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How to manage your time with Windows Mobile
If you are like me and are a Windows Mobile user, you might feel a little left in the shadows by all the iPhone love out there. I use the HTC Vox (actually Orange’s SPV E650) and find it a great little app. It’s got a slide out keyboard and is nice and small.
SPV E650
I am always trying out new ways to best use this device, so I thought I would share what I currently have settled on. First off, a little background about what I want to achieve from this device. I, like most normal users, am stuck behind a desk most of the time, I am not a road warrior, so I only need my device to help me out, not run my life. I mainly use it to manage my time and make notes, not as my only work tool. Thus, I have concentrated on time management tools.
My main task management tool is WebIS’ PocketInformant, a replacement to the default Pocket Outlook installed on my phone. PocketInformant has a huge amount of options and allows you to define different calender views, add reminders about meetings, tasks and notes, as well as manage your contacts. My main use is to simply add any reminders that I need about project and task due dates, and also write notes about projects I am working on, alongside reminders for these notes.
PocketInformant
My next tool is SBSH’s Facade. This is a home screen plugin that alongside adding shortcuts to as many apps as you want, meters for various phone stats, it also adds a handy calender preview right on the home screen. You can use it to instantly check up on task that day, simply by unlocking the phone to operate the screen. I find it incredibly handy.
Facade
Finally, as a bonus, if you also have SBSH’s Pocket Weather, you get a weather forecast in your home screen to 
Pocket Weather
Finally, to help me manage all my thoughts and ideas I have when I am on the move, I simply whack them down into the phone’s built in notes application – or Pocket Word depending on how big my blabbing will be. Then, I transfer over the file and copy and paste into a tiddlywiki file. Not the most elegant of solutions and I could edit the tiddlywiki file on the phone, but it seems like PIE isn’t designed for such a java heavy page.
So, this is how I work and it works great for me.
The NSLU2 is awesome
I have already mentioned Linksys’ NSLU2 in a previous post and I thought I should go in some more detail about this great little product. As mentioned, it is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, allowing you to attach two USB hard drives to it, so they can be accessible on your network. The standard firmware also allows you to run an FTP server off it and carry out backups to and from the device.
However, it really comes into its own when you install some custom firmware on it, available from here and here. This site gives access to a variety of firmware, from one based on the original Linksys firmware (probobly the easiest to use, but based on an old Linux kernel) called uNSLUng to full blown Debian.
unslung
This opens up a whole world of possibilities, as you can then install loads of apps to the little device, and since most of these firmware types allow you run the firmware from an attached drive, you then get past the limited memory of the device. You can visit here to find out what people are doing with their NSLU2s, commonly called slugs. Examples include using it to host Apache2 and Wordpress (as I did to run my website for my wedding), run an iTunes mt-daap server called firefly, run various backup solutions and even as the basis for a Digital Photo Frame.
Personally, I installed openWRT on it, as it is designed to be run from memory (so the hard drive aint running all the time) and it has a nice web interface. I use it to run a number of rsync jobs, as described in a previous post, to back up my media files occasionally, so it acts as a redundant drive. I might also get it to act as an FTP server and I am considering installing the IDP program snort on it. It wont be a Gatekeeper but it will be a start. There is a huge amount you can do with this device and it is great to use for task that need a computer to be on all the time, but doesn’t require much processing power. Since the slug uses very little power when running, it will save on your electricity bills
Fonejacker
Here’s something to bring a smile to your face. One of the funniest things currently on TV here in the UK is Fonejacker. It is truly excellent stuff, poking fun at every part of society. It is a program performed by one man, who is great at different voices and accents. It features recordings of real phonecalls made by ‘The Fonejacker’ to members of the public – accompanied by amusing video clips to illustrate the call as it progresses.
See below:
Little Big Planet
I know there are many many many sites, posts and stories about this game, but hey.
Little Big Planet (LBP) is Sony’s lead title for Playstation 3 at the moment and it comes highly praised by many industry experts. You play the character of Sack Boy – a loveable toy person, that you can dress up and modify in many different ways, just like his little room he lives in. LBP’s single player mode is part 2.5D platformer, full of lovely little levels where you collect stickers, items and tools that you can use to decorate your room. It is these items and tools that then go towards the main part of the game, building your own levels. This is the real fun of LBP, you can create your own levels and then share them with other players and friends. People who see LBP as just a platformer are only seeing a very small part of the game. It is the ability to create and share levels which is the real draw and is no-doubt going to lead to loads of amazing creations.
LBP
I’ve only played it for about half an hour, but already I have fallen in love with it. The addition of tutorials from Stephen Fry only add to the cuteness. Truly awesome stuff. Lets just hope the fun lasts.
Simple backups in Ubuntu
So, I was trying to find a decent way to carry out backups on my Ubuntu server. After trying and failing with many many different packages available from the Ubuntu repositories (keep, sbackup, backuppc) I came across rsback.
Rsback uses the highly recommended program rsync to make backups. It is basically a script for rsync that you need to add certain configurations to, to set up different backup jobs. It is set up in such a way as to perform incremental backups that occur daily and weekly – ensuring you always have a nice historical record of your files.
After messing around with so many other options, I found it the best option and highly recommend it. You need to get down and dirty with a text file configuration, but that is the norm with Ubuntu.
There are ofcourse many Windows options out there.
An excellent free multiplayer game
There are many great games out there for both PC and console, but there aren’t as many great free ones. This was all changed with the release of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory; commonly referred to as ET. ET is a WWII-themed multiplayer first person shooter (FPS). There is no single-player mode, but this is no bad thing, since the multiplayer mode is truly exceptional.
ET screenie
You join either the axis or the allies, and then choose a class: either Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Field Ops or Covert Ops. Each class has certain unique abilities (Soldiers can use extra-powerful weapons, Medics can revive and heal, Engineers can destroy and repair objectives, Field Ops can call airstrikes and give ammo and Covert Ops can disguise themselves as the enemy). Each map typically has an objective that has to be completed by one of the teams, or sometimes each team has an objective to complete.
ET screenie
All the game servers are hosted by clans or individuals, meaning they often come with a ready-made community. Despite the game being released in 2003, it is still very popular and has a cult following amongst its regular players.
I play only on one server, those provided by the Buffalo Bad Ass (BBA) clan (of which I am a member). They are generally ranked number one amongst all the ET servers, and are known for having a good friendly bunch of players on.
If you like FPS and multiplayer games, I highly recommend you get your hands on this excellent free game. Head on over to the BBA forums if you need any help to get started, and don’t be put off if you get killed a lot when you first start. We were all noobs once.
The first link below gives you a download for the original installer, it is then worth installing the two additional patches that are also linked.
A great music manager
I know many tech blogs like to only post suggestions for freeware, but I am of the belief that sometimes you need to pay for things, especially if they do what you want them to do. Many people these days need a powerful music player and organiser to manage their digital music collection. Whilst Windows Media Player is generally fairly good, it can also be quite restrictive if you don’t want it to take total control. Many other people use iTunes. I personally hate iTunes, to me it is massive bloatware, that ties you into one program and attempts to make you yet another Sad Apple Fan Boy (hmm, SAFB, I like that). Why? Well, it insists in installing QuickTime as well as iTunes and also that stupid Apple Update software app, that claims that a required update is Safari. Hmm, a media player app trying to install a web browser – sounds like malware to me. Of course the SAFB would never admit to that, but you can bet your bottom dollar, if MS tried to do the same the SAFB would fill the web with their self righteous moanings.
Helium Music Manager
There are many free alternatives out there, such as Winamp, MediaMonkey and Songbird, but I decided eventually to settle for Helium Music Manager. Helium is a full featured music management tool that offers in-depth music library capabilities, CD ripping and music importing, extensive file tagging options, MP3 player sync (including iPods), album artist information tools and even extensive physical CD management tools. It cost around £25 for the full version and I find it is by far the best tool available. Everything you can think of that you would reasonably need to do is possible, and it can even do some things you don’t expect (such as constantly re-filling you playlist with a random or semi-random selection of tracks (even using your last.fm profile to suggest songs)). It can handle most common music file types and can convert between them. What is really refreshing is that it doesn’t restrict you to storing your music in one particular location that it chooses (iTunes) nor does it needlessly make copies of your album art in a new folder and instead uses the album art in your music folder or saved in tags (iTunes). However, given that iTunes is free and Helium is not, I can’t moan too much
Furthermore, the developers are very user interactive, responding to bug reports and feature requests and constantly adding new features and fixing bugs as they are found. The only negative I find is that a new version is released each year, which requires a paid for upgrade of about £12 a time. Whilst the new features added are always welcome, it is a little galling to have to keep on paying for them.