Thunderbirds are go !
My old company used Exchange Server. I used to use Outlook for mail.
My new company uses IMAP. So now I can use Thunderbird for mail (news and RSS).
No more wasted time puzzling over why filter rules suddenly stop working.
No more wasted time messing around with proprietary PST files.
Fast, flexible, powerful search capability.
All my Outlook data imported seamlessly.
Small change, massive improvement.
heard it on the Newsvine
Yesterday, I stumbled across Newsvine which is a very impressive news aggregator. Until now, I didn't much care for these type of sites. Digg left me a little cold with too many irrelevant, repeated articles (not to mention flame wars) and Slashdot hurt my eyes. I currently use My Yahoo! with various news feeds configured and was starting to experiment with a similar, personalized Google portal with feeds from Google News as an alternative. Newsvine is more focussed on news with feeds from Associated Press, tagging, watchlists, personalisation, discussions and your own news column (articles, links). The interface is well thought out, fast, easy to use and I quickly found myself exploring many different topics of interest. Newsvine is yet another of those Web 2.0 applications currently in beta and needs an invitation to sign up. I anticipate Newsvine supplementing rather than replacing GreatNews as my RSS reader (for personal and technical blogs) but it is certainly a very impressive and interesting application. I stumbled across Newsvine on this blog and the author was kind enough to issue me with an invite. If he has none left, I also have some Newsvine invites available if you are interested in trying it out.Web based calendars
I have been thinking (yes I do a lot of that) recently about managing my personal calendar more effectively. Ideally, I would like a simple Web based calendar that could also sync to my Palm. I don't really like the Yahoo! Calendar that much even though it can sync with Outlook and the Palm. I simply don't enjoy looking at the Yahoo! calendar. I just think the interface is ugly and there are distracting ads liberally scattered at the top of the screen. I am following the development of Sunbird with interest but this project is still in development and I think Sunbird only runs locally. I have an outstanding, low priority ToDo to evaluate Remember The Milk but keep forgetting. So, I was interested to read Matt Mullenweg speaking in glowing terms about the calendar functionality from 30 Boxes rapidly followed by similar sentiments from Scobleizer. Mental note. Forego 'Songs of Praise' for just one week and remember to sign up at 30 Boxes on Sunday 5 February when it enters public beta. In fact, add it to your calendar with an SMS alert so you don't forget.finally succumbed
Tim Hall was right. I can resist everything except temptation.
Install Apache 1.3.2 for Windows. Very quick and easy. Slight feeling of version envy. The latest version is 2.x. Will upgrade later. Install mySQL 5.0 for Windows. Very quick and easy. Install mySQL Administration Tools 1.1. Very quick and easy. Install mySQL QueryBrowser 1.1.9. Very quick and easy.
Login to mySQL database. Create a table. Insert a record. Select the record. All seems fine.
Install PHP 5.12 for Windows. Very quick and easy.
But wait, what's that ? I actually have to do some work and edit Apache 'httpd.conf' because that code hasn't been written yet. Read 'install.txt' for details. Oh no. Make the necessary changes. Now the Apache service doesn't even start. No Apache error log. Have to run something called Event Viewer. Investigate for 3 minutes. Get bored. Consider reformatting disk, installing Linux and using
./configure; make; make test; make install
Kids want to use computer. I want to watch the football. I need to get a move on. I haven't got all day.
Stumble across Wamp (Apache 2.0.55, mySQL 5.0.18, PHP 5.12 bundle). Phew. Version envy dissolves.
Wamp (Apache) doesn't install cleanly due to conflict with existing installed programs. Uninstall everything. Reboot. Reinstall wamp which is successful. Nice dashboard with phpMyAdmin and mySQL interface (SQLiteManager).
Download Joomla. Use browser based installation which runs perfectly. Run Joomla. Looks nice.
Download gtd-php. Configure. Create a GTD database and tables. Run gtd-php. Looks nice.
Try to create a project. Get '403 Forbidden' error. Ask politely for help. Google points me at a similar issue in Wamp. Make the suggested edits. Adding items now works ! Add the following 'Next Actions'
Install Apache Install PHP Install mySQL Install Joomla Install GTD-PHP Add mySQL to CV
Mark all actions as done. How very satisfying. Turn computer off.