Event Type: Error
Event Source: DataAccessLayer
Event Category: None
Event ID: 26308
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:30:01 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
Query notification processing failed due to a sql exception.

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: A transport-level error has occurred when receiving results from the server. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 – The semaphore timeout period has expired.)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.CheckThrowSNIException()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalEndExecuteReader(IAsyncResult asyncResult, String endMethod)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.EndExecuteReader(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Mom.DataAccess.QueryNotificationManager.HandleNotifications(Object state)

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Health Service Modules
Event Category: Data Warehouse
Event ID: 31569
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:30:03 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
Report deployment process failed to request management pack list from Data Warehouse. The operation will be retried.Exception ‘InvalidConnectionException’: ExecuteScalar requires an open and available Connection. The connection’s current state is closed.

One or more workflows were affected by this.

Workflow name: Microsoft.SystemCenter.DataWarehouse.Deployment.Report
Instance name:
Instance ID: {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}
Management group:

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: HealthService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2115
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:30:39 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
A Bind Data Source in Management Group has posted items to the workflow, but has not received a response in 61 seconds.  This indicates a performance or functional problem with the workflow.
Workflow Id : Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectDiscoveryData
Instance    :
Instance Id : {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: HealthService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2115
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:30:39 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
A Bind Data Source in Management Group  has posted items to the workflow, but has not received a response in 61 seconds.  This indicates a performance or functional problem with the workflow.
Workflow Id : Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectAlerts
Instance    :
Instance Id : {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: HealthService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2115
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:30:39 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
A Bind Data Source in Management Group  has posted items to the workflow, but has not received a response in 61 seconds.  This indicates a performance or functional problem with the workflow.
Workflow Id : Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectPerformanceData
Instance    : yksc1s3.ehit.org
Instance Id : {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: HealthService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2115
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:31:18 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
A Bind Data Source in Management Group  has posted items to the workflow, but has not received a response in 61 seconds.  This indicates a performance or functional problem with the workflow.
Workflow Id : Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectEventData
Instance    :
Instance Id : {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: HealthService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2115
Date:  3/11/2010
Time:  11:31:18 AM
User:  N/A
Computer:
Description:
A Bind Data Source in Management Group  has posted items to the workflow, but has not received a response in 61 seconds.  This indicates a performance or functional problem with the workflow.
Workflow Id : Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectSignatureData
Instance    : yksc1s3.ehit.org
Instance Id : {A18674C9-F1A9-98DA-3B94-DD88EAE278FB}
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type:      Warning

Event Source:   OpsMgr Connector

Event Category:            None

Event ID:          20058

Date:                2/6/2010

Time:                2:00:17 PM

User:                N/A

Computer:

Description:

The Root Connector has received bad packets which have been dropped. It received 8374 such packet(s) in the last five minutes

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

If you have purchased a graphic intensive PC game recently, such as Cryisis, you realize that  your computer runs the game like a choppy YouTube video. In order to get a better gaming experience you need to get the latest hardware, so a $60 game may end up costing you hundreds in hardware upgrades.

Years ago when computing power was extraordinarily expensive, you had a server like a mainframe do all the number crunching serve out results to “dumb” terminals.  What if the graphics and physics calculations of today’s games were subcontracted to servers that did the heavy lifting. As computer power reaches pennies per Ghz and unlimited internet bandwidth increases steadily, the next evolution in gaming is in game streaming and subscription.

Imagine subscribing to  the latest graphically intensive game that just came out over the internet. With the streaming model, video is streamed to your desktop while the game is running on a remote server at high resolution and with high game details on. That means your PC doesn’t have to run the latest hardware to play the game the way it was meant to be played. A recent article has revealed the OnLive will attempt do just that.

Of course this would only work if you have the bandwidth to support it. The internet backbones are currently being upgraded, but higher internet speeds will likely cost you more as well. Another road block would be the ISP’s proposed cap on your monthly bandwitdh. If the unlimited internet bandwitdh model changes, entire business built on internet communcations will suffer, including the upcoming game streaming.

I just got a Blackberry Curve and my first impression is not how cool it is, but instead how much the battery life sucks. I have to charge it up on a daily basis or the battery dies. I got a new battery and I charged it for 24 hours and I still don’t get the battery life that I expect to be getting. If I forget to charge it at night it’s dead by morning.  I’m on the Sprint network and I am connecting to my home WiFi for local internet connectivity. I leave it in the holster which I thought was supposed to use less battery. I was wondering if there might be some options I can change to conserve battery life. As I was searching I found an article about a company called M2E Power that is making a device that charges your cell phone or iPod while you walk. I thought this was a great concept considering how many devices that require batteries are for people “on the go”.

Twitter is a great social networking tool for keeping up with what your friends are doing. Your inbox is overflowing already, so sending an email will get ignored and you might be the target of aggression if you send to many. Instant messaging is too “in your face” and is not designed to send out message to multiple people. Twitter allows people to post short messages that other people can subscribe to and read at their leisure. In my organization Twitter is blocked and to be honest I would only want my coworkers to get my updates, so a private server would be great. I did some searching and found a few open source options, but none of them ready for production or not easy to setup. In my searches I found a very interesting article that suggests using Wordpress as a Twitter-like service or more of a shared “microblog”. I setup Wordpress and use the Prologue theme to make it look more like Twitter and while it’s not exactly the same it does get the job done. You could even leave comments to an individual post. This might be useful if you asked the group a question. Now my team can just update their status via a browser or email, for mobile users, and I think this would facilitate communication among the group, especially if the group is geographically distributed. The last step to make this as effective as possible is notification when your team makes updates. This can be accomplished via the built in Wordpress RSS feeds. You can set up any number of RSS readers to notify you of updates of status. The hard part is getting others to update often otherwise it is not as useful.

Update: We were quoted on the Winning Workplace Blog.

[Error number: 0x8DDD0018]
The site cannot continue because one or more of these Windows services is not running:
·    Automatic Updates (allows the site to find, download and install high-priority updates for your computer)
·    Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) (helps updates download more quickly and without problems if the download process is interrupted)
·    Event Log (keeps a record of updating activities to help with troubleshooting, if needed)
To make sure these services are running:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type services.msc and then click OK.
3. In the list of services, double-click on Automatic Updates and then click Properties.
4. In the Startup type list, select Automatic and click Apply.
5. Verify that the Service status is started, if the Service Status is Stopped click on the Start Button.
6. In the list of services, double-click on Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) and then click Properties.
7. In the Startup type list, select Manual and click Apply.
8. Verify that the Service status is started, If the Service Status is Stopped click on the Start Button.
9. In the list of services, double-click on Event Log and then click Properties.
10. In the Startup type list, select Automatic and click Apply.
11. Verify that the Service status is started, If the Service Status is Stopped click on the Start Button.

I verified that the services were running, but I got the same error. After some research I found that changing the Startup type on the Automatic Update Service to ‘Automatic’ fixed the problem. Sounds like a bug to me.

If you are familiar with other accounting software like Quickbooks, GNU Cash has a short learning curve. There is a tutorial and accounting concepts help if you are not familiar with accounting software. GNU Cash will automatically set up many common accounts or categories for you cash to flow in and out. It has many of the features that expensive software like Quickbooks has such as invoices, reporting, and account reconciliation.

Some features that I was surprised to see in this free accounting software was the ability to import Quicken and Quickbook files, automatic saves and online banking integration. It is safe to say that this free software is an open source gem that can be used by many small businesses.

However, if you are new to accounting software, you may want something more mainstream since you are more likely to find support. Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks have a FREE version of Quickbooks called Quickbooks Simple Start. It is a scaled down version of Quickbooks Pro but it has many of the features you would need for a new or small business. If this sounds to good to some of you that are already using Quickbooks, the catch with the free version is it will not allow you to open Quickbook files created in other versions of Quickbooks.