Blueberry Shiraz

It’s time again for another label for the Hutzenbiler winery. This label is for a light and favorable Shiraz with a hint of blueberry. I found the best representation for this was a simple vector design along with a couple of great fonts. The final product is fun, fresh, and blue just like the taste of this great wine.

Crapware Madness

You order a new computer from your favorite manufacturer like Dell, HP, Lenovo. You crack the seal on the box, get everything hooked up, and start up your new computer for the first time. After jumping through the initial setup screens, you finally get to the desktop. But, what’s this? There are so many icons on the screen that you can barely see the background image through the clutter. This is a new computer, where do all of these programs come from and how do I get rid of them?

It’s a common fact that all manufactured computers come preloaded with a variety of junkware, bloatware, and trialware. Whatever you want to call it, software vendors actually pay to have a version of their software installed to your computer. The intent is to get your to try their software or market their brand to you, but more than anything, it’s another revenue stream for the computer manufacturer.

To get consumers to continually buy new, manufacturers try to keep their prices low. Since there isn’t a very big margin on a new computer, manufacturers sell this software “ad-space” to continue to profit at the expense of your computer’s performance and you the customer. If your computer’s manufacturer produces software (ie. HP), well then you are really screwed because they load just about every version of everything they have to try and sell you more.

HP Programs in Add Remove Programs

What the manufacturer’s aren’t telling you is that this crap-ware actually hurts your computer’s performance. Most of these programs are running when you boot your computer up taking up unnecessary memory and resources that you could use for other programs. They cause program conflicts with other software you install and they clutter your hard drive and registry causing an overwhelming drop in performance. That, and if they get an internet connection, they are constantly trying to update themselves or bugging you with ads.

So, how do you get rid of all of this crap-ware? Well, you can go through the Add/Remove programs list in the control panel, but this could take longer than actually reinstalling. The other problem with uninstalling is most programs are still resident on your computer either in your computer’s registry or scattered in various “program files” or “common files” directories. Trying to remove the program from these locations can be dangerous.

What about using your system restore disc? Unfortunately, you’ll end up with the same problem since your system restore disc is essentially a disc image of your system copied back to your hard drive. It always includes any of the software and crap-ware that came with your system. Most of the time, the system restore disc is a boot disc. The actual system image is usually stored in a separate or hidden partition. This is that other drive that you see in “My Computer” marked “RECOVERY.”

If you’re lucky, your computer came with an original Windows OS disc. With this disc, you can reinstall Windows completely from scratch to get your system back to a clean slate. Unfortunately, most manufacturers still don’t include this disc as an effort to curb piracy or using this disc on another computer. More than anything, this just means it’s more difficult for you, the computer owner, to get your computer clean.

The good news is that every manufactured computer does come with a Windows license and the 25-digit key is always printed somewhere on the computer. If you can get your hands on a retail Windows installation disc, you can use this 25-digit key to reinstall Windows. Since you are using a retail copy, you are guaranteed a clean install… just make sure it’s a full installation disc and not an upgrade disc.

All HomeGrown computers purchased from Struckture always include a full genuine disc of the operating system installed. Any “RE”-manufactured computer purchased through Struckture is always reformatted and rebuilt with the installed operating system to guarantee a computer that is free from any junkware, bloatware, or trialware for a long and happy computer experience.

Droid Shot

This post is coming to you via my Droid Incredible phone though the WordPress app. Along with my new website, I’m exploring some new options for publishing content to my WordPress to help keep it fresh and up-to-date. My only complaint is my thumbs can only type a few words per minute… lol. Stay tuned for more updates.

Struckture Website 2010

WordPress 3.0 was released a couple of months ago; actually it looks like the 3.1 update has already been released. But, with a new major release of WordPress, I thought it would be a good idea to update my website to take advantage of some of the new features and functionality of WordPress 3.0. I have to say, I’m very excited about this new release.The biggest update to my site is the new homepage. This new page has more content dedicated to better explaining my services to my newer customers. This new content is broken down into sections on the page to make it easier to find and follow.

Separated from the homepage is the rest of my blog which is powered by the latest version of WordPress. In this new version, there are a lot of built in functionality for things that needed a separate plugin before in the past; like a featured image, custom post types, and multiple instance management. There’s also updated media controls so I don’t have to necessarily pre-edit my images before I upload them. You can crop, scale, and resize any of your images right in the system.

WordPress Image Edit

I do still have some future updates coming soon including mobile browser support, better RSS delivery, and more galleries of images. I also have some new content coming up like reviews and tutorials including how to successfully Rip and convert your Bluray/DVD library to your network.

Stay tuned. Check out what WordPress can do for you.

Hail Balls from our yard

Normally, I reserve my blog space for technology, but this was just too big of news to pass up. Last night in Billings, MT there was an estimated F1, F2 Tornado that touched down in the Billings Heights which totally destroyed the Rimrock Auto Arena. My family and I were on our way back into town about the same time the tornado touched down.

We were actually pretty lucky because I just pulled our vehicle into the garage just before the power had gone out. We saw golf ball sized hail pummel our home and neighborhood. There was quite a bit of damage in our area and we didn’t even get the worst of it. Even after the storm, you could see the shelf cloud still lingering.

Tornado in Billings, MT

I’ve lived in Billings, MT my entire life and have never seen weather like this before. Unbelievably, no one was hurt, but the real question seems to lie in the city and media’s response time. I know without any power, my wife and I hit our cell phones to the local media outlets and they hadn’t posted anything until over a half-an-hour after the initial touchdown.

Thank-you to the quick responding firefighters and police officers on duty, especially to our friend Brandon!!

When In Rome

When asked to do the latest label for the Hutzenbiler winery, I struggled to get inspired with the classically named: Italian Barbaresco. This wine kind of flies under the radar with its big brother, the Italian Barolo taking all of the glory. It wasn’t until I previewed an old classic that inspiration finally hit. My wife’s favorite movie is the 1953 classic Roman Holiday with Audry Hepburn and Gregory Peck. With the raw attraction between characters and  the vintage black and white view of classic Italia, I had a initial rough draft before the movie even rolled credits.

The Italian Borolo wine is one of the most revered wines out of Italy. Borolo is frequently referred to as “the king of wines” because of its big, full bodied mixture of tastes and textures and gets better with age. But, why am I talking about Borolo when the latest wine label is a Barbaresco? Actually, these wines are the closest of neighbors both coming from Nebbiolo grapes in similar regions. Most people accidentally associate the two as the same wine even though they’re very different.

With all of this new wine knowledge, you can now pop in an old classic and pour yourself a glass of a fantastic wine delighting in the combination… like dark chocolate and scotch.

What'd You Get?

Like several Christmases before, technology was some of the most given gifts this holiday season. With the popularity of inexpensive netbooks and new notebooks, many people spent Christmas morning setting up their new laptop and getting it online. Technology has come a long way and has significantly dropped in price over the years. The fact that you can give a laptop for Christmas for about the same price as a game console is saying a lot. But, how reliable are laptops these days. As manufacturers keep cutting costs to increase margins, how is this affecting the lifespan of your gift?

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one curious about this question. After a quick search on the Internet machine, I found an article from Ziff Davis Enterprise’s Channel Insider with the list of the 2009 Top 9 Most Reliable Notebook Computer Manufacturers. Channel Insider worked with SquareTrade, a provider of PC extended warranty services, who studied the failure rates of the most widely used notebook computers pretty much confirming the ‘ol adage that you get what you pay for. I was however, a little surprised to find that one in three notebooks will have some kind of catastrophic failure within three years of use even among the top brands. So what are the top manufacturers?

1. Asus
2. Toshiba
3. Sony
4. Apple
5. Dell
6. Lenovo
7. Acer
8. Gateway
9. HP

source: http://bit.ly/7Tg6Pw

This list actually confirmed some of my already preconceived stereotypes. I assumed Dell was better than Lenovo, Acer, Gateway, and even HP; but I was kind of shocked to see that Sony and Toshiba were as high as they were. They even beat out Apple who has a dramatically smaller market share than Sony or Toshiba which should’ve swayed the results in their favor. Asus was the top manufacturer with only about a 15% failure rate over three years. I try to use Asus components for my home built machines because of their high reliability rate and support so I was pretty pleased to see their outcome.

What does this mean for you? Well, not much unfortunately. Most people today select their laptops based on style and performance more than reliability. Generally, we associate reliability of technology based on brand recognition rather than hard numbers. So, chances are you unwrapped an Apple instead of an Asus this Christmas. Not to worry though, since this study proves that premium priced notebooks generally had a lower malfunction and failure rate than lower-priced notebooks, let’s hope the person giving you this gift sprung for the more expensive model.

Product Shot

Being a huge watcher of television, I’ve struggled with the concept of closed access to my TV shows. I don’t watch TV in just one room in my house during normal aired times. I like my TV to be available where ever I’m at. This is the reason why I don’t subscribe to the Nazi cable companies and instead opt for technologies like Hulu and Netflix on-demand streaming services. But, why should you be limited to just these on-demand services. Watching shows online is great, but it definitely isn’t LIVE TV and not all of the shows are supported. That’s when it’s time for the HDHomeRun from SilconDust.

This amazing product takes a normal Over-the-Air HDTV signal and pools it over your existing Ethernet network for use with any PC on your network (wireless/wired). The best part is that it’s embedded with Two(2) physical HDTV tuners. So, you can watch one channel and record another.

I actually discovered this product when I was in search of an alternative to running coax cables to all of my TVs/HTPCs in my house. The longer I stretched this cable, the worse my signal strength got. Being I already ran Cat5e throughout my house, this just seemed to be a natural solution. Since this device sits only a few feet from my giant HDTV antenna in my attic, my signal strength is outstanding and is consistent from computer to computer. I’m even getting channels that I couldn’t tune into before.

Installation is easy from right out-of-the-box and only takes a few minutes to install. Simply hook your HDTV antenna to the two c0ax connections using a y-adapter and plug a standard RJ-45 Ethernet cable into your Wireless Router or Network Switch. The next step is to install the software. This product supports a variety of HTPC software, but I paired it with my Windows 7 HTPCs which use Windows Media Center.

The software is a simple wizard that walks you through the entire process. You can allocate each tuner to different applications and specify if you use either a standard antenna or have any unencrypted Cable connections. The software scans all of the available frequencies in your area and even reports their guide name.

Scanning Channels

Within Windows Media Center, you just setup your Live TV signal just your normally would. Both tuners will show up in the list. The other great advantage to this device is that it works with any existing tuners you’re using in your HTPC to provide even more channel flexibility. Alternatively, you can use more than one of these devices to have multiple channels available throughout your network.

Setup within Media Center

The SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual HDTV tuner is a great addition to any home network. You now have the freedom to watch/record live TV from any computer in your house, including any laptops using a wireless connection. Since there isn’t the requirement of an internal TV Tuner card in your HTPC, you have a greater flexibility to the size and dimensions of your HTPC builds.

Big Bang Theory

Compatible With:

• Windows Media Center:
  • MCE 2005
  • Vista WMC (32/64-bit)
  • Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
• Elgato EyeTV – DVR for Mac
• MythTV – DVR for Linux
• SnapStream BeyondTV – DVR for Windows
• SageTV – DVR for Windows/Linux/Mac
• MediaPortal – DVR for Windows
• GB-PVR – DVR for Windows
• VLC – Multi-platform media viewer
• TSReader – MPEG-2 transport stream analysis

Specifications:

• 8-VSB (ATSC over-the-air digital TV)
• QAM64/256 (unencrypted digital cable TV)
• 100baseTX high speed network
• 1 year warranty

Requirements:

• 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 or better for HD playback
• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
• 1-4 GB per 1/2 hour of DTV recording

Quite the Title

This particular wine is a blended red wine which combines many of the best qualities of a Cabernet, Syrah, and Zinfandel into one delicious wine. Trying to design a label for a wine with a title longer than the alphabet posed quite a challenge. In this case, I went for more of a typographic style and made the title the most prominent item on the label. The font I chose is a Clarendon variation in bold. I used some basic kerning and leading tricks to make the title a little more visual on the label. The only thing left was a background which is of a naked wine bottle and nice brown paper bag texture.

Check out the Wine Makers Magazine Website

Green Tech

The hunt for a good hosting company began. I was on the look for a host that provided me the speed and control I needed for my site, but also provided a high quality of service. After reading hundreds of reviews and charting every little feature against price, I finally narrowed down a few good companies against a lot of bad ones. Unfortunately, with the popular technology of Virtualization, everyone thinks they can be a host. In the end, the choice became obvious. With my effort to be more earth-conscience, I selected the most “green” host GreenGeeks Web Hosting.

You can always tell what kind of service you get with a hosting company as soon as you place the order. In my case, I received a phone call to physically verify who I was and authorize the account. Shortly after, I received an email with my hosting account info. I logged in, setup all my information in a few minutes and uploaded my entire site including the databases and structure in under an hour. All that was left to do was to point my domain at my new host and when the DNS finally resolved, I was back in business. When I did run into an issue with some of the webmail features, GreenGeeks technical support issued me a ticket and resolved the problem in only a few minutes. I can easily say so far so good.

With my hosting taken care of, I’m back on track for getting some new updates posted. I’ve been working on several new projects that should be making there appearance on the blog very soon including a Nahalem liquid cooled PC and a Mini ITX Home Theater PC. Stay tuned.