Archive for Tech

iPhone Apps, the quick review

// by timothyaaron // August 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Everyday, Tech

Favorite: iBird Explorer (albeit, most expensive)
Most used: TwitterFon (simplest, fastest–yet full-featured–Twitter client)
Most underused, sadly: Geocaching and Mint.com
Most overlooked: AppSniper (used as an Apps Wishlist)
* – wouldn’t have bothered with an iPhone in the first place if it wasn’t for Google integration with the email, calendar and contacts native apps

The Twitter client conundrom
(I’d happily switch to whichever of these would add per-post Facebook integration)
  • TwitterFon - Clean, intuitive and fast. A minimalists clear choice.
  • Twitterific - Most customizable. A close second.
  • TweetDeck - More bugs caused me to re-review others. Done drinking TweetDeck kool-aid.
  • Twittelator - Might be the prettiest timeline. The rest of it feels too … klunky? (Sorry, Jeff)
  • Tweetie - Won’t even consider until they lose those hideous speech bubbles.

Exchange to Google Apps

// by timothyaaron // June 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech

Made some final adjustments at work today.  No more Exchange/Outlook.  All kinds of excited about it.  The Apps migration was relatively painless; and it’s not perfect, but way better than what we had…imho.

Now on to some other projects: a complete redesign of teenchallengeusa.com and the national directory (utilizing Google Maps), video training via the jingproject and possibly even some twitter integration.

Google Calendars on the iPhone/iPod Touch (with 2-way syncing)

// by timothyaaron // December 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

Want your Google Calendars to sync with your iPhone (or iPod Touch) without giving your Google Account to NuevaSync?

  1. Settings > Calendars > Export your calendar events from your existing Google Account (NuevaSync is still beta).
  2. Create a new *Gmail* Account – not Google Account (let’s call it iPhone ME).
  3. Share your existing calendars with your iPhone ME account (edit rights).
  4. Share your iPhone ME calendar with your existing account (so you don’t have to log back into your new account to see events you add from your iPhone.
  5. Sign-up for an account using your iPhone ME account at www.nuevasync.com…be sure to active calendar sharing.
  6. Thank me.  :D

Crazy talk

// by timothyaaron // December 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Everyday, Interesting Find, Tech

Free broadband for America has inched closer to reality: The plan, after two years of debate, is finally on the calendar for a full vote by the Federal Communications Commission.

Assuming the plan is approved at the FCC’s Dec. 18 meeting, one of the agency’s last before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, free broadband could become reality within a year…

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2008-12-01-free-broadband_N.htm

Feed-Disabler

// by timothyaaron // September 11th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Everyday, Tech

So, I did something geeky the other day.  I wrote a plug-in for WordPress, the blog software I’m using.

For some reason you can’t disable feeds from WordPress, and nobody has created a plug-in to do it…until now.

Five lines of code later, and a little frustration with adding it to WordPress’s official plug-ins site…and VOILA!  18 downloads the first 2 days.

View the download page

maps.live.com and abaca.com

// by timothyaaron // October 16th, 2007 // No Comments » // Interesting Find, Tech

Ran into two interesting technologies today.

abaca.com has a new idea to handle spam. No blacklists, no complex rule setting. Just install and leave it alone. 1/1000 spam messages get through, 1/20000 valid messages get blocked. Read the white paper…it’s also worth it.

maps.live.com is releasing some interesting new views. If you’ve got a really fast internet connection, go there and check out “Bird’s Eye” with “3d”. If you’ve got a not-so-fast connection, check out this video.

PowerPoint Beware!

// by robo // September 19th, 2007 // 4 Comments » // Tech

Google has just enhanced its Docs & Spreadsheets with a new Presentations module. For those of you who may not know, Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based office application which emulates the functionality of Microsoft Word and Excel. In addition, Google Docs offers unique collaboration tools which allow you and someone else to work efficiently on a document simultaneously. With addition of a Presentations module, Google seems to be be hoping to solidify itself as a viable alternative to Micro$oft Office in the office productivity market.

After creating a brief demo in Google Presentation, I was immediately impressed during my first test. One of the most impressive features is Google’s inclusion of chat features. This integration of Google IM technology within the Google Presentations is unobtrusive if you do not require it for your web-based presentation (you can easily collapse the sidebar); however, the chatting features open up a number of interesting uses for this PowerPoint clone. Any Google Docs user can now intuitively and efficiently host a web-cast presentation or forum. This can easily be utilized as an online classroom or harnessed by college study groups (perfect for after-curfew-study-sessions).

While Google Presentations does not come close to achieving the eye-candy visual effects of Apple’s Keynote (another PowerPoint clone), it does offer a useful and innovative web-based solution for your basic everyday [office/school/family vacation] presentations. (especially if you do not want to keep spending money to upgrade Micro$oft Office!)