One more time, Google does better what MS couldn’t – Just think how great it is to simply type “Lunch with John tomorrow at 10am” and G-Cal recognises your text simply makes an entry for Lunch tomorrow. Neat ! RSS too Brilliant.

Too much email. – This one’s for you George !

A client recently went over the 2Gb outlook .pst limit and got toasted. No real alternative but to take a chainsaw to it and delete about 60Mb of mail using a .pst recovery toolkit. Sans 60Mb isn’t really a recovery now is it. Ouch !!

Outlook is easy to use but it is not good as an info silo though. It’s easy when there are few items (less than 2000). Some say getting info out of it once it becomes unweildy is just a matter of having great search. I disagree. You cannot run effectively with Outlook alone.

 I’m currently designing and managing development of a web portal where his org will be able to effectively manage the data and his customers will be able to do some self service tasks, freeing up his time so he can concentrate on running the business.

These are Getting old !! We need newer kit. Hopefully soon. I’ve never had such a spate of failures in such short a time. tomorrow is going to be another long day.

This evening I was tinkering with a problem I’ve been having over the past few days. I use VNC to connect to a client but that client has a cheapo ADSL with a dynamic IP so it’s guesswork as to which address they’re currently at. I can see them online via MSN and I usually ask them to invite me to remote inward so I can do an IPConfig and get thier current IP. A bit cumbersome and only applicable when they’re actually in the office.

So I thought of writing a small app that “phones home” or emails me the latest IP. Neither option is really suitable because I don’t want more email and I’m pretty mobile so I dont have the same IP myself for it to report to. So next best thing, an MSN messenger bot that waits for a keyword from me and responds with hostname and IP address. Works great.

I Went to the SAP business forum yesterday and had the chance to talk and listen to a bunch of very smart people. I was a little dissapointed that they didn’t have as good a motivational speaker as last year when we were treated to an inspiring talk by Lior Arrusy. No, this time we had the pleasure of listening to Andreas Delgado, a Mexican mountain climber. Not the best delivery, but a nice video – and an interesting story but … come on SAP.

Still, it was superbly organised and held in that most excellent venue, The Megaron. A great demo of RFid and some really good info on CRM. The Intracom and Jansen Clagg implementations of SAP Portal left a lot to be desired. Surely they could have done a little better given the features of this product.

SAP is by far and I mean by far, the best software a company can choose to use to run thier business. It’s also the MOST EXPENSIVE. Every year however, they come out with a more affordable product and a set of smaller implementation times so it’s becoming more and more accessible to smaller enterprises. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a standard.

1) This Week in Tech

2) Security Now with Steve Gibson

3) Inside The Net

4) BBC Radio 4’s “In Our Time”

…More to follow

 

I was walking through the CEO’s house the other day while fixing a PC there and noticed his gardener has an assistant. Talk about priorities !! I don’t have an assistant – I’ve been asking for one since day 0 but it seems that the garden is more important than the system.

 Mind’s made up, I’m taking a garden administration course. I’m now no longer going to be the System Administrator. I’m gonna me the garden administrator. Probably same pay band so why TF not ! Bonus is: I get an assistant, get to work outdoors and no more stoopid users !!

 Ok, so I’ve gotta conjure up a scheme to rid us of the current gardner so I can step in when I have my new skill set. Perhaps I’ll plant some “weeds” and then post an anonymous tip on the corporate intranet that mr GreenFingers isn’t just cultivating the rosebushes but has some other recreational plantation stashed away in a little corner of the mansions gardens. That’ll do it. I’m set !!

 

 

• A functional dashboard for getting things done
  Should really only have current Items – and should not turn into an ad hoc project plan.
• Everything on there represents a commitment
• Challenging
• Todo list can become a snapshot of anxieties for the day
• 2 have done list
• think about what needs doing and what needs to be done – and try map each item to one overall objective.
• Tag todo Items so that types of tasks can be measured and reported. I may need more resources so I need a way to prove to boss that I’m stretched. Outlook Categories as tags.

A client called my up on Friday complaining that a goup of PC’s were sluggish. Could I come and take a look?

On one of the PC’s, I did a routine check for spyware, virii etc. and also the standard registry RUN keys to see what starts up with windows. Following that I did a brief browse of what the PC had on it and was shocked to see indecent pictures of the user and his partners. The thing that got to me most was that I had just spoken to the user about 30min before my discovery and he urged me to take a good look to try find the problem. The indecent content was blaring me right in the face, in a folder on his desktop. On a personal level, I’m not sure how to take this further, perhaps I’ll speak to the user. It’s as if he wanted me to find it. Needless to say I was pretty offended. What he does on his home PC is none of my business, but on his corporate workstation that I am hired to maintain, it’s a different matter alltogether. 

There are standard ways of dealing with this sort of misuse of corporate hardware. In this case, the organisation could be exposed to a lawsuit if another user is offended and lodges a complaint. The organisation can be held liable if it is shown that they didnt take necessary steps to protect others from being exposed. I’ll be meeting with the head of the organisation soon to discuss measures that can be taken to protect them and other members of staff. He may decide to follow disciplinary action against the offending member of staff. So be it. He is the head, he is responsible for running his ship properly. He should know.

 

 

Im now looking for some extra strong toothpaste to try wash out the bitter taste this project has left in my mouth. And Im also looking for a large black stone to throw behind me. If you happen to come across a stone could I borrow it?  

 

  

 

 

Panos is officially walking – If I were a betting man, I’d bet on two things here. That he’ll be running by the end of the week and that we’ll be running after him. H’e seems to have gotten bored of the Animals app I built for him a few weeks ago. Time for an upgrade I think. This time we’ll need to add a few quack – quack -ing ducks, a few horses and some sheep. His favourite so far has been the moooooo-ing cow which makes him chuckle really loudly.

Last week I began playing with RubyOnRails

Although there is a single click install package called InstantRails that I have been using, I prefer something more robust.
So, this weekend, feeling rather masochistic, I decided to do a fresh Ubuntu install with Apache, PHP, mySQL, phpMyAdmin, Ruby, Rails, SSH, FTP.
Now my previous experience with linux has been simply to put in the Linux CD and wait for the pretty windows but this time I decided to forego the prettyness of Gnome and do it totally in shell. Well, it’s been a long day but it’s finally running !!! See? Here’s proof !!

Resources I used :
Ubuntu.com Starter guide
Howtoforge.com Ubuntu 5.10 ISP setup
Claudios’ How to install Ruby on Rails on Ubuntu 5.10
phpMyAdmin Docs

Newsagent.gr is really taking off. Hits are up 300%. Thanks and well done to all involved. Look out for the new wiki on the backoffice. We have a new blogger in CyberEddie who’s posting like there’s no tomorrow.

This morning I realised I had a problem with a PC that is used by many. Those many really need this machine and I really need to pre-empt the frustration fast.

A failed HDD prevents it from booting and I don’t have another 40GB Serial ATA to replace and rebuild.

Thankfully, this is a relatively new PC but I can’t remember if it’s still on warranty so I take down the S/N and P/N, log on to HP’s website and start a chat with someone in support. She very quickly confirms that the PC is still in “On-Site!!” warranty and gives me a number to dial here in Athens.

Call made, technician arrives tomorrow to fix. Total time 20min.

Perrrrrrfect !!!

That’s why I love HP.

Baby Panos loves the PC. He just can’t keep away from it.

So today, I whipped up a little vb app for him that shows pictures of animals and plays the sound that animal makes when he clicks on the picture. He LOVES it !!

I must admit, he hasn’t got the hang of the mouse just yet but he’s almost there, managing to click on a few pics and hearing the sounds. I think his favourites are the dog and cat.

Maria has some tips on improving the app so I’ll get them into version 2 pretty soon.

Curiosita

An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

Dimostrazione

A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

Sensazione

The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

Sfumato

A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.

Arte/Scienza

The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination; whole- brain thinking.

Connessione

A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena; systems thinking.

I have many many books. Probably over 2000. I have a really hard time knowing what I actually have and where it is so I’m working on a new idea utilising ISBN and XML and an old barcode scanner I have to catalogue ’em, link ’em, tag ’em, sort ’em, chuck ’em etc.. Im considering using Ruby and MYSQL for this one. Should anyone else be interested in teaming up with me on this new child of mine, just send me a mail and I’ll send you a brief.

There’s a lot of cool videos over at Chris Pirillo’s blog from his latest event Gnomedex 5. One I thought was particularly appropriate to mention was Blogging as a Social Tool – check it out.

45 days ago
IMS: “Are you sure your team don’t want the Greek test?”
Me: “No. We prefer to be tested in English thanks.”
IMS:”Ok, but it might be a little different, like you won’t get the results straight away”
Me:”Is that the only difference? No problem, we can handle that, go ahead and book us.”
IMS:”Great. 11:00?”
Me:”Great !!”

Am I wrong in thinking that when one takes an examination, one should expect an absolutely perfect examination environment? I mean perfect not only in terms of the physical room as such. I also include the exam paper/interactive test/questions/answer format/delivery format.

Well, today was just perfect for proving how NOT to run an ECDL test.

Today was also perfect proof of how to throw your reputation down the toilet and also perfect for trying to prove how very professional you are by not admitting you made a mistake, didn’t prepare enough and pretty much didn’t deliver what you were paid to deliver. Oh, and before I forget, you also preferred to blame someone else. You are also to blame. We are expected to pay you therefore you are responsible for making sure the test goes off without a hitch, thereby ensuring that those being examined perform perfectly based on thier knowledge. Your testing techique should in no way hinder the candidate – today it did. It did on at least 3 occassions per candidate. I stress that these candidates are power users who have influence on other users. It will take some doing to convice the rest of the team to sit the exam based on the Power Users’ experience.

While we decide how to proceed, can you please proceed in cancelling any further scheduled tests we have.

I wonder if we should charge you a consultancy fee for helping you iron out your problems.

I know, “Sorry, I ran out of battery” is a lame excuse. Battery charge is finite. Daylight is not. This ubergadget is just so essential to me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve run out of juice on my phone or laptop at the most inconvenient times. Considering we have over 340 days of sunshine in Greece, you can’t help but want to take advantage of the rays. The Voltaic Systems Solar Panel Backpack is a bit pricey at $229.00 and I wouldn’t want Panos to use it as a stepping stool like he does with my current backback, but it really is a must have for me. I hope to pick one up soon so those that need to reach me can reach me when they need to.

Like email, but for websites. It’s a way to get new content delivered to you automatically. When a site gets new content, your RSS reader (a program that retrieves RSS): receives a notification.

Most sites with dynamic content have a little RSS button that helps you subscribe to that sites RSS feed. For example I have an RSS Feed on this site.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”

The BBC has a great page explaining what RSS is

Popular RSS readers
netnewswire
feedreader
newsgator

Am I cheap or am I simply not a fool?

Is it me or are blackberries just not selling in Greece? I’ve had one for about 6 months but never turned it on. My feelings towards the daylight robbery that is GPRS bandwidth are well known. A Vodafone rep recently came in to the office to try convince me convince my users to subscribe to Blackberry service. His pitch was really pathetic. No mention of the benefits of using such a service nor any mention of communication / productivity gains, full time availability etc.

No, his sell was basically this: “Get in on the deal now because we’re barely keeping up with demand. We’ve got thousands of requests a day and almost can’t manage. We’re surprised you haven’t subscribed yet”

I remember thinking then, “Gimme a break ! Who is this joker !” – My response -“GPRS costs too much – how can you expect me to justify such costly bandwidth rates when compared to ADSL or even dial up. Sure mobility is a factor but is it worth 1000%? Bring down the prices and we’ll subscribe. Until then we’ll stay wired.” –

Sales rep, duly sent packing.

When i pay 8 bucks to host a website and they give me a 250 Gb transfer rate/month and compare that to 30bucks a month for 10mb on Vodafone GPRS – can u help but feel ripped off ? No thanks – Den tha Paro !!

A few months on and just I don’t see those thousands of subscribers tapping away at their Blackberries on the streets of Athens. So much for the demand they couldn’t keep up with. Maybe it’s me wearing a blackberry user filter lens.

Normally I like people coming into my office to visit. Except when I’m coding.

So here’s a nasty time saving tip – Get yourself the most uncomfortable visitors chair in the building.

A couple of months ago, I had a visitors chair similar to the one in the pic. One moring, The boss walks in, sits down, has his say. Chit-chat sets in. A couple of minutes into the mindless waste, he comments, “This must be the most uncomfortable chair in the building”.

So I explained the concept. “It’s designed to make you make your point, stand up and leave. Now let me get back to my code.”

He liked the productivity slant to my argument.

NasLite is something I aim to try over the weekend. It may be something I can use for a number of people asking for online backup solutions. An old PC and some HDD’s and a floppy is all thats needed. Plus, it’s free ! I’ll do a review when I’m done testing it.

Theo did a great article on VOIP over at NewsAgent.gr tonight.

You have all probably heard of Skype and its call2landline service SkypeOut but have you heard of VoipBuster ?

If you haven’t heard of it yet, here’s a really useful download that’s a great deal too. VoipBuster allows you to make free calls to land lines in selected countries for a minute each time. You can subscribe and get unlimited calls to those countries by buying €10 worth of credit for calls to other destinations. Greece is of course covered in the Superdeal Free!!! Category. Gotta love this one. I’ve been using it for quite some time.

I’ve decided to take a few days off from the old day job and spend some time with my son and wife and “other children projects”. So, one week down and one to go, only been in the office three times since which isn’t bad considering. I guess doing that will help keep the work from piling up, making the return much more bearable.

Actually I’ve been lazing around at home, babysitting, browsing, writing the odd peice of code and spending some afternoons at WOW. Been brilliant.

Yipeee!! No more 0. You are 1.

You are sooo cool.

A real character.

My best project EVER.

Happy Birthday BIG BOY !!

Ubuntu has gotta be the coolest Linux out there. The 30min install has everything a PC will need, Firefox as the default browser and some cool server stuff too. It’s free, and supported by Spaceman Mark Shuttleworth. Of course I’ve downloaded ubuntu !! A couple of times in fact. I’ve burned quite a few CD’s too. Still, there’s nothing like an original CD so a couple of weeks ago I ordered 5 (the minimum) just to check it out. Suprise, suprise. Yesterday a small parcel came from Switzerland containing my 5. Super excited, I gave away the 4 immediately to non-linuxers, pushing them to try it, then did a fresh install of 5.10 and immediately proceeded to order 40 more. I have absolutely no doubt I’ll get them. Hey, they’re free and I’m going to give them away at the F.I.T. meetup which will happen sometime in January. I will probably order more before then anyway.

I’ve tinkered with Java ever since taking the SL110 and SL275 courses at New Horizons earlier this year. I can’t say I was happy with how much code it took to build a GUI. This is just so cool though. I’m downloading it now and will do a write up once I start my first JSP web app.

I’d like to organise a “Friends in Tech” Meetup where we can all basically get together and do some networking/brainstorming – basically a get-together where you can brag about the cool stuff you’ve done, cool products or services you provide. I might do it in an Athens hotel and get a sponsor for food, net etc. Will invite most tech geeks I know and also open it up to peer invite so if you have someone you’d like to nominate, then email me. I will have to limit it to about 250 attendees. I have a couple of ideas for speakers let me know if you want to talk/present. Stay tuned.