Microsoft has released an updated daylight saving time fix for Windows Mobile. Nice of them to wait until 5 days before the change! I am recommending everyone use the official patch found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx, but I will leave my unoffical patch online.
I’m noticing a trend that many vendors are releasing last minute patches to fix DST issues with their 1st round of patches. If you have patched your systems already, I HIGHLY recommend you recheck with all your vendors to make sure they haven’t released an update. Good luck to all for this weekend.
Amazon is now selling the BlackJack for FREE!!!CLICK HERE. Amazon changes its specials frequently, so I would not expect this deal to last. As we’ve discussed, this is a great phone.
With a 100% rebate, how can you lose? Order today.
As discussed here, the Daylight Saving Time change for 2007 is going to cause problems for unpatched technologies. Most vendors, including Microsoft, have released patches. One big area that is lacking is Windows Mobile smartphones & PDAs. Microsoft release a registry fix and instructed the carriers to push out a patch. Most of the carriers, in their infinite wisdom, have neglected to do so. If you rely on your Windows smartphone, you need this fix. Microsoft published the registry fix here. This fix requires you to build a CAB file and then install it. To save you the trouble, I have bundled the CAB file for you:
You can either download the CAB file directly to your cell phone, or download to your PC, copy it via activesync to your phone, and then run it. (read more…)
This March, Daylight Saving Time (DST) changes for the United States, starting the time change 4 weeks early. Congress in its infinite wisdom changed DST in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Other countries such as Australia have followed suit. For most people, this will come as an early relief from winter doldrums, but for IT, the DST change is a major headache. After Year 2000, IT vendors were smart enough to start using 4-digit date codes, but DST changes are still hard-coded for the 1st Sunday of April and the last Sunday of October.
To accommodate the DST change, most IT systems must be patched. Otherwise, timestamps will be off, and some applications my fail to work. For instance, if you synchronize your Windows Smartphone with Microsoft Exchange, and you want your calendar reminders to work, plan on applying patches or fixes to Windows XP, Windows 2003, Exchange 2003 & Windows Mobile. Otherwise, you may be late for that all-important TPS meeting. (read more…)
Writing a blog is hard work! Having spent the past four months working on this site, and scanning the blogosphere looking for useful articles, I’m convinced that most bloggers do not get enough credit for the incredible information they provide. One of the stated goals for edgeblog is to provide useful, original content as a way of giving something back to the Internet community, rather than just linking to content found elsewhere. Creating new content every week is a tough job, but we welcome the challenge.
With that said, I want to actively promote the concept of e-Tipping. e-Tipping is a way to pay the blogger back for the hard work they have put into their blog, similar to leaving a tip at a restaurant. There are several ways to leave an “e-Tip”:
Click the ads!!! - Most blogs these days have ads. If you like the article you just read, visit the site’s sponsors. The blogger will make, on average, about $.05 per click…not much of a tip, but it adds up when a lot of people are reading your blog. UPDATE 06/01/2007: It is against Google’s terms and conditions to directly ask people to click your ad links. I respect Google and their terms, and would not want to circumvent their business model. Most Google ads are contextually related to the blog article. So, if you find an article valuable, take the time to look at the ads. If you are interested in any of the products, by all means click the ad, but please do not click ads soley for the purpose of driving up click revenue for the blogger.
Donate - Many blogs offer paypal links. If you find the articles especially useful, make a small cash donation. This is often the best way to support a blogger if you want him to provide you with specific additional information.
Leave a Comment - Blogging can be a lonely business. Comments show you care. They also make articles seem more relevant to the next reader.
Digg/Slashdot/Link the article - Bloggers want traffic. The more the better. Also, Google ads pay for page views, as well as clicks. Help the blogger promote their site, and they will continue to create great content.
Read the rest of the blog - Chances are you found the blog from a link aggregator. If you find the article useful, click out to the parent site, and scan some of the other articles. You’ll probably find other articles of interest, worthy of your time and e-Tips. (read more…)
Amazon is running a special on the Cingular Blackjack for $49.99 after rebates! CLICK HERE. The special is obviously only good for a limited time, and requires activation, but this is an incredible deal on arguably the best Windows Smartphone available today. I posted my original review of this phone 3 weeks ago: http://www.edgeblog.net/2006/cingular-blackjack-vs-smt5600/
Since then, I have not had a single problem with the phone. After three weeks of solid testing, I can say without a doubt this is the best PDA and best phone I have ever used. The buttons are well spaced and intuitive. The only complaint I have is that 3rd party software is still limited for the phone. Handango lists about 155 titles for the phone, but many of those are duplicates, or are not terribly useful on this platform. So far, the most useful program I have found is TaskList by AvinaSoft. This is a simple but effect task manager that syncs wirelessly with Outlook tasks using wireless Activesync.
If you need an easy to use smartphone with super-fast Internet access and seemless Exchange synchronization, this is the phone for you.
Losing an administrator is always a painful process. Even the best administrators usually forget to document something. The worst admins document nothing, create up multiple backdoor accounts, and install services to run under their own credentials. It is important to immediately check your servers when an admin leaves for several reasons: Disgruntled admins may leave backdoors in your system that they will later use to attack you; Disabling the admin’s account may cause services to stop running; Scripts may be scheduled to run that will grant the admin access weeks or months later.
Fortunately, it is possible to perform a rapid clean up if you follow a simple process, and use tools to help. This process is specific to the platform the administrator supported. The process for cleaning up after a Windows administrator is as follows:
Create a list of all servers in your environment. If you aren’t sure, check DNS and Active Directory
Search Active Directory for all users with privileged (admin) group memberships
Search every server for services that run under domain or local accounts instead of LocalSystem or NT
Search every server for scheduled tasks that run under domain or local accounts
Change the password on every privileged user account. Assume that the old admin could have had access to every account at some point.
Change the password on every service and scheduled task to match the new passwords in step 5.
Change any service or scheduled task that runs under the old admin’s account to run under a new service account
Review any scheduled tasks that are scripts, to make sure you know what they do. A clever admin could bury a script to recreate his admin account inside of another script.
Disable the old admin account
There are many good commercial tools available for searching servers for service accounts and scheduled task accounts, but I’m a big believer in using simple scripts where possible to get the job done. If you want a commercial product to help, check out:
My shiny new Cingular Blackjack (Samsung i607) arrived today!!! The Blackjack is Samsung’s latest foray into the Windows Smartphone category, meant to compete head-to-head with the Motorola Q. As a Cingular customer, I’ve had serious phone envy for a long time. When Cingular announced its new G3 phones, I could not wait to order. Cingular started selling them last Wednesday online, so I ordered mine at 1:00AM to make sure I was 1st in line. My conversation with the Cingular activation guy tells me this was a good move, because these phones are seriously constrained. If you want one, get your order in soon, but be prepared to wait.
For those not familiar with Microsoft-based cell phones, there are basically 2 flavors: 1) Pocket PC Phone; 2) Smartphone. The key to choosing between the two is to decide whether you need a PDA or a cell phone. Pocket PC phones are full function PDAs with touch screens and a large range of applications. Smartphones are phones 1st, with a more limited set of PDA applications. Smartphones do not have touch screens, and are optimized for 1-handed operation. (read more…)
Time to upgrade!!! A warning about multiple vulnerabilities in WordPress versions prior to 2.0.5 just popped on Full Disclosure.
We upgraded to 2.0.5 and it seems to be stable and working great. For all our friends using WordPress, we recommend you download 2.0.5 and upgrade ASAP. The upgrade instructions at wordpress.org are simple and easy to follow. Just make sure you backup first!
We do a lot of work with Microsoft Windows Smartphones, so we have anxiously been awaiting the next generation of phones. Verizon has been the clear leader in the US, offering the Palm 700W, the Motorola Q, & the HTC XV6700. Those of us with Cingular contracts have suffered from phone envy for a long time.
According to our friends over at MS Mobiles, the situation changes Thursday, the 16th of November. Cingular is set to ship 2 new smartphones:
The Samsung Blackjack is a Q killer. It offers G3 HSDPA broadband speeds, which are more than double the speeds of Verizon’s “high-speed” broadband. It is also a quad-band phone, making it well suited for world travelers.
The HTC Hermes, aka Cingular 8525 is the latest version of its popular pocket PC phone, which offers full touch screen PDA functionality. It is similar to the Verizon XV6700, but like the Blackjack, the 8525 offers HSDPA broadband. The 8525 also has a 2 megapixel camera and 802.11 support.
Both of these have great multimedia capabilities, such as streaming audio and video, but they really shine as business tools. If you have Microsoft Exchange 2003, these phones are a must-have. In Exchange 2003, Microsoft beefed up its wireless activesync. With a Windows-based phone and an accessible Exchange 2003 web access server, you can synchronize e-mail, contacts and calendars over the cellular network. With Exchange SP2, Exchange can push data to your phone, but this is a huge battery drain. The better option is to set your phone to synchronize every 5-15 minutes. Exchange combines with a Windows Smartphone blows away the capabilities of blackberrys and you don’t need any extra software to roll this out to your entire company.
I’m going to order the Blackjack as soon as it is released on Thursday, and hope to have a real-world review up soon.
As discussed 
Writing a blog is hard work! Having spent the past four months working on this site, and scanning the blogosphere looking for useful articles, I’m convinced that most bloggers do not get enough credit for the incredible information they provide. One of the stated goals for edgeblog is to provide useful, original content as a way of giving something back to the Internet community, rather than just linking to content found elsewhere. Creating new content every week is a tough job, but we welcome the challenge.
Losing an administrator is always a painful process. Even the best administrators usually forget to document something. The worst admins document nothing, create up multiple backdoor accounts, and install services to run under their own credentials. It is important to immediately check your servers when an admin leaves for several reasons: Disgruntled admins may leave backdoors in your system that they will later use to attack you; Disabling the admin’s account may cause services to stop running; Scripts may be scheduled to run that will grant the admin access weeks or months later.
We do a lot of work with Microsoft Windows 
