The coolest new feature is the NEW IPHONE support! I am writing this post on an iPod! To do this yourself, get the wordpress app, our URL is IEEE.Vanderbilt.edu/wordpress and you can use your user/pass from this site.

Thanks,
Hamy

PS - I also added on wp-cache, which means that the site should respond quicker and load faster yea

Hamy

1 - get lyrics to almost every song you have on your ipod and in your itunes
2 - do the same for album art work
3 - remove those pesky (!) missing files from itunes
4 - find/add the files that you didnt know you had
5 - fix all the tags - remove those www.musicblah.blah.whatever links

There are a few things that I can’t do yet - so hopefully more soon. Here is what I can’t do for you:

1 - delete duplicates easily aka not one by one
2 - do ALL the work for you. You still have to put in fifteen minutes. I did all this, and I still have about 100 problem tracks. I will fix them one by one, because I am that guy. Most people probably don’t care. The point is, this stuff does 95% of the work, you still have to help it that 5% along.
3 - i am sure there is another one

So - I did a few simple things to my itunes, mainly:

1 - fix all the ID3 tags (a LOT better than itunes automatic service can)
2 - remove the bad stuff (missing files, ect)
3 - get the lyrics
4 - get the artwork
5 - sync!

To see the rest of this - You will need to click read the rest link right below

Starting with 1 - fix all the ID3 tags
Flat out, this is the hardest and/or longest step. Once this is done, its just one click and waiting on your part, so stick the first part out!
1) download a nice program called MusicBrainz http://musicbrainz.org/.
2) install, open
3) add folder, and select your My Music folder (or main music folder - it will get subdirectories auto)
4) once it is done processing, click cluster
5) both of those steps take a bit. Once that is done, select all unclustered files (to save time here, try to only select the files that you know are songs. Aka dont select your recorded lectures - you are just wasting time) and click scan
Note: basically it is ‘listening’ to every file, and trying to match it against a database of files. This is really nice, it can turn ‘track 15′ into ‘Crash Into Me’ by …

6) Select all the albums that popped up on the right (click one, and hit ctrl + A) and click the big ’save’ button at the top.
Note: Scroll to the top of the right album list before you click save, and you can see the *’s going away. AKA they indicate unsaved albums.

7) Open itunes, if its not open, and select all songs (click to select one, and hit ctrl + A). right click, and choose get info. Ignore the warning, and hit ok — NOTE: DO NOT HIT ANYTHING BUT OK. YOU WILL WIPE ALL DATA FROM YOUR SONGS OTHERWISE

this is the end of the auto tutorial on this part, but FYI this is a really powerful program. You have to put some effort in to understand how to really work it, but if you are a fanatic this program is very valuable.

Now on to 2 - remove the bad stuff (missing files, ect)
1) Download and install ITLU http://itlu.ownz.ch/wordpress/?page_id=5. Note: he recommends backing up the library, which I did, but I have had no problems with the program

2) open the beast
3) click the blank square next to Location, browse to your My Music directory (or other main music place) and click ok to add it.
4) click every single box
Note: it is smart to actually repeat this step twice. (well, from 2 ) The first pass will remove all the files that are linked incorrectly, and the second one will add them back, linked correctly. In laymans terms, run it twice
5) click start, and grab a snack

Pressing on …. 3 - get the lyrics
1) download/install iLyrics http://code.google.com/p/ilyrics/downloads/list
Note: this is in Beta - so you kind of have to sit there and watch it and click ok everytime something unexpected happens. THis is why we removed the bad stuff first - this program has a tendency to crash if a file is missing
Note2: lyrics come from lyricwiki.org - so yea, if you have a song and want lyrics - you can add them to LW and iLyrics will suddenly work for those songs

2) open itunes, and ilyrics
3) in itunes, click music, click on a song to select it, and hit ctrl + A to elect all songgs
4) in ilyrics, click both checkboxes
5) sit there and babysit while it runs. You will probably have to click through about 30 error messages (thats what I had to, with about 2500 songs in my itunes)

Sweet, so on to album art
this ones pretty simple, just choose all songs again in itunes, (select one, then hit ctrl + A) and choose advanced->get album artwork

Sync!!!
now plug in your ipod, and wait for the massive sync

Note: on an ipod touch, seeing the lyrics means playing a song and clicking once on the screen (its kind of hard to find, so fyi if you see the repeat symbol, you are in the right place. If you dont see lyrics, there are no lyrics on that song in itunes. To check - open itunes, find that song, right click and do get info, and check the lyrics tab)

Hope that helps some people! It took me a while to do all this, so I figured I would share some stuff Also - please digg this baby if you liked it!

Hamy

Don’t forget that the IEEE/ACM Spring Picnic will be Thursday, April 10. We will need people there from about 10 through 2:30. Most of all, however, we’ll need as many people as possible from 12:15 to 1:10 for the lunch rush - and no one has class then, so everyone should be able to help! The plan is to be providing food from 10:50 to 2.

Hope to see everyone there!

• Chair: Jared Segal
• Vice Chair: Ken Hartsook
• Secretary: Andrew Pitman
• Treasurer: Haziq Mazlan
• VP Programming/Internal: Guy Kopsombut
• VP External: Matt Bernstein

AMP

I did not get the job.  While MSFT pays well immediately, you cap at a certain point where most career advancement halts, or so I’ve heard, so I not all that upset.  Furthermore, Microsoft has essentially become market reactive, in that innovations come elsewhere, and Microsoft attempts to enter the newly created markets with a copy product.  LiveSearch and an attempted acquisition of Yahoo is just one of many examples.

My experience with Microsoft began with a career fair, in which I submitted my resume and discussed my skills.  I was then called for a phone interview almost 2 months later, in December.  The phone interviewer first asked me to discuss my past experiences.  I was then told to design any piece of technology in the room.  I was asked to discuss a bad Microsoft product and how to improve it.  He then asked me to pick another product, and improve that product as well.  I was then asked to pick one I liked and why.  I was finally asked to discuss my goals at Microsoft (I described .NET and the WCF).

I must have done well (considering there were no coding questions, I imagine I did, since I cannot answer these).  I was then contacted to come on-site and interview, and scheduled my interview for February.  Microsoft put me in a hotel for 2 nights and paid for my food and transportation.  I interviewed in 1 day.

First interview: This began at 8:15 and was with the Lead Program Manager of Microsoft PerformancePoint Server.  It consisted of 2 questions.  Why Microsoft?  Take your previous project from last summer, and describe it in detail, using the whiteboard.  It was a test of my presentation skills and technical communication abilities.

Second Interview: This was with a PerformancePoint Server Program Manager, serving under the lead.  He was testing my technical skills.  I got two questions.  Given a binary search tree, find the lowest common ancestor on the tree.  Design and write requirements for a system which recieves streaming video from MSNBC (very open ended).  He eventually led me down the path to discuss what I knew about socket communication.  Clearly, I knew very little.

Third Interview: This was a lunch interview, and I ate with an individual who did not speak English well.  Odd considering it was a test of my interpersonal skills.  The interview was entirely behavioral.  If you do not know what a behavioral interview is, please go to our career center website, as it has very useful information if you have never looked for a job before (but very little otherwise).

Final Interview: This interview is the last interview for INTERN candidates who have done well.  I must have screwed up here, considering I got to this point.  I mention intern in caps because generally for full-time, the final interview with MS is usually the 6th I believe.  Anyway, I was interviewed by the Group Program Manager for MS Office, essentially the head of the whole division.  I was asked essentially 2 questions: design Bill Gates’ ultimate alarm clock, which is sold for $80 a pop at SharperImage, can support 2 parallel alarms, and is on the cutting edge.  2nd, expalin how we can make people use Outlook, whereas no one really knows how to configure it. 

Conclusion: I didn’t get the job, so obviously, I am not the best to go to for success advice.  But I came away with a lot of good tips.  Know your code.  I am convinced that even the BS design questions I got, they wanted me to go deep into the design and discuss coding and such.  I cannot code, so this was a problem.  Aside from that, I imagine it went well, with my GPA also being a factor in their decision.

Lesson: Microsoft and Google are not the only companies a CmpE at Vandy should be considering.  As a matter of fact, from what I saw, this is the fast track to codeMonkey-dom and no where else.  I asked the Group Manager of Office where he expected his career to take him next, and he replied that he wanted to stay in product in his current role forever.  Perhaps he has the greatest job on earth.

As a CmpE, strategy consulting companies are a good choice, as they can lead to a lot of great things (B-school).  There is technology consulting as well.  IBM and SUN are also out there.

And there you have it, MSFT internship interviews, in a nutshell.

MLB

http://police.vanderbilt.edu/laptopreg.htm

good reason to do this - even if its found smashed your warranty is validddd

Hamy

I only posted the top ten times, but below that everyone is in order. I didn’t include you if it didn’t boot. Pictures of the event coming soon. The top table lists best times, everyone won by going head to head against each other.

Times from Prelim Day (Thur)

204 anas othman
205 adrian lauf
211 ryan rau
221 trey reece
228 aryeh hillman
236 kyle prete
239 lenny silver
243 syamir ismail
246 chris thompson
253 walter thorn
253 adam albright

Everyone is listed in order (though no more times) if you click the link at the bottom of this post

Hamy

This is everyone else’s results from Prelim Day. If it didn’t boot, you are not listed here.

dan maxwell
mark phelan
rob douglas
joe liyana
hilmi mustafah
steven zittrower
steven manuel
mike dibenigno
charreau bell
raffi bedikian
guy kopsombut
charlie riccio
Mohammed aminuddin
Akin olugbade
bailin gao
Arthur stieren
dylan cooney
alex willingham
ahmad razak
emily ross
john sullivan
tera carrecia
beville nicholas
cory plastek
victor clarke
Mohammed Rahman
alia ghaffar
ilyas eli
evan kaiser

• Crimson Red Casing
• 15.4 in screen
• 2MP built in webcam
• 128 NVidia Gforce 8400m (Graphics Card)
• 120 GB Sata ATA HD
• DVD +/- RW
• 2 Gig Ram
• 1.66 Ghz Dual Core
• Bio Finger Scanner

Here are some pictures:

Hamilton

thanks to ben g for work on the registration…we hacked it together quickly from something we had already built.

Also, there is a new forum open on recent computer hacks and some ethics stuff associated with using them. check it out, pretty sweet stuff in my opinion

Officer Changeover

Fastest Geek

At and T is wanting to come and give a technical presentation on networking.

Another presentation that would be upcoming is the MSDN NET presentation. They are a large ISP in north america. Details later.

Hamy

• Fastest Geek Stuff
• Officer Changeover
• Upcoming Lectures(set and possible)
• Any other new stuff–open floor
• come up with second place item for fastest geek, get someone to give it to dozier (200) price limit
• date for at and t presentation
• date for isdn net big arse isp

Hamy

P.S. You will need to read this post directly to see the minutes, i didnt want to clog up the front page

Student IT Leaders Meeting Notes
Tuesday, Janurary 8, 2008
114 Sarratt

The Student IT Leaders group was first convened several years ago as a
cooperative initiative by the Office of Innovation through Technology,
student life, and ITS. The advice of student tech leaders was sought
specifically for the migration-to-epassword process, and thereafter for many
other matters.

In attendance at the January 8, meeting were Jon Ahlbin, Vanderbilt Computer
Society; Susie Archer, Provost¹s Office; Matthew Berg, VCS; Chris Contos,
ITS; Josh Culley, Dean of Students IT; Fabiani Duarte, Vanderbilt Student
Government; Lola Fitzpatrick, A&S; Beth Fox, Public Affairs; Cindy Franco,
OAK; Michael Gaines, Peabody; Joe Hills, Vanderbilt Visions/The Commons;
Matt Huckabee, VCS; Miron Klimkowski, VCS; Ralph Knapp, Peabody; Jon Lee,
VCS; Michael Martin, The Commons; Ben Podgursky, VCS; Andy Richter,
Engineering; F. Clark Williams, DoSIT;

I. OAK
Cindy Franco discussed potential upgrades to OAK and the likely timeframe an
upgrade. An upgrade to the most recent version would add features and
functionality, but would also be fraught with challenges in dealing with
bugs. Therefore, it is likely that Vanderbilt will opt for an intermediate
step to insure that processes are uninterrupted. Cindy also discussed issues
that affect system performance and backup (e.g., duplication of files across
multiple sections of a class and multiple years of a class¹s being offered).
Approximately 42% of classes use OAK, a figure that is on par with
comparable institutions.

II. LAN Party
The LAN party sponsored by the Vanderbilt Computer Society and ITS will take
place on February 23, at the conclusion of Engineering Week.

III. ID Fraud
Because of the theft of laptops with sensitive data from the Metro Election
Commission, students requested that an email be sent to all students
regarding identity theft. Beth agreed that the message could include the
link to the MyVU page developed in reaction to the theft. F. Clark said that
he would send an email.

IV. Wireless Implementation
F Clark reported that Dean Bandas had authorized obtaining an estimate for
wireless access in the Community Partnership House. We await hearing from
ITS.

V. Student IT Leaders
Students and administrators alike reported that they find the Student IT
Leaders meetings useful. Students indicated that they think the opportunity
for communication afforded by the gatherings is especially important.

VI. SSN as Unique Identifier
Students indicated that they remain anxious regarding the social security
number being the unique identifier in university data systems. Susie Archer
will discuss the issue, and the university¹s ongoing efforts to replace the
SSN, at the February meeting.

VII. Meeting Schedule:
Students will submit the times they can meet by no later than January 15 so
that dates and times for the semester meetings can be set.

BE IT RESOLVED THAT The Vanderbilt Student Government urges the Administration to lobby legislative bodies vigorously to relieve college and universities of the onerous burden of being a policing agency on behalf of copyright owners

full bill included below. (dammit, this, for people that are confused, means VSG is politely asking vanderbilt admin to stop letting the riaa ask them for any of our private info and to leave us the hell alone. they suggest the riaa should screw off stop asking vandy to do their dirty work for them in trying to track students down. )

hamy

VSG Copyright bill