Tolsdorf.NET

One of my favorite online utilities is Google Maps.  They were one of the first to implement dynamic scrolling for maps (with the click-and-drag), and very nice piece of DHTML.  I enjoy smooth, feature rich browser interfaces, and theirs is a great one.  Their team created (yet again) a product that leads the market.

Prior to Google Maps, the best option was probably MapQuest.  They were ok, but became too commercialized…always suggesting a hotel, gas station or eatery along your route.  While that information may have been helpful, it cluttered up the screen and was a pain to work with.  Their scrolling consisted of clicking the edge of the screen to move the viewport, which was terribly inconvenient.

We bought a new house in a rural area just over a year ago, so I often map addresses I don’t recognize using Google Maps just to see how far away they are.  Yes, it’s a geeky thing to do, but I think it’s fun.  Because of that, my home address is my default location and always appears when I land on Google Maps.  Much to my surprise, I disappeared in early November!  My address was there in late October, but suddenly Google Maps couldn’t find me!  I searched for a few other streets in my neighborhood, and finally found a couple.  I panned around and found my street, but it was not labeled.  Then I checked Street View (another scary-but-cool feature of Google Maps) and found that data was still current.

So Google had Street View but no GIS data for my location.  A rather odd combination, since the converse seems more logical.  Who to ask in a situation like this?  None other than Google (the search engine, of course!).  After some research, it seems that Google has begun updating their map information to also include parcel data.  I couldn’t find much regarding their data source(s), but I did find an interesting blog post about it.

After panning around my subdivision, I did notice parcel lines but I cannot remember if they were there before.  I don’t think they were, which would make sense, but I just never noticed.  So what do do?  I love Google Maps and don’t want to use another provider, so I poked around and found this Google Maps help article on how to Report a Problem.  I followed the steps hoping for a resolution of some kind.

I am happy to report that, as of today, my street is back online!  My exact address isn’t pinpointed, but Google Maps drops a push pin on my street with a note stating that “Placement on map is approximate.”  Hey, I’ll take it!  It has been about 3 weeks since I reported the issue and, given the volume of reports Google is likely dealing with after this update, that’s not bad at all.  I received a confirmation email from them after my submission, but have not heard anything from them since.

Thanks to Google, I can finally find my way around again!

I tried to view a recorded webinar recently, but was unable to view it.  I was using my favorite browser, Google Chrome, and realized that the Windows Media Player plug-in was launching but the video was not playing.  My next step is always to try the site in Internet Explorer, since there are still websites that haven’t found the decency to create cross-browser content.

When I viewed the link with IE, it launched Media Player which tried to connect to the media source.  It failed after several seconds, and a popup appeared telling me:

A codec is required to play this file.  To determine if this codec is available to download from the web, click Web Help.

I was not very optimistic, but clicked the Web Help button anyway.  The information was somewhat helpful, informing me that I needed the G2M3 codec.  At least I had a name!  The link to WMPlugins.com was of no help, and using their site search returned no results.

So I turned to my trusted friend Google, and searched for “g2m3 codec“.  One of the first  links referenced a GoToMeeting plug-ing, and linked to www.gotomeeting.com:

• https://www2.gotomeeting.com/codec

I followed the link, installed the codec and presto!  I could now playback my media source!  It would have been nice if Windows Media Player would have downloaded the necessary codec automatically, but at least the help file referenced the name of the correct codec.  And as always, it’s Google to the rescue.  What did we ever do before Google?

I had a good friend ask me the difference between a Netbook and a Laptop.  Her son is wanting a laptop for school (he is in 5th grade) and she had seen several articles about netbooks.

Netbook

• Sometimes called a UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer).
• Screen Size – Netbooks typically have a screen less than 10-inches diagonally.
• Optical Drive – Netbooks lack an optical drive, so no playing CD’s or DVD’s without an external drive.
• Graphics – No 3-D graphics card here, just a modest video player capable of playback and video sharing.
• Peripherals – Netbooks have USB ports, and several have built-in webcams.  USB opens the world of peripherals…it allows you to connect a CD / DVD drive for installing software or burning files, printing and just about anything else imaginable.
• Power – Battery life is typically longer than a laptop, partly due to the smaller screen size.  Some netbooks have an SSD (solid state drive) instead of an HDD (hard disk drive), which greatly reduces power consumption and moving parts.  You can reasonably expect 3 – 5 hours, some advertise in the 10 hour range.
• Storage – Most netbooks come with a modest size drive, around 160GB.
• Network – Netbooks have support for wireless networking (B and G) as well as Bluetooth.
• Processor – Netbooks have a slower processor than most current laptops.  This is by design…they aren’t meant to play the latest 3-D games.  This also contributes to longer battery life.
• Operating System – Netbooks (with a very rare exception) run Windows XP.  Some netbooks don’t even meet the minimum requirements for Vista, and those that do would surely choke while trying to run even the most basic version of Vista.  Did you ever try to run Vista on your old Windows XP machine?  Exactly.
• General Use – Netbooks are designed for people on the go that don’t want to carry all the extra baggage of a laptop.  They’re great for reading email, using Office programs and surfing the Internet.

Laptop

• Screen Size – Laptops have a larger screen, several have 17 -inch widescreen displays.  There are even a few with 20-inch displays…which is huge for a laptop!
• Optical Drive – Laptops typically have an optical drive.  Most have a DVD reader / writer, which can also read and write CDs.
• Peripherals – Laptops have at least a handful of USB ports, some can be configured with a plethora of connections.  USB, FireWire, PCMCIA and even a serial port may be available.  Some include built-in media readers as well.
• Graphics – Graphics capacity varies with the laptop, but you can buy a pretty mean video card for your laptop these days.  There are gaming groups that exclusively use laptops.
• Power – Battery life greatly depends on your screen size, graphics card and usage patterns, but expect 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
• Storage – Laptops can be configured with nice, large drives.  I have a 500GB drive in mine and it’s plenty.
• Network – Laptops have support for both wired and wireless networking (B and G), and many support Bluetooth.
• Processor – There are many processor options, and with recent advances in processor technology you can really get a lot of bang for your buck.  Faster is always better, provided it doesn’t break the bank.
• Operating System – Laptops are sold with Vista, although that will change now that Windows 7 is available.  Windows 7 offers improvements for laptops, the increased battery life is particularly enticing.
• General Use – Laptops are designed for mobile people that need the power and flexibility of a mobile PC.  While not always compact, they do offer more power and flexibility than netbooks.

In the end it really comes down to what your usage patterns will be and how much you want to spend.  Netbooks are great for young students, people always on the go or as an “emergency” connection to the Internet.  Laptops are great for those that need a more powerful platform, access to the latest operating systems and applications and don’t mind the increased size and decreased battery life.

A netbook works great for checking email while traveling or as a presentation device.  A laptop works great for someone who wants to take the office with them.  Which did you decide to purchase?  Are you happy with it?

Windows 7 is due out next week, but I have access to download it now from MSDN (thanks to my most excellent company’s subscription!).  I’m very tempted to try it and am curious about changes from Vista to 7.  I have too much “stuff” on my work machine to format it, but I could probably clear off my laptop enough to format it.

We’ve had a couple of guys around the office running Windows 7 previews for awhile now and they love it.  Our network admin has been trying it out and hasn’t had any real complaints, although we’re not going to convert everyone from Vista to 7 right away.  Our migration to Vista was slow and painful, done mostly as we replaced or upgraded hardware, and we don’t care to do that again.

For all of it’s shortcomings, I have grown to live with Windows Vista.  I still believe that Windows XP (SP2) has been Microsoft’s best OS ever.  We still have a few XP machines (some virtual, some physical) in our network for various reasons.  Some users grew up with Windows XP, it has great application compatibility and is very stable.

But Vista brought a slick new interface, the Windows Sidebar and User Access Control.  It also brought multiple versions, just like Microsoft did with Office.  I run Ultimate at the office and Business on my laptop.  Relatives have either Home or Home Premium, and I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid support situations that were version specific.

Windows 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to appease those XP users that didn’t want Vista forced into their faces.  They even include an “XP Mode” for any applications that can’t run on 7, although I imagine you’ll need a decent amount of resources to run what amounts to a VM within the Windows 7 environment.  Windows 7 also allows Microsoft to end-of-life Windows XP, which it had to continue selling and supporting during the Vista backlash.  Large networks will now have to seriously evaluate their XP nodes to decide if it’s worth supporting an old OS rather than upgrading.

I’d like to install 7 on my laptop when I get a chance.  If nothing else, it’s supposed to significantly improve battery life which would be great!

I’ve been hunting an elusive error message for some time now.  Every now and then, one of my web applications will throw an error: “Padding is invalid and cannot be removed.”  It seemed to be random, and always linked to a web resource (AXD) file.  If I clicked the URL referenced in my Event Viewer message I would see the nasty Yellow Screen of Death.  But how in the world was it being generated?

I added more logging to my application events, and after some Googling I found this forum post:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/617782/is-this-an-attempt-to-break-my-asp-net-sites-security/617940#617940

When an application pool is recycled and the web.config doesn’t contain a machine key configuration setting, a new unique security identifier is generated to mask information regarding your web resource files.  If a request comes in after this recycle, IIS cannot decrypt it using the old security identifier and throws an error.

The solution is to generate a static machine key setting and save it in your web.config file.  Since the security identifier does not change, IIS can decrypt and serve the correct resource after an application pool recycle.

This page provides a simple way to generate the key / value pair, and even shows how to use it in your web.config.

• http://www.orcsweb.com/articles/aspnetmachinekey.aspx