RSS: Add RSS feed as a Bookmark in Firefox

You can add this blog as a Live Bookmark in Firefox.

What is a Live Bookmark? It is a folder of bookmarks, where each bookmark is a link to an article or posting in the RSS feed. It can be added to your Bookmarks Toolbar folder in Mozilla so you can skip bookmark menus.

Go to: Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks
Now go to: File > New Live Bookmark...
Feed Location: http://whitemarker.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Now under Manage Bookmarks, drag and drop it into your Personal Toolbar folder or Bookmarks Toolbar folder.

OPINION: Blu-ray or HD-DVD

The epic battle of good versus evil is only eclipsed by the epic battle between good and good. Two new technologies, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are both determined to be the next video standard. Part of the problem is that the entertainment industry is totally split on the issue with major heavyweights of the industry on each side. Recently, Microsoft and Intel have taken sides. In terms of single layer capacity, HD-DVD has 15GB compared with Blu-Ray at 25GB. Additionally, Blu-Ray is also more expensive to mass produce. A main concern of consumers seems to be the DVD compatibility issue, but both sides have said they will offer video content in DVD format on one side and their format on the other.

The war to become the next big standard is reminiscent of the VHS-Beta war of the 70s and 80s. Some important lessons we can learn from the past, are that the best technology won't necessarily prevail, and that production costs are a significant factor. Both of these reasons point away from Blu-ray but it doesn't matter anyway. Other than the ability to record HD-TV, there is no other driving force for adopting a new disc technology. HD-TV has a few more years before it is widely accepted, and current DVDs are so cheap to produce that they will be used in place of a higher standard for years. HD-DVD is only 3 times the size of current DVDs, which isn't big enough for people to make the move. When it comes down to it though, there is one trick that VHS and Betamax could never do: Offer a disc with HD-TV on one side and Blu-ray on the other.

REG: Remove WMP Explorer Shell Extensions

HARD WAY:
Remove Windows Media Player (WMP) Explorer Shell Extensions From the Context Menu

Go into your registry editor, and remove the following keys to remove "Add to Playlist" from your context menu for video files.

This may also be done for:
Add to Now Playing List
Add to Sync List
Add to Burn List
Play on My TV

;Remove Add to Now Playing List and Add to Playlist for WMV files
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WMPAddToPlaylist]

;Remove Add to Now Playing List and Add to Playlist for MPEG AND MPG Files
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WMPAddToPlaylist]

;Remove Add to Now Playing List and Add to Playlist for ASF Files
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ASFFile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WMPAddToPlaylist]

;Remove Add to Now Playing List and Add to Playlist for Avi Files
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AVIFile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WMPAddToPlaylist]

;This key also needs to be removed along with any of the 4 keys above
;It is found in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
[...root\SystemFileAssociations\video\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WMPAddToPlaylist]

You can do the same for audio files.

EASY WAY:
download ShellExView and disable WMP extensions.

APP: Bart's Preinstalled Environment

I included a link to Bart's Preinstalled Environment
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
because it looks like a pretty good tool for sysadmins. The tom's hardware article says that you can load it onto a 256 meg USB drive, and boot into it that way.


http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050909/index.html

This is a useful tool if you want to boot into a windows type environment from a CD or USB drive. (if you are a top secret guy using a public computer and you want no traces left behind).

Also check out portableapps.com

CSS: Hide blocks of a webpage when printing

When printing a webpage, how do you hide certain elements of the page?

There is no onprint action in Javascript that I am aware of.

The key is to use css:

Note: In css '#' denotes an ID selector, '.' denotes a class selector.

<style type="text/css">
@media print
{
div.headerbox{ display:none; }
}
</style>

<div class="headerbox">... hidden when printed</div>
<div class="otherbox">... not hidden when printed</div>


or

<style type="text/css">
@media print
{
div#headerbox{ display:none; }
}
</style>

<div id="headerbox">... hidden when printed</div>
<div id="otherbox">... not hidden when printed</div>