Darren Yamaki

Lotus Notes Shortcuts

darreny — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:25:13 +0000

You’re stuck with Notes. You know F9, but you don’t know these:

Get DropBox

darreny — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:39:50 +0000

No such thing as “too many computers?” Yes, there is.

Three computers means three filesystems, three systems to shuffle via USB jumps, network shares, and FTP. It’s quite counterproductive. There are plenty of solutions out there (SyncToy, GSpace/GDrive, scheduled tasks) but most create more work than they save … except DropBox.The time value of this product is amazing! The free account allows me to synchronize 2GBs of information with minimal effort. At a glance you easily see real-time updates, and task-tray Toast tells you when larger changes are made.The Web interface allows you to revert to previous versions or undelete files, automatically syncing with all your managed computers. Security settings allow you to manage and unmanage computers. Even photos can be shared.

Check it out! Friends, use this link to sign up: Get DropBox. You’ll be helping me while helping you. =)

It looks like DropBox (a product of Evenflow, Inc) is yet another great startup that received partial funding from Y Combinator.

Time Management

darreny — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:48:54 +0000

If I took anything away from this past working-year it’s the value of time. With my projects constantly shifting client priorities I started reaching my limit. I had less time than I did before. I was working more hours. I even pulled two all-nighters in December, something I hadn’t done in years. I noticed this effected my quality of work, and quality of life. Time was a valued commodity — and that’s what hit home when I watched Dr. Randy Pausch’s Lecture on Time Management.

You may remember the late Dr. Randy Pausch from his famous Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. But this video is different, and it’s also well worth the watch. Enjoy.

Just count the number of hours you watch television in the next week. That’s my gift to you…

…If you have changed things then you probably have more time to spend with the ones you love and that’s important. Time is all we have. And you may find one day you have less than you think.

-Dr. Randy Pausch

Happy New Year

darreny — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:01:24 +0000

I wish you all a wonderful 2009!

Identity Makes Wired Top 6

darreny — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:53:13 +0000

So cool! Identity Management made Wired magazine’s list of 6 New Web Technologies of 2008! Well, yeah! All this disparate and non-standardized profile information floating around adds quite a bit of risk to one’s identity. The more websites we use, the less manageable our identity becomes, and more places identity thieves can exploit. Just how many birthdates, maiden names, and passwords do you have floating around?

Authentication has become a custom solution for most Web sites. Even Web browsers compensate with built-in functionality like browser-managed passwords/authentication. But is the browser the right place for this? Eh.

Foxmarks is a Firefox plugin that syncs bookmarks and passwords across many computers. I’ve been using it for about three days now … it’s password syncing feature is great. I’ve historically been resistant to centralized browser passwords for one reason: paranoia. Yet since Monday I’m a changed man. I’m more productive and things are manageable. No more duplicating effort on each computer. Passwords are in one place: Firefox, nay, Foxmarks!

Foxmarks syncs with their central server making that the center, not Firefox. Firefox, on all my computers, is just an authentication point with a copy from Foxmarks.

Services like password syncing (more like password AND username syncing) are a step in the right direction towards centralized identity. Concepts such as OpenID are long-term. Still, OpenID is far from the best solution and has it’s own set of drawbacks. Regardless, centralizing identity and authentication makes sense and I’m glad it’s being recognized with Wired’s shout to Identity Management.

Will access management and entitlement make the cut in 2009?

Others that made this years Wired list were lifestreaming, HTML 5, Firefox 3, Google Chrome, and Location Awareness (I love my iPhone).

Google Shines Up With Chrome

darreny — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:04:44 +0000

Chrome is the new black, or should I say, Firefox! Yes, I said it. It had to be said. Google just released a beta version of their open source Web browser, Chrome. I’ve been using it for about 30 minutes and am quite impressed.

Google Chrome

It’s lightning fast, easy to use, and blue. What’s up with technology and blue? Windows desktop, Mac desktop, Linksys routers, the default WordPress theme, my work badge … bluetooth. Anyways, one thing you’ll notice in Chrome, besides the blue, is the missing menu bar. You won’t find File, Edit, Help, etc, strung across the top. The other thing worth noting is the Task manager. It’s very similar to the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). I can already see this saving me. The quick YouTube Features overview will give you an idea.

The Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog

darreny — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:00:27 +0000

It’s the perfect combination of greasy, crunchy, and salty. They’re wonderfully charcuteried tubes of porcine goodness. Devil dogs, dirty dogs, street dogs … they’re awesome. Until the next morning. Here’s a blog (on Amazon of all places) taking that concept a step further, Five Hot Dogs That Will Kill You. I’m interested in trying the French Fry Hot Dog on a Stick.

Concatenate Binary Files in Windows

darreny — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Here’s something I had to use recently. It’s very basic, but hopefully helps someone. Of course in Unix this is much easier (the cat command). Use the following to concatenate two binary files on the Windows command prompt. In this example the two files are file1 and file2, with the destination of destfile:

copy /b file1+file2 destfile

or if there are spaces in the file names:

copy /b “file 1″+”file 2″ “dest file”

You can concatenate more than two files, just append them with the plus. Source.

Third-World Stats

darreny — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:46:11 +0000

This is pretty amazing. It’s a presentation at TED back in 2006 of third-world statistics and is one of the most beautiful and interesting representations of statistics I’ve ever seen. The information is profound and it’s worth watching … but don’t take my word for it:

You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world” using extraordinary animation software developed by his Gapminder Foundation. The Trendalyzer software (recently acquired by Google) turns complex global trends into lively animations, making decades of data pop. Asian countries, as colorful bubbles, float across the grid — toward better national health and wealth. Animated bell curves representing national income distribution squish and flatten. In Rosling’s hands, global trends — life expectancy, child mortality, poverty rates — become clear, intuitive and even playful.

–http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

Also, check out Hans Rosling’s follow-up.

Firefox Won’t Start?

darreny — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:33:38 +0000

Note: This applies to all problem Firefox Add-ons, not just QTP.

Hopefully this’ll help someone. After installing Mercury QuickTest Professional 9.2 on Windows XP Pro SP2 I realized that my Firefox 2.0.0.12 didn’t start. I mean I double-clicked on the icon and that’s it, nothing! After some Googling recommendations were to start Firefox in Safe Mode. To do so I simply opened up the command prompt and executed the following: “c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -safe-mode.

After disabling Add-ons I was able to successfully start Firefox. Next came the task of isolating the problem Add-on. From the Firefox Tools > Add-ons menu I patiently enabled each Add-on and restarted Firefox, one by one.

Lo and behold the culprit was the QuickTest Professional 9.2 PlugIn Add-on.