Jeff Julian's Blog

Zune | Please Connect to my Vista Box!!

(click to larger view)

Oh Zune, I want to love you, but you make it so difficult some times.  Well most of the time my Zune is great.  The device is solid (now that my battery isn't draining even when I turn it off with the firmware from 2 days ago) and the marketplace has a great selection.  The podcast features are getting there (it would be nice to mark as played from the device) but I have been having some major problems for the past few days.  When I got my MacBook Pro, one of the first applications I installed was the Zune Player.  Everything was perfect.  I had no problems connecting and disconnecting the device.  Then one day, everything changed. 

Now when I connect my Zune, the player pops up just like it is suppose to when a device is connected, the Device Manager shows a new Zune portable device with no issues.  And the Zune itself say "connected".

However, even though the player caught the event for a new Zune device being connected, it does not recognize the Zune!

If anyone has seen this problem before and knows of a possible solution, please let me know.  Also if you have a better contact to the Zune tech support that I might be able to borrow, that would be appreciated too.

Merry Christmas!

posted @ Thursday, December 20, 2007 6:56 AM | Feedback (2) |

Photo | Amazing Jet Contrail

Doug Butscher and I were outside at the EOB today and we saw the coolest contrail (new word for me) from a jet I have seen.  It steadily progressed to get more squiggly as we watched it.  Check it out!

It looks like someone was using a pen in the sky.

posted @ Monday, December 17, 2007 8:06 PM | Feedback (0) |

Geekswithblogs | Welcome the New King of the Hill, Chris Williams

Wow!  Tariq had a huge lead not that long ago and then when he decided Cross-Posting was the route for him, Chris Williams jumped on it and aimed for the goal.  Last night, after months and months of labor, Chris Williams was final able to reach that goal.

I am sure if Jason Olson still blogged on Geekswithblogs.net, I am sure he thank him too :D.  Always happens to the Microsoft hires...

posted @ Friday, December 14, 2007 8:26 AM | Feedback (1) |

Community | RegExLib.com gets an great update

My favorite Regular Expression resource, RegExLib.com, received a very nice face lift and enhancement recently and I thought you would like to know.  For sometime now, the site was sort of broken, search features were not working, paging through the expressions were flaky and it looked like it was on the verge of going away.  However, it looks like Steve Smith and the team were making some major enhancements and I am really excited to run into my next RegEx issue and being able to use this resource. 

On a side note, I am using my Windows Mobile 6.0 Bluetooth-enabled phone to chat with my Bluetooth-embedded MacBook Pro, running Vista of course, to blog this post using the Internet connection on the phone.  To get the image, I had to download SnagIt (Awesome Tool!) to my new machinei w, using AT&T's HSDPA network and it felt like I was in the office, however I am at the Microsoft office in Kansas City where no connection was available.  The enhanced digital world is amazing.

posted @ Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:07 AM | Feedback (0) |

News | Jeff Julian has purchased an Apple Laptop!

No the world is not ending, well I don't know if it is or isn't, but John and myself switched to MacBook Pros from our Toshibas.  These machines are amazing.  I have never been so excited to work with Vista. 

Don't worry, I am not a switcher.  While I downloaded Vista Business from MSDN, I used OS X Leopard and I had the same reaction that I did with my original Apple PowerBook, "What can I do?"  I was literally bored on a computer and that takes a lot.  Those awesome applications they talk about on the ads just aren't for me I guess. 

Ahhh, but when I installed Vista, my life was changed.  1920 x 1200 is SICK!  The performance of Aero and reaction time of Vista as a whole is really unleashed with this machine.  I should mention that we got the upgraded models with 2.4ghz Dual Cores and 17in upgraded display to get the awesome resolution.  The only thing we didn't get is 2.6ghz processors.  Out-of-the-box, you are stuck with 2GB of RAM, but Crucial.com has the 4GB kits for $159.99, so they will be here tomorrow.

Those who know me know that this is not a typical move by me.  I am Microsoft all the way.  I have a Zune as my portable device, Microsoft IPTV for my HD/SD cable boxes, XBox 360 for entertainment, Treo 750 with Windows Mobile 6.0 for my cell phone, and every machine is running Vista/XP.  I wear a Windows Vista coat when it is cold outside and have Microsoft coffee tumblers and an entire set of Microsoft drinking glasses.  And last but not least, my son's middle name is William.  I am a Microsoft geek.  However, Microsoft does not have a laptop.  I don't have luck with Dells, Toshibas, Gateways, and others so I figured I always liked my Macs from days past, so lets try them again.  I mentioned the idea to John and asked if he could run it by some of his RD friends to see what they were using, everyone who was using them, loved them so we broke down.

Now I am about 90% finished reloading this machine with my applications and am ready to get started tomorrow using it.  Today was a snow day for us and our client so perfect timing.

Oh Yeah, MOSS SP1, WSS 3.0 SP1, Office 2007 SP1 were released!  (Everyone else already told you I know)

posted @ Tuesday, December 11, 2007 12:43 PM | Feedback (3) |

Kansas City | Vice President Dick Cheney's Speech

Today I had the honor of going to the Vice President's speech with the VFW (thanks to Doug Butscher) and it was awesome.  I have never seen a public official of this caliber in person before and at 50 feet away is was definitely an experience.  He spoke about the Iraq war, war funds, and other pressing topics of today. 

On a side note, the speech was at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.  This memorial is also the National World War I Museum and I am really looking forward to visiting it in the future with Brandon when he is a little older.  If you are in KC at some point and you are looking for something to do, I would suggest visiting the Liberty Memorial. 

posted @ Friday, December 07, 2007 2:14 PM | Feedback (0) |

Geekswithblogs.net 2.1 | MVP Icons on Main Feed

I released another version of Geekswithblogs.net today that added a small MVP icon for those who responded to the email sent yesterday to the members.  If you did not receive an email or junk filters ate it up, send Jerod Crump a comment on his blog to get you added to the list.  Send your MVP ID as well for verification. 

The icons will appear in the blogger list on the right side and in the Posted By: section of the entries.  I am sure we will do more with this information soon, but I wanted to get some MVP love out there.

Now I must go home because there is crazy snow action going on outside and I am 30 miles from home.

posted @ Thursday, December 06, 2007 2:20 PM | Feedback (0) |

Geekswithblogs 2.1 | Skinning Tools for Twitter and Tags

I wanted to let all the Geekswithblogs.net members who read my site (and readers as well) of some of the new features we have on our skins for the Twitter and Tag features released last week.

If you integrate your Twitter account with your Geekswithblogs account, not only will you be part of a new Main Feed for Twitters, but your blog will show your 10 latest Twitters on the skin.  Here is a view of what this looks like.

Additionally, when you use the Tagging feature, a new Tag Cloud will show up on your blog as well.  This will show the top 10 tags and a link to see your entire Tag Cloud.  I really like the idea of tagging and I hope everyone on Geekswithblogs will start using the technology.  Here is a look at the Tag Cloud.

Also, GWB members will be getting an email in the next few days covering the features so if you want to make sure it doesn't fall through the spam filter add blogs AT geekswithblogs.com to your mail tool.

posted @ Wednesday, December 05, 2007 3:09 PM | Feedback (0) |