the same driver again (Run setup.exe as Administrator). Reboot and sound should be working consistently. Otherwise – sound will work intermittently.
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Install the Hotkey Appendix. Browse to C:VistaUphkeyapp. Run setup.exe as Administrator. You do not have to reboot at this time.
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Install the Hotkey Settings. Browse to C:VistaUphkeyset. Run setup.exe as Administrator.
- Install the Misc Driver. Browse to C:VistaUpmiscinst. Run setup.exe as Administrator.
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If you want the Wireless Switch utility: Browse to C:VistaUpwswitch. Run setup.exe as Administrator. You do not have to reboot at this time.
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If you want the Optical Disc Power Off Utility: Browse to C:VistaUpopdoff. Run setup.exe as Administrator. This one did not work for me – it said that it could not get access to the “misc driver” – doesn’t appear to hurt anything – just annoying.
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Finally, install WinDVD. Browse to C:VistaUpwindvd. Run setup.exe as Administrator.
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The keyboard is recognized as a Japanese 106/109 key layout – but the default is to use the International English key mapping. This is annoying. Open the Language Bar and Add Japanese to the keyboard layout.Set Japanese as the primary keyboard layout and then remove ALL US keyboard entries. Do a final reboot and confirm that the keys are mapped correctly.
Observations
One weird thing has happened with this install – but it’s minor. Two unknown devices have suddenly appeared in my Device Manager. Have no clue what they are and have simply left them alone. Machine stability is not an issue and everything works normally. Not going to worry about it.
Biggest let down of this project was the lack of Aero support. The Intel 915 chipset was popular enough that I figured some Aero goodies would find their way in – but nope. (funny sidenote – my Windows Experience score is a whopping 1.0 because of the video chipset!)
Good luck to anyone that goes for this – performance on the laptop has been solid and performance has been on par or better than XP, so it has been a good switch. I have had to reduce the hardware acceleration to play some videos (had the same problem in XP) – but otherwise things appear to be working well.
Sony PSP – Remote Play with DLNA
Had been waiting for the chance to test a PSP with the PS3′s Remote Play capabilities. Namely to see how audio/video streaming worked – especially with internet content.
The Tests:
Scenario 1: Media playback (photo/video/audio) from DLNA equipped NAS (Promise SmartStor)
Scenario 2: Media playback (video) from PlayOn sources (Mediamall)
The Results:
Both setups worked without a hitch. Connected PSP and registered it via USB cable to the PS3. Selected Remote Play on the PSP and got access to the PS3 interface. Tried this over local wifi and from a local Starbucks wifi.
Scenario 1: Local wifi playback was fine for photos/audio, there was some jitter with video in the first 2 seconds of playback for MP4 video files, but then worked fine. Playback from public wifi was slightly lower quality on video (jitters in the first 10 seconds) but worked fine and cleaned up once the signal stabilized.
Secnario 2: Worked perfectly – was able to watch Hulu, AdultSwim, CBS, etc. All the content streamed perfectly. While smooth, the video quality is not as high (fault of source content obviously) – but on the smaller PSP screen it was noticeable only on action sequences where artifacts would appear. This happens on normal playback of some content anyways (CBS…ahem…) – but Hulu worked pretty well.
Will be interesting to see how the PSP Go works out and what price point is affixed…with rumors of the XMB interface finding a home in new Sony devices, look forward to seeing how far DLNA goes!
Windows 7 RC1 on the Y4
Finally had the chance to get RC1 installed on the Panasonic Y4 and see what the differences were. So far, not a huge difference in performance – a little less hard drive thrashing, but boot/shutdown times are still pretty short. Overall – just feels a little more polished, nothing too different from the Beta.
The big difference was the installation process. While it installed more cleanly, I was able to piece together some nuances from Vista that helped legacy hardware drivers play nicely. So let’s get going!
To start, grab the Vista Update files from Panasonic and put them on a USB drive:
Filenames you are looking for are – links below are direct to Panasonic.jp:
viup1_t4w4y4_h070028.exe
viup2_modem_r4y4_d070324.exe
viup3_w4y4.exe
viup_windvd_y4w4y5w5_061246.exe
I would additionally make a copy of the XP drivers that end up in the C:util folder. You will need the sound driver for sure. Do a fresh install of WIndows 7 RC1 (I did a new partition so I could keep my XP install as well) – you should have a usable system but with no WLAN connectivity by following the usual install process. Now expand the files you downloaded above. Next step is the installation of Vista drivers that will provide the major functionality for Windows 7 to not be cranky.
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Install the hotkey driver (Update the driver from Device Manager – should be listed as one of the Unknown Devices). Browse for the driver. If you used the default decompression path, it should be located in C:VistaUpdrivershotkey. Update and reboot.
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Install the touchpad driver. Browse to C:VistaUpdriversmouse. Run setup.exe as Administrator. Install is straightforward, reboot when prompted.
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Install the video driver. Browse to C:VistaUpdriversvideo. Run setup.exe as Administrator.Install is straightforward, reboot when prompted. Upon rebooting, go to Graphics Properties -> Display Settings -> Power Settings. Remove the checkmark for “Intel Display Power Saving Technology” and click OK.
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Install the WLAN driver. Browse to C:VistaUpdriverswlandrivers. Double click the iProFifX.exe file (Run as Administrator). The driver installation should complete and WLAN should function normally.
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Install the Panasonic Misc Driver. Browse to C:VistaUpmiscinst. Run setup.exe as Administrator. Install is straightforward, reboot if prompted.
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Installation of Sigmatel Sound driver. You need to snag the XP driver from Panasonic’s support site, or from your XP install partition. This is a weird one. You have to install the driver’s setup file. Then uninstall the driver via Control Panel. FInally, install the same driver again (Run setup.exe as Administrator). Reboot and sound should be working consistently.
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Install the Hotkey Appendix. Browse to C:VistaUphkeyapp. Run setup.exe as Administrator. You do not have to reboot at this time.
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Install the Hotkey Settings. Browse to C:VistaUphkeyset. Run setup.exe as Administrator.
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If you want the WIreless Switch utility: Browse to C:VistaUpwswitch. Run setup.exe as Administrator. You do not have to reboot at this time.
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If you want the Optical Disc Power Off Utility: Browse to C:VistaUpopdoff. Run setup.exe as Administrator. You do not have to reboot at this time.
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Finally, install WinDVD. Browse to C:VistaUpwindvd. Run setup.exe as Administrator.
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Do a final reboot and confirm that everything is working and enjoy!
UPDATE: Tracked down the final “Unknown Device” in Device Manager. It is the Infineon chipset for TPM. I downloaded the TPM Vista driver for the Y5 (tpm_d080275 – ~93MB) from Panasonic. Expanded it into a driver folder, but then just updated the driver (i.e. I did NOT run setup). Everything was recognized and Device Manager is much happier. Not to mention think this speeded up boot times.
From Cloudy to “Just in Time”
Keir Thomas at PCWorld had a great blog post that I believe lays a great foundation for the next logical step in the information plant.
Conventional thinking and simple economics have resulted in “cloud” computing services – but only via monolithic datacenter footprints. The reasons are valid – limited footprints and capital for expansion make sense – but in order to truly see the benefits of a cloud business model – distributed computing has to come to the forefront as the next step.
Keir’s blog post brought up the concept of “good enough” computing. I think another way to approach that topic is “right sized” computing (I am such a marketing geek). You wouldn’t leverage a beefy server to host a single website – so you virtualize and host multiple instances. I think the introduction of low-power processors (Intel Atom, VIA, etc.) into the mainstream is going to provide a framework for these “right sized”jobs that will not only provide a smaller power footprint, but a more efficient use of computing resources.
To really see these benefits – now we look at the allocation/distribution of these computing resources versus utilizing a more conventional monolithic model. By looking at the tenets of conventional manufacturing and the progress made to just-in-time inventory management and production – moving the processing layer closer to the end user provides the opportunity to increase computing efficiency.
How will these “right sized” technologies migrate into the datacenter? Not sure on that one just yet. This is a unique dilemma since this is a hardware play – and requires a solid knowledge of networking, systems, virtualization and even storage environments. While the prospect of a “wonder” box is nice – pretty realistic to assume that companies are going to have to think outside the box to figure this one out…
Cloudy Computing…
With the amount of information and subjective interpretations surrounding cloud computing – Cisco’s recent announcement has started to force vendors to stop talking in code and start leveraging all of these technologies in a pragmatic fashion.
Thankfully, there are quite a few tangible benefits to integration, but the ramifications to the datacenter world are huge. Cloud computing is a concrete step toward truly outsourced internet infrastructure (utility computing). You outsource (via technology partner) your computing infrastructure and the business can focus on the application and staff productivity.Given the economy, improving processes is a simple way to increase profit and ready the business for its next growth phase.
So now that virtualization is becoming more accepted in various environments – what is next? By abstracting the hardware platforms that cover connectivity, storage and processing, technology vendors have made some serious headway in integrating the pieces. By tying together key vendors, I am hopeful to see some standards emerge from this to address performance, management and scalability. The one key ingredient that remains the same? The OS.
So what’s next…I say increase efficiency and remove the conventional OS from the equation. Run your application on the Hypervisor and call it a day. I have to give props to netbooks/laptops for shining the way here*. There are plenty of opportunities to wring performance out of machines by consuming less power and not sacrifice the user experience. Similar to computing only a few years ago, the solution was to simply throw hardware at the problem and not address/optimize the underlying architecture. With datacenters now getting incented to provide power efficient solutions, these costs will affect customers. Now efficiency is the name of the game in the datacenter. I look forward to seeing how the industry adjusts to balancing power consumption and performance…
* For example, companies like DeviceVM/Splashtop provide unique uses for embedded OS choices. It’s cool to be lean!
Memory Upgrade surprise…
The Mission: Track down a 1.5GB RAM upgrade for the CF-Y4. Previous experience had been showing prices at $300 – too high.
The Execution: I knew the specs of the chip I needed – but for some reason, prices were still high! Froogle and Pricewatch were unhelpful, so I started checking out the Google ads…and holy crap. Went to Memory-Up.com and found a “compatible chip” for <$70. Done.
The Outcome: Despite my trepidation (I am always skeptical of cheap RAM) – worked like a charm! New Kingston brand chips and ran multiple tests to be sure. Very happy with it and no shipping, just sales tax. If anyone wants my old 512MB chip – hit me up.
Windows 7 Impressions – Part 1
Installed Windows 7 on a spare partition on the Y4 and found the following “inconsistent behaviors”.
1) Sound isn’t consistent. Used the Sigmatel XP drivers and sometimes the sound works and sometimes it doesn’t. It does alternate – but couldn’t find a consistent reason. blah.
2) Touchpad drivers (Synaptic) were not happy. Not too big a deal – but then you lose the scrolling functionality with default windows mouse driver – lammmme
3) Keyboard driver(s) – was having some funkiness with the keyboard layout (gave me an error that a CF-50 keyboard was not supported by Vista). The buttons worked, but the layout was a little jacked up. Also – Function key drivers were not happy – so changing brightness/sound level was not happening.
4) Video drivers – appeared to work well. Only ran into one issue consistently – video playback was not happy all the time. Regular use had great resolution and the screen looked good. Going to try some updated codecs and see how this goes…
UPDATE: Codecs made no difference in video playback – still broke it. Dug up some more information on the Intel 915 video chipset on the Windows 7 Forum. Does not look like a WDDM driver is coming any time soon…:(
Overall:
So far, so good. The system has been stable with no crashes. IE8 crashed once when I tried opening Google Analytics in IE8. Apparently the missing plugin killed it. Performance is pretty impressive and comparable to XP with more eye candy. The feature improvements are a small step up from Vista – but the implementation is so much better. I look forward to checking out the final release…
Digsby…sigh…
Ack! IM outages are lame – but when they are so much more and incorporate other pieces, it becomes a bigger problem. Digsby is down 
so that means it’s off to my trusty backup multiple IM client on the Blackberry – Web Messenger.
As far as what happened to Digsby? Just can’t connect and the last cogent information from their blog says the following:
We are having server-side issues that brought down the service. We are working on the problem now and will be back up shortly. If you want to be notified when we come back online, send an email to bugs@digsby.com.
After a year of almost perfect uptime, this is the second outage in the last week. This is completely unacceptable and we will make sure this does not become a regular occurrence!
Wish there was more information – but to be honest, I would rather they focus on fixing the problem and get the service up. Here’s to hoping that zombies were not involved. Or if they were, there is some great footage.
UPDATE: Back online! Also had the chance to start playing around with their embeddable widget – VERY cool.
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