You can't make this stuff up

Monthly archives for December, 2005

Moblogging?

Dec29
2005 Written by jtinsky

I’m trying increase the quantity and quality of my entries and moblogging seems like a good way to do this. I think about things I should blog several times a day but I’m not in front of a computer.

Setting WordPress up for moblogging on the other hand is not as easy as it could be. I’ve installed and configured
Postie but I’m not having much luck at the moment. I can run it from the command line and through the web based interface but that’s kind of lame. I have set up a cron job that is in fact running as advertised but for some reason it’s not actually pulling in the settings I need to make automatically posting from my cell phone work.

I’ve also tried the cronless postie setup but I can’t get that working either.

Stay tuned as I get this all working and blaze a path toward fame and fortune.

Posted in Blogging

Mozy Rocks!

Dec28
2005 Written by jtinsky

Last night, while trying to install the Outlook to OneNote addin I somehow managed to uninstall Microsoft Office. I’m not sure what happened as I was only halfway paying attention. I was bummed to say the least but downright pissed off when I realized my .pst files got deleted with the Office installation.

After a few minutes of cursing I remembered that I was using Mozy. I hadn’t backed up for a few weeks but not too much had changed since then. I’d added a few contacts but they’d get added back into Outlook when I synced with my Pocket PC.

Using Mozy I was able to quickly and easily download my lost .pst files and reinstall them. The bonus is that I could choose only the files I wanted to download and that they were sent to me in a compressed format.

Mozy is still in beta but it’s a fine product now. I can’t wait until it’s out of beta and they’re able to sell me a bit more space. I’ll happily pay them for their great service.

Posted in Computers

FolderShare

Dec28
2005 Written by jtinsky

I just discovered FolderShare. This folder sync service was a pay service which was recently purchased by Microsoft. It’s easy to set up and seems to work well. I’m pleased to be able to sych work and home files since I’m sure I’ll be working from home late into the evening in the near future.

Posted in General

Coppermine Photo Gallery on IIS

Dec23
2005 Written by jtinsky

I’ve been working on npcasummerconcerts.org for the past two years. It’s a super simple site for a worthy cause. The people are nice and the shows are great. There are pictures of each show.

In the past I’ve received a disk with images that I’ve resized then put onto this page.

I don’t have the time or energy to resize three versions of these .jpgs any longer so I’ve decided to install Coppermine Photo Gallery and let someone else do the work.

This seems like a good choice until you consider that the site is hosted on an IIS box. “So what?” you may ask. What’s the difference? PHP and MySQL are available for Windows servers. Well, “sort of” is my answer. Yes, there are versions of both. But php runs on IIS which is a festering pile of poop. Add to that the fact that I’m on a shared server so I only have access to basic functions like file and directory permissions through some half baked control panel and you quickly realize why IIS and PHP are as unatural as pigs mating with donkeys.

Lots of things are unnatural. Well, dear reader, here’s my sad tale of attempting to install Coppermine on a windows box.

1) Download source
2) Unzip source
3) Attempt to upload source. Source doesn’t go up because of some disk quota error being thrown by the IIS ftp server.
4) Send email to hosting tech. help
5) Tech help fixes issue
6) Reupload source files
7) Try to set permissions on the directories that need write/read/execute permissions. 8) Web hosting control panel that’s supposed to let me set directory and file permissions crashes.
9) Send tech help ticket to hosting company
10) Hosting company fixes the issue.
11) Reset the permissions. None of the typical users who now have RWX permissions seem to work so I set the user “Everyone” to have full permissions. Very unsafe but it’s getting late and I’m tired.
12) Attempt to run the install script but I get another error.
13) Give up and go to bed
14) Get up, check out the issue. Apparently the five times I uploaded the entire source tree weren’t enough so I upload the DB schemas in the /sql directory.
15) Try to run the install script again. This time it works.

Posted in Web Programming

Bill Gates on Web 2.0

Dec22
2005 Written by jtinsky

Coming soon to a browser near you, connected web applications done the Microsoft way. Good thing we didn’t have to wait for the software juggernaut to make this happen or I’d be referring people to my amazon wishlist instead of my MetaWishlist.

 

“The next sea change is upon us.”

In an email to “Executive Staff and Direct Reports; Distinguished Engineers”, Microsoft honcho Bill Gates officially marks the end of the beginning of Web 2.0 by calling on his company to again reshape itself.

The text of the email can be found here and is also attached to this post as a PDF.

Thanks to Richard MacManus for the tip.

Related…


[Moonwatcher]

Posted in Web Programming

Back in the iPod Business

Dec22
2005 Written by jtinsky

Yesterday the unexpected happened. It was truly a Christmas miracle. iPodResQ called me. After all the hassles I’ve endured with DHL I figured the best I could hope for was a hefty iPod repair bill. Perhaps it’s time for me to rethink my cynical nature.

My cell phone rang and the technician at iPodResQ told me he was able to run a restore on my iPod and that there would be no additional charge other than the $29 for shipping back and forth. Needless to say I was pleased. I thanked the guy profusely then asked to be put through to customer service so I could give them my DHL service failure record number so they could apply for the credit. I figure if anyone deserves the credit they do.

I hope that I’m clear in saying iPodResQ went above and beyond my expectations in fixing my iPod. I’d highly recommend them to anyone.

Interestingly, they were recommended to me by one of the geniuses at the Apple Genius Bar who told my wife that my iPod was dead. Lamers.

Happy Holidays iPodResQ!

Posted in Gadgets

iPodResQ Update

Dec21
2005 Written by jtinsky

So far my experience with iPodResQ has been a complete nightmare. IT’S NOT THEIR FAULT.

In short, the issue has been with DHL, the lamer shipping company who was unable to deliver my package to a 23 story building that occupies an entire city block in downtown San Diego. After three attempts the package was delivered. It took several phone calls.

Then the fun really began once I packaged up my dead iPod and sent it back to iPodResQ. The box was gone from our mail room but DHL said they didn’t have it. The customer service representatives argued with me and basically demostrated why DHL is a second or third tier player in the package delivery business.

Finally, yesterday, after three calls and at least 90 minutes on the phone my iPod was located. It’s now in the hands of iPodResQ. I’ll report on the next stage of the project as details become available.

Posted in Gadgets

Where is Google Calendar

Dec16
2005 Written by jtinsky

I’m fresh back from a wine and cheese binge in northern California – Sonoma and Napa valleys to be exact, it’s the holidays and my schedule is fixing to explode. I need to be able to schedule all this shit quickly smoothly and easily but Nooooooooooooooooooooo, I can’t. Why can’t I? You had to ask.

I’m stuck using Novell Groupwise at work. Groupwise is THE worst PIM I’ve used since the first version of Outlook I used. I’m pretty certain all of the Novell layer of fecal matter incorporates some sort of LDAP server but I’ll be damned if I can find any way to hook into it using PHP. And forget trying to smoothly synchronize a Windows Mobile device with it. Even the grand old man of synch, Intellisynch does a crap job of this. One day I spammed everyone in my contact list while trying to sync.

I’m testing out AirSet. It’s a nice web based application that’d I recommend. I have my likes and dislikes but I definitely like it better than Yahoo! Calendar which I’ve read is being redesigned. Sadly, even with AirSet’s nice sync application I’m hosed as far as adding a quick to-do or event to my schedule then putting it on my PDA. The only way to synch to a Windows Mobile device is through Outlook. This all causes me some concern as I ponder a Treo 700w.

At the end of the day, I know I’m not the only person in this world who wants a very robust, well thought out calendar that synchs with everything, allows me to share what I want to share and allows me to enter my data quickly and easily.

Please Santa, for Christmas this year can I have Google Calendar?

Posted in Computers, Productivity

FriedPod

Dec14
2005 Written by jtinsky

My iPod is dead. I hadn’t synched it since I quit DivX. I tried to last Friday on my work computer and it didn’t work. I did get it to work once on my laptop but then it stopped booting up. Susan took it to the Apple store when she picked up her third iPod mini. Her other two minis died of battery failure. The first one didn’t cost to get replaced. The second replacement is going to cost her $29.95. I’m not sure I understand why or if this is even a breach of warranty.

Anyway, mine’s dead after only 16 months of use. I’m on the fence about using iPodResQ to fix it or whether I should just get a new one or stop giving Apple all my money.

UPDATE:
I decided to try out iPodResQ. It’s $29 to ship the unit three ways. That doesn’t include their fee to fix it. I’ll update this blog as the process unfolds so others can use the information to make their own decisions.

Posted in Gadgets

Newsgator Firefox Plugin update

Dec14
2005 Written by jtinsky

So I did my research and apparently the plugin only works for Outlook. I did find a bookmarklet that Newsgator supplies but it doesn’t work consistently. Oddly it fails to work when I try to subscribe to their support forum feed but it does work on other non-Newsgator feeds.

One other thing, I wish they’d fix the forum search so it works in Firefox.

I’d still really like to code up a Firefox extension that doesn’t require Outlook but since I found a decent work around I’ll have to give that project a “someday/maybe” label.

Posted in Computers
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