TechLifeBlogged

• A Gentle Introduction to SQL
  Nice SQL reference

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• CrunchNotes Podcast from Tag Camp
  Discussion about ads in blogs.

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• lazytom's FeedJumbler
  Aggregate/Merge/Combine and Convert RSS and Atom Feeds.

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• Podcaster News Network
  Changing the way you get news.
• Enable Cookies in Firefox
  Nice little guide from Firefox Tutor

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• Playing videos on a non-video iPod
  You need to load Linux on your old iPod but it can be done.

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• Ten RSS Hacks
• Blogger Hacks - The Series - Freshblog
• IRC Hacks

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• Ten RSS Hacks
  Lots of stuff here that you might not have thought of. Cool.
• Concentrating while studying
  Useful tips that go beyond studying.

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• Hotspot Finder - Wi-Fi Hotspots
  USA today teamed up with jiwire to help you find hot spots. You can specify free, pay or both
• MSN Money - 10 ways to stop identity theft cold
  Read it. Then go buy a shredder.
• IRC Hacks
  100 Hacks for you IRCers out there
• Blogger Hacks - The Series - Freshblog
  Brilliant Blogger hacks

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eWeek: Inside the latest Windows Vista Build

Microsoft has just released a Vista update called the "October
Community Technology Preview." That's a pretty highfalutin'
name for what's essentially just an alpha update. But, in
fact, there's a lot of new stuff, including several Internet
Explorer features and updates to Windows Media Player 11.
We've taken a close, close look at this new build and have
put together a package of stories, screen shots and much more.
If you want to know more about the new "Restart Manager,"
new diagnostics and the new Digital Gallery, check out our
package. Plus, our Microsoft Watcher takes a close look at
what's in there and what isn't--and what that means.

• Google Hacks
  List of 100 ways to hack google
• ONLamp.com: What Is Ruby on Rails
  Extensive O'Reilly article on Ruby
• Speed Reading Test Online
  Handy test for figuring out how fast you read. With information overload I think we can all improve.
• DualBoot Knoppix with Loadlin 1.6c
  Putting Knoppix Live CD on the hard disk
• Building a Smarter To-Do List, Part I
  From 43 Folders. Part 1 of 2
• Building a Smarter To-Do List, Part II
  From 43 Folders. Part 2 of 2
• Download Time Calculator
  Set megabytes, connection speed, compute.

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• FairUse Wizard - Easy DVD to DivX, XviD, H264, VP7 and ffVFW backup
  Haven't tried it. Stumbled across the link while researching the new video iPod

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Picasa 2.1 is out. If this was announced I missed it. The readme page says it was released September 19. When I launched Picasa last night it tried to update and couldn't so I just downloaded it again. Only 4MB so no big deal. If you don't use Picasa you definitely should give it a try. I makes organizing your photos so much easier.

Not a lot was changed. Probably the most significant one for me was being able to post to Blogger and not have to have the Hello client as well. The external drive feature will be a bonus for people with USB external drives.

I think you folks with higher end cameras will appreciate the new RAW format handling.

Here are some details from the readme:

Multiple interface languages – Picasa is now available in Chinese (simplified and traditional), Dutch, English (U.S. and UK) , French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. When you start Picasa, the software will automatically match your system's native language. To change the language in Picasa, go to Tools > Options. Change the language using the pulldown menu on the "General" tab. You will need to close and re-open Picasa to see your changes take effect.

BlogThis! - Post a photo to your blog in one click. Picasa's new "BlogThis!" button replaces the "Blogger" button and allows you to upload your photos directly to the Blogger web editor, without the need for a Hello account. To use, select a photo in Picasa and click the "BlogThis!" button. (If you do not have a Blogger.com account, follow the steps on-screen to create one.) When you are signed in to Blogger, the web editor will open. Click "Publish" to post your photo to your blog.

Print CD covers – Turn any photo into cover art. Click the "Print" button. Go to Tools > Options > Printing. Select "CD Cover Size" and apply. "CD Cover Size" is now one of the print layout choices.

Improved RAW handling – Picasa supports more RAW formats and cameras in this release, with improved color-balance support and faster speed. Work with your highest quality files from these camera manufacturers: Canon (.CRW, .CR2), Nikon (.NEF), Olympus (.ORF), Pentax (.PEF), Kodak (.DCR), Sony (.SRF), Minolta (.MRW), and Fuji(.RAF). New models supported include the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (aka the 350D), Pentax *istDS, Konica/Minolta Maxxum7D (aka the Dynax 7D).

External drives - Find photos on external drives using Picasa. Simply go Tools > Folder Manager to choose whether Picasa should scan a connected external drive to find pictures. When you unplug and reconnect, Picasa will find your pictures instantly (with no scanning), and will also preserve your labels

Technorati Tags : picasa, photography, google

Down yonder in one of the del.icio.us link posts Randy asked how I set up those postings. I thought I'd blog the process if anyone is curious.

I created an RSS feed on a server. There isn't anything in it so it doesn't change. The goal was a feed that didn't change because all I was after was the daily del.icio.us summary.
Next, I created a Feedburner feed for that RSS file and used their Link Splicer tool to include a daily summary of my del.icio.us account.
Then I used R|Mail to subscribe to the feed and have it sent to my GMail account where I have a filter to send it to Bloggers mail in tool.

I suppose the GMail to Blogger isn't necessary as I could have R|Mail deliver to Blogger but I wanted to be able to stop the feed quickly to my blog if I made changes to my Feedburner feed. I've done that in the past and it seems that Feedburner will sometimes repost all the del.icio.us feeds if you edit the Feedburner feed at all. This way I just turn off the forwarding filter and can make all the adjustments I need without having to monkey with the R|Mail subscription or my Blogger template settings.

I have it sending all my posts from del.icio.us but I've thought about having it send just certain ones that I tag 'pub' or 'publish' or something like that. Haven't decided yet but it would be a nice way to keep using del.icio.us for all kinds of things and only have it feed my blog on items I think are blog worthy.

Why not just use the link splicer into my blog's current Feedburner feed? Because it only hits a part of my audience, the subscribers. While I'm a huge proponent of RSS the sad fact is that not many people are hip to it yet. This way both sets get it.

Technorati Tags : rss, blog, blogging, del.icio.us

 

• Automatic Windows Cleanup
  Nice tips for using and automating the Clean Up utility built into XP
• Scobleizer » The race to time-based and blog search
  Interesting article about search.

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• When using someone’s info, link back
  nuff said
• TipMonkies » Sending voice e-mails made easy
  Tips for sending voice e-mails. Includes links to free services

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• 23 Ways to Speed Up Windows XP
  Nothing really new if you're an old hand techie with Windows XP but worth a quick scan. Nicely gathered tips if you're a newbie.

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• Post-centric ad insertion
• Post to email
• New graphics
• Better blog platform support

Qumana is an excellent tool to use if you don't want to monkey around with HTML. Sure, if you use Blogger it isn't too hard to make a new post but Qumana goes a step better. It provides a 'drop pad' that lets you drag content and from the web or your email even other text editors and then build your posts. I use it all the time if I want to do a quote from another blog or simply copy a URL from by browser's address bar. Couldn't get much easier.

Now in version 2 you can put ads right in your posts via their new AdGenta network. The ads are keyword based so you set the keyword on a post by post basis. Adsense is great but it uses the whole page to come up with a context with which to display a hopefully relevant ad. I've signed up to test it out. Not sure I'll put ads in everything but if I want to I have the power to with just a few clicks.

One of the cool features about Qumana is the ability to post to several places if you run more than one blog. All you do is change the drop down list to one of your other configured blogs, make any changes to your text if you want and click Post. No retyping. No going into an entirely different tool. Post to Blogger then post to Word Press for example. Just a click away. And now, version 2 also includes 'Post to Email'. So you can send your post via email as well.

Go give it a try. Not much to lose with a free download.

Technorati Tags : Qumana, Blogging, Blog

• Introduction to robotics technology
  From 2001. Intro to robotics from an open source perspective

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• Yahoo! Launches Podcasting with Yahoo! Podcasts
  Podtech mp3 of the announcement
• Backyard Imagineering
  Disney-like effects you can build for your back yard.
• Quick Online Tips: Complete Digg Tools Collection
  Links to all kinds of tools for use with the Digg
• Linux is Not Windows
  A good read.

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Ok, not completely free...you have to sit through a launch event. If you are a developer and fortunate enough to have an event in your area it might be worth it.

http://www.msdnevents.com/launch/

Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition for attending.

Technorati Tags : Microsoft, Visual+Studio, SQL+Server

• MLB Free Agents 2005-2006 season

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• The Unofficial At0mic Beginner’s Overclocking Guide - CPUs, Overclocking and Cooling - Forums - www.atomicmpc.com.au
  Tips and tricks for overclocking

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I wanted to save my BIOS settings from my new motherboard but I couldn't take a screenshot. Yeah, I could have written everything down but there are 12 screens with lots of details and it's a pain.
Enter my trusty digital camera. I have a Canon A75. My set up was quick:
tripod, the camera set to the action setting for a quick shutter speed, flash off and I also used the auto timer so I didn't get camera shake with my hand.
I'm really happy with the results. The shots are all legible but not completely crisp. Probably the results of a CRT monitor with scan lines. Still, I didn't have to hand write or type it all out!

I've spent a bit of time with Google's new RSS reader. It didn't take me long to discover I don't like it. To be fair, it is still in beta.

Below you'll find screenshots of GreatNews (my review here) and the Google Reader. I use GreatNews all the time as I've blogged about before. Why? Because as you'll see by the shots, it has a newspaper style interface so I can click on a feed and see quickly what I want read and get the whole text of the feed (unless they don't provide it. Moot point since I unsub from non-full feeds anyway). Plus, it syncs with Bloglines.

Google Reader makes you click on a story header and then read. To much clicking and waiting in my opinion. And if you have a long story, you have to scroll and that scrolls the whole screen so you have to scroll back to then click on the next story or feed. Ugh. Also, it's just fat. Wasted screen space.

Inside Google did a quick review of Google Reader as well.

GreatNews Screen shot:


Google Reader