Google Analytics

Now that I'm actually making more of a conscious effort to keep content more up to date, I've decided to analyze my traffic a little more. The tool I've opted to use is Google Analytics.



While there are a few limitations (i.e., it can't track non-HTML downloads, such as RSS feeds and any files I've put online), it has one of the most polished dashboard interfaces I've seen. Perhaps enough to impress the likes of Edward Tufte. It is by far a better example of how to implement informative data than I've ever seen in any enterprise business intelligence products. It's scary how often Google gets stuff right on the web.

Street Fighter IV AOU Trailer

GameTrailers has a high quality trailer of their upcoming Street Fighter IV game.



I think that to all but the purest of the purist SF fans, this is going to be a huge release. Using cel-shaded 3d art work on a 2d playing field, it offers the best of both worlds - amazing graphics while keeping the traditional gameplay intact. I've heard some balancing and tweaks have been made to make the game a little more n00b friendly, but it should be one of Capcom's biggest releases of 2008, provided they can meet their development schedules.

VirtualBox - Free Virtualization For The Mac

For those Mac users among you who aren't very interested in shelling out your hard earned cash on Parallels or VMWare Fusion, there's a new free, open-source alternative called VirtualBox by Innotek. On a side note, Innotek was recently acquired by Sun, but does that really matter?



The Mac version of VirtualBox is simple and elegant, and may not have some of the bells and whistles of its commercial brethren, but in the end, gets the job done just as well. You can download the Mac version (as well as versions for other operating systems) at the VirtualBox website.

Google Calendar Alerts by SMS

I'm a big fan of the entire suite of Google apps, with my favorite being Google Reader. Google Calendar has been a little neglected by me for the longest time. Outside of receiving a "You have no events today" e-mail notification every day at 5:00 am, I really couldn't get into it.



The fact that I also can't easily (or more accurately, find a free solution) do a two-way sync with Google Calendar to iCal or my Windows Mobile Phone adds to my overall apathy to the tool.

Well, I was fiddling with the alert settings the other day, and discovered that Google can send appointment alerts by SMS. What a fantastic little feature - something that I can actually use! I've been playing with the alerts for a week, and they work well.

To enable them:

1. Log into Google Calendar.
   
2. Go to Settings.
   
3. Go to Mobile Setup.
   
4. Fill in the form for your country, cel number and carrier.
   
5. Click on the Send Verification Code button. You'll get a text message with a verification code in it.
   
6. Enter the verification code and click on Finish setup.
   
7. Go to Calendars.
   
8. Click on Notifications.
   
9. You can change your Event reminders to be sent to you by SMS.
   

Very cool indeed.

Technorati

I now have a Technorati Profile. Huzzah!

RapidWeaver - More Thoughts

Just a couple of quick notes on RapidWeaver, now that I've been using it more regularly.

I like the content editing feature. A lot. For anyone who has spent any time on any of the previous incarnations of the site, it was a text-heavy site, with little in terms of graphics within any article body. RapidWeaver lets me easily paste an image from my clipboard and does the rest for me when I click on the Publish button. Nice.

Tagging and categorization are a snap, and the fact that all of my content is generated as HTML files makes my web site run faster.

Templating - I have mixed feelings about this - I think it could have been a lot easier. Templates are set up as packages, which are a little annoying, and the template modification workflow leaves a little to be desired. Overall, the annoyances with the templating are not a deal breaker.

Anyways, I've only been using it for a few weeks, and I'll post more thoughts as I get my web site back up to snuff.

Things - GTD Heaven

I'm one of those process geeks who is a wee bit particular in terms of how I like to organize my to-do items. I've never liked the Tasks features in Outlook or any other app, for that matter



Enter Things for the Mac. It is currently available as a free preview (full release should be in Spring '08), and it is one beautiful piece of software. It is simple, elegant and highly functional. I'm not quite sure that I could write up a description that does the product justice - all I can do is suggest that you download the preview and watch the screencast available on Cultured Code's web site. If you sign up for the newsletter before the release, you can get a small discount on the software.

While I think highly of the preview version, I'd like to see additional support for Windows, Windows Mobile and iPhone. There are a lot of us who work in Windows during the day but use Mac at home, and to be able to sync between the platforms would be an incredibly valuable feature.

Evernote

Evernote is perhaps my favorite "free" application on Windows. Technically, it's not free, but if you don't use its advanced functionality like digital ink and syncing, you're not on the hook for the modest fee that they charge. It's a business model that more software companies should adopt.

If you've never heard of Evernote, it is at its essence, software for taking notes. If you find yourself using Notepad taking random notes all of the time and are sick of figuring out what note has what filename, Evernote could be for you. It uses a categorization system not unlike tagging, which simplifies its use greatly. The paper metaphor used by Evernote is a roll of paper with no end. In my day-to-day use of Evernote, I use to journal my week's work, store cheat sheets (e.g., ASCII code list) and code snippets. It's very useful with its free-as-in-beer function set. Paying a small fee will get you ink recognition and a few other useful and advanced features.

Evernote also includes browser plugins that allow you make clippings of web site content - handy when you've gone through 20 pages of Google results to find that obscure piece of SQL code that will let you render several rows of data into a single row.
An additional bonus with the software is that it comes with a free universal clipper, which you can use to do very quick screen grabs. While it sounds trivial, remember that SnagIt (Windows) and Snapz (Mac) are not free.

Well, there is a new generation of Evernote on its way. The biggest change is that there will now be support for multiple platforms, including Mac (finally!), Windows Mobile (finally!) and the web. This is awesome for those multi-device peeps out there (like me) who need to sync notes across platforms.



With all the goodwill they've earned, I'll definitely be becoming a paid customer to take advantage of their advanced features.

The Leopard Evernote client looks slick. Reminds me a lot of Yep, which am using in earnest to eliminate paper clutter and filing in my home office. Even the Windows client seems to have improved significantly - they've finally lost that fugly WinAmp wannabe blue skin.

This is a piece of software that every productivity geek should be looking out for.

Eeexcellent

So after a long 7 month project, I decided to reward myself with a nice little gadget. It came down to getting an iPod Touch, or an Asus Eee. It was a close decision, but seeing how I plan on getting an iPhone as soon as it's officially available in Canada, it made no sense to get a Touch.

For those of you who aren't gadget freaks, the Asus Eee is a tiny, inexpensive little notebook. The screen is small by today's standards (800x480), but depending on what you are looking for, it's a device with a lot of modding potential. Myself, I'm looking for a device that allows me to surf everywhere (and by that, of course, that would include the throne) and to do some instant messaging.



Out of the box, the Eee comes with a dumbed-down version of Xandros Desktop. By dumbed down, I mean dumbed down. Having used that interface for all of maybe two hours, I'm not even sure I'm convinced that it's great for "grandma" mode. Getting the wireless to work was a serious pain. When it comes to Linux distros, I'm more partial to Ubuntu than Xandros. The fact that you can upgrade the Eee to 2GB of RAM with Xandros supporting only 1GB made it a non-starter.

Fortunately, the Eee is like any other x86 notebook. You can install just about any OS on it, including Windows. There is currently work being done on custom Xubuntu and Fedora distros for the Eee. Personally, the OS I'd like to use on the Eee is Haiku, the open-source project that aims to revive BeOS -- my favorite hobbyist OS ever (BeOS, however, still doesn't hold a candle to Leopard, which I use every day).

As the Eee is based on using SSD technology, tweakers should be careful about how they install the OS on the unit. Heavy OS swapping, over time, will kill the drive.

With a price point between 300 and 400 bucks, the Eee is surprisingly well constructed. It's only a little thicker than the hardcover notebooks I carry to meetings, and while cramped, the keyboard is usable for the average person. Peeps with big paws should avoid this sucker. I got a black one, mainly because most of the currently shipping white ones don't have an access panel to upgrade the RAM. In any case, the form factor of the Eee to me feels like a smaller version of a Lenovo Thinkpad - a Good Thing.

While it is no Macbook Air, the Eee is a handy and useful connectivity device. If your expectations are realistic, it's a great, inexpensive buy.