Jan 13
Mobile News David
3g, app, application, joikusoft, joikuspot, mobile, modem, phone, relay, store, symbian, tethering, wifi, windows
Joikuspot
Quick update to say I’ve had a review of Joikuspot Premium published on CNET UK.
“What on earth is Joiku … what what?” I hear you say? Well it’s a little application which runs on your Symbian or Windows Mobile smart phone, and turns it into a WiFi hotspot. It does this by allowing any WiFi devices in range to open a connection with your phone, and then relays all their internet bound traffic from the WiFi connection to the 3G internet connection of your phone.
Yes, it does have the potential to wind up being expensive if you don’t have a flat rate data plan, but it’s an excellent tool to have in an emergency, e.g. if your home internet goes down.
I’m also pleased to say this is my second publication with CNET UK, and I have a few more in the pipeline too. This one, like all the rest, is now linked to on my publications page.
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Nov 9
How-To Guides David
backup, command line, cronjob, e-mail, imap, imapsize, mbox, offlineimap, python, restore, synchronise, thunderbird, ubuntu, windows, wine
OfflineIMAP in action
Some time ago I bemoaned the lack of a way to have my computer run an automated back up of my IMAP email. To summarise, I had a couple of point and click methods to back up my email. Although, these were both manual methods, which means I needed to remember. No matter how good my intentions, sometimes I’ll forget, so I wanted something I could automate. This naturally lead to me wanting something that would run on the command line, which I could hence run from a script.
I’m glad to say I finally discovered a Python program called OfflineIMAP that would do just this. It won’t run on Windows, but it will run on any POSIX type operating system, i.e. Linux, FreeBSD, and Max OS. My only complaint with the thing is that if you run it manually in a terminal, you can no longer type anything into that terminal – you have to shut down and re-open the terminal window. Also, if you want to run this without having to input your log-in details (i.e. unattended executions) then you have to have them stored in a clear-text configuration file.
Other than these niggles, it is perfect for my needs. I can run it from my cron scheduler, and it synchronises with my IMAP server. This is actually better than I wanted, as synchronisation means I can use this to upload any messages I’ve archived away from the server, but want to restore.
If you’re interested in trying this, I’ll just mention that I don’t directly call it from a cronojb, but I call it from a script, because of the above mentioned terminal bug. (And no, running it like this from the cron scheduler didn’t work, it had to be ran from a script).
sleep 2
/usr/local/bin/offlineimap&
echo ""
References:
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Nov 4
How-To Guides David
command line, editing, file, id3, id3 mass tagger, linux, mp3, mp3tag, music, podcast, tag, windows
MP3 tag editing
If you download many podcasts, you’ll often find that some of them aren’t tagged properly, and so don’t show up in your MP3 player where they should. There are two ways you can deal with this. First is the manual method with a graphical application. My recommendation goes to MP3TAG. It is a highly flexible system which can handle all the tag fields you’d need to handle, including cover art. It can also fill in tag information from systematically named files, and vice versa, as well as pulling tag data from Amazon and the CD internet database. When I was organising my 1,800+ MP3 collection, I was able to tag and rename every file with a ridiculous amount of ease.
Manual tag editing is all well and good for occasional jobs, but when you need see to podcasts that your computer gets every week, it can get repeative and time consuming. Therefore you need an automated method. The best way to automate a task is to find a command line tool for which you can write a script and execute on your operating system’s scheduler.
This is were ID3 Mass Tagger comes in. This is a really handy little utility, pointed out to me by fellow blogger, Pokeh. Fortunately the author makes versions of this for most operating systems. I run a script on my Ubuntu laptop for synchronising my podcasts with my mobile phone, and I’ve been able to incorporate this into that script to correct all my genre tags.
MP3Tag in action
References:
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Oct 23
How-To Guides David
autorun, windows
If you want to have some programs run automatically from your USB thumb drive (only do with programs you trust). There here’s a link to a little application that will help you, by writing the Autorun.inf file for you. Handy if you knew that Autorun.inf was the file you needed to do this, but were afraid of doing a little script hacking.
http://lifehacker.com/387709/usb-autorunner-quick+launches-thumb-drive-apps
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Oct 14
Editorial David
3d, 7, boot, desktop effects, floss, linux, operating system, reliability, service pack, speed, time, ubuntu, vista, windows
- Reliability.
Of course Ubuntu can go wrong but only when I mess with it. Meanwhile, Windows seems to go wrong all on its own with no help from me!
- Settings are easier to find.
Everything you could need to alter is either available through the “System” menu, or right clicking a particular object. Windows requires you to drill through multiple layers of menus.
- Boot speed.
Compared to Windows, the boot time of Ubuntu is stunning. See for yourself.
- Disk space.
Ubuntu takes at most a quarter of the disk space that Vista and Windows 7 takes. That means you have more drive space to use for your own files.
- Operation speed.
Windows soon slows down, Ubuntu doesn’t seem to ever slow down. Everything works as quickly as it did yesterday.
- Applications are easier to install.
In Ubuntu, you have the “Synaptic Package Manager” which gives you a point and click interface to choose applications to install – think of it like an App Store. Unlike Windows, where you have to hunt the internet for a .exe to download, then run it yourself. In Ubuntu, it’s an all in one operation.
Desktop effects.
Thanks to a system called Compiz, Ubuntu has more snazzy desktop effects than Windows or Mac OSX have ever had. You can set up the combination that is perfectly useful to you.- Regular releases.
With Ubuntu, you have the equivalent of a service pack every six months. Between those releases, on average, you’ll get bug and security fixes every week.
- The command line.
This is a controversial one as I wouldn’t suggest novice users jump right into using the command line (but I would encourage you to learn!). Although, I like how I can achieve – with a single line of code – something that would take a few minutes of point and click work. Windows has a command line, but it’s just not as useful.
- No DRM, i.e. no Windows Genuine Advantage.
Because Ubuntu is free there’s no nasty DRM to get in your way when you’re installing the system, either on your own computer, or taking your Ubuntu CD to your friend’s computer.
Get Ubuntu!
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