StarCraft 2 Install Error – Solved

I just purchased StartCraft2 and started to install it only to get this error:

“The file “&^%$*\StarCraft II” could not be found. If this problem persists, please contact Blizzard Technical Support. (IsAbsolutePath/path is not absolute)”

StarCraft2 Failure

Updated Fix:

  1. Open Command Prompt As Administrator
  2. Enter: >net user administrator /active:yes
  3. Start > Switch User
  4. You can now login as administrator
  5. Run install from this account normally
  6. Logout as administrator
  7. Login to your normal account
  8. Go back to the command prompt and enter: >net user administrator /active:no
  9. Play your game!
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What I’m learning about sales.

As I’ve begun to sell products/services and packages I’ve come to realize how important the lesson of “The Paradox of Choice” is to selling. Take this case in point.

You have two sales man come to you to sell a widget.

Which sales pitch is simpler? Which sales pitch will work if the person you are selling to only understands about 5 of the 20 things you just mentioned.

Less is more when it comes to selling.

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Creating Your Own PHP Framework?

I spent the past few days fighting over the following battle, do I either use an existing PHP Framework or Build One.

I’ve currently been using my Model 1.5 Framework (ScottWork) for sometime, but have been using CodeIgniter on a few client projects and dabbling with some of the leading PHP Frameworks like Zend, Symfony, DooPHP, Yii and CakePHP.

All of this MVC stuff of course got me thinking, what if I want to get other developers to code for me? What if I want to get other developers to maintain my apps/code? What if…?

So I write my own MVC framework here’s a summary if it’s main components:

Here’s my opinion of those main components after comparing them to my Model 1.5 framework (scottwork).

In Summary:

You could use a framework or spend time writing your own MVC framework as I have done. Some people like OO, some people like the order/structure a framework provides. Personally I don’t like spending lots of time coding, so I generate most of my stuff. I also don’t like spending time figuring out a framework’s shortcomings or finding bugs in a framework. I believe in writing small testable, programs/scripts (web pages) that do one thing and do them well.

Some interesting reading:

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VPS Woes

So for some time I had a reseller account at HostGator. The problem I had with this was eventually they put so many sites / re-seller accounts on the server that it (my site) was down often enough where I spent more time contacting support, than I did having to manage my domain. So I moved to a VPS.

Now I am on a VPS at PowerVPS. The problem now is that the root node is constantly getting overloaded and my site is once again VERY SLOW. I need to send them tickets about twice a week to have them fix the issue, so my VPS will come back to life and be responsive.

What to do? What are my options:

I think I am going to try Hybrid for now, see how it goes.

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Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Cookies

I had an issue recently where session cookies were not being set in Chrome and Safari but they were fine in Firefox. It turned out to be the time on the server was off. It seems that Firefox does not obey the same cookie setting rules as Chrome and Safari.

I just thought I would mention this so that if anyone else was searching on cookies not being set in Chrome or Safari, they could get this post and verify the time on their server.

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New Book Idea – Market Research Something…

I am looking into a new book about market research. I have been doing so much over the past few years I thought it might be a good idea for an organized brain dump on the subject.

Basically as entrepreneurs we are always coming up with ideas for new businesses. There is always though a big leap from that initial idea to a successful business. Some of the ideas include:

If you are interested in such a book, please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on the subject.

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Three Programmer Archetypes – What’s yours?

I was at the Columbus Ruby Brigade Meeting last night and having forgot my laptop, I started to take traditional notes on the first lightning talk. It occurred to me at some point during the talk that there’s really 3 kinds of programmers and the kind of programmer really has to do with what they love and where they play. Usually I’ve seen programmers major in one and minor in the other, or sometimes there’s no minor, just a major. First, here’s the 3 types:

  1. Language Fundamentalist – These are the types that love the ins and outs of a language, compiler optimization, how memory is managed, they can explain why a certain language is great or sucks.
  2. Language Craftsman – These are the types that love a certain language, they can tell you the ins and outs of that language’s core API but they are resistant to changing an language once they’ve become adept and skilled at it.
  3. Language Minimalist – These are the types that do as little with a language as possible, they might work with a defined content management system like Joomla or WordPress or if they built a system it might consist of an open source system with 5-10 frameworks or other scripts used to get the job done.

Now based on what type you are you usually dabble/play in some of the following areas:

The Language Fundamentalist

The Language Craftsman

The Language Minimalist

Whether or not these three are all inclusive or accurate, I’m not sure since I am neither a psychologist or a sociologist, but I am a programmer and have seen these kinds of programmers.

Personally I’ve majored in Craftsmanship with a minor in Fundamentalism, I don’t usually care about compilers unless they are preventing me from doing something, I also don’t care for most frameworks as they are someone elses often poor attempt at abstraction or simplification.

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Starting a business is not about home runs!

I was talking to my wife the other day and I realized without thinking about it, that starting a business is a lot like learning how to hit a baseball.

I remember back when my father was teaching me how to hit, I wanted to really really impress him and every time I tried to hit a home run. I did not hit the ball, it was strike, strike, strike and I was on the verge of quitting when he sat down and said “Scott, you’re trying too hard, do this for me, just try to touch the ball with your bat, but don’t swing.”

Sure enough as long as I was just trying to touch the ball, and not trying to hit a home run, I could do it every time. Then next thing he had me do was just take a swing at the ball, and of course, I was encouraged and I tried once again to hit a home run, and of course, swing and a miss. He said to me, “you’re still trying too hard , don’t try to knock it out of the park, just slow down your swing.” So this time he told me he wanted me to just use one hand to hold the bat and hit the ball. Success.

The next thing he said to me changed my game forever, he said, I want you to go about 80% in your hits. So before you were giving it 100% and with one hand it was about 40%, so I want you to go about 80% on everything and never go above it. Success.

Later that year I was selected to go to the all-star game for 2nd base, I was a lock to get on base, though I didn’t hit many home runs, I could always get on base.

Starting A Business is not about hitting home runs, which is what I’ve been trying to do, it’s about taking it down a notch, getting some success, taking it up a notch or two getting more success, and so on.

— Update —

I still like the quote: “Think big because it takes the same energy as thinking small.” But to become the home-run king, you first need to connect with a bat.

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Chrome vs. Firefox

I decided top stop using Firefox for my Gmail and other Google Apps yesterday. I’ve instead started using Chrome for those apps. I’ve already noticed a huge difference in memory utilization by Firefox, it’s ran the entire day and is still under 200MB. Chrome’s instance of Gmail is only about 100MB. Usually by this time, I would have had to restart Firefox because it’s memory is over 1.2GB.

Who’s fault, Google or Firefox?

I think this is Google’s way of increasing market share on it’s browser, Chrome. I think that they’ve taken advantage by coding a leak that Chrome ignores, or has a way to circumvent. Personally I don’t care which browser I use, but it makes you wonder that if Facebook creates it’s own browser…

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Created New Blog – Progtivity.Com

I just created a new blog, ProgTivity.com. The blog is mix of economic theory, zen, and programming. It’s about the art of programming productively.

Most people today don’t realize the art of being productive, everything is so rushed and fast, it actually takes time to be meaningful and productive.

I hope you enjoy the blog! Now go visit!

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