First off, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Go forth and kill a snake.  Or drink a green beer.  Or … something!

Second off, sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I haven’t been feeling well.  I took my wife to the hospital for tests a while back and, of course, got sick.  (Because hospitals aren’t exactly places of congregation of the healthy.)  I got “well” in that I kicked the disease quickly enough.  But because I had to get some time-critical work done, I hadn’t been taking days off to rest, so it was just a struggle day-in, day-out, with weekends barely just giving me enough time to keep going.  I literally could pull myself together just enough for work.  I didn’t have enough left in me for blogging.  So anywhen, sometime in the future I’ll go through my notes and backdate posts, as I tend to do.  Now that I can take time to recover.

Third, the main point of this blog.  So I’ve been playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky lately.  I recently-ish bought it on Steam for dirt cheap.  Even though I hate, detest, abhor Steam, and almost always make sure to buy the disk instead of the music, game, or movie because of rights issues, this one time I caved and “downloaded” the game.  From Steam no less.  I’m a hypocrite of convenience.  I hate myself.  But I’ll get over it.

Anyway, so I’ve been playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and enjoying it.  I think it might actually even rate as one of my favorite video games.  I wish I’d bought it sooner.  It’s a lot better than the first.  Not just in being more of a challenge, or in being able to do simple basic things like repair an item, but it just all plays / feels / works so much better.  I especially like the upgrades and the item maintenance.  (Even if I still don’t understand why you can’t do stupid things like permanently tack weld a scope to a Viper 5.)  Except for, you know, the bugs.  Those darn little things that forced me to restart the game because the main plot device broke and I was eternally stuck.  Nerf!  Oh well.

But so the thing is, just this weekend the darn game kept crashing.  Not even crashing out of the game, but in a weird in-game-ish stuck thing where it was like the underlying engine was still running, but the 3D graphics portion had crashed.  So there was no longer a user interface.  It just became a black screen with a mouse cursor.  That’s it.  Sometimes it’d be in the middle of playing.  Sometimes just in the menu trying to load a game or change 3D settings.  (Trying to debug the crashing.)  And sometimes even while the advertisement logo movies played while starting up the game!  It was absurd!

After much gnashing of teeth, trying offline mode in Steam, even trying to set the CD key in multi-player even though the single-player game doesn’t really use the CD key, I was going crazy.

Until I thought about it.  I’d just seen Windows do an update.  Could that somehow be it?

Yep!

I know, I know, I really should turn off the automatic updates because Microsoft does throw  out some real turds.  And this was one of them.

Update KB2670838 happens to update Windows 7 with some changes to Direct3D, DirectDraw, etc.  Yup.  Damn.  And sure enough, Microsoft “fixed” Direct 3D just enough to make S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky incredibly completely totally bonkers unstable.

Well nerds to that!

So I uninstalled Windows Update KB 2670838 and sure enough, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is nice and stable again.  Imagine that.

So if you still play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, I hope you find this blog because chances are, right now you’re not playing it because of this bug in Microsoft’s “fix” to whatever problems they thought they had.

Or, honestly, goodness how many other video games are crashing right now because of KB2670838.  Heck, programs in general.  Movie players.  Who knows what else uses those engines?  I don’t know what Microshaft is thinking about releasing that PoS, but that update was most definitely neither thoroughly tested nor kosher. 

So be warned!  If you play video games, pay close attention to how often things crash after you install KB 2670838.  You just may find yourself uninstalling that particular Microsoft update!

If you’ve updated your iPhone to iOS 6.1 and you’ve found your device constantly drained of battery life, or your data plan has maxed out really quickly for no apparent reason, or your network carrier has begged you not to upgrade to iOS 6.1 because it’s brought their network down (yes, that has happened), well, Apple finally has an answer: it’s the Sync of Doom!

Yes, from Apple, the same company that brought you Antennagate, now we have the Sync of Doom! (I love saying that!) What happens when you have an Apple iOS calendar app syncing to a Microsoft Exchange server for calendar information? Well, usually nothing unexpected.

But!

… If you do that and happen to change a single instance of a reoccurring event, an Apple bug will cause the iOS app to infinitely attempt to sync with the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Flooding all servers in between your iPhone and the Exchange Server with useless sync attempts, often dragging those servers to a crawl.

Not to mention causing your iPhone to chew up your 3G or 4G data plan like it was nothing.

Or for that matter eating up the battery of your iPhone by keeping the phone constantly communicating wirelessly and never able to go to sleep internally.

As the Sync of Doom! from Apple’s buggy iOS calendar app continues trying over and over and over to sync to the Exchange server.

Basically, this is really a bug that should have been caught long before release.

But wasn’t.

The Sync of Doom!

Brought to you by Apple.

There is some good news however. If your phone is suffering from the Sync of Doom! you can manually make it stop. Disabling and then re-enabling the connection to the Microsoft Exchange server seems to fix the Sync of Doom! (Which is basically to turn your calendar off, and then back on.)

Of course when the Sync of Doom! bug will actually be fixed is another matter entirely. It hasn’t happened yet, that’s for sure. When Apple will get around to releasing that fix, you’ll just have to wait to find out.

So if you’re an iPhone user and your calendar data comes from a Microsoft Exchange Server, you’re going to want to be extra careful.  Consider this your warning.  There’s a bug, but with diligence you can prevent it from eating up your data plan, eating up your battery life, and bringing networks to a crawl.  It’s not a virus.  It’s just Apple being Apple lately.

We already kicked off one heck of a security-minded year with a miasma of bad security in January. Now Microsoft is keeping that tradition alive just in time for Valentine’s Day with a Patch Tuesday chock full o’ love.

That’s right, this Patch Tuesday covers a lucky 13 security bulletins that close up a whopping 57 security holes. If you weren’t feeling insecure before, just think of how all of those vulnerabilities compromised your PCs. On the one hand it’s good that Microsoft is fixing these things. On the other hand, WTF?! 57?

From Internet Explorer (of course) to ActiveX DLLs (again, rather expected) to Windows kernel win32k.sys (doh!) this Patch Tuesday is a whopper that you really shouldn’t miss. Of course if you have automatic updates turned on, then you’re not going to miss it. Then again, if you find that sometimes the patch is worse than the bug, this is one you’ll want to keep apprised of.

Meanwhile Adobe Flash also recently released a patch and Java, well, those Java patches have been pretty half-baked and that mess is still trying to be sorted out while Oracle tries to convince the world to not just drop Java entirely from the web browser.

Security, gotta love it!

So you’re hip. You’ve got your very own Raspberry Pi, right? And you’ve probably spent at least twice what you paid for your Raspberry Pi just to get it running.  Because as cheap as it is, keyboards, mice, etc. all add up.

Well, you’re already behind the fad, because those of you on the B-List just got gamed by the As.  You’ve overpaid for your Pi.  You’ve got too much hardware.

That’s right. When Raspberry Pi was first launched, it was launched as the much more usable B model, with that lovely ethernet port, 512MB of RAM, and two USB ports.

Which we all know, you don’t really need, right?

Well, the trimmer, slimmer, more fit (it’s the same size actually) Raspberry Pi A model has finally been released. It has only 256MB of RAM, no ethernet, and just one measly USB port. But it’s cheaper. And without all of that superfluous (allegedly) hardware, Model A consumes around just one-third of the power of Model B.

Which makes your Raspberry Pi A-game oriented at low-power uses such as, powered by the sun perhaps. Or maybe a hydrogen fuel cell? Or … who knows? The Pi’s the limit. Chances are though that your first USB peripheral is going to be … a network adapter. Probably some compound Wi-Fi / Bluetooth gizmo so that you can hook up a wireless keyboard and mouse as well as access data from World + Dog. (And then yank it out once whatever you’re developing is done?)

But the point is, we finally have the much-promised Raspberry Pi Lite.

Microsoft Surface – Finally Going Pro

For those of you who fancied the concept of a laptop that converts into a tablet … by means of ripping the keyboard off … but were too afraid of Windows RT on ARM to touch the Microsoft Surface, well you’re about to finally get your hands on the fatter glutton x86 flavor with the rotund resource-hungry full version of Windows 8. Yes, that’s right, in just a couple of days Microsoft is going to unleash the Microsoft Surface Pro onto the world.

Umm …

Yay?

Seriously folks … I don’t get it. Congrats, it’s finally a Microsoft Surface that you can actually (almost) use? Well, I guess there is that. But why anyone ever thought that Windows RT was in any way useful to begin with is beyond me. Congrats, it’s Windows … only without the ability to run your programs.  Because even if everyone were to suddenly recompile all of their applications to run on ARM, which they won’t, Windows RT still doesn’t have that lovely part of the Windows kernel that lets applications run.  It’s just Windows Phone … on a tablet.  So they called it Windows RT instead of Windows Phone because if they told you that their tablet ran Windows Phone you’d probably expect that it could actually be a phone?  I guess?  I don’t know. The whole concept of Windows RT is just plain dumb. It’s Windows CE. It’s Windows Phone. It’s Windows RT. It’s not Windows.

Well, that horsehockey is finally done and gone as the Microsoft Surface Pro is everything it should have been with a full x86 CPU running a full version of Windows 8 that runs real applications and not just “apps”. Huzzah!  All your software needs are met on the Pro version of the tablet.

(As if Microsoft couldn’t just put an Intel Atom – or AMD Fusion – into a Surface tablet to have run a full Windows 8 on, just with lower hardware specs than the Pro.)

But at the end of the day, the Microsoft Surface Pro is still just a convertible laptop where the keyboard is removable instead of swiveling into a concealed position under the monitor. And it’s still running Windows 8, not Windows 7. So you still probably don’t actually want the thing for actual everyday use, let alone to do real work on.

But at least soon it’ll be an option. Finally, a Surface tablet that you can almost use.

And if Microsoft hasn’t sold you on the benefits of Windows 8, well, you wouldn’t be the only one.  When was the last time that you saw a Windows commercial?  No, not a Surface tablet commercial, I mean an actual, “This is Windows 8.  It’s better than Windows 7 because…” commercial.  Advert  in a magazine?  Ad on the internet?  Any advertisement?  Anywhere?

For that matter, why is Windows 8 better than Windows 7?  Oh, right, because it’s harder to use, especially if you use a mouse and keyboard like the incredible vast majority of the world does.  Good.  Got it.  Sorted.  Well gee, I’m sold!  How about you?

So the super-secret Skunkworks Facebook project has finally been revealed in all of its glory … or lack thereof. No, it’s not a FacePhone. Or a PhoneBook. (Snicker.) Or any new gadget. It’s a search engine. Oh. Sorry, Zuckerberg. I mean it’s a “Graph Search”. The Mighty Zuck was clear to differentiate the Facebook Graph Search from any old search engine by pointing out that it doesn’t just search Ye Olde Interwebs, it searches Facebook.

Ooooooh.

Um … yeah. Whatever.

The point of Graph Search is that the results of your searches are tailored to your Facebook account. So if you search for vacation photos of Fiji, the photos taken by your friends and family are at the top, unlike any old internet search which relies upon the kindness of strangers. If you search for the best plumber, it knows where you live, and it goes by the recommendations of the people you Like over more generic information from world + dog. Allegedly making your search results that much more tailored to your needs, likes, etc.

Basically, like everything else in Facebook, it revolves around that creepy stalker feel to work its magic.  In fact you can even use Graph Search to find “friends of your friends who are single”.  No creepy vibes there!

Zuck obviously also considered privacy to be a big deal because apparently he wouldn’t shut up about privacy. Which, coming from All Things Facebook, is kind of ironic to say the least. Just because you say that you’re taking privacy seriously doesn’t make it true. And as privacy in Graph Search was explained further, this basically turned out as expected. As described, if it’s public on Facebook, it’s public to Facebook’s Graph Search. That’s it. Nothing particularly special, not even a new privacy feature to be found, and in fact highly confusing to so very many Facebook users who still aren’t always certain if they’ve managed to make something private or not even when they think that they have. Not to mention when policy changes, code changes, or bugs result in things turning up public when by any sane person’s judgment they shouldn’t be.  So take their claims of taking privacy seriously with a whole bag of salt … and then wait for the truck to drop off the rest.

Yes Zuck, we’re all laughing at you.

But, privacy, theoretically, is why Facebook’s Graph Search will be working closely with Microsoft’s Bing instead of Google’s search engine, because allegedly (not that I disbelieve this one) Google wouldn’t commit to removing information at the drop of a hat should something suddenly become private.  Nothing at all to do with Google, you know, that other major search engine, having launched a service that competes with Facebook.  Naw.  Not at all.  I’m sure Google+ had absolutely nothing to do with Facebook’s choice of Microsoft Bing as their search engine partner.

On a similarly dubious note of allegedness, Graph Search will one day be open to all with APIs. Probably. In theory.  So Facebook claims.  So in theory Google could snarf the data anyway. And still refuse to remove it whenever a swallow farts the wrong way.  In theory.

When exactly anyone will see Graph Search (let alone be able to use it) is anyone’s guess though. Facebook is doing a very limited roll-out as Graph Search isn’t even really at the beta testing stage yet. And what features will actually exist in Graph Search are also still rather up in the air. In fact, Facebook’s Graph Search announcement really seemed more vaporware than real software. But at least now we know what matters to Zuck and Co. So we can stop rumor-mongering that Facebook phone already.

And, of course, if you happen to not actually use Facebook, then Graph Search will be pretty meaningless to you. And, at least for now, even if you do happen to use Facebook, then Graph Search is also pretty meaningless to you. It’s still just a twinkle in Zuck’s eye. But maybe, one day, it’ll matter.

Or not.

Because even if you ever find it useful in theory, and actually get to use it one day in practice, there’s still the question of just exactly how relevant your “friends” are to your everyday life, and just how many Likes were actually liked when the analytics meet the fan. In order for Graph Search to deliver meaningful data, Facebook’s data has to actually be meaningful, something which at present is highly debatable. Otherwise Graph Search is all just rubbish in = rubbish out, and you’d actually be better off with results from a generic internet search after all.

But it’s not cool to be realistic, so, “Huzzah for Facebook’s Graph Search, Big Data, Analytics, and all other related buzzwords! Yay for Social Media, saviors of the Informatics world!”

Was that convincing enough?

Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t buy it either.

Or maybe it should have read more like, “Let anyone but you reap the bounty of monetizing all of your data!“  Was that more believable?

In fact, really, the whole Facebook Graph Search thing smells something of red herring, if not rotten fish entirely, as Facebook’s announcement of Graph Search comes awfully coincidentally right on the heels of IBM’s announcement of “Smarter Analytics”, crunching the Big Data of “social media” like … err … Facebook.  Huh.  Imagine that!  So IBM announces that it’s crunching data from Facebook, Twitter, etc. and suddenly Facebook announces a new vaporware alpha-tested (at best) service that is searching their own data … finally.  It’s almost like it was some kind of knee-jerk me-too response, no?

So maybe that FacePhone PhoneBook thing really is still possible after all.

Though I doubt it.

Even Zuck can’t be that dumb.  Who would buy a Facebook phone when every smartphone out there has a Facebook app?  That’d be right daft!

Still, the rumor mongers can rejoice in their theoretical fancies being potentially extended for just a little more time.

And if you happen to be one of the very few Facebook users alleged to have access to Graph Search already, then you too can stalk friends of your friends for a date!  Or ask your friends who they’d recommend as a plumber … without that awful hassle of just asking your friends who they’d recommend as a plumber.  That social media, gotta love it!  Now there’s even less social interaction to be had!  What a great feature Graph Search is.  Or will be.  Or whatever.  Since its really still vaporware at this point.