22 Apr
This is the last of the four webinars that I produced for our clergy. This topic covers Google+, Hangouts and Drive. I hope that our clergy will find this useful in figuring out how to use these important collaboration tools.
On a personal note, scheduling four webinars for the same week was a bit aggressive. Perhaps future episodes should be spaced out a bit more.
19 Apr
This is the third of four online training webinars that I am working on at work. We are starting this new emphasis on empowering our clergy using the Google+ Hangout system. We suffered a glitch in the webinar today where it didn’t seem to be recording the first few minutes to the archive. I noticed that it had glitched during the presentation and started it up at somewhere around the 12-14 minute mark. The archive missed the introduction as well as a description of the major browsers. The main part of the discussion was preserved.
In case you are wondering, you should use Google Chrome for everything. Period.
17 Apr
We are experimenting at work with technology webinars delivered over the Google+ Hangout system. This was the first of four that I am working on this week. It’s a very basic discussion of the history of technology, where are are now and a brief overview of social networks and hardware options. The class is designed for our clergy that want more of an overview of various technology topics. It was well received when I went on a recent training trip so I thought I would repackage it here for online viewing. You can find out more about the webinar schedule here: http://nccumc.org/it/webinars/.
3 Apr
I have narrowed down my Google Reader replacement choice to either Feedly or The Old Reader. I have set up accounts with both services and tried using each for a few days. Here’s what I’ve found:
Feedly has a nice looking interface that takes some time to adjust to.
Feedly was the first service that I tried to use. After being used to the Google Reader interface for several years this was quite an adjustment to make. I was looking for a concise presentation of headlines with perhaps a small snippet of the article itself. Feedly’s interface concentrates more on the presentation of the data instead. It took me awhile to get used to this interface. The mobile apps for this service mirror the website closely. I was able to use it on my smart phone, tablet, laptop and desktop computer.
The Old Reader has the closest interface to Google Reader. Mobile support isn’t that great though.
The Old Reader had the closest interface to Google Reader. The layout felt familiar and was the easiest to adjust to. The biggest problem with this service was the lack of good support for mobile devices. There is no corresponding app for smart phones or tablets. The website interface didn’t seem to work well in the mobile browser. I kept accidentally clicking the wrong links as I was using it.
At the end of the day I decided to stick with Feedly. Both sites were very easy to configure and start using. After I imported my Google Reader feed list they picked right up where Google dropped me. Even though Google Reader is still going for a few more months I’ve already switched. The key factor in my decision was mobile support. You just can’t beat a solid mobile app.
14 Mar
The Old Reader
I think I may have found a good replacement for Google Reader. After reviewing a few different options today I have settled on The Old Reader. This site looks and feels a lot like Google Reader did. It offers nearly the same functionality at the same price (free). This service also comes with a Chrome extension. The articles don’t seem to refresh as quickly as Google Reader but I can be patient.
Wait your turn!
It looks like it will take awhile to set it up. There’s quite a queue of people waiting to have their subscription lists imported. It’s a good thing I can wait until July 1st. I like this service so far. You should give it a serious look if you are set adrift from Google Reader like I am.
13 Mar
Google announced today that one of my favorite web services will be shut down:
We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Reader (the actual date is July 1, 2013). We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too.
I don’t think they feel as sad about it as I do. I have used this service nearly every day since it launched way back in 2005. I manage literally hundreds of feeds and scan through thousands of posts every week. I access it via the website and all of my mobile devices. To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m going to do to replace this service.
So, what’s a good replacement service that offers the same (or similar) feature set?
21 Jan
Geocaching Swiss Army Knife
Shortly after I started Geocaching I discovered Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK). GSAK is an excellent database application that is geared towards tracking all of your caching activities. I rely on this one program to load thousands of caches into my GPSr, keep track of what I have found (as well hidden) and all of the recent activity in caches I haven’t yet found. In my experience it is the best program written for this purpose. There are other applications that can do parts of what GSAK can do but none offer the same complete package.
Sounds great, right? The only problem I have with this program is that it is written for Windows. There is no Linux port! Since I run Ubuntu on all of my mobile computers (and even my work computers), I can only use it on my Windows computer at home. This (for me) was limiting. Of course Windows users don’t have a problem with this. For us Linux users however, we are simply stuck if we need to reload our GPSr units in the field or do any research while we are out of range of the internet.
Wine Is Not A Windows Emulator
Over the years I have tried numerous Linux based tools trying to replace this functionality. Each time I eventually gave up and went back to doing it in Windows. One day recently I decided to give the latest development build of Wine (WINe is Not an Emulator) to see if GSAK would work at all. In past revisions of Wine GSAK would either not load at all or would crash and burn shortly after loading. After updating my laptop and giving it a shot I found out that it works! I was able to finally load GSAK and browse around the program without crashing. What a relief!
So, how did I get it to work? My Linux distribution of choice as of this writing is Ubuntu 10.10. The default version of Wine that is in the Ubuntu software repository is version 1.2. Don’t try to run GSAK in this version as it will not work. You can find detailed instructions on how to install Wine 1.3 below (summarized):
Run the following commands on the command line:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine1.3
These commands will install the latest version of Wine automatically. If you already had Wine installed then the upgrade will remove version 1.2 first. I had the most success by manually deleting the Wine version 1.2 /home/user/.wine directory. Opening Wine version 1.3 will create these files again from scratch.
You need Wine version 1.3 or higher to make GSAK work.
After you have installed the latest version of Wine and created the new configuration files, download the latest version of GSAK. Open the command line and browse to the downloads directory. Enter the following command to install GSAK:
wine GSAK772B56.exe
Latest version of GSAK
Now that the software is installed you can start it up, enter your licensing information and get started! Once I had finished the installation and tried out a sample database, I was ready to start putting this to use. I solved the issue of getting the software to work in the first place. Now I had to solve the problem of portability. How can I move my GSAK installation around with me wherever I go? I have desktops at work and at home, a laptop and a netbook. That’s a lot of devices! I could be using any of them at any time so what happens when I have my netbook but GSAK is on my laptop?
Dropbox solves this problem nicely. I am running this service on all of my computers to synchronize my important files everywhere I go. With so many computers it is virtually impossible to keep up with where my data is. Dropbox takes care of this completely. I went to my Windows computer and copied my existing GSAK settings files to my Dropbox folder. Once you have copied the settings files over you will need to change the Application Data, Database Folder and Backup Folder paths in Tools – Options – General. As you move from computer to computer GSAK will open up and pull in the latest database information. It really is seamless!
It is seamless however, until I try to open GSAK on my one Windows computer. The Application Data and Database Folder settings survive the transition from Linux to Windows. The Backup Folder path does not change. It still looks for the last path used. If you want to back up the database in Windows you have to manually change the options coming and going from Windows. I posted a note in the GSAK forum asking that the Backup Folder be turned into a variable instead of a hard coded path. Hopefully that will change in future versions.
So What Doesn’t Work In Windows?
There are two areas of GSAK that still doesn’t work with Wine:
It really works!
So there you have it, GSAK works in Linux! There are still a few kinks to be worked out but considering that a few months ago it wouldn’t even load properly this is enormous progress. I hope more of my fellow Linux users will start running it. Perhaps we can get the last few glitches worked out at some point and have the same functionality as our Windows brethren. Happy Caching!
20 Jan
It looks like you can now port your favorite phone number to the Google Voice service. This is a welcome addition to all of the great functionality that this service offers. I’ve been using Google Voice since it was introduced so I don’t really have another number to give out.
Google is testing out this service right now with a limited number of users (present company excluded). It looks like it will cost $20 to transfer the number and your existing phone account will be discontinued. Keep in mind that you will be hit with early contract termination fees if you are still in the middle of a contract. If you have been waiting to port your number when your contract ends however, this is for you!
Now if they would only add MMS and extension dialing support…
18 Nov
This is an excellent video introduction to the concepts of WordPress. Pay close attention to the open source principles and references that Matt makes. Those same ideas drive everything I do at work and online.
