Date Ranges in Web Apps

I find it extremely frustrating that date ranges, especially in but not limited to online banking, will typically show you the "current month" as the default view.  Simple use cases will show that while this works extremely well for the later part of the month, it is not so helpful in the earlier part of the month.

Seriously?  How does this help me?

A more reasonable approach is to have the default view as the "last 30 days" or something like that.  Month-views should be optional.  When viewing your history, do you really just care about the last three days???

Much better.  KTHXBYE

Bloatware

Installing a Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in needs 100MB in space?

Installing a printer driver requires a 200MB in disk space?

How about a video card driver that needs a 160MB installation file??

Can we cut the please, please cut the bloatware before we need a 4GB printer driver?

LinkedIn Password Hash File is Real

Yep, just checked it - my unique LinkedIn password SHA-1 hash is in there.

If you have a LinkedIn account, login NOW and change your password.  If you've used that password with other things associated with your LinkedIn login (usually your email address), then change those passwords too!


Here's a link to the hash file: combo_not.txt.zip

Here's a nice write-up on the details as well as a online SHA-1 generator so you can check for your own hash: Errata Security

iTunes Home Sharing Not Working [SOLVED]

Not working and sometimes when it is working, it cuts out in the middle, or when you click on the computer name, the focus goes away from the library.  In other words, really weird.

What it is
iTunes has a feature called "Home Sharing" - it basically allows you to share your entire or part of your library with other instances of iTunes in your home network.  It requires you to login to your iTunes account on both computers.  A typical scenario is to enable Home Sharing on your desktop machine and then access the library from your iPad, Apple TV, iPhone, Mac, etc.

In my case, I have iTunes on my desktop machine running Windows XP in the attic with Home Sharing enabled and then I access the library from my Macbook and Apple TV, depending on what I want.  How to use Home Sharing can be found here.

Symptoms

• Home Sharing machine not showing up in Apple TV or the Macbook
• The Macbook home sharing not showing up on my desktop 
• Home Sharing working intermittently
• Connections getting cut of intermittently
• Usually, restarting iTunes or the desktop computer will make things work.
• Sometimes, restarting the Macbook or the Apple TV will make things work.
• The "working" doesn't last long

The Fix

On the desktop computer where the Home Sharing is enabled, I disabled the "QoS Packet Scheduler" from the network connection:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Network Connections
3. Right-Click on your connection (in my case, it was "Wireless Network Connection 4"
4. Select Properties
5. Uncheck "QoS Packet Scheduler"
6. Click OK
7. Restart iTunes if necessary

After doing the above, Home Sharing worked like a charm.

System Temperatures

I often see posts on OC and hardware sites about system temperatures: is it normal? Am I overheating? What is the maximum temperature for my CPU? etc, etc.

Over the years, I've found that the best and most logical approach is:

• Computer components, especially processors, hard drives, RAM and video cards will heat up.  It's a fact, get used to it.  They are designed that way.
• The heat needs to escape your system.
• If the system is designed well with proper fans, you should feel a lot of heat escaping the computer.  This is not a bad thing.  Hot air being blown out of your machine is a good thing.
• There are three times to watch for:
• Idle temperature - when doing mostly nothing, how hot do your components get?
• High utilization temperature - when doing things like playing high end 3d games, how hot do your components get?  What is the rate of increase from Idle?  Does it level off or keep going?
• Cool down temperature - when you stop doing high utilization stuff, how long before you go back to idle temperatures?

Airflow

The flow of air in and out of your system matters:

• Always have more air being blown out vs being sucked in
• Hot air rises, so exhaust fans should be on the top of your case
• Cold air goes down, so intake fans should be on the bottom of your case
• Imagine the air flowing in your case and look for dead spots where:
• Heat is generated
• No airflow takes the heat out.

Max Temperatures

My setup:

• i7 2600k @ 4.2 GHz
• 16GB RAM
• 2x Gigabyte GTX 570 SLI

I have a mini-tower case and everything is packed in there tight.  I'm using liquid cooling for the CPU and have an intake fan at the bottom of the case (sucking in from the floor) and an exhaust fan on the top of the case (pointing at the ceiling) and another exhaust on the side (right above the two video cards).  The max I've seen so far:

CPU MAX TEMPERATURE    : 84.0C
CORE0 MAX TEMPERATURE  : 83.0C

CORE1 MAX TEMPERATURE  : 85.0C

CORE2 MAX TEMPERATURE  : 82.0C

CORE3 MAX TEMPERATURE  : 81.0C

MAX CPU POWER          : 79.734W
AMBIENT MAX TEMP (MB)  : 63.0C

GPU1 MAX TEMPERATURE   : 74.0C

GPU2 MAX TEMPERATURE   : 67.0C

Idle temperatures are somewhere in the high 30s for the CPU, low 20s for the Ambient and low 30s for the video cards.  The rate I hit these temps are pretty quick (minutes) and it tends to level out.  After quitting a game, for example, the hot air blowing out of the case turns cool in a matter of seconds.  The temperature drops rather quickly.  I'll chart it one day, but I'm not so worried about it right now.

I hit these temps last night with Assassin's Creed Revelations at max settings for everything.

Dead Island: Something is Wrong

There is something wrong with the game Dead Island.  It's not the story or the game premise.  It's not the idea. It's the execution.  Too many little issues with the execution that bugs me and I'm not talking about the bugs.

• Re-spawning zombies: this takes away from the immersion aspect.  If I walk into a bungalow and slaughter whatever zombies are in there and then I go back a few minutes later, I should not find them back to where they were in the beginning.  Also, I had a great panic when several of them came streaming down the stairs from all directions.  I got through it only to find when I pass that same area a short while later, they are back.  That really takes so much away.  Same with having to run over them over and over again.  At the very least, take the bodies away but don't make them come back!
• But, the bodies also disappear, making it hard to recognize areas you've been in before.  This would have been super useful for again, immersion.
• The "Thug" zombies are just nonsense.  There's a repetitive nature to it, which again, takes away from the immersion.
• Your character pleading with you not to let them die is kinda corny.
• The game feels unfinished.  Even AA is missing altogether.

How NOT to Run a Banking Site

This is not what you want to give your customers if there is something wrong with your online banking site AFTER they login.  It makes us feel uncomfortable, abandoned and generally the opposite of what you intended.  I do not feel like you value me as your customer.