TechProsaic

Ok, calling this my trademark would amount to outright theft. But it was my idea first!

Oops, forgot to tell how I did this. Remember Active Desktop? That technology that Microsoft added to Windows that allows you to put pictures, movies and webpages on your desktop? Well everyone hated it that I know of and it was a fad that I haven’t thought about in ages. Believe it or not the feature still exists in XP and what a perfect way to take advantage of a desktop-replacing technology like AJAX and the Meebo IM client!

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Rather than watch me re-type , just read these two /. articles. View the Zimbra flash demo, its wicked cool.

• Zimbra collaboration suite
• Early AJAX Office Applications

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How did I miss this one? Sheesh, I’m getting old I guess.

Meebo is a multi-protocol (think Trillian or GAIM) IM client. It’s web-based, but unlike “web 1.0“, this one is written with AJAX. Yes, the same technology used in all of the new web apps these days. As such, it doesn’t behave like a webpage at all. It reminds me a lot of Gush, which is a Jabber client (and a little more) written in Flash.

It’s quite cool and all but makes me wonder. What about when you really do want to integrate with the desktop OS? I shall provide an example (no, please no need for applause). If I step away from my desk (or even switch tabs), how will Meebo get my attention if a new message comes in? Its lijmited to doing what your web browser can do. That means opening a popup, but if the app is minimized you still might not see that. Not unsurmountable, but I can’t think of another example right now.

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I installed the latest Firefox beta the other day, so I have been hunting around to find updated extensions. I finally found a version of LiveLines that would work with FF 1.5beta 1 and started playing around with the options and such. I was logged into gmail, clicked on the RSS icon and sure enough, LiveLines worked as well as it did in FF 1.06. Then I looked more closely and noticed something awfully Not Right.

Except what I saw on the screen didn’t have the username or password blocked out. And that’s not MY username. It’s someone else’s. Uh oh. I did some testing and found that the credentials did not log me into somebody’s account, which is good. But certainly that user ID and password weren’t fictional, they must’ve been valid at one point. Anyway, I reported it to Bloglines. They replied with:

Thank you for writing to Bloglines.
We appreciate that you have brought this to our attention. We have
forwarded your information to the appropriate department for further
investigation. Any Google mail feeds should, however, be displayed as
invalid, and result with a “That Blog Does Not Exist” message.
Thank you again for writing.

That’s not precisely what I would call a direct answer. Anyway, I’m a huge fan of Bloglines. I think they must be aware of this issue already, but perhaps something old was cached in there. This is definitely something to be aware of though.

• Be careful where you enter your passwords.
• Change your passwords regularly.
• Don’t use the same password for everything.
• Especially don’t use the same password for your online banking and your webmail, or much of anything else for that matter.

If you have trouble remembering passwords, use the password wallet that comes with your OS, or download one of the many free programs availale on the net that helps you keep track of passwords in a secure fashion. I recommend Keepass (windows, pocket pc) or Password Safe (windows, linux).

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Very sage advice from a good friend of mine. Use this to train your family members so you won’t have to fix their PCs so often!

How to secure your PC in 7 easy steps - jayntguru.com

Note I’d add to it that you can get Avast anti-virus personal edition for free.

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I am in a bit of a quandry. Waaaay back in March of this year I learned about the upcoming HP hw6500 series Windows Mobile PDA / GSM phone combo. With the builtin GPS its a really killer combo. But for some reasons unknown, HP has not released the unit back in March, or April, back when I was originally expecting it. They finally did release it in Europe and elsewhere, but it’s still not available in the US six months later.

Now the critics are panning the unit since it doesn’t have Windows Mobile 2005 but instead the older 2003 SE version. HP has since confirmed (*whew* I can finally admit that I knew this weeks ago but couldn’t say anything) that there will be no upgrade path for this unit. :s

So. I’ve heard it will be out soon (really), but I don’t know if I still want it! The GPS is the only compelling reason to get it IMHO. Everything else that you can do with it, you can do with the upcoming Palm Treo 700w. Plus as we all know, Palm has made several very successful converged PDA/phone units now. Frankly, their track record is better. (Can you say HP 6300?)

So where does this leave me? The new Treo is supposed to be out “early 2006″. The hw6500 will be out in the US “soon”. (before xmas, ok?)

I think now it comes down to price. We don’t know what Cingular will be charging yet with a service discount. My current mobile contract ends 12/6, so I’ll be ready.

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Congratulations to Nathan and Athena aka Fritzy and Rainshine. Their baby boy was delivered today around 1045 MST. He told me the length and weight but I forgot what it was.

For those unaware, Nathan is the man behind Edgar the Jabber bot and class.jabber.php.

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Its basic, but it works perfectly.

(click on image for a larger version)

Thanks to Joshua Rudd for the tip. See my earlier post for more details.

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/me smacks forehead

Why didn’t I think of this???

ThinkGeek :: PowerSquid Outlet Multiplier

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Ipaq HQ is a great website that I have frequented over the past year or so, but I’d never contributed to their forums before. However, I did sign up for an account at some point. Well, Chris the admin sent an email out to all members of the forum announcing some changes to the site, as well as an invitation for new staff moderators and reviewers. I applied and was accepted!

So now I guess I have to post in their (guess I can say “our” now) forums.

So go visit ipaqHQ for PDA news. Maybe you’ll see me there.

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