Niklas' blog

I was actually hunting for some type of desktop-clutter-solving software for Windows, and at first found this one through Lifehack, but as nobody has been able to download that software for more than a day, I gave up on it, and instead found Deskloops. This software is still beta, but downloadable and very nice! At first I had trouble getting the hang of it, but just remember two things as you run it: 1) push the mouse-pointer to the middle top of the screen and right-click, and you get an overview of all your open windows; 2) right-click while having the mouse on the left-hand side of the screen and you scroll that way, do it on the right-hand side…and you know what happens. I like it, but I may be giving way to TopDesk, which costs cash and is actually just a steal off Konfabulator Yahoo! Widget Engine’s Konposé and Expose of Mac OSX, respectively. We’ll see, but I fancy Deskloops the most, at the moment. Finding the right application is a matter of taking one’s time, really taking time to use it and use it correctly, i.e. RTFM.

Speaking of which, I made my latest gallery using PostcardViewer through Picasa. How? Check this guide. All freeware.

Speaking of applications, a lot of people are looking for what might be the great use of AJAX, the programming technology a lot of people are screaming for. But what’s the use? Well, if you’re using GMail, the e-mail-service that Google provides, you know what I mean; Google rely heavily on AJAX these days. Gregarius is another one. While there are pro’s with this, there are most definitely con’s. A great use for this could be online storage. Check this post about it. I like the idea of opening a file through a provider, saving it in the application without having to upload it again, through some interface; currently only OmniDrive supports that, but check that post, it’s quite interesting, even though I firmly dislike the thought of relying on having my files hosted somewhere; what happens if they go bankrupt? You’ve got three options: 1) you backup your files regularly, to a hard-drive at home. 2) You get a deal with the provider, saying they backup, care for, and give you access to your file even if they go bankrupt – and trust me, very few, if any hosts, will do this – so you can 3) not give a toss, which will only hurt you in the end. So what to do? Go with option #1, and rely on sane advice on what to go for.

It’s interesting to see some of the products from the MySQL-team, such as the migration toolkit through which you can convert Oracle-, MS SQL- and MS Access-databases to MySQL-databases. Very interesting, swift and sane. Works like a charm. Additionally, you have the query browser, that’s very user-friendly and a good way to learn to write SQL code. On the other hand, what’s most interesting is Eventum, which is a “a user-friendly and flexible issue tracking system that can be used by a support department to track incoming technical support requests, or by a software development team to quickly organize tasks and bugs”. Very interesting indeed.

Need a few lessons in retouching pictures? See these old pics, then imagine how they can be tweaked, using…the technology of today.

I just implemented scrobbler, a WordPress plug-in that displays what you’ve latest listened to through Audioscrobbler, so that’s now available in the sidebar, under “Latest listens”.

I just bought a new hard-disk. For you Swedes, be sure to check it out, 250GB external USB 2.0 HDD is cheap at appx. 1300SKR.

And if you’ve managed to read this far, respect Chewie’s blog.