This is the last post that will be going out to the AJAMA Movie feed! If you are interested in keeping up with the happenings on AJAMA.org and LifeInAGunShell.com, follow: http://lifeinagunshell.com/blogFeed.php. Thank you for your continued support!

(I simply tagged people from whom I've received a spam notification from recently or who could shed some insight in to the issue. If you feel as though you were wrongly tagged, please untag yourself.)

It seems like there’s been a sudden spike in spam notifications showing up in my inbox recently. So, here’s how to tell if an app notification is spam.

Oh, hey! C commented on my photo!


Huh...



Facebook will NEVER require your permission to view a standard post on your news feed or photos. Here are some other signs:


One more fake one:


I hope this helps everyone! Keep these in mind, and help keep Facebook clean!

For those who haven't been baraged by posts, check out the week-long CES blog produced by myself and my father over at:

CES.AJAMA.org

Also, be sure to check out the new it! web site:

http://fredericksburg.com/it/

We came in through Dulles international airport with relatively few problems. Security didn't seem to be much heavier than previous flights. We took South West out on a 4 PM flight, with a landing at 6:50. Luggage pickup was quick. The shuttle from the airport, for which we were charged nearly $20, took around 45 minutes, as it dropped people off at every hotel on the strip. I highly recommend, if you are traveling with more than one person, that you take a cab.
Check in time at Treasure Island was horrendous. With about 30 people in front of us in line, and only 3 people working the desk, it took about 45 minutes.
More coverage will come about the opening day of the expo soon!

In the interest of transparency, this is just a personal list for my loadout. Dad may chose to release his later on (primarily, the list of items used to animate the nightly CES cartoons).

Computers:

Macbook Pro
- 2009 Unibody Model
- 15" Display
- OSX 10.6 and Windows 7 Enterprise dual boot
- Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66 Ghz
- 320 GB Hard Drive

Fujitsu U810
- 5.5" Display
- Windows XP Tablet Edition
- Intel Atom @ 800 Mhz
- 60 GB hard drive

Digital Media Players/Recorders:

Sansa Fuse 4GB Player/Recorder

Camera Equipment:

Nikon D80 12 Megapixel Digital Camera
- 50mm f/1.8
- 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6
- 50-200mm f/4-5.6 VR

Fujitsu FinePix F30 6 Megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera
- 640x480 Movie Recording

I just finished updating the SK Lightworks program to include some more features. There are now more patterns for the LEDs and more options for the fog. Check out the video:





Download:
SK Lightworks 1.1.0.2
Download .Net 3.5 Redist
Download XNA 3.0 Redist

There wasn't any truly simple program that allowed the Rock Band Stage Kit to be used stand-alone or to be hooked up to a computer. So, I wrote one.

I started playing around with this API and wrote a quick program to do just that. This is the first thing I've ever coded in C#, so please report any bugs you run in to. It's fairly basic (and ugly... I'll change it away from the standard VS style later on), but it will easily let you control the strobe and fog box. It also has really basic circular patterns coded in for the LEDs. I plan on adding more functionality as I have time.



As of right now, there is only control over a Stage Kit set as player 1. I've only been able to test it on my desktop, running a Core 2 Quad and Windows 7 Enterprise.

Download Links:

Download SK_Lightworks 1.0

I haven't tested it outside of Windows 7 which already had these installed, but if you need them:

Download .Net 3.5 Redist

Download XNA 3.0 Redist


Known problems:
- The LEDs won't stop instantly when you hit any of the kill buttons. They wait until the end of the cycle.
- The program randomly takes up large amounts of the CPU. I'm pretty sure I fixed this, so let me know if it occurs.

Future plans:
- Add support for more than one Stage Kit.
- Add additional light patterns.


I plan on releasing the source later on once I can clean it up. Enjoy! :)

I didn't write this. I don't support it. Posted for your enjoyment.

Removing the Suggestions box

1. Download the Greasemonkey plugin for Firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748).


2. Reboot Firefox


3. Navigate to http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/60715


4. Hit the giant "install" button, and you’re ready to go!

To disable it, while on the front page of Facebook page, click on the monkey icon in the lower right hand corner. Click on the "Remove Suggestions" option to uncheck it. Refresh the page, and you’re set!


Dislike button

Groups for this have been popping up EVERYWHERE. There’s a Firefox plugin that will allow it:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/47023
Simply click the "Let me install this experimental add-on" checkbox, click install, and reboot Firefox.

I still think there needs to be a script to let me double-like statuses... but, anyway, until I can figure out how to pull a 1984 and double plus like your triple plus good status, have a good week!

Download Guide:

It seems like very few students actually know about this, so I figured I should put some sort of guide together.

First, navigate here:
http://admin.cs.vt.edu/create.pl

Punch in the required info. The new password you create must be at least 7 characters long and contain 1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, and 1 special character/number. Sometimes you’ll have to fill this out two or three times, as it fails to send for no explainable reason.

Once completed, navigate to:
http://software.cs.vt.edu

Click on “Click to agree and login”, using your new password.

Once inside, you’ll see a long list of software. Click on Windows 7. The file you want to download is en_windows_7_professional_x86_dvd_x15-65804.iso (the second one). You can also click here to start the download. We’ll go and get your serial number while this downloads.

Now, navigate to here:
http://msdn02.e-academy.com/elms/Storefront/StorefrontSearchResults.aspx?campus=vt_cs&pn=Windows%207%20Pro

Click on the second link (“Windows 7 Professional (x86) - DVD (English)”). Click on the “Add to cart” button. Since the site doesn’t initially recognize you as being logged in, you’ll need to return to the above link and repeat these steps.

Click on the “Check Out” button when you are viewing your shopping cart. Don’t worry, you won’t be asked for any payment information. Once you’ve completed checkout, you’ll be sent to a download page. You don’t need to download the file a second time, but your serial number is located on this page.

When your *.ISO file has finished downloading, you’ll need to burn it to a disk. Nearly every computer is equipped with a DVD burner these days, but you’ll need software to burn the file. I recommend ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/).

If you have any other questions regarding this process, I’d be happy to help.


Windows 7 Impression and “Should I upgrade?”:

If you’ve purchased a computer in the last couple years, chances are you’re running Vista. If so, absolutely upgrade.

If you’re running Windows XP, and have a stable system, then it may be more advantageous to stick with what you’ve got. Unless there are particular features you’re looking for, chances are the process of backing up your data and upgrading are going to be too much of a hassle. Furthermore, if you have been tracking it long enough to know of something in it you want, you’ve already upgraded.

For Tablet PC users (most of Tech students), 7 brings huge advantages to touch technology and handwriting recognition. I’ve been running it on my Toshiba M700, on which I used to hate the touch feature, and now it’s something I can’t go without.

If you plan on upgrading, but have doubts about compatibility (mainly people making the XP to 7 jump), download a copy of Microsoft’s Upgrade Advisor from here.

Again, feel free to contact me with any questions.