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Paul's Time Sink

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Downloadable TurboTax

Paul Westbrook | 18 September, 2005 10:49

A while ago, I wrote about how I wished that you were able to download TurboTax or any other software that you have purchased again. I just got my notice for my TurboTax® Automatic Renewal Plan. 

They have a new option for receiving the main TurboTax program.  Now you can opt in to download the program from their website when it becomes available.  Also, they state that the software will remain in your account, so you can re-download it, if your computer crashes or you get a new PC.

I am going to sign up for this but I do wonder a few things.

  1. When they say that the software will be available for re-download, how long will it be availible?  Will I be able to re-download it if I want to amend my return next year?
  2. They also say that the software is the same as what is available on the CD.  The CD normally contains videos explaining different areas of the tax code.  Will those be part of it?  (I doubt it, as the download is only supposed to be 51.8MB)  So will the CD not contain these videos?  Or are they claiming that the videos are not part of the software?

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.Mac backup for Quicken 2006

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 20:46

I was looking through my flagged articles in NewsFire, and I saw this post mentioned that Quicken 2006 has support for backing up the data file to .Mac.  Since I just installed Quicken 2006, I enabled this feature.

The first time that your data file is backed up, it asks for a password.  Then what it does is it creates an encrypted disk image with that password, and copies the data file into it.  Then it copies the disk image to your iDisk.

This is pretty cool, as you get the automatic off-site backup, as well as the security of the encryption built into the disk image format.

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Bluetooth head unit

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 19:42

2139247581412336.JpgThis post on Engadget mentions the kind of head unit that I want to get.  It looks like Parrot is going to come out with a head unit that integrates a bluetooth hands free unit into it.

I wonder how much this will cost.  Also will this be able to control a XM receiver?

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Xterminator

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 19:10

I just found this Xterminator.  This allows you to change the configuration of X11 in Mac OS X.  The options are:

  • Start X11 at login
  • Start xterm when X11 starts
  • Remove the Quit alert from X11
  • Make X11 Dockless and Menuless
  • Setup the DISPLAY variable for X11 use

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AquaticPrime

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 18:55

I saw this post that mentions AquaticPrime.  This is a cool little module that gives application developers a secure way to create and validate registration codes.  It uses RSA encryption to generate the validate the keys.

Cocoa, Carbon and PHP implementations are available.  I would assume that it would be pretty easy to port this to other platforms.

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BluePhoneElite and iSync

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 18:38

I have been playing with BluePhoneElite for a while, and I think that I have decided not to pay for it, or continue using it.  I did like the proximity features, but I don't think that I would use it enough.

Also I encountered some problems while trying to use it.

  1. Since it keeps a Bluetooth connection open to my phone open, I am not able to connect to my phone with my headset, until the connection is stopped.
  2. I am not able to sync my phone with iSync while BluePhoneElite has this connection open.

I am not sure if this only a problem with BluePhoneElite.  It may also be a problem for Romeo and Sailing Clicker.

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Posting torrents in ecto

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 09:01

The next version of ecto will have support to automatically post files at torrents.  This will make it easier for people to share larger files.

Prodigem has created a Web API that allows developers to allow applications to post file, and have a tracker and seed created.

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Amazing recounting of NOLA experience

Paul Westbrook | 14 September, 2005 08:49

I am amazed about what has been happening in New Orleans, that hasn't been covered in the media.

This post on the Junket 415 podcast has a recounting of two San Francisco paramedics stranded in New Orleans. As my wife says Callous, Inept, and Racist.

[via Boing Boing]

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Strange urls from Gigabot

Paul Westbrook | 13 September, 2005 13:59

I am seeing these strange urls from Gigabot.  It looks like they are duplication the path part of the url. 

64.62.168.56 - - [13/Sep/2005:16:56:25 -0700] "GET /archives/1949/10/
"http://www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/"http://
www.paulstimesink.com/resource/blog_images/download/
9805792824624335.JPG.jpg"..." HTTP/1.0" 200 20143 "-" "Gigabot/3.0"

From looking at the date, it appears that I had some strange urls in 1949.

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New remotes

Paul Westbrook | 12 September, 2005 20:25

Logitech Harmony
These two posts (1, 2) on Gizmodo mention the new versions of the Harmony and Pronto remotes.  The new Harmony 890 Pro remote is the next version of the Harmony Remote line.  It seems like it is just like the Harmony 880, but it uses RF and not IR.  It looks like Logitech is planning on users using this remote with their RF to IR relaying tranceiver.  I would hope that it would work out of the box with devices that have built-in RF support.  I thought that they had listed this remote on the product page, but it is not listed there now.

Philips Pronto RemoteThen the Pronto TSU7500  and the TSU3500 are the new version of the Pronto remotes.  When used with the RFX6500 RF module it will tunnel IR over RF.

As universal remotes go, I think that the Harmony is a better remote than the Pronto.  When I owned a Pronto TSU2000, it was hard to use with my TiVo.  I think that you need hard buttons on a remote that you can use without looking at it. With the Pronto, you had to look at the remote when you wanted to stop fast forwarding.

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MP3 player for VW

Paul Westbrook | 12 September, 2005 19:47

9805792824624335.JpgI saw this post on Engadget.  It looks like VW is going to install a USB connector into their cars.  This connector will allow USB drives to be connected, and the mp3 files will be played from the media.

When connected, the head unit will treat 6 folders as cds in a cd changer.  Then the cd controls will change the mp3 tracks.  So it seems that the head unit has support for probably the ISO 9660 file system, as well as a mp3 decoder.
 (More)

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The Rap Cover Show

Paul Westbrook | 12 September, 2005 18:19

A while ago, I mentioned the Coverville podcast.  Last week, the Rap Cover Show was posted, and I loved it.  I played it for my wife, and she loved it as well.  I thought that it was very interesting how Tori Amos covers Eminem.

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Free Quicken 2006

Paul Westbrook | 10 September, 2005 14:23

Earlier this week, I received a package from Intuit that contained a free version of Quicken 2006.  I was intending on upgrading, but I hadn't gotten around to it.  They sent it to us, because we are a Quicken Bill Pay customers.

It looks like they are changing the communication for this, so they are requiring people to upgrade.  I am glad they they gave people the required software, as opposed to saying that your payments would stop working after a certain date.  It is not a hardship for Intuit, since I am paying a monthly fee for using Quicken Bill Pay.  In fact, they should send every new version of Quicken to these customers, even if isn't required.

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eclipse for Mac OS X

Paul Westbrook | 10 September, 2005 14:16

Apple has a good developer article on Eclipse for Mac OS X.  I downloaded it, and  the integration is pretty nice.  The Mac version is actually a Carbon app, that access the java plugins.  I wonder if they did it this way to make the app look more "Mac like" or if it was for performance.

Apple's XCode IDE will allow java development, but supporting a standard IDE is probably appealing to many developers.

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Securing Mac OS X Tiger

Paul Westbrook | 10 September, 2005 14:02

Slashdot has a post that links to a good document that talks about ways to secure Mac OS X Tiger.  I didn't realize that Apple enabled encryption of virtual memory swap files.  I am now looking into installing Tripwire, Radmind or HenWen on my laptop.

This document is definitely geared towards corporate users.  There are some things that I think are missing from this document.  It does go into describing creating ipfw rules, which will overwrite the UI settings.  But I think that it should go into the new settings that are in the UI.  For example, in 10.4, now the firewall can:

  • Block all UDP traffic
  • Enable firewall logging
  • Enable stealth mode

Here is a screen shot of the new options

Advanced Firewall Settings

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