Miguel Carrasco's Real World

Nintendo Fans listen up

For all of those who played Mario games over and over.  This guy obviously paid closer attention to the actual music then I did but it's cool none the less. It goes all the way from the first level to the Princess being rescued minus the under world and the 8th level.

Test Your Bandwidth With Servers Around The World

Have you ever wondered how you could test the speed of your Internet connection on your own, without relying on your Internet service provider to tell you what it is.  What is your true bandwidth? These types of applications have been around for a while, however Speedtest.net takes this type of service to a whole new level.

By allowing you to select from servers all over the world, Speedtest.net provides the most accurate bandwidth results available on the Internet.  The technology used to power Speedtest.net is the same technology Ookla uses to provide results to some of the Internet's top web sites.

The interface is extremely easy to use.  When starting, you are presented with suggested locations to run your tests from.  You are always free to use any of the locations you like, however the one closest to you will display in orange.  When you click on the location, the test starts immediately.  I recommend you turn off any file sharing applications or downloads to ensure you get an accurate result.

Figure 1 - Bandwidth Speed Test Being Run

Once the test is completed, your results come up, and you are presented with an image, as well as web site links generated to share results with others.  Latency is displayed,, as well as your upload and download speed.  This is only the begriming however. 

Figure 2 - Bandwidth Speed Test Results

The next big feature is the "Compare Your Results with Others" link.  By clicking on this image, you are displayed with an interface that allows you to compare your speed results with nearly infinite combinations with others around the world.  As if that wasn't enough, you can save prior bandwidth speed tests and compare them with each other.

Speedtest.net takes bandwidth tests into the Web 2.0 world.  Test your bandwidth today!

So Many Search Engines and Content Tools, So Little Time

With over 35 search engines an content sites to search from, sputtr really helps as a bookmark and homepage where you can search any of your favorite search engines, all from one text box.  This includes content providers like YouTube, Last.fm and wikipedia.

Searching is very simple, simply type in your search string into the box provided, and click on any of the search search sites below.  I find the site really useful as its easy to forget all the different sites that are out there for search.

Enjoy sputtr.

Unlock iTunes Purchased Music

Pay for Music, Play Anywhere!

I had purchased a ton of music on my iTunes account, paid my fair share, and been really happy with iTunes overall!  My iPod had me rockin away, and everything was great!  If course, I wanted to listen to music on my laptop when I was traveling, and it wasn't as easy as I had hoped.  In order to listen to my music that had been downloaded and paid for from iTunes on my Laptop, I had to install iTunes on my laptop, and authorize the computer to allow me to listen to the files.  I have numerous computers I use (Media Center PC, Home Desktop, Erin's Desktop, My Laptop, etc).  I found this quite annoying to setup.  Also, since you are only allowed to authorize up to 5 machines on iTunes, once your limit is reached, you must "de-authorize another system in order to authorize a new machine". 

Why Unlock iTunes Purchased Music?

Here is a warning for you if you plan on not unlocking your iTunes music, make sure you "de-authorize" machines that you are planning on formatting.  If you do not do this, when you re-install your OS, you will have lost one of your 5 authorizations.  I had a situation last weekend that made me "have it" with iTunes DRM.  My network card was acting up and I had to format.  Trouble was, I couldn't get online in order to de-authorize my machine.  I lost 1 of my 5 accounts.  I have had similar situations in the past, and Apple gets back to me in about.. mmm 6 months.

I like paying for music.  I never liked buying CD's as the media seemed so limited to me.  Ripping the CD, then using AudioGrabber to get the song names, was great, but took too much effort.  Plus, most of the time, a 12 dollar CD would only have 1 or two good tunes to listen to.  If a fantastic CD comes out that I absolutely love, I will go out and buy it, like I did with Three Days Grace - One X, a great CD! 

iTunes lets you pick the music you want, and buy it at an extremely fair price!  However, locking that music to only play on your iPod or through iTunes, is a real problem.  You should be able to play this on any device.  Heck I want to be able to  say "set this as my ringtone" one day, but I know we aren't that agnostic yet, but close.

The easiest way to Unlock iTunes Music

So, after haggling with DRM and iTunes, I have finally given up and went on a quest to "remove" DRM protection from all my protected iTunes music.  After all, I have no intention of sharing any of this music with anyone besides myself, but I should be able to listen to it wherever, and whenever I want, without my iPod or iTunes.  Here are the simple steps to do this!

1. Load iTunes and make sure you are logged in and authorized on your iTunes account.
2. Download QTFairUse 6.
3. If you are running iTunes 7.2+, edit your QTFairUse configuration file by opening and at the end of the file, add the following text:
   [Version8]
   Desc=7.2.0
   DebugCheck=0x4DE385
   FrameCopy=0x826130
   EndOfTrack=0x50E1D0
   SndOut=0x5131D7,EB
   LoopStart=0x651531
   LoopCopy=0x6515E5
   LoopEnd=0x651864
   LoopPatch=0x651860,52
   
4. Run QTFairUse
5. QTFairUse will proceed to unlock your music!

At this point, all your music will be converted to an unlocked format!  You can now enjoy your music on any music player, on any computer, and basically any device!

Disclaimer:  I do not condone, nor do I steal music!  You should pay the artists for what you listen to!  Support them and they will make more music that you like!  Download by stealing and you are only hurting yourself!  However, I think once you have paid the fee, you should be able to listen to the music everywhere, as the artist would want you to!

Enjoy!

All-In-One Style

Last month at the Anvil Digital 2007 Party, the software developers decided to get a little crazy and perform a live version of All-In-One Style, the programmers anthem for our development team.

There is no other software development team in Winnipeg that loves .net and loves programming as much as these guys!  It's an honor to have them on the Anvil Digital team.

Some background, All-In-One is a piece of software we have been working on for about 2 years that integrates 6 software applications under one roof.  It will set the standard in product selection and engineering performance software for the manufacturing industry.  Complete integration between all applications, written in c#, order processing via web services, and using the .net 2.0 framework.  It is the culmination of the work of 5 software developers, 2 architects, 2 testers, and a business analyst.  Launching July 9th 2007 to North America and coming to 300 sales offices near you!

Download the mp3!

Lyrics

[Lam(Live)/Catherine(Audio)]

When the programmers came, to change the game And to compile,
the typed datasets and the public objects bringin you the All-In-One style

[Lam]

We make computer programs and write rap ballads
if you looked all over the earth, no one could pass us
the coders from the great white north
you can find us where the Kimberley and Raleigh line cross

responsible for bringing you the All-In-One
From day one, no fun, sho-gun, show 'em how it's done
Sean B, Cat C, Prabhu G, Mr. Venky-
Tesh, he's the best, kills the unit test

remember the times, we were coding all night long
Mad bugs, crazy errors, damn, it was wrong
Miguel came by with some food, we would eat it
Don't rest til we see those two words: BUILD SUCCEEDED

[Sean]

Everybody STOP as I drop this bomb
Quick Pricer’s almost done, so people stay calm
put flava in ya ear, let you know the time
Get your pricing and performance done All-In-One try

A track like this be messin up your eardrum
Like a C-Sharp binary, blown to kingdom come
Pricing and ordering’s the name of the game
If it's not by Venky M, it's not the same fame

Forget what you heard, debuggin was no disaster
Automated unit tests to make it go faster
Graphics all slick like a crude oil spill
Miguels got the GUI, kick back and chill

[Chorus x 2]

When the programmers came, to change the game And to compile,
the typed datasets and the public objects bringin you the All-In-One style

[Venkat]

I'm on a mission they say is impossible
But when I swing my swords, they all choppable
I be the source code dropper, the heartbeat stopper
You makin too much noise, I be quick to silence ya

my thoughts travel at a tremendous speed
You've never seen this done before in Order N speed
Computer chips to software, and nobody knows
How the hell I can move like a wolf in sheep's clothes

They asked me to price and order in one day
Should have seen their faces when they heard me say:
"This is no tall order, this is nothing to me Difficult takes a day, Impossible takes a week"

[Prabhu]

Next up, oh I believe that's me
Better get it right, they call me Prabhu G
The one you desire, microphones on fire
My rap style varies, and carrys like Mariah

They ask me what I did I don't hesitate to tell em
That my code drifted down from the heavens
Jobs control so fresh so clean,
Isn’t it the best you’ve seen?

Versatile, my style switches like a toggle
Ninety nine errors, the never ending saga
My mind's always runnin, runnin out of my breath
But I never sleep, cuz sleep is the cousin of death

[Chorus]

When the programmers came, to change the game And to compile,
the typed datasets and the public objects bringin you the All-In-One style

[Lam]

Comin straight atcha with the G-R-D
I don't be messing around with that A-S-P
To get the look done right, I kept it purely Visual
Basic, dot Net, from metric to imperial

Static pressure to my left, throws to my right
Debuggin errors kept me up all night
I came through the middle just swingin
now I'm sittin on top, just singin

Look up at the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane
Nope, it's a square cone diffuser pushin airflow to your brain
So the next time you find yourself in trouble with your breathin
Thank E.H Price for steppin through breezing