Xagronaut

SyncToy is a “power toy” from Microsoft. Although it is officially an unsupported product, I’ve found that the quality of the tool is sufficient to depend on it for some critical file synchronization operations.

I’ve been using SyncToy to backup and synchronize files on the SD card I use in my Palm Zire 72. The synchronizations that I have set up include documents (Microsoft Office—Word and Excel) as well as pictures and videos taken with the PDA’s camera.

Sometimes it’s a pain to launch the SyncToy application when I insert the memory card into my Dell PC’s internal card reader. I saved some time by “pinning” SyncToy to the Start menu. That works very well, and I recommend you do likewise.

However, the thought occurred to me—why can’t I make SyncToy be a choice in the Windows dialog that automatically launches when I insert the memory card? Well, it turns out that you can.

I did some initial digging in the registry to isolate the branch containing the text of the choices that display, and I found this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers]

It turns out that this branch has all kinds of goodies in it, all related to how the Autoplay feature works.

After more experimentation and Googling, I came across a few important related articles:

• U3 vs. PortableApps | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives
• Implement an Autoplay Handler - The Code Project - System Programming
• MSDN Library on Autoplay handlers

Ultimately, I created a registry script based on the first of the three links above that looks like this:

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAutoplayHandlersEventHandlersMixedContentOnArrival]
"SyncToyHandler"="" 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAutoplayHandlersEventHandlersGenericVolumeOnArrival]
"SyncToyHandler"="" 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAutoplayHandlersEventHandlersShowPicturesOnArrival]
"SyncToyHandler"="" 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAutoplayHandlersEventHandlersPlayMusicFilesOnArrival]
"SyncToyHandler"="" 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAutoplayHandlersHandlersSyncToyHandler]
"Action"="Synchronize with SyncToy"
"DefaultIcon"="\"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe\",0"
"InvokeProgID"="SyncToyHandler"
"InvokeVerb"="open"
"Provider"="SyncToy" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSyncToyHandler]
@="SyncToy"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSyncToyHandlerDefaultIcon]
@="\"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe\",0" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSyncToyHandlershell] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSyncToyHandlershellopen]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSyncToyHandlershellopencommand]
@="\"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe\""


It works great! Now, when I insert my memory card, SyncToy displays as an option in the list!

It seems a little strange, but I’m actually blogging using Word as a client for WordPress. This is actually kind of cool! I was considering investing in a rich-client Windows blog editor. I’ve had WordPress on the backburner for a while, but I may be marching forward now that Word supports blogging. In fact, this opens up some new possibilities for using Word as a client for more than just blogging. Here’s a thought: how about Word as a Journal client?

Imagine journaling in your “favorite” (maybe) word processor and posting to a blog that serves as a personal, private journal. Nobody says that every blog has to be public—you can have private entries too. Just be careful to make sure they stay that way because Google has very prying eyes, finding things you might not suspect. I know, because I have found some things that probably weren’t intended for general public consumption. You’ve been warned.

Nonetheless, it tickles the brain with new possibilities. I wonder how hard it is to write addins for Word 2007 in .NET.

By the way, upgrading to Office 2007 with Outlook 2007 has broken the synchronization with my Palm Zire 72. My version of HotSync with the Outlook conduits does not support Outlook 2007. No support information was available on Palm’s website. Interestingly enough, Palm claims that the latest version (for the Zire 72 anyway) of their Palm Desktop software is not compatible with Windows XP Media Center Edition. Now, maybe I’m not running the exact same version (I have version 4.1.4 rather than 4.1.4E), but I’m skeptical about the claim about incompatibility since I am indeed running the software on Windows XP Media Center.

I do have a solution to my synchronization problem, however. It is Chapura’s PocketMirror software, which claims to be compatible with Outlook 2007 and Windows Vista. I’ll probably be dropping the $29.99 for the software soon.

My blog has been terribly quiet for a couple of years, with posts popping up only every couple of months, if that.  I would apologize, but nobody really cares.  If I was saying anything important here, somebody would notice and investigate.

Nobody is investigating.

I still have the BLOGGER license plate.  I’m almost embarassed to drive around with it.  I feel like such a hypocrite.  On the other hand, it says “Hey! I was here first! I grabbed it before anyone else, before blogging was so popular!  I saw blogging coming before the larger masses!”

In some ways it’s a lot like reserving a domain name–except you can’t sell the really good ones for a higher price. Believe me, I would have already done it if it were legal.  You can “squat” on a good license plate label, but there’s no incentive, and you can only squat on one license plate per car.  With domain names, you can reserve as many as you like, so long as they’re available.

By the way, I have switched to the WalMart of domain name registration: GoDaddy.com.  While I do not think their advertising is appropriate for their type of business, they do have much lower prices than my former registrar: Dotster.com.  Dotster charges $14.95 per year for registration, and DNS Management costs $10.00 extra per year.  GoDaddy.com throws in DNS Management for free.  Instead of $25 per domain name, I’m paying about $9.  Multiply that by the number of domain names I control (squatting again) and it adds up quickly.

In the past, I’ve squatted on some cool domain names:

PrayerChannel.com
HelpMeDonate.com
NoteBase.com (NoteBase is the old name for my long-envisioned vaporware product)
BlogHappens.com

All of these domain names represent ideas that never made it to fruition.  Inspirations that never made it to implementation.  Dreams that never made it to development.

So, my big focus, in this new year, is learning from those failed and fizzled efforts to improve my completion ratio.  Some things are OK to be abandoned because they really don’t hold as much intrinsic value as we first think, but the really meaningful things in life take work and commitment.

Here’s to a new year!

iTunes decreases my blog consumption

After all this time, I’m finally blogging again. I think the issue has been the lack of time (other things are more important?) and the lack of motivation (i.e., burning desire).

Oddly enough, I think podcasts have taken me away from blogging. Since I no longer use NewsGator and FeedStation to download podcasts (I use iTunes instead), I spend less time in my news aggregator. Oh, I still consume blogs, and I think that they’re still a great innovation, but I’m not using them like I used to.

A twist on blog consumption: Text-to-Speech conversion

One new product that puts a twist on consuming blogs is Odiogo. It’s software that will “audify” RSS content to create MP3 audio consumable by your media player or portable audio device.

This is similar in concept to a combination of products I saw a while back: mixing FeedForAll, an RSS publisher, with TextAloud from NextUp.com. This combo allows you to create a “podcast” version of your blog. TextAloud also has other uses for text-to-speech conversion as a stand-alone product.

Odiogo, on the other hand, combines an RSS aggregator with a text-to-speech converter in one product. The price is fairly accessible at $29.99. I may try it. There are some sample audio clips of Odiogo available.

One thing I noticed is that Odiogo seems to offer only one voice (male). TextAloud, on the other hand, offers multiple voice options with a range of sampling rates from vendors including AT&T (Natural Voices), NeoSpeech, Cepstral, and ScanSoft (RealSpeak). TextAloud comes only in a Windows version and costs $29.95.

FeedForAll costs $39.95 and is available for Windows and Mac. They have an interesting set of partners offering complimentary products related to RSS feed consumption, RSS-friendly web hosting, and podcast creation.

Conclusion

I may try the audio blog content option. Unfortunately, most of my podcast solutions involve a lot of manual labor to put it onto my player (my Palm Zire 72 with an SD card). The other downside is that the text-to-speech output can sound somewhat bland, causing me to zone out instead of actively listening. I’ll put it on my Someday/Maybe list (GTD).

A recent Google search for a company in my area yielded some surprising results. I saw a former coworker’s employer on LinkedIn.com and decided to check out the company. Well, it turned out to be an information technology consulting company. The first few hits were all from third-party job posting sites. Note: all of the postings were for mainframe positions–Yuck!

Anyway, I kept looking for the company’s home page to show up. It didn’t–well, not at first. It wasn’t until page 2 of the Google results. Here’s the kicker: the first page to show up for the company in my Google search was not the home page–it was the company’s online exit survey!

The first presentation I receive from the company is an automated exit survey! How much turnover do they really have that they would need an online exit survey? At least they’re somewhat organized about how they process exiting employees.

Some people are confused about what the term “podcast” really means. While it originally involved a reference to Apple’s iPod, the term has expanded to mean much, much more. I heard somewhere that Microsoft was trying to find a way to refer to a “podcast” without calling it a “Pod-cast.” “Blogcast” was the substitute I heard offered. However, that was only a rumor.

I think there’s a better word, still: syndicast. Syndication and broadcast combined. Jason Dunn of PocketPC Thoughts describes several alternative names for podcasts in his article on Microsoft’s site.

The problem with coining a new term and supplanting the old term is difficult. “Podcast” is already a powerful meme. I don’t suspect that it will make much difference proposing it, but I couldn’t keep a clever idea to myself.

And for another perspective, Chris Pirillo says some people think it’s “not important”: “This is Simply Smarter Broadcasting.”

It’s nothing more than Internet radio at its core, folks. It’s audio, on-demand, that’s easily synchronized with your computer system / portable media device…

Podcasting, or syndicated downloadable content, by whatever name, is definitely here to stay.

This is my first post using Wordpress.  I’m debating about using it as the default system for my home website: http://www.outpost516.com/.  In fact if you are reading this now, you are probably looking at outpost516.com.

Anyway, I plan on converting all of my Xagronaut blog entries (http://www.xagronaut.com/) to either Wordpress or Drupal.

I’ve been reading Douglas Bass’s blog, Apprehension, initially because his blogroll link to my blog showed up on my Technorati list.

It’s been a pleasant surprise. Douglas is “assistant professor in the Graduate Programs in Software at the University of St. Thomas.” I checked out the Certificate programs with some interest, and I found one that I would enjoy having, given the time. A task like that is indeed daunting, especially with my current full-time job and other life responsibilities. Plus, St. Paul is geographically distant (I didn’t check on the distance learning option).

Douglas covers a range of topics, including computing (like the sudoku puzzle - neat!), Christianity, higher education, and combinations of the same. But, above all, the title and theme is “Apprehension,” not the negative emotion, but that kind mentioned by Paul in Philippians 3:12-13:

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I will definitely be visiting again. You can check out Douglas’s smooth-sounding voice in his podcast, “Belief Seeking Understanding.” You can subscribe to his podcast here. You can subscribe to Apprehension here.

Michael Lehman’s BuzzCast kept the music loop for the running for an entire ten minutes while talking to Jeremy Mazner about Microsoft’s PDC 2005! Dude, kill the music! It’s sooo distracting!

Even worse than that, MSMobiles.com released an hour-and-a-half podcast rambling about cellphone news, with opera-style music playing in the background almost the whole time! Dude, the music has to go, and I’m not going to listen for an hour and a half. Sorry.

I searched for Michael Lehman today, after listening to the first Buzz Cast on MSDN’s Channel 9. I found his Radio weblog. After browsing his list of podcasts I came across this one and left a comment about a typo. As I was typing, I decided to throw in this tip (reposted here for the benefit of readers):

I filter podcasts through NewsGator Online Edition. I subscribe to podcast feeds via NG online and review them occasionally. I pick the ones I like and save them to a My Clippings feed for podcasts. I am subscribed to that feed on my home PC via Radio Userland’s news aggregator.

Radio Userland downloads enclosures in the background at a configurable number of hours after midnight. The next day, the podcasts I selected are cached on my PC.

This allows me to selectively download podcasts instead of wholesale downloading anything that comes across in the feed. Of course this technique means that the downloads are a little time-delayed, but I like the control.

Michael Lehman has a pretty cool radio voice. He can read fast too. Just listen to him give the contest information for the PDC event in the Buzz Cast!

Michael’s podcast, the Manic Minute is available on his Radio weblog via this feed.