MySetup
URL shortening
Long URLs don’t play nicely if you’re character-limited, e.g. when posting to twitter, or maybe, including a link in an email or when leaving a comment on a blog or forum. Therefore, the use of URL shortening services, which, for example, can turn http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TinyURL&diff=283621022&oldid=283308287into http://tinyurl.com/mmw6lb are very useful. So, I decided to set-up and host [...]
Tesco iPhone app
Tesco iPhone app, originally uploaded by James Bliss. The ‘Tesco Finder’ iPhone app is quite handy. I couldn’t find the lemon juice so, I typed ‘lemon juice’ into the app and it told me where to find it – and it was right there – aisle four, left-hand side, eighteen along and five shelves up. [...]
Blog and Twitter integration
I have installed Twitter Tools. Blog post and tweets should now replicate both ways.
Lotus Symphony for the Mac (beta)
IBM Lotus Symphony for the Mac is available, in beta. It’s currently at version 1.2 and so far I like it. It’s quick, I like the tab-based “all applications-in-one approach”, it’s cross-platform (with Windows and Linux versions also available) and, let’s face it, it’s an alternative to MS Office for the Mac. It supports OpenDocument [...]
TeamViewer – Windows and Mac remote access
Free for non-commercial use. Very easy to install and use. Client to client encryption. TeamViewer gives you remote access, VPN, VNC, file sharing and more between Windows PCs and Macs across any internet connection. I just connected from my MacPro at home to my work ThinkPad (and vice versa) across the Net through various firewalls. [...]
I now have a public calendar
It sounds grander than it actually is. But, I think it’s useful. I’m now sync’ing my work calendar (Lotus Notes 7 running on my IBM ThinkPad) with my home calendar (Apple iCal on MacPro) and displaying them using Google Calendar. Only busy/free time information is available, not the detail. The result can be seen at [...]
IM utopia
For Mac OS X, Adium allows users to use one instant messaging (IM) client application to connect to multiple IM services. For Windows, Linux, BSD, and other UNIX platforms, Pidgin offers the same. They allow you to connect to AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, .Mac/Apple Chat, GoogleTalk, Lotus SameTime, MySpaceIM, and many more. [...]
Time Machine problem
I plugged in a 400GB external firewire drive to perform my first Time Machine backup. Formatted, it has 372GB available. However, TM reported the following error. Strange, as the combined size of the data to be backed up is 334GB.
Leopard upgrade
I’ve upgraded to Leopard on my Macs and all’s well; the upgrades went very smoothly.
Upgraded home LAN to gigabit
And what a difference! I haven’t done any really accurate benchmarking but I estimate that throughput is approximately 4 times faster than it was (previously using 10/100). I’ve achieved this by adding a Netgear GS105 switch connected to my existing router. Then, any machines with gigabit network cards connect to this new switch rather than [...]
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