.~Javier Plumey~.|Fatih, Technology, Politics, Whatever.

I use email. Alot. In my line of work nearly 70% of all my client communication is done through my Inbox. Because of this I make it a point that all of my emails, even the quick ones to say “thanks” are formatted properly, with a signature, and with care taken to grammar, and spelling. As someone who has made his living on being able to work with customers of all types (tech types to VP’s), I can honestly say that my
email writing skills have played a role in my success in IT.

I can’t tell you how many emails I have seen come across that just made me say “huh?”. I’m not talking about emails between friends. I’m talking about emails between professionals. Here are some things to avoid:

1. Sentence fragments. Close them up! Use complete sentences, even if responding to a question from a previous email.
2. Bda sepllign. Nearly every email application has a spell checker. Use Firefox’s built-in one for web-based email. It’s embarassing and makes you look stupid, so just be careful.
3. Bad grammar. Take the time to read your email out loud, or at least in your head. If it sounds funky, it probably is.
4. Address the person correctly. Take a look at this article.
5. Make sure you have a signature with your current and correct contact information. It could be as simple as your name and your email address. If you want people to depend on you, you better be reachable.

These are just some tips for you. I am sure that there are countless other similar posts on the web, so look around and see what others have to say.

Those of you who run the Mac platform and have youngsters who will soon be, or already are, ready to surf the web on their own (they should be at least 15 years old, imho), will be happy to see the release of NetNanny for the Mac.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/11/net-nanny-for-the-mac-released/

NetNanny is one of the most popular Internet filtering and parental control software, and they’ve been around forever. It’s great to see them release their Mac version.

While I still prefer a network-wide solution, like the D-Link SecureSpot, this one is very good and highly recommended.

So we’re all slammed by waves of information that hit us every day. We have to remember passwords, profile names, interesting bits of information for work or our personal lives, movies we want to watch, books, etc. Plus those of us with the disposition to learning about the world around us have to manage all of the information so that we don’t forget it or so we can use it later.

I’m no different. I have to keep track of information for work I do on clients, for the podcast I host, for my personal life, and for all of the projects in which I am involved. So what keeps me from tearing my hair out in frustration as I try to manage all of this information? Well, today I will recommend three little tools you can use to keep your digital “mind” sane.

1. Evernote.

Evernote is awesome. It’s a free, cross-platform application that lets you store and create notes. What makes Evernote different from all of the other note taking apps out there is that there are so many ways of getting stuff into the app and that your stuff can be accessed just about anywhere. From PC’s to Macs, to the web, and to mobile devices, if there’s something you need to remember, just put it into Evernote and tag it (or not) and you can retrieve it later.

You can send it pictures from your phone or computer and it will scan the picture for text that you can use to search on later. For example, want to catalog something you wrote on a napkin at a restaurant? Simply take a picture, upload it or email it to your Evernote email address, and then in minutes (or even seconds) you can go online or launch your preferred client and you can search for any text in the image and find the image. You can clip articles from websites, you can email or SMS yourself notes, all of which are accessible from your Evernote account.

I find it really useful to create tags for topics I am researching and then clipping portions of websites or files I have downloaded into Evernote. Then I can review the topics from my phone when out and about. Because it’s so easy to get content into Evernote, I never forget an idea.

It’s all free, and you can upgrade and receive more space if you need it. This has become my indispensable tool. Go to www.evernote.com to check it out.

2. Tiddlywiki.

Tiddlywiki is a reusable non-linear personal web notebook. Think of it as a Wiki that stores everything into one, convenient, cross-browser compatible html file. According to their site:

TiddlyWiki is a single html file containing all the characteristics of a wiki
- all the content, all the functionality (including editing, saving,
tagging and searching) and the style sheet. Because it’s a single file,
it’s very portable – you can email it, put it on a web server or share
it via a USB stick.

I use Tiddlywiki in conjunction with Evernote. I use Evernote to act as my “brain” and tiddlywiki as a way to document what I’m working on. For example, I have a Tiddlywiki file that I use to track everything happening with my contract with the Social Security Administration. I store this on my work laptop, and I sync it with my USB drive. I keep track of open support issues, meeting notes, etc. It has saved me hours and hours of research because I keep everything in the one file. I can search across all the “tiddlers” (like notes) and find anything instantly.

Tiddlywikis support themes and expansion of functionality through plugins. There’s no installation, just a single file with some fancy Javascript and DHTML that stores everything locally. I’ve been a happy Tiddler for over a year.

Go to www.tiddlywiki.com for more info. This is free as well and a very useful little tool.

3. eWallet

eWallet is an excellent and secure digital wallet. With it you can store information securely using 256-bit encryption. What do I use it for? To store passwords to websites, account numbers, credit cards, and personal information I might need at any notice. I currently have the version for Windows Mobile and for Windows, but they also have a version of U3 Flash drives and soon they will be releasing their Web version (I’ve signed up for the beta but the list is long).

Right now you can sync between your device and Windows but eventually there will be a way to sync from your phone to the Web version so you can always get to your information. I can’t tell you how many times this has saved me.

eWallet is not free but a great value at $30. Go to www.iliumsoft.com for more info.

I’ve actually had my eye on this thing for some time, but it looks like it’s going to be something you can get your hands on pretty soon. I’ve looked high and low for some decent mobile recording gear, especially since my Zoom H4 went the way of the buffalo. Not withstanding its funky appearance, if the sound quality is decent, this would make a great unit for a podcaster who does recording on the scene. I’ll have to keep an eye on the reviews and see how it shapes up.

Ok I will admit that I am sweating the new iPhone 3G. It comes out today and even though I have the cash to get it, it would mean spending more cash to cancel my T-Mobile contract. I want it. Badly.

And that’s exactly why I am going to wait to buy it. It would be very easy for me to give in to temptation and just go get it. I would be quite happy playing with the new features, uploading pictures, downloading apps, using the GPS…ok I’m getting carried away here and starting to lose my nerve!

But seriously, aren’t we as Christians supposed to be able to control our desires (whether for flesh or tech)? Shouldn’t I have enough will power to simply say, “I’ll wait until my contract is up”? Shouldn’t I be fiscally responsible for what God has given me? The answers to all of these questions is a resounding “YES”, which is exactly while I will say “NO” to the iPhone. Or at least a “later”.

Update 7-11-2008 12:01 PM EST: It now appears that the process of in-store activation has gone completely belly up! Long lines and frustrated consumers greet anyone going to by a phone today. Plus, many of them were sent home to activate because AT&T lost connectivity to the activation servers. I am glad I listened to my conscience…and my wife!

Update 7-11-20008 3:50 PM EST: So if use the iExam application on the iPhone, should I feel better? Check it out at the Curt Jester. Thanks!

I’m just going to throw these out there since today is the first day of WWDC. Here’s what I think we’ll see:

1. Obviously, a new iPhone, with 3G capabilities and some new apps.
2. A developer-centric desktop, something a little bigger than the Mini, but small and powerful.
3. Some changes to the MacBook Pro line. Perhaps they will start offering solid state disks on the MacBook Pro.
4. More iTunes-related stuff, perhaps new services or additional content.

Those are my modest predictions. I would love to see a Mac tablet of some kind, but I doubt it will happen. I hope you all have fun keeping tabs on the flood of information from WWDC.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080606/a_bodyscan06.art.htm

According to USA TODAY:

Body-scanning machines that show images of
people underneath their clothing are being installed in 10 of the
nation’s busiest airports in one of the biggest public uses of security
devices that reveal intimate body parts.

The Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) recently started using body scans on
randomly chosen passengers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver,
Albuquerque and at New York’s Kennedy airport.

I travel frequently through BWI (Baltimore) and I’ve seen the machines. Man they are scary looking! So I suppose I’ll eventually be subject to one of these. I don’t really care, as long as the machines are not saving the image and tying it to me personally, and as long as they don’t end up on the internet. I’m already self-conscious about my love handles, there’s no need to spread that kind of love around.

I don’t download illegal movies and music and I don’t upload anything illegal (or even that large) via BitTorrent, but I do upload about 4-8 GB a week:

• I run a backup of my three systems up to JungleDisk
• I upload at least 2 GB a week of pictures to my Smugmug account
• During podcast season, I upload 120 MB+  of audio, images, etc. (for the final podcast) and 600MB for a backup of the lossless AAC file.

Will Comcast target me and list me as a black-list user? I don’t know but it makes me worry. Oi.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Infrastructure/Comcast-Tests-User-Throttling/

Comcast claims only a handful of users are clogging its broadband network and slowing it down for the vast majority of users.

In testing beginning in three markets June 6, Comcast plans to compile a blacklist of its heaviest users who may find their Internet speeds
slowed during peak network hours, regardless of the software used to
download files. Comcast insists most users will not be affected by the
approach.

I prefer Time-Warner’s tiered approach where heavey users are charged somewhere in the order of $1-2 US a GB for going over their alloted amount.

What do you think? Are you going to be black-listed?

Prototype JavaScript framework: Easy Ajax and DOM manipulation for dynamic web applications Annotated

I’m getting a chance to use this for the first time and so far it looks really promising. Of course, I’ve used the original scriptaculous a couple of times, but this is the first commercial implementation that I’m doing.

Registry Patches Annotated