Wired In New Orleans

Evernote rotation

2009-07-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Quick type folks. I'm a huge fan of Evernote. This handy app has completely replaced paper in my life. Couple that with a nice camera (or iPhone) and you've gone paperless. One little nasty problem I've had is getting the images to rotate. Evernote has for some reason excluded this desperately needed feature. Until they do add it here is a type for you Mac users out there.

Open the pic in Preview and choose Save As. Deselect the option "Use Exif Orientation Tag". If you've already rotated the pic or if it was done automatically you may have to reopen and save as again. The option should be gone at that point and rotating the image will save the correct orientation.

Hope it works for you and feel free to leave feedback or other tips!

Create the ultimate Leopard Boot Drive

2009-05-08T08:11:00.001-07:00

Found a great way to backup my macbook using a 500gb external notebook drive.

Partition the drive into three separate partitions:
10gb leopard boot drive
32gb dos-fat windows/mac drive for data
425+ time machine drive

I did not create a fourth "Mac" drive as you can use the time machine drive for temporary drag and drop of files. However you could optional create a designated amount of drive space for files written and read by Mac. The 32gb is the max size available to be read and write to by both mac and pc's.

Pop your original Leopard install disk into your mac. Open Disk Utility and choose the Leopard disk partition. Select RESTORE at the top of the menu. Two optional lines: SOURCE and DESTINATION will be available. Drag the Leopard disk partition onto the SOURCE. Drag the Leopard Boot Drive partition you created (visible in Disk Utility above the Leopard Disk) onto the DESTINATION. Finally select the "erase destination" option and click ok.

Took about 25 minutes to run so be patient...

At this point you may want to reboot to test the drive (DO NOT REINSTALL OR YOU WILL LOSE ALL DATA!!!!). So be careful not to go any further than selecting the language. To test you would reboot and press the options key to view the newly created external drive. Or if you're nervous just go on to the next step but you need to test this out at some point.

Run the timemachine setup in System Preferences and choose your TIME MACHINE DRIVE that you created. Once backed up you should be set!

Now you have an external drive that fits almost anywhere with a COMPLETE recovery solution of the Leopard install disk and all of your data (plus some!) Not to mention all of the recovery tools available from the original Leopard install disk.

Shipping the big file

2009-03-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Enter the problem: video from a baby shower taken with a Flip Camera is on your computer and looks great. You've retitled all the short clips and are ready to send them off to the mother-to-be. Just one problem...how do you send this stuff?

Email limits cap file attachments such as Gmail limit sizes of a single file to 20megabytes. Which is great if you're video was shot with a digital camera and in clips of 10 seconds each. But even with the flip the smallest video is 40-60 megabytes, around 3 times the size limits imposed by gmail. What if you had taken the time to put all those clips into a running movie with a cute title to show your consideration? How do you get the image from point A (your computer) to point B (her computer)? Here are some thoughts on what might work for you.

The Netflix approach: As the story goes Lesly Stahl, the creator of Netflix came up with the idea of shipping Dvd's rather than sending over the internet because the cost of bandwidth to send a movie was several times that to mail the data on a dvd. This same applies to your movie. Burning the file to a cd or dvd if you have a dvd burner and toss it in a jewel case to mail off. Yet times are changing and bandwidth is much more accessible than it was when Netflix started...

You too can YouTube: Everyone knows that YouTube is the place to go for movie clips, amateur comedy clips, and occasionally news. But did you know you can post you're own movie's? Even better by signing up for a free account you can make the movie private so that only people you choose (that also have an account with YouTube) have access to view that video. Issues are that there is a level of compression performed by YouTube so your video does lose a bit of quality. Also there exists a 10 minute limit per clip. But for the price (did I mention it was free?) you can't beat it. Also, by placing it on your private YouTube account any number of people can watch the video whenever they choose rather than you having to upload to each person individually.

A quick note here, there are a number of paid services that will replicate the features found in YouTube. Shutterfly and Flickr come to mind. Be aware of limitations so far as upload caps that these companies may enforce by pricing.

The Direct Approach: If you're the kind of person that refuses to cut video due to size or time limits, must maintain original video quality, and want it all for free then this is the solution for you. Take the movie file if it is already in one file or zip it if you have a group of files and send it off. Until recently FTP was the best way to get a large file (10 or more megabytes) from one pc to another. Though it was free, FTP requires port forwarding through every firewall you have on your end and the recipients pc for it to work. Not the easiest way to spend an afternoon when you'd rather be watching a movie rather than troubleshooting why it won't send.

While there are a number of options I found a free site called http://fileAI.com It works using java to easily just grab a file and queue it to send. A link is created that you can email to your recipient or just tell them the file number to request. File AI does the rest.

When your recipient clicks on the link they only need to choose where to save your file and the transfer starts right off.

Features include password protection of your link, transfer limits, and drag and drop of the file. In addition the user interface gives you real time statistics as your file uploads. A final cool feature is that as the file uploads the recipient can start downloading. Seems like a small thing but it really makes the overall time to transfer the file much faster. The downside? You have to coordinate with the person you are sending to so that you both have the website open at once during the transfer. And unlike FTP there is no picking up where you left off in the event that the stream is shut down. A final note, FileAI.com is a new site that may or may not be around. Enjoy it for now folks!

The Bottom line: Of all the three major solutions above using http://fileai.com is the fastest. Sure you can burn a cd in less time but how long to mail it? And while uploading to to YouTube works there is still a delay to compress and post on the server side. Not to mention owner ship of the video is someone in question. So play around with it because after all, its free!

What can you say? It's history in the making...

2009-01-19T20:25:00.001-08:00

Presidential Inauguration. Live thanks to Hulu...

Tunnel tunnel tunnel

2008-12-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

Whether supporting your friends laptop while he is out of town or checking your banking while on the road, nothing beats tunneling. You may have heard concepts such as L2TP, VPN, or IPSec. But what does it actually DO for us?

In a nutshell if you are out on the road and want to connect securely home or to a friends computer or even just to a website you need to tunnel. A tunneling is to create a virtual private network or VPN. Just like at your house you have a private network that you trust between you home desktop computer and your laptop. Except instead of actually being directly connected you can "virtually" be connected with the aid of some easy to use and free software.

What benefit does this provide? First you get the functionality of being able to access your home pc or someone elses pc as if you were sitting down in front of it! Secondly that connection is completely encrypted from prying eyes. Meaning if you are at a hotel or a coffee shop and a hacker is "sniffing" your traffic (watching everything you're doing online) they cannot access the traffic you are viewing within your secure tunnel. They can see that you are tunneling but the really juicy stuff is completely hidden from view.

Windows XP out of the box is capable of setting up vpn. However that was back in the days before NAT firewalls (see your linksys wireless router) which tend to fragment those packets as they pass through your home router. Plus not a lot of compatibility between say a Windows XP/Vista machine and a Mac. So this opened up a market for products such as VNC and a slew of imitation programs that allow you to connect between a "server" (your home desktop) and a "client (your laptop while on the road). However these still require that you do something called Port-Forwarding which in a nutshell means to tell your router to listen 24 hours a day for traffic on a single port and if traffic is received on that port to forward it to a single pc in your home network. Was there an easier way?

Yes. Web based services such as LogMeIn and Hamachi.

While I can certainly handle port forwarding from my house, the task becomes impossible when talking about my 74 year old grandmother who has no idea what a router even looks like. However, while I'm physical at her house I make sure that I go to LogMeIn's website and add her computer under my free account. From then on whenever she needs assistance I can log into her computer from any other computer in the world through a webbrowser.

LogMeIn with the free account provides keyboard, mouse, and video. And all you have to do on the target machine is add the computer you want to log into under your account using a feature called "Remote Control". Paid versions of LogMeIn open up a host of IT services such as file transfers, sound control, and the ability to monitor running services on the target machine without ever having to log in. Best of all they pride themselves on security requiring an SSL RC4-128bit encryption for your over the web encryption. So all the bad guys see is that you're connected to logmein but nothing else.

For sharing services such as file and printer sharing between remote computers I love Hamachi. Not the sushi but the application that was also purchased by LogMeIn. It is an extremely simple and easy to use/setup application that creates a quick virtual network between yourself and whoever you choose to allow in.

Originally Hamachi was used by military guys that wanted to play Counter Strike against each other while deployed all over the country and world. I use it to push and pull files (supports normal SMB windows sharing) to people that I am already supporting with LogMeIn. Hamachi adds the supported file transfering capability to get tools and virus updates over to an infected machine for instance.

So fear not the coffee shop internet connections of the world. Using both of these free applications allows for a secure blend of easy-to-use with rock-solid-security. Oh and did I mention that they both support using Mac and PC with each other?

Road Warrior Tech: Must have tools and tips of travel

2008-12-06T14:58:00.001-08:00

"Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours." -Ayn Rand

Life on the road is boring, inconvenient and lonely. The irony of that last point is especially cruel given that much of your time is spent surrounded by crowds of strangers the the rest of your time spent alone, in a hotel room, trying to learn the channels on the local cable box. If the solitude doesn't get to you, the fast food will.

This weeks post is how to arm yourselves with the tools that keep you efficient, entertained, healthy, and most importantly connected with your loved ones you left behind. Taken in that order let us get to the good stuff!

Efficiency: I'm a huge 007 fan (who isn't these days) and the one part of the Bond movies I always marvel at is how that guy gets stuff done. He is never late for his appointment to drop off a "package" because the hotel alarm clock died on him. He never misses a conference call with "M" because his smart phone battery died out earlier that day. How does he do it? Hollywood magic? Well here are some personal efficiency tools that will make you look like the new Bond and maybe just as horse muscled out as that guy is too!

1. Make a list

If you break down any of those efficiency experts and all of there different shticks you get the all powerful list. Whether you are a veteran of David Allens GTD or this is the first time you've heard that Outlook has a calendar you need a To-Do list. Write it down and cross it off. It is that simple. Lifehacker has a great article Why Paper Lists Work Better that proves how a simple 8x11 piece of white paper folded in half a couple of times to fit in your pocket is far more dependable and effective than a $400 smart device. Biggest selling point? Paper doesn't run out of batteries.

The rules of a To-Do list (taken from Merlin Mann of 43 folders) are simple.
1. Write down what needs to be done.
2. Circle what needs to be done first
3. Do it.

By crossing completed tasks off and circling the next task to be done you always know what to do next. If by the end of the day you still have things left to be done then copy them to a new list for tomorrow. The final rule of the To-Do list is if something can be done in less that a couple of minutes such as a quick phone call you've been putting off or sending a short email, then JUST DO IT! Right now, stop fiddling with a list and do it. Okay you did it? Great! See how good that felt?

My personal brew of efficiency is an app called Ominfocus to dump my To-Do thoughts into and it organizes them for me. Well worth the license fee if you own a Mac. From there I copy my neatly organized lists to Google Notebook which I access from my Internet enabled (non-smart) sprint phone with a quick key combination. But I always ALWAYS have a folded piece of paper and pen on me neatly in a pocket to jott things down such as phone numbers, tasks, names, appointments, and directions.

Entertainment: For the civilian the end of a work day is Christmas morning to them; eagerly anticipated with promises of laughter, sugary sweets, and joy. But us road warriors dread the 5 o'clock hour. At least during the day of labor we had something to DO. Once that is gone we are left with little but bad food in a dreary room with local cable. How do you break out of that hotel prison? A little preparation can release you.

Start with what you know. Specifically about yourself. Do you like movies? Music? Activities such as running or cycling or hiking? Or is exploring a concrete jungle more our bent? Sit down and ask yourself if you were going on vacation...how would you spend your nights and weekends? Because that is really what this next business trip could be if you want. So here is what I do for example to prepare.

The list of things I like are...all of the above! I love movies, I blast music where I go , I love walking around a new city (even small ones). I do have one odd hobby where I like to do Ju-jitsu and kickbox. How do I prepare for a "business" trip?

First you need to pimp your laptop. Every road warrior is burdened with this 4-10 lbs work machine so why not let it moonlight for you? I've worked in IT for a bank so I know how draconian the company policy may be about letting you install apps for "fun". To get around this try using a thumb drive and installing portable apps: Firefox and VLC are two that are a must have. Firefox will let you surf to whatever you want to without leaving traces on your work machine (need I say more?). VLC is simple put a video/music player like itunes or windows media player. The big difference here is that VLC plays everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Even ripped movies in some weird format. Which leads me to the next point.

Rip all the movies you can to your hard drive. DVD shrink, dvd decryptor on the pc side. On the mac end you have the classic Handbrake or Visual Hub if you can find it. Either way rip movies down to 700mb and shows to 250mb or so in order to get plenty of quality media that you can watch. I was stuck in the hotel for a couple days during a blizzard once in South Dakota and trust me when I say you cannot have too much media to watch. If you have a decent hotel wifi connection you might be able to get away with watching shows on Hulu personally though I'm a big fan of Itunes and video or audio podcasts. With podcasts you can listen and watch hours of content that really caters to what you are interested in. Shoutout to my boy Leo Laporte!

Music is really a no brainer with every man, woman, and child owning an iPod. What you may not know is that you can get live streaming content free with sites such as my favorite Pandora
and another popular site called LastFM. Not just for your laptop but these will work on smart phones and iPhones as well. Did I mention they are free?

Worth mentioning are two products I can't live without for listening to music or movies for that matter are Ear Bud Headphones and portable usb-speakers. I personally can't justify $300 for noise cancelling Boise and yet if you've ever been on a flight with a screaming child or a propeller driven engine you'll consider them. But I did pickup a pair of ear-bud style headphones that do the trick. Make sure you get the foam tips that you squish before putting in your ear so that they act as earplugs blocking external noise and allowing only the audio you want in. And they are only a tenth the price of the Boise. Also some decent usb-powered portable speakers are worth they're weight in gold. The slimmer the better. I grabbed a good pair for $49 bucks recently that came in a travel case and being usb powered they don't require yet another power adapter for me to lug around.

While movies and music definitely pass the time how many of us like going to movies alone? Exactly! You've got to get out of the hotel room and explore. Go back to your list of what you like to do. If jogging is your thing, find a local park or university with a track you can run at after work. Cycling? Look for local bike shops and call ahead to see if they will rent a bike for a Saturday then check the local trails or roads you can explore.

As for the more extreme hobbies such as hiking, horseback riding, surfing, snowboarding, or in my case Ju-Jitsu there is a great way to get up and running fast. Surf google for local clubs or schools that do what you love to do. Then call and get schedules and costs. Often if you are only in town for a few days or so they will let you play for free or at most only a nominal fee. In my case the most I've ever been charged for a night of blood and sweat was a $10 mat fee. Remember that these guys (and girls) work too so they will schedule their fun around the office the same as you. Most importantly they know all the good spots! So make some new friends and have some fun.

Food: Spending your $30-$40 a day perdiem is an art mastered by the experienced road warrior. My personal approach is to always get a hotel with a refrigerator. That first night after checking in, jump back into the rental car and go the local grocery store to stock up on fruit, juice, milk, cereal, and the like. Stick to foods that are packaged, come in small portions, and most importantly do not require cooking but stay away from snacks and sugar! You find yourself in "Trucker" shape in no time eating junk food (see "Super-Size-Me"). So stay healthy with salads, veggies, I'm a big fan of chips and hummus, bananas, fresh juices and healthy cereals with soy or rice-milk. After two days of shopping you'll have a fridge stocked with food which leaves you're entire perdiem to be spent on dining out every night which I love or if you are a party-type "drinking out" every night while keeping your energy level up during the day with healthy food.

Stay Connected: Who ever said that absence makes the heart grow fonder never spent three weeks in the snow of South Dakota without seeing their wife and daughters. Being apart from the person you love is always hard. End of story. So here is what I do to ease the blow.

Keep pictures everywhere: Wallpaper, Picasa, Flicker, wallet photos, whatever. Just make sure you have them around. The more you see them the more it will seem like home.

Get a webcam: If you're work laptop doesn't have one built in them buy one. They are $30 bucks and worth every penny. Load Skype Portable and make sure that you're home computer has a webcam with Skype installed as well. I don't usually bother with the computer mic because of the quality. I just use the phone but seeing your family you left behind is priceless.

Call all the time: If you are not on a family-plan for your mobile phone then get on one. They all offer unlimited calling to the other member. And take advantage of it! Call before you go to work just to find out what they are doing for the day at home. Be a part of the decisions and stay on top of whats going on so that when you do come home you have to "catch-up" on everything you missed.

Alley in Rapid City, SD that had unbelievable awesome art
well beyond graffiti.
Lastly keep a journal. I take pictures of everything. Invest in a Flip or even just your camera phone and be a tourist! A cheesy Happy Holidays street banner or a wacky coffee shop musician on a Friday night, anything that catches you eye take a picture of and keep a journal. We often forget these little moments that make lasting memories we will want to remember and share with our loved ones when we get home. It makes my time away more bearable if I keep my promise to bring home these little treasures to share with my family.

Fry the road warrior image from: http://www.futurama-madhouse.com.ar/fanfic/frytheroadwarrior.shtml