Pay Pages are good for sites that sell very few things and use things like PayPal’s Buy Now Links,  or need a solution to send customers generated invoices with a single “click here to pay” link.

The code as always can be found in our GIT Repos hosted by BitBucket at code.mptechnology.com

Google also had very little for this person so they came to me to see if there was anything I could do.

I have recovered many NTFS system from RAW state over the years.  I will outline method that anyone with basic understanding of the command line can try to recover a NTFS file system from RAW.

One of the most common symptoms is when you connect a USB Drive, windows detects the drive, but never puts any accessible volumes in to “My Computer” if this happens most likely the NTFS File System was lost/corrupted

First you have to find/assign a drive letter to the Volume

Open up cmd.

Type “diskpart” press enter

This will drop you in to the built in Windows Disk Partitioning tool

Then type “list volume”

This will output a list of all volumes on disk.  You should see the one your looking for.  Fastest way to locate it is by Size, you should know what size the volume your trying to recover is.

if there is a drive letter assigned to the volume, in the ltr column, note it and skip to running CHKDSK.

If not type in “select volume X”  replacing X with the number of volume you want to recover, press enter

then type “assign letter z” (or any other unused letter” press enter

type “exit” and press enter to leave diskpart

RUNNING CHKDSK

Now that we have a drive letter we can run CHKDSK

From the command line type in “chkdsk /f z:” and press enter.

Watch as Windows repairs the file system

When done either use Computer Management -> Disk Manager to re scan the disks, or safley remove the USB Device and then reconnect it.

This guide will help you install Sublime 2 Manual on most Distro’s,  but for my purposes I am using Fedora 17 with Gnome3.  If your using a different Distro the steps will be the same, but you may have to adjust the filesystem locations.

Step 1: Download the tar file

Step 2: Pick a location in your file system for the application,  I have a special directory for non-repo installs I use /home/program.  my /home is on a separate drive from the rest of the file system

Step 3: extract the sublime tar file to this location

Step 4: (optional) rename the “Sublime Text 2″ folder to “sublime”

Step 5: run command

$ sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/sublime.desktop

Step 6: Paste the following in to the new Gedit Windows

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Sublime Text 2
GenericName=Text Editor
Comment=Edit text files
Exec=/home/programs/sublime/sublime_text %U
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
MimeType=text/plain;
Icon=accessories-text-editor
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Utility;TextEditor;
X-GNOME-FullName=Sublime 2 Text Editor
Actions=Window;Document;
Icon=/home/programs/sublime/Icon/128x128/sublime_text.png

Step 7: Save and Close

That should be it, Sublime should now be in your Applications Menu, and you should be up and running

From Jan on I have been VERY busy,  which is both good and bad.

Here is a Update on all the Current MP Tech Group Projects

Cyclone Meter Management:

Renamed to “FreeRead” and “ExactRead”.  The Open Source edition will be coming Q1 of 2013,  ExactRead will come by Q4 of 2013.

Resume Mint & phpMyResume:  On Hold
Typhoon Sites: On Hold
Typhoon Total Bill:  2014 or later,  some time after Exact Read

I am still accepting Freelance contracts as well, so if you have a project you want me to work on, feel free to email me.

Two and a half years ago I made the unfortunate decision to leave my stable job to go work at a new startup run by a person I thought at the time was a friend. This is the story of how Reynolds Metering Services came to owe me over $20,000 in unpaid compensation. This will be a long tale………

In the fall of 2009 both Brian Reynolds, the owner of Reynolds Metering Services, and I worked at the same company.  I was the chief software developer and data manager; Brian was the chief operating officer.  Brian had a messy falling out with the owner of that company and left abruptly in November of 2009.  Soon after owner of that company filed a lawsuit against both Brian personally and Reynolds Metering Services the company, details of that law suit are unimportant to this post, but if you would like more info on that case you can get the Public Information from the Court Clerk for Marion County Indiana,  the case is “Hasten v Reynolds”.

Shortly after Brian left the employ of our previous employer Brian began to recruit me to come work for him,  I was told many things that later turned out to be lies.  Among them was that he was fully capitalized for at least 1 year, he had more than enough business already lined up to cover expenses, and that I would receive 10% ownership in the company in the first year of my employment. None of that was true.

Never the less, at the time I believe him and resigned my position with our former employer in January of 2010. My compensation agreement with Reynolds Metering Services, LLC was a complex one that included a sign on bonus, housing allowances and standard wages.  By March of 2010 parts of my compensation agreement started to be paid late, which concerned me but then he was unable pay for the Health Insurance which resulted in my loss of those benefits.  That is when I started to become very alarmed

Staring in April or May my paychecks were being paid later and later (some times 5 weeks are more late). I started asking questions, as I did not want to end up in the situation I ultimately ended up in.  I was told time and time again that everything was fine,  they were just waiting on some payments from a few clients.  Being a Small business owner myself I understood the problems with cash flow when clients did not pay out on time,  so I believed that was the case.

I found out later most of the payroll after April was paid via the company American Express card.  When a company has to put payroll on a credit card there is something seriously wrong.

Then my paychecks just stopped in mid August.  Again much later I discovered that the American Express Card has been maxed out so they could no longer pull money from that to do payroll with.

After that I was ready to understandably quit,  I felt I was being very accommodating already and was feeling deceived since Brian seems to have money problems he assured me would not occur.  Had I know he did not have the capital before leaving my previous employer I would have never quit that job.

Brian convinced me to give him some more time,  he stated he was attempting to use his home to get more capital,  and when the loan came through he would “make me whole”.  This was Sept 2010.  By the end of Oct 2010 I had a meeting with Brian in which he said he would be unable to obtain the needed financing and would be unable to pay me.  At that point I was laid off from my employment with Reynolds Metering Services, LLC.

At that time Reynolds Metering Services owed me $5,365.16 in unpaid Salary,  $1,053.48 in reimbursable expenses, and $4,200 for a housing allowance that was part of my compensation agreement.  All total $10,618.64 was outstanding when I left the company in Late October 2010.

However, Brian still needed my services as I wrote the application that runs his meter reading business even today, and I set up every technology system the allows his company to function on a daily bases. Further I obviously wanted to get some of the $10,000 he owed me, so in Dec 2010 I agreed to provide 5 hours a week of IT Services in exchange Reynolds Metering Services would pay me $250 per week,  with $100 paying for those 5 hours (which is a huge discount off my normal consulting rate) and $150 be applied to the outstanding balance owed to me.

This arrangement worked well until and he paid more or less on time until the end of Feb 2011.  Reynolds approached me with an offer to do an Installation Job, I used to perform installation for our previous employer before taking over the software development.  This job would be a “big break” for Reynolds Metering enabling him to get his foot in the door with a major new client, and would get me some much needed income since I had been unable to find a full time job to replace my income I was suppose to be receiving from Reynolds Metering.

The contract for the 2 Jobs were for the installation to be completed from March 2011 to May 2011,  I was to be paid just over $17,500 to complete both jobs,  I would be responsible for all travel expenses. Reynolds Metering payed a $5,250 deposit on the jobs.  I spent over $6,800 in travel expenses.

The jobs were completed by May of 2011,  During this time Reynolds Metering Services stopped paying the agreed $250 a week, even though I continued to supply the 5 hours of IT services in addition to completing the installation(s).  He told me he were pay the amount in full when I got back in to town.

In May and June of 2011 I submitted invoices to Reynolds Metering for the Installation Jobs, and repeatably asked about the money he was suppose to be paying me as agreed to in Dec.  He continued to not pay the agreed upon amount, and refused to pay the several months worth of unpaid time accumulated while I was performing the installations.

By late June He was also refusing to pay me for the work I completed on the installations, stating he needed to get paid by his client before he could pay me.

By July I found out that he had been paid by his client, and was still refusing to pay me,  instead he used that money to pay his personal bills. He stopped responding to my emails, and has since refused to pay me at all.

Today this client is Reynolds Metering Services, LLC’s second largest reading client, and from what I understand makes up the bulk of Reynolds Metering Services  “repair” business.

In the latest fit of desperation I have learned from the Indiana Dept. of Labor that he is now accusing me of stealing property from the company,  namely a software license key that came from our previous employer.  That key was part of my  consulting agreement that I had with the company. While I was employed there I developed a custom platform for their business,  after I left their employ they decided to move to a commercial solution, I assisted them in moving the data from my platform to the commercial Platform.

There were several items included in my consulting agreement one of them was the Desktop PC that I used at the company and there was monetary compensation as well.  That company, to their credit, paid me in full and on time.

To my knowledge Mr. Reynolds can not produce an invoice or receipt, that shows he bought and paid for the software key is claims I have of his.  If Reynolds has documentation that I have his property, I will happily return it, or reduce the amount he owes me if I no longer have the property.  I know he has no such documentation though because I keep excellent records and I know what was mine and what was his.  I returned 100% of the property that belonged to Reynolds Metering at the time of my separation from the company. He is only now using this excuse because he feels guilty about not paying me, and if he can convince himself that I somehow screwed him he might be able to live with himself. Further I offered to GIVE HIM my key,  since I have no use for it currently, if he pays me everything he owes me.

The Indiana Dept of Labor has ruled in my favour and has directed Reynolds Metering Services to remit to me the amount I have claimed above in back wages.  However he has refused and unfortunately the Dept of Labor can not sue him on my behalf.  (See below for what happened when I spoke to a lawyer)

He also has refused to return or pay for some computer equipment I allowed the company to use free of charge while I was employed there.  I offered to allow him to purchase this equipment for $550 or return it.  He has done neither.

To to summarize,  Reynolds Metering Services currently owes me over $22,000 in unpaid compensation,  plus any additional damages or late fees I am owed by law.

I have spoken to several lawyers,  all of them want huge retainers and most of them have looked at Reynolds Metering Services finances and have told me my chances of actually collecting are slim.  I continue to send emails and invoices hoping Reynolds Metering will do the right thing and at least pay some of what they owe me, but I highly doubt I will ever see payment on my labor.

Well that is my story,  I hope it helps someone….  It is best to always get your payment upfront, and if you are going to work on deferment ensure it is for a very small amount.

What about my business??

For a limited time we are offering FREE design services to the first 100 business to contact us about this program,  you will be given an option of hosting packages, to qualify for the free design you must prepay 1 year of hosting services,  this ranges from $99 to $259 depending on the plan.  You get a FREE mobile and desktop web design and a 20% off any print design services (brochure, business card, letter head, etc)

The first thing you should be aware of is that moving a site is a multiple day process in order to ensure proper and limited or no service interruption.

Changing Registers?

If your planning on changing your registration company for your domain name,  I recommend you do that before moving the actual web site,  this will make things go much smother,  It can take up to 3-4 days for a Transfer to complete,  each registrar has a different process for Transfers so ask the company your moving the domain name TO for help,  many times they can walk you through step by step what to do in order to move your domain name to their services.

Whats in a name?

The next step is to recreate the current Dynamic Name Server (DNS) records at your new hosting provider.  If you use an external (not with your current hosting provider) you can skip this.  You need to set up each A , CNAME, MX, SOA, and other DNS Records on the new DNS Server,  for now just Duplicate them Exactly as they are. Most hosting providers have an interface for you to view these records, if not ask your current hosting provider for a list

Time to LIVE!!!

Now this is the most important step,  many hosting companies do not do this step and it really matters,  You need to Adjust the Time to Live,  or TTL, for each record,  during the Transfer I normally set it to 300, which is 5 mins,  meaning other DNS servers will only save or cache the record for 5 mins,  standard is 4 hour to 12 hours.

The TTL time is listed in seconds.

Update the Name

Now you need to go to your Registrar and change the Name Server Records to your new hosting company (again skip this step if you use an external DNS system). Once you change these records your new hosting company will be directing the traffic for your sites, if you followed the the steps above nothing should change for your sites visitors, their computers will simply be getting instructions from a different place

Now wait 36-48 hours before going to the next step, this will allow the name server changes to propagate worldwide.

But what about the files

You probably wondering why I have not even transferred even a single file yet,  well we are getting to that,  at this point you can use what ever transfer method you have available,  FTP, sFTP, SCP, etc, to move all of the files from your old host to your new host.  If you have a control panel like cPanel, or interworx you should be able to import and export directly from those system, even if your moving to a different control panel many have importers that will read the export from other systems.

If you do not have a control panel you need to move everything under the “public_html” dir to the new “public_html” dir (this is also called www in some places) if you have subdomains those could exsist out side of this dir and should be moved as well.

Also create a copy of any Databases,  Set up the databases and database users on the new server and import a copy of the databases in to the new server. mysqldump is great for this.
Warning: Some applications do not have portable passwords, if you these apps new passwords will have to be generated for all users

At this point DO NOT transfer any emails or maildir’s,  we will do that later.

Test, Test, Test

Now we need to test the site(s) to make sure it works on the new server,  the best way to do this is to manually edit your PC’s “Hosts File”  On windows it located at “C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts“  on linux/unix it is located at “/etc/hosts“ edit as admin/root this file to add

#new.ip.add.ress  mydomain.com
69.72.130.144    example.com

This will force your site to be directed to your NEW server,  Test your site,  correcting any errors. After your satisfied that your sites work properly on the new server then remove that line from the hosts file to make sure everything goes back to normal, you will now be viewing the site on the old server.  It is a good idea to Change something,  add a post, or add a header to the new and old site to indicate what is being served. This allows you to know what server your looking at.

Email,  What email?

Now you can set up all of the email accounts you have on the old hosting company,  if you use IMAP do not move any mail yet, we will do that last.

Lets get the move on?

Now it is time for the big move,  It is best to do this when you have the LEAST amount of traffic for alot of sites that is around midnight  but some sites see their peak at midnight so it is not a one size fits all, doing it when you have the least amount of traffic is always best.

Put all of your applications, forums, blogs, etc, in to “Maintenance mode” or somehow make them Read only so no new content is posted to the sites

Download a fresh copy of all the databases, and import them to the new server, replacing any data already there.

Change the IP Records in all of the DNS Zones, to the new server,  it should only take 5 mins if you followed my advice from step one for it to be live for EVERYONE.

Take the Sites out of maintenance mode (this should only be applicable to sites that store the settings in the database,  sites with file based settings should automatically  return to normal mode)

Check to make sure your site is being present from the new server (you can look at access logs, databases activity, use iptools.com to check the dns records etc to ensure this)

OMG my Mail is GONE, I Hate you!!!

Email should now also be arriving on the new server, if you use IMAP you might be scared that “all your mail is gone” but fear not,  Log back in to your old server,  probably need to use the IP address instead of the domain name now. Find the Mail Directory,  Nomally just called “mail”  inside that will be a folder for every email account,  you should find the same structure on the new server,  simply transfer the files from 1 server to the other for each mail box and your mail will be back like it was never gone,  we do this last to ensure no mail was lost in transition.

Time is far to Short…..

Now we need to go back to the DNS Records and change the TTL again, this time back to the normal rate of 4 to 12 hours,  I recommend 4 hours,  value 7200.  This will lessen the load on your name server.  Remember TTL is stored in Seconds, so if you want anything different than 4 hours (7200) you need to do the math

WHOA,  Am I done yet

Test everything, if everything works fine you have successfully transferred your site

Shameless Plug Alert!!!!!

If you need help moving a site, even if you are not and never been a MP Technology Company,  We offer Consulting Services to everyone,  so we can professionally move your site to any vendor from any vendor for you,  for a nominal fee.

GBTV.com XBMC Video Plug-in
Original Code: by DrivingMule  -- http://forum.xbmc.org/member.php?u=37373
Modified by: MP Technology Group -- http://www.mptechnologygroup.com
Stay up with the current Releases at http://mptechnology.bitbucket.org/xbmcaddons/
+-------------------ChangeLog------------------------------+

[2011-11-23] Version 0.0.4
- Fixed Live Show Links
- Moved Show logos to Websever
    No Longer distributed with Addon,
- New Custom Logos for Radio Show and TV Show
- Add Show Descriptions for Views that show Descriptions
- Added "Todays Archived Shows" to isolate all shows broadcasts that day
- Moved Inactive Shows Off Main Page
    Inactive shows are Making of, GBInsider,Documentaries,Beck U, Specials, Restoring Courage
- Main Show listing only show last 3 Episodes, Archived List moved to Subdir
- Changed Query URL to only pull Premium Content on Premium content pages
- Moved to git version control
- removed releases from source
- releases can now be found at http://mptechnology.bitbucket.org/xbmcaddons/

I will pick back up the weekly posting on 12/2/2011.

Until then have a Great Thanksgiving

Due to my Current Work Load and I can not continue to support this project,  I have cancelled my GBTV subscription and have no plans at this time to renew

If anyone wants to take over leave a comment below, or Fork the Repo at

https://bitbucket.org/xmbcgbtv/gbtv.com-xbmc-addon

Packaged Downloads are still at

http://mptechnology.bitbucket.org/xbmcaddons/

First I would like to thank XBMC User divingmule, who released the first 2 versions of this Addon,  I simply expanded on it.

Changes:

Premium Content Separated from Free Content

Only Episodes are now listed in the main directory of the show,  Highlight, clips and free content is displayed in a subfolder

For non-subscribers only the shows with free content are listed and it works like the current plug-in.

Show Logos

More of the actual show logos are included

I also cleaned up the code a little to make adding new shows easiers
ToDo:

• Add Todays Shows, Yesterdays Shows, and so forth back 1 week
• Move Shows that are not active to an Archive Dir
• Paginate the listing to speed up the plugin