Bitcoin Swear Jar

The latest (of many) bitcoin popularity waves got me to finally get some. Spent a little at BitcoinVegas minecraft – which I have to say was fun, but it also got me thinking what else could be done with them – and the main thing that kept coming to mind was the whole “tiny donation” problem – i.e. it’s tough for me to give a dollar to a website/technology that I use. Around the same time I had to create a swear jar for our house. Mostly to get me to stop swearing in front of the kids – but also to give them some simple repercussions for swearing.

That led me to realize I could set up a website and collect $0.25 online with VERY simple code and no 3rd party relationships.

And so was born the Bitcoin Swear Jar

Some kewl parts of the project:

• Bitcoin! Wanted to get more comfortable in the use of them
• QR Codes: The site uses 100% client side javascript to generate a bitcoin QR code donation that dynamically updates as you type
• GitHub: As this was a “charity” type endeavor I opened it up on git hub with a banner to fork
• Reddit functionality help: Posted the alpha/beta on /r/bitcoin for feedback/critique and was suprised at how few trolls poked at it (links to posts on site)

Minecraft Server

The kids are BIG into Minecraft – and I don’t blame them. From what I over hear they have problems finding a good server to play on. Most noteably are problems getting banned and what sounds like petty fights with friends that live in our town.

So I launched a server on an old mac lappy and just playing with each other in a world free of strangers has cause both kids to thank me personally and genuinely.

They want me to open the server up (i.e. port forward so people not on our LAN can get to it) to neighbors and cousines etc. and I’m not sure about this.

On the one hand – I can shut the server down when I want them OFF (i.e. bedtime, bus time, etc) but on the other hand – Do I want other children on a server I control and that my kids might ask me to ban etc. It’s sort of like being a baseball coach, in that parents expect me to know the rules of the game and to teach their kids not just the game – but what the game is supposed to teach kids.  Things like respect and dignity and kindness.

Originally I wanted to get a server up and running so I can teach the kids programming stuff and IT crap like backups and networking… but I’m now thinking I’ve opened a pandora box that can’t be closed.

Actually – it’s running on a crappy old MacBook and if you close the lid the server dies.  So if they fight too loud I can announced, “I’m closing the box!”

RDC to Win 2008

When trying to RDC (i.e. terminal services connection) to a server I started getting the error:

The remote computer disconnected the session because of an error in licensing protocol

Spent a while figuring out exactly what I had to turn ON to get it working when in fact it was something I had to turn OFF.

The problem was I had installed the “Remote Desktop Services” role thinking it would enable RDC connections, when in fact this is a much more complicated beast that I think wants to enable the server to serve up tons of desktop sessions to many users vs. the single connection administration activity I needed. This new functionality comes with yet another licensing scheme from Microsoft and googling for a solution sent me down this path many times.

The solution: Remove the “Remote Desktop Services” role, and go to Start ->Control Panel->System and Security->Allow remote access . Doing this you find the familiar Remote Desktop settings and things work like I expected.

Design Principals: ECBARF

Attended a design presentation at Manchester Barcamp 6 this weekend and heard the term ECBARF for the first time.  It was during a reply to a question I asked, “How do you learn design?”

ECBARF is an acronym for the six basic design principals:

• Emphasis
• Contrast
• Balance
• Alignment
• Repetition
• Flow

I’ve found a few references to it online – but not many.  The people in the scrap booking world seem very aware of it, and I found a series of blog posts discussing it.  I’m pretty sure it’s use as described to scrap booking will also ring true for mobile app and web app design.

Podcast listening

Since getting the mount for my phone working and finally finding a podcast listening application I like (see this post) I am now listening to podcasts on the drive to and from work.  I’m wondering where people go to discover podcasts however.  I’m a big fan of Leo Laporte and his podcast empire, listening to This Week in Tech pretty much complete every week.  He’s got a few others like Security Now that I try to listen to, but don’t always.

I also recently got turned onto Nerdist Podcast via an article in Wired magazine.  Lots of bad language in this one, so can’t listen when kids are in the car.

I’d love to hear from anyone regarding what podcasts you listen to and recommend.

Goal: Get rid of 100 things

So I guess the way it works is you spend 15min in a single room and see how much stuff you can get rid of. Started in the office.

1: Verizon bag with empty cell phone boxes
2: Torn up Mickey Mouse Santa Hat
3: Empty priority mail envelope
4: Empty Camera Flash box (Bonus! Found missing digicam)
5: A plastic cover thing we don’t remember what it goes to
6: Empty CD cases
7: Old Red Sox Schedules

See more progress on: get rid of 100 things

Repave your computer

I’m inviting comments on this article and will update with useful suggestions.

As a software professional I’m approached by people all the time asking what to do about general computer problems.  Most of the time it’s malware or that windows has become corrupt in some way.

I’ll leave this space blank for all the Microsoft-haters to insert their own, “Get a MAC” type of comment here.  <BLANK SPACE> All done?  Great.  Most people want this problem solved for close to free and buying a new computer isn’t always an option.

What I often suggest is to “Back it up and Repave it” – meaning copy all the files you want to keep, format the hard drive and install windows from scratch.

The reason I suggest this is because I know it will work 100% of the time.  There are many anti-spyware products that might work.  I might be able to google the specific problem and find a solution.  I might be able to reconfigure windows to not use the thing that’s causing the problem.  However – each of these techniques has at best a 50% chance of working – and I have no idea how much time each one will take.

Backing  up your data is usually the roadblock here for most people – and I’m here to tell you that you should have been doing this anyway.  There are many ways to do this, but here’s my suggestion: Use Carbonite. It’s $60/yr.  It’s what I use, it’s really easy, and it’s pretty cheap compared to lots of other options.  Also in Carbonite’s favor is that its now a very established company.  I don’t work for them – but if you decide to use it ask me for an invite and I’ll get a free month or something, or use the link above.

There are MANY backup options out there, you want something you don’t have to think about.  You cannot be trusted to run a backup every night. 

After ensuring you’re backed up, boot from your window’s CD and choose the option that warns about “this will format your hard drive.”  You are not doing an upgrade and you might be asked about partitioning etc – but the good news here is it’s difficult to anything wrong because you’re all backed up and can always do it again.

You’re going to have to re-install any software you use – but now you’ll probably be getting the latest versions of the free stuff – and you won’t be wasting space and resources on all the stuff you installed years ago and no longer use.  You’d be surprised how many applications install something that runs all the time “for your convenience.”  Getting rid of all of these utilities is probably the #1 thing that will make your machine run faster. 

For the most part – the bad guys write really good code, and the stuff they sneak into your system has almost no noticeable effect.  If it did more people would be getting rid of it faster.  Their main goal is to not be noticed on your machine.

After you’ve reinstalled everything you really need, make sure your backup is still working. 

Again: Please comment with your experience etc.  I plan on pointing people to this article in the future.  Feel free to critique spelling and grammar as well.