Microsoft
Easter Egg on Apple’s Website
Saturday, August 30th, 2008 | Apple, Funny, Microsoft | 58 Comments
I’ve found a very funny easter egg on Apple’s website: Go to www.apple.com, type “virus” in the top right search box, and see what pops up as the first result!
TrueCrypt - Free Open Source Encryption Software
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | Apple, Linux, Microsoft, Tips & Tricks | 2 Comments
I’ve heard great things about TrueCrypt, the free open source encryption software that’s available for Windows Vista / XP, Mac OS X, and most distributions of Linux.
TrueCrypt has several features, including:
- Automatic, real-time, transparent encryption
- Creating a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounting it as a real disk
- Encrypting an entire partition or storage device such as a USB flash drive or hard drive
- Encrypting a partition or drive where Windows is already installed
- Hidden volumes (steganography) and hidden operating systems
- TrueCrypt volume data cannot be distinguished from random data on the storage device
- AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish encryption algorithms in XTS mode of operation
Their steganography and hidden operating systems features are especially useful for sensitive data: You can install a real and a dummy OS and hide the real one with TrueCrypt so it looks like random data on the storage device. When you turn the computer on, you will be prompted for a password, and if someone forces you to enter your password, you simply enter the password for the dummy operating system (which contains no sensitive files). Without the password for the real operating system, no-one can get access to your data or even know that it is on the machine.
For more information or to download the software, visit their website here.
Lost Odyssey brings more turn-based console RPG greatness!
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Gaming, Microsoft | No Comments
I think I’ve been playing far too much Lost Odyssey… but seeing as Metacritic gave the game 8.4 out of 10, that might be forgivable.
Lost Odyssey is a turn-based RPG game produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi (the creator of the Final Fantasy series), developed by Mistwalker and feelplus and published by Microsoft Game Studios on Xbox 360 earlier this year.
Your main character is Kaim, a man who has lived for a thousand years but suffers amnesia about his past. Throughout the game you regain Kaim (and his companions’) memories and uncover a plot against you by an immortal who travelled with you to the world a thousand years ago.
The gameplay is similar to the earlier Final Fantasy games, and it has all the eye-candy you’d expect from a Square Enix title:
Lost Odyssey Trailer
Lost Odyssey Gameplay
Before Lost Odyssey, I played Blue Dragon (also produced by Hinonobu Sakaguchi and developed by Mistwalker), officially the largest Xbox 360 game (spanning 3 DVDs) until Lost Odyssey was released (spanning 4 DVDs).
Blue Dragon Gameplay
Fans of turn-based RPGs for the Xbox 360 are now eagerly awaiting the release of the next instantiation of the genre, Final Fantasy XIII, in 2009:
Final Fantasy XIII Gameplay
Moving Emails from Microsoft Outlook to Apple Mail
Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Apple, Microsoft, Tips & Tricks | No Comments
Unless you’re using an IMAP-based email account, moving messages from Microsoft Outlook to Apple Mail can be quite a hassle because of proprietary file formats.
Microsoft Outlook uses PST files, Microsoft Outlook Express uses DBX files, and Apple Mail uses MBOX and EMLX files. If you’re currently using Outlook Express, you need to convert it’s DBX files to MBOX files. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook you need to convert it’s PST files to DBX files, then to MBOX files.
To perform the conversion, you will need:
- The Windows computer with the Microsoft Outlook installation that your email messages currently reside in, or if you only have a PST file (Microsoft Outlook data file) of your messages, a Windows computer or virtual machine with Microsoft Outlook installed so you can import the PST file.
- The DbxConv Command Line utility.
I have a PST file from a Microsoft Outlook installation on a different computer, and I will be using a VMware Fusion virtual machine of Windows XP Service Pack 2 on my MacBook.
Extract the contents of the DbxConv.zip file to a new folder on your Windows Desktop, and if you have a PST file from a different computer, copy it to the same folder.
If you have a PST file from a different computer, you need to import it to Microsoft Outlook so you can convert the PST files to DBX files. Open Microsoft Outlook by clicking the Start Menu and choosing All Programs->Microsoft Office->Microsoft Office Outlook.
If Outlook starts the Account Configuration Wizard, click the “Next” button to get to a screen that asks if you want to configure an email account, and choose “No”. If it asks any further questions, just uncheck all options and answer “No” to everything until the wizard closes.
Click the File menu and choose “Import and Export”. Choose the “Import from another program or file” option, and click the “Next” button. Choose “Personal Folder File (.pst)”, and click the “Next” button. Browse for and select the PST file that you copied into the DbxConv folder on your desktop, then click the “Next” button. You will be asked which folder the emails should be imported from, choose the folders you want and click the “Finish” button.
The import process will take some time depending on the size of your PST file (Mine was 400MB and it took about 5 minutes to complete). Once the process has completed, you can close Microsoft Outlook and continue with the rest of these steps.
Open Outlook Express by clicking the Start Menu and choosing All Programs->Outlook Express. If Outlook Express starts the Internet Connection Wizard and asks you to set up an email account, just press the “Cancel” button.
In Outlook Express, click the File menu and choose Import->Messages. Choose “Microsoft Outlook” in the list of options that are displayed, and click the “Next” button.
You will be asked which folders from Microsoft Outlook you want to import. Choose specific ones or select the “All folders” option, then click the “Next” button. Outlook Express will display a progress indicator on the screen while it’s importing your messages. You can continue to the next step once the process has finished.
By importing your email messages from Microsoft Outlook to Microsoft Outlook Express, the messages were converted to the DBX format. Next you need to copy the new DBX files to the DbxConv folder you created earlier so you can convert them to MBOX files.
In Outlook Express, click the “Tools” menu and select “Options”. Choose the “Maintenance” tab and click the “Store Folder” button. A new window will display the path to the DBX files for you. Right-click on the path and choose “Select All”, then right-click on it again and choose “Copy”. Click the “Cancel” buttons in the Store Location and Options windows to close them, then close Outlook Express.
Open a new Windows Explorer window by double-clicking the My Computer icon on your Desktop or by holding down the Windows-key on your keyboard and pressing the letter “E” (Command-key and “E” on a Mac running virtualization software). Right-click in the Address Bar of the new Windows Explorer window and choose “Paste”, then press the Enter (Return) key on your keyboard.
The contents of the Windows Explorer window will change and you will see multiple DBX files listed, one for each folder in Microsoft Outlook Express. Copy the files you imported messages to (these are probably the largest ones) to the DbxConv folder you created on the Desktop earlier.
Click the Start Menu, choose Run, and type “cmd”, then click the “OK” button to open a new Windows Command Line window.
In the Command Line window, type “cd ” (note the space after ‘cd’). Drag and drop the folder you extracted DbxConv and copied your DBX files into on the Command Line Window (This will automatically fill in the path to the folder for you). Press the Enter (Return) key on your keyboard to run the command and change the Command Line window’s current directory to the DbxConv folder.
If you have multiple DBX files, you will have to repeat the following step for each of them:
In the Command Line window, type “DbxConv ” (note the space after ‘DbxConv’), drag and drop a DBX file from the DbxConv folder on the Command Line window, and press Enter (Return) on your keyboard. Your DBX file will be converted to a MBOX file, and you will see a “1 of 1 mailboxes converted to MBOXO-format!” message once the process has completed.
Once you’ve converted all your DBX files to MBOX files, you’re ready to start importing them to Apple Mail. Close the Command Line window and copy only the MBOX files from the DbxConv folder to a flash drive or CD/DVD so you can transfer them to your Mac. If you’re using virtualization software, you can simply copy the MBOX files to your Shared Folder or Home Folder in your Mac’s filesystem.
On your Mac, open Mail by clicking it’s icon on the Dock or by using Spotlight to search for it. With Mail active, click the “File” menu and choose “Import Mailboxes”.
In the Import window that appears, choose to import data from “mbox files”, then click the “Continue” button.
Browse to the location you copied the MBOX files to, and highlight all of them, then click the “Choose” button.
On the next screen, confirm that you want to import all the items, then click the “Continue” button.
The import process may take a few minutes depending on the amount of messages. Mail will display a progress bar while it is busy, and a message explaining where to find the imported messages once the process has completed.
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