Author: Dr. Bill

Dr. Bill is a Word of Faith Minister, Non-Profit Technology Specialist, Webmaster, and Technical Director of WOFR.org and SpeakFaith.TV. Before he retired from corporate life in 2017, he was also a technologist in the corporate arena for over 35 years. He is a Board Certified Traditional Naturopath. He is the Founder and President of Word of Faith Ministries, Incorporated, a non-profit Christian Ministry and is the creator and maintainer of an Internet Streaming TV and Roku Channel, SpeakFaith.TV. He volunteers, as Technical Director for WOFR.org – Word of Faith Radio, a non-profit Christian Radio Network. He is a graduate of Life Christian University, with a Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. in Theology and was a charter member (chartered in 1979) of the International Convention of Faith Ministries (ICFM). Dr. Bill is a certified as a Certified Natural Health Professional, and holds a doctorate in Natural Health in the field of Naturopathy. He is also certified as a Certified Traditional Naturopath, certified by the American Naturopathic Certification Board (ANCB). He is certified as a Master Herbalist, and became a Professional Member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, and of the Coalition for Natural Health. Dr. Bill earned certifications in the corporate world as a CIW Certified Master System Administrator. This was a major certification achievement that involves these intermediate certifications: CIW Web Professional Foundations Associate, CIW Server Administration Professional, CIW Security Professional, and the CIW Inter-networking Professional certification. He was also certified as a Certified Citrix Administrator (CCA), and a VMware Certified Professional (VCP), as well as an EC-Council Certified Security Analyst and a CIW Certified Security Analyst. He also earned the Imprivata Certified Engineer certification in both Single Sign-On and Authentication Management.

Geek Software of the Week: Vista Start Menu!

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This week we have a better interface for the start menu in Vista! As you know, Vista is a dog with fleas, and sticks! But, other than that, if you are stuck with it, there is hope for the ugly, stupid start menu! A guy has written a better start menu than Microsoft (sad, isn’t it?!) Anyway, check it out!

Vista Start Menu

“Vista Start Menu is the convenient alternative to the plain Start menu you find in Windows XP and Windows Vista. The program uses your cognitive abilities (visual memory, reflexes,etc.); however, while it is easily understandable for beginners, it is also highly efficient for experienced users. Go ahead and try replacing your Start menu right now! It is safe because Vista Start Menu does not change your system settings, thus making it easy to install, as well as simple to remove. Each detail in Vista Start Menu is well thought-out and the program will allow you to accomplish all your tasks with ease and comfort. Vista Start Menu was designed specifically to make it possible for users to quickly access any information simply by using the keyboard or the mouse. Enable the unique feature called “one-click launch” and customize your menu the way you like it by getting the PRO version.”

Check out the demo for more information:

Demo of Vista Start Menu

Breathe In, Oxygen… Ahhh! Breathe Out, Fuel For Your Car!?!

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That’s what some scientists are saying may be in the offing! Turning Carbon Dioxide into fuels! Now, THAT would rock!

Turning carbon dioxide into fuel

CNN – “Carbon Sciences believe they have made a breakthrough with their technology, which they say can transform CO2 back into basic fuel building blocks efficiently. Their biocatalytic process converts CO2 into basic hydrocarbons – C1 (methane) C2 (ethane) and C3 (propane) — which can then be utilized to make higher-grade fuels like gasoline and jet fuel. ‘We are very excited by what we’ve seen in the lab. We’ve had some promising results,’ Derek McLeish, President and CEO of the Santa Barbara-based company, told CNN. By employing biocatalysis — using natural catalysts to perform chemical reactions — Carbon Sciences hope to bypass the problem of inefficient energy ratios which can render many CO2 recycling projects pointless.”

Yike! A New Source for Stem Cells!

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OK, I am all for NOT using babies for stem cell research… fer sure! But, NOW they are saying that men’s testicles are a possible source for stem cells. Ah… no! I am NOT contributing!

Stem cells from testicles an option to embryos

“Cells taken from men’s testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world’s population: men. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes and for spinal cord injuries. The testicular cells avoid the ethical dilemma of embryonic stem cells, which are harvested in a process that destroys the embryos. For that reason, some people, including President Bush, oppose their use for ethical or religious reasons. ‘The advantage these cells have in comparison to embryonic stem cells is that there is no ethical problem with these cells and that they are natural,’ said study lead author Thomas Skutella, a professor at the Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine in Tuebingen, Germany. Using testicular cells isn’t the only promising method that avoids embryos; there have been impressive experiments in reprogramming ordinary body cells into stem cells by slipping certain genes into them. The new findings and the reprogrammed cells — which still have technical hurdles — ‘take some pressure off the stem cell issue,’ said White House science adviser Jack Marburger.”

Okaaay! Ouch.

Geek Software of the Week: FormatFactory!

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FormatFactoryNeed to convert one video format to another for free? Check out FormatFactory!

FormatFactory Web Site

FormatFactory is a multifunctional media converter.
Provides functions below:
All to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF.
All to MP3//WMA/MMF/AMR/OGG/M4A/WAV.
All to JPG/BMP/PNG/TIF/ICO/….
Rip DVD to video file.
MP4 files support iPod/iPhone/PSP/BlackBerry format.
Source files support RMVB.

FormatFactory’s Feature:
1) support converting all popular video,audio,picture formats to others.
2) Repair damaged video and audio file.
3) Reducing Multimedia file size.
4) Support iphone,ipod multimedia file formats.
5) Picture converting supports Zoom,Rotate/Flip,tags.
6) DVD Ripper.
7) Supports 30 languages

OS requirements: All 32 windows OS

Ubuntu for The EEE PC

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Cool! Ubuntu for the EEE mini-laptop! Check it out!

Ubuntu eee

“Sporting a brand new interface, dozens of fixes, enhanced hardware support, and brand new support for the latest Eee models, Ubuntu Eee is better than ever. Check out the big improvements in Ubuntu Eee 8.04.1 and how they will make your mobile computing more productive than ever! Your Eee PC is not your typical laptop, so why should you use a typical laptop interface? The all-new Netbook Remix interface allows fast access to all your favorite programs all from one place. Never again will you have to hunt through menus to find what you need. Ubuntu Eee includes the latest greatest version of Firefox 3, designed to provide a faster, more secure web browsing experience to date. If you need more, a large collection of add-ons to fulfill about any need are freely available to download. Now OpenOffice, a free office software suite is included in Ubuntu Eee by default. Featuring compatibility with all major office software, you can get all your work done from just about anywhere you can work on your Eee. Improvements have been made across the board in supporting the Eee 701 series. Ubuntu Eee 8.04.1 now supports the 2G, 900, 901, 1000, and 1000H models, ensuring you’ll be supported no matter what Eee you choose.”

“The Doctor Really IS Out of Here Edition” of Dr. Bill Podcast #155

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Dr. Bill Podcast – 155 – (09/27/08)
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Microsoft Virtualization, OpenOffice 3.0 Release Candidate 2 is out, Geek Software of the Week: HD Tune, Microsofts Ads made with Mac, LHC broke, Google can’t commit? VMware releases ESXi, Linux #1 in supercomputing, the HD Slingbox, GSotW Extra: The Glary Utilities, and the Doctor really IS out of here!

Geek Software of the Week – EXTRA: The Glary Utilities!

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Glary UtilitiesSometimes there is a utility that forces you to have an extra GSotW! These utilities are THAT good! It covers SO many areas that will help speed up your PC… you NEED to download them and use them! Seriously! You will notice the difference! And, of course, they are free!

Glary Utilities – Glarysoft

“Glary Utilities is the #1 free, powerful and all-in-one utility in the world market! It offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC.

  • Optimize, clean and boost the speed of your Windows.
  • Protect your privacy and security.
  • Block spyware, trojans, adware, etc.
  • Fix certain application errors.
  • Simple, fast and User friendly interface
  • For only private use

Glary Utilities offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. It allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Furthermore, Glary Utilities includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more. All Glary Utilities tools can be accessed through an eye-pleasing and totally simplistic interface.”

Slingbox HD is Finally Out!

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I have a “regular” Slingbox, and it is pretty dog gone cool! It allows you to connect the slingbox to your TV and DVR, and then connect it to your Internet connection… and then watch your TV shows from anywhere on the Internet! So, from my Mom’s house at the lake, I can watch a recorded DVR show… cool! Now they have an HD version! Very cool!

High-def Slingbox enters the market

“News from Sling Media hasn’t been this big in quite a while. The Slingbox Pro-HD is now available — the company’s first device that enables streaming of high-definition content. Though the device is half a year late, the new Slingbox Pro-HD is fortunately over a hundred dollars cheaper than originally anticipated. Priced at $299.99, the Slingbox Pro-HD can be purchased directly from Sling, or at select stores throughout the country. Select stores? As it turns out, those stores’ locations are quite sparse. In Maryland, for example, there are no stores selling the device at all. Maryland residents would have to drive to either Virginia or Pennsylvania to buy a Slingbox Pro in person. Sling Media says that eventually Best Buy, Fry’s, J&R, Microcenter, and more will begin carrying the device in the coming weeks. For the Slingbox Pro-HD to work as intended, a home connection with a 1.5 Mbps or higher uplink speed is necessary. HD sources can be one of the following: over-the-air HD digital signals (ATSC), digital cable channels (Clear QAM), HDTV cable set-top boxes, HDTV satellite receivers, or HD DVRs.”

Linux is #1 in Supercomputing!

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One place where Linux is definitely number one, and Microsoft is way down in the pack… is in the rarefied air of supercomputing! Our old buddy, Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols has a great article about this in Computerworld:

Where Windows is #2 to Linux

“Microsoft encourages us to think of Linux, when we think of it as all, as an also-ran operating systems for nerds. The last thing Microsoft wants us to think about is that there are some spaces where Microsoft is a distant number two and Linux is on top. Too bad Microsoft, there are several such places. One such is HPC (High Performance Computing). At HPC’s very highest end, supercomputers, Linux rules. The first computer to bust the petaflop, 1.0 quadrillion calculations per second, barrier? IBM’s Roadrunner supercomputer running Linux. Out of the Top 500 supercomputers in the world, over 80% of them are running Linux. Better still, Linux manages to pull this off by largely using off-the-shelf components unlike the supercomputers of years gone by. Instead of specialized hardware, the Roadrunner uses AMD Opteron and Sony, Toshiba and IBM’s Cell processors. Yes, that’s the same Cell CPU that’s inside your Sony PlayStation 3. Linux has been making the most from the least in supercomputing since 1994, when Thomas Sterling and Don Becker, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s CESDIS (Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences) created the first Beowulf Linux-powered clustered supercomputer. That first system, which was made up of 16 486-DX4 processors connected by channel bonded Ethernet, proved you could deliver supercomputing performance with COTS (Commodity off the Shelf) based systems. I’ve always regretted that I had left Goddard several years earlier so I never had a chance to get my name into a footnote of supercomputing and Linux history. HPC’s real bread and butter isn’t supercomputers though. It’s managing, or trying to manage the madness that is the financial markets. Wall Street runs on Linux. Almost all the major financial markets rely, to one extent or another, on Linux.”

VMware Releases ESXi for FREE!

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Wow! VMware has released a version of their bare-metal hypervisor for free! It is VMware ESXi, and it will install directly on your hardware, and can be managed with VMware VirtualCenter Server. It fact it can be managed together with an existing ESXserver cluster. This is cool stuff!

VMware ESXi Information

They have also announced a new version of their VMware Server free product, which installs on top of an existing operating system. More info on that here:

VMware Server Information

“Run all your production applications at near-native performance on VMware’s next-generation OS-independent hypervisor, now available for free. VMware ESXi has the same functionality and performance as VMware ESX but with a 32 MB disk footprint. With the ability to seamlessly upgrade to VMware Infrastructure 3, customers can add the benefits of server consolidation, automatic load balancing and business continuity to VMware ESXi.”

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