Sneaky LinkedIn

February 21, 2014 | Comment

So what’s the difference between the two images above? Well at first glance they would seem to be the same. Both invite the individual to connect with you on LinkedIn, right? Well almost but there is a very subtle difference that if you miss it you could end up spamming people who are not already on LinkedIn.

At some point in the past I must have let my guard slip and allowed LinkedIn to suck up all my contacts from my address book and since then it has been keen that I connect with everyone. Of course, not everyone is … Read the rest

The Restart Page

February 13, 2014 | Comment

This is just brilliant, a page that brings together all the restarts of the major operating systems. This includes several flavours of Windows and Mac complete with start-up BIOS screens and chimes.

http://www.therestartpage.com/… Read the rest

Accessing Amazon RDS Instance from Remote phpMyAdmin

February 3, 2014 | 7 comments

One of the great services offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) stack is Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). This is a properly managed database server that you can run alongside your existing application server instances allowing the load to be spread.

This all works well but management can be a little tedious especially if you have been used to managing your existing MySQL server through phpMyAdmin. However, do not despair as it is possible to manage RDS from phpMyAdmin running on a remote server and this post shows you how.

This article assumes that you already have both RDS and … Read the rest

3 Things Evernote is Missing

January 30, 2014 | 1 comment

I an a keen and active user of Evernote paying for the service not just to gain access to the “pro” features but also because I want to repay Evernote for the use I derive from it.

That’s not to say that it is perfect though so here are three things that I would add to it from the normal to the whacky.

Better table support

Evernote has support for tables but it is pretty basic. Once created you cannot add new columns, change the width, add new rows anywhere but at the bottom and you cannot apply any styling … Read the rest

What I learnt from my 2013 side project

January 3, 2014 | Comment

In 2013 I worked on a side project, The Chubby Challenge, which I continue to develop and move forward. This was built in response to another goal of mine – to lose some weight. I have found in the past that like so many other things in life it is far easier to reach a goal if you are working toward it with others. So the idea is that you challenge others to see who can lose the most weight over a given period.

The system works well and was a great opportunity for me to learn a whole … Read the rest

The Easiest T&Cs to Accept

December 19, 2013 | Comment

So I signed up for a trial of Adobe’s eSignature service Echosign today and was initially presented with the following screen asking me to accept their terms and conditions. I assume that the huge white space is where they were supposed to have been displayed. So I went right on and accepted.

The question now is where do I stand legally as I accepted a blank set of T&Cs can I be bound by the ones Adobe failed to display?

Discuss.
… Read the rest

Adverts used to Publicise AdPlus Service

December 6, 2013 | Comment

Really interesting advert in today’s Metro newspaper for the AdPlus service encouraging you to download their browser plugin that “optimises your web browsing so you see better, fewer ads.”.

There are a few things that are interesting about this service. Firstly it is highly ironic that they have to resort to advertising to promote a service designed to reduce the number of adverts. Secondly, unlike, say, AdBlock Plus, this service does not claim to get rid of all web-based adverts but shows you “only relevant, high-quality ads from advertisers who want a healthier relationship with you.”. Hummm.

My original … Read the rest

Want an Outliner with Evernote Support? Today’s your Day!

October 28, 2013 | Comment

If, like me, you want to use an outliner that is available across multiple platforms and syncs with Evernote then Xwavesoft’s Cloud Outliner could be for you. Especially as for today only it is available for free on iOS.

Available on Mac, iPhone and iPad the apps allow you to create structured lists which are synchronised between the devices and Evernote too if you wish.

Note that synchronisation is only available in the paid version of the apps and not the free “lite” version.

If this sounds like your sort of thing download the iOS version today as it … Read the rest

Odd Favicon appearing in Google Apps

September 17, 2013 | 3 comments

Something odd has happened to my Google Apps favicon. It is no longer the familiar Gmail envelope but some gear and spanner (wrench) combination. The image above shows the new and old icons and you can see the new icon better below.

This has only appeared in the last week and only seems to affect Google Apps mail and not Gmail itself, as you can see from above.

A quick search online shows that others are seeing this too with all sorts of speculation as to what it could be. Myself I think it is simply a mistake – what … Read the rest

Font from Your Own Handwriting

August 8, 2013 | Comment

Here’s a great one for all narcissists – a website that turns your handwriting into a font that you can use on your computer such as in Word documents.

Simply head over to myscriptfont.com, download and print the template. Then with a marker pen write out the alphabet in both upper and lower case where shown (see below). You’ll now need to scan this page in black and white at a resolution of 300dpi and upload it to myscriptfont.

Send the file and wait a few minutes and you are presented with a view of what your font will … Read the rest