Thumbmarks Visual Bookmark Gadget for iGoogle and web sites

I just completed my first Google Gadget.  The gadget, called Thumbmarks displays bookmarks from social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, Diigo, Reddit and StumbleUpon.

I wrote the gadget because I use Delicious alot, but wanted to be able to SEE my links with thumbnails (got the idea from the Google Chrome browser.

The gadget is listed in Google's directory so you can search for "thumbmarks" or "visual bookmarks" and you should find it.

The project is Open Source and its project page is at http://code.google.com/p/visual-bookmarks/wiki/Home

Below is a screenshot of the Gadget which can display the links in an iPhone like theme or in standard iGoogle theme.

Check out my Delicious Links related to this post at http://delicious.com/tim.alosi/gadget

Howto Upgrade to Mac OS X Snow Leopard

I completed my upgrade to Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) on Friday (driving by the Apple Store twice was more than my restraint could take) and it is very easy to say that writing this HowTo will take more time than I spent on the install of Snow Leopard.

The total install time was about 1.5 hours, but I less than 3 minutes (including screen shots).  I started at 22:26:55 per the first screen shot and entered the admin password to start file copying at 22:28:16.  A blazing  2 minutes and 15 seconds.  And if you are wondering, those screen shots are the actuals from the install, not ones taken afterwards for this post.

Here are the step by step instructions.
1. If you don't use Time Machine (shame on you) then make sure you have a good backup.  If you use Time Machine,  you should be covered.
2. Insert the Snow Leopard Install DVD.  You will be presented with the following window.  Double click the Install Mac OS X icon to start.

3. At the next screen, you can simply press continue, unless you want to access any of the utilities (including Disk Utilities) which you may need if you are doing a clean install, but for Snow Leopard, an Upgrade over your current operating system is the recommendation from Apple and is what this HowTo assumes.

4. After pressing continue, the installer will search for your hard disk.

5. You may want to check out the optional components to install.  To display the optional components, select the Customize button.  For my install,  I deselected Language Translations to save some disk space.  If you have older Mac applications, you may want to select Rosetta.

6. Once you have chosen your options, you can go back to the install screen.  Select the Install button and you will be presented with an authentication box.  Type in your administration user name and password, click OK and the install will proceed without further input required from you.  At the completion of the upgrade, your mac will reboot and you will be running Snow Leopard.

Post Install Notes.
For the most part every application I have works, except Microsoft Sync, which does not seem to be able to connect to the Microsoft Sync Web Site.

Some applications, such as Mail, will perform an upgrade the first time you start them, and certain other items (for example the iPhoto based screen saver settings I use) may need to be tweaked.

But overall, you can expect a simple, painless upgrade that leaves you with a faster, more robust operating system and a few (only a few) handy features.

Snow Leopard is out and why I'm choosing to upgrade

Apple's Lastest Version of Mac OS X (10.6), known as Snow Leopard, releases today.

I don't know how soon I'll upgrade, but at $29, I will definitely be upgrading.  As with any upgrade, you should make sure you are getting your moneys worth.

With a $29 price tag, that should be pretty easy, but the four features for me that I am looking forward to (and using to justify the $29) are:

• 64-Bit and Grand Central Multiprocessing ... This provides what apparently is a significant performance boost.  Since my Mac Mini is over 2 years old, any performance boost is a welcomed addition.
• Quick Time X.  This update to quicktime has a few nicities that will make dealing with video clips easier.  With my new Flip camera and every cell phone and digital still camera able to take video clips, the ability to quickly trim and share these right from Quick Time without pulling up iMovie will be a benefit.  Also, Quick Time X has a feature that allows you to record your screen (screencast) without using third party apps.  
• Built-in Cisco VPN support.  A nice features that eases the use of a Mac in todays business environment, wether it is just for logging in using my home Mac, or perhaps helping with the introduction of Macs for work, we will see.
• Exchange Support.  Like the Cisco support, this is a push at helping to integrate the Mac into thw workplace.  Even though I won't be taking my Mini to work, this is a feature that I desire for the future, so I'll chip in a bit now.
  

The Flip Video and Battery Pack Charging

I just got a new Flip Ultra HD, and it is a pretty nice piece of technology, small size, HD resolution, 2 hrs of video and it supports both a rechargable battery pack as well as being able to use AA batteries. In general, I am very happy with my new Flip (http://theflip.com/).

 

I have been having a specific problem though, and it is related to charging the Flip via it's USB connector.  Typically when I have gone to charge the Flip, I often get an error message stating

"Charging has been paused, please check battery pack".

This is very frustrating, and reduces my confidence in the product.  I contacted technical support and they responded with the following:

If your battery pack is not charging properly, please try the following:

1. remove the battery pack from the camcorder
2. connect the camcorder to a powered USB port on your computer
3. when the "Connected" indicator comes on, insert the battery pack into the camcorder
4. safe eject your camcorder from your computer
5. reconnect your camcorder to your computer
6. the battery pack should now begin to charge within the camcorder

 So I tried this and it seems to resolve the issue on my Dell laptop, however the issue periodically persists on my Mac Mini. 

 

I contacted Tech Support again and they are suggesting that the Flip needs to be replaced and has sent an RMA.  I have hesitated to complete that request for a few reasons, I want to confirm that they will be sending a new Flip and not a refurbished one and I want to try a few more tests to make sure it is not some other random problem with other devices connected to the USB that are consuming too much power, causing the charge not to happen.

 

Stay tuned

 

 

 

 

It's Happened ... Google Officially in the OS Business

Yesterday Google announced in their blog that they are developing a linux kernal based operating system that they are calling Chrome.

This will be a separate os from Android ... Google's OS for smart phones.

Oh the Waiting. Migrating from GPC to Google Sites

Well it's June 4th, and I have temporarily decided to let Google migrate my site from GPC to Google Sites.

There are two main reasons, and I suspect that the migration will be temporary.

1. I am curious ... so How will Google migrate the site, and what will it look like when they are done?

2. I have some other sites that have linked to some of the content and drive a fair percentage of my traffic. As I have noted in some of my comparisons, with GPC, google does not append a file extension to the GPC URL (i.e. http://www.timalosi.com/about) whereas sites like Weebly.com and Officelive.com both utilize extensions and return 404 errors when you pass them a GPC style URL.

So ... for now I wait for Google to work some form of minor magic. Curious for the results.

Check out my delicious links related to this post at http://delicious.com/tim.alosi/gpc

Alternatives to Google Page Creator - Weebly

Weebly Comparison
With Google Page Creator being eliminated, I have decided to do a quick comparison of Google Page Creator (GPC) and Weebly.com . I have put this together to aid in making a decision on where to migrate my Google Page Creator site to.

This comparison is not exhaustive, but centered around the key features of GPC


Weebly.com is a free, web based web hosting site.  By web based, I mean that you can create and edit your pages with only a browser.  Similar to how GPC used to work.


For the purpose of this comparison, I will just be looking at Weebly.com's free web page hosting (They have a paid version as well).

Feature Comparison
Branding
Item	Google Page Creator	Weebly
Domain Name Integration	Your domain name was used as the root for all pages	Your Domain Name can be used as the root for your web pages.
FavIcon	You can brand your site with a FavIcon using simple Javascript	You can brand your site with a FavIcon using simple Javascript
Themes	Each page could have a different theme and with CSS you had pretty fine control over presentation of the site.	You need to select a theme and color scheme for your entire site. However, you can create your own theme with the included editor using CSS.
Technology
Item	Google Page Creator	Weebly.com
Javascript	Javascript is allowed on pages.	Javascript is allowed on pages
CSS	You can integration custom CSS files using Javascript to direct the client to load the file.	You can create site wide CSS code in the editor without requiring javascript
Google Analytics	You can add Analytics via javascript. You have control over how each page is tracked.	You can add Analytics via javascript. You have control over how each page is tracked.
Google Adsense	You can add Adsense ad blocks via javascript	You can add Adsense ad blocks via javascript or using the built in Adsense page element
Google Gadgets	Supported	You can add google gadgets
Google Webmasters Tools	Supported via uploaded file.	Supported via meta tag.
Other Webmasters Tools	Supported via uploaded files.	Supported via meta tag addition with javascript.
Static Files	Can upload files via HTTP to root directory. Cannot make sub directories. Can upload pages you created in other web design tools (i.e. iWeb)	Can upload via HTTP into a File Page Element.  Supports all multimedia file types and others.  Site visitors may be able to see the files depending on permissions.
Limits	Maximum Files = 500 Maximum Space = 100 MB Maximum File Size = 10 MB Themes = 41	Maximum Space = ?? MB Maximum File Size = ?? MB Themes = Unique combinations > 500
Google Docs Integration	Integration via Google Gadgets	Integration via Google Gadgets
Editor
Item	Google Page Creator	Officelive.com
Tables	You can create tables manually with HTML code	You can create tables manually with HTML code
Page Layout	Supports 5 Page Layouts	Supports 2 Page Layouts
Navigation	Create your own navigation and breadcrumbs and sitemaps.	Automatically creates navigation, breadcrumbs and sitemaps. NOTE: The built in navigation is done with scripting, so I recommend that you add some standard links to help search engines index your pages.
Comments	Cannot incorporate comments from visitors	Cannot incorporate comments from visitors (But you can include Blog Pages)

Summary
Weebly.com has a comparable list of features that Google Pages had, and it is priced the same (free). In addition, if you are using Google Apps for Domains, you can point your domain to Weebly.


In general, if you are finding that Google Sites (see my post on a Google Sites comparison) does not have what you are looking for, Weebly.com seems like a very good alternative.

Note:  If you site contains many cross links, GPC pages did not have a file extension at the end (i.e. http://www.timalosi.com/about) where as weebly uses a .html extension and links without the extension will return a 404 error.  (This is most unfortunate)

Related Posts:
GPC to Office Live Comparision
GPC to Google Sites Comparision

Review my Delicious Links related to this Post at http://delicious.com/tim.alosi/gpc