I was sitting down tonight enjoying a cigar, listening to Internet radio, and I started thinking of how the Internet has changed our lives. However, in my usual way, I looked at it from a different angle. I decided to make a short list of things that the Internet has made obsolete. 1. Records and CDs: These are the most obvious thing. From the moment I first used Napster way back when, I realized that this was the end of record companies as we then knew them. I was loosely involved in the record business at the time, when I was doing some remixes. I realized that after I completed a remix, I could just make an MP3 and make it available on Napster. At that point, I made a handful of unauthorized remixes and put them on Napster. They were a hit. Wow! It blew my mind. Now we see major record store chains closing their doors as people prefer to pick the songs they like from any album they like from places like iTunes.

It amazes me how many times I walk into a new client and see the same thing - they ran out of room on their server because the system partition is too small. It reminds me of those silly “Plan Ahead” posters that were all the rage in the '70s, where the words ran across the bottom, then had to kinda take a turn up the side a little. But it’s good advice to plan ahead, instead of buying some pre-canned thing that Dell offers. Nothing wrong with Dell, in fact, their service is great, but glitz it up a little. Here’s some things to remember from a battle-hardened IT guy that will make your life with your new server a bit more bearable. I will be touching on generalities here, so you can elaborate on my points for your own needs.

When you work at a tech help desk of a large electronics store, you meet a lot of... interesting people. Why is it, when one crazy person shows up, they all decide to follow? It's like they travel in packs or something. Story #1 Me: Hi, how can I help you? Extremely Annoying Valley Girl Chick: My laptop, like, totally stops working when it's not plugged in.

When trying to install a new device (like a USB mouse, printer, video card, etc.), Windows Vista might report that there is "no driver found for you device [sic]" and/or will not display the pre-installed Vista OEM drivers. Even by manually selecting the driver, you will still get the "no driver found..." error. This also tends to happen with HP printers (as we know their drivers are bulky and complex). You will get a red X at the end or it won't find the drivers - again.

This is caused by a corrupted INFCACHE.1 file. This file is hidden, has restricted access, and can be found in "c:\windows\inf". This file stores the location of drivers and their INF files.

I'll tell you up front, it's not just because they chose us for last Friday's Publisher Buzz. (But they did.) Really, it's just because they're so damn cool in every way possible. FeedBurner is a free, web-based RSS service. From a webmaster's perspective, it allows you to simplify the distribution of your site's feed and track stats regarding the number of readers that subscribe to your site. For a fee you can also get more extensive stat tracking. From a reader's perspective, using a FeedBurner feed essentially ensures compatibility with whatever feedreader you use, whether it is web-based, a part of your browser, or a standalone program.

I was pleased to see the datasheet on the new APC Back-UPS RS 1300. It’s the latest backup power offering for small office/home office computing from APC. In addition to the genuinely reliable APC base circuitry they are world famous for, I was happy to see the new features added to their already stable and reliable designs.

My partner and I are obsessed with Tetris. You will find us up late into the night with our eyes peeled open, glued to the TV as we battle it out on the Xbox, hurling obscenities at each other every time one of us gets to the next level. Tetris is the most popular game worldwide, after all, and in my opinion is as addictive as crack (or my crack, which is actually caffeine).  I have been a Tetris fan for so long that I used to play it on old school Nintendo, the version that used to spit out Russian-themed music, c'mon, you remember it, don’t you?  Well, Tetris has evolved over the years and is available on every game system and computer there is.  When I saw that my favorite toymaker, Radica Games, sells a TV Legends version, I had to have it.  I wasn't expecting much – it’s a plug and play, so I knew the graphics would be bad and it would extremely simplistic (hence the name "Legends"), but I didn't care. It’s enough that it said Tetris on it.

Has your Flash stopped working on YouTube or Newgrounds or some other such site of funnery? Here's how to fix it whether your computing style is "British royalty" or "Vlad the Impaler."

I love my Wii. It’s so cute, I just want to dress it up in little outfits and carry it in a bag like a twee lil’ dog. Since they don’t currently sell clothing accessories for the Wii, I figured I’d try some accessories that are available, sent to me by Penguin United (they also sell accessories for the PS3, Xbox 360, and DS Lite). Penguin United sent me four items to review. I’m still testing the rechargeable battery set, so look for that review in the future, but here’s my thoughts on the other "accessowiis": 24K Gold Plated Nintendo Wii Component Cable This cable rocks. Since the Wii only supports up to 480p display resolution, it seems like it wouldn’t make that much of a difference if you used the standard cable or an enhanced cable. However, when I switched my Wii from the standard OEM cable to this gold-plated cable, the difference was immediately apparent. Lines were sharper and blacks seemed blacker. I also took the cable over to my sister’s house to test with their HDTV, and the difference was clear there too. It's hard to tell in these crappy photos I took of my TV, but with the Wii-packaged cable, the blue line is kind of pixelated. With the gold-plated cable, the line is much smoother.

I've been posting things on eBay since 1998, and I can definitely say, it can be an idiot magnet.  One rule I have: the cheaper the item is, the more of a pain the buyer is likely to be. I will try to express some of the pitfalls I've experienced and hopefully you can be the wiser for it.  Please read on...