So, the first thing I did was to download John T. Haller’s PortableApps Suite Base Edition to give me some leeway on what to install on the drive. Then with the Suite in place, I installed the following apps on the thumbdrive:

7-Zip Portable — an open source file compressor decompressor
Angry IP Scanner — an IP address scanner
ClamWin Portable — an open source virus scanning utility
GIMP Portable — the open source equivalent of Adobe Photoshop (only better)
HoverSnap — a screen capture software
PIN — a password manager
Portable Firefox — best web browser bar none
Portable VLC — open source media player
TrueCrypt — open source encryption software extraordinaire

All the programs I have on my thumb drive are either freeware or free and open source (FOSS) and they allow me to work wherever I need to go. Most of them are available free at PortableApps.com

How about the m-ph.com readers… I wonder what they have on their thumb drives?

note: this piece was originally posted at my blog Talkin’ Tech.

Nope, I’, not suggesting that you go cozy with your gadgets and do the “jiggy” with it. What I’m trying to talk about here is that in order to make your gadgets work better and last longer, you need to KISS it (KISS = Keep It Simply Simple, or sometimes Keep It Simple Stupid!). As a veteran gadgeteer, I understand the “need” to constantly update the software of your laptop or PDA. As a new gadget comes along, the temptation to “test” each and every new programs on it is very strong — only to have it un-installed after finding out that you don’t need the program at all or worse, when you run out of space on your gadget. This problem is more pronounced on Windows laptops and Windows Mobile-based PDA.

Windows (be it Windows Mobile or Windows XP) has a registry and 99% of the programs installed onto it puts an entry on this registry. Once the registry is filled up, or worse gets corrupted, bad things happen. This is the reason why over time, a Windows-based laptop (or desktop for that matter) slows down over time. The slowdown is more often than not caused by cluttered a cluttered registry. A similar thing happens to Windows Mobile-based PDAs. When a simple clearing of its memory is not enough to speed things up, a hard reset is the only solution when things start to slow down. This symptom — the slowdown of a system due to cluttered or corrupt registry is known as “bit rot” and to prevent “bit rot”, just KISS your gadget!

PalmOS-based PDAs and OS X-based computers are also prone to problems caused by *not* KISSing them. Program incompatibilities and poorly coded programs causes system slowdown on PalmOS and OS X but such things does not happen as often as it does with their Windows-based brethren. For PalmOS devices, installing applications from dubious sources may cause it to do a hard reset spontaneously. As for OS X, some programs (shareware or freeware) may interact with other programs causing slow response time. Again to prevent system slowdown on your Palm and Mac computers, *all together now*, KISS your gadget! In my own personal experience, my gadgets are at their best when I keep them simple. My PDA has only few programs installed in it — programs I really use and absolutely need — a book reader (iSilo), a check balancing program (PocketQuicken), a shopping list program (HandyShopper), a “wallet” program (KeyRing) and a backup program (Resco Backup). With these in my Palm, I have a lot of spare room in my memory and my device (a Treo 650) is as stable as an oak… no problems with spontaneous resets, no headaches. The same is true with my Mac. I only keep essential programs in it like an office suite (NeoOffice), a GTD helper (TiddlyWiki) and the built-in OS X apps. Now I have less problems because I KISS my gadgets.

How about you? Are you willing to KISS your gadgets?

But wonders of wonders, Microsoft was able to deploy a patch that prevents a program called FairUse4WM days after it was released. FairUse4WM is neither a malware nor a security vulnerability. FairUse4WM allows users to strip out the DRM of audio files (mostly music or MP3 files) and allows users who purchased these music to do whatever they want to do with their purchase.

This is a rather disturbing fact since they (Microsoft) prefer to delay legitimate fixes to their inherently flawed OS while they rush over themselves to release a “fix” when their DRM is in jeopardy. What I find really goofy about this is that Microsoft has stopped issuing security patches for “older” Windows versions making users of Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows NT fair game to crackers and botmasters while they have dedicated a team to work around the clock to counteract FairUse4DRM. Is DRM more important than user security? Do they prefer to have a secure DRM than a secure computing environment that is free from virus, spyware and trojans?

FYI: Microsoft releases patches for security vulnerabilities once a month — a day now dubbed as ‘Patch Tuesday‘.

MyLo (My Life Online) is making the rounds of tech blogs worldwide. This nifty little gadget is a joint undertaking of Sony and Skype and is dubbed as a “personal communicator” with sporting a 2.4 inch screen, a sliding keyboard and Wi-Fi enabled. The idea behind MyLo is to be able to place and receive Skype calls anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi hotspot. Through SkypeOut, MyLo can call cellphones and landline phones and through SkypeIn, incoming calls from cellphones and landline phones can be received.

Apart from doing Skype calls, Mylo is also capable of Instant Messaging (IM) using Skype, GoogleTalk, and Yahoo! Messenger plus it can also surf the ‘net using a built-in browser. It also has an Ad Hoc mode that lets it exchange music, videos and pictures with other nearby MyLo users.

As a music player, MyLo supports MP3, ATRAC3 (a given since this is a Sony product) and WMA (both secure and unsecure). Transferring music can be done three ways: dragging files into it through Windows Explorer, through Sonic Stage or through Windows Media Player 10. Pictures and videos can be uploaded to Mylo through the USB and through a Memory Stick Duo slot.

With its sliding keyboard, text can be composed and saved using the MyLo. The format of those texts will be in standard .txt format.

I sure hope Sony doesn’t botch this one up since so far, MyLo is a very promising device. With its communication and multi-media capabilities, this may become the “next iPod” (note that I’m not using the term “iPod Killer” here) if priced right for their target market.
More information from MyLo site (warning: their site is heavy on Flash animation)

Show your appreciation

Friday, July 28th, 2006, is the 7th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication.

Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do.

Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

So, what will you do for your Systems Administrator tomorrow?
Disclaimer: the writer of this post is also a Systems Administrator and is looking for some appreciation at his place of work…

The headset itself looks pretty good and the addition of interchangeable earpieces is a big plus if it has the same quality as that of the Jabra Bluetooth headsets.

-o-o-o-

At almost the same time, Palminfocenter has previewed the Palm Treo 700P. This is *not* the Windows Mobile-based Treo but instead, it still runs the venerable PalmOS (Garnet 5.4.9). The form factor is very much the same as the Treo 700W but I’m expecting better performance from the 700P because its hardware is better suited, in my opinion, to PalmOS.

Treo 700P runs a 312 MHz Intel XScale processor and it has a 128 MB of non-volatile memory where 60 MB is available to the user. The built-in camera has 1.3 megapixels and can take pictures at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024. It can also record video clips at 352 x 288 resolution. Palm seems to have listened to its users this time because they also added a built-in voice recorder and its expansion slot now supports SDIO operations BUT (and this is a big but) it still doesn’t seem to support wi-fi SD cards. A notable feature addition is its Dial-up Networking (DUN) support “out of the box”. More info at the Palm’s Treo 700P website.

Basically FON is a Global Community of people who share WiFi. Share your WiFi broadband access at home/work and enjoy WiFi all over the world! (from their website).

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Here’s a list of what it has inside:
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“… a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allow an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.”

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