Google tasks for iPhone completes my workflow

Four services from Google:

• Email
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Tasks

Completes my workflow. All available through any browser on any computer and all are available as apps for iPhone. Email, Calendar and Contacts are native apps on iPhone and they get synced by Direct Push from MS Exchange Server at Google. Tasks is a webapp - hopefully Apple or Google will come with a native app with Direct Push in near future.

iPhone and Google Sync - Sync emails, calendar and contacts over the air

Syncing over the air should have been directly through iTunes using wi-fi. But it is not. Instead Apple was charging $99 a year with MobileMe service for providing over the air sync for calendar, contacts and emails. Thanks to Google, that I am able to sync my calendar, contacts and emails over the air that too with push technology.

My previous setup was like this:
Email: Google mail through iPhone's mail app (I think it was using IMAP) with 15 min polling.
Contacts: Outlook, syncing via USB+iTunes.
Calendar: Outlook, syncing via USB+iTunes.

Email was OK, Contacts was also OK. But Calendar, every time I changed something in my Laptop, I needed to sync iPhone with USB cable which was a big pain in the ass.

Current setup is as follows:
Email, Contacts, Calendar: Google through MS Exchange server with Direct Push.
Contacts: Outlook, synching via USB+iTunes (I will soon move to Google completely for this)

Now my iPhone syncs with my Google calendar. I already transferred my calendar from outlook to Google calendar. Google calendar is not as sophisticated as Outlook, but it has everything I need for the time. In fact, now I can edit my calendar from any computer, not just my laptop.

Email is also better because of the Direct push.

Google calendar import is screwed up

Google calendar import is screwed up.

The only way it supports importing events from outlook is through CSV files. I did that and it added more than a thousand events. All the events which were marked repeated, it added individual entries without repetition, instead of a single event with repetition.

That sux!

I had to clear all my events in the calendar and start from scratch.

iPad

I can have photographs in my email.

You can change the background of the home screen.

It can do slideshow.

You can select a photo.

It has iTunes.

It has a calendar also.
I can look it as a Day view, week view or list view. Very nice calendar.

It has a maps app too. It has got a satellite view.

The only things which it is missing are:

• a camera,
  
• 16:9 support,
  
• Flash support,
  
• multitasking,
  
• SD card slot,
  
• HDMI or high-res video output support,
  
• USB ports,
  
• GPS

Firefox: bookmark with smart keyword makes searching websites smart

Here is what I do:
To look for the word 'mythology' on www.thefreedictionary.com, I type "d mythology" in the url box.
To search 'python tutorial' on google.com, I type "g python tutorial" in the url box.
To go to google.com, I type 'g' in the url box.

Same way I have 'smart keywords' setup for many search websites. Here is the current list:
a - www.amazon.com
b - www.bing.com
d - www.thefreedictionary.com
g - www.google.com
gm - maps.google.com
gn - news.google.com
w - en.wikipedia.org

To add 'smart keywords' for a search website:
1. Go to the search website.
2. Right click on the search box and choose "Add a Keyword for this Search..."
3. In the "New Bookmark" dialog box, enter a name and a keyword. For example for www.google.com, I entered name = "Google", keyword = "g". This keyword will be used as a shortcut to search on the search website.

That's it!

Windows 7: metadata for files should be both outside of the file and inside the file

Windows Explorer in Windows XP allowed adding metadata like title, keywords, comments, etc to any file including doc, pdf and text files. The metadata added using explorer was stored in the NTFS file system as part of the attributes of the file, not in the file. There were many file types like PDF, DOC, MP3 which had attributes in the file. Windows explorer was able to read these metadata information for many file types like MS office files and audio files.

In Windows 7, Microsoft removed metadata being stored in the NTFS file system. Metadata can be stored only inside files. That means no metadata for TXT or RTF files. The viewer can't add metadata to PDF files since adobe doesn't like viewer editing PDF files.

I liked the Windows XP style.

Microsoft should provide a way for users to add additional information about a file outside of the file name and its contents.

Microsoft didn't get it... again...

One of the complaints from some geeky people (mostly people with Unix/Linux background) was that Windows asks for lot of confirmations. Personally, confirmations are annoyance most of the time, but some time they save your day. And there should be a balance - too many confirmations is bad and too less confirmations are also bad.

Microsoft removed confirmation from where it should not have removed. And it didn't remove confirmation from where it should have removed.

When you want to delete a file or a folder (basically moving it to recycle bin), then it asks for confirmation. Bad design decision. There is absolutely no need of confirmation here. If you felt that it was a mistake to delete the file, then you can always get it back from the recycle bin.

There is no confirmation for shutdown or restart or logoff. If you click on them accidentally, all your unsaved work and open windows are gone! Bad design decision! It has happened a few times to me. I am always in a rush, so sometimes I do click on the wrong button and moreover with a touch-pad an accidental click is not uncommon. I definitely need a confirmation box here. If Microsoft wanted to woo those tiny user base of geeky people, then Microsoft should have at
least provided an option to enable confirmation for shutdown, restart and logoff.

Microsoft missed the boat again!

Microsoft is the biggest source of bad practices on Windows

How many Microsoft employees work from Administrator account?

How many Microsoft software require Admin access for installation, even though they don't have to.

How many Microsoft software write in Windows folder?

How many Microsoft software install hidden components and drivers without your knowledge?

Microsoft leads all companies when it comes to bad practices on Windows.

Windows 7: Letting device drivers be installed by a standard user - very bad idea

I just found that a standard user in Windows 7 can install device drivers. This is really a bad idea. Any malware or unfriendly software can install a bunch of device drivers which can screw your computer.

Somehow Google managed to install two video capture devices on my computer without my knowledge when I was working in a standard account. And I was able to uninstall these video capture devices from the standard account.

Can somebody install a key-logger device from a standard account?
If so, then that will be a real bummer.

Microsoft should implement this as a privilege - "device driver installation privilege" - which can be denied or given to any standard user or there should be a group called "Device Driver Operator" and only users who are member of this group can install device drivers.

I will like to set my standard account so that my standard account can't install any device driver or plugin. So far I haven't found a way to achieve this.

Google is intalling malware and corrupting my system

Google has been installing couple of drivers and software on my computer without my knowledge.

Google Update plug-in in Firefox
Google Talk Plugin
Google Video Adapter 0 video capture device
Google Video Adapter 1 video capture device

God knows what else Google has installed on my computer.

Here is what I found after some investigation:
The root of all these is that I wanted to try Google Chrome. So I installed Google Chrome. With Google Chrome, Google silently installed a Firefox plug-in called "Google Update". While I was browsing using Firefox, I clicked on some link and "Google Update" plug-in installed "Google Talk Plugin" silently. And with Google Talk Plugin, the two video capture devices also got installed.

I don't know but there could be more hidden drivers and software installed by Google on my computer.

This leads to an interesting conclusion - If Google can install so many software on my computer without my knowledge, then probably anybody can install software on my computer without my knowledge.

Applications and installers should not require admin privilege

Recently, I have seen new class of applications which make more sense - these applications can be installed and used by a standard user without UAC pop-up. Some of these applications are:

Amazon Kindle for PC - installs in "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Amazon\Kindle For PC\application"
Google Chrome - installs in "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application"
Microsoft Live Mesh - installs in "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Live Mesh"

Any standard user on Windows 7 (and I suppose on Windows Vista and Windows XP too) can install these applications and use them. The installer does not ask for admin password (no UAC pop up). And the application runs smoothly without and UAC pop-up.

Other apps which come to my mind in this category are PortableApps.com apps.

There is no reason why other applications should require admin password unless they are installing a device driver.

VLC Media Player - the best media player

1. VLC hotkeys do not work on playlist window.
2. How to keep vlc always running.
3. VLC's interface is ugly and its skins do not have the functional interface of the native interface. How to improve vlc interface or make its look cooler while keeping the functionality?
4. How do you get the menubar in VLC with skin?
5. When VLC is running with skin, VLC does not appear in the taskbar and also not in ALT+TAB list - a huge problem.
   

Problem:
Sometimes VLC hotkeys do not work in skins.

Solution:
Currently hotkeys do not work in playlist window. In skins, if the focus is on the playlist, then hotkeys wouldn't work.



VLC's skin mode and skins have many problems and give a frustrating experience. The native interface of VLC is the "least worst option".

Control iTunes on your computer from your iPhone remotely using Remtoe app

Get this app:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/

How to setup:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1947

Troubleshooting:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1741


The only problem I faced during first time setup was some firewall settings - iTunes was allowed on public network, but not on private network. I just allowed it on both networks and the whole setup worked like a charm.

Once first time setup has been done, next time you want to use iPhone to control the iTunes on your computer, follow following steps (this is the only sequence of steps which has been working for me consistently):

1. Close iTunes on your computer.
2. Launch 'Remote' on your iPhone.
3. Start iTunes on your computer within a few seconds.
   
4. 'Remote' on the iPhone should show the iTunes library on the computer.
5. In the Settings of 'Remote' on the iPhone, set "Stay Connected" = ON.

Once 'Remote' gets disconnected from 'iTunes', you need to restart iTunes and Remte app both which is a pain in the ass. Even if you keep Remote app running on iPhone, it will disconnect from iTunes after a some idle time. Even with the setting "Stay Connected" = ON.

This feature look cool, but I am not how much useful this feature will be since I don't have a desktop (I have a laptop) and I play my music by connecting speakers to my iPhone. What I needed was a way to control my iTunes on iPhone from my laptop. There are some solutions out there, but they require jailbreaking, but I have been avoiding jailbreaking because that's a whole new beast - lot of features, apps and security issues.

VMWare Workstation way better than VirtualBox

I have been using VirtualBox for last few months, but I always felt it was missing the finishing touch. So finally, I decided to try VMware Workstation. I immediately felt at home.

Here is something which I noticed immediately:

1. VMware Unity is far better than VirtualBox Seamless. Unity actually integrates windows in the guest and host OS pretty well - a single task bar for all windows and alt+tab switches between all the windows. Not with VirtualBox. VirtualBox Seamless seems to be a feature added for the sake of list of features, but is actually useless while VMware's Unity is actually useful.
   
2. VMware supports 3D graphics. Aero works in the guest OS. In fact, Windows Experience Index of the host OS and guest OS is very close.
   
3. Snapshot and clone management is pretty slick in VMware .
4. My initial experience is that VMware is much faster than VirtualBox - starting, stopping, running.
5. Virtual network management is quite good in VMware .
6. Single window for all VMs in VMware.
7. VMware stores everything about one VM in a single directory which is very convenient for backing up or copying to another machine.
8. VMware has a cool feature called "Easy Install" where it will install the guest OS unattended - another very useful feature.

Fedora 10 and Ns2-2.33 compilation problems

I got the following compilation problem while building ns2-2.33

Conflicts in following files ('const char*' with 'char *'):
common/packet.cc:48 int p_info::addPacket(const char *name)
common/packet.h:248 static int addPacket(char *name);

Solution:
Remove 'const' from packet.cc.

After this it built successfully.

ubuntu 9.10 and NS2 2.33 installation problem - make: *** [tk3d.o] Error 1

I was getting this mysterious error while installing NS2 2.33 on Ubuntu 9.10:

make: *** [tk3d.o] Error 1
tk8.4.11 make failed! Exiting ...
For problems with Tcl/Tk see http://www.scriptics.com

Here is what worked for me. I installed a few packages, and it fixed the above problem:

sudo apt-get install tcl tk build-essential autoconf automake libxmu-dev libtool


Unfortunately, there are many more problems. Ubuntu 9.10 has lot of problems with backward compatibility. I thought Ubuntu was different from other Linux distributions and would respect the backward compatibility, but it has disappointed me. Some guys have done some hard work on making ns2 work on Ubuntu 9.10, details on this blog - Easiest way to install ns2 on ubuntu 9.10. But I am not comfortable with this one. So I am going to revert back to Ubuntu 9.04 and go with that.

Linux is very good at sucking your precious time.

Missing /etc/initab in Ubuntu? Ubuntu replaces Init with Upstart

I hate fragmentation in Linux.

Here comes more fragmentation and one more headache to learn in Linux world.

Ubuntu replaced init with upstart. That is why there is no more /etc/initab. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstart .

It is supposed to be a big improvement. Then why not push for it to be part of LSB. In that case, this will be a standard on all Linux distributions and we don't have worry with too many headaches.

Why you should not allow online companies to have control over your contents, data, devices

I bought a video on Amazon a while back, today when me and my friends wanted to watch this video, this is what I got on Amazon Video:

Video currently unavailable for playback and download. Due to our licensing agreements this video is currently not available for online viewing or downloading. If you have downloaded this video to a PC or TiVo DVR you can continue to watch it from that location.

Amazon sux!
Entertainment Industry sux!
15 dollar down the drain.

Lesson: Don't let online companies have control over your data files, contents, and devices.

These days all companies (offline and online) are trying to

1. grab as much of your personal information as possible... Facebook, Google...
   
2. control as much of your music n video files, contents, devices as possible... majority of Entertainment Industry and Publishing Industry, Google, Apple
   
3. separate as much of your money from you as possible... Apple, Sony...
   

Here are some ways companies control your data files, contents, and devices.

Data files (including books, music, video):

• Amazon Kindle controls all the kindle books you bought. They can remove any of the books you bought anytime. This is applicable to to other DRM based digital books too.
  
• Amazon Video and Apple iTunes control all the video you bought.
• Apple iTunes controls your music too.

[While I was writing above, the root of all these problems is DRM]

Contents:

• Online Email Services - Google, Yahoo, Hotmail
• Social networking sites - facebook, myspace
• Blogging sites - blogspot, wordpress
• Website hosting - Google
• Other services like - Calendar, photo
  

Devices:

• iPhone and iPods
  

There are lot of people who don't use any of these things and they are just fine. But in today's life, many of these services can actually help if you use they judiciously. Everybody has different needs and lifestyle. So decide for yourself how much control you want to give to these online companies.

Windows 7 GodMode is awesome!

Here is the wiki on this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Master_Control_Panel_shortcut

In short:

Create a new folder and name it
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That's it!!!

Adding lyrics in iPhone using Mp3TagEditor

These links helped me:

• http://iphone.macworld.com/2008/01/how_to_sing_along_with_iphone.php
• Import lyrics from websites

For metals, use darklyrics web script to import lyrics from album at once, for others you have to do one song at a time (Hint: Use keyboard shortcuts to do it fast).

Once lyrcis have been added, remove those songs from iTunes, add them again to iTunes and sync iPhone. (I just removed the artists folder completely and added them again to save myself headache of doing this for individual songs)

iPhone's most ignored flaw

One of the biggest flaw of iPhone is that it can easily slip from your hand and fall on the ground. It has happened to me a few times. Apple has made it all shiny and rounded and slippery. Is it supposed to be kept in a exhibition hall or museum? The other phones in the market are much more better in this aspect. Apple should do some research and look in the kitchen and fridge and see how the utensils, bottles, cans etc are made so that those items don't slip from your hand.

Like iPhone's unstable OS, this is another flaw which gets ignored because of its features.

Windows 7 bug: no way to edit environment varibale graphically

When you try to change environment variable by clicking on "Computer\RightClick\Properties\Advanced System Settings", it will ask for "admin" password. Once you enter admin password, go to "System Properties\Advanced\Environment Variables". Here, you get a choice to change environment variable of "Admin" account or the "System".

So, only way to change your environment variable is to directly edit registry. This is a bug, since I was able to do this in Windows XP. On other note, why changing your own environment variable is a "System property"? It should be a user account property.

iPhone's unstability reminds me of Windows 95

I am running iPhone OS 3.0 on iPhone 3G. It is slow and unstable. It crashes sometimes, hangs sometimes and drops calls sometimes. Out of all the cell phones I have owned and I know of, iPhone is the most unstable. But I like it simply because it meets my requirements best with its user experience and apps.

This reminds of Windows 95 which used to crash often (I think mostly because of buggy drivers and applications), but people used it because it had so many cool things that people didn't mind those tiny nuances of crashes. As a side note, I used Windows 95 mainly for watching videos and playing games, for everything else I used Solaris or Red Hat Linux; I switched my main platform from Red Hat Linux to Windows after the release of Windows XP and me realizing that Windows has finally got kernel protection and is not easy to crash.

iPhone problems which I encounter daily or frequently:
- drops call while talking (never happened with any other cell phones I owned - all on AT&T network)
- sometimes it will just refuse to charge from my laptop, but can do sync. I tried more than ten times today, but it wouldn't charge.
- hangs sometimes - I think some of the apps I have may be buggy
- sometimes very slow and unresponsive
- sometimes screen goes blank and wouldn't come up no matter whatever you try.

iPhone simulator for Windows

Before I install any new software/app, I like to test it or get a feel of it in a virtual environment. On Windows it is easy. But so far, I have not been able to find a way to run iPhone apps in a virtual environment.

I think iTunes should have been able to test drive iPhone apps, but it doesn't.

The steps to create iPhone simulator are straight-forward:

1. Have an emulator for ARM processor (the processor in iPhone)
2. Get a modified version of iPhone OS (either from the apple website, or iPhone and then modify it like http://www.osx86project.org/ )
3. And design a nice UI to itegrate the iPhone hardware emulator and the OS; also import apps from iTunes, run jail-broken iPhone apps.

Looks like this has not been done.


Here are the closest I could find:

1. iBBDemo - Blackbaud iPhone Browser Simulator - simulates iPhone's safari web browser.
2. http://www.genuitec.com/mobile/ - Simulates iPhone's safari web browser.
3. Desktop iPhone from Ribbit - This is a webapp written using Adobe Air. You need to install Adobe Air to run it. It can simulate some pre-defined apps, you may need to create account with Ribbit. To me this looks like a pretty useless software. Here is a video of someone trying this.