Ensuring mice don't disturb a sleeping Windows 7 machine

Having recently made the leap to running Windows 7 on my main laptop, things have, in general, been pretty good. There have been a couple of niggles (eg. Explorer crashing and restarting (something that it now does very well), most commonly caused by IZArc's shell integration) but all-in-all I'm happy to have a cleaner and quicker machine for everyday use.

I was particularly looking forward to benefiting from the updated power management and sleep/hibernate functions that at last seem to be reliable on a Windows machine. I had persisted with "sleeping" my XP build but it was always a game of chance as to whether the thing would wake up successfully - I always had to make sure I closed down anything valuable before beginning the hypnosis. Windows 7 rapidly loses conciousness when commanded to do so and has yet to fail to return (touch wood!).

One element of behaviour, however, did seem strange. Sometimes when I suspended my machine it would immediately wake up and I would have to suspend it a second time. After a few iterations I realised it was the act of unplugging a borrowed USB mouse after the suspend process had completed that was causing the problem.

Whilst I'm happy to have the option, I think it's highly unlikely that many people will want to have an accidental mouse click or a device removal wake their system. Perhaps it would be better if this option was switched off by default? No matter.

A little Googling pointed me to "powercfg -devicequery wake_armed" and this revealed that a "HID-complaint mouse" was indeed capable of waking the system. Issuing "powercfg -devicedisablewake "HID-compliant mouse"" removed this device from the list and now all is good. (This command has the same effect as unticking the "Allow this device to wake the computer" on the "Power Management" tab of the device's properties in Device Manager.)

If this turns out to be my biggest difficulty with my new OS then, of course, I'll be a very happy bunny!

Post-trip photo sorting

I've just spent half a day sorting through photos of my recent trip, ready to bore my extended family and friends should they dare to ask me where I've been. Here's a brief rundown what took up all this time.

True to form, I'd neglected to update my camera settings properly as I moved between timezones and, for the changes I did make, even managed to change one camera and not the other, further complicating the situation. In order to have Picasa, iPhoto or whatever display the photos in the correct chronological order it was necessary to do a little rework.

My cameras save the date and time into the EXIF data of each photo as a discrete value, with no adjustment or recording of timezone or daylight saving settings. After working out the required time corrections by reviewing the photos against the cameras' current times, I created a plain text file ("dir /B IMG*.jpg > list.txt") containing one picture filename per line and then manually chopped this up so I had one file per time adjustment, e.g. "plus4.txt".

Using the excellent EXIFutils and the good old command-line "FOR", I was able to modify the EXIF data easily by adding the appropriate correction. The "exitdate.exe" tool allows you to add or subtract an amount of time to or from the existing timestamp data. A sample of my workings appears in the screenshot. (Remember, you need "%%i" in script files, "%i" if running the command interactively.)

Modifying the date/time of the AVI videos from my compact camera required a different tool. Each file contains metadata that can be edited with many downloadable tools, the best I've yet found is abcAVI. However nice it is for the metadata to be correct, this data is generally ignored and it's the file's modification time that is used by most photo libraries to determine the sort order for video clips. To correct this I used "touch" (in fact "touch.exe" from the UnxUtils toolset) to set the modification time back to the manually corrected time from the metadata. By the way, this is a bit of a pain as you need to make sure you preserve the file modification times as you move them around, sometimes a challenge if you're using FTP etc.

Now all I need to do is wade through the snaps and brutally cut out all but the ones that are worth keeping. Being a hoarder, that's something where I really struggle.

On the way home

An early start was the order of the day as Clint volunteered to dash to Starbucks to collect breakfast before we set out to Milford Sound. The brand new RealJourneys coach was very cool with its tiered, angled seats and massive expanses of glass. Tracey, our driver, kept us well entertained as we headed the two hours down to Te Anau under increasingly grey skies. Statistics about sheep, deer, stoats and other introduced species made a very good case for not interfering with Mother Nature's work. A brief stop for coffee revealed the temperature had dropped also. We were beginning to think our luck with the weather may have come to an end.

The remaining two and three quarter hours were interspersed with a number of stops as we headed up along the bottom of steep valleys towards the Homer Tunnel and then Milford itself. No-one really noticed the skies clearing but all of a sudden there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The scenery is the most specatular you could imagine. Remnants of recent avalanches were still mightily impressive, as was the engineering effort that had gone into blasting a tube 1270m thorough a mountain. More stories, of postmen and more wildlife, were retold and before we knew it we were down at the harbour waiting for our departure on a cruise of the sound (actually a fjord, as Tracey so rightly pointed out).

Two and a bit hours on the water allowed us to scour both sides of the lake, the south side on the way out into the Tasmin Sea and the north side on the way back. The weather remained flawless and stunning, with the boats crew joking that they'd had similar conditions before - sometime in 1978. Seals and penguins were the main attraction and the rolling and picthing on the open water certainly made everyone hold on. The vegetation, sounds of wildlife, fantastically high waterfalls and impossibly balanced trees were really something to behold. The entrance to the fjord from the sea is a long way from obvious, a true hidden jem.

Once back on dry land, we wandered the ten minutes along the foreshore to the airport for our trip back. The coach was going to take a bit over four hours to race non-stop(ish) to Queenstown but our light aircraft trip would see us back there in under 45 minutes. Phil managed to bag the seat next to the pilot while Clint and I were left to fight with the chickens on the back row. Fortunately we were all afforded amazing views as we headed up Arthur's Valley to Lake Quill before turning left to head back across to Lake Wakatipu and home. Words and pictures are inadequate to describe what we saw, a truly memorable experience.

Getting back at a reasonable time for a beer and pizza was a great decision. The evening was gorgeous and sitting outside in the mountains was glorious. Having eaten, we managed to walk off some of our excess by hunting for some secreted Tupperware in the park next to a (unexplained) monument to Captain Scott of the Antartic. I think it's fair to say Clint and Phil won't be signing up to the sport any time soon. ;-)

The following morning saw us head up the Skyline gondola and three runs down the luge. Despite Phil's cheating, I managed to win two of the three races. My extra weight (a bag and camera etc!) proved useful as we hurtled down the hill - great fun. Then it was some light shopping and back to the airport for our hops to Christchurch and ultimately Auckland. The traffic was at its peak as we headed back to the North Shore, the only facet of NZ that needs improving.

A farewell dinner at Wildfire in Takapuna with Bex and Karen was lovely and I took the opportunity to thank the girls for so generously loaning me their men for the duration of my stay. My trip has been so very busy but so very short. It was great to see Phil's boys too and I'm stilled a little shocked at how NZified they've become over such a short time.

One last VERY early start for the airport and it was time to say goodbye once again. We had breakfast before Phil and Clint followed me to make sure I went through security, they seem to have some bee in their bonnet about overstayers.

I'm now in my hotel room in Narita, Japan before my return to Heathrow in the morning (or whatever time my body will think it is by then). No doubt I'll miss the friendly Air NZ Kiwi service. I've had the most fantastic time and it was sad to leave my friends yet again. That said, I'm looking forward to getting home to my family and planning our excursion down to NZ so I can show them what a special place it is. I'll be back!

Cheap data for travellers with Telecom NZ

In order to keep mobile data costs down to a more reasonable level while I was holidaying in New Zealand, a kind and local chap recommended the Telecom NZ XT network as offering the best value. A quick trip down Queen Street allowed me to buy a NZ$30 SIM (including $15 of call credit) and a $20 top-up voucher. This, along with a $10 bonus for registering online, gave me a total of $45 calling credit. For NZ$30 you can buy a 30-day 500MB "data extras" pack, ideal for my blogging and Twittering needs.

However, the staff in the Telecom NZ shop were very pessimistic that my phone would be up to the job. Despite their compatibility checker (based on IMEI number) saying everything would be OK, they related stories of non-Telecom phones working for three days before packing up. My phone worked fine in the store with a test SIM so I felt sure all would be OK.

Everything was indeed fine until the following morning. From Browns Bay we headed north past Wellsford and I noticed my phone was apparently detecting a 3G network but I had no network name or indeed any signal strength. This remained the same all the way up to Paihia. It seemed Telecom's prediction had come true - no service for me.

My main UK mobile is a Nokia E71, specifically the E71-1 variant. Looking up the specs online reveals this version has WCDMA900/2100 capabilities, suitable for the UK market. I now know the XT network operates primarily on WCDMA850 with WCDMA2100 only "in some metro areas". Sure enough, on returning to my Auckland base the phone once again sprang into life.

All-in-all WCDMA2100 coverage seemed to be present only in a few built up areas (for me; Auckland city centre, Browns Bay, Queenstown - nothing in Whangerai for example). It seems this frequency is implemented alongside the ubiquitous XT standard WCDMA850 to provide extra calling capacity in busy locations.

To receive anything approaching the claimed coverage you really need to have a WCDMA850 capable device. The Nokia E71-2 (WCDMA850/1900) or, even better, the E71-3 (WCDMA850/2100) phones for example would be ideal.

So, there is no mystery (surprise!) and phones do not drop off the network after a few days, but it is very possible you will move out of range of a suitable network for your device. If you have the right equipment, all will be fine. Happy surfing!

Catching my breath

Crikey, I've been kept busy since I last blogged my progress on Tuesday. Apologies for that, I'll try to catch up now. Things may seem a little random or disorganised as sleep is trying to get the better of me as I type...

Following a Wednesday morning ¥6900 (NZ$107, £47) breakfast in my hotel room I checked out and headed for Akiba. The Tokyo Met-r-o was back to its normal busy self after the national holiday (culture day) the day before. I headed up to Suehirocho and returned to the surface in "Electric Town". This place never dissappoints and the warm sun was a good excuse to pop into many shops for a quick look round. Unfortunately, due to the fall of exchange rates, the British Pound was worth around 40% less than when I was last here so little shopping took place. The new robots took up a lot of my time and they continue to impress with more tricks every time I see them. No purchase on this trip. :-(

My midday lunch appointment with old colleagues and friends, Kano-san and Alex, was really fun and it was great to see them. We made full use of their local knowledge and had a wonderful, ridiculously cheap and properly Japanese meal followed by another Japanese tradition of Starbucks. I then strolled back down Aoyama Dori, past the office building where I had been working and down to Akasaka before taking a right and returning to the Okura hotel for my bus back to the airport. We made record time (~55 minutes) to Narita, whizzing passed lots of other coaches from the same company, I suspect it must have been our driver's last run of the day.

Queueing at check-in took well over an hour and then I spent another forty minutes in the security area while every single item in my carry-on bag was examined one by one. At least all this meant that I didn't have too much time to kill waiting for my flight. Asahi beers at 200 went down very easily and I was in my seat before I knew it. Air NZ service is second to none and I had a very pleasant flight.

Thursday morning arrived four hours earlier than my body expected and, after being processed through arrivals and biosecurity, I was happy to be greeted by both Clint and Phil who were in the process of buying coffees. It turned out these were necessary to keep us warm as we scurried back to Phil's car in the rain under very low and grey skies. Karen extended the welcome and soon we were out exploring North Shore. Lunch with the enchanting Bex was great, followed by the ferry across from Davenport to Auckland for a good look round there too. The rain, which had abated for much of the afternoon, returned with low, low cloud. Still a great afternoon. The evening was spent with Clint's parents and family for a Bonfire Night BBQ. As the cloud had stuck and the rain continued to fall, much of the traditional pyrotechnics were lost in the fog.

On Friday we set off north on the road towards Paihia. Highlights on the outbound journey included breakfast at Jack's Café, the toilets in Kawakawa, that must be seen to be believed, and a steam railway that runs in the road through the middle of the same town. When continued past Paihia to the Treaty Grounds. These were spectacular in the glorious sunshine.

Then it was out on the water for a spot of sea fishing, my first ever such outing. We chose a small boat that took us out to the very edge of NZ. I managed a couple of keepers and went back to port very happy with myself. Our skipper filleted the catch and we were soon heading back to Auckland and Karen's culinary efforts were wonderful and greatly appreciated.

Saturday saw us head down to Pukekohe to watch Clint's cousin who races V8 cars. Things were busy in the garage as preparations were made for the start of the new season. Clint and I had a go at taking some decent pictures that could be used for promotional stuff this year and we were almost successful(!). Then it was off to the airport, the Koru Club Lounge and eventually Queenstown in the south island. Having a drink around the lake in this most gorgeous of small towns was a pleasure. However, Fergburger's "Big Al" was enough to finish off both myself and Phil (Clint wimped out with a "little lambie".

First thing this morning, Sunday, we headed over to the Shotover Jet boats and enjoyed a coolish, dampish blast down and up the river - all very exciting. Then it was back into town and to hire a car for some exploring. We headed up to Glenorchy, back via Queenstown to Arrowtown, via a bungy bridge and winery/cheesery to Cromwell and finally Clyde. The scenery throughout the day is just the most amazing to be found anywhere on our planet. Learning a little bit of NZ's history was fun and were all looking forward to finding our own nuggets of gold in this Wild West part of the World. Once again it was time to head back to Queenstown, a steak dinner, some Geocaching (in the dark with no GPSr) and then home to the hotel, bed and blogging catch-up.

Tuesday: Bumming around Tokyo

I took the opportunity of waking early to have a wander around Minato-ku, the area of Tokyo where I stayed when I was working here in '06-'07. After arriving under cloudy skies on Monday, Tuesday's weather was absolutely perfect - not a cloud all day and plenty warm enough to need nothing more than a t-shirt. The walk, and plenty of fluids from the ubiquitous vending machines, sorted out my every-so-slightly thick head from Roppongi the night before.

There's so much to see around here, and I feel extremely bad for not having found these places when I would have had time to explore them more thoroughly. Shiba Park is fun, with tannoy announcements in Japanese and English warning dog owners of expected behaviour. The Zojoji temple is a gem and generally the whole area is very nice. Tokyo Tower was busy with people waiting for buses and a concert platform being set up. There was also an impossibly large NZ rugby ball building, unexplained and quite surreal.

Lots more police than I recall around the American Embassy and many more road closures. Still, Tokyo feels like the safest place on the planet.

Maki-san and Kashima-san, two friends from my old IBM team, met me in Ryōgoku for lunch and took me to a fantastic restaurant for chankonabe, not far from the Kokugikan Hall. I'm happy to report I declined the Sumo-sized offerings and am not planning any career change in that direction just at the moment. Sitting on the floor was challenging to my old joints but fun nonetheless.

We then had a look around the impressive Edo-Tokyo museum, housed in possibly the craziest building I've ever been in. The massive hall is suspended ~50m in the air for no obvious reason. I knew when I was taking the photo that the sheer scale of the space would be lost. It was strange to see so many young Tokyo-jin looking around, I suspect not many English teenagers would willingly visit such a place if they had a choice.

From there, we took the Mizube Line water-bus down the Sumida river to Hama-rikyū and had a gentle wander around the gardens. When you're travelling around Tokyo on the Metro or in taxis you never really get to see the waterways that are in fact all around. That's another bit of the city I managed to miss in the seven months I was here.

We finished the day on 46F of the Dentsu building in Shiodome. The city view from up there is breathtaking - unfortunately the windows don't lend themselves to photography. The meal was equally impressive with fantastic gohan (my favourite) steamed in stone pots along with lots of beef, vegetables and seafood. It was sad that the day went so quickly and I'm already planning to return the favour of hospitality when my friends visit the UK. Perhaps the 2012 Olympics will tempt them to make the trip.

Today's plan is a trip to Akihabara, "Electric Town", to peruse the technology that will be on the shelves in the UK in a few years from now. Then I'm meeting some friends for lunch before heading back to the airport and another 11 hours in the air down to New Zealand.

The first hangover (it must be day 2)

300 yen beers in Tameiko-sanno went down far too easily. Conversation was fun with Peter, Keith, Robert, Gary and Shaun (Sean, Shorn etc.) who was quite eloquently arguing that "vender" is the correct spelling of the word. iPhones seem to be everywhere and their constant vibration was almost too much for Peter (as he'd lost his last Friday).

Rather predictably, Peter's idea of "old-school Yakitori" in Ebisu turned into silliness at Propaganda in Roppongi. Keith showed off his gambling skills and I ended up staggering back to the hotel in the early hours. There, my body clock should be just right by the time I get down to NZ.

Base camp one - Tokyo Okura

Sure enough, we were less than 15 minutes late into Narita after an uneventful flight. I managed to see a bit of the Western Siberian Plain before dosing off at Surgut and waking again over Khabarovsk. At 600Mph that means I must have got around four hours sleep, not bad at all.

Immigration was swift, the fingerprints and photo done by a quite amusing NEC gizmo and my bag appeared amongst the first few. A customs officer with no English didn't waste any of his time on me, neither did the Friendly Airport Limousine lady who made me wait four(!) minutes before I was being whisked into Tokyo centre.

Quite a lot has gone on in two and a half years since my last visit with lots of changed buildings and new roadways. Some things I'd forgotten about remain the same; every employee of the coach company bowing to every departing coach, crash barriers painted white and spotlessly clean on both sides, spotlessly clean high polish chrome effluent tankers and the ever popular announcement on the coach "please do not use portable phones as these annoy the neighbours".

The Okura is exactly as it was, and perhaps has been since 1962. It's nothing short of embarrassing having to say "good afternoon" individually to the thirty or so bell staff littering the "robby". I suppose this is the price of being treated like royalty.

Now I've got an hour to compose myself before I head out to meet my Suzuka 2006 GP buddy and a number of his chums. It seems I make a good excuse to go out for too much beer and "old-school Yakitori", whatever that may involve.

Waiting for the call

I sorry to report I've already suffered my first flight delay. The inbound flight is roughly 30 mins late, so shall be our departure. However, I expect a little gentle speeding over the Arctic will see us arrive in Tokyo on time(ish).

The business lounge is remarkably quiet. As usual, I'm outnumbered around 7:1 by my Nihonjin brothers and sisters. Including me there's only two Brits so it seems JAL's imminent request for government help is indeed most earnest.

Didn't manage a photo of the quizzical totty who helped me fill out my thoughts on the service I've received so far. Probably for the best. Instead here's one of aeroplanes - Cool!