As Far As I Can Tell

Cleaning the Airwaves

For months we've had two computer to compuert Wi-Fi SSIDs floating around the office.  They'd come and go.  Here one day, gone another.  One was named 'hpsetup', the other 'WLAN-PS'.  I didn't pay too much attention to either as you could not connect to them.  The other day a friend of mine told me about NetStumbler, a free tool that allows you to pin-point rouge access points (APs).  I downloaded it and went hunting.  The tool is very cool.  You lock into a desired SSID and then walk around.  The signal graph constantly rises as you get closer to the AP.  We found both in a matter of minutes.  Each was a laptop that was configured to connect to the SSID we were searching for.  Two minutes at each and the airwaves were clear once more.  The office is ready for the new wireless network!

Is MapPoint Dead???

I know many churches have used Microsoft MapPoint (the desktop client application) for years to help visualize where their members live (more info).  But with some of the latest tools from Google I wonder if we'll ever buy a new version (when's the 2005 version coming out anyways...).  Two new technologies in particular make me think this:

1. Google Earth:  The release of a free version of Google Earth provides an interesting option to MapPoint.  Sure there are several differences (most notible satillite vs maps), but if you can get past that there are some exciting new things you can do with Google Earth.  Geobloggers has a great posting on creating dynamic KML files for overlaying points of interest (i.e. member's homes) in Google Earth.  Way cool!  Sure the images aren't all that up to date, but neither is MapPoint, and I'm sure in the near future images will be much more current.
2. Google Map API: With the release of an official API for Google Maps the sky really is the limit (wonder when we'll map that???).  Though it is still in beta there is already some real exciting stuff happening in the first week of it's release.  I'm hoping they come out with a cheap paid version that will not include any advertisements.

While it's certainly too early to call MapPoint dead, it's future is not all that bright...

Barcode Reading

I've been doing a lot of research on different options for reading barcodes for our new children's check-in solution.  In the past we have written our applications to use a standard Symbol LS 2208 reader (think the stereo-typical barcode gun).  We read the data from the reader through the keyboard input.  That's an OK solution but it creates two problems:

• The LS 2208 is a bi-directional type scan engine.  That means it projects a single line laser to read the barcodes.  Translation: you have to aim your barcode with precision before it is read.
• Reading the data from the keyboard input can but pain when you're also expecting normal keyboard input.  To make this work you need to create a buffering algorithm.  Ours works OK, but if you rapidly scan a barcode over and over and over it will sometimes read incorrectly.

With our new system we are planning on moving to omni-directional readers that communicate to the software using the OPOS (Open Point of Sale) interface.  The omni-directional readers spin the laser light in a patter which reduces the amount of aiming by the user (basically the barcode and be rotated at any angle).  While the results are not as good as your grocery store it's much better that the bi-directional readers.  We're looking at the Symbol LS 9208 series (see picture above), the MS-3207 or possibly the Metrologic MS7120 Orbit for our final solution.  You pay more for these readers, but the user experience is much better.

We're also going to be moving from reading the data from the keyboard and using OPOS instead.  We found free .Net OPOS wrappers from Monroe Consulting Services that seem to work real well.  The alternative approach is to use the Symbol OPOS ocx control. 

We hope these two changes will lead to great improvements to our current system.  I'll keep you posted on the results.

Visualizing the Network

A little more than a year ago we purchased a cheap network monitoring tool to inform us of problems in our environment before our customers did.  After reviewing several products we selected ActiveXpert's Network Monitor.  It's done a great job and we're happy with it.  But lately I've been getting this paranoid feeling... an uncomfortable feeling that comes from not being able to see into the network.  Not knowing the utilization levels at any given point in the network.  For all I know a broadcast storm could be slowing the network to the point of near failure. 

Well paranoia got the best of me a few weeks ago and I went back on the search for a monitoring solution that could provide a better view of network utilization.  During my search I revisited some of the 'runners-up' from my last go around.  One of them was a product call OpManger.  It was a great product, but a year ago was too buggy for me to select.  I'm happy to report that this is not longer the case (well, it still has a bug or two, but nothing major).  Not only does it allow you to visually see network utilization at any point in the network, but it also allows you to create business graphs of your network.  See the switch layout example below of our network.

(click image for larger view)

Let me give you a real world example of how this product makes my life easier.  A few days ago I noticed that our Internet connection was running a little slow.  I jumped into the OpManger web interface and checked the untilization of the Firewall's external interface.  The graphs showed that the T1 was fully saturated.  I then traced the traffic back through the network by finding the traffic on the switches to the specific desktop.  A quick walk to the desktop found a fantsy baseball website gone crazy.  A quick close of the browser and the problem was solved.  Below is a sample graph of the network utilization of the firewall (note this is not the graph of the problem timeframe)

There's plenty more vert cool stuff the tell about this product, but you'll have to see it for yourself.  You can download a free trial verson from the OpManger website.

Dell Breaks Price Points on Touch Screens

I've always thought touch screen LCDs were overpriced.  Today a fellow church IT Director pointed out that Dell released a new Dell branded touchscreen that is much cheaper than it's ELO counter part.  Prices for the 15" start at $479.  Wonder what our Dell rep can do for us...? Get the details!

Dealing with Bad E-mail Addresses

Advance Intellect, developer of the recognized aspNetEmail .Net component, recently released a new component to they're email suite, List Nanny .Net.  While the name is pretty lame the functionality is pretty cool.  It can determine if an e-mail is a hard bounce (i.e. an e-mail that has bounced back due to a wrong address), an out of the office notification, a spam notification, or several other types.

So what makes this interesting? Well by integrating List Nanny .Net with their aspnetPOP3 component you can develop a simple app that retrieves all of the mail out of a specified account, looks for bounced mail, then does some processing based on the bad address (it returns that too).  We're in the process of integrating this functionality into our custom membership system.  Whenever an e-mail bounces back we'll mark the address as 'invalid'.  This will allow us to follow-up with the individual with a postcard that asks them to update their address on-line.

With the size of our church e-mail becomes the number one way we can communicate with our members.  Yet e-mail addresses change so frequently (especially among youth).  With this quick solution we can remain on top of changes quickly.

If it sounds like a lot of work it's really not that bad.  My initial sample app is only 50 lines of code and took no more that 2 hours to write.  Definitely worth the effort.

What's My IP Address?

OK, so we're all read the articles about using the human body as a network, but here's an article a friend sent me that appears to be further down the path than the others.  According to the report a Japanese company claims to be able to send data over the surface of the skin at speeds up to 2 Mbps using the bodies own electric field.

This could turn the welcome/greeting time at church into a whole new ballgame... you could exchange contact info (no more forgetting names), prayer requests, attendance info, etc with a single handshake...

Read the full article...

LCD TV's from Dell

I was approached a few weeks ago by my boss to order 20" LCD monitors for some custom ministry carts we're developing for our new Connecting Place.  After talking through the requirements a bit and doing a little research I pitched the idea of using LCD TV's instead.  The benefits for such an approach are:

• LCD TVs have integrated speakers (no need for separate external speakers)
• Are available in a 16:9 aspect ratio which allows us to provide more appealing video
• Allow for several inputs (VGA, DVI, S-video, analog, coax, HDTV, etc)
• Ability to run Picture-in-picture (picture this... we run a looping infomercial on small groups until someone what to know about groups in their area.  We then swap the video into a window in the corner as we use MapPoint to display groups in their neighborhood)
• and finally the ability to control the setup (inputs, volume, pip) from a remote control

I quickly ordered a 26" Dell model to test(if they didn't work I could easily send them back via their 21 day complete satisfaction guarantee).  When it arrived a crew of us through open the box and set it up immediately.  The picture is amazingly sharp and bright.  I'd like to keep it for my desk!  These things are going to work beautifully.  I'll post a picture of the completed solution when the carts arrive.

Google Toolbar 3.0 Beta Available

Google just released their first Toolbar 3.0 public beta.  New features include:

• Spell Checker (thakn yuo!):  Very cool, very helpful!
• Word Transaltor: Will be nice when I run across that link with the code tip I need but the only problem is it's in German...
• Auto Link: Maps any street address

More on How Google Maps Works

Call me a geek, but I just love knowing how things work.  Here's two more articles on how Google Maps works.  Some pretty cool DHTML tricks.

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