Krudler

Too cool...

Well, I'm here in Kuala Lumpur for the UC Voice Ignite that we're running here this week.  I flew in overnight last night, and am now just getting myself ready for the event.  The Grand ballroom is all set to go, with about 120 laptops setup for the attendees to work from.

So the flight over was an experience in itself.  I came from Sydney, straight from the Voice Ignite sessions there, and had a 1hr stop in Brisbane.  From Brisbane it was direct to KL, and I gotta say, it was the most turbulent flight I'd ever been on.  The whole 7hrs was one bump after another, with quite a few REALLY big air pockets that dropped the plane, thrusting all the passengers, myself included, up from their seat, only to be stopped from hitting the roof by their seatbelts (which ended up being very tightly done up after the first 1/2 hour).  The plane was great, it was Malaysia Airlines, which I'd never flown with before, and the staff were really good, but the weather really put a bad note on the trip.  Hopefully it will be better on the way at the end of the week.

This is my first time in Kuala Lumpur, and it's very different to what I'd expected.  Actually I didn't know what to expect.  I deliberately didn't do too much research into Malaysia as I wanted to see it for myself, fresh, without someone else's views of the place in my head.  The first thing of interest obviously was the airport.  Everything was well signed and easy to get around, and getting through immigration and customs was very fast (take note USA).  Then there was the taxi ride into KL to get to my hotel.  It was 7am, so traffic was light, but it appears as though traffic lanes and speed limits are optional here, so that was also an unnerving trip.

So now I'm just going over the decks I'll be presenting, making sure I'm all set to go.  Hopefully it all goes well.

Here is a bunch of photo's from my hotel room stitched together with Live Photo Gallery, in the middle are the Petronas Towers, pretty cool view yeah.    The building down the bottom is a shopping mall, 8 stories high, it is huge inside!!!

As sad as I am to see a working Xbox 360 getting demolished, this is pretty well done.  This is what happened when Mac Gargan got his Elite and didn't need the "old" 360 any more...

So who needs a second Xbox 360?  Someone who has a gamer tag with this many points on it...

Well today was Jo's birthday, and we had some friends around for a BBQ.  We've been working on the backyard over the last couple of months and it's looking pretty good now.  Here are some photo's of the day...

Those where done with the Windows Live Photo Gallery Panoramic tool.

And the birthday girl...

Happy Birthday baby. 

It's actually the Summer update for us in Down Under, and it was released a couple of days ago.

This update is huge!!!  It's what all us nerds have been waiting for.  DivX and XviD support!!!  Wooooo   hoooooooo!!!!!  And it works great, no need for server-side transcoding, just pure streaming goodness.  It supports widescreen files natively, as well as fastforward/rewind, as well as resuming from where a file was stopped.

From the press release...

Among the key new enhancements are the Xbox® Originals game download service, Family Timer parental control feature, and expanded social networking experiences. Xbox 360 owners can also look forward to enhanced navigation, profile and video features and Xbox LIVE® Arcade Hits.

Check out the full article here...

http://www.xbox.com/en-au/support/systemupdates/default.htm

So we're almost done with the backyard renovations, the lawn is in (and covered in chicken-wire for protection just in case ), and we've just had the Kwik-Kerb (http://www.kwikkerb.com.au/) edging done on Friday.  The stepping stones are in, and the KISSS (http://www.kisss.com.au/) subsurface irrigation is in and hooked up, it works great!!!  Definitely recommend this stuff over the chemical based sub-surface irrigation kits.

Any-who, here are some photos of the progress...

So the backyard has been ripped up and we've had new sub-surface irrigation and new lawn put in, the old pond and river is gone, and the place is looking awesome.  Here are some photo's...

Jo and I went to Perth for an extended weekend.  It was pretty cool, we did all the sites, and watched the Red Bull Air Race. 

We also went to Kings Park, cruised around the city, and went to Fremantle.  Here is some photo's of the trip...

This is hilarious!!!

Microsoft have released the Office Outlook Connector for Hotmail, which you can use with Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages and contacts for free!  Cool yeah. 

We use this for our home email, as we use Windows Live Custom Domains to host our mail.  It's soooo much easier than running the servers at home these days.

Check it out here...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7aad7e6a-931e-438a-950c-5e9ea66322d4&DisplayLang=en

I had to rebuild my home machine last week, so decided to go with Vista 64bit Ultimate this time.  And with the rebuild thought I'd try TVersity for streaming media to my XBOX360.

I'd been using Transcode 360, and it did the job, but was a little fiddly, so thought I'd try something different.  Well after a little bit of stuffing around figuring out which .exe I need to let through Windows Firewall (it was MediaServer.exe by the way), I got it up and running.

So far it's worked great, it's a little hungry on the CPU when transcoding, especially when you bump up the resolution to something decent (it defaults to 400 x 600).  Other than that I'm quite happy with it so far.

For all the details and the free download, go to the TVersity site here...  http://www.tversity.com/home

So I haven't been blogging much lately (well on this blog anyway), so thought I'd do a quick post to say what's going on.

We're in the middle of our backyard renovation at the moment, we've ripped out our gazebo and started moving the ponds around, all in preparation for the big lawn replacement and new gardens. 

And of course the boss of the yard was a little tired, so he napped right here for most of the day...

The big pond is now in moved up to the back corner, so now we can get the bobcats in to really make a mess. 

Ok, so I've given in after being harassed by some "friends".  Even though I've been blogging for over 3 years now, apparently I'm not cool if I don't have a Facebook site.

The whole social networking website thingy is new to me, but it only took a couple of days on there to convince me it's a great way to find and communicate with people.  Just more proof I think that the Web 2.0 phenomenon is actually something real.

So, if you want to be "cool", then add me to your Facebook friends. 

I think I might have to investigate this new social network stuff some more, maybe setup a MySpace next....   kidding!!! 

Ok, so I've not been blogging much lately, but I have a good excuse.

I'm now in my fifth week in my new role as a Senior Consultant at Microsoft in Adelaide.  Things have been crazy, there is sooooooo much information to take in, new people to meet, and just stuff in general to do.  I've had a couple of trips to Sydney, and oodles of training and new-starter stuff to do.

So now that I'm starting to settle in I promise to get back into the blogging.  I've actually started a new work blog, so I'll just be using this one for personal type stuff from now on.

If you want to keep up with my work blog, check it out here...

http://blogs.technet.com/robcost/  (RSS)

It's a little plain at the moment, and not much content, but I'll pimp it out soon and start getting some content up there on the MS world, and specifically stuff around Exchange, OCS, and UC in general.

Microsoft have extended the warranty on Xbox 360's that protects from the "Red Rings of Death" problem experienced by too many 360 owners.

From the article...

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing  today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date.

For the full article check out...

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/petermooreletter.htm

Just ran into this at Keith Combs Blahg, VMRCPlus is a new VM client display and management tool for Virtual Server 2005.  It looks pretty cool, with feature like...

• Direct control of local or remote instances of the Virtual Server service. IIS and IE browser are no longer required!
• Tabbed interface to quickly jump between Virtual Server hosts and guest VMRC sessions.
• Reusable saved states: this feature allows users to preserve a particular saved state and return to that state at any time.
• Multiple guest selection supported for startup/shutdown/save/display.
• Browse button navigation for media, hard disk images, ISO images, .VMC files, etc.
• Drag and Drop support for .VMC files, ISOs images, VHD and VFD files.
• Resizable desktop support for guests running Virtual Machine Additions (maximize VMRC window supported).
• Limited cut and paste of text from host to guest (only).
• A built-in utility to take JPG screenshots of running guests. Useful when filing bugs.
• Built-in error notification with Virtual Server eventlog viewer.
• A Virtual Networks Manager and Virtual Disks Manager that cover all features.
• Keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl-S to save state a guest).
• Create multiple guests at once.
• Create guest from parent (or multiple guests)!
• Automatic reconnect to a designated Virtual Server host.
• Toolbars in both Guest and Console Manager for quick access.
• Unlimited number of guests.
• Maximum of 32 Virtual Server hosts.
• Sorting on columns of guests so you can sort based on status and multi-select.
• Automatic detection of Virtual Machine Additions and notification.
• Detection of Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

You can download it from here...

Download the x86 version @ http://keithcombs.members.winisp.net/vmrcplus/VMRCplus-1.5.0-x86.zip

Download the x64 version @ http://keithcombs.members.winisp.net/vmrcplus/VMRCplus-1.5.0-x64.zip

Or wait a few days and it will be on the Microsoft Downloads site.

My only gripe with it is you can't control VS Hosts that are in a workgroup, they need to be members of a domain. 

Tags: Keith Combs Virtual Server VMRCPlus

Jo and I now have a new nephew.    Amanda and Michael just had a little baby boy, Cooper Whitaker Rosewarne.  He was born at 7:27PM in Alabama, USA.  He is 8 pounds and 2 ounces, and is 21 inches.

I'll update with some photos as they come through. 

UPDATED: Photo below...

Well I finished the Story mode of Rainbow Six Vegas yesterday, only in the noobie Normal mode, the hardcore Realistic Mode might take me a while.  This game is very addictive, which was especially surprising for me given I never really played First Person Shooters before.

I'd definitely recommend this game, if I'd have to give it a score, and INARR (I'm Not A Real Reviewer), I'd almost have to give it a 10. 

Now my next task, to get playing on Xbox Live and kick some butt!!! 

Tags: Xbox360 Rainbow Six Vegas

I was having lunch with Hayes and Andrew today (both of whom are exceptionally lazy with their blogs I might add!!!) and they were asking me why I haven't blogged about my new job yet?!?  My answer simple was "I'm not sure if I'm allowed too???".  So I hope I don't get in trouble for this, and if I do it's their fault. 

I've accepted a job at Microsoft as a Senior Consultant, and I'll be starting there next week.  So this week is my "in-between-jobs" week, where I'm catching up on stuff, building my new lab box up, and playing the new Xbox 360.

Anyway's, once I'm on the "inside" I'll find out the rules and will hopefully either use this blog to post on stuff I'm allowed to, or I'll be starting up a work blog.

Ok, first problem on my new box... getting Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 installed on Windows Server 2008 Beta 3.  Well the install goes great, no errors there, but you pull up the Virtual Server Website, and you get a blank screen.  Great.

Well after some hunting, I came across a post at the "A Microsoft IIS PM" blog, about exactly my problem.  So I proceed to configure IIS7 as per said blog entry, and test again.  This time, the page loads, but it's just the text, no images, and it appears no CSS files have been grabed to style the page.  So some more fiddling around, and I find that IIS7 when installed does not allow Static content to be downloaded (like images and style-sheets), nice.

So in through Server Manager, Roles Section, Web Server config, allow Static Content.  Restart the website, and voilà, Virtual Server Management website is up and running.

I hope they fix that one in the next release of the Virtual Server installer.

Tags: Windows Server 2008 Virtual Server 2005 IIS7

Well I'm on holidays at the moment and have been putting together my new Lab machine.  So I got all my parts, and have been putting it together today, and getting Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 up and running.

My lab box has the following:

• ASUS P5B-E mobo
• ASUS 7600GS 256Mb graphics card
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4Gb DDR2 RAM
• 4 X 500Gb WD SATAII drives
• Sonata II Case

The Sonata case is awesome, the box is so quiet, even with the 4 SATA drives and an IDE drive as well.  The mobo supports RAID 1/5/10, of which I'm running 5.

I'm sure I'll come across some oddities as I get my lab rebuilt on the new box, so I'll post things as they come up.

Tags: Windows Server 2008 ASUS 7600GS P5B-E Sonata II

• Exchange 12 Server Roles and Disk IO
• Exchange Server 2007 High Availability Storage Considerations
• Configuring, validating and monitoring your Exchange 2007 storage
• Planning Disk Storage (this is a good one!)

If in doubt, consult your storage vendor.