average admins

I saw this posted on the Patch Management mailing list and thought it was well put so I decided to post it here.

This is in a thread about what order to apply all of the Daylight Savings Time (DST) patches which is why you see references to Exchange and calendaring.

Here’s the original post on the mailing list:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=patchmanagement&m=117328106928017&w=2

UTC is not GMT. UTC is the number of seconds since the arbitrary Unix “epoch” of 00:00 970-01-01 GMT. No matter what time zone you live in, UTC will always uniquely and exactly define a precise moment in time.

This is how computers in Japan and Los Angeles can agree on what time it is. LA doesn’t say say “13:33:00 2007-03-06 PST” and Japan doesn’t respond “22:33:00 2007-03-06 JPN”. LA says ‘1173216780′ and Japan says ‘1173216780′. Five minutes later they both agree that it is ‘1173217080′. There are *no* time zones in UTC because it doesn’t make sense to. You don’t time shift the number of seconds relative to an event. The number of seconds since epoch doesn’t vary depending on where you are on the planet. It’s an absolute. If you’re writing an app that cares about timestamping when an event occurs, you *always* use UTC.

I enter an appointment in Tokyo for 9 am New York time on March 12th 2007 on my calendar. BetterExchange stores this time as ‘1173686400′. Now, no matter where I am, my calendar entry will show that at 9 am New York time aka 2 pm GMT aka 12 midnight Tuesday morning Tokyo I have a meeting. It’s precise because it allows Exchange to store the context.

All MS has to do:
1. Store UTC in Exchange
2. Give Outlook the ability to specify a Time Zone during meeting creation times.

Now you can do magical things like schedule a meeting between yourself and someone in a different time zone, and neither system needs to know about that time zone shift in any way. They all speak UTC so they know exactly when you’re talking about. As long as the systems know their own local time zone they can always display the time accurately to the user.

The 32-bit vs 64-bit problem, the Year 2038 problem, is another Y2k rollover issue. On January 19th, 2038, the value for UTC will exceed the maximum positive value of 32-bit signed integers and wrap negative. Any system still using a 32-bit signed integer for UTC will believe it to be 1901 rather than 2038. Using a signed 64-bit integer extends UTC to almost 300 billion years.

However, the point of that paragraph was to note the only benefit of using non-timestamped date strings instead of UTC integers or decimals: You won’t wrap around until the year 10,000. Of course, anybody who plans to be using Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 in 2038 has serious
problems. So the design “feature” of date robustness in exchange for time zone nightmares is completely worthless. Nobody will be using an email server in 2038 from this decade. 32-bit limits are a moot point, so any advantage Exchange might have over 32-bit UTC groupware is irrelevant.

–
Brandon Aiken
CS/IT Systems Engineer

I found a machine in my organization a few days ago that never recieved the local admin password that is standard in my organization after taking it off the domain.  I paniced a little then went to the Google altar to save my tail.  The computer was very important to the business process.  Here is what Google turned up for me:  http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/.   Nice little ethical (or non-ethical) hacking tool if I ever did see one.  Enjoy.

Since my last blog post, I’ve had a couple different phones. I know I talk about phones a lot, but it’s just that I rely on mine consistently. I recently talked to Jeff, about my requirements for a phone. I have found some features, as of late, that I really need, rather than want. Those requirements are: full qwerty keyboard, direct push email, detalied contact info with ability to sync with outlook or other program of my choice, bluetooth, good calendar management, good call quality, and internet (possibly have wifi). Now, I rarely would use Wifi, but it’s just an extra feature, that I wouldn’t mind having. I used to include a camera as one of those features, but realized I really haven’t used my camera in the last year, except for 2-finger battles. I could just bring my digital camera or we can use Jeff’s Rebel Xti, for all the carnage.

Having said all that, I sold my Motorola Razr V3i and Slvr, and took back the Blackberry Pearl that I had bought recently, on the whim that I thought I wanted a smaller phone. Well, I realized that I like having a bigger phone. I have big fingers and got tired of hitting every button but the one that I needed on the Pearl. Don’t get me wrong, the Pearl was probably one of the best phones I’ve ever used. Read my old article here. So, I took it back and got what I thought would be, MY IDEAL PHONE, the Cingular 8525. I found this gadget to be much more than I needed and began pondering what I really needed. Thus, came the aforementioned features, I decided on the BlackBerry 8700c. I know some of you, okay maybe one or two of you, might say, “why not wait for the new BlackBerry 8800 to come out?”. Well, again, I don’t need the camera or video capabilities. The WiFi would be a plus, but honestly, I don’t really care for the look of the new 8800. I kinda like the boxey-ness of the 8700.

I had been using the Treo 680, and it was a really good phone. Chris, I will have to say that the 650 is a little better. I think you would like the OS of the 680, primarily due to some of the new features it has, and you can play with my 680, if ya wanna find out. Well, as for now, I’m gonna go strictly with the 8700 and stop looking at other phones, especially those with touchscreens. Anyway, that’s it for now! I was just bored and thought I might write a little about the newest cellie to hit my hands.

the phone guru,

jason

question: what all do ya’ll look for in a phone?

Woah, I ran across this and thought I’d share it. This is a pretty impressive Ebay auction. There is no telling what it will sell for. It even comes with most every Nintendo accessory. Even the super awesome Power Glove that I just had a recent discussion with some fellow AA’ers about. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on this auction, eager to see how bad someone wants all this stuff! Enjoy

Own every Orig Nintendo Game

As you read in my last blog, I told of how I became to dislike the Samsung Blackjack. I returned it and began looking at the Palm Treo 680 and the Blackberry Pearl. The Treo was just basically the Treo 650 sans the antenna, which was a very nice little subtraction, but the Pearl really caught my eye and I’ve already had the 650! I already have the BB 7130c and I like the Suretype keyboard, despite what other people say about it. I, honestly, have yet to find something I don’t like about this phone. I mean this thing is almost as small as the Motorola SLVR. It is as thin as my RAZR closed, and is smaller than my 7130c. This phone has all the same features of the Blackjack, but is faster (personally I think this is due to the processor of the Samsung). It has a 1.3MP camera, qwerty keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0, MicroSD slot, PUSH email, Push to Talk, trackball (finally got rid of that horrible clickwheel), and an HTML browser. The processor is amazingly fast on this phone and has a very loud headset. The calls are crystal clear. I tested the headset at Ta Molly’s, which we all know is one of the loudest restaurants in town and it did very good.  I love the keyboard. One great feature that BB finally added was caller picture ID’s. I just hooked up my phone to my laptop and it sync’d with my Outlook Contacts, pictures and all. It took a little while to get used to not having the clickwheel, but i’m getting the hang of it. So, that’s it for now! If ya have any questions or wanna see the Pearl, gimme a holler!

The phone guru,

jason

Well, I had the phone for almost 3 weeks and finally couldn’t handle some of the con’s it had. Go Here for my review on the Samsung Blackjack.  The con’s finally outweighed the pro’s.  The screen was getting increasingly dusty, on the actual lcd screen.  When clean, this phone is one of the hottest phones out there.  My other problems with the phone included:  the phone was so flat that your ear tended to hurt after long conversations, application loading just got annoying to wait for, the camera took like 4 years to load and it had no flash, and occasionally it wouldn’t read my microSD card.  Anyway, I had been looking at the Blackberry Pearl for T-Mobile and had done some research on it, but it seemed I would be stuck with my BB 7130c.  Then 2 weeks after I got the Blackjack, Cingular, those sneaky bastards, dropped the Blackberry Pearl.  I didn’t know this until yesterday.  So, with my ever growing disdain for the Blackjack, I took it back and got the Blackberry Pearl.  I will blog more about this later today, but right now, I gotta go!  For now, here’s the link to the Blackberry Pearl.

The phone playa,

jason

Okay, so I couldn’t stay away from the smartphone game.  Jeff and Chris know it’s a fetish of mine.  After selling my Treo to Chris and my 3125 to Troy, I felt like my Blackberry could do it for me.  Well, I like the BB, but I missed some of the features of my 3125, mainly the Windows Mobile.  I know, I know. . .but hear me out!  The new Samsung Blackjack is an amazing machine.  It’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted in a phone/PDA.  I played with a Sidekick and still want one badly, with the only con being the camera sucks like a Dyson.  Anyway, the Blackjack has performed admirably for the last week that I’ve had it.  The only problem was initially, I had just slapped my old SIM card into it, not knowing that you have to use a 3G SIM card.  This was a quick remedy, being that I went down to the local Cingular store and they gave me one for free with no hassles at all.  Anyway, here is my list of pro’s and con’s for the new Blackjack:

Pros:

Great Screen with excellent picture quality

1.3mp Camera with Video capabilities

Keyboard is awesome after a little break-in time (keys seem a little tough at first, but the keyboard is setup quite nicely)

Push Email

3G capabilities (if only we lived in a town that could utilize that feature)

Contact listings are amazing (you can list everything for a contact that you’d EVER wanna remember, most likely including last bowel movement)

MicroSD slot

Click wheel on the side or center control pad (that’s one of the main problems I had with the BB, but they seemed to have fixed that with the Pearl)

This thing is Super Light.  It’s lighter than my Razr and BB.

It’s Super Thin.  It’s almost thinner than my Razr.

Bluetooth 2.0

Obvious mp3 player with the Windows Media Player (would like to have seen iTunes, but hey. . .)

Extra battery came with the phone.

The speakerphone is great.

And the #1 pro is the call quality and the headset is amazingly loud.  This is a nice change from always wishing you could turn the volume up a little more.  Don’t you wish you had the amps from Spinal Tap?  They go up to 11!  I find myself turning the headset down during calls.  I love it!!

Cons:

The centerpad is recessed so there’s a tendency to hit the end button when navigating the  menus and things.

NO WiFi!  Ugh!  So you must have a data plan to get email and all other IE capabilities.

The screen has a tendency, if left in a pocket, to get lint behind the screen protecter.  (I’ve already taken it apart and cleaned the screen, which was actually quite easy)

Certain programs lug a little when loading, but they are negotiable with the other great features it has!

Anyway, I love this phone.  It’s got the contact listings of the BB, the calendar of the Treo, but the great fun features of the Razr and other phones.  I still have my Razr V3i and used it the other night for a little bit while my Blackjack charged and I missed my Blackjack the whole time.  So, I highly recommend this phone.  If ya got the dough, let it go and buy this phone!

the phone pimp,

jason

So, I’ve been invited to a “rollout party” for Verizon Broadband here in Huntsville.  It was implemented yesterday for public use, but it is still being tested and configured, so it isn’t fully reliable yet.  The official rollout is next week sometime.  Verizon is inviting businesses to the Space and Rocket Center for a show and tell.  Below is a topic schedule.  If any of you want any specific info for the future in Texarkana let me know and I’ll post what I find out.  I think I’ve heard it is coming to T’town in the next year, right?  I’ve used it down the Birmingham area not too long ago and it was great (fast and reliable even when driving down the interstate).

EVENT SCHEDULE 

Registration & Breakfast
7:30am - 8:00am 

Announcement
8:00am - 8:30am 

Technology Demonstrations
8:30am - 8:45am 

Vertical Market Solutions
8:45am - 9:15am 

BroadbandAccess - You Drive!
Hands-on demonstrations
9:15am - 10:00am

I know we have been getting TONS of SPAM lately and it’s good to know that someone has taken the time to research and explain the reason behind it all.

http://www.mostlygeek.com/2006/11/21/…./

If you’re not subscribed to this RSS feed, then you definitely need to be.

It is just unreal to see how popular the PS3 has become and how outrageous the prices are.  BUT….ya know, I was wondering, and a friend and I discussed it this weekend.  I wonder if the “shortage” was all a marketing plan by Sony.  Look at the publicity that this whole ordeal has generated.  There’s no way Sony or anyone could ever buy that kind of marketing or advertising.  With the whole “shortage” and camping out and outrageous prices on the internet, it was being talked about on EVERY single radio station in America, it was on every single news channel, every single message board, every single blog (average admins included, haha), and every single chat room, etc, etc.  Everyone in America was talking about it.  That’s pretty good free advertisement….and the people that haven’t been able to get their hands on one I’m sure will end up getting one, plus all the other tons of people that have been sucked in by all of the talk and hooplah.  Might not have been a bad idea to have  a “shortage” after all.  Maybe it takes a little trickery to get people to buy a $600 video gaming system.  That’s just my 2 cents.

Hmm….What would you do?