12/28/2009

Nigerian banker and airline security

Category
There is much discussion as to why the US ignored the warnings of the father of the idiot that will now gives us all hours of additional frustration when flying.  I think I know why it wasn't acted upon, it was probably eaten by SPAM protection, I mean, the email had to stat with something like:

Dear Sir,

I am a Nigerian banker and former government official.  I am wiriting you to inform you of my son...

Oh and this is the truth, his dad is a Nigerian banker!

Posted by Carl Tyler At 11:35:13 AM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/24/2009

Did anybody else notice real player ads start popping up?

Category
I've noticed this on a few machines, suddenly the real player updater started showing an ad in the bottom right corner as a toast.

Simple solution, was to disable the notifications in the app, but you know the solution I much prefer, I uninstalled it.  I didn't give you the ability to obtain updates so you could advertise to me, sorry real player, you're gone.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 06:49:27 AM Location | | Comments (5) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/24/2009

Sametime 8.5 Windows Service Installer

Category
One of the things that took me by surprise when I first installed the Sametime 8.5 Betas was that none of the new Sametime servers get installed as Windows Services (hmm did I bitch about this in a previous blog entry?).  I found this task tedious enough to keep performing whenever I setup a new server that I created a little utility to automate the process.

This utility works best for those environments where you've installed all the ST 8.5 components on a single server as a kind of trial environment.  It's unsupported, use at your own risk, no warranty implied etc.  But it has worked well for me, and saved me a fair bit of time.

Sametime 8.5 Windows Service Installer - towards bottom of the page

Posted by Carl Tyler At 06:40:01 AM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/23/2009

10 years later and R5 I AM shirts are now fashionable!

Category
On iTunes I just saw some guy wearing one of the R5 I AM shirts.

IAM

Posted by Carl Tyler At 07:17:50 PM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/23/2009

England is going to the dogs.

Category
I leave for a few years and England starts collapsing and I'm not talking about gritters and snow ploughs.  Today I stopped off at the English store to get a few supplies for Christmas, and what did I spy but Sherbet Fountains, but wait they're different, someone has changed them!  The container is now a sealed plastic tube not cardboard.  No longer do you have the experience of eating soggy sherbet soaked cardboard, or the sherbet sticking to the cardboard, so you have to tip the thing upside and smack it on the bottom resulting in a face covered in sherbet.  Honestly kids today can't have any fun.

IMG_3837.JPG

Posted by Carl Tyler At 07:02:55 PM Location | | Comments (6) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/23/2009

No Sametime in this post.

Category
My Dad sent me this link.

Beats the hell out of any Sametime server

Posted by Carl Tyler At 05:41:01 PM Location | | Comments (5) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/23/2009

Recorded a taking notes podcast last night with the boys.

Category
Taking Notes Episode 103: 2009.12.22 - Sametime 8.5 with Carl Tyler

I must admit I don't think I've ever known either of them so quiet.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 07:41:03 AM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/23/2009

A great entry by Gabriella Davis on Sametime 8.5 burning questions

Category
Well worth the read Sametime 8.5 - Should You Wait and Other Burning Questions?

Posted by Carl Tyler At 07:07:16 AM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/22/2009

A question for IBM on Sametime 8.5

Category
A long long time ago Lotus Domino introduced Internet Site Documents, they make some things much easier to manage if you use your Domino server as a web server . To date Internet Site documents have not been supported if you use Sametime on the server.  So I did dutifully ask the question in the beta forum but never got an answer.  So I will now ask it here, hoping that someone will see it and take pity on us with an answer  The question is very simple, will Sametime 8.5 Community server/Classic meetings support running on a Domino server that uses Internet Site documents?

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21157740

Posted by Carl Tyler At 05:50:12 PM Location | | Comments (5) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/22/2009

A nice article in AOPA magazine on the ice runway

Category
A nice article in this months AOPA Pilots magazine on Alton Bays Ice Runway.
http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2010/january/feature_icerunway.html

It is my intent to land there again this year.

You may remember my videos from previous years.





Posted by Carl Tyler At 02:15:22 PM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/22/2009

How long should I expect a Sametime 8.5 install to take?

Category
These were some timings I recorded during the beta...

This was on a 2.8 GHz Quad Core, 4 Gb Ram, Windows 2003, all windows updates applied machine for the WAS components, and a windows 2003, 2 ghz 2gb ram machine for domino and sametime (pointing to an already existing LDAP server).   These times include filling out the prerequisites etc. for each install.

A picture named M2
A picture named M3

Installing the domino components took very little time, the Websphere/DB2 components took longer.
Application Minutes to Install
Install DB2
20
Install System Console
32
Install Domino Server
7
Install Sametime Community Server
5
Install Proxy Server
20
Install Media Server
27
Install Meeting Server
29

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:08:14 PM Location | | Comments (7) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/22/2009

Ever wanted a single place to go to find those really useful free tools?

Category
Mitch Cohen and I were in a chat today and he asked me if I used ninite, I told him I'd never heard of it.  Turns out it's a great place for quick access to those little apps you typically install when you get a clean machine, well worth checking out.

http://ninite.com

Posted by Carl Tyler At 11:06:16 AM Location | | Comments (4) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/22/2009

What do you install to use Sametime 8.5 ?

Category
Now that Sametime 8.5 is available, you might be confused by what you need to download and install to get certain capabilities.  Before you start though be sure to read the IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Windows i5 Multilingual Quickstart Guide, also if possible for your first couple attempts I would suggest installing under VMware, and taking lots of snapshots as you progress, I can pretty much guarantee as some point you'll screw up and wish you could go back.  Also have lots of things to do whilst installing, there are times when you can spend 30 minutes looking at a progress bar.  I did some testing, and found I could install Domino and Sametime in approx 15 minutes and Sametime 8.5 always took at least two hours, just because of the time the installer takes to extract the files.  Also be aware this is not a single exe installer, you are going to feel like you are repeating steps over and over as you launch each servers installer, just be patient, and use the install documentation.

Anyway hopefully this table will help you decide what you need.
Capability wanted Servers/Products to Install
Just IM, no new 8.5 meeting capabilities, but still supports Sametime classic meetings IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
Optional LDAP directory source
Ability to schedule meetings, and restrict who can access the meeting based upon their user name. (Sametime classic meetings) IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
Optional LDAP directory source
New Sametime 8.5 Meeting Capabilities without Audio and Video. IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows V9.5
IBM DB2 9.5 FP1 Limited Use for Sametime Standard V8.5
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 System Console Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Meeting Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
LDAP directory source
New Sametime 8.5 Meeting Capabilities with Audio and Video. IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows V9.5
IBM DB2 9.5 FP1 Limited Use for Sametime Standard V8.5
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 System Console Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Meeting Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Media Manager
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
LDAP directory source
All Sametime 8.5 capabilities, and support for mobile devices like iPhone, and zero download web client (AJAX) IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows V9.5
IBM DB2 9.5 FP1 Limited Use for Sametime Standard V8.5
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 System Console Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Meeting Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Media Manager
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Proxy Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
LDAP directory source
Sametime 8.0.x IM capabilities running on Domino 8.5, and support for zero download web client (AJAX) and mobile devices like iPhone IBM Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Community Server
IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows V9.5
IBM DB2 9.5 FP1 Limited Use for Sametime Standard V8.5
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 System Console Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Proxy Server
IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.5 Connect Clients
LDAP directory source


The number of servers depends upon the options you want.  The colour indicates minimum servers you will require, in reality many of these servers under load will be placed on additional machines.
Minimum 1 Machine
Minimum 2 Machines

Posted by Carl Tyler At 09:09:02 AM Location | | Comments (23) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/19/2009

Detailed Sametime 8.5 System requirements

Category
The link on the original announcement letter that pointed to these wasn't working, here's a working link.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27016451

Posted by Carl Tyler At 10:31:49 AM Location | | Comments (10) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/15/2009

Video Conferencing, and poor corporate vendors.

Category

There are quite a few options for video conferencing services out there, CISCO have some really impressive capabilities with their Telepresence stuff, Sametime has some new video codecs in Sametime 8.5 and the capability for other vendors to be video end points, and Skype offers great video.

Skype really is the problem, as are many of the other consumer based offerings for enterprise Video.  Why is it a problem, well most of them just work and for most people they work well enough.  So when you get a user that's been using Skype at home and now they come to the office and they're told they can use the new wizbang capabilities of Microsoft OCS and they suddenly find it has problems navigating firewalls or some other problem, they just don't get it, and why should they? Skype just works.

At the weekend I attached a $30 Playstation 3 camera to my Playstation 3 ($299), from there I was able to pick my brother from my friends list (and up to 4 other people) and start an audio video call with him.  Video resolution for each participant was 640x480, refersh rate was great and audio quality was up there with Skype quality.  Also the PS3 has the added capability of voice changer, which can lead to lots of fun with young kids.

Anyway so what am I getting at apart from rambling, well for $339, you can get a video end point for your organization, if you had 10 remote locations, you could install a PS3 camera in each remote location, for a total of about $3390, which if you compare that to some of the corporate offerings out there, you realize that is pretty cheap in comparison, but if you compare the video quality (to systems other than the Cisco telepresence stuff) a lot of users would be hard pressed to see a difference, and guess what, it just worked with my firewall his firewall, no signing into VPNs no fussing with settings, and that's the problem for corporate vendors, the cheap stuff just works, no need for consultants, no need for special network settings, and users want to know why.

Before anyone says, I do realize enterpise solutions have other requirements, Security etc.  but end users just see something at home that works, and wonder why the expensive stuff at the office, sometimes doesn't.

If you're wondering what it means to have a voice changer, here's a video my brother posted of me chatting with my niece, we told her she was chatting with the dog when she wasn't interested in chatting with me, all of a sudden she was much more interested. Sadly my brother had my camera on full screen, but you can see my niece in the bottom right hand corner.


This video shows pretty well the PS3 camera quality.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 01:59:29 PM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/15/2009

Sametime 8.5 Announcement Letter is out there

Category

Planned availability
December 22, 2009: Electronic software delivery
January 15, 2010: Media and documentation

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS209-392&open&cm_mmc=6067-_-n-_-vrm_newsletter-_-10577_143984&cmibm_em=dm:0:17605098


What's New

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:15:42 PM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/15/2009

Sametime 8.5 Questions?

Category

Do you have Sametime 8.5 questions?  If so post them to the UCHear podcast website and Gabriella and I will try and answer as many as we can in the next UCHear podcast.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 09:59:20 AM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/14/2009

Why Lotus Notes is a better client for Vista than Microsoft Outlook

Category
This has happened to me a few times with Vista now, and it's more than a little irritating.  You apply some windows updates and reboot the machine, your desktop icons have gone!  Any files you stored on the desktop, any folders you created, no longer appear, then very innocent tiny little toast popup appears saying
Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off. Please see the event log for details or contact your system administrator.


So you think how weird, logoff and login back as instructed, and guess what nothing gets fixed, icons are still missing.  So why is Notes better than Outlook?  Well one of the benefits of Notes being available over time to multiple is that Notes doesn't tie all of it's settings into the operating systems.  So this means in my situation I can click the Notes icon and Notes starts up and can carry on using Notes etc. Now I do the same with the Outlook icon, and it thinks it's the first time it's been ran and starts installing Outlook for the first time, because all the Outlook settings, PST files etc. are tied into the use profile, which Vista decided to munch on as a snack during the night.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 08:15:53 AM Location | | Comments (1) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/11/2009

It hasn't shipped yet, but the Sametime 8.5 technotes are coming out...

Category
This is a good sign that you can expect a release very soon now

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21414713

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21414760

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21414757

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21414749

Posted by Carl Tyler At 04:37:19 PM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/11/2009

Are Notes 8.x Java views the only views that support drag and drop?

Category
Earlier I had a blog posting titled "Are Notes 8.x Java views the only views that support drag and drop?". I was very quick to start saying Notes 8.x inconsistencies suck, fortunately Julian Robichaux  who knows much more than me, set me right so I yanked the blog post as it was incorrect, and Epilio Disposal is still on track for next week

So apologies to Notes 8.x and thanks Julian.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:19:48 PM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/10/2009

Lotus Organizer users rejoice!! (Notes too)

Category
OK don't get too excited!

Sometime next week, we'll post a fun free plugin for Lotus Notes.  The Epilio Disposal plugin. Anyone that ever used the stress relieving trash can in Lotus Organizer will be very happy, and less stressed...

Posted by Carl Tyler At 03:43:34 PM Location | | Comments (4) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/10/2009

Sametime 8.5 on the iPhone

Category
Google alerts, keeps finding me things relating to Sametime 8.5 that IBMers keep posting.

Today it found a movie of the Sametime Server Proxy iPhone client
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/dw/lotus/sametimemobile/iPhoneDemo/iPhone_Video_Demo.html

Perviously it had found
Audio/Visual Best Practices for 8.5

A sneak preview of Sametime 8.5

Lotus Sametime 8.5 Reference Cards

Lotus Sametime Meeting Room Management Task Reference

Lotus Sametime 8.5 Meetings Task Reference

Sure we'll see a lot more in the coming weeks.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:07:41 PM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/09/2009

Fake spyware/adware/spytool warnings.

Category
A few relatives recently have either been caught or almost caught by using Facebook, and a popup appearing which appears to be an operating system window indicating they are infected with spyware/adware/malware etc.

The thing is, these windows look really authentic, and unless you really know what you're doing, you'll think you're infected and you'll follow the instructions that showup to remove them, which infact then installs spyware/malware and shit on your machine.

Then off course, you get one of these arse hole applications so you search google on how to remove it, most of the instructions then tell you how you can install a spyware removal tool to remove it, but then how do you know the spyware tool it's linking too isn't more spyware?

Basically when you use the internet, be sure to wear a condom (especially if surfing sex sites), and be sure to install anti virus, anti malware stuff.  Personally I hate anything Nortons with a passion, if you think Windows UAC is bad, install a Nortons application.  I tend to recommend the AVG suite http://www.avg.com, or now you can use the free stuff from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials  and don't forget servers are vulnerable too, do you really think your admins don't fire up a browser and surf now and again whilst they're waiting for some Websphere install progress bar to move?

Here is an example of the kind of popup you may see:
External Image
Notice how smart they are, they call it IE defender so the window title doesn't look out of place (it will also say Firefox if it was the Firefox browser).   At least the latest versions of most web browsers, don't change the system icon in the title bar anymore, so you should still see the IE or firefox icon.   The people that build these things are sadly wasting an obvious skill and talent.

So be aware, warn your less savvy family members, hell even warn the savvy ones, there seems to be a few of these going about out there at the moment, and as your family IT guy, you'll probably be the one that has to take time to fix it.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 08:57:17 AM Location | | Comments (2) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/08/2009

Does anyone understand what this email is asking me?

Category
I got this email this morning, not sure what they're asking, are they asking what's the point of a calculator?  I don't mind the question, I just don't understand it, what do you think they mean? Names removed to protect the innocent...

Dear Epilio:

Hello, my name is **********. I am a student at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan.

I found your email address on your website. I am doing a research project and I researched calculator. I notice that you work with online technologies. I was interested in your “Epilio Calculator Plug-in”. I know you must be very busy, but I hope you do not mind if I ask you a question.

What is the merit of “Epilio Calculator Plug-in”?

Thank you very much for your attention to my question. I hope to hear from you at your convenience, and I am grateful for your assistance with my research. Thank you once again, and have a nice day.

Sincerely

Posted by Carl Tyler At 06:59:55 AM Location | | Comments (9) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/06/2009

CMSWatch posts a response to the "slowly phasing out" Domino article.

Category
I much prefer the tone to this article, than the tone taken by the original author in the comments of my blog posting.

It may just be me, but couldn't this statement be said for any platform/application?

1) Those actively enhancing existing implementations across the board.
2) Those supporting their existing implementations, but not advancing them much, and retiring applications as they no longer serve their original purpose (usually over the course of many years).
3) Those pro-actively replacing Lotus/Domino collaboration and KM applications with various alternatives (also a multi-year ambition).

Slightly modified
1) They are enhancing their usage of XYXYX platform
2) They plan to move away from XYXYX platform, so aren't investing in it anymore, but are still using it until they no longer need it.
3) Those that are pro-actively replacing XYXYX platform with alternatives.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:52:04 PM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/04/2009

World Cup Draw complete...

Category
And we will see...
Match 24 Ghana v Australia
Match 29 Brazil v Ivory Coast
Match 35 Nigeria v Korea Republic
Match 39 Ghana v Germany
Match 43 Denmark v Japan
Match 45 Portugal v Brazil
Match 52 Winner Group B v Second Place Group A
Match 58 Winner Group A/Second Group B vs Winner Group C/Second Group D (potentially England)
Match 63 3rd/4th place playoff

The Brazil v Portugal game should be a cracker, as should Brazil v Ivory Coast.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:26:42 PM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/04/2009

Get 40% off at Timberland stores and Timberland.com

Category
This is a pretty good deal, 40% off items at Timberland.com and Timberland stores and outlets, even clearance items which can lead to some pretty fantastic deals.

Ends December 7th, online shopping code: FFDEC9, print out this page if you go to a store:
http://ebm.e.timberland.com/c/tag/BLGRfUA4mSCdB73ujbBBv-MeeJ/doc.html

Posted by Carl Tyler At 09:17:40 AM Location | | Comments (0) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/03/2009

2010 World Cup to be filmed in 3D

Category
For the first time, the World Cup in 2010 will be filmed in 3D.

Personally I'm taking the real 3D, First Life, Authentic Surround Sound package.  Earlier this week I booked my London to South Africa flight and will be there for a whole month.  Friends have already said they're coming over from England for the month to house sit and Jessie sit, and honestly I think they wish the World Cup was happening already, my dog has way too many admirers.  

Now one of the things people may not know, is that one third of my travelling party is none other than Chris Miller so we were thinking, here you have two really knowledgeable people on all things Sametime in South Africa at the same time (no pun intended), are there any South African companies reading that would be interested in attending some Sametime 8.5 training?   We're also willing to consult in return for accommodation in the Durban-Johannesburg corridor.

If you are in South Africa and you believe there might be demand for such training, please let either of us know.

We still haven't found accommodation for the World Cup yet, but we are busily looking into it.  It's hard to tell if some of the things are ran by a guy from Nigeria (who is apparently still holding a few million of mine) or legitimate.  So if you can also recommend trusted accommodation services that would also be greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow is the first really exciting stage of the World Cup though, the 32 final times are known, and tomorrow the draw happens, when we'll discover which teams we'll be watching, and who will play who.  For anyone that is interested, we'll be at the following games:
Match 24
Match 29
Match 35
Match 39
Match 43
Match 45
Match 52
Match 58
Match 63

I'm still working connections, and favours to try and figure out some way to get tickets to the final game.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 03:49:17 PM Location | | Comments (7) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/03/2009

IBM is slowly phasing out Domino in favor of newer platforms

Category
This CMS article
The Difference between SharePoint and Lotus Notes

Has a bit of a mistake in it
the fact that IBM is slowly phasing out Domino in favor of newer platforms


Interesting that they state it as a fact, I'd be interested to know how they completed their fact checking.  Someone from IBM PR might want to  contact them and setup a briefing.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 12:44:42 PM Location | | Comments (14) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/03/2009

Stupid Mac client

Category
I was just doing some editing in the Notes Mac Client, and I needed to mark some text as pass thru HTML.  I couldn't find the option, then I remember, if you don't have designer installed you don't get that menu option. No Mac designer means no pass thru HTML.  Silly.

Found a vote for it on ideajam...

Posted by Carl Tyler At 06:02:07 AM Location | | Comments (3) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This 

12/02/2009

Google isn't finished until Notes doesn't work.

Category
The risks of using other people's stuff in your product...
Widgets created from a Google Gadget will not open in Notes 8.x

I wonder if Google did this on purpose?  A bit like Murdoch not wanting Google to benefit from his news, perhaps Google did want IBM benefitting from their gadgets.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 10:29:00 PM Location | | Comments (8) | del.icio.us  Technorati  Digg This