Windows Sort Order
Came across a very strange problem recently..... all files in any Windows Explorer or Open/Save dialog were sorted by reverse order. I could go back in to Explorer, get up the "Details" view and then resort it. However it would default back to reverse order. Very strange and frustrating!!!
A quick Google brought up this article. In short, if you hold Ctrl and click the close window "X" it remembers the last sort order.... permanently. So the solution is to re-sort (as you want it) and then Ctrl-"X".
Simple solution to a very frustrating problem!
posted on: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
SMS Backup
Got lots of SMS on your Android phone? Want to backup or delete some?? SMS to Text is a simple app to do just that.... export to your SD card, filtering by your contact list or simply all of them and press go. Output formats are TXT or CSV. Simple, useful, does the job.
posted on: Sun, 01 Jan 2012 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Book Prices
I've moaned before about the price of Kindle books and that they are often pennies cheaper than the printed version.... and you can't lend them! Anyway, part of the reason is that VAT is charged on ebooks, but not on paper books. As PCPro explain, a cut in VAT on ebooks in Luxembourg may well see some sort of parity across Europe and we deserved dropped in prices.
posted on: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Carbonite on your smartphone
Some of you may know that I'm a big fan of Carbonite, the online backup facility. Yes it charges, but for unlimited storage and a real no-hassle backup it is a bargain at $59. Which in my book is pretty good for the 85Gb I've got stored there. Whilst it's really billed as online backup, it is a "webdrive" and the web interface to access files is pretty reasonable. Of course, there is also now an Android app to do this which is simple, small and fully functional. Very handy to be able to grab a file whilst out and about.
posted on: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Calls on a data contract??
Nice article at The Guardian on using a data contract on your mobile to route all your comms traffic....
posted on: Wed, 07 Dec 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
PDF Printing
Loads of stuff is sent, received and archived as PDF. Its a great format originally derived from postscript (by Adobe) designed for bridging the gap between designing a print job on a PC and delivering it to a printer for output....
posted on: Wed, 07 Dec 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Raspberry Pi
If you haven't seen the fuss over Raspberry Pi then head on over and take a look at their website. And if you don't want to invest too much time then read the excellent summary over at The Register....
posted on: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Open Source Roundup
A useful open source roundup with a slight focus upon geo-stuff.
posted on: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
NERC Knowledge Exchange Grant
For those interested, I am currently a Co-Investigator on a NERC Knowledge Exchange grant titled "The Physical Landscape of Britain and Northern Ireland."...
posted on: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
One Story
One Story is a great subscription for your Kindle. Each month you get one new short story and they never use an author twice....
posted on: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Daily Deal
Amazon UK offering a "daily deal" each day for a heavily discounted book. See the blog post for further details. It'll be interesting to see how these deals develop.... equivalent price in the US at the moment. Will have to see if it goes up tomorrow as well or whether its the usual "Brits can pay more"
posted on: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Eject USB
Safely ejecting USB devices is a perennial gotcha for those not in the know, recently brought home to me by a friend who copied some audio books to her Kindle and couldn't find them to play them....
posted on: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle loses audio.....
PCPro had a good review of current ebook readers this month. And yes the new Kindle came out on top, but as they say, its all about content!...
posted on: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
"Couldn’t install on USB storage or SD card” error on Android
Finally got around to sorting out a niggling bug on my San Fran phone. For *one* application only, I kept getting the following error when I tried to install it:
"Couldn’t install on USB storage or SD card"
I couldnt be bothered to do anything about it, but when it then occurred for another app I thought I'd better do some digging....
posted on: Thu, 03 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Mighty Text
I've just been trialling MightyText which allows you to send and receive SMS messages on your PC from your Android phone....
posted on: Tue, 01 Nov 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Android OS Updates
Really interesting article on OS updates comparing iOS and Android phones. This shows the quality user-experience that Apple aims for and keeping users happy with the latest OS version. It also keeps developers happy in the sense that they stick to the "curve" and make sure their products are up-to-date.
Compare that to Android where fragmentation of the OS and out-of-date products as they ship leads to a not entirely satisfied end-user. The moral of the story being, if you are on Android you are betting off rooting your phone as soon as possible and putting on the latest ROM developed by the community.
posted on: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle 3.3 Firmware
The Kindle 3.3 Firmware has now landed.... not sure what happened to 3.2 unless it was internal and with the release of the new non-keyboard Kindle this has jumped to put them both at the same point I don't know. Also worth noting that the "branding" is now "Kindle" and "Kindle Keyboard": ostensibly the same hardware otherwise.
Featurewise there is nothing to write home about..... backing up to the Kindle account of your own documents as well as those from the Kindle store. All part of the cloud based service that the Kindle Fire (aka tablet) is aiming to tap in to. So it makes sense and shifts people in that direction. Not sure if anything else has changed.....
posted on: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Font management
Font management seems to be one of those things you never get around to if you aren't a designer (and possibly even if you are)....
posted on: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Microsoft Office upgrade.....
I finally took the plunge and upgraded Microsoft Office. Having used Office97 for.... well the best part of 14 years its time to retire it....
posted on: Thu, 06 Oct 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
New Kindles available imminently
Amazon did a BIG product launch today attacking the portable media "appliance" market on all fronts with a swathe of announcements....
posted on: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Maps
The OS blog highlighted that maps are now making their way on to the Kindle. Kindle Map Guides are a nice example and reasonably well put together use OpenSpace data. They are probably the best of the bunch and replicate a paper map on your Kindle. They do the job, but I can't help feel that they missed a trick in maximising the screen space given over to the map. Useful to have in the pocket though. Kindle Maps are using OpenStreetMap data with their first offering a map of Dublin.
posted on: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
IT setup for travel.....
I took this picture last week whilst in Belfast. This is (currently) my IT setup whilst travel. On a day-to-day basis I now only take my San Francisco; however this isn't sufficient for a longer trip. I need a Windows PC, reasonable size screen/keyboard, internet access and ALL my documents/software. The photo shows my ageing, but trusty, Sony Vaio, portable harddrive (stuff with all my work and portable apps. The San Francisco is then setup as a portable wifi hotspot to give internet access. Very portable.
posted on: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Library Up and Running
Well the Kindle library lending scheme is now up and running in the US. Based upon a 2 week lending period... bear in mind this means Kindle the "brand" rather than Kindle the "device". So if you want to borrow a book (and you need to be a library member) you can sync it to *any* Kindle application, be that iPhone, Android, Windows or Chrome.
Its not a panacea, but it will address those people who don't want to buy Kindle books because they can borrow them. Quite how this would work for student textbooks I'm not sure, although discussions with academic publishers are meant to be ongoing....
posted on: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Cloud Reader
I was snooping around the Amazon Kindle webpages a few weeks back and came across the Kindle Cloud Reader....
posted on: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Send to Kindle
Send to Kindle is a handy app for Android that renders a webpage and automatically sends it to your Kindle email address for syncing at a later date. Useful.
posted on: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Scheduling an SMS message
SMS Scheduler does what it says on the tin.... schedules the sending of SMS messages. Allows multiple recipients, repeat sending (and different frequencies), as well as types of notification. Useful if you want to send a txt as a 1-off in the future or to schedule regular txts. Its ad-supported.... unless you either pay for it or use AdFree (you need a rooted phone for that though).
posted on: Fri, 09 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Limited Time Offers
Amazon have a variety of short-term free books available, but you need to keep checking to see what's around; I mentioned in this earlier post about one of the memory books being free last week....
posted on: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Mobile proliferation?
The battle for mobile supremacy is on.... a good article on the proliferation of mobile platforms in a chart. A few older device platforms missing (not sure what Newton ran....) but just highlights that people are largely OS agnostic. They don't care as long as they can email, access Twitter/Facebook and play Angry Birds!
posted on: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Kindle Tablet?
Nice article over at TechCrunch on the possible Kindle Tablet. For those time-stressed..... it looks like a Playbook, runs a completely forked version of Android and is highly integrated in to Amazon services.
The Kindle platform and integration to mobile services (aka books, music, video and apps) seems to be taking shape...
posted on: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Merging database records
I was recently sent a set of records to update a database on schools in Central Bedfordshire but realised that it was only a partial match for the full set of schools in said database....
posted on: Fri, 02 Sep 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Write Space... more distraction free writing
Following on from my post on Focus Writer is Write Space.... another distraction free editor. This time though its an App for Google Chrome and (perhaps unusually) offers local file storage. There are no options other than how the interface looks, but it just works. Another option....
posted on: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Dolphin Browser
Dolphin Browser has been released free on Android after an injection of cash in to the firm for developing the product further. Its a feature packed browser thats well worth a try.... webzine, gestures, tabs, side bar etc etc.
posted on: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Student textbooks on the Kindle
Amazon have announced student textbook lending in the US for the Kindle. No detailed pricing as yet, but it looks like they have persuaded textbook publishers to lend by the day (or cumulative units). This could be a book for students, publishers and those on distance learning programmes. No sign of it yet on the horizon in the UK, so it'll be interesting to see how this develops.
posted on: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Focus Writer
Good writers suffer from the art of procrastination and take it to new levels.... what can you do NOT to do any writing today?...
posted on: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Android: low on space?
I hit the "Low on Space" problem again on my Orange San Francisco.... Ive just ignored this in the past, deleted a few apps on got on with life....
posted on: Sun, 03 Jul 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Backing up RSS Feeds
And in a similar vein.... if you want to back up RSS feeds try RSS to CSV Converter.
posted on: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Backing up Twitter
During the Durness to Dover trip I tweeted regularly during the day to let people know how we were doing. This type of social media is good for this particular application, however I wanted to back up the account and export all the tweets. Tweetake does the job well and you can import everything in to Excel. Useful.
posted on: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Another Android PDF reader
Foxit have released their Android PDF reader for beta testing. It's not the prettiest interface at the moment, but it is fast and also correctly supports layer transparency. Carries on where the Windows app leaves on. Worth a look, particularly when it hits final.
posted on: Thu, 02 Jun 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Finding offscreen windows
I blogged ages ago about how I tend to organise my IT.... that is a portable hard drive with as many apps on it as possible so that my entire IT "ecosystem" is portable....
posted on: Tue, 31 May 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
Lifehacker: 10 Android Features the iPhone doesnt have
Nice article over at Lifehacker
posted on: Wed, 18 May 2011 | path: /computing | permanent link to this entry
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