Emil's Wicked Cool Blog

Looks like Google just released a tool to synchronize Google Calendars with Outlook. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, it will only sync with your primary calendar, so in the meantime, I'm still using gsyncit.

I just stumbled across some interesting behavior in 7-Zip. Not sure why this is how it works, but if you drag and drop a file from 7-Zip into a directory to extract, the extract will first go to the temporary directory and then be copied over into the destination file. If you click the "Extract" button and select the directory, the file is extracted directly in the destination directory.

I had a little pen issue - a few of my good pens were wearing out. Bad pens kind of bother me. I'm too cheap to spend a lot of money on pens. I did a quick search on the Internet, came across this review, and was sold. Costco carries a pack of 12 for $15.68 online (I thought they were 11.59 in the store, though). Done deal - after about a month, I'm still very happy with the choice.

(Note: I do not participate in paid review stuff...my opinions are 100% uninfluenced).

I've been working on this list for some time, and now I think it's finally near comprehensive. This is the full list of software I install. Software is organized by category, where:

• Basic software gets installed on any machine
• Home software gets installed at home
• Development software gets installed on any machine whenever I need it
• Business software gets installed on my work laptop
• Server software is installed on my home server (expected to be up 24x7)
• Portable software runs directly from my USB key
• Portable - Development software is used for development from my USB key

Make sure to check out the other sheets in the spreadsheet. They include:

• Resources to find good tools
• Firefox addins (there's no good way I know of to simply install a large number of addins, which would be nice for initial install)
• Configuration Options, which describes how I configure the various OS and application options (it would be nice to optimize this). I don't have that list built yet, but hope to soon.
• Software I've used in the past and have removed for one reason or another. Interesting trip down memory lane for me, but I thought keeping the list would be good for others who might want to avoid some of the items on that list

I've also setup (but not tested) two InstallPad files to help streamline install of several of these applications. These are items from my Basic category and items from the Home and Development categories.

I'll keep the list updated and current, and when I do an initial install, I'm sure the Installpad files will get tested and the list updated with stuff I've missed. Here's the URL again for reference:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p9VpnOc6eSLLWVL_yUTWrFg

I do like this router, and it's good to see it come through certification. It seems like we've been waiting forever for 802.11n finalization, but things are moving slowly.

Review: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30087/96/
Product Page: http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=530&sec=0
Certification press release: http://www.dlink.com/press/pr/?prid=341

I recently installed both password safe and foldershare, with the intention of using them together to:

• Maintain my passwords in a more secure way (password safe)
• Have a copy of the passwords synced on the computers I use (foldershare)

The solution works great, and is highly recommended. Foldershare is blocked at work, but my password file doesn't get changed too frequently, so I'm ok with it. Prior to finding foldershare, I actually started coding my own solution - this was a great find, and I can't wait to see what Microsoft does with it post-acquisition.