installing OS X:snow leopard on VirtualBox

Hurrah! After some fiddling around I’ve got OS X snow leopard to install successfully on Oracle VM VirtualBox.

Installing OS X Snow leopard on Windows using Oracle VM VirtualBox – Attempt 1

Installing OS X Snow leopard on Windows using Oracle VM VirtualBox (Attempt 1)

Ok, I’d thought I’d try this purly out of curiosity to have OS X (a-la Hackintosh) on my Windows 7 PC using Virtual Box, rather than dual booting it. Anyway, after adapting the instructions for building a hackintosh in 8 steps I’ve got this far…

…failed…back to the drawing board!

I realised what the problem was – I’d used a iMac installation DVD rather than a ‘normal’ snow leopard disk. Using a Snow Leopard CD worked fine!

What the iPad is missing…

What the iPad is missing…

Working in the computer science department here at york does have some advantages, like we get to ‘play’ with new toys when they arrive. One of the new ‘toys’ that we have in the department is an iPad.

The iPad is essentially a big iPod touch, with a nifty calendar interface. I’m no huge apple fan (I do own an iPod touch) but the iPad is a joy to use – if slightly pointless. When I say pointless, I don’t actually see any real ‘use’ for it.

However, one thing that I think should have been included with the iPad is a pen, like on older generation tablet-pcs. Now that would take the iPad to a whole new level – a proper note pad! When I was at uni, I used a tablet PC to take notes, but it was bulky and the battery life wasn’t that great (and not forgetting very expensive!) Yes, I know you can buy stylus that work with the iPad, but if it was ‘part of the device’ like say in PDAs or Tablet PCs. I don’t know if Steve ‘god’ Jobs didn’t include it because it would ruin the aesthetics of the iPad, or perhaps he’s saving it for the iPad Second generation…who knows. But if it does include a pen as an input and not as a (expensive) accessory  then I may be persuaded to buy one.

It will now be interesting to see iPad clones from the other side of the camp. See if there are any Windows 7 based devices, or maybe using Windows 7 Embedded or the new Windows 7 Phone OS…

ipad

beached festival 2010 canceled

An unusual post for me, but just local news really…
The ‘Beached 2010′ event in Scarborough has been canceled for a second year.
However, Doves, The Futureheads Newton Faulkner, Detroit, Kassidy are to play at the Scarborough open air theatre instead on August the 7th.

The organiser in 2009 told press that it wouldn’t be happening that year because of his new found paternity, although the Scarborough Evening News reported later that H20: Beached Ltd had been liquidated owing £38,000.00 to various creditors.

The likelihood of a festival like the beached festival happening on the South Bay in Scarborough again in the near future is remote. In 2009 Scarborough Borough Council and The North Yorkshire Police refused to give permission for the event, partly because of safety & public disorder concerns, and because of financial issues remaining outstanding.

e justice (Electronic Justice) Small Claims court dissertation project

Abstract

This work is devoted to the development of an e-justice system; more specifically a
web based small claims court. This system was developed to see if it is indeed
possible for a small claims court to be totally electronically based (or as much as
possible) hence the term e-justice. The e-justice system implemented allows a
claimant to make a claim against a defendant and resolve the claim electronically
without the need to go to a physical courtroom. The claim can be resolved either by the defendant paying the monies owed online, or if a defendant wishes to counter-claim, then the case is heard in a “Virtual Courtroom‟. This “Virtual Courtroom‟ is where the case is “heard‟ by a judge using web cam feeds relating to the claimant and defendant. These webcam feeds could be streamed from the
claimant/defendant‟s personal computer at home, thus eliminating the need to go toa courtroom which could be far away. The developed system was evaluated by user testing and was proven to be satisfactory in terms of usability and functionality but perhaps such a system is not ready to replace the current small claims court in the immediate future. It may be that further into the future the entire courts system may undergo a digital transformation with the continuing improvement and availability of digital technology.

About the e-justice project:

As part of my Degree, (at the University of Hull) my dissertation project was to research the idea of electronic justice (e-justice) and whether such a system could replace the current court system.

What is e-justice?

E-justice could be defined as an umbrella term for the use of information technology practices within the judiciary system. This could relate to the use of IT to write reports and also communication, such as e-mail, between the judge and other parties connected with the case. It could also refer to the use of technologies to aid the case, such as using video footage to present evidence. However for this project we are researching the possibility of whether these technologies can be utilised to provide a fully electronic justice system (e-justice), whereby, through the use of computing, justice can be attained.

Current e-justice systems

Existing e-justice systems looked at in this project involved the Pay Pal Solution Center and Her Majesty’s Court Service: Money Claim Online. As stated previously this project  focused on the small claims system. More specifically  building a web based e-justice system prototype whereby claimants’ can file a claim against the defendant and the defendant can have the opportunity to resolve the claim online using the system. However in attempting to make this
system totally electronically based (or as much as possible) then all correspondence will be via e-mail and, if the defendant disputes the claim, then the claim is “heard‟ in a virtual courtroom. The prototype system was developed using PHP, MySQL and some Javascript.

Downloads / view the Prototype:

• download the e-justice dissertation project (PDF – 3.40 MB)
• download  (compressed version -if you have trouble viewing it in your browser) e-justice dissertation project (.zip – 3.03 MB)

• View the e-justice small claims prototype system – please note this is a prototype system and not all functions implemented.

If you want the source code for the project, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 (kb953272) download link removed

Microsoft has Requested me to remove the download of Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 (kb953272), so rather than face any repercussions, i thought its best if i remove the link entirely. So sorry to anyone who is looking to download it.Other sites such as the green button community may still have it.  I suppose the only way to get it now is if you purchase a copy of Windows Vista and hopefully that has it on there. Ive no idea why they are not offering this brilliant update to everyone via windows update – it makes no sense. Ive been using it for a few months now and I’m really impressed with the improvements. On the bright side i suppose my bandwidth usage wont be as high!

Bring on Windows 7 – from what I’ve read so far it looks and performs great – what vista *should * of been! but no doubt lots of anti-Microsoft people will be writing negative reviews without even using the OS soon! the joys! By the way, IE 8 Beta 2 is running quite well, and for once it renders most sites correctly!

Windows 7 Calculator for Vista!

The clever guys over at windowsvistaclub have found a way to get the new and improved calculator for windows 7 to run in Windows Vista!

Good news is that the new Windows 7 Calculator works on Windows Vista too, if it’s been ported or migrated to Windows Vista.

Windows Vista users who want to use the more advanced Calculator program from Windows 7 can download the following RAR archive which consists of calc.exe with its mui language file extracted from Windows 7 pre-beta build 6801.

To Run Windows 7 Calculator :

1. Simply unpack the content to another folder
2. Run the calc.exe to use the Windows 7 Calculator in Windows Vista.

To replace existing default Calculator program in Windows Vista :

1. Copy calc.exe to WindowsSystem32, and calc.exe.mui (in en-US folder) to WindowsSystem32en-US folder

Overwriting existing file (you may want to backup the old Calculator binaries first in case of error running Windows 7 version). Voila, now the new Windows 7 Calculator has been installed on Windows Vista.

Download the Windows 7 Calculator for Vista

Windows 7 Blue Badge tool; unlocks all known protected features (download)

Rafael on his blog posted a nice little tool to unlock some hidden features of windows 7:

Windows 7 Blue Badge Tool

Last week, I revealed a weird protection scheme around some unfinished features in Windows 7 (build 6801). I provided a buggy tool to enable the new Taskbar, then teased everyone with other features such as gestures, panning, and Desktop Slideshow. It wasn’t intentional, I just needed some time to rework the unlocking tool.

Rivera’s tool lets users access Windows 7′s new taskbar a feature that looks pretty similar to Mac   as well as other unfinished bits of the operating system, including multi-touch gestures and a dynamic desktop slideshow that pulls images from Web-based feeds.

Understanding the risks involved in patching core system files, you candownload a copy of the tool, either off digiwebbs, or off his orginal post

Download the files here:

32 bit

64 bit

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 Download (KB953272)

A while ago, Microsoft released to manufacture (RTM) the new update to Windows Media Center; Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008.

Microsoft stated that it’s only going to be available to OEM users (god know’s why!) but i’ve managed to download a copy of it, and have uploaded it to this webserver, both the 32bit version and the 64bit version.

Some features of TV Pack 2008 Include:

• Improved TV Tuner Support
• Enhanced Guide and User Interface
• new file format for recorded tv – .WTV

Some Known issues (taken from pcmag’s article)

TV Pack alters the file format of shows recorded by Media Center from DVR-MS (Microsoft Digital Video Recording) to WTV (Windows TV), a switch many are complaining about. A bunch of third-party applications for post-processing recorded television shows—mainly to remove or otherwise mark advertisements—haven’t been updated yet to work with the new format

But what does the new format add? Video in the new WTV format is encoded using the MPEG-2 standard and audio using MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 (ATSC A/52)—specs that are similar to those in the earlier DVR-MS format. WTV extends these standards by including metadata about the content and digital rights management, through Microsoft’s new PlayReady DRM scheme. Since PlayReady was initially designed for mobile devices, it’s possible that Microsoft plans deeper integration between Windows Mobile 7 devices and content recorded (and maybe even distributed) across the Media Center platform. Only time will tell.

Ignoring the obvious format-related incompatibilities, the other problems seem to relate to rights management. Users with CableCARDs are reporting trouble tuning in certain channels they ought to receive, though it’s unclear whether this is an issue with TV Pack or with the OCUR tuners themselves—which are notoriously troublesome. Other users report “restricted content” errors when attempting to watch live shows that shouldn’t be restricted—though many say they can record these shows successfully. Clearly, there are some DRM issues that need to be resolved.

Beyond that, there are surprisingly few known bugs, a refreshing change from other Microsoft software launches

Download Links

At the request of Microsoft the Links have been removed

Warning! Security Update for OS Microsoft Windows e-mail is fake and contains a virus!

Just a quick post to warn people that if you get an email from: (or similar)

Microsoft Update Center <securityassurance@microsoft.com> This is a virus! Do not install!!

Microsoft would never send such an update via email!

Dear Microsoft Customer,

Please notice that Microsoft company has recently issued a Security Update for OS Microsoft Windows. The update applies to the following OS versions: Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Millenium, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista.

Please notice, that present update applies to high-priority updates category. In order to help protect your computer against security threats and performance problems, we strongly recommend you to install this update.

Since public distribution of this Update through the official website http://www.microsoft.com would have result in efficient creation of a malicious software, we made a decision to issue an experimental private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users.

As your computer is set to receive notifications when new updates are available, you have received this notice.

In order to start the update, please follow the step-by-step instruction:
1. Run the file, that you have received along with this message.
2. Carefully follow all the instructions you see on the screen.

If nothing changes after you have run the file, probably in the settings of your OS you have an indication to run all the updates at a background routine. In that case, at this point the upgrade of your OS will be finished.

We apologize for any inconvenience this back order may be causing you.

Thank you,

Steve Lipner
Director of Security Assurance
Microsoft Corp.

Isn’t it ironic that they say install this update to prevent against attacks – genius…NOT! Nevertheless i hope you have the sense not to install it