software
Blacklist of software killing productivity with update notifications instead of doing it in the background
I got enough with all the software that is trying to update. I don’t want to go to a webpage, download the new version, probably to close the application, install the new version (if it does not require you to remove the old version first, and in many cases even reboot the entire system. › Continue reading
Using permalinks for publishing software
I was surprised that I’ve found that many application developers are missing important things about the way they are publishing their new application installers (or releases if they do not have installers) on the web. › Continue reading
Browser’s keyboard shortcuts not working in web pages using plugins like Flash or Acrobat
Have you every been annoyed about not being able to use shortcuts like Ctrl-W, Ctrl-N, Ctrl-L, Ctrl-T on some pages? If you didn’t figure it out this is happening only on pages with plug-ins, like Flash or Acrobat. The reason for this is due to the the way the keyboard messages are working.
Because on Windows platform the keyboard messages are sent only to the window with focus at least the plug-ins should send the unprocessed keyboard messages to the parent window (the browser). Nobody took the responsibility to solve it because it is a “technology limitation” so user experience is just bad as it was 8 years ago when the bug was fist filled on Mozilla site.
Right now the only way you could help is by voting on these two places:
- Mozilla’s 8 years old bug on keyboard shortcuts and plugins
- Request for Adobe to update Flash player plugin to send unprocessed keyboard messages to the browser – already #6 request for Flash on DearAdobe.com
- Request to Adobe to update the Adobat plugin in order to keep browser shortcuts working.
On Linux there is a way of solving this issue by using an extension.
Comments improvements on MediaWiki
I’m using wikis all the time and I am a fun of MediaWiki engine but there is one feature that I consider having a bad implementation. It’s about the page comments – or “discussions”. I think these are quite important that MediaWiki should switch to something similar to the way Atlassian Confluence is dealing with the page comments. › Continue reading
Synchronizing Outlook, iPhone and Gmail Contacts
In this vacation I’ve spend more than a day looking for a reliable way of syncing my contacts between Microsoft Outlook 2007 and Gmail (or other Google email accounts). So I decided to share my “synchronizing” experience. › Continue reading
In the pursuit of the Ultimate Orthodox File Manager
First I should clarify what an Orthodox File Manager (OFM) is just a file manger inspired by the father of all OFM: Norton Commander. NC was written by John Socha and released in 1986. There is even an website dedicated for storing information about and the history of these Orthodox file managers: OFM. › Continue reading
Yahoo is not using valid PNG files in Yahoo Messenger for buddy icons.
I was amazed to discover that buddy icons (png files) from Yahoo Messenger are not passing PNG tests and to render bad in mod programs including in Windows XP, Microsoft Paint, and others. In fact the only place where I was able to see the files well was Pidgin messenger (GTK) – a multi-network messenger I would really recommend to anyone. I’ve even make a feature request to them to recompress the png files in order to eliminate this yahoo created problem. › Continue reading
Effective backups or mirroring with rsync
RSYNC it’s a fast incremental file transfer protocol developed by Samba. It’s very smart – for example if you modify one byte in a 600mb ISO file rsync will know and will update the file by transferring only few bytes between the source and the destination. › Continue reading
Effective mirroring ftp sites using lftp
I’ve spent quite same time using different tools for mirroring files from one ftp server to another or locally. Some time ago I’ve discovered LFTP, and decided to use it instead of other alternatives I’ve used over time › Continue reading
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