Magnetic Hill – Black Rock South Australia

If you like to experience nature’s amazing things it has to offer, one place you should not miss is the magnetic mountain in Black Rock South Australia. What is interesting in this place is that natural (magnetic) forces will take your car up the hill without the engine power.

Normally if you switch your car off, put it to neutral while at the middle of a hill and release the brake, your car will start moving downhill, but in this mountain your car will start moving up the hill. When I read about the place prior to my visit I thought it is a illusion in the eye. But after visiting the place I got amazed by seeing the way it moved my vehicle up the hill. To experience this I would encourage you to visit this mountain.

Magnetic Hill is located about 260 km from Adelaide and will take about 3 hour 30 minutes. The road to the magnetic hill is a unsealed road, but you can use a 2WD car to reach there.

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Until you visit Magnetic Hill your self, enjoy me travelling up the hill while my engine is off.

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Harben Vale Cherry Farm – Balhannah South Australia

If you like Cherries like me, another orchard you should visit is Harben Vale Cherries in Balhannah SA 5242. Located on Altmanns road, this orchard is about 100 hectares and produce Beef cattle, Potatoes and Cherries. This is a family owned farm which was with Altmann’s family for some 160 years.

They have started growing Cherries for about 10 to 12 years now and has a very open rural outlook rather than the steeper more traditional areas around Lenswood. You will find ample free parking in the property. This orchard has about 8 main Cherry varieties grown in 3 Hectares. Picking is easy since the trees are well trained and you can easily pick Cherries without using ladders.

Cherry season is a short 2 month period normally from December to January each year. Produce might even finish before the end of the season depending of the number of people visiting farms, So always call or check their web site before visiting. Current farm managers, Wayne and Julie Altman are very friendly people and they would be happy to help if you contact them.

When visiting, it is better to wear shoes in which you can easily walk on grass. Since it will be summer, hats are also recommended. Buckets will be provided to all visitor groups to pick Cherries into so you do not want to take anything for collecting what you pick. At the time I visited, they did not charge any admission fee and one kilo of Cherries were sold for $ 5. These prices can always change so I recommend you to check with the owners before picking since whatever you pick, you should buy. Since these Cherries are fresh you can keep them for few weeks without any problems, if you freeze you may even be able to keep them for few months. But I like to consume them within 2 – 3 weeks from picking.

Address : Altmanns Road, Balhannah 5242.
Phone : 04 3900 1962
EMail : wjaltman@adam.com.au
Web : http://harbenvale.com/

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Microsoft.Ace.OLEDB.12.0 Provider Not Registered

Recently while trying to import some data from Excel onto SQL on a new machine I got the following error at SQL Server Import and Export Wizard Step 2. After doing some searching found the solution is to install Office 2007 Data Connectivity Components System Driver.

If you need to  get it fixed use the following link to get it from Microsoft Download Center.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23734

Finding Number of Records in SQL Tables

By using the following query you will be able to get all the tables with at least one record in the selected database. It will be handy when you needed to get an idea of the number of records in a database. This uses two SQL Server system views, namely SysObjects and SysIndexes.

1. SELECT sysobjects.name AS [Table Name],
2.         MAX(sysindexes.rows) AS [Number of Records],
3.         sysobjects.crdate AS [Created Date],
4.         sysobjects.refdate AS [Referenced Date]
5. FROM sysobjects
6. INNER JOIN sysindexes ON sysobjects.id = sysindexes.id
7. WHERE sysobjects.xtype = 'U' -- Filtering all the User Tables.
8.     AND sysindexes.rows > 0 -- Getting all the tables having at least one reoord.
9. GROUP BY sysobjects.name,
10.     sysobjects.crdate,
11.     sysobjects.refdate
12. ORDER BY 2 DESC -- Ordering by the number of records in table.

 

Above query will bring the following results on the Northwind database.

Resetting Windows XP Mode

Recently I had a problem using Windows XP mode simply because the password for Windows XP mode was not working.This can happen when Windows XP mode password was changed in Windows XP Mode or when the Windows XP Mode was created from another user account to the one currently logged into the physical machine.

One way to fix this is by opening Windows XP Mode Windows Virtual PC Settings and deleting saved credentials. But in my case there were no saved credentials so my button was disabled.

Second way to fix this is by uninstalling Windows XP Mode and reinstalling it.

Third way is a quicker way to do this by simply cleaning the virtual machine files in folder “C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines”. Make sure you are only deleting the files relevant to Windows XP Mode.

Then when you relaunch Windows XP mode, it will say that some of the required files are missing and will prompt to create a new environment. When you press “Create New” it will start the wizard to create a brand new Windows XP Mode.

If it generates any errors, you should try deleting the virtual machine file found in “<User Folder>\Virtual Machines”

After finishing the wizard you will get a new Windows XP Mode.

HTTP Error 404.13 – Not Found – The request filtering module is configured to deny a request that exceeds the request content length.

I recently got this error in one of my applications. When troubleshooting, I found my application is configured to have the default value of 30000000 Bytes for the content length, which was not sufficient for me in some of the file uploading functionalities.

Simply adding / increasing the number in the configuration file corrected this error.

Request Content Length in Bytes.

Default Value – 30000000 Bytes (~28MB)

Maximum Value – 4284229877 Bytes (3.99GB)

1. <system.webServer>
2.   <security>
3.     <requestFiltering>
4.       <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="100000000"></requestLimits>
5.     </requestFiltering>
6.   </security>
7.   ...
8. </system.webServer>

 

To obtain more information read this article.

Ruston’s Roses – Renmark South Australia

If you like to enjoy visiting the Australia’s largest Rose garden then you need to travel to Renmark in South Australia. The place is named Ruston’s Roses, they maintain a Rose garden of 50000 bushes in 4000 varieties. I have been there in off peak season but there were few flowers blooming so I expect it will be full of flowers in season.

To make it an interesting place for everyone Ruston’s got a small car museum as well. Till the ladies enjoy the garden gents can enjoy the cars on display. Not to mention the gift / souvenir shopping possibilities at the place. When you are tired after all that you can enjoy a light meal from the restaurant.

You will find plenty of places to park your car freely. The place is pram and disabled friendly and in off peak season admittance is free. In peak season I think they charge $5 for an adult entry. Visiting them wont be a big issue since they are open everyday of the year from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Find out more by contacting them.

Address: Ruston's Roses, Moorna Street, Renmark SA 5341.
Phone: 08 8586 6191
EMail: anne@rustonsroses.com
Web: www.rustonsroses.com

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Samsung Galaxy S4 not Connecting to Car Audio Fix

Few months back suddenly my Toyota refused to connect to my Samsung Galaxy S4 without any reason. Earlier I could listen to music, dial calls and answer calls without issues.

But suddenly the connection between the car and the phone broke and the worst thing is I lost entire Bluetooth screen from the car audio system (Normally I have FM1, FM2, Bluetooth and AM). I thought my audio system is malfunctioning so I went to Toyota, but they said it is a known error and Galaxy S4 is having new Bluetooth version and it is not compatible with most of the car audio systems and I will not be able to use the phone with the car. This was very disappointing to me so I asked for them for the audio system update but they said no updates are available.

Then I thought to try out few things and get it fixed by myself, good news for anyone having the same issue is I solved the issue. But it is not always reliable but 95% of times it will work.

To get your S4 (or any other new device) connected into your car audio follow the steps below, they might help you.

1. First we need to get the missing Bluetooth mode (screen) back in the car audio, for this I removed all the registered devices I had in the car audio.
2. Then I registered my old Windows Mobile phone to the audio system using the settings screen (since the Bluetooth mode is not available). Any old phone like an iPhone 4G or below, Samsung Galaxy S2, Windows Mobile phones will be ok. If you get the device properly registered you will get the Bluetooth screen back when you restart the car audio system.
3. Then register your Galaxy S4 with the car audio system, and change the connection behaviour immediately. Normally the car audio will try to connect to the phone, but since the phone is having new version of Bluetooth car audio will not recognise the commands transmitted by the phone. So the system will think there is no device.

To over come the issue you need to configure the phone to make the connection. In my Toyota this is done by selecting the connection settings after the Bluetooth connection is made using the Bluetooth mode (screen). Because latest phones are intelligent they will detect that the car audio is having older version of Bluetooth and it will change the instruction set accordingly and start communicating with an instruction set which is recognised by the car audio, making everything back to normal again.

After making my phone to connect to the car, I could play my music, answer calls and dial calls without any issues.

Hope this will help you to get your car audio connected to your latest phone.

Mount Lofty Lookout

A place you would visit to enjoy great scenery while you are in Adelaide South Australia is the Mt. Lofty Summit Lookout. You will be able to see most of the Adelaide while being there. At 720 meters above sea level and 17 kilometers from the city is a good place to enjoy an evening.

To assist visitors there is an information centre to gather more information about the area and a restaurant (http://www.mtloftysummit.com) to enjoy a cup of tea. If you got some more time to spare you could also visit Cleland wild life park which is nearby.

Drive with care since the roads in the area are having bends, also be on alert since there are many cyclists active in the area. There s a big car park so you will find a space to park your car but it will cost (was $3 on May 2013) you since at all times parking fees do apply.

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Kogan Smart TV Dongle Restarting

If you also bought Kogan Smart TV dongle and it keeps on restarting whenever you try to turn it on you might be able to fix it by reading on.

Mine always restarted, at a time when the Android robot man is in view or when Android word is shown.

I did two main things to get it to work normally.

A) Changed the power source – I found the Red LED light in the dongle was not having the brightness it used to have. After doing some testing I found the power adapter which came with the dongle was faulty, so I used another similar power adapter and immediately the restarting of the dongle became less.

Also sometimes this power limitation is caused by the connector slack between the power adapter and the cable. Try changing the cable or adjusting the orientation of the adapter. For example if the adapter is lying flat try to turn it to a side or try to put some kind of an object underneath to reduce the slack between the cable and power adapter.

B) Update the firmware in the dongle – In my dongle updating the firmware made the restarting issue almost vanish. So if you like to make the fix complete try updating the dongle by following the steps below.

Before starting the process make sure that you will not have any power outages until you complete your firmware update (for about 30 mins). If power is interrupted while the update is happening most likely you will have problems using your dongle again, it might even be bricked so be careful.

1. Download the new version of firmware  from the following link.
2. Find an empty USB flash drive or a Micro SD card of capacity 512MB or more.
3. Unzip the downloaded zip file into the USB flash or the SD card. Make sure only the contents of the zip file is present on SD card or flash drive.
4. Plug the SD card or the USB flash into the HDMI dongle.
5. Go to Settings, find System Update then select Local Device and select either USB flash drive or the SD card.
6. This will start the firmware update process and when completed dongle will be restarted.
7. Then you need to do the initial configuration again for things like screen size, WiFi, accounts etc.

Hope this helps you, if you have any questions let me know I might be able to help. Some of the information about updating the firmware is thanks to a reply made by Ozzie Tigar in forums.whirlpool.net.au.

Windows Shortcut Keys

If you are using Windows, following are some handy shortcut keys with their actions to make your life bit easy.

Key Combination	Action
Windows Key + E	Opens Windows Explorer
Windows Key + L	Locks Windows
Windows Key + F	Open Search
Windows Key + R	Open Run Window
Windows Key + D	Minimise / Restore All Applications
Windows Key + Space	Peek to Desktop
Windows Key + Home	Minimise all Applications except the current Application
Shift + F10	Right Click
Windows Key + Number Keys from 1 - 9	Activate / Show Application on Taskbar.
Windows Key + Right Arrow	Switch between different Application Layouts
Windows Key + Down Arrow	Minimize an Application
Windows Key + Up Arrow	Maximize Application
Windows Key + Shift + Up Arrow	Fit Application height to screen height
Windows Key + Shift + Right / Left Arrow	Move Applications among the connected Displays when having multiple displays.
In an Application Alt + F4	Closes the Application
At Desktop Alt + F4	Brings Shutdown Window

 

I did find these in Windows 7, but have not yet tested on other versions of Windows.

 

Dolphin Cruises – Port Adelaide South Australia

Recently after a friend of mine told me about these cruses, we went for the cruise with few families we are friends with. In Port Adelaide 2 companies are offering Dolphin cruses. Namely they are Dolphin Explorer and Port Princess Dolphin Cruises. (For contact details please read on.)

In our cruise Dolphin Explorer took 2 and half hours to take us along the Port river. The ride is comfortable since it is not going to rough sea. On the way you will see big ships which comes into port. Unfortunately on the day we went it started raining so it was bit cold. Since the big boats are having fully covered restaurants no need to worry about the weather.

When talking about Dolphins it is bit frustrating since in our cruise we only saw few Dolphins at the start. But noting on our way, sometimes this might be because of the bad weather we had on the day. Since it costs $18 for an adult with meal I think it is value for money, so we thought to have another go later some day to check out more Dolphins. Until then I will post few photos I captured to make you interested.

There are plenty of free and paid parking in the area, so not to worry on parking. You will be able to find more information including the meal menus and other costs on their web sites.

	Dolphin Explorer	Port Princess Dolphin Cruises
Address :	Dolphin Explorer PO Box 177, Port Adelaide, SA 5015.	Port Princess Dolphin Cruises, Commercial Road, Port Adelaide SA 5015.
Phone :	(08) 8447 2366	(08) 8243 2757 (04) 1881 7837
Fax :	(08) 8447 1344
EMail :	info@dolphinexplorer.com.au
Web :	http://www.dolphinexplorer.com.au	http://www.portprincess.com.au

 

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