Stuff I've Found

Microsoft Fix It Center Pro is a web application for Windows Live users that is aiding users in the identification and troubleshooting of PC issues. Windows users should not confuse the service with Fix It Center Online, which is in fact a desktop application for Windows that can analyze and repair computer issues.

Fix It Center Pro has several features that can be used to diagnose certain PC issues.  Users who log in to the service with their Windows Live ID for the first time see a short introduction on the page, before they can start using it.

• Scan your system to identify and resolve specific problem areas by using targeted Analysis
• Find the most suitable content, tools, forums, and help to address the symptom that you see, or the task you are performing, using Guides Search
• Track research that you are doing on technical issues as Work Items. If you cannot solve a technical issue on your own, click the Escalate button to turn your work into a Support Request
• Track your existing Microsoft online Support Requests, or create new ones in Support Requests.

The ability to submit support requests, and to track requests linked to the Windows Live ID are noteworthy here. All you need to do to submit a new support request is to click on Support Requests, and then on the new button to start the process.

Here you select a Microsoft product and support category, which sometimes may result in solutions displayed directly on the screen. When you select to go forward, for instance if the suggestions were not related to the issue, you are asked to pick a support options. If you have a professional support license, or software assurance license, you can make use of those. If you do not, you select that you do not want to use a professional support license or contract.

If that is the case you can select to a paid callback option, or the free post to forum option. If you select free and forum, you are automatically redirected to the related support forum where you can ask your question.

You find all of your support requests listed in the Fix It Center Pro, which can be quite useful to keep an overview of all of them from one interface.

Next to support requests, you can make use of the guided search feature which basically asks you to pick a specific product, for instance Windows 7 Professional, to pick a topic. Topics may then link to a support forum, or a download on Microsoft Download.

Analysis is another feature the site provides to its users. It basically links to programs that you can run locally to analyze the PC, a feature or program.

Work Items finally allow you to document your efforts or attempts to troubleshoot a specific issue. You can escalate the issue at any time from here as well, which is identical to filing a support request.

Quite possibly the very first sketch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — drawn by co-creator Kevin Eastman — is up for auction. From Eastman:

“Late in November 1983, (co-creator) Peter Laird and I were sharing a studio (our living room) in Dover, New Hampshire. One work night, in an effort to make Peter laugh, I drew a sketch of this character I called a ‘Ninja Turtle’ and threw it onto Peter’s desk. He did laugh, and did a version of his own — to which I needed to take it one step further, and did a pencil sketch of four different Turtles, each holding a different weapon — and gave it to Peter, who wanted to ink it in — and when he did, he added ‘Teenage Mutant’ to the ‘Ninja Turtle’ part of the logo, and we both fell off our chairs!

The next day, we both looked at the drawing, and decided that we really needed to come up with a story about how these characters came to be — and began to hammer out the story details. Deciding to make it an homage/parody to some of our heroes and inspirations (and dedicating it to them) we worked through the winter of 1983-84 and, after finding a local New England printer, we borrowed money from my Uncle Quentin and we printed the first 3,000 copies — premiering the book at a local Portsmouth comic convention May 5, 1984.

“From that day forward, and for the next 30 years, the TMNTs became a worldwide phenomenon (cartoons, toys, and movies) that even to this day we still try to completely understand — and it all started with this drawing.”

Bidding, which starts at $6,000, ends May 10.

[bestweekever]

Coming late May, Nikon is to release the new WU-1a adapter to add transfer support and remote control ability for Android devices and your DSLR. With the dongle, you can easily snap a photo with your powerful lens, then transfer the image wirelessly to your smartphone for easy uploading to Facebook or Instagram. While that notion could possibly disgust professional photographers, it is nice to see Nikon embracing the social aspect of photo sharing that is taking place in the world currently.

In addition, you can use your Android phone as a live view display, as well as a shutter trigger, which could come in handy for folks. The adapter will cost $60 and is only compatible with the D3200 so far, but we expect there to be more cameras supported in the future.

Via: Nikon

Cheers Nas!

Besides being the Puff The Magic Dragon Passover, April 20th is particularly notable for two birthdays that will always live in infamy around these parts: Adolf Hitler and Fenway Park, the home of the Bahston Red Sox. The NY Post celebrated the latter of the two in true NY Post-style with the loving above front cover today. But some are questioning whether the Yankees and Red Sox even have a rivalry anymore. [ more › ]