How To Turn Off Automatic Installation of Windows 7 Updates

It's Patch Tuesday again, and you know what that means: Windows users across the globe will soon be rebooting. Don't get me wrong, I love Windows Update. Without a systematic way for Microsoft to push out security patches to 1 Billion+ PCs around the world, the Internet would be a very dangerous place. Keeping one's Windows PC patched and up-to-date became a civic duty around the turn of the millennium, and it still is.

But there's something very aggravating about the default way that Windows 7 is configured to handle Windows Update. Back in the Windows XP days, users would be gently reminded to install an update -- giving them a chance to finish what they were doing, close any open documents, and set aside 15 minutes for the installation to run its course. In contrast, Windows 7 blithely downloads and installs the updates in the middle of the night, without bothering to ask permission beforehand.

So let's say you're halfway done with that important presentation when you call it quits at 2 am. You have multiple windows and documents open, arranged just so, and you leave everything as is with the intention of picking right back up the next morning where you left off. Except when you return to your PC, Windows 7 is grinning back at you with a blank desktop, proudly announcing that "updates were installed and your computer has been restarted." Nice.

Happily, there's a quick and easy fix for this problem: Simply launch Windows Update, click "Change settings", and change the drop-down selection to "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them":



Of course, the wording of the drop-down selection is misleading and misses the point. The issue home users have to deal with isn't whether to install updates, it's when. (In the enterprise, it's both.)

Happy updating!

Extend Wireless Range with Powerline Networking

Here's a neat trick to maximize wireless network coverage in your home: Use inexpensive powerline networking adapters to gain more flexibility in the placement of your wireless router.

Because home broadband connections typically originate from a cable box or a DSL modem, wireless routers tend to be placed near the flatscreen TV or telephone jack simply as a matter of practicality. Sure, most people know that wireless routers benefit from being placed as high as possible, in a central location in the house, and away from other equipment and reflective surfaces. But who wants to run an unsightly 30-foot Ethernet cord from the cable box in the living room to the second-floor bedroom, just because that's the location that happens to be the best placement for the wireless router?

This is where the SlingLink TURBO W1 Ethernet over Power Adapter comes in handy. This handy gadget (which retails for $30 but can be found for close to half that amount online) uses Ethernet-over-powerline technology to piggyback your Internet connection on top of the electrical wiring in your house. These devices require zero configuration and are truly plug and play: Simply plug them in and connect. Now you can place your wireless router in the most optimal location without running long Ethernet cables all over your house. All you need is a nearby power socket.

- Lars Kongshem

How to Create an RSS Feed from Your Twitter Posts

Bummed that Twitter has removed the RSS feed link from profile pages? Turns out you can still access an RSS feed of your tweets through the Twitter API.

The URL format is as follows:

https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=xyz

(where "xyz" is your Twitter account name)

(More info here. Hat tip to @daveisanidiot.)

30 Second Review: Bose QuietComfort 15 noise cancelling headphones

Pros: Spacious, detailed, and effortless sound. Excellent noise cancellation for listening in noisy environments.
Cons: Expensive ($299). Slightly boomy mid-bass. Won't operate without a AAA battery. No way to disable the noise cancellation system.
Verdict: Great sound and effective noise cancellation let you create an instant sphere of tranquility around your head. But don't forget to stock up on batteries.

Quote of the Week

"There are some cases where a group of people can do a better job of solving certain kinds of problems than individuals. One example is setting a price in a marketplace. Another example is an election process to choose a politician. All such examples involve what can be called optimization, where the concerns of many individuals are reconciled. There are other cases that involve creativity and imagination. A crowd process generally fails in these cases. The phrase 'Design by Committee' is treated as derogatory for good reason. That is why a collective of programmers can copy UNIX but cannot invent the iPhone."

- Jaron Lanier

Social Media & The Authenticity Deficit

You can't manufacture authenticity. It's not something that can be rolled off an assembly line or announced in a press release. You have to actually live it through your actions as a company. It may sound obvious, but this is an important axiom for marketers because if there's a large delta between your organization's actual and stated values, consumers will eventually clue in to the discrepancy -- no matter how clever your marketing spin.

In the old days of traditional marketing, organizations that ran an "authenticity deficit" weren't exposed to a high degree of business risk, because consumers didn't have a substantial share of voice in the media. But that's all changed in the last decade with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. With the rise of social media, consumers now have equal share of voice -- which means that marketing is becoming more like a conversation and less like a soliloquy. And when you're being inauthentic, real conversations rarely work to your advantage.

What we're seeing now is that organizations that have been running substantial authenticity deficits are stumbling badly in social media -- and when they do, it often becomes a story that gets picked up and amplified by traditional mainstream media.

BP is the most recent case in point. Since 2001, the company has put a lot of effort into rebranding itself as a green company by introducing a new logo, adopting the tagline "Beyond Petroleum," and running ads touting its environmentally friendly credentials. It was a clever marketing strategy, and it might have worked for a little while longer had it not been for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The oil spill and its aftermath lifted the veil of BP's carefully crafted green marketing message, exposing the company's real values. It didn't take long for a fake Twitter account (@BPGlobalPR) to appear, mocking the company and attracting eight times as many followers as the company's official Twitter account -- and for mainstream media outlets to pick up the story.

The lesson for companies in the 21st century: You no longer control your company's message. Whether this shift works for you or against you depends in large part on your business practices. If your actions are genuine and authentic, you will build trust with your customers -- and that goodwill (or the lack thereof) can go a long way when disaster strikes.

The final resting place of cement ?

It's rare to find typographical errors executed in wrought iron. Human nature being what it is, craftsmen tend to take extra special care when working in a medium that is costly to correct and has a great deal of permanence. So this 19th-century spelling mishap at a historic cemetery in Tubac, Arizona sure is a bit of a head-scratcher -- that is, until one realizes that the Spanish word for cemetery is "cementerio."

Image shot and processed with a Motorola Droid.