How to uninstall applications on a Mac

I really couldn't post a How To on installing applications without doing one on uninstalling ... right?

The HowTo is posted at: http://www.timalosi.com/uninstallingmacapps

How to install Applications on a Mac

I just finished another Mac OS X HowTo on installing applications. A good one for recent Mac switchers.

The HowTo is at http://www.timalosi.com/howtoinstallmacapps

Microsoft Tag Review ... pretty cool for people on the go.

Just heard about Microsoft Tag today and was wondering what it was and why would I want to use it.

So a quick google and I found the web site (http://www.microsoft.com/tag) and watched the intro video (which was helpful).

A Microsoft tag is a square, colorful, barcode that is a link to some content such as a web site, vCard, a text message, or a telephone number.

Ok ... so what. Now here's the cool part. You can download the Tag Reader application from either (http://www.microsoft.com/tag or http://gettag.mobi for your phone (windows mobile, android, blackberry, or symbian (for iPhone to to the app store :-)) and you point your phone's camera at the Tag, and the reader will scan the barcode and deliver you to the website or dial the number, or display the text.

For people on the go, this is a great tool to easily get content without all that typing on mini keyboards!!

I'll be on the look out for these colorful little squares in the real world!!

Here are a few sample tags (they are spread out to make it easer to scan them with your phone)... try them out!

Sample tag to a web site:

Sample tag to 1-800-Goog-411

Sample Text Tag

Goodbye DrTim, Hello ControlDoctors.com

Here is a notice I sent out regarding introduction of ControlDoctors.com. ControlDoctors.com is a community site for automation professionals using products from Emerson Process Management (Syncade, DeltaV, Provox, RS3, AMS, Fieldbus, SmartWireless, Rosemount, Fisher Controls, Micromotion).

Hi Everyone,

If you are on this email, then at some point in the past, you had joined the forums at the DrTim DeltaV, Provox, and RS3 site.

I have been pleased with how those forums have worked out, but as you may be aware, over the last few years, it had stalled a bit.

This was partially due to my available time, but also due to an aging platform that was difficult to maintain.

So, since we are overhauling our DMZ (where the DrTim site was hosted), it became time to either abandon the site, or overhaul it.

I chose to overhaul it.

The new site URL is http://www.ControlDoctors.com.

All of the forums have been moved to Google Groups (The links are on the ControlDoctors.com home page). I am hopeful that this will improve the manageability, as well as longevity of the site. (one downside is that you will need to join each group that you are interested in).

One of the nice features is that I am now able to extend the ability to Manage the groups (and the web site) to those outside of my organization, so if there are any interested persons, please send me an email.

I hope that you take the time to visit the new site and join some of the groups, there is a wealth of knowledge in our automation community!

Please pass along any suggestions or comments, I put the site together really fast (3 nights) and there are definitely opportunities to improve what is there.

Sincerely,
Tim

P.s. pass along the notice to anyone that you think may benefit from it.

Steps and Resources for setting up your own Web Site

So you've decided you want to create your own web site or blog. Great! It's really easy to do and there are some good free tools for web site hosting, tracking, design and management. This is a list of the tools that I have found useful in working with this blog and with my sites.

Domain Registration:

• I use GoDaddy.com for my domain registration. The prices are good, and they have really good DNS services that come for free with your domain registration to allow you to set up your hosts. If this seems a bit daunting, don't let it, most hosting packages (including Google Apps will take care of this for you
  

Site Hosting: The cost of hosting your own site has dropped significantly in recent years. In addition, there are some good free hosting services.

• Google Apps is a great free service from Google. It provides GMail accounts (you@yourdomain.com), IM services, Calendar, Google Docs for collaboration, Web pages with a simple page designer and templates, and Google Sites (a collaboration space similar to Sharepoint). All this for free. (I use Google Apps for www.timalosi.com )
  
• Microsoft OfficeLive Small Business is another free service. Similar to Google Apps, OfficeLive provides Web pages with an easy editor (and as a nice, advanced, feature, allows you to upload your own pages), email, and spaces (a collaboration tool similar to Sharepoint). In addition, OfficeLive will give you your first year of domain name registration for free. (I use OfficeLive for www.controldoctors.com)
• IXWebHosting.com is a paid, full service hosting service (for as little as $4.95 per month) that provides unlimited web site space, and unlimited transfer of data. They provide at least one free domain registration and a ton of included scripts and the use of databases for data driven websites. If you are looking to do commercial web hosting (selling on the internet), this is a great hosting site. I recently helped set up two new sites on IXWebHosting: IsolatedGraphics.com and PointBMovie.com ).
• Blogger.Com is a free service to host your blog (like this one: fivebytes.blogspot.com ). A blog is a good choice for a web presence if you wish to write content for the web, share your thoughts, and talk about different topics.
• Wordpress.com is another free service to host a blog. Both Blogger and Wordpress are very functional and easy to use.

Getting Listed in Search Engines: Ok, now that you have your site, you want people to find you. Many search engines continuously search the internet for new sites, and if you are using some of Google's services (Google Apps or Blogger), google will likely pick up your site automatically. But you may want to submit your site to ensure it is indexed (although you need to be patient, as it takes time.

• Google
• Microsoft Live Search
• Yahoo

Web Master Tools: If you want to see how the different search engines are treating your site, and what search queries your site is appearing in, you should sign up for the web master tools at each of the major search engines. Signup is free.

• Google Webmaster Tools
  
• Live Search Webmaster Tools
• Yahoo Site Explorer
  

One item that these Webmaster tools recommend is a Sitemap. Either a simple page with links to all the pages on your site, or an XML file that contains links all the pages (or at least the most important). There are online sites that will generate the XML file in the correct format.
The one that I use is http://www.xml-sitemaps.com.


Analyze Site Traffic: In order to check how many visitors came to your site, what pages they looked at and other interesting statics, you need a (free) service like Google Analytics. To use Google Analytics, you need to embed some simple javascript onto your web pages (it is pretty easy and there are lots of tutorials on the web). The amount of statistics you can get are impressive, and you can watch your site flourish.

Making your Site look great: If you are looking for some good images for your site, an often inexpensive (and sometimes free) approach is to use a stock photo service. Often the images are very inexpensive. Here is a list of stock photo sites. (Note: Just be careful to ensure that you have the right to use the photo. It is worthwhile to double check!)

• iStockPhoto.com
• www.public-domain-photos.com
  

Online Storage Comparison: Go Big or Go Home

Cloud Computing is all the rage ... so what is it? Well there are two aspects of cloud computing; 1. Running virtual servers in the cloud, such as Amazons Elastic Cloud Computing or RightScale and 2. Storing your files in the "Cloud" for access from anywhere.

This post is about storing your files (which is more applicable to most of the internet denizens out there). There are great reasons to store your files in the cloud, including off-site backup as well as colaboration and sharing. To my great pleasure, there are some great free offerings for online cloud storage (and some great paid offerings as well). Here is a quick summary: 

Free Online Storage Comparison: (Listed by Gigs of Free Storage Offered). There are other online storage services (such as the popular Carbonite), but I have only include ones I have tried and that offer a free plan.

ADrive.com	Pro's	Con's
50 Gig Free (Has Paid Plans)	Huge Storage Space FTP and Web Access Includes Backup Utility to sync / backup local directories to online storage Can make files public Paid Plans provide WebDAV access Update: FTP and Backup Utility no longer included with Free Account	Longevity may be an issue since this is not backed by a well known company Can only be logged in from one source (web or ftp) Utility is only for Windows Update: Since it Adrive is now only web based, limitation removed

Skydrive	Pro's	Con's
25 Gig Free	Backed by Microsoft (some may consider this a con) so should be a stable offering Can make files public	No FTP Access (but does have a drag and drop ActiveX control available for IE No Backup Utility to sync / backup local directories

Mesh.Com	Pro's	Con's
5 Gig Free	Backed by Microsoft (some may consider this a con) so should be a stable offering Can make files public Can be used to sync files between computers (Mac and Windows) Provides remote access to your computers See my Post about Mesh.com.	No FTP Access (but does have a drag and drop ActiveX control available for IE Cannot Upload from any computer, must have Mesh client installed.

Mozy	Pro's	Con's
2 Gig Free (has paid plans)	Backed by EMC so should be a stable offering Includes Backup Utility to sync / backup local directories Supports Windows and Mac OSx	Mozy is intended as a backup solution, not an online file storage solution. Cannot make a file public No FTP access

Box.Net	Pro's	Con's
1 Gig Free (has paid plans)	Includes Backup Utility to sync / backup local directories Integrated into Linked In for easy file collaboration with your network	Does not include Backup Utility to sync / backup local directories No FTP access (but does have Java based drag and drop)

Some additional Online Storage Services that I have not tried include:

• Orbitfiles (6GB Free Storage)
• 4Shared (5GB Free Storage)
  
• iDrive (2GB Free Storage)
• ElephantDrive (1GB Free Storage)
  

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

How to Set your Screen Saver to Display your Flickr PhotoStream

I just finished a Mac OS X HowTo on setting your screen saver to display photos from your Flickr Photostream.

This can be used to display your own photostream, or any of the published photostreams on Flickr or other photo sites.

The HowTo is at http://www.timalosi.com/flickrscreensaverhowto