Author Archives: J.D. H.

SkyGrabber Review [updated with screenshots and download]

If you’ve read about the security vulnerability of US military drone planes, like the Predator,  you probably wanted to checkout the Russian  SkyGrabber software to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, their site seems to be down due to all the traffic. Hopefully the military (or the company that builds the drones) will fix the vulnerability soon! UPDATE 2: download links for Skygrabber link #1, link #2 (mirror) UPDATE 1. Here is a screenshot of the Skygrabber program

Work update from paradise

I may be in Hawaii, I’m still doing as much or more work as usual. It’s just a lot warmer here ;-). Today I’ve been working on some simple improvements for NetRender (NR), it’s a site that sells hi-res textures. John is my partner on the site and we try to improve the site anytime we can. Here’s what I’ve been up to: +backed up everything (as part of our periodic backup schedule) +removed the credit card logos from the

Dell M4400 display models

I recently ordered two Dell Precision M4400 laptops. Upon receipt of the laptops I was slightly surprised that there were different panels in each laptop: First order: X864C Module, Liquid Crystal Display 15.4WX+, WLED, Lg Philips Lcd Maybach/Avia Second order: U609C Module, Liquid Crystal Display 15.4WX+, WLED, Au Optronics Corp, Maybach/Avia Thankfully both are matte anti-glare displays and the quality is comparable :-).

Delete EISA Hidden Recovery or Diagnostic Partition? [solved]

Q. I have a hard drive from an IBM thinkpad and I can’t get one of the partitions deleted, can you help? A. This is how I deleted one on Windows XP, this includes some steps showing different parameters and help for the diskpart utility: Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\User>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565 Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: M4400 DISKPART> list Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565 DISK        – Prints out

Hawaii: Day 1 Transportation and Groceries

The time is 11:22AM and so far it has been a good day :-). I got up at 7AM Hawaii time, which is 11AM Missouri time. I did some work and then at about 8:30AM it was starting to warm up so we began our trek. We walked 4.3 miles, the longest portion of the walk was along scenic Alii drive. The walk is punctuated by gorgeous views of the ocean and the coast. Here is Samantha at the starting

Hawaii: Day 0 (Departure)

We’re in the Spfd airport, warm and out of the snow.  Our flight is now scheduled for 8AM (instead of 7:40AM). Apparently the crew was delayed getting in the night before. They are required to get a minimum amount of rest, so our flight is slightly delayed. We’re all for the crew having plenty of rest, so no biggie :-). The new Springfield terminal is pretty nice, power (AC and USB) outlets under a number of seats and the wifi

What does a firewall do? ANSWER

Question. Thank you for the help…my firewall is enabled. Does this keep hackers from seeing what I’m doing with online banking, etc? (Just curious) What exactly does a firewally do? Answer. Here is a simplified explanation of firewalls as they relate to your personal computer: A firewall’s main purpose is to provide a barrier between the internet and your computer. Specifically, a firewall is supposed to only allow approved applications to transmit and receive data from your computer to the