Nels Wadycki

Nels W

Writes Code, Fiction

  • Getting Things Done: Using Drupal as a Personal Wiki

    Nels W

    drupalorg

    I was worried about wasting a lot of time trying to figure this out, but since there are a few projects at work that are using Drupal, I thought it would be worth it to get some familiarity with the platform. All told, it only took a few hours to get things going, and at least a third of that was getting it configured on the server properly.

    How To (Install / Set Up Links)

    This seems to be the Holy Grail of How To Make Drupal your Personal Wiki.

    Some additional comments on Drupal as Personal Wiki

    The first issue I ran into was that I wanted to install Drupal on a subdomain of this site (nelswadycki.com). I assumed that I wanted to set it up so that Drupal would be in a folder like /public_html/mywiki/ mapped to the appropriate subdomain.

    After trying a few different queries, I came acorss Install Drupal with Cpanel and Fantastico, which told me to just install Drupal on the root directory and specify the folder in the Fantastico install settings.

    After logging in (for the first time!) I immediately went to the User Admin section so that no new users could register.

    Then I downloaded/unzipped/uploaded the wikitools module. Then I did the same with the recommended pearwiki filter. (Just a note for novices like me: To get the PearWiki filter to work, you need to get the PearWiki code, as well as the PearWiki MediaWiki parser)

    Other modules (as suggested by Patrick Teglia):

    A couple other small notes: In order to get it fully working the way I wanted, I created a “Book” from the first Wiki Page I added, and put the “Book” navigation at the top of the left sidebar (in the Default theme). I am totally in love with the hierarchical navigation and all the other navigation methods provided by the Book module.

    Now I get to play around with all the different themes! 🙂 (Or more importantly, copy over all the data that I had in my previous wiki – hosted at wetpaint [which I highly recommend if you can’t host your own Drupal instance]) And truth be told, I actually kind of like the default theme for this use. If it were a public site, then I’d want something to make it more distinct, but the default is very clean and concise, which is good for helping find and add information quickly.

    * I don’t want to mess around with HTML in my wiki like I do in my blogs. I want to be able to add stuff to the wiki as quickly as possible and having to do HTML markup will slow me down there. I like using it in blog posts because it gives me more control, but I (usually) take more care with blog posts than I do when adding things to what is essentially a Brain Dump Area.

    + FCKEditor kept adding <<br /> tags to all my line breaks and after a while of trying to figure out how to get it to stop, I disabled it and was able to use MediaWiki syntax for pseudo-rich formatting. I'm already somewhat familiar with MediaWiki syntax, so it should allow me to still input content fairly quickly (and more so after I have all the markup memorized).

  • Getting Things Done: Invisible Reminders With Google Calendar

    Nels W

    An easy way to create an electronic Tickler file is by using Google Calendar, which can send you email, SMS, and “pop-up” reminders (which act as alerts when you sync with the iPhone Calendar), for any and all events you want.

    invisible_google_calendarsBut what about stuff that you don’t really want to see cluttering up your calendar? You just want to be reminded about it when you need to be reminded about it. The solution is simple. Just add another calendar (you can have as many as you want, I believe, but I wouldn’t think you’d need more than a few extra), and click on the name of it to hide all the events. You’ll see in the image here that I have two extra calendars called (very cleverly) “Invisible Reminders” and “Sweepstakes”. The first is for the kinds of reminders I described at the beginning of this paragraph, those things that should be heard, but not seen (or something like that). The other is reminders to enter daily contests to win prizes. I put the link to the web site as the “Where” of the event, and then get the reminders sent to me in the morning for mass processing. I schedule the events so that all the reminders are sitting there after I drop my wife off at work, and then I can just go through and click the links to open them all up in new tabs and then enter my email and submit. I haven’t actually won any yet, but at $10,000 per, it’s worth the 10 minutes or so in the morning for the chance that I might hit one some day.

    Yes, I could just add one even called “Enter Sweepstakes” and keep all the URLs in there, but then I’d have to remember the different end dates for all of them (and there are usually about 5-6 going on at a time). When I have them each as individual events, I know that the ones to enter will be there in my Inbox, and my mind can stay at a low viscosity level.

  • Life Is Beautiful

    Nels W

    lifeisbeautiful(Sometimes coming up with a post title is the hardest part)

    Lifestream Blog has an article on a new – ahem – lifestreaming application called Amplifeeder. I’d prefer just Amplifeed without the last syllable, but who am I to nitpick?

    Something that is not a nitpick, though, is that Amplifeeder (basically a good-looking, self-hosted lifestreamm app) it requires Microsoft technology. For someone who runs his blogs on a cheap-as-heck LAMP shared server, that’s very disappointing. Amplifeeder is Open Source though, so if I had any free time, and felt like doing even more coding in said free time, I’d take a stab at porting it to PHP. But I don’t really have that kind of free time, and when I do have that kind of free time, I like doing stuff that is more outside of the scope of the job that I spend 8-10 hours a day doing. Like, y’know, studying Java for Certification, or holding my own Browser Battle Royale, or watching Dollhouse, which – like Terminator – started to get ever-so-slightly better at the end of the first season (hopefully the second season will be as good as that of Terminator).

  • Chrome v Firefox: FACE/OFF

    Nels W

    fo_ring
    So, I downloaded the Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 build since I saw a chart that showed how much faster it is than the version of FF I was running. Unfortunately, that same chart also showed how much faster Chrome 2 and Safari 4* were than even the Beta Firefox build.

    So I also downloaded the Chrome 2 Beta (which has now been released), and have been using that this week. It took a little while to settle in, but the bookmarks and some of my passwords from Firefox were transferred over.

    fashion-face-off000x0421x446

    At first I hated that Chrome used a separate process for each tab because I couldn’t track it in the Windows Task Manager. But after using it for a bit, I discovered it has its own Task Manager that allows you to kill individual Chrome tabs, and with an extra click you can see the total amount of memory it’s using. A little extra work to see the usage, but at the same time, I don’t have to worry about how much RAM it’s using because it does a much better job at minimizing it’s use. Since each tab is its own process, when you close a tab, you immediately get that memory back. (I’m not entirely sure that’s true if that tab was using the Flash plugin, but you at least get some immediate giveback) I’m not sure what the memory recall process is in Firefox, but I know that it can just keep going up and up and up if you leave it open for a while. I haven’t experienced that (yet?) with Chrome.

    Since I use Gmail almost constantly, Chrome was looking pretty good until today when I realized that I hadn’t looked at my Remember The Milk in a couple days. As any good GTDer should know, you have to be able to trust your system, and for me, having my list of Next Action sitting there is part of trusting my system. I can see it and know what’s on it… but if it’s not there, I get worried that somehow there is something that I might have forgotten.

    Why does that matter?

    Well, I realized that with Firefox, I had the RTM extension installed, so my list was always sitting there in my Gmail. Two Birds, One Stone, if you will. But with Chrome, I didn’t have that. I have RTM in my Bookmarks Toolbar, but I still have to open it to look at it.

    focus-face-off-shop2

    So, I was ready to switch back to Firefox, until I remembered that Gmail Labs has a feature that lets you add any Google Gadget as a sidebar type thing. Remember The Milk has designed a nice Google Gadget that I used before even in Firefox (until my Gmail started spazzing out). So, I plugged that back in using Chrome, and so far, I haven’t had any Gmail freak outs and now I have a usable version of RTM in my inbox. It’s not quite as nice as the “Add On” version, but it works almost as well, and given Chrome’s speed and memory improvements, I’m sticking with it for now.

    Everybody loves little charts right? I’ve put the characteristics in order of importance (to me):

    Browser Feature Chrome Firefox
    Speed WIN
    Memory WIN
    Remember The Milk WIN
    Adding RSS Feeds WIN
    Navbar Features TIE TIE

    Now, if they’d only figure out a way to make PHP run super fast so that WordPress would be as speedy as Gmail and Reader…

    chrome

    * Safari 4 Beta was included in the comparison because, while it is faster and uses less memory than both Firefox and Chrome, it has a bug where it takes an inordinately long time for the first page to be loaded. I’ve had to wait up to 14 seconds (I timed it) for Google.com to load when I first launch the browser. It also does not automatically remember the open tabs after you close and reopen the browser. You can get this by going to History and opening the tabs from last session, so it’s a minor inconvenience, but paired with the previously mentioned time-waster, it takes it out of contention. If Apple gets that first page loading thing fixed, I will definitely consider making Safari my full time browser.

    Finally, I think we can all agree that Ashley Tisdale looks the best in that dress. That is all.

  • Sun Certified Java Programmer

    Nels W

    Evidently there are still pay hikes during the Great Recession:

    According to the first quarter results from Foote Partners, pay for noncertified skills in Linux rose by more than 28%, while Apache and Sybase noncertified skills saw 25% increases in pay. Pay for Java and HTTP skills increased by 20%, while IT professionals with PHP, SAP and Unix noncertified skills experienced a more than 14% pay increase. Certified IT skills that saw pay increases include HP/Certified Systems Engineer with a 14.3% increase in pay, and Sun Certified Programmer for Java Platform, which experienced an increase of 13.5% in pay. IT professionals with EMC Proven Professional certifications experienced a 12.5% increase in pay, as did IBM Certified Specialists. Systems Security Certified Practitioner pay increased in the first quarter by 12.5%.

    (emphasis mine)

    Since becoming a Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform was already a goal of mine for this year (that being, the next 365 days), I now have some false hope added incentive.

  • Gmail’s Magic Inbox

    Nels W

    Google Operating System has found some Gmail code that indicates the coming of a social inbox!

    So, not only will we have one inbox for Everything, but it’ll be organized by importance (or at least how important Google thinks things are).

  • Hulu What Now?

    Nels W

    So, I know the thing on everyone’s mind is the whole Twitter Replies scandal, but really, that’s already been overdone, and it’ll be over and gone in a day anyway. But it does sort of relate to to this post in the whole K.I.S.S. #FAIL way… you see…

    Not too long ago, I was watching the “Web Exclusives” (aka Deleted and Behind-The Scenes) of The Office on Hulu and I see this:

    Availability Notes:
    The last 14 episodes of Season 5 are available until August 8, 2009. At that time, Season 5 episodes will revert to a ‘five rolling’ schedule with five episodes available at a given time and a newer episode added weekly as an older one expires.

    I’m sorry… whosinawhatnow? That Don’t Make No Sense.

    buddha banana

    As opposed to the Twitter reply scheme, which I actually understood the first time I read it and – while kind of dumb – is actually comprehensible…

    Maybe it’s just the date thing that’s throwing me off. I’m assuming that new episodes don’t start until some time in September, and so the August 8th date seems sort of arbitrary. Why not August 29th, 1997 at 2:14 am?

    Here I thought Hulu was going to neatly take care of the fact that I don’t have cable or a satellite dish or AT&T’s Uverse (whatever that is). But instead of being my online TiVo, it appears they’re going to be all Big Media about it and force me to watch on their schedule (at least somewhat). Maybe if, instead of “limited commercials” they went to 2 commercials per break… or 3, or even 4, like on broadcast TV? Would the users revolt? Sure… but would they get used to it if they didn’t have any other choice? I know I would.

  • Dollhouse: Unlucky 13

    Nels W

    dollhouse_cast

    So, I’m catching up on Dollhouse tonight (thankfully/mercifully, someone had the bright idea to extend the expiration dates so I could actually keep up), and I notice this:

    Availability Notes: The 13th Episode of Dollhouse will not be available for online streaming.

    Back To The Stone Age

    I can almost guarantee you that the person who decided not to have the season finale available on Hulu is not the same person who decided to extend the deadlines… because one was a good decision and the other, a terrible one.

    Guess what FOX (or Hulu, but I’m guessing it was FOX that made the decision)? My wife and I are chaperoning her school’s prom on Friday night. So, I won’t be able to watch your Dollhouse season finale… which means I have about 3 options…

    1. Never get to see it – this is the extreme option, and is clearly superseded by the next two
    2. I can download it illegally
    3. I can wait until the DVDs are on Netflix and get the last one in order to watch a single freaking episode

    I wonder if any of those 3 options is going to make FOX more money than they’d get by putting it on Hulu…

    A fourth option would just be to follow Eliza Dushku’s Twitter. It doesn’t really actually accomplish viewing of the episode, but it supports an actress that I like…

    eliza-dushku-94

  • Does FriendFeed Know Kim Kardashian? (Not In The Biblical Sense)

    Nels W

    Kim KardashianHere’s Kim Kardashian’s alleged FriendFeed page. It would be easy enough for a simple name squatter to do something like that, especially since FriendFeed allows you to import not just a Twitter feed, but Twitter followers without a password.

    I’m leaning towards about 75% that it’s not really her. I’d give her about a 25% chance that her crew is smart enough to realize how popular the Ashton/CNN and Oprah things were with Twitter, and they did this to get the jump on the Next Big Thing.

    The other 75% I’d split pretty evenly between a) Squatter and b) Friendfeed. That’s right, I’m giving equal odds to the idea that FriendFeed did this themselves to try to attract some additional publicity to their service. And as I mentioned, with their setup, it wouldn’t be too hard to just pretend you had no idea. I mean, I could go to the nearest public library and in 5 minutes, have a completely anonymous Oprah FriendFeed that looks just like the Kim Kardashian one except probably with more followers (or “subscribers”). They probably figured that doing someone as high profile as Oprah or Ashton would have made it obvious what they were doing. But Kardashian is a pretty good mark: her reputation is a little questionable (furthering the speculation that it might actually be her), and she has a lot of crazy people who are obsessed with her (furthering the squatting idea).

    Kim Kardashian in a Halloween Costume?Plus, by choosing Kardashian, you get not only someone whose Google Trends indicate she’s actually competitive with Oprah terms of search, but you also get bloggers like me (and TechCrunch) posting pictures of her, which is probably what most people are searching for when they look for her anyway, which will attract attention from people outside of the technocrats.

    Finally, let me add the possibility that FriendFeed contacted celebrities to import their Twitter accounts to FF for a little bit of spending money or Cristal. I’m sure they know that links are the currency of the internet and nothing brings links like geeks and hot (or at least supposedly hot) women.

    And so as not to disappoint the people who are inevitably going to end up here looking for Kardashian booty… there’s a couple more pictures are the jump.

    (more…)

  • So, is it Opposite Day at Google?

    Nels W

    From the Official Google Reader blog, a post about sharing with friends and making new friends. Now, I don’t have a lot of “Google Reader Friends” and I use my Shared Items to feed into a sidebar widget over here, so maybe I’m just not into the whole “sharing” thing enough, but this part seems really overly complicated to me:

    By hovering over the name of an unfamiliar commenter you can see their profile picture and the links they’ve added to their Google Profile. Furthermore, you can click the “Start sharing” link to start sharing your shared items with that person!

    This is a great way to add new people to your friends list. When that person next logs in, they’ll see an option to view your shared items as well as the option to start sharing with you. If they reciprocate, you’ll have a new friend in your Reader.

    I mean, I guess they’re erring on the side of privacy but really, is a thing called Shared Items supposed to be all that private? It seems to me that it would make a lot more sense to do the Twitter-style follow for this one, and send The Sharer an email when The Follower starts viewing their shared items. Then The Sharer can reciprocate if they want by following The Follower, and if they don’t want to follow The Follower back, they don’t have to do anything (as opposed to having to make a decision in Google’s model). Yes, this means that The Sharer has to be willing to share their items publicly to start with, but that seems to have worked out pretty well for Twitter. And I’d argue that sharing and commenting on items via Google Reader is orders of magnitude less personal than the kind of things people put on Twitter. All this “privacy” thing means is that Google has to add this kind of disclaimer to make sure people can understand how it is going to work:

    Note: You can stop sharing your items with someone at any time by visiting the Sharing settings link in your left sidebar. Also, if someone chooses to share with you, your shared items are not visible to that person unless you consent. Finally, the “start sharing” link in profile cards will also only appear to those users sharing with friends, and not those sharing only with chat buddies.

    It just seems like a real backwards way of doing it.