I’m liking Gmail Tasks

So far I like the addition of Tasks to Gmail. The feature I like the best is adding an email to my tasks list. This is great for actionable items that come in via email. I use to put a star by emails that I need to do something about. Now I can add them to tasks and put a due date on them.

This morning when I got my Qwest bill notification I added it to my tasks. That put an entry in my tasks with the subject line of the email, “Your Qwest bill is now available online,” as the subject of the tasks and it also has a link to the actual email in the tasks window. I added a due date to it and now I can archive that email getting it out of my inbox.

Now for a few future feature requests:

• I’d like to see tasks with a date on them added to my Google Calendar automatically.
• I’d also like to be able to email a task into Gmail with the subject line as the subject of the task and the body of the email as the notes in the task. Also incorporate a due date in the body of the email. This way I can email my Gmail from work with a task. Maybe use those fancy “+” tags that Gmail accepts like myemailaddress+tasks@gmail.com.

To access this new feature log into your Gmail, go to the labs section and just turn it on.

Del.icio.us : gmail, google, tasks

Technorati Tags: gmail, google, tasks

I’m losing Sandy

I don’t know what I’m going to do without Sandy. She has been the most loyal administrative assistant I’ve every had, but as of Dec 8th 2008 she will be resigning. Nay, dying.

That’s what I get for relying on free web services. I kept begging for Sandy to send me ads or to somehow monetize http://iwantsandy.com. Alas twas not to be. Good bye Sandy I’ve already shed many a tear wondering how I’ll get along without you.

I know there are alternatives, like Remember the Milk, but I live in my email and Sandy was the best at getting me info I needed in my in-box. Luckily there might be some spin offs. Twitter bought the intellectual property behind Sandy and there is an Open Source movement to recreate Sandy over at http://sandysback.blogspot.com/.

Technorati : iwantsandy.com, sandy, software, tasks, web
Del.icio.us : iwantsandy.com, sandy, software, tasks, web

Technorati Tags: iwantsandy.com, sandy, Software, tasks, Web

ForensiT’s Transwiz

I just can’t use Transwiz.  I don’t know why the concept is easy enough and I love Profwiz, but Transwiz fails 50% of the time for me.  Some problem with files it tries to transfer.  Oh?  You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?  I should explain.

ForensiT’s Transwiz is suppose to compress a user’s profile so that it can be moved to a new PC.  Transwiz takes the entire Windows profile so everything looks virtually the same for the user on a new PC.  The compressing of the data seems to work fine but when I put it on the new PC Transwiz will error out 50% of the time.  Coping some profiles can take a long time if they have a lot of data and I don’t have time for it to fail 50% of the time.

I have no idea what the problem is.  It could be failing on a particular type of file.  Luckily (ingenuously) the compressed profile is just a ZIP file so I can get the data out but for me its just easier to use a simple .bat file I created and just get the important stuff.

However I can highly recommend Profwiz.  It’s designed to move one profile to a new profile within the same PC.  We used it at the day job to migrate all of the users to a domain.  Worked great.

http://www.forensit.com

Technorati Tags: Forensit, profwiz, transfer Windows profile, transwiz

Ordering Microsoft Replacement Disks

This is just a quick note for reference.  Often I have to have client call Microsoft to get replacement disks for a variety of Microsoft software.  From Microsoft’s site:

Also, to obtain a replacement disk, telephone the Microsoft Order Desk at (800) 360-7561, and request a replacement for your damaged disk. If you are outside the United States, contact the Microsoft subsidiary for your area.

Supposedly this costs between $10 - $25 depending on what you need.  Also ownership has to be proven so make sure you register that software.

Technorati Tags: microsoft order desk, replacement disks

Segate’s MaxBlast

Update:  Turns out MaxBlast only works for Seagate or Maxtor drives.  So if you have one of those then get your free copy of Acronis True Image.

So Seagate offers a drive image tool called MaxBlast 5 for free.  The really great thing is it’s powered by Acronis.  Acronis has some great Drive Imagining software but you have to pay for it.  With MaxBlast I get almost everything I could ever want for individual use and it’s completely free.  I would need something more robust for Enterprise usage.

Get MaxBlast here:  http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=MaxBlast_5&vgnextoid=7add8b9c4a8ff010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Technorati Tags: acronis, backup, drive backup, drive imaging, max blast, seagate

15 Online Tools

Some great stuff here for Techs.  Stuff Like:

• dll-files.com:  a library of dll files
• Router Password:  Default router password database
• IP Tools:  a bunch of network tools

http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/15-online-tools-you-will-come-love-tech/

Technorati Tags: online tools, Software

Online Financal Software

Yehaw!  I’ve been using Quicken Online for a few months and it’s a fine service except that I have to pay for it.  Ok $2.99 per month isn’t much but still that’s $36 a year basically and I’m cheap.

I tried and tried other online financial software like Mint.com and Wesabe.com and while they provide some neat services (see previous article) they were missing one thing, adding upcoming transactions manually, and that was a deal breaker.

Well I tried out Buxfer.com again.  Buxfer.com had the ability to add a transaction but it wouldn’t reconcile it with my bank so I’d end up with duplicate transactions.  Now it does the reconciliation.  I’ve tested it on two transactions and they both reconciled perfectly without any adjustment from me.

So buxfer.com will be my new money management software.  I’ll keep Quicken Online for the next couple of weeks but hopefully I’ll be able to save myself $36 a year.  Hmm, I know Wesabe was working on manually added transactions, I wonder if they ever did it.  I’ll get back about that.

Technorati Tags: buxfer.com, mint.com, online financial software, quicken online, wesabe.com

Jott goes Premium

Jott, the words to text generator, has gone premium, and good for them.  I often wonder how these Web2.0 services will ever stick around if they have no business plan, you can’t keep getting venture capital forever.

Anyho, I love the service and I will keep on using it but I’m opting for the free option.  I did a test run today and besides the intro message telling me there are some changes at Jott nothing was different on the phone side.  However with the free option I can no longer read my Jotts in my email.  Instead an email is sent with a link back to jott.com where I could view my Jott.  So I’m speculating that they will soon be showing ads on their site and this will force free users to return to the site to view said ads.  If I want to see your Jotts in email I’ll just have to pay.

Also the free account is limited to only a few Jott links.  Jott links link Jott with other services like Twitter or Remember the Milk.  I use to use Jott with Sandy (iwantsandy.com) so I could send things I wanted Sandy to remind me of latter through my cell phone.  Now I will have to pay to use that feature.  Although the Jott link for Twitter is free.

In the end I don’t find myselft using Jott all that much.  I mostly use it when I’m in the car listening to something I want to remember from the radio and I can’t write anything down.  So maybe 6 times a month.  The free version will work for me.  I just hope they don’t start playing ads when I call in.  I don’t mind seeing ads on their website but I don’t want to listen through an ad just to record a Jott.

Technorati Tags: iwantsandy.com, jott, jott premium service, remember the milk, sandy

A way to give out / manage tickets?

At my work we have season tickets to the Pepsi Center here in Denver, CO.  The Receptionist is in charge of distributing extra tickets to employees.  This can become a bit cumbersome.  So I’m looking for a system (home made or premade) that can help her do this.

Ideally it would be something that the employees can log into and request tickets for any available events.  So it would have to have some sort of calendar with the events listed and number of tickets available.  It would have to go beyond that though.

The system would need to limit the number of ticket someone can request based on criteria we set (ie. minimum of 2 maxium of 4) and it would have to track the employees history and give preference to those who haven’t requested tickets recently.

If anybody has an idea for this please twitter me at http://twitter.com/thenitetechs.  Even a combination of technologies would be great.  Do you do thist kind of thing at work?  What do you do to easy the pain and harrasing phone calls?

Technorati Tags: management, ticktes

The glory of LiberKey.

If you are an IT Technician and you don’t have Liberkey then you are missing out big time.  Over the years I’ve collected a variety of programs that I use as a software tool kit (maybe I should list those) but I could have save a lot of time all those years just by downloading Liberkey. 

As the name suggest Liberkey is designed to run on a usb stick.  Like Portable Apps, Liberkey is a collection of portable applications.  214 applications to be exact (Ultimate Edition).  There are so many that often I will download new software to try it only to find out later that my Liberkey already had it. 

As I’m typing this Liberkey is updating itself and the really cool thing is its updating the applications as well.  I popped it in this morning to see if it had a screen shot program (which it does) and Liberkey told me there was an update, downloaded the update and it starting installing updates on all the application that need them.  What a great feature.  One of the biggest pains I have is keeping my software tools current.

Portable Apps is a great program too but I find Liberkey to contain more applications related to my work and just more applications in general.  Also the GUI interface isn’t as pretty but that means it is more responsive and easier to use (for me).

Anywho between Liberkey and Nettools I doubt there is much else I need as a Network Administrator and PC Technician.  I should mention that the site comes up by default in French but there is a little flag to click on for English.

Oh yeah, it’s free.

Links:
Liberkey:  http://www.liberkey.com
Nettools:  http://users.pandora.be/ahmadi/nettools.htm
Portable Apps:  http://portableapps.com/

Technorati Tags: free, liberkey, nettools, portableapps, Reviews, Software