Preston Hunt

Story: 2011 Year in Review

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

Our 2011 holiday letter.>

Last month, Microsoft discontinued support for Windows S ...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:09:05 PST

Last month, Microsoft discontinued support for Windows Sidebar Gadgets. They didn't give developers any warning nor did they give users a chance to save copies of their favorite gadgets. It's a pretty short-sighted move in my opinion.

Here is a collection of alternative places to get gadgets. I wish Microsoft had kept a read-only copy of the gadget store online. But they didn't. So this is all we have left:

http://www.thoosje.com/
http://gadgetsforvista.net/ (full of ads)
http://wingadget.ru/cat/novosti (in Russian, use Chrome translate!)
http://torentilo.com/download/4668072/Windows-Sidebar-Gadgets-Mega-Pack%7Bh33t%7D%7Bmad-dog%7D.html (a torrent containing a huge collection of gadgets)

Story: Self-elevating a script to root permissions

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

Trick to elevate a script to root permissions>

Tunnel in the Sky **** : Classic Heinlein space-cowboy, ...

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:57:06 PST

Tunnel in the Sky **** : Classic Heinlein space-cowboy, coming-of-age, young-adult fiction.

Manga Guide to Calculus **** : Even if you already know ...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:00:40 PST

Manga Guide to Calculus **** : Even if you already know Calculus, this is still very enjoyable. The entire series looks appealing! >

Under the Dome ***** : Stephen King at his best, describ ...

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:38:55 PST

Under the Dome ***** : Stephen King at his best, describing small-town America with a full cast of interesting characters.

I recently changed my password on apple.com using their ...

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 07:41:38 PST

I recently changed my password on apple.com using their "My Apple ID" web site. The site allows you to change your password, which is great. But there are two major issues.

First, Apple's URL naming system is horrible. This is the URL for logging in to My Apple ID: https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/

More seriously, Apple has a feature where the perceived strength of your proposed password is shown to you as you type it. Unfortunately, their algorithm is busted. I tried a password "welcome-wildlife-fuji-ski" and was told that it was considered a "weak" password. I can guarantee you that "welcome-wildlife-fuji-ski" is completely unhackable by brute force attempts.

Meanwhile, "Aaa123!!" was given the password score of "strong" even though it is a substantially weaker password than "welcome-wildlife-fuji-ski".

Apple should fix these two issues by adopting a user-friendly URL, such as https://apple.com/appleid" and updating their password strength recommendation engine beyond the simplistic one-letter-one-symbol-one-number algorithm that is all too prevalent these days. >

Story: Setting up wireless networking from the command line in Ubuntu

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:00:00 PST

Step-by-step guide for setting up joining a wireless access point on Ubuntu from the command line.>

The New York Times ran a piece a while back, 10 Days in ...

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:13:27 PST

The New York Times ran a piece a while back, 10 Days in a Carry-On, in which a flight attendant packs a ridiculous amount of clothes into a suitcase. I absolutely disagree with her packing philosophy!

Just because it's possible to take a lot of clothes doesn't mean you should. When it comes to international travel, all the cliches are true: less is more; when in doubt, leave it out; et cetera.

If there are people living where you are going, and most likely there are, then you will be able to buy anything you need. So pack as little as possible and enjoy the trip!

Some people swear by rolling suitcases. And if you're flying somewhere and going straight to the hotel, that's fine. But for maximum flexibility or if you are going to be changing hotels a lot, nothing beats a backpack. And most backpacks fit within the carry-on size restrictions, so you won't have to check any baggage.

On a recent trip, our shuttle bus dropped us off at an expensive beach resort area. Some locals told us that hotels were a lot cheaper in the next town. But getting there entailed a half-mile walk on the sandy beach. Everybody on the shuttle bus who had a backpack was able to make the easy trek. Those with suitcases decided to just stay in the expensive part of town.

We spent over four weeks in Turkey and Greece last year. A list of everything I took is below. I think it's decently minamlist, but I could have taken even less!

1 Dana Design Bomb Pack (3200 cu. in.)
2 FedEx bags, 2 small nylon sacks, 3 white trash bags, 3 large zip locks
8 underwear
1 bathing suit (board shorts, doubled as shorts)
4 t-shirts: 2 wool, 2 cotton (use wool whenever possible for shirts)
2 long-sleeve shirts: 1 wool, 1 wool/poly blend
1 convertible pants/shorts (nylon) (synthetics don't wrinkle, easy to clean)
5 short socks, 3 long socks (1 unused)
1 umbrella
1 wide-brimmed sun hat
1 netbook
1 handheld digital camera
1 int'l power adapter
1 shorts (cotton, dark khaki)
1 pants (cotton, dark khaki) (didn't really need these)
2 pairs shoes - crocs and sneakers (didn't really need the sneakers)
1 towel
1 wool sweater (dark blue, slightly dressy)
1 small lock
2 paperback books, 10 magazines
1 eye glasses (prescription)
1 sun glasses with hard case
1 large safety pin (to secure pockets against pick pockets)
1 plastic spoon, fork
1 headlamp

I just released a new version of Presto's Sidebar Clock ...

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 08:43:00 PST

I just released a new version of Presto's Sidebar Clock (v1.45). The big feature in this release is the addition of sunrise and sunset support. The clock can be set to automatically dim at night if a timezone is set. This uses the Javascript sunrise class that I wrote last week. >

Story: JavaScript Class for Sunrise and Sunset Calculations

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

A JavaScript class for calculating sunrise and sunset times based on latitude, longitude, and date.>

Here's a nice little recipe to uninstall programs on a W ...

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:55:14 PST

Here's a nice little recipe to uninstall programs on a Windows machine from the command line:

Open cmd.exe as administrator
Run WMIC.EXE
Type the following at the wmic:rootcli> prompt:

product where "name like 'foo%'" call uninstall /nointeractive /norestart

Replace foo with a string to search for at the beginning of the program name. To get a list of program names, type "product get name".

These resources have more information and documentation: Tech-Recipes, Microsoft, and Usenet.

Wikipedia's pledge-drive-style banner ads were driving m ...

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 09:11:23 PST

Wikipedia's pledge-drive-style banner ads were driving me crazy. After a little searching, I found this AdBlock Plus rule that will hide them forever!

wikipedia.org##div#siteNotice

Story: 2010 Year in Review

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

Highlights from 2010.>

Born to Run *** Compelling story of how humans were made ...

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:04:26 PST

Born to Run *** Compelling story of how humans were made for jogging. Documents the Tarahumara, a tribe of Mexican Indians who run ultramarathons almost barefoot. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and, unfortunately, this book completely fails in providing references or sources for any of its claims. I found at least one glaring factual error: the author claims that humans are the only animal whose principal method of heat dissipation is sweating. Not true--horses sweat profusely! Serious mistakes such as these beg the question of how many other errors there are.

(Thanks to some detective work from Beeman, here are pictures from the race and a conversation with Caballo Blanco in which he expresses his displeasure with the book.) >

Sony has a nice commercial featuring Intel Wireless Disp ...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 10:44:15 PST

Sony has a nice commercial featuring Intel Wireless Display: Justin & the Sony VAIO vs. the Media Monster >

Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook *** : ...

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:51:23 PST

Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook *** : The story is of questionable veracity, but it is quick and fun, albeit poorly written. >

Handmaid's Tale ***** Dystopian feminist novel in which ...

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:04:03 PST

Handmaid's Tale ***** Dystopian feminist novel in which fertile women become the property of the state. Dark premise that is brilliantly executed with clean, elegant prose. >

Here's a nice commercial showing the project I've been w ...

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:50:05 PST

Here's a nice commercial showing the project I've been working on for the last year-and-a-half: Intel Wireless Display >

I noticed in the server logs for prestonhunt.com that Ba ...

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:38:54 PST

I noticed in the server logs for prestonhunt.com that Baidu is indexing my site. Curious, I tried the search "preston hunt" on baidu.com. It didn't produce any results. I wonder if prestonhunt.com is blocked by the Chinese firewall? How would I even go about finding out?

As for Baidu, I was surprised that it was only available in Chinese. With revenues of $650 million, you would think that they could afford some translation services! >