It seems that their all jumping ship. To me from the outside looking in, it seems that there must be quite a lot of disquite inside the Party at the moment.

With two of the main ‘runners’ gone, I can’t see the party recovering quickly.

It’s a pity realy, however hope springs eternal, the Blah Party may just be picking up the mantle, that the OMRLP used to hold.

It looks like the Monster Raving Looney Party are in crisis. Boney Maroney has announced that she will be stepping down as Deputy Leader.

If this happens I happen to know that it will for all intence and purpose mean the end to the only political part in the UK that has any sense of humour and the only one that has not lost touch with the common man.

Yes they may get thought of as the ‘joke party’ but they do a lot of good, I mean if they only take one vote from the two main parties then they have done their job in my eyes.

Pop over and show your support, and perhaps, with a little luck we can help show that we do still want them around.

I’ve got one Joost beta invite going spare. First come first serve, just leave a comment.

Word in the press has it that the charismatic Thomas Bscher has tendered his resignation as the head of Bugatti. Thomas Bscher joined the VAG Group in 2003 to head the EB16.4 Veyron project as it had fallen into issues under it’s previous leader.

It is said that Thomas Bscher like others in the group has fallen out with the current VW head Martin Winterkorn. It’s believed that he wanted funds to create a second Bugatti car, one that would probably replace the current ageing Bugatti range.

It seems that the current VW boards sympathy to Porsche could be the key issue inside the upper management at the group. VW and Porsche have always had a tie with each other, but rumor has it that the Porsche family are looking to control more of the VW board, and I’m personally not sure if that is a good or bad thing. After all who needs another Caymen/Toureg?

The A700 is by no means a new camera, having been launched in October 2006. It is currently available at a very good price point, however - around £80/119Eur/$157.

The A700 is aimed at the home/first time user, and for this user the camera is good. However if you are looking for a camera to compliment your DSLR then this is probably not the camera you are looking for. I’ll explain why, but first some specifications:

Specs

Sensor : 1/1.6-inch Super CCD HR at 7.3MP
Resolution Support : 3,072 x 2,304 (7.3M) /3,264 x 2,176 (3:2) / 2,304 x 1,728 (4M)/ 1,600 X 1,200 (2M)/ 640 X 480 (0.3)
Video Resolution : 320 x 240 pixels ( 10 frames/sec.), 160 x 120 pixels ( 10 frames/sec.)
Lens : Fujinon 3.0x Optical zoom lens, F2.8 – F5.2 – 8- 24mm (Equivalent to 36-108mm on a 35mm camera)
ISO Speeds : 100/200/400 via an Auto mode
Flash : Internal flash. Wide angle (Approx.1.6 -12.5ft.), Telephoto (Approx. 2.0-6.6ft), Macro (Approx.1.0 – 2.6ft).
Flash modes : Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro.
Display : 2.4" 112000 pixel Amorphous silicon TFT (around 91% scene coverage)
Storage : Internal 12Mb plus xD Card (16Mb one supplied)
Power : 2xAA

Usability

The reason I mentioned that this camera is more suited to the home or first time users, is that this camera takes the concept of KISS ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") to a whole new level.

The Camera has no ‘manual’ modes to speak of, and in its default power up state uses a quite competent auto mode. This can be overridden, however it looks like the Fuji engineers believed that end users wouldn’t be messing about in the menus, and as such have spent very little time on their design and layout.

The point and shoot concepts of the camera work well; the zoom is easy to use, as is the display on the rear.

The camera is a little large in comparison to some of the other devices on the market (for example the Optio A20 which I reviewed earlier in the year).

Photos

The pictures the camera produces are a little hit and miss. In good lighting, or under ideal conditions for the flash, the camera produces photos that are at least on a par with more expensive equipment. Its abilities under extreme lighting conditions are not so good.

As you can see from the two pictures here (the right being the cleaned version), the photos do show improvement with just a little touching up. This however does not help in dark conditions. The camera just does not seem to pick up enough information for you to touch things up later.

The camera ’s macro mode is also a little hit and miss. If you get the distance from the object just right, it produces some good quality shots (under good lighting). There is very little noise to be seen in the photos, even when zooming in on the image after it’s been taken. This shows that the CCD of the device is quite good. It seems that the downside to the device is probably due to the lens and software.

The lens issue also shows itself on shots where the lens is at its widest zoom, with a noticeable ‘fish eye’ effect seeming to happen, however the usual bugbear with cheap lenses is the corners, and this shows very little chromatic aberration.

Summary

The camera is certainly not the best of the current breed, but it’s not the worst either. It’s certainly very week on the features list, but some novice users will see this as a positive rather than a negative.

Framing of full frame shots could be an issue as the LCD display clips the edges, however this is not uncommon, and it seems to be the fashion to not put a proper view finder on compact cameras nowadays.

The flash is powerful enough for snap shot use, but can be a bit of a demon when it comes to red eye.

Photos, for the most part, are acceptable and after a little "photoshopping" look fine for most uses.

This camera would have been better if a little more thought was put into the design of its various sections. The case should be a little slimmer, the software a little more grown up, and the lens perhaps a little more in tune with the CCD.

That said, if these things were done I doubt the price would be as low as it is for this camera. Direct competitors are few and far between at this price point, the closest being the Pentax Optio E-20 or the Sony DSC-S600, however both of these are 6MP cameras and not 7MP, so not directly comparable.

Conclusion

If you are new to digital cameras, or need a compact and already own xD Cards then you could do worse than the Fuji A700.

However, I suspect you’ll outgrow it quite quickly, so it may be worth saving up and getting one of the newer 9 or 10 Mega Pixel compacts that are now available.

It would be an ideal kids first camera as it is built well, relatively light and requires no setup whatsoever.

If you cannot stretch the extra 60 pounds or so for the next level up, then this is certainly better than the ‘no-name’ cameras out there; although the lens is not perfect, and the software and features lack, it is still a decent ‘bang for the buck’ camera from a reputable manufacturer.

Author’s note - The thumbnail images link to the bigger original which are around the 5mb mark. Some of the photos have been touched up in PhotoShop.

The MotoGP season started last weekend. I will not repeat what I wrote for BlogCritics, however I will link over to my Race Report, and season preview.

Pop along, and let me know what you think, will it be a Yamaha year, or will other teams be on the Yamaha pace? It’s certain that the Ducati is quick in a straight line, after seeing Stoner at the weekend, but will it work around the twists.

I wrote last week about my move from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, and in that article I mentioned that I moved my Domain Controller over at the same time.

There has been questions about what and how, so I’ve knocked this together for anyone that needs to do likewise.

In this scenario we have our old server, and we have our new freshly Server 2003′d server, OLD and NEW.

• Install DNS on the NEW server, however do not configure it. To do this just add the DNS role through Add Remove programs. You may also need WINS if you use legacy OS’s.
• Configure the NEW server’s network with a static IP, and the primary DNS should point to the OLD server for DNS, with itself as a secondary.
• Join the domain on the new server (through computer properties) and reboot.
• DCPromo the server upto a DC, you should join this server as ‘Additional Domain Controller for an Existing Domain’. This will automatically configure the DNS to replicate the DNS of the domain. Use the defaults for all the settings, unless you have a good reason not to. Make sure you remember the recovery password that you enter.

Write after a reboot at this point you will have two DC servers on your LAN (NEW and OLD), the problem is however that OLD will still be the FSMO master for all the roles in the domain, seeming as we are decommissioning this box we need to move all the roles.

• First off we need to make the NEW server a Global Catalogue server, to do this launch ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’, now expand your site, then expand servers, select the NEW server, then right click and properties of NTDS Settings (on the right pain). Select the ‘Global Catalogue check box, now ok out of this screen.
• Now change the properties of the NEW server network to point to itself for DNS as primary and the OLD server as secondary.

Now that the server is a GC server we can assign it FSMO Roles, lets do that.

• Launch the ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’ from Admin tools.
• Select the Domain and right click, select ‘connect to domain controller’, select NEW then ok.
• Right click the Domain, select ‘Operations Masters’.
• You should now see a screen with three tabs, Select the change button on each tab to migrate that role to the connected server.
• Domain Naming Master must now be transferred. Launch the ‘Active Directory Domains and Trusts’ tool from Admin Tools.
• Right click the root level, and select the ‘Connect to Domain Controller and select the NEW server.
• Right click the root level, and select ‘Operations Master’ then Change. This should move the Ops Master role over to NEW.

The last couple of roles can either be done through script (as can all of the above), or with an ‘unsupported but shipped’ tool. We will use the later as it’s easiest to describe without going into how to use the NTDSUTIL.EXE tool.

• First register the Schema Management tool by typing regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll into the run box on the server.
• Now run MMC and add the Active Directory Schema snapin to it.
• Right click the Domain name, and select ‘Change Domain Controller, select NEW server.
• Right click the Domain name, and select ‘Schema Master’, then change.
• Now we need to change the Site Licensing Server, to do this open ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’, now select Sites, then your domain, then on the right pain right click ‘Licensing Site Settings’ and then Change on the Licensing Computer area.

Ok nearly done now. Reboot the NEW server, and wait, what we are looking for is an event type of 1869 (or 1119, but we should get an 1869) to show up in the NEW servers Directory Service log. Whatever you do don’t shutdown the OLD server until you get this, else nobody will be able to logon, as we will not have a GC server on the lan.

When we get that Event happen, we can remove the Global Catalog role from the OLD server, this is done in the same way as we added it to NEW earlier.

Now we do some checks and force the PDC role over, and for this we will use NTDSUTIL.

• Launch a command prompt
• type NTDSUTIL
• You should see ntdsutil: at the prompt. Here we type Roles and press enter
• fsmo maintenance: connections and enter
• server connections: connect to server NEW (or servername here) and enter
• Connected to NEW using credentials of locally logged on user.
  server connections: CTRL-Z and enter
• fsmo maintenance: Seize PDC
• This should result in the server attempting a nice transfer of the role (which should already be on the NEW server). The results will also tell you about the other roles. If any of the roles are still on the OLD server, then type the appropriate command from below to seize the role on the NEW server.

  Seize infrastructure master
  Seize domain naming master
  Seize RID master
  Seize schema master
  Select operation target

That should be it. You can now DCPromo out the OLD server, and use the new server as if the OLD one did not exist.

The only things left that may need to do are, setup the helper addresses in DNS so the server can lookup Internet DNS names. Setup your DHCP Scope and options.

If there is anything that I have missed, then please let me know.

I finally decided to take the plunge and upgrade my Exchange 2003 server to Exchange 2007.

Now most people would think as it’s a Microsoft upgrade it would be a click, click, click job done. Unfortunately not.

The reason for this is that there is not a ‘real’ 32bit version of 2007, the 32bit version is for development use only, however it works just fine and will get me by until I get another X64 box to put that on.

I complicated tasks by having to move my Domain Controller at the same time as I wanted to separate the two roles out as they were on one server (that’s dying).

First things first, Let’s get another DC up and running and move all the roles over to it.

• Install Server 2003 R2 onto the fresh server and join the domain.
• Install DNS onto it (but don’t configure it just yet).
• Run Regedit and change HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management – SystemPages to a value of 0.
• DCPromo the new server in as a DC.
• Make the new server a Global Catalogue server.
• Move all the FSMO roles over onto the new server.
• Remove the Global Catalogue from the old server and DCPromo it out, there is a warning here though, make sure the roles, policies and objects have transferred to the new server before doing this step. If in doubt leave the server up and running. You are looking for an 1869 event in the Directory Service Log on the new server.

So we now have a nice shiny new Domain Controller on our LAN. Now it’s time to get the Exchange bit working.

• Install Server 2003 R2 onto the new Exchange server and join it to the domain.
• Install Exchange 2007 onto the server. I used the defaults and pointed the 2007 install to the 2003 server when it asked about connectors.
• After you have 2007 installed and up, move the mailboxes over onto the 2007 server. Now if your like me and never delete a mail this WILL take a long time. You do this by firing up the Exchange Management Console, opening the Recipient Configuration tree, selecting one or more mailboxes on the right, right click and select Move Mailbox, click through the wizard to complete the move.

Now we have the mailboxes on the right server we have to setup the messaging delivery options. First we need the sender configuration. Exchange 2007 is designed for larger environments than my house, so it’s designed to use a second (or more) server on the edge of the network to do this job, because of this we have to turn it on.

• First thing to do is enable the spam engine on this server, as by default it’s not turned on unless this is an edge server. Fire up the Exchange Management Console, change the directory to Program Files/Microsoft/Exchange Server/Scripts then run the Install-AntiSpamAgents.ps1 script. This will turn on all the anti spam stuff, you need to restart the service when it asks you to, do this from the services.msc application.
• Re launch the Exchange Management Console and open the Organisation Configuration, then Hub Transport, in the Actions Pane select New Send Connector.
• Put a name into the wizard name, then select Internet from the intended use.
• On the address space page, click new then type * and click next.
• On the network settings page make sure the Use Domain Name System to route mail automatically, then select the Use external DNS lookup settings.
• On the Server Source select the Exchange 2007 server for the Hub Transport server.
• If you want to use Powershell, try New-SendConnector -Name “Internet Connector” -Usage Internet -AddressSpaces “*” -SourceTransportServers “EXCHANGE2007SERVERNAME” -DNSRoutingEnabled:$true -UseExternalDNSServersEnabled:$true obviously change the name and servername.
• Now we need to configure the external DNS. Open the Server Configuration tree, then click the Hub Transport option, then right click the Hub Server on the right and select properties
• Goto the External DNS tab and select the Use these DNS server and put your ISP DNS servers in there, I would use 4.2.2.2 as well as it’s a good backup.

Now that the Sender stuff is sorted, we need to be able to accept incoming mail, this too is usually the task on another server in the perimeter network. We need to set this up so we can receive mail from other people.

• Make your way to the Hub Transport options (see above), select the hub server, then below it select the default SMTP connector (it’s the one mapped to port 25), right click it then properties, select the Permission Group tab and select Anonymous Users, this will allow your SMTP server to accept unauthenticated connections, however that could lead to spammers using you as a relay, obviously not good.
• Click the Organization Configuration, then Hub Transport. Click the Accepted Domains tab, then select the New Accepted Domains action on the right. Put all the domains you want to receive mail for.

Test the install,  I would also recommend now installing the Forefront Exchange Security services (see the initial screen of the Exchange 2007 installer). I would also setup the users to allow Mobile access (if they are not already), do this by selecting the properties of the user and then the Mailbox Features tab.

All done, it’s worth noting there are a couple of things you may want to consider. The Certificate you used for SSL on the old server will need porting over and setting up on the IIS of the new box. You can manage the mobile device configuration and policy, to manage devices select a user, then the Manage Mobile Devices task.

Microsoft have a good amount of information on Exchange 2007 over at their site.

This is just a quick note to all those people (like me) that run WordPress as their Bloging engine.

Go and download the latest version 2.1.2 if you had any version of 2.1 installed.

Some versions of 2.1 have been compromised so I would recomend rather than take the risk just upgrade.

For more info check out the WordPress site.