Much Ado About IT

Diigo Bookmarks 07/21/2010

2010-07-21T13:31:00.001+01:00

TVCatchup - Never Miss A Show Again
UK Freeview live TV over the web

tags: media tv web

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/20/2010

2010-07-20T13:31:00.001+01:00

Zabbix :: An Enterprise-Class Open Source Distributed Monitoring Solution
Server runs on Linux, AIX, BSD, Mac, Solaris Agents run on All the server platforms, Netware and Windows

tags: network hardware monitoring freeware software linux macintosh windows security
- Open Source, Distributed Monitoring with nice charts and graphics for management:
  
  ABBIX was created by Alexei Vladishev, alexei.vladishev@zabbix.com).
  ZABBIX is all-in-one 24x7 monitoring solution without high cost.
  
  ZABBIX is software that monitors numerous parameters of a network and the health and integrity of servers. ZABBIX uses a flexible notification mechanism that allows users to configure e-mail based alerts for virtually any event. This allows a fast reaction to server problems. ZABBIX offers excellent reporting and data visualisation features based on the stored data. This makes ZABBIX ideal for capacity planning.
  
  ZABBIX supports both polling and trapping. All ZABBIX reports and statistics, as well as configuration parameters are accessed through a web-based front end. A web-based front end ensures that the status of your network and the health of your servers can be assessed from any location. Properly configured, ZABBIX can play an important role in monitoring IT infrastructure. This is equally true for small organisations with a few servers and for large companies with a multitude of servers.
  
  ZABBIX is free of cost. ZABBIX is written and distributed under the GPL General Public License. It means that its source code is freely distributed and available for the general public. Both free and commercial support is available and provided by ZABBIX Company.
  
  - post by steve

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/17/2010

2010-07-17T13:31:00.001+01:00

pptPlex
From Microsoft Labs, an alternative way to control PowerPoint presentations with greater fluidity. You don't need to follow a set pattern and can zoom in and out of the "canvas".

tags: presentation office software windows freeware
Linux Live USB Creator : Powerful and easy Live USB Creator
Creates bootable USB disk images from Linux Live CD/DVD versions and writes to USB. Also has a customised (portable) version of Sun's VirtualBox that allows the image to be run inside Windows without the need to install other software.

tags: portable software windows linux

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/12/2010

2010-07-12T13:31:00.001+01:00

jQuery google api and other google hosted javascript libraries. - ScriptSrc.net
Handy link to the main JavaScript libraries for including in projects if you prefer to deliver them from a worldwide location (e.g. Google). This can be faster if your web server is regional but the reach of your web application is global, if you are expecting high visitor numbers or always want to deliver the latest version of the library without having to worry about copying to your web server.

tags: javascript jQuery development library

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/10/2010

2010-07-10T13:30:00.001+01:00

Free Vectors, Free Vector Graphics, Royalty Free Stock Vector Images

tags: search graphics art pictures office ep
OneLook Dictionary Search
Search multiple dictionaries, reverse dictionary lookup (describe a concept and get a list of words), wildcard searching. Searches online encyclopedias as well as dictionaries. As at July 2010 - over 18 million words and over 1,000 dictionaries indexed.

tags: search reference
- Handy dictionary site, allows wildcard searches, reverse dictionary, etc. - post by Nbr
- This site allows you to search 931 online dictionaries from a single search box. It sounds like a complication but it's not; it actually simplifies the task of finding the meaning of words. - post by Andreas
- Does reverse dictionary searches, type in a concept and it will give you terms related to it. - post by Pistos Christou
- phrase translator - post by wbf gr
- Look up a word or term in an Internet dictionary or glossary. Free search access to a frequently updated database of words, terms, names, and acronyms. - post by Alan Poon
- Cross-searches multiple dictionaries in various languages; includes reverse dictionary and wildcard searches.
  - post by thompsonlibrary

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/09/2010

2010-07-09T13:30:00.001+01:00

15 Google Chrome Extensions for People Who Build Websites
May not replace Firefox for web developers but there are some very handy tools in the list.

tags: development html javascript css

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Diigo Bookmarks 07/08/2010

2010-07-08T13:31:00.001+01:00

25+ Extremely Useful Tricks for the WordPress Functions File
All in one place - handy.

tags: wordpress development php

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Diigo Bookmarks 06/25/2010

2010-06-25T13:31:00.001+01:00

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Diigo Bookmarks 06/24/2010

2010-06-24T13:31:00.001+01:00

AlternateIdea: An In-depth Look At The Future of Javascript Debugging With Firebug
A quick tutorial on using Firebug for JavaScript debugging.
tags: javascript, firefox, development

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Diigo Bookmarks 06/21/2010

2010-06-21T13:30:00.001+01:00

iKeepSafe Internet Safety Coalition
Useful educational site for parents and children. Keeping safe online.
tags: education, security

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Diigo Bookmarks 06/16/2010

2010-06-16T13:31:00.001+01:00

How To Maximize WordPress Traffic Arriving From Search Engines - WordPress MU and BuddyPress plugins, themes, support, tips and how to's
tags: wordpress, seo

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Microsoft's Facebook Docs.com fails at the first hurdle

2010-06-13T21:37:00.001+01:00

Had my first test for Microsoft's new docs.com this week - and it failed badly.

In case you don't know, Microsoft recently announced a new beta Office Live link-up with Facebook. You can log in using your Facebook login instead of a Microsoft Live Id.

So you would think that it would be possible to use docs.com as a collaborative document editor and I suspect that you are supposed to be able to - as long as your documents don't contain anything complex - such as comments!

My wife wanted to share a spreadsheet with some friends - very simple - just a few lines to help them schedule some transport for the kids during an upcoming dance show. Docs.com seemed ideal for this as they are all on Facebook so it should be much easier than using Google docs.

The first problem is that docs.com doesn't always pick up your existing Facebook login so you have to log in again.
The second problem is that even when you are logged in, there is a large banner asking you to sign up for the Beta programme - very confusing.
The third problem is that the interface does not work correctly with Firefox - there is no warning of this but there are some things, such as adding viewers and editors, that fail with no proper explanatory error message.
The fourth problem is that only the original creator can add other editors or viewers, there is no way of delegating this.
The fifth, and most serious, problem comes from using cell comments to annotate cells. Apparently Microsoft's shiny new online Office suite cannot cope with this. Not only does it not show them on the web page, it will no longer let you edit the spreadsheet online! To compound the problem, when someone else (who has been given edit rights) then downloads the sheet as instructed - there is no way to get the edited sheet back online!!

OUCH - it is, in fact, much easier to simply email the document back and forth.

Of course, we could have used Google docs for this. In fact, Google docs seems to have much better compatibility with Microsoft Office than Microsoft do!! It had no problem with cell comments. You can also set the document to not require a login, handy as many people don't have Google logins. But by this time, the audience had lost patience with the technology and done things a different way.

It may only be in Beta but Microsoft seem to be determined to demonstrate that they don't understand user interactions in a collaborative sense nor do they have any comprehension it seems for the need for simplicity. 1 out of 10 for docs.com then - must try better!

UPDATE 2010-06-18: Tried again, this time with Google docs. I set the document so that anyone can edit it (without needing a Google login), shared the link using Facebook messages and everyone is happy. You can even work on the document together, you actually see other people updating the document. Given that it also supports more useful features than docs.com, Google docs gets the thumbs up - 10/10

PS: Sorry about comments, I've updated the Blogger theme and it seems to have broken the old comments. If you are desperate to get in touch, feel free to use my comment form. I'll put any comments on here manually.

Bug in Wordpress 3.0 Custom Post Types

2010-06-11T06:52:00.000+01:00

Well this one threw me!

I was trying out the new custom post types in Wordpress 3.0 RC1 and could not work out why mine wasn't working even when I copied an example from the web and only changed a few things.

It turns out that there is a limitation in the naming of post types - they cannot have a name longer than 20 characters!

If you use more than 20 characters, the "Publish" button becomes "Submit for Review" and if you submit, you get the dreaded:

Are you sure you want to do this?
Please try again.

error.

Diigo Bookmarks 06/08/2010

2010-06-08T13:30:00.001+01:00

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Diigo Bookmarks 06/02/2010

2010-06-02T13:31:00.001+01:00

Adminer
"Adminer (formerly phpMinAdmin) is a full-featured MySQL management tool written in PHP. Conversely to phpMyAdmin, it consist of a single file ready to deploy to the target server." - Looks like an interesting alternative to phpMyAdmin.
tags: development, php, mysql

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Diigo Bookmarks 05/12/2010

2010-05-12T13:32:00.001+01:00

Clean Up Your Photo Collection with Free Tools - Organizing - Lifehacker
Some useful help to get your photo collection in order.
tags: photography, software-list, organisation

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Diigo Bookmarks 05/08/2010

2010-05-08T13:31:00.001+01:00

Sysprobs.com - Desktop Virtualization Software, Windows 7 and More…
Blog covering desktop virtualisation
tags: virtualization, web

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/29/2010

2010-04-29T13:31:00.001+01:00

FlySpeed SQL Query - Free database SQL query tool with easy-to-use visual query builder
Query tool with support for many data sources. Visual query builder. Freeware version does not have export or print features. Only UKP21
tags: software, freeware, payware, development, sql, windows, portable

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/21/2010

2010-04-21T13:31:00.001+01:00

apache friends - xampp
An excellent, free, web development environment. Does not need to be "installed" even under Windows.
tags: software, freeware, development, web, server, php, perl, windows, linux, mac, sql

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/20/2010

2010-04-20T13:31:00.001+01:00

True Knowledge
A nice knowledge search engine based on AI principals. Great for homework answers and very addictive. Uses social answers and voting to help improve as well as linking knowledge from a number of sources.
tags: search, searchengine

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/15/2010

2010-04-15T13:31:00.001+01:00

Using Google docs as a data store
tags: development, web

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/13/2010

2010-04-13T13:31:00.001+01:00

iPhone OS 4.0 - new features plus another kick in the pants for Adobe
"The new terms and conditions are a hardline move from Apple, a glimpse into the company's ruthless competitive streak and a clear statement that Apple expects to maintain absolute control over the iPhone app development cycle. And with the App Store still far and away the most popular of all mobile application markets, the company is still in a position to call the shots." Once again, Apple are revealing their true colours. Restricting customer choice for no good reason.
tags: no_tag
- The new terms and conditions are a hardline move from Apple, a glimpse into the company's ruthless competitive streak and a clear statement that Apple expects to maintain absolute control over the iPhone app development cycle. And with the App Store still far and away the most popular of all mobile application markets, the company is still in a position to call the shots.

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/08/2010

2010-04-08T13:31:00.001+01:00

calibre - E-book management
eBook converter, reader and manager.
tags: ebooks, windows, linux, mac, freeware, software

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/02/2010

2010-04-02T13:31:00.001+01:00

Code Snippets - Snipplr Social Snippet Repository
Code snippet repository
tags: development, reference
Quick Highlighter: A simple to use code syntax highlighter
Create HTML highlighted code listings
tags: development, html
TechPosters - technical posters, cheat sheets for IT guys
tags: programming, development, reference
Cheat Sheet and Quick Reference Card Directory | devcheatsheet.com - Cheat Sheets for Developers.
tags: programming, development, reference

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Diigo Bookmarks 04/01/2010

2010-04-01T13:31:00.001+01:00

Hipster PDA | 43 Folders
A method for maintaining a paper-based "PDA" with calendar, To Do, Notes, etc. Uses Index Cards.
tags: gtd, planning, paper
D*I*Y Planner | the best thing in printing since Gutenberg
Loads of templates for paper-based planning and note-taking
tags: gtd, planning, paper

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