Friday, May 9, 2008

SharePOD and Floola for your iPOD

SharePOD and Floola enable easy iPOD file transfers

Looking for a solution to being able to transfer files from your iPod to a computer that does not already contain your iTunes library, consider SharePOD. SharePod 3 is a program for your iPod that allows you to copy music and videos between your iPod and computers, usually without having to install anything on the computer. What's interesting is that SharePOD installs and runs ON your iPOD. Once installed you can then copy tracks from your iPOD to a PC using Windows Explorer and the SharePOD interface. SharePOD also creates XML files that can be imported into iTunes. Additionally, you can use SharePOD to copy files from your PC to your iPOD, including MP3, M4a and M4v file types.

SharePOD also lets you create new playlists, edit file tags, and has a built-in media player as well. To protect against any future incompatibility with Apple's iTunes software, SharePOD creates backups of your iPOD and you can use the Restore iPOD feature to put it back to it's working state.

The downside - SharePOD requires Microsoft's .NET 2.0 framework to be installed on the computer you are attaching to. For XP users, this could mean a 22MB download just to get SharePOD to work; .NET 2.0 is included in Vista.

Another software option that offers similar functionality is Floola, which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. *note: links updated on 11/19/2011*

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Google SMS for quick info

Information via SMS text from Google

If you haven't tried Google's free SMS information system yet, you are missing out. For those of you with smartphones and mobile browsers, you may still be interested just for the plain fact that you can get simple information much faster via SMS search, probably quicker than you can even launch the browser on your mobile phone.

To get started, surf over to Google's SMS site and check out all of the different types of information that you can retrieve with the search codes. My most frequent are 411-type lookups using the "local" code. If I'm looking for the phone number and address for Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse in the New Orleans french quarter, I simply type "Brennan's new orleans, la" and send to 466453, the shortcode for Google's SMS service. Almost as fast as I hit send, the reply comes back with the address and phone number for Brennan's Restaurant on Royal St., Dicky Brennan's Steakhouse on Iberville St., and Dickie Brennan & Co. on Canal.

Another very useful feature is the PRICE code. I was shopping for a bark collar the other day and in the dog training section of a local outdoor supply store. They had a pretty good selection of collars, but I wasn't sure how good the prices were. By typing PRICE Innotek Bark and sending to 466453 I was sent three prices. The more specific the item description the more likely you are to get the right pricing.

Other frequently used codes are Weather when I'm traveling, Flight schedule lookups when I'm rushing to the airport, and the Q&A or Web function when I'm arguing about who was the singer on Yellow Submarine (it was Ringo).

Let me know which ones you find most useful and how often you now find yourself doing SMS lookup of phone numbers instead of using 800Free411 or 800Goog411.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Mount ISO in Windows XP

Virtual CD mount in Windows XP

Having been spoiled by the ability to mount ISO files as virtual CDs in my VMware desktop software, I was looking for a way to have this type of functionality within Windows XP on my company-issued laptop. I found several options, with the most surprising one being a tool from Microsoft. It's a utility for mounting an ISO file as a virtual CDROM and it is a real pain to locate on the Microsoft site so here's the TinyURL link TinyURL.com/tyxx. A very simple utility, allowing you to point to an ISO file on disk, assign a drive letter and mount it as if it were a local CDROM drive. There are other options such as Phantom vCD and Daemon-Tools that work. Daemon-Tools 3.4x is able to overcome some copy protection schemas out there so if you need that functionality, there you go.

If you first need a tool to create ISO images from CDs, ISORecorder is a simple, easy to use tool.

Here's the long link to the Microsoft download for the techies:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4
978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

World time zones

Time Zone Tracking

Ok, here's a quick post on a great service The World Clock. If you have a need to have a quick reference on current time in a particular global location, this is a great tool. There is an option to create a personal world clock with up to 25 cities on your tracking list. You can also create a URL to allow sharing of your personal clock with others, or using TinyURL you can then paste the link in your blog. Since there is a java applet version now I'm sure an embeddable widget is not far behind.

Anyway, very cool tool for those of us that cross GMT to do business every day.

Monday, May 5, 2008

A good task list?

Searching for a good "to do" list app...

I find myself continuously searching for the ultimate, killer to-do list application that solves all of my organizing problems, and I feel like "each wrong attempt discarded is one step closer to success" (to paraphrase T.A. Edison). From written lists to notepad txt files to excel checklists to Outlook and more, the search has been a fat client experience until the recent discovery of RememberTheMilk.com, an online task management system. Ok, I hear the cries of "oh no, here he goes with another web 2.0, mashup-obsessed diatribe", but hear me out.

Ok, so what makes RememberTheMilk (RTM) so special? First, I can update it from my Twitter account by using the Twitter direct text function " d rtm pick up beer for crawfish boil ", or other such important reminders. Ok, so what? Soooo, RTM can then send you SMS reminders on events that you have scheduled, ie "Pick up dog from vet at 4:30 today". You can schedule the reminders to be sent 1hr. before it's due, or 15 minutes, or any increment of time you like.

If that was all, it would still be a very useful tool, but there's much, much more. There is integration to your Google calendar, so tasks from RTM automatically appear in gCAL. There is also MilkSync for Blackberry and Windows Mobile, an iPhone and iPODtouch mobile version, and yes even the ability for RTM to Instant Message you reminders for your scheduled tasks (all major IM services are supported). You have to upgrade to the PRO version to get the MilkSync client option for mobile sync, but for $25 per year it's a pittance to pay.

Additionally, within the tasks function you can set up contacts with which to share specific task lists, or a group function to share a task list with an entire group of contacts, all of whom can add notes and check off tasks as completed. Tasks are organized by date by default, but the developers at RememberTheMilk have added the ability to TAG tasks, and thus you can search and sort tasks by TAG.

If you just MUST have a printed list of To Do's for the day, there's even a print option that lets you print checked tasks, all tasks, and a very neat Weekly Planner with nice little check boxes beside each task. And yes, using Google Gears, there's even an offline version so you can carry your task list with you when you are "off the grid".

So far RememberTheMilk is my best find in the continued quest for the ultimate TO DO list manager.