While it’s interesting that Dell has a phone that is based on Google Android, what I actually find most interested about this is that it uses Gorilla Glass.  For those that don’t know, Corning invented Gorilla glass back in 1962 as a super strong glass.  It has pretty much sit lifeless as a product ahead of its time and didn’t have any real applications until recently.  Gorilla glass is perfect for tablets, phones, flat screen televisions because of it’s strength and durability. 

I know that Dell has been in the PDA market for years, and I also knew that the Dell super megastore has sells phones.  The Dell Streak is finally here!  Looks like you can have one for only $549.99, and only $299.99 with a 2 year contract on AT&T.  Another funny thing is that the Dell phone isn’t listed on the Dell store! 

Directly from the Dell Streak site:

Introducing the Dell Streak. The perfectly-sized, go-anywhere entertainment, social connection and navigation device.

• Widescreen display optimally designed for mobile web, video and movies
• Integrated social networking widgets and apps, plus tons of apps through the Android Marketplace
• Crystal-clear damage-resistant Gorilla^®  glass screen
• Google Maps^TM  with navigation and text-to-voice, turn-by-turn directions with Street View
• Multitasking Google Android OS that give you the freedom to do what you want

This was all shot using my old Canon PowerShot SD 950 on a $10 mini tripod just sitting on the dashboard.  To the best of my knowledge, there are very few (if any) point and shoot cameras that will actually do time lapse photography, and this one doesn’t either.  Thanks to a great group of developers, we have the CHDK!

What is CHDK?

• Canon Hack Development Kit;
• Temporary – No permanent changes are made to the camera.
• Experimental – No warranty. Read about the risks in the FAQ
• Free – free to use and modify, released under the GPL.
• Professional control – RAW files, bracketing, full manual control over exposure, Zebra-Mode, Live histogram, Grids, etc.
• Motion detection – Trigger exposure in response to motion, fast enough to catch lightning.
• USB remote – Simple DIY remote allows you to control your camera remotely.
• Scripting – Control CHDK and camera features using ubasic and Lua scripts. Enables time lapse, motion detection, advanced bracketing, and much more.
• More – read the Manual & explore this wiki.

Then I used Picasa to make the time lapse movie.  Within Picasa, you can select all of the photos that you want to stitch together in a movie.  Click ‘CREATE’ in the top navigation bar, and then select ‘MOVIE’.  A very simple dialog opens that lets you add Slides (text), load an audio track, pick the transitions between videos, and then even publish the video straight to YouTube.

This is just a series of screen caps of the vanilla install environment.  Keep in mind the requirements for Search Server 2010 Express are similar to those of Search Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010: 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, Data Center, or Web Server with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 (various flavors).

I’ve installed this on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.

After downloading and launching the executable, you should see:
 

There are various links in the splash screen, but basically under Install, you can let the wizard install all of the prerequisites needed (including IIS).  If you want, you can manually download and install all prereqs to ensure they are installed exactly how you want, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905370.aspx.

Even if you install the prereqs manually, it’s still a pretty good idea to run the wizard to validate your environment.  The wizard will check that everything is right as rain before installing.

After accepting the Ts & Cs, the prereq wizard will run through…

Complete!  The prerequisites are now installed (or validated) and you can run the actual Search Server 2010 Express install.

There are two modes for installing Search Server 2010 Express:

• Complete – allows you to specify a SQL Server installation
• Stand-alone – automatically installs and configures an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express (which is also free!)

I’ve selected Stand-alone which should go through and configure absolutely everything I need to have Search Server 2010 Express running.

The actual install goes fairly quickly.  The installation provides an opportunity to run the Configuration Wizard immediately or not. 

With Search Server 2010 Express in Stand-alone mode, the configuration wizard is pretty straightforward. 

Simple dialog making sure you know that some services may be restarted.

After clicking Yes, sit back and relax for a bit.  I have a pretty fast virtual environment and the configuration screens take about ten minutes.

And…

After the configuration wizard finishes, you should automatically be taken to the Central Administration screen with a few steps listing how to begin configuration of your specific search implementation.

You should also notice that you now have some new Administrative shortcuts installed, namely a folder with shortcuts to the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration, SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard, and the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and a second folder called Microsoft SQL Server 2008.  What?  SharePoint 2010?  SQL Server 2008?  But I thought I installed Search Server 2010 Express.  Several Microsoft products utilize SharePoint as the interface for the applications.  SharePoint uses SQL Server.  SharePoint Foundation is free and provides a great user interface experience, security components, an application development framework, a deployment framework, and so much more.  SQL Server 2008 Express is free and is, well, SQL Server – arguably one of the strongest database management platforms on the market. Once any developer learns to leverage the SharePoint framework, the time and effort required to write a web based application can be significantly shortened.  After all, that’s what frameworks and APIs provide – the ability to leverage existing ‘stuff’ and not having to write everything from scratch every time.

Get more info directly from Microsoft.
Marketing site: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/searchserverexpress/en/us/default.aspx
Download site: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/searchserverexpress/en/us/download.aspx
TechNet site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/enterprisesearch/ee263912.aspx#tab=1

Infographic by the PPC Blog.com

Infographic byWordStream Internet Marketing

You don’t need to purchase a Kindle device to utilize Amazon to purchase eBooks.  You can download (for free) Kindle applications for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.  Then you can access thousands of FREE books or purchase any of the books for sale and use the free Kindle applications as reading devices.  Using the Kindle is far superior as a READING device than any of these devices – especially the phones.

Outside of the price, the best improvement over the current 2nd gen Kindle or the iPad (or any other e-reader):  Battery life of up to 1 month!  That is AWESOME!  I assume that’s in standby most of the time to get a full month between charges, but that is still incredible.  My 2 year old iPhone now lasts about 6 hours between charges. My laptop only lasts about 2 hours on a charge.

They are hyping some things that I personally don’t care about.  New web browser.  Don’t care – it’s an eReader – not an iPad or netbook.  Something else I don’t care about is the 20% faster page turns.  Maybe if I were a speed reader this would help, but I’m not.  I never noticed the page turning being slow before, but I’ll pay attention.

• All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
• New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
• New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6″ size reading area
• 17% Lighter – Only 8.5 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
• Battery Life of Up to One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
• Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
• Built-In Wi-Fi – Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
• 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
• Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
• New WebKit-Based Browser – Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

I basically use two different third party tools depending upon the exact need.  Both of these tools are extremely easy, self explanatory, and work very well.

WinImage is available at http://www.winimage.com/.  WinImage will convert between VHD and VMDK, but it does much more.  WinImage also has the benefit of being able to convert a ‘metal’ machine to a virtualized machine.  Any time I’m about to wipe a machine for good (laptop/desktop/server), I often will use WinImage to take a virtualized snapshot of the machine.  This allows me the option to either access the original drives or even relaunch the original machine if I’ve forgotten to get some critical info prior to formatting.  WinImage is a superb product!

StarWind V2V Converter is available at http://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter.  StarWind is a great tool for doing a sector by sector conversion between VHD and VMDK.

Now for some specifics…

“Convert Hyper-V to VMware” or “Convert VHD to VMDK”

This is the easiest scenario in an enterprise environment since the VMware ESX tools support importing VHD out of the box.  That doesn’t really help everyone that is running VMware Workstation on PC or VMware Fusion on a Mac.  Using either WinImage or StarWind has worked very well for all VHD to VMDK conversions that I’ve needed.

“Convert VMware to Hyper-V” or “Convert VMDK to VHD”

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) also allows you to copy existing VMware virtual machines and create Hyper-V virtual machines. You can copy VMware virtual machines directly from an ESX Server host, in the VMM library, or on a Windows share. Although V2V is called a conversion, V2V is a read-only operation that does not delete or affect the original source virtual machine.  Details are at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc793147.aspx

Both WinImage and StarWind will also convert from VMDK to VHD.  I have had some odd issues with WinImage, but I’ve honestly never made the time to determine what the issues were.  It has happened two times in the past, and since then for this conversion I’ve just used StarWind.  I’ve found StarWind V2V Converter to be a rock solid, stable tool that works perfectly with conversion between Hyper-V and VMware Workstation and back.  However, in my experience, WinImage does create a smaller virtual drive during the conversion.

IMPORTANT: Prior to a conversion using either of these tools, you should (must?) uninstall VMware Tools on the guest OS prior to converting a VMDK to a VHD.  If you don’t, the virtual machine will not boot once you add it in Hyper-V.

“Convert VirtualBox to VMware” or “Convert VMDK to VMDK”

It’s funny that VirtualBox and VMware utilize the same extension for a virtual disk, VMDK.  This would lead one to assume that the virtual drive formats are the same, and that you could just interchangeably utilize either virtualization platform as desired.  The funny part is that sometimes you can!  The really funny part is that most of the time this doesn’t work for me!  Inevitably, I will attach VMware to a VirtualBox VMDK file, Windows will start to boot, and then it just stalls.  Sits forever and ever… never gives me an authentication screen.

The simplest way that I’ve found to migrate a virtual server from VirtualBox to VMware is to export the VirtualBox environment as an appliance.  VirtualBox allows you to Export the Appliance, which saves out a new VMDK file and an OVF file.  I then run a small batch file to launch the VMware Virtual Disk Manager command line application (comes with Workstation) to clean up, defrag, and shrink the disk prior to adding to VMware.

You could run each of these lines independently, but I find it easier to ‘set it and forget it’.  Some of these conversions take a while, and I’d rather not sit and watch progress reports.

vmware-vdiskmanager –r ExportedApplianceName.VMDK -t 0 NewDiskName.VMDK
vmware-vdiskmanager -d NewDiskName.VMDK
vmware-vdiskmanager -k NewDiskName.VMDK

For reference, the tags for disk manager used are:

-r : convert . Enter source path , disk type , output path
-d : defragment .Enter local path to vmdk
-k : shrink . Enter local path to vmdk

You may want to run the repair option if you aren’t able to open the VM after conversion.

-R : repair . Enter path to vmdk

If you’re as daring, feel free to participate in the open Firefox 4 Beta at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html.

I really dig the new theme they’ve applied (only for Windows, so far).  The tabs are at the top of the page, above the URL address bar.  They’ve also ‘borrowed’ from the typical Microsoft Office interface (sort of) – the menu bar at the top has been replaced with a Firefox button.  This is good.  People are used to finding the main menu item in the upper left corner.

Each tab has a small gauge to show page download progress of the page for that tab.  I find this extremely helpful.  I’m a huge fan of launching MANY browser tabs from a search result page (Ctrl + Click), and this feature makes it very easy to see which tabs are loaded. 

The bookmark toolbar has been consolidated into a button (to the right of the search box).  I’ve been using Google Toolbar to manage my bookmarks for a long time, so I don’t really see a need for the localized, browser based bookmarks.  I also use different computers all the time, and this keeps my list accessible.  The local bookmarks/favorites is something I typically hide on all my browsers to free up screen real estate.  If the upcoming Firefox Sync ends up easier to use / faster / better, then I may switch and start using this again – but it would be hard to beat my Google bookmarks.

Seems they’ve done a lot of work under the hood for HTML5 (support for the WebM video format, new HTML5 parser, HTML5 form controls, etc.).   The new Add-Ons manager is extremely easy to understand.  What is this?  YAAS Coming?  (Yet Another App Store?)

So far, my computer is still working great.   I loved Firefox yesterday, and after only an hour of use I’m pretty enamored with Firefox 4.  It seems fast and stable – and it looks great.  My only complaint is that the Google Toolbar isn’t yet compatible.  One-and-a-half thumbs up… so far.

I have a couple of older laptops (5-7 years old) that were running extremely slow.  I also have three children that all want to use a computer at the exact same time.  I installed Ubuntu on the old laptops and could not be happier with the results.  The laptops boot up fast and are very fast to use – without ANY monetary investment.  In fact, I have one computer that the hard drive doesn’t work at all.  It won’t boot at all, and all of my attempts to fix it have failed.  I configured a USB thumb drive with Ubuntu and the computer now boots from the thumb drive and is as fast as ever. 

This is what YouTube.com looks like on Ubuntu:

This is what Google.com looks like on Ubuntu:
 

Notice that Firefox is the default browser installed with Ubuntu.  Also note that the start bar is at the top of the screen and not the bottom.  Once you get used to these two facts, learning to use Ubuntu for any computer user should take about 3 minutes – without instruction.  You’ll be able to just click on the browser and start surfing the web just like you do today.

What does the word Ubuntu mean?
It is named after the Southern African ethical principle Ubuntu ("humanity towards others").  Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease of installation.

How do you install Ubuntu?
I am quite confident that anyone reading this post can install Ubuntu.  Particularly if you are running some version of Windows.  There is an Ubuntu installer that runs within Windows.  The Windows installer will actually let you install Ubuntu, test the software out, decide each time whether you want to run Windows or Ubuntu, and then even choose to remove Ubuntu from your computer if you decide you don’t like it.  If you are running Windows, just go get the Ubuntu Windows Installer from http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer

Will Ubuntu work with my computer?
I’ve installed Ubuntu on laptops made by Dell, Sony, and HP.  I’ve never yet had to go download a driver or try to get some piece of hardware to work.  Video, sound, wireless networking, microphone, and touchpad/mouse worked perfect with a vanilla install.  Installing Ubuntu was very easy every time.

What can I do with Ubuntu?
You can surf the web, update Facebook, check email, send email, use Google, use YouTube – pretty much anything on the web.  You can play games (a few come preinstalled).  You can use a word processor, spreadsheet editor, and more since OpenOffice will be pre-installed.   This will let you open and save Microsoft Office document files as well.  You can hook up and use your printer.  You can watch movies on DVD, you can listen to your music files, you can manage and edit your photos and videos.  You can do all of this very easily and immediately after restarting into Ubuntu.

What can’t I do with Ubuntu?
You can’t watch Netflix streaming directly on Ubuntu.  Sure, you can still manage your queue and account, but you can’t watch the movies on the laptop.  If you have an iPad, Wii, PS3, XBOX 360, Samsung TV, or Blu-ray player – you can just access your Netflix queue directly from the device – so it really shouldn’t be a deal breaker.  You also can’t install Windows software on Ubuntu.  If you purchased Windows software, such as games or applications, it will not work within Ubuntu.

How much does Ubuntu cost?
Ubuntu is FREE.  It doesn’t cost anything.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  You can purchase support if you want, but you can also just post messages to ubuntu.com and get free answers.  You can also ask me.

Is Ubuntu for me?
Maybe.  If you have Windows on your desktop or laptop now, you can use the windows installer and just test it.  When you turn your computer on, you will be prompted to choose Windows or Ubuntu.  Choose Ubuntu and try it.  Use it for a day or use it forever.  The next time you turn on your computer you will be prompted again to choose Windows or Ubuntu.  You never have to change anything else on your laptop to keep using Ubuntu.  Using the Windows Installer also provides a risk free option so you won’t lose any of your music, photos, videos, files, or anything else to try it out.

BTW, this is SharePoint on Ubuntu.  Perfect!

Good luck!  Let me know your thoughts…

1. Kindle.  Not the physical device, the Kindle Apps.  While there is no order to this list, the Kindle App is first and foremost.  You may or may not know, but I have been using a Kindle for quite a while.  I still love everything about it – wireless access to new books, lightweight, simple, easy to understand, easy to use, easy on the eyes.  The eyes have it – the Kindle 2 device is one my all time favorites.  However, since acquiring my iPad, I leave my Kindle at home.  I use the Kindle app everywhere – on my Windows laptop, MacBook, iPhone, Blackberry, and my iPad.  I’m never far away from an extensive and varied library of books that I can read at any time.  I can also switch from nonfiction, technical manuals over to fiction at the press of a button if I need a change of pace.  Also, for those of you who aren’t aware – there are thousands of FREE books that you can read on your Kindle applications.

   

2. Evernote.  My favorite note organizer.  I have been a huge fan of Microsoft OneNote for years.  I’ve gotten other people hooked on OneNote.  OneNote does many wonderful things – screen caps, notes, organization, audio recording, video recording, synchronization of notes with audio/video, note sharing, searching, OCR…  the list goes on and on.  Evernote does not have the full functionality of OneNote.  However, what Evernote is missing in functionality, it makes up for in ease of use and convenience.  Evernote stores all of my notes ‘in the cloud’.  Evernote is available on my PC, my MacBookPro, my iPhone, and my iPad.  If I jot down a note, or take a screen capture, it is available to me from anywhere.  I don’t have to have my PC with me – I can access all of my notes from my phone.  Priceless.

   

3. DropBox.  Very similar to Evernote – but with files.  It’s my personal external hard drive in the sky.  I can upload files, read files, share files, and keep private files.  Word docs, Excel files, text files, photos, videos, zip files, PDFs, and more.  It’s my file backup location.  I can access and upload from any device – PC, Mac, or iPad.  Also, if you sign up for DropBox using my recommendation – then we both will get additional free space: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTc5MTE3Njc5 
4. Google Voice.  One number to rule them all.  Google Voice lets you pick a new phone number, and uses that one number to dial out to your other numbers.  People don’t have to chase me down – dial my Voice number and it rings through to my office desk, my cell phone, and my home phone – on my terms.  Google Voice allows you to screen your calls or send them to voicemail, block calls, provide personalized calling, and make conference calls – all for free.  Google Voice also does voicemail transcription – it will text or email you a text version of the voicemail someone just left you.  Awesome.

    

5. Google Picasa.  Everyone I know has a digital camera and takes hundreds of photos.  Only the amateur photographers I know have full control of their photos.  Most people have directories scattered all over the computer (or multiple computers), share photos via email and Facebook, and couldn’t find a specific photo on demand.  Picasa is a great, free tool to manage your photos.  The Facial Recognition features are very neat as well.  You can also post your photos and libraries for FREE to Picasa Web Albums (though I prefer Flickr).
6. Google Reader.  I use RSS feeds to keep tabs on all of the sites I frequent.  News sites, blogs, photo sites, and many others have RSS feeds that I can quickly and easily subscribe to on my Google Reader.  The web address for Google Reader is always available for me to catch up, review, and read any of the feeds I want.  There are also a ton of tools available for platform specific reader that will synchronize with Google Reader to provide a better end user experience depending upon the device I’m using at the time.
7. Google Toolbar.  The number one reason I use Google Toolbar is to keep my Bookmarks (or Favorites) synchronized and available to me from anywhere on any platform, but I also use the AutoFill and Custom Buttons to have simple access to weather, Facebook, maps, and more.

   

What resources and tools do you find indispensable?  I am shocked at my own reliance on Google tools.  I am a HUGE Microsoft fan – especially of SharePoint 2010.  I use Microsoft tools everyday.  Unfortunately, none of the Microsoft tools fit the original three requirements that I’ve laid out here.   I also didn’t include email, I really consider that a commodity.  You can get email from anywhere, and they all do the same basic functions.  If I did include web based mail, I would have listed Hotmail.  The new Hotmail version is superb – excellent features and great UI.  Also, I can use my Microsoft SkyDrive instead of DropBox, and I can use my Live Toolbar instead of the Google Toolbar.  However, third-party app providers (particularly on the iPad) have adopted DropBox directly into their apps – SkyDrive does not have the industry adoption (though it integrates perfectly into Office).