Full instructions can be found on Johns blog here: http://tech.kateva.org/2008/09/iphone-21-does-not-fix-unknown.html .

This is done using the latest version 8 iTunes and iPhone firmware.

So far, so good, all data is back, unfortunately all the icons have been repositioned, its a shame apple can't retain the position of the icons. Data and passwords seem to have been retained.

Everything seems updated, so this is probably the best solution at the moment, i'll give some more feedback after a few applications have been updated. The true test.

Yes. I am a woman. I am smart, brilliant, popular and friendly. I am very successful in my career....

In fact; I have a lot of friends who care for me a lot!!

Do I really have true friends?

I don't know.... May be i don't feel comfortable to share my feelings and thoughts with them....May be my ego doesn't allow me to share my thoughts with them... i always think not to cry or cribbing in front of others as it is just waste of time for others.

Everyone likes my presence, everyone loves my company,  but no one actually knows me, strange isn’t?

I try hard to laugh when people surrounding me begin to laugh aloud rather than bursting into tears behind closed doors for my emotional trauma and finally ending up suffering in silence. But why does it always happen to me?

The truth is - I really don’t know.

At home, I have sacrificed my personal happiness to play the role of an obedient daughter and an understanding sister expecting nothing in return. I don't mean that i have sacrificed my career. Sometimes i feel that i am living as a stranger in my own family; I wish to keep myself happy by an artificial smile;  All fingers pointing at me; for every decision I take.

Sometimes; I wish to run away.

As a woman, I too have dreams – dancing in rain, being surrounded by flowers and valued for my worth. I do not wish to be a puppet in society anymore and crave to control my lost strings of freedom.

With my cherished dream still remaining unfulfilled – Accepting me as I am.

There is the Official Apple way. In this way, you pay Apple for the privilege of downloading the song, and then you pay them again for the privilege of converting the song into a ringtone. Full details of how to do this can be found in the Apple manual. But there is another way that doesn't cost as much. I have detailed both methods below.

Creating a Custom Ringtone - The Apple Way

From iPhone User Guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_User_Guide.pdf)

You can create ringtones in iTunes using songs purchased from the iTunes Store. Your iTunes Store account will be charged for each ringtone.
Create a ringtone:

1. In iTunes on your computer, choose iTunes > Preferences and make sure Ringtones is selected (in the General pane).
2. Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
3. To identify the purchases you can use to create ringtones, choose View > View Options and then select Ringtone. (If a message appears, click Check Songs.)
4. To identify eligible purchases later, choose iTunes > Check for Updates.
5. Select the song you want to use and then choose Store > Create Ringtone.
6. Adjust the highlighted area at the bottom of the iTunes window to choose up to 30 seconds of the song.
7. To make the ringtone fade in or out, select either or both “fade” checkboxes.
8. To change the delay before the ringtone plays again, choose an interval from the Looping pop-up menu.
9. To listen to the ringtone, click Preview.
10. Click Buy.

Important: After you click Buy, you can change the ringtone’s name and other information, but you can’t select a different portion of the song. You can sync ringtones created with iTunes with any iPhone you own, and play them on up to five authorized computers. After you sync your iPhone, you can assign the
ringtone to one or more contacts.

Creating a Custom Ringtone - The Unofficial Way

1. Open iTunes. Make sure it is the latest software version.
2. Go to Edit, then Preferences, then General and make sure that the Ringtones box in the top half of the page is ticked. Click OK.
3. Click on Music and select the track you want to use part of for your ringtone.
4. Play the track. In the middle of the top of the iTunes bar there is an oblong box with bars dancing to the music.  Click on the arrow on the left of this oblong bar. This will bring up a time bar showing how many minutes and seconds have elapsed during the song. Make a note of the time of the start of the part you want to use for your ringtone, and make an note of the time of the end of your desired selection. You may need to play the track several times to get this right. Your selected part should be no more than 30 seconds maximum.
5. Right click the track and select Get Info, then select the Summary tab. At the bottom of the Summary box there is a Where section. Write down the location of the file, as you will need to be able to find it on your computer later.
6. Now, before closing the Get Info box, select the Options tab. Tick the Start Time and the Stop Time boxes and enter the values that you noted in stage 4 above. Click OK.
7. Right click on the track again and select Create AAC Version. This will create a duplicate version of the track under the original. If you have entered the time settings correctly (stage 6 above) the length of the track will be less than 30 seconds.
8. Right click on the duplicate version and select Delete. Yes, that is what I said. Right click on the duplicate version and select Delete. Allow the duplicate track to be removed from the iTunes library, but CRUCIALLY, select the button to KEEP the file (rather than have it put in the Recycle Bin).
9. Now find the deleted file using the information you wrote down in stage 5 above. It is usually in one of the artist folders under MyMusic/iTunes/iTunesMusic/.
10. You will probably find that there are two files with similar names to the one you want (you have created a duplicate of an original). By Right Clicking each track individually and then selecting Properties you should be able to see which is the smaller file. It is the smaller file that you want (less than 30 seconds of sound).
11. Once you have identified the AAC version of the track you want, right click on it and select Rename. Change the extension of the file from m4a to m4r. When you save this you will get a warning that this might change the file, but ignore this. (Remember, anything you do is being done on a duplicate.)
12. Go back to iTunes and under Library on the left hand side at the top, select Ringtones. Now drag your new m4r file into Ringtones.
13. Once your iPhone is connected, select the Ringtones tab on your phone and tick the box to sync ringtones. Sync iTunes with your iPhone and your ringtone will be transferred to your iPhone.
14. On your iPhone select Settings, then Sounds, then Ringtone. Then select your new ringtone. If it isn't there, check that you have created a ringtone that is less than 30 seconds, and that you have told iTunes to sync ringtones.

Fruux.com is a new web service that let you synchronize address book, calendar and bookmarks (with more to come!) to their servers. I'm currently using it to add yet another backup option for addresses. All you need to do to start syncing is install a simple preference pane and create an account.

Currently the service is in free beta and OsX only! Go give it a spin: http://www.fruux.com/

dArio

After trying to evade their officemates because of an invitation for another “gimmick”, I met with Lou and Kriska for our weekly “session” (as Lou calls it). We went to a Starbucks Café near their office and chatted while waiting for Rox and Cheska who were in Glorietta at that time. It has been another tiring day at the office for the two gals, as they try to recall everything that happened during the day. The other two called and suggested that we meet at Bubba Gump. Because the place was not suitable for us to have a good conversation, we opted to stay at Starbucks instead, especially having found a good place to hang out without any disturbance.

While waiting for the others, the three of us ordered our meals. Rox and Cheska arrived as we were consuming the provisions for the night. What would life be without a good frappe while catching up with each other’s lives?

• Rox will have her final interview next Friday (if she gets accepted, free dinner [or at least subsidized dinner] for everyone in the group next week). I hope she gets hired. 
• Kriska’s pup Naima had fleas and had a hard time removing them form the poor dog.
• Lou’s phone was cut again because her existing credit card apparently changed numbers.
• Cheska missed her time @ Convergys
• Jay-r went on with all his ramblings…

Topic: What Drives Your Life? [PDL Chap 3]

All of us are driven by something. Most of the time, these things the drives us distracts us from fulfilling what we intend to do. As we get older, our drive to perform tasks diminishes, that is why it is important to know what we are to accomplish in life so it won’t be wasted.

We may be driven by anger, fear or material things but all of these fulfill only temporary wants and needs. By knowing our purpose, we can use our life to the fullest and use it as our drive to get things done.

At this point in time where we can do everything we want because everything is beyond our reach, it distracts as from focusing on what is valuable. We become stressed because we are too busy doing things we ought not to do. By knowing our purpose, life becomes simpler and enjoyable. Instead of investing on things of this earth, why not devote our remaining time from things that would last. Life then starts to have meaning, and we become passionate with what we are doing.

We reflected what we would do if we only have 24 hour to live:

• Cheska – hug loved ones for the duration of that time
• Rox – 8 hours with family, 8 hours with friends, 8 hours with Bem
• Kriska – eat everything she can, spend it with loved ones
• Lou-Ann – to be wed in Ireland
• Jay-r – pass his wisdom to someone who could follow his life

After closing our session, we planned what to do next week… and the weeks after (too excited). Cheska committed her time to join the weekly meeting (Wahoo...). We took our own ways on separate taxi cabs. Roxanne even complained to the Makati Police, the taxi driver who did not want to take her as passenger. I guess you got to have your own cop to get a decent taxi cab these days.

crocs

Originally uploaded by black irish

Help me understand rear curtain sync on a flash. I don't think this is right. This was shot with a flash at 1/60th I think and rear curtain sync while panning. I don't think I should've panned, should I? But I couldn't get frozen action without panning. Help! :)

There is no one-for-all sync solution if connecting

So, what's the right way to do this? Consistency would suggest using the Dock. Either launch a new app to host the process or, at the very least, the message; or, use a different system-wide notification mechanism, say something like Growl...

Just found a rocking way to do so. Use scheduleworld and the Nokia's Sync application on the phone. It takes a bit of time to set up scheduleworld (the Preference page is really clunky) but it's worth the effort.

To have SW sync with GCal, set up according to this guide. Then set up the Sync app following this guide. Finally, have the Sync app synchronize with SW. Voila, you have GCal calendar on your phone.

Nokia's Ovi is nice as well. I love Ovi's interface. So clean.

Το σενάριο είναι πολύ απλό και συνηθισμένο, έχετε το iPhone σας το οποίο το έχετε παντρέψει με το iTunes ενός υπολογιστή, εάν τώρα θελήσετε σε κάποια φάση να προσθέσετε μουσική από τον δεύτερο υπολογιστή του σπιτιού, τότε θα πρέπει να διαγράψετε όλη την μουσική που περιλαμβάνει το iPhone, και αυτό γιατί το iPhone μπορεί να κάνει sync μόνο με μια iTunes Library.

Υπάρχει ένας τρόπος ο οποίος αναφέρετε εδώ, δεν είναι και ότι πιο εύκολο αλλά τα αποτελέσματα είναι πολύ καλά, μετά από αυτή την διαδικασία θα μπορείτε να προσθέτετε τραγούδια από οποίον υπολογιστή θέλετε (που έχει υποστεί την διαδικασία που αναφέρεται στην συνεχεία).

Πράγματα που θα χρειαστείτε :
Υπολογιστές

Φυσικά και οι δυο θα πρέπει να έχουν iTunes το οποίο θα πρέπει να μην τρέχει, εάν είναι ενεργό, κάντε ένα quit πριν συνεχίσετε.

Τέλος ένα Hex Editor, για mac μπορείτε να κατεβάσετε το HexEdit.
Λιγάκι υπομονή και φυσικά να κάνετε back up στα αρχεία που θα επεξεργαστείτε.

Βήμα 1, Στον υπολογιστή που συνήθως κάνετε sync το iPhone σας (θα πρέπει να έχετε κάνει τουλάχιστον μια φορά sync με το iPhone σας, εάν δεν έχετε κάνει μέχρι τώρα, μπορείτε να κάνετε τώρα). Βρείτε το αρχείο «iTunes Library» και το «iTunes Music Library.xml», εάν δεν έχετε αλλάξει το που θα βρίσκονται μέσα από το iTunes τότε αυτά τα αρχεία θα μπορέσετε να τα Βρείτε στο «User / Music / iTunes».

Βήμα 2, Ανοίξτε το αρχείο «iTunes Music Library.xml», και Βρείτε μέσα σε αυτό την λέξη < string > και αντιγράψτε τους δεκαέξι χαρακτήρες που βρίσκονται ανάμεσα στα < string > tags.

Βήμα 3, �άμε τώρα στον άλλο υπολογιστή και ανοίγουμε πάλι το ίδιο αρχείο («iTunes Music Library.xml»).

Βήμα 4, Βρίσκουμε στο αρχείο που μόλις ανοίξαμε στον δεύτερο υπολογιστή τα < string > tags, αντιγράφουμε τους δεκαέξι χαρακτήρες πάλι και τους κάνουμε επικόλληση κάπου (σε ένα καινούργιο text) για μετέπειτα χρήση. Αφού το κάνουμε αυτό αντικαταστάσουμε τα δεκαέξι αυτά ψηφία με τα δεκαέξι που πήραμε από τον πρώτο υπολογιστή.

Βήμα 5, Ανοίγουμε το αρχείο «iTunes Library» με το Hex Editor της επιλογής μας.

Βήμα 6, Χρησιμοποιώντας το Find And Replace μέσα από το Hex Editor θα αντικαταστήσουμε τα δεκαέξι ψηφία που είχε ο δεύτερος υπολογιστής με τα δεκαέξι ψηφία του πρώτου υπολογιστή, όποτε κάνουμε επικόλληση τα δεκαέξι ψηφία που κρατήσαμε στο καινούργιο text στο πεδίο που λέει Find, και τα δεκαέξι ψηφία που βρήκαμε από τον πρώτο υπολογιστή τα γράφουμε στο πεδίο Replace, αφού τελειώσουμε κλείνουμε το αρχείο αποθηκεύοντας της αλλαγές που κάναμε.

Βήμα 7, Ανοίξτε το iTunes στον δεύτερο υπολογιστή και δοκιμάστε να προσθέσετε ένα τραγούδι στο iPhone σας, εάν τα πράγματα πήγαν κανονικά θα πρέπει να μην έχετε κανένα πρόβλημα, εάν πάλι έχετε κάποιο πρόβλημα, πολύ απλά χρησιμοποιήστε τα αρχεία που κρατήσατε σαν back up και ξανά δοκιμάστε.

Πηγή: milaraki.com

Technorati : Apple, Sync, iPhone, iTunes
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Pues bien mi solución consiste en crear una cita de día completo que se repita todos los domingos, por ejemplo. En las notas de dicha cita meto las tareas y así consigo que se sincronice: cuando quiero ver las tareas sencillamente voy al domingo, a la tarea de día completo. Incluso puedes crear citas de varios colores dependiendo de la urgencia de la tareas que se incluyan.

No es nada brillante pero ahí está, como idea...

Boy did it make a mess. Syncing is obviously hard because no company can seem to get it right.

On my 29th of July, I have received about 20 all day events from my past. Very bad! I have also entered a new appointment in iCal in the correct place and chosen Sync, and it doesn't show up in 30boxes.

Plaxo seems to work much better. I will have to revisit iScrybe and perhaps 8apps again to see how they are progressing.

Also a warning; when I try to sync now, it tries to sync Calgoo, Plaxo, MobileMe and iCal. It's a nightmare.

My basic requirement is that private tasks, calendar and contact entries shouldn't appear on the work computer (or Exchange Server) at all. Marking them "private" isn't good enough for me (I know what a computer administrator can do... :-) ). So now, I'm setting a category "Work" on all items that I want synced to my work laptop. In addition to those, I also make the category "@Office" sync to that computer. This way, I turn the security situation around too, by requiring things to be marked in order to exist on the work computer, insted of marking them private if the aren't to be shown on the work computer.

So, what's the technical solution? The basis is the well tested synchronization mechanism represented by Windows Mobile Device Center. It syncs between my home computer and my PDA (Windows Mobile 6.0). For syncing between the PDA and the work computer, I use the software PDAsync from Laplink. It didn't work for syncing from two sources, despite many rounds with their very helpful support organization. Events and tasks weren't synced correctly, and I had to do "full synchronization" now and then having to deal with lots of duplicate events (none were lost at least). From PDAsync I get the ability to sync based on a filter, such as on the category "Work" and "@Office", so only those events, tasks and contacts get onto the work computer. Problem solved!

Making sure that work events, tasks and contacs are marked "Work" is of course a bit annoying, but it's manageable: now and then, I visit the category view on the work computer, and check if something isn't marked.

Using my Outlook 2007 macros for GTD helps a lot, too.

My wife and I have fairly irregular work hours and we've found it pretty useful to use linked Google calendars to co-ordinate with work, our daughter and each other. I am forced to use Outlook at work, but fortunately am able to sync it with my GCal using the brilliant Google Calendar Sync.

When I bought my iPod Touch I had been hoping to double it as a PDA and was dismayed to see that my calendar syncing options on a PC consisted of either syncing with outlook via iTunes, or - wait for it - syncing with outlook via iTunes.

On the surface this might seem reasonable, except that:

1. iTunes and all of my music is on my home laptop
2. Outlook is on my work computer
3. Manually managing my iPod syncing is a pain
4. To be honest, I'm not so enamoured of Outlook that I want to fork out actual cash for a home copy

Additionally, using Outlook means that the calendars are only be synced when I manually sync the iPod, which is just another thing form me to forget. No thanks.

I found the solution to my problems with NuevaSync, which allows direct over-the-air, native synchronisation between Google Calendar and my iPod - which basically means that my appointments are synced both ways without manual intervention or iTunes. You'll need to sign up here for an account, but it's free and pretty straight forward to set up - just a matter of configuring your NuevaSync account to look at your GCal, and then configuring your iPod to point at NeuvaSync. In addition to  the iPod touch, NuevaSync also supports the various flavours of iPhone and Windows Mobile based PDAs and smartphones.

The window sticker on a 2008 Navigator shows a mighty low 12 mpg in the city, and only 18 on the highway, so Ford went back to the drawing board to improve on that number next year. The Blue Oval's blinged-up luxury sled boasts a fuel friendlier average of 14/20 for 2009, a marginal improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. Ford says those numbers are good enough to put the Blue Oval at the head of the luxury SUV space that includes the Cadillac Escalade, Lexus LX570, and the Nissan QX56. Ford was able to increase fuel economy by almost 15% on the big SUV by implementing some of the same engineering tricks employed on the 2009 F-150, which itself gets up to 15/21 in SFE trim. Changes were made to the idle speed and the transmission, as well as some fancy software engineering that regulates gas consumption by using aggressive deceleration fuel shut-off.

Ford also made standard several items that were previously only available as options, including a Power lift gate, heated and cooled front seats, PowerFold third-row seats, cap-less fuel filler, Rear View Camera, flexible fuel-capable V-8 engine, SYNC and the stunning 14-speaker THX II-Certified audio system. The 2009 Navigator will also be available with Ford's new and improved navigation system with Travel Link. Ford hasn't announced any improvements for the Expedition, but we'd expect Ford's blue collar version of the Navigator will receive similar fuel economy enhancements.

NAVIGATOR DELIVERS CLASS-LEADING FUEL ECONOMY

DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 24, 2008 – The 2009 Lincoln Navigator offers more than impressive levels of luxury and functionality – it also boasts a significant improvement in fuel economy that puts it ahead of the other full-size luxury sport utility vehicles in the segment.

The Navigator, thanks to a combination of architectural changes and systems engineering enhancements, has increased its fuel efficiency to an EPA-estimated 14 mpg city and 20 mpg highway on 4X2 models.

Combined with overall setup changes that offer lower idling speeds and transmission enhancements, the additional fuel economy makes the Navigator an even more appealing choice in the full-size luxury-utility segment.

"You'll notice the difference," said John Rich, powertrain integration and program manager for Ford Trucks. "We've improved the attributes and performance significantly."

The Navigator is powered by a 5.4 liter, three-valve Triton V-8, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, which generates 300 horsepower and 365 foot-pounds of torque. A wide-ratio, six-speed transmission has smaller steps between gears than a typical four-speed automatic, offering improved shift quality and faster acceleration.

Unique software has been engineered to regulate gas consumption by using aggressive deceleration fuel shut-off delivering considerable fuel savings with no extra effort from the driver. This complex fuel strategy is being added to many Ford products to help improve fuel economy across the board – including the new 2009 Ford F-150, which offers unsur! passed fuel economy and capability in the light duty truck segment.

"Deceleration is when you take your foot off the accelerator and you're coasting and the system very aggressively shuts fuel off," says Rich. "It sounds simple, but it's not at all simple. To make this work, we had to carefully manage the complex and constantly changing air-fuel mixture caused by aggressively shutting off fuel flow."

"It's so sophisticated, it's imperceptible to the customer," Rich added. "There's no bump, no hesitation. The catalyst systems come back to life without taking an emissions hit."

New for 2009
For 2009, Lincoln continues to simplify the packaging of Navigator and Navigator L, making standard many previously-optional features.

Standard items now include: Power lift gate; heated and cooled front seats; heated second-row seats; PowerFold™ third-row seats; front park assist sensors; EasyFuel™ capless fuel filler; rain-sensing wipers; perimeter anti-theft alarm; integrated four-button key fob; Rear View Camera; flexible fuel-capable V-8 engine; Lincoln SYNC™ and a 14-speaker THX® II-Certified audio system with SIRIUS® Satellite Radio.

The standard Rear View Camera System in the rear lift gate handle activates when the vehicle is shifted into reverse, giving the driver a clear view behind the vehicle or for ease of hooking up trailers. The video image is displayed in the self-dimming rearview mirror o n the standard Navigator or through the instrument panel next generation navigation system on the Elite package.

The new next generation navigation system is available for the first time ever with SIRIUS Travel Link™, which gives drivers and passengers access to up-to-the-minute information and entertainment through the vehicle's navigation system. Working through the standard feature SIRIUS satellite radio network, Travel Link offers uninterrupted, coast-to-coast coverage of real-time traffic data; weather reports (current and five day forecasts with storm information and even ski resort conditions); fuel options sorted by price or distance from more than 120,000 gas stations; major league pro and college sports as well as movie listings from more than 4,500 theaters. A six-month introductory subscription to SIRIUS is included at no cost.

The Monochrome Limited Edition Package for 2009 features unique badging, along with body-color exterior accents including lower grille, lower bodyside cladding, and power folding heated memory mirrors with puddle lamps. This package is offered in four monochromatic exterior treatments: White Platinum Tri-coat, Black Clearcoat, Vapor Silver Clearcoat Metallic and Stone Green Clearcoat Metallic. Inside, the package includes unique black carpet and floor mats, Ebony wood trim, and unique Stone or Camel seats with black leather inserts and black piping. A stitched Lincoln logo is also placed on each headrest.

The Elite Package includes the moonroof; next generation navigation system; power running boards; rear seat entertainment system and the Rear View Camera display in the navigation system.

Three new exterior colors are available for 2009: Monterey Grey Clearcoat Metallic; Sangria Clearcoat Metallic and White Platinum Tri-Coat.

At one time I had multiple calendars (home, work, friends... that sort of thing). I decided this was too complicated and basically unnecessary. One of the first things to consider in any system is simplicity. The simpler, the less likely to break. The easure to understand. The easier to compose and reuse. Since my real requirement was just needing to know where I needed to be and what time was free, I really only needed on calendar. However, I also wanted to keep some things private, that is, off my work computer, since my calendar there can be seen by coworkers. So, I decided to simplify to two calendars -- a private and "shared," though not shared in the public sense, really (my Google MobileMe calendars are not open to the public).

Now, I know that you can connect the iPhone to Exchange... if your employer supports this, and mine does not. So, I had to be creative. I also wanted the whole thing to sync automatically. And, I wanted it to be free (well, not to involve any new costs, since I already subscribe to MobileMe). Here's what I came up with.

First, I connected my Exchange calendar at work with my Google Calendar through Google's Google Calendar Sync. This program runs on my computer at work and autosyncs every 15 minutes bidirectionally (this is also an important factor).

On my home computer, a Mac Pro, I run CalGoo Connect, a free application that syncronizes iCal with Google Calendar. This also runs every 15 minutes and syncs bidirectionally. Now my home computer is up to date.

So far, we're only dealing with my one, "shared" calendar. Within iCal, we introduce my second, "private" calendar. This is not synced via CalGoo (though it could be, I suppose), so it is invisible to Google and Exchange. Just as I want it to be.

Both of these calendars are automatically synced through MobileMe to the MobileMe online calendar. Side note here: you don't have to be running iCal for all of this to work. CalGoo and MobileMe sync with the iCal store, which is independent of the iCal application. Nice.

The final step is getting the data to the iPhone, and this is easy. MobileMe "pushes" updates to the phone, as long as you've configured it to do so. This is also bidirectional, so events added to the phone get pushed back in the other direction. On the iPhone (and MobileMe and iCal), you have to be careful to assign events to the correct calendar, though if you make a mistake, changing the calendar of assignment will propagate the change at the slight risk of exposing the event for a short time, or making it invisible. On Outlook and Google, there is only one calendar, so this isn't a problem. Another nice property here is that you can make an update anywhere in the chain, and it feeds throughout.

The other issue is timing. I chose to make updates happen only every 15 minutes to keep the chatter to a minimum. Of course, this is where I have control of the update timing within the chain, which is not the case beyond iCal in MobileMe. So, it can take a bit of time for changes to propagate from one end to the other. Considering disconnection issues on the mobile end, this isn't really a problem (and I can usually remember that I just added something within the last hour if it hasn't propagated yet. Good example of where absolute automation isn't really necessary).

So far, works flawlessly.

Things I used:

• GMail
• Thunderbird

Is it really that simple? Here's what I did.

1. Created a 'Notes' folder in my GMail account. Set it as the default templates folder in Thunderbird.
2. Created a plus sign GMail address, and a GMail filter to put all email to here in the Notes folder.
3. Write my note in a new email. A sample one might look like this:

To: Me+notes@someone.gmail.com
Subject: @Music @Money @ToDo
Message: Ask Dan about that £10 I lent him - maybe use it to buy tickets for that Gig?

Now, to save the note, either hit the send button, or save it as a 'template' in Thunderbird.

Checklist: Offline access? Yup, through iMap I can access the notes offline. Online web access? Yeah, just log in through GMail. Portability? Of course! Email can go anywhere, so I can have my notes on any platform, sync'd whenever I need them. Features? Uh huh, the subject line acts as tags, and I can search the notes through GMail's powerful search front-end. I also have permanent notes (when I send the email) and ongoing editing notes (by saving them as templates). I can embed HTML into them, too.

Ok, it ain't perfect...yet. It's the best solution I have so far, and I intend to stick to it for a while - Google are managing my email, my calendar, my search, my photos, and now my notes!

You're always logged into Google's online services.

I love the status bar! It's insane!

Google's mobile Blogspot

After a recent update was requested for Air Sharing (which is a fantastic application - get it now) within minutes of the iPhone been turned on, the iPhone prompts for the AppStore password. Presumably so that the application can be updated.

This wouldn't be a problem, accept it then fails:

Let's hit dismiss a couple of times and everything is normal, but its not long before the same message is repeated, canceling the update does not achieve anything either.

Connecting back to the PC, also does not resolve.

Yep, another fault with the AppStore.

This is what I then did to resolve the problem:-

Next step, lets remove AirSharing icons from the the front screen and select the delete option and the other applications that are failing to update with the 0xe800002e error, then do a cold reboot of the iPhone - just for good measure.

On restart - AirSharing is Back !

Let's Re-sync...

NOW - AirSharing is on the iPhone, BUT not in iTunes, its not selected to be installed !!!!!

BUT - it is on the iPhone!!!!!!

So to try and get everything correct again, I will add the AirSharing application back into the iphone and re-sync.

I now have one AirSharing application installed, and syncronising is working again, and so far - no password requests.

APPLE - Sort the AppStore out !!!! Please...

Buying the iPhone gave me the incentive to work 3 ways - iPhone, Online with Google and Offline with Apple's apps iCal and Address Book.

I have been using a really neat and simple software product from a company called Spanning Sync to synchronize both ways my Google calendar with my Mac iCalendar application. It doesn't cost a lot and whilst Google don't have a solution it is a "Must Have".

How I have 3 way access exactly as I want it.

Hussman didn't say much beyond the usual stuff about how bad it is to give away news online (even though he gives it away free in northwest Arkansas), which we've covered here before. Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times has a summary here, which includes this critique:

Newspapers have been crippled less by free web content than by the devastating impact of on-line classified advertising. Newspapers' loss of young readers was well underway long before the Internet came along. Charging for web content now -- as a new strategy -- would be a risky move. Many simply won't pay. They'll turn to the growing list of options. TV stations, for example, are becoming one-stop news sites in many markets, with news, weather, sports scores and, some places, even obituaries.

I'll go Max one better say that newspapers have been hurt not only by online classifieds, but by all the other stuff the Web can do that newspapers can't, often in ways that are A) free and B) more relevant to how we use and consume information in a wired world.

The Internet offers online mapping, shopping, social networks, photo sharing, video sharing, music sharing and local directories and search that provide quick, comprehensive and easy-to-use information -- all the stuff that newspapers could and should do but don't, because they let the Web beat them to it.

More on online advertising as a "flop," as well as some free advice for newspapers, after the jump.

Now back to Hussman, who also told editors last week that online advertising has turned out to be "a flop." Advertising might be a flop on a Web site that locks down 90 percent of its content. But elsewhere, it's the only category of advertising that's seen consistent growth in the last few years. And it's kept niche sites like our own ArkansasBusiness.com in the black for most of its existence as traffic continues to grow.

(Maybe that's why Hussman is now in the niche publishing business, printing a free weekly aimed at young adults and a monthly magazine aimed at the rich folks (an answer to our own Soiree magazine) -- both with free content offered on the Web.)

That's not to say cracks aren't showing in online newspaper advertising. But more and more, as the Internet becomes the dominant source for people to get their news and information, publishers are going to have square off with and meet the challenges the new medium poses. Publishers have little choice.

Hussman's other point, about free online news being a "failed business model," isn't far off the mark, but only insomuch as the industry has yet to find a workable business model to support it. It's the Holy Grail of the newspaper industry, and I for one am not ready to give up on finding it.

You can read the Democrat-Gazette's account of Hussman's speech here -- at the D-G's free northwest Arkansas site.

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