Windows 7 Virtual PC

I decided, although I know you can partition say XP or Vista, to try Windows 7 the safe way.. using the FREE Microsoft Virtual PC.  I downloaded Windows 7 from MSDN, and configured a 25gb Virtual Machine with (currently) 512mb RAM.

It has installed successfully – a little slow of course with 512mb RAM, although that is because the machine I was testing it on has only 1gb.. I will be running this from my Laptop which has more memory (in an ‘off’ state, you can of course change the amount of memory).

Anyway, I will test a bit more, but again it seems to be working fine… If anyone wants the Virtual PC Image, then please leave a comment and I will maybe organise an upload.. not sure of the legal state there – however it does seem that Win 7 beta is free to download for anyone at this stage.. all I have done is save installing on a physical machine…

More to come soon!

Local web development port 80 gets used by Skype!

I only just discovered this today.. although if I use a local web server say IIS or Apache, I usually set the ports to 8080 or something.. mainly as I like to keep port 80 free for testing with Visual Studio etc.

Although I have needed to set IIS to run on port 80.. and found that port 80 was in use!

Actually I used SIW which is an excellent system information toolkit that you need to have.  It basically runs standalone, which means it can run from a Flash Disk etc.  To get this, go to http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html … which reminds me I really should donate or upgrade, as it is a really useful tool.

So, back to the Skype problem.  By default (it seems), Skype connects using port 80/443, and so ties up those ports locally.  I don’t think there is anything too suspicious going on here.. just a default.

To make Skype behave, follow the instructions below:

1. Open up Skype, and click TOOLS then OPTIONS
2. Click on ADVANCED
3. Click the CONNECTIONS option/tab
4. Now un-check the “USE PORT 80” option.

This should sort the problem!

Free online sharing of documents and spreadsheets

Ok, these days everything is online.. and take for instance a club meeting group or something like that.  If you have spreadsheets, word documents etc, wouldn’t it be good to have just one version of the document online that:

1. Everyone (who has access) can see
2. With approved access, others could edit the document, and the new version would be updated and the members automatically notified of the change.  The added benefit is the document would have versioning too.. in other words it will track older versions of the document in case you need to go back to them

Well, if you use Microsoft Office, or Word or Microsoft Works etc (although you could use other office software), Microsoft offer “Microsoft Office Live Workspace” for free!  This is essentially a document/list store where you can keep your group documents online.  In fact if you have Office 2003 or later (i.e. 2007 latest version), you can even access the documents direct from your local copy of Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.

It is relatively easy to setup and manage, and in the next post I will step through this process with screen shots and easy how to’s!

To start, visit OfficeLive Workspace and get going!

Continuing the “what’s going in down under” series – TechNation Australia

After looking so much at the Silicon Valley events over in the US, this is a second post about sites/organisations down under that are really doing well in the VC/Startup community. 

Worth a look – TechNation Australia

Web Worker – what works?

Working remotely and mostly freelance certainly has it’s own challenges.  Not in the least is the misconception that you will have more “quality” time at home.  I have been working remotely on and off for approx 3 years now, and it is an adventure!  sure there are dark times, although thanks to a good heap of luck and determination (well ok, mostly luck!), it has/is working out quite well. 

I think the hardest thing for me personally has been the dicipline.  It is so easy in the early stages to simply put off work – “I can work later tonight”.  You have to be more strict than when working a full time job.  The positive sides are great too though – and environmentally helpful too!  I don’t have to travel as much, in fact I probably travel about 75% less now.  That means even by public transport, it’s a great saving.  Also I don’t obviously spend as much.  Travel aside, I still used to spend approx $20 per day on coffee, lunch etc, which is hard to control especially working in an office/corporate environment.

The main reason I can work quite well technically/logistically now is due to broadband.  Internet speeds have increased, reliability is a lot better than the old days, and you can now have multiple backups without spending too much.
For instance, I have a home based wireless (like a satellite dish) broadband connection (due to the fact ADSL/Cable isn’t good enough around where I live).  The connection is suprisingly good, and runs at around 1024/512k which is fine for what I need (obviously faster would be better).  As a backup, I have an Optus (2nd largest Telecom in Australia) wireless broadband USB modem for either a PC/Laptop, and a secondary backup NextG (3G) mobile phone from Telstra.  So in effect I have 3 different broadband connections working from different “backbones”.  All this costs me no more than $140 per month which is exceptional considering this equates to about a week and half of my old daily spending budget whilst working in the city.

Here is another interesting article for “web workers”, actually from one of my favourite blogs “Web Worker Daily“

A real competitor to the iPhone? Google!

For a long time now, there has been lots of news about the “Google phone” which goes by the name of Android.  Essentially it is an operating system for the new breed of mobiles to compete with the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

One of the interesting things is the “iPhone-ish” interface: a lot of the new Android based phones are touch screen, you can zoom/pan around the screen using your finger etc.  It also has lots of the Google applications loaded like maps, street view, the browser of course, and also a very fast graphics processor.  This is a major step when you see real-time 3D games being played on the Android phone!

The other plus is the price (or at least the expected price).  The idea seems to be to make the phone(s) available for less than $200 US, making it definately within the reach of a lot more people who might think the iPhone is too expensive.

The BBC has a good run down of the Google phone, including a video demonstration of one of the Google Android phones…

Click here to link to the BBC

Online games? do you have time?

Well most games take far too much time in my opinion, and although I love playing say Empire Earth or whatever, I get so engrosed that hours/days go by far too quickly!

Which brings me on to some very basic simple online games which in fairness, I would normally dismiss quickly.  Mainly because of the “basic” aspect, although having been introduced to tribal wars by a friend, I have really come to enjoy this!  again very simple, quite basic (no flashy realtime guys running around the screen) but really feels like a good game of chess.  In that sense the slower pace, the strategy is where the game comes into it’s own.

Astro Empires is another one (more for the sci-fi side if you like that).  Again very similar to tribal wars.

Very addictive, although because there are real-time elements involved (like it takes say 2 weeks to get from one village to another in tribal wars – and I mean really 2 weeks!), it allows you to do other important things like go to the beach, drink coffee at a nice cafe… oh of course, yes… work too!

Windows XP CPU 100% with SYSTEM process

This has to be one of the strangest things I have come across.  My partners PC “seemed” to have been hijacked by a virus… the symptoms were:

• CPU maxed out at 100%
• The process “system” was taking it
• The PC sort of still ran OK
• Virus checkers / Hijackthis didn’t report anything wrong

So after browsing around tech forums and the web, I cam across a post (sorry can’t remember where it was!) which simply said:

“Take out the RAM, and re-insert/re-seat it”

It worked!

I had since re-built the PC, however that was probably a good thing anyway as it needed a clean-up, but the main thing (which I don’t know why) is the PC is running as it should.. no more 100% CPU etc

Hope this helps others!

Startup Camp Australia

I am going to sound a little obtuse here I think, but again, opening my eyes (and my browser search) to what is happening “down under” is quite amazing. I really didn’t understand there is so much happening right under our noses!

Have a read/browse here

Startup Camp Sydney: I didn’t realise!

I came across an article from one of the ZDNET blogs about a Sydney Startup Camp… and it just reminded me how much focus I have had on Silicon Valley in the States as opposed to keep a finger on the pulse here at home. Sure, Silicon Valley has the glitter and the larger base of resources perhaps, but I intend to keep a look out closer to home too

The article explains a little about the Startup Camp.. essentially 20 would be startup’s congregate in the Sydney offices of Geekdom (which I think is a division of a marketting and communications firm Photon Group). The idea being to go through the process of creating a startup from scratch – from conception to launch. Reminds me a little of what happens at Y-Combintor in the states. Each year Y-Combinator open up place for startups – granting upto $20k as seed funding. I believe there is one intake in San Francisco in the spring, and one in Boston in the Fall (or Autumn as we like to say).

Anyway, I think this just highlights (to me anyway) that there is obviously lots of invovation going on here in Australia.. and I am not being glib here or demeaning to Australia, just that the lure of Sillicon Valley has been very strong of course!

So if you wish to read the full article from the Bootstrappr blog, click here