Fear of Confusion

Email this page on Chromebook

2012-01-11T20:31:00.000Z

Email this page (by Google) is an extension for Google Chrome. To make it work on a Chromebook, I have found I specifically need to set Gmail as my email client in options otherwise an email will be created but without any link included to the web page.

To get to options, either right-click the Email this page icon on the extensions bar:

Or click the Spanner icon on the extensions bar > Tools > Extensions

On the Options, click Gmail and close the page tab

Twitter Spammers Run Out of Avatars

2012-01-10T22:57:00.000Z

I have had a spate of very spammy-looking Twitter account following me. Whilst the names are always different the avatar photo ID is not.

Problems with Google Chrome

2012-01-08T22:41:00.000Z

Since version 15 update to Google Chrome I have been having problems with web pages freezing and needing to be killed.

Aw, Snap! Indeed.

So this could be an extension conflict problem or a corrupt user profile. Which ever it is, it will cost me some time to fix it.

Update:
I noticed that my Evernote Extensions were not updating using the Update extensions now button. I had to remove them and reinstall them to get the latest version in Google Chrome for Mac. They are the up-to-date versions on the Chromebook, so is this just a update issue with Chrome for Mac?

It seems on first test of pages that previously caused Aw, Snap! that with the updated Evernote extensions (particularly the Evernote Web Clipper which was called Clip for Evernote and was a relatively old version) these pages have loaded without problem.

I will need to do some more testing to see if the problem has really stopped. I will also need to keep an eye on what version numbers the extensions are and what is the latest version in the Chrome Web Store. I have regularly clicked the update extensions button but it appears not to work for all extensions.

Update Mon–09-Jan-12: Still problems. Disabling all Extensions. Re-enabling them one-by-one. Trying different combinations of Extensions. There is not one Extension that causes the problems. It will appear that one is the problem but in another combination there is no problem when the previously problem Extension is re-enabled. Combine this with all same Apps and Extensions enabled on the Chromebook and there isn’t a problem with them (or I can’t recreate a problem page at the moment).

Update Tue–10-Jan-12 : This is costing a lot of time. The only thing to do is to work with a vanilla Google Chrome, one with no apps nor extensions and see what happens.

Note: Trying to see what was different between Google Chrome on my Chromebook and my Mac I listed what was on each. In the lists below Apps/Extensions in bold are not on other device.

Google Chrome for Mac (16.0.912.75)

Apps Installed

Chrome Web Store
Blogger
Picasa
Gmail
YouTube
Picnik
Scratchpad
Google Books
Google Docs
Google Maps
Google News
Google Reader
Box
Clock
(Kindle) Cloud Reader
Evernote Web
HootSuite
Pixlr-o-matic
Prezi
QuietWrite
20 Things I Learned…

Extensions Installed

Chromebook Google Chrome 16.0.912.75

Apps Installed

Chrome Web Store
Blogger
Picasa
Gmail
YouTube
Picnik
File Manager
Scratchpad
Google Books
Google Calender
Google Docs
Google Maps
Google News
Google Reader
Box
Clock
Evernote Web
Pixlr-o-matic
HootSuite
Prezi
QuietWrite
Google Talk Launcher
20 Things I Learned…
Entanglement

Extensions Installed

ImageOptim PNGout Setup

2012-01-07T13:32:00.001Z

ImageOptim is a free OS X application for optimising and so reducing the file size of images. It works via the Services Menu or simply launching the app and drag-and-drop a PNG, JPEG or GIF file onto its window. One extra component can added to enhance the PNG optimisation. The tool is called PNGOUT. It isn’t essential for ImageOptim to work to have PNGOUT installed. I found that PNGOUT needed to be added to the hidden /usr/bin/ folder. Adding it to another folder did not work for me.

Download PNGOUT
Open: ImageOptim > Preferences… > PNGOUT
Type the PNGOUT path as: /usr/bin/pngout
Alteratively: It is possible to browse to the hidden folder in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Click Browser then press Command Shift . to reveal all hidden folders and files. Press same combination to hidden again. In this case, it’s as easy to type the path.
Add the PNGOUT file into the /usr/bin/ folder. This is the method I used to add PNGOUT to /usr/bin/
Authenticate the move of PNGOUT to bin

Open Hidden Folder in Finder

2012-01-07T11:56:00.000Z

I wondered how to reveal and open a hidden folder in OS X. There are applications that will show and navigate hidden folders, for example FolkLift. I know that the Finder can work with hidden folders once they have been made visible without the need for any other app. I knew that the folder I wanted was /usr/bin/. I used this method to reveal the folder:

In a browser (I used Google Chrome) enter web address of: file:///usr/
Drag the link to bin/ onto the Desktop
Double-click the file location icon
Finder opens the bin folder as a visible folder so that I can drag-and-drop files into it

Three Markdown Dropbox Bloggging Platforms

2012-01-06T23:59:00.002Z

With the demise on MobileMe, its web sites and easy blog hosting and publishing using iWeb, a vacuum has been created for easy blog writing and publishing. Saving plain text files to a Dropbox folder doesn’t get much easier for creating a blog post. This appears to be the route take by three different sites, with the option to add formatting to the text using Markdown notation to make text bold, italic, add links, lists and pictures.

A couple of weeks ago I started trying Calepin.co. I like it. I like the look and feel of how it works. I am able to do what I have wanted, given my limited knowledge of such things. It is enough for me to understand.

Today I see there are two more such sites.

Scriptogr.am which appears very similar to Calepin. The signup and connection methods are identical to my memory. Scriptogram seems to manage files and posts slightly differently. There are plans for more customising of Scriptogram sites than Calepin says it will offer. I have connected Scriptogram to Dropbox and will give it a try.

Skrivr.com is also a Markdown / Dropbox blogging method as I understand it. Signup is by invite only. I do not have an invite but if I get one I will try it.

They all look to be trying to fill the void of simple blogging but from different angles. Hopefully not too many toes will be trodden on in the dance of these new hybrid blogging platforms.

Code Year 2012

2012-01-02T22:20:00.000Z

I saw a mention of Code Year on Twitter in the morning. In the evening when I looked at the Code Year site over fifty-three thousand had signed up. I entered my email and clicked the Start learning! button; a very simple and easy way to join up.

A little while later I got a confirmation email with a get started now link. So I have started. What it entails are a series of short interactive exercises introducing how to code with JavaScript. It is free. It encourages and it is positive in its instruction. Every stage is rewarded with points and achievement badges. Let’s see if I can continue. Already I have seen benefit, in that I looked at a web pages source code and recognised some of the constructs of JavaScript.

Now the number signed up is over one hundred and forty thousand and counting which shows how many people want to learn.

Frustrations with Instapaper app

2012-01-01T23:16:00.001Z

Instapaper iOS app has made a right mess of the pages forwarded to Evernote - not including the web page link and doubling up all pictures. It's a pain of an app. Following on from my Trust concept, Instapaper is an app to drop. Also all the links I sent to Pinboard bounced and were lost. Pig-boo.

With Pinboard, I think the password had been changed again by me after the connection was originally made between Instapaper and Pinboard, during the period I stopped using Instapaper. Rather than on my return to Instapaper, the app saying, "Oi, I can't connect to Pinboard, reconnect me", Instapaper carried on as if everything was OK. Leaving me to discover that the load of deleted article that I had bookmarked to Pinboard before deleting, have not been bookmarked. Leaving me with no record of the notes and tags I gave each article after reading it. Leaving me reminding myself never to use the Instapaper again.

Trust

2012-01-01T23:10:00.000Z

A couple of thinks have happened that have made me re-look at the concept of Trust as a guiding knife as to whether to keep or kill a project. Kill being a metaphysical use of the word. Project being any object, application or work.

Can I rely on a thing? Can I Trust it? If yes, keep it. If no, get rid.

Let's try to make this a solid year of progress.

Calepin Encourages Note Writing

2011-12-29T23:01:00.000Z

Seeing plain text notes published on Calepin I find very encouraging to the processes of writing up notes. The title, date, category and tags inserted with TextExpander add structure to the note making process, increases focus on what the note is about and what I want to cover. It removes the blank-page block of writing. Saving them in the one Dropbox folder, dated and titled, gives them order and place. Seeing them on Calepin gives them purpose.

Suddenly short, throw-away notes have a purpose. It’s worth writing things down. It’s simple and no effort. It’s better because they exists as a starting point if I want to continue writing on them. If I don’t develop them then they still exists as a note and a note that I can view as an web post article. Writing things down and seeing them on a web page makes it more encouraging to polish the note into a full post. A post would never be written if I had intended to write a post.

The fact that a note is ‘published’ with each save removes the preciousness of having to ‘make a post’. The use of Markdown means that even a simple bullet point list is easy to write. Start each line with a hyphen-space-word combination and I have a bullet-point web page note. Making a list of what I want to write about can be easily written and looks like a ‘real’ post when viewed on Calepin. Even a first ‘brain-drain’ stage of getting the points I want to make, out of my head and into words, becomes a ‘valid’ post on Calepin just because it has been saved to Calepin’s Dropbox folder. I particularly like using the Mac App Store application iA Writer for the task of writing. It's a joy to use.

The fact too, that I can write these same text notes, to the same folder, using the same TextExpander trigger on my iPod or iPad using Textforce app is also very encouraging to writing down notes. (Elements–not an app I like–or any other text app that supports TextExpander and a user selectable folder on Dropbox can be used. Note: Some apps don’t allow the user to choose the Dropbox folder to save to.)

Notes are not lost in some proprietary app or file format. They are not locked onto one device. They can be edited and updated on any device. When you see the text, it is in more human readable Markdown if any formatting or links have been added. (If you need to embed HTML things such as YouTube videos, that can be done using the standard HTML code.)

One thing that usually inhibits me is if things get too precious that I feel that cannot complete them perfectly. When I feel this towards something, I do not start it. If things become too important then I don’t want to do it wrong. If I do not want to do it wrong then I become frozen. Calepin and informal notes that are posts feels like a way to ‘break the ice’ on preciousness, perfection and fear of failure and fear of being wrong. There is a greater chance of doing rather than just thinking about by breaking the resistance to the starting the doing-process.

With there being no difference between saving and publishing, or saving and updating. If I want to see the update in a browser, then I just go to Calepin.co and click publish to update all posts. If I want to use it on FoC, it’s already written or at least started.

Well, that’s the theory. Let’s see what happens in practise over the coming months. My Calepin site is neilboyd.calepin.co

Calepin the Dropbox Markdown Blog

2011-12-19T23:00:00.000Z

I am trying calepin.co. It is a site that connects to Dropbox to enable Markdown text files save into the Calepin folder within Dropbox, auto-magically become web posts via the Calepin site.

It’s easy to get started. On the Calepin site I enter in a username. The next step take me to authorising a connection between Calepin and my Dropbox account. Once logged into the Calepin site, creating a Dropbox hosted blog posts is just a click away.

Save Markdown text files to the Apps/Calepin folder within Dropbox
Click Publish on calepin.co
The post is created or updated at my Calepin site

Each update needs to be Published again using the Calepin Publish button after the updated file has been saved within Dropbox. Refreshing the browser with not show the update.

There are certain metadata words to include in each post file such as date and title. The default setting of these could be added using TextExpander. More information about using Calepin is on the Calepin Guide.

At the moment I am trying out this combination of Calepin and Dropbox. So far, I like it. My Calepin site is neilboyd.calepin.co

Connect Sparrow to EITHER Dropbox OR CloudApp

2011-12-10T23:36:00.001Z

Sparrow email client for OS X can send attachments with emails in the traditional way or it can make use of the Cloud storage services of Dropbox or CloudApp. Sparrow does all the uploading to the Cloud service then copies the Cloud service link into the email making the process very easy. I have done a couple video screencasts showing adding an attachment with Sparrow using CloudApp and Sparrow using Dropbox in earlier posts. The Cloud storage attachment method can get around the problem of file size limitations set by email services.

One thing I like about using Dropbox for attachments is that I can update linked files. For example, if I send someone a PDF document then after sending it I see that glaring spelling mistake (the one in the main title that everyone else see instantly), with Dropbox I can replace the error-ridden PDF with an updated one and so long as the updated file is exactly the same name as the original and in the same Dropbox folder, the Dropbox link in the email will not be broken. Everyone who received the email will download the updated PDF. No further emails need be sent.

Originally Sparrow used the CloudApp service. In Sparrow’s last update it added the Dropbox service. What I didn’t realise was that this is an EITHER / OR option. With having the CloudApp already setup, I didn’t see Dropbox as available. To get the choice I needed to Disconnect from CloudApp first.

Connect Sparrow with Dropbox

1. Disconnect CloudApp

Click Sparrow > Preferences… > Services
Click Disconnect

2. Choose Attachment Service

Click Dropbox

3. Log in to Dropbox

Enter Dropbox Email and Password
Click Log in

4. Allow Sparrow to Connect to Dropbox

Click Allow to Connect Sparrow with Dropbox

5. Dropbox as Attachment Service

To go back to using CloudApp, Disconnect Dropbox and re-connect CloudApp.

Using Sparrow and Dropbox to add attachment to Shortmail

2011-12-08T12:20:00.001Z

[1:19s] The latest update to Sparrow email client version 1.5 on Mac OS X adds the option to use Dropbox for email attachments. Shortmail is a text only email account for emails of less than 500 characters. Using all there together makes adding 'attachment' links to Shortmail emails very easy to do. Sparrow can also do the same thing with CloudApp and Shortmail.

Links in Shortmail emails work within the Shortmail iPhone app.

Shortmail email message with Dropbox link

...tapping the link shows the image within Shortmail app

One thing to be aware of with the link created by Shortmail, which is a shortened link of the Dropbox link [see update below], is that this shortened link is not secure. It can potentially be viewed by anyone. Anyone can type in a variation of the final few letters of an http://shml.me/ link and see the result of that 're-created' link. There is a chance that the random 'found' link could be to your image or file. Some people like to play this type of 'link roulette' to see what surprises they might find. ~~So I would not use Shortmail and this technique to send links to images or information that I want to keep secret.~~ (Mind, is anything secret on the web?)

Link Roulette can be played with other very short URL schemes. I first came aware of it with CloudApp and cl.ly links using four characters. CloudApp have a more private http://cl.ly link followed by 20 characters which is now the default link used by them. You can choose to use the shorter 4 character link by default or on an individual basis. Dropbox iOS app can create a http://db.tt link using 8 characters.

Note that Sparrow puts the image in the Public folder within Dropbox but uses a 32 character unique name for the folder in which the attachment is place. So this potential privacy issue is ~~from using Shortmail with Sparrow and Dropbox because Shortmail makes a short link of the Dropbox link.~~ It does not happen when Sparrow and Dropbox is used with another IMAP email account such as Gmail. Now following the Shortmail update nor does it happen with Shortmail!

Update: A few hours after I posted this, Shortmail change how they handle Dropbox Public links. They are no longer shortened, more can be read here:
http://blog.shortmail.com/2011/12/using-sparrow-and-dropbox/

Air Files iOS Wi-Fi Transfer Using FTP Client

2011-12-02T23:48:00.001Z

Air Files is an iOS app that can store and view multiple different file formats whether they are images, audio or Office documents and more. The app comes in two versions: ファイル君(Air Files) for iPhone or iPod Touch or AirFilesHD for iPad. It is one of the least expensive apps for transferring files onto an iOS device without going through iTunes or needing to upload files to Dropbox. I have used them since version one and used FTP file transfer to move multiple files in one go onto the iOS devices. With version three of Air Files for iPhone/iPod, the FTP transfer stopped working for me. Connection kept being refused. Transfer of files, one at a time, still worked with a browser but that becomes tedious with lots of files.

The solution I found was to use my FTP client, Transmit, but use the protocol of WebDAV and the server settings of HTTP. This is what I did to make file transfer work again:

1. Air Files Wi-Fi Transfer settings on iPod

Launch Air Files on the iPod and tap Wifi

I used the HTTP server settings. The number before the colon (3 in my case) is different on different devices. The other numbers (8080) stay the same.
I needed to enter a simple name and password to make the process work.

2. Setting up Air Files Connection in Transmit

In Transmit I click the WebDAV button to create a connection favourite.

Choose the Protocol: WebDAV
The server number is the number given next to HTTP on the iPod before the colon (:8080)
Use the User Name and Password entered on the iPod
The Port is the number given after the colon on the iPod. In my case 8080. Do not include the colon.
Click the + to add the settings. Then click Save

3. Apple System Preferences Sharing

On the Mac the File Sharing needs to be checked. Click Apple > System Preferences…

Click Sharing
Check File Sharing

4. File Sharing Options

Having checked File Sharing, to the right of the System Preferences File Sharing window there is an Options button:

Click Options…

5. Share Files Using FTP

I have found that I also need to:

Check Share files and folders using FTP

6. Connect Transmit to Air Files

Launch Air Files on the iPod
Double-click the Transmit connection saved earlier
Hopefully the Air Files folders will appear in Transmit ready to drag and drop files into.

Trying Postbox as alternative to Mail.app

2011-12-01T14:47:00.001Z

Given my troubles with MobileMe Mail and the Mac’s Mail application, I am trying out Postbox version 3 email client. Initial impression is that Postbox is a clean looking app with nice touches.

Adding the MobileMe Mail account went smoothly. I have also been able to add an iCloud Mail account to Postbox and again this went without problems. To add the iCloud Mail to Postbox, I used the Mail server settings given on the Apple Support page. With the MobileMe Mail account I am still getting password rejection problems.

I have been able to get the MobileMe password accepted when using Postbox by:

Cancelling the password request dialog
Quiting Postbox
Re-launching Postbox
Entering the MobileMe password in the password dialog that appears on re-launch but sadly this does not always work. At least Postbox doesn't remove all my previously downloaded emails when this happens like Apple's Mail.app does.

I don’t know why Sparrow email client app is immune to these password problems but currently it is, thankfully. I hope to write a comparison of my feelings towards Sparrow and Postbox when I have spent more time with them both.

One of the first ‘touches’ that I noticed and liked when using Postbox is how it connected a reply to the original sent message in a very clear and useful way. It’s much like some Twitter clients show a conversation and initially it appears much easier to follow than the Gmail variation. The image below illustrates how clicking on the message box underneath the reply reveals the original message from the Sent box.

Postbox email message converstion

Adding a Shortmail button to Blogger

2011-11-30T23:48:00.001Z

Shortmail is an email account that is created by signing in to shortmail.com using Twitter authorisation. It’s a bit different from standard email in that each message is limited to 500 characters (about 80 words) with no attachments, so messages are brief. It can be used privately, like a sightly longer-form Twitter DM conversation but without the need to follow one another. It can be used publicly where any one can see the conversation on the web or even public and open, in which anyone can participate via the web page, much blog like comments.

Shortmail has just released a free iOS app version of Shortmail. A Shortmail account can be setup from within the app. The iOS app makes using Shortmail very easy, quick and responsive.

With Shortmail being an IMAP email account it can also be added to a standard email client by setting up a password and following the instruction once logged into the Shortmail website under the Account > Advanced settings. It can be very easily added to the Sparrow email client with just the Shortmail email address and password. An advantage of the Sparrow client is that it displays a character count as you type although it is not as quick to notify of messages as the iOS app.

The character count for a Shortmail message in Sparrow

There is a Shortmail Me! Widget that can add a button or link to a web page to enable any one to click and send a short message. I wondered how easy this would be to add to a Google Blogger site and the answer is very easy:

Simply copy the button or link code from the Shortmail Me! Widget page.
On Blogger: go to the My Blogs Overview > Layout > Add a Gadget and choose the HTML/JavaScript gadget. Click the plus symbol to add it.

Paste the Shortmail code into the Contents area of the gadget window.

Replace YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS with your Shortmail address.
Save.
Adjust the position of the gadget on the layout page as desired.

Having added it to this Blog, I will find out what happens in practice.

MobileMe Password Refused Again and Again and Again

2011-11-27T02:01:00.001Z

Rejected Password Woe

Since iCloud came into being and because I've stayed on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, I've been unable to move MobileMe to iCloud, resulting in nothing but problems with MobileMe Mail.

Stay Calm, Tap OK and Carry On

On iOS devices I've just clicked OK to warnings that my username or password are incorrect. The result may be that my latest emails are not downloaded but the ones already downloaded have remain on the device and then things seem to work again. After a period of time and by doing nothing suddenly new emails appear in the inbox. The issue is different on the Mac.

The only choice is Cancel

On the Mac, if I type in my password to the dialog it is refused everytime. My only choice is to Cancel. If I then Quit and Relaunch Mail.app then my MobileMe account is removed and all my previously downloaded emails are unavailable.

Sometimes I can get them back by entering my password in the Settings for the MobileMe account within Mail.app. Sometimes I have had to delete my MobileMe account from Mail.app then add it again. Sometimes I have had to re-add it and do the Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Accounts Information > Incoming Mail Server: Password: [enter password]. I find that entering my password via Apple > System Preferences... > MobileMe > Account doesn't solve the problem. I need to add it in Mail.app Preferences.

Add MobileMe to Mail.app = Fail

This problem has been on going since 10 October 2011 and the launch of iCloud . On Friday 25 November, the problem got worse. When I deleted my MobileMe account from Mail.app, I was unable to add it back because the password was refused every time during the initial stage of adding the email account back into Mail.app . This meant that all my emails were deleted from my Mac, I couldn't add them back and the only way to access them being online via a browser. On my iOS devices, the password was now always refused and the inbox was not being updated on each device.

Whilst I was unable to add my MobileMe Mail account to the Apple Mail.app, I was able the add the account to a third-party email client called Sparrow first time and without problem. I have changed my default email client from Mail.app to Sparrow by changing the Preferences in Mail.app to Mail > Preferences... > General : Default email reader: Sparrow. Yes, I know, read it and weep Apple. These are not happy times for me and Apple products. (Alternatively, Sparrow can be set to be default mail reader from Sparrow > Preferences... > General: System: [Check] Make Sparrow the default mail reader. I prefer to set it from within Mail.app because if feels more insulting to the app that's giving me grief.)

Apple ID and Primary Email Address splits the .Mac / MobileMe eras

With MobileMe in the iCloud era, there are two IDs: an Apple ID (that works with iTunes Store, Apple Online Store, the Mac App Store) and the MobileMe Primary Email ID. They can be one and the same email address or different. You can associate more that one email address with an Apple ID. This works around the problem of someone who used a different email address with FaceTime to still be able to use that FaceTime connection and be linked with the one Apple ID. In theory the .Mac [username]@mac.com is interchangeable with the MobileMe [username]@me.com but I have had issues. I have not had issues with an account created in the MobileMe era (post .Mac era) which only has an @me.com email address. The problems come with my main and older @mac.com/@me.com email address.

Amazingly, I just had a thought that I had an iTools email account prior to 2002. I wondered if this was causing the problem. I have been able to reclaim it using https://appleid.apple.com . That account has one email address unified as an Apple ID and Primary Email Address. Beautiful. Sadly my main .Mac / MobileMe email-account-and-everything-bought-from-Apple ID refuses to be unified. It says that the Email address is already verified for another Apple ID. BUT I HAVE ONLY USED IT WITH THE ONE APPLE ID ACCOUNT. Give me strength. This main Apple ID spans the era of .Mac to MobileMe and so has both an @mac Apple ID and an @me Primary Email Address. I wonder now if there is an Apple ID for [username] without the @mac.com or @me.com to add to the confusion. Clearly the simple elegance of Apple hardware engineers' design is not matched by their confused software engineers' Clouded Services vision. What it means is that when I add my @me.com email to Mail.app it has the Apple ID of the @mac.com account but Mail.app uses the mail.me.com and smtp.me.com servers of MobileMe which then reject my Apple ID @mac password. My @mac password is of course the same password as my @me password because it is the same username account that Apple in its infinite wisdom decided to give two email address when launching the MobileMess.

The Apple ID is .Mac the servers are .Me

I have now deleted and MobileMe Mail accounts on my iOS devices. When I re-add my Primary Email to Mail on the iOS devices, using the @me.com email, the account ID is changed to the @mac.com Apple ID and the servers are also changed to the .Mac era ones of mail.mac.com and smtp.mac.com . I am unable to change this on the OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard version of Mail.app.

So now I am into a new day and Mail.com refuses my MobileMe password yet again. The problem continues. I need the sword of Alexander the Great to cut through this Gordian knot. Maybe it's available on eBay or maybe I should cut my losses and just use Gmail.

Setup a Flavors.me Custom Domain from 123-Reg

2011-10-17T21:01:00.005+01:00

Flavors.me is an easy to configure landing page that can be the hub to various website one posts to on the web. It is a free service but with Flavors.me Premium Service there is the option to add a custom domain to the web page. So instead of a URL of flavors.me/neilboyd, I can have neilboyd.co.uk. This shows how I set up the custom domain with a domain name registered with 123-reg.co.uk.

1. 123-reg Control Panel

In a Browsers: Sign in to 123-reg.co.uk Control Panel

Under Domain names choose the Your domains: website name to work with
Click Manage

2. Advanced domain settings

Click Manage DNS (A, MX, CNAME, TXT)

3. A, CNAME and TXT records

Under A, CNAME and TXT records
 Replace the existing Content numbers with the Flavors.me IP Address: 184.73.237.244

Replace the @ address
Replace the www address

4. Update DNS

Scroll down the Change DNS page a little way until you see the Update DNS button:

Click Update DNS

5. Logout of 123-Reg

Unless you are wanting to do something else in the Control Panel, Logout of 123-Reg.

6. Flavors.me homepage

In a Browser: Go the the Flavors.me homepage

Click Login in the top right of the browser window

7. Enter Login detail

Enter Username and Password then click Go to my site button.

8. Settings

Again in the top right of the browser window:

Click Settings

9. Settings : Account : Custom Domain

On the Settings : Account tab, in the Custom Domain section:

Enter the custom domain name in the Connect a domain box

10. Settings : Account : Save Changes

Click Save changes button

Note it may take upto 72 hours for the changes to fully take place but can work much sooner.

11. Logout of Flavors.me

The hidden cost of iCloud

2011-10-16T15:41:00.001+01:00

It was not clear to me that to move from MobileMe to iCloud (as a Mac user) I must have OS X 10.7 Lion installed on all Desktop and MacBook computers. Windows users need Vista or Windows 7. If the Mac computer is older than a few years, it will need a memory upgrade (especially if going from 32-bit to 64-bit processing) and even then, if the computer uses a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo processor, expect the system to feel sluggish compared to that of the previous OS. The experience comes to mind of iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G; the OS upgrade made that phone an obsolete device because it became unusably slow and constantly crashed. An iPhone 3G with iOS 3 was great.

I hate these hidden little realities that don't manage to find their way into the sales pitch.

I hate too how this change to iCloud means that my MobileMe mail account has started to say my password is incorrect; then it's ok again; then it's refused; then it's ok again; just to be rejected once more. No doubt, if I were only to upgrade to iCloud everything would work again how it did previously.

I respect Steve Jobs. I respect the pursuit of consumer buyers rather than 'confused' enterprise corporate buyers ('confused' being a phrase heard in one of the Jobs interviews on All Things D). I respect that consumers don't necessarily know what they want until shown it by a visionary. I understand that technology moves on and not every technology can be supported but isn't it time that consumers are respected regarding their investment, their time and their personally created data. Is it respectful to consumers to treat them as an out-of-date component to be discarded if they don't upgrade? If I don't upgrade to iCloud by June 2012, it is my understanding that my MobileMe email and data will disappear along with anything on my iDisk. The iDisk, associated websites and photo galleries will be deleted even if I do move to iCloud. Like a fool, I have paid for this email and storage for eight years and I've got eight months to get out.

I'm sure that hassle and upset from constant change are not emotions on the consumer's 'Wish List'. Again, more fool consumer me, for not realising that hassle, upset and hours of wasted time trying to recover, recoup and convert data, are always on the unwritten wish list of technological development.

This list of change is always growing. Hardware or software, it is personal data that is the thread that ties them together. It is personal data that takes the time and the struggle to keep and maintain. The loss of 'scuzzy' drives and the abandonment of floppy disks meant that the new place to store personal data was the CD-ROM. The dropping of the Mac OS to OS X and personally created data must be converted from the an old format into one suitable for the new and re-purchased apps, to run on the new and re-purchased OS. The removal of FireWire makes my new storage devices join the scrapped, old SCSI collection of working hardware no longer supported. It is now the turn of optical drives to join the obsolete list, so long DVD, hello 'streaming'. Ever onwards, the personal data must be moved into the 'cloud' or a local storage device of which the connection method will soon be changed.

Not all personal data is plain text and JPGs. There are the digital personal connections made with email, comments and photosharing. With the change of iTools to dotMac to MobileMe and the ensuing pain of inaccessible email and the abandonment of iWeb and what is now the wasted hours spent creating websites with it, the loss of comments on those blog posts and the photo galleries that need to find a new home, it is not just hardware but the digital history of one's life that is being erased. It seems that there is no room for my iLife in iCloud iBelieve.

If I don't move I have the prospect of all the software I have registered with an obsolete email; all the contacts that need to be informed of a changed email address; all the forums that need their login details changing; all the hassle and it makes Chromebook and Google look enticing.

It concerns me that having my life in the cloud makes all that ethereal data just one password away from someone smarter than I who breaks into what I thought was secure, to leave me h/a< |< ed and defaced with the offer of do you want to buy your data back?

With a Family MobileMe account, to keep those email addresses which have been used as main addresses from the iTools era, will mean all five family members need to update their hardware to be OS X Lion compatible then buy OS X Lion and move to iCloud or lose their familiar email address and email archives and personal connectivity. This is potentially a big expense or a big loss. What ever the outcome it will involve time to sort and foresight about the best way forward, which technologies to use, which formats to store in, which hardware to buy.

I find it demoralising and disillusioning that one commits to a technology path just to have the whole thing dropped in the name of iProgress. At times like this I wish that I had stuck with pen, notebook and paper.

Jobs creates big news stories

2011-10-13T22:44:00.000+01:00

I'm not good with social media interaction so this play on words is a rare if rather irreverent moment in time.

Somehow I feel there must be a better lead story for the NYTimes tech page. Today, of all days. http://t.co/8V2v8xgbThu Oct 13 10:15:13 via EchofonCharles Arthur
charlesarthur

@charlesarthur Isn't the NYTimes tech lead a big Jobs story?Thu Oct 13 10:41:33 via SOICHANeil Boyd
neilboyd

RT @neilboyd: @charlesarthur Isn't the NYTimes tech lead a big Jobs story? <--- HAHAHAThu Oct 13 10:44:39 via EchofonCharles Arthur
charlesarthur

@charlesarthur Thanks for the RT. I'm flushed with success.Thu Oct 13 10:48:10 via EchofonNeil Boyd
neilboyd

RIP Steve Jobs - Stay hungry Stay foolish

2011-10-06T12:45:00.000+01:00

Thanks for making dreams into realities

Without doubt Steve Jobs has had a profound influence on my life. Thank you for making your dreams, my dreams and those dreams a reality.

A personal speech by Steve Jobs that helps explain his drive and finishes with the quote from Whole Earth Catalog "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

The Whole Earth Catalog final back cover - Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Over an hour long but interesting to see Steve Jobs thinking on his feet and answering some uncomfortable questions at the Apple WWDC 1997 Closing Keynote. He also outlines his vision of what has now become iCloud.

Create a Reverse Hightlight with Skitch

2011-10-05T15:55:00.001+01:00

I think of reverse highlighting as keeping the original colour of the item you want to show and making everything else in the image darker. It dawned on me that there is a way to do this with Skitch although it needs a little 'outside the box' thinking (or should that be clicking).

Skitch is a free screenshot and annotation app available in the Mac App Store.

1. Normal Highlighting Text Method

Normally I think of highlighting text as:

Drawing a box around the item to highlight
Using a colour 'marker' over the item to highlight it

2. The Skitch Translucent colours

By default Skitch has two translucent colours, a yellow and a grey.

3. Click outside the box

But it suddenly dawned on me that I can fill a translucent colour outside of a boxed area:

Draw a rectangle around the area to be reverse highlighted
Choose a translucent colour then click the bucket fill
Click the fill bucket tool outside of the rectangle drawn in step 1

4. Variations on a Reverse Highlight

The rectangle drawn with a different coloured line and translucent fill outside the box
The rectangle drawn with the same colour as the translucent fill outside the box

CloudApp attachment with Sparrow email client

2011-10-05T13:51:00.003+01:00

[0:25s] Having added my CloudApp details to my Sparrow preferences I am able to drag-and-drop an attachment on to a new email message and depending where I drop that file, it will be either automatically uploaded to CloudApp and the cl.ly link pasted into the message or the file will be added as a traditional email attachment.

[There is no sound in this recording.]

Hello FNAME

2011-10-04T15:55:00.000+01:00

Hello FNAME email from Hootsuite University

I was surprised that a leading social media company in an email campaign aimed at educating businesses and users in advanced use of social media would make such an elemental mistake with mail merge; especially from a company that claims to be of University standard.

I made a Tweet:

Hello FNAME - People often call me an F-name but that doesn't mean I like it #hootsuite http://t.co/H2tkF2AcTue Oct 04 13:06:42 via YoruFukurouNeil Boyd
neilboyd

But then did a Twitter search and realised that this was a global mistake:

「Hello *|FNAME|*」と HootSuite からのメール．Tue Oct 04 12:30:51 via webKenzi NOIKE
knoike

Which invoked the same course of action that I took, regardless of nationality or language:

mail die begint met "Hello *|FNAME|*", unsubscribe...Tue Oct 04 12:21:57 via Twitter for Macrubencausyn
rubencausyn

Which just goes to show real-time global mail merge can make an instant, global balls-up or as someone else said on Twitter:

It’s the personal touches that make the difference. // Hello *|FNAME|* #hootsuite http://t.co/JNB1IxURTue Oct 04 12:37:57 via Twitter for iPadBrian Gray
urbanbohemian

Add About.me IMAP email account to Sparrow

2011-10-04T00:19:00.000+01:00

About.me is a free 'personal profile page' which can be linked to a user's content on the web. This is my about.me page. They recently added a linked email account using Aol Mail with the about.me username for the email address.
Sparrow is a Mac OS X email client available in the Mac App Store or via Sparrow's website.

1. In Sparrow: Open Preferences

Click on Accounts
Click the +

2. Add About.me details

Enter your about.me email details and password
Click Create

3. Add the About.me Incoming Mail Server

Enter the about.me Incoming Mail Server: imap.aol.com
If you enter the email and password in the previous step, when you enter the email address in again the password in automatically filled in. Leave the 'Secure connection' box checked (the default setting).
Click Next

4. Add the About.me Outgoing Mail Server

Enter the about.me Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.aol.com
Enter the Port number: 587
Login and Password are autofilled and are the same as before. Leave the two boxes checked (the default setting)
Click Next

5. The About.me Account successfully added

Facebook No Friends

2011-10-02T23:40:00.000+01:00

Triple negatives are great [From Guardian Article]

I find it a strange twist of evolution that now if you don't have friends in the Cloud, you don't have friends on Earth.

Previous October record was set in March

2011-10-02T11:19:00.000+01:00

October record set in March [From Guardian Article]

I love how warm weather brings out great statistics and stampedes of exultations.

Morecambe's never had it so good [From Guardian Article]

Setup Sparrow to work with Shortmail

2011-09-29T21:52:00.002+01:00

Shortmail is a free email account that you can 'claim' using Twitter to Sign In to. The email address uses the same name as your Twitter name.
Sparrow is a Mac OS X email client available in the Mac App Store or via Sparrow's website.

1. In Browser: Sign in to Shortmail

http://shortmail.com/

2. Click Account then Advanced

Click Account in the Shortmail Navigation bar
Click Advanced in the Sidebar
Enter a password fro Mail Access
Repeat the step 3 password

3. In Sparrow: Open Sparrow Preferences

Click the Accounts tab in Sparrow Preferences
Click the + symbol

4. Enter Shortmail details

Enter Shortmail details including the password added on the Shortmail web site
Click Create button
Wait whilst 'Checks' happen

5. The Shortmail Account successfully added

Death to Android

2011-09-29T08:51:00.000+01:00

...based on our platform [From Guardian Article]

...resort to legal measures to extort profit [From All Things D]

"Microsoft...all...partners...based on our platform" vs Google "This is the same tactic we've seen time and again from Microsoft...Failing to succeed...they are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others' achievements and hinder...innovation."

I can see that if Microsoft charges license fees for patents to use Android which are greater than the price of the license to use Windows Phone then it could well be death to Android.

The Cleverness of a Hacking Tweet

2011-09-15T22:51:00.000+01:00

I received a hacked Direct Message Tweet during the rush to get out in the morning. The type of DM Nasty that if you click the link it can send messages, as you, to all your contacts, each with the same malicious link in and thus spread its nastiness far and wide. It's so easy to get caught by such a trick.

When it happened I thought how strange, this person never DMs me but the line looked so enticing. I first saw the DM in an iPod Twitter client that only showed the official Twitter 't.co' short URL. This made it look more authentic. The short URL shown above would have looked a little more questionable. I very nearly tapped the link but thankfully did not.

What makes it so easy to fall for is: it happens so fast; it happens in the privacy of your own phone; it comes from someone whose avatar presence you are very familiar with and trust.

I had the Twitter client open and was just about to close it when the DM came in. I was not fully alert to what I was doing and I had my mind on other things. I tapped to see the Direct Message Tweet; thought wha..? and nearly tapped the link. If I communicated more with this person, I most likely would have tapped it.

There were a few reasons that made me question the validity of the message. The person does not know me enough to see something about me (but maybe they had found something). I had never seen this person use the acronym of 'LOL' nor was 'laugh so hard' their style of phrase. This person had never DMed me before.

I mentioned to the person that I thought they had been hacked. Shortly after, they started apologising for having spread the problem. Others were caught and they too had to start doing the changing passwords, revoking connected apps, clearing caches, apologising dance of the keyboard. An upsetting, time wasting, sullied with the dark side of technology dance it is too.

One observation from after the event: usually I get an email when I have a Direct Message. I didn't for this one or so it appeared. Later I notice that I did have an email message but Google Gmail had put it in the Spam folder. So another check to remember when receiving an unusual Mention or Direct Message with a link on Twitter (and providing notifications are turned on in Twitter's settings) is check the Spam folder.

Deleting iOS Device Backup using iTunes

2011-08-22T06:56:00.000+01:00

I am having problems with my iPod Touch failing to backup. The fail happens during the Backup phase of Syncing with the backup just freezing. Usually, after two previous backups the third fails. I have to delete the Device Backup backup folder; restart my iMac if the iTunes Backup hung mid-process; re-sync my iPod with iTunes.

Previously, I had deleted the backup folder using the Finder (I'm using OS X 10.6.8). It is found in: Macintosh HD/Users/username/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

There is an alternative way to delete it from within iTunes (version 10.4). The iOS Devices does not need to be connected to iTunes to do this.

1. Go to iTunes > Preferences... > Devices

Click to: iTunes > Preferences... > Devices panel
Click the Backup to delete
Click Delete Backup...

2. Confirm Delete

3. Click OK ...and wait

Having clicked OK, wait. After an age of disk thrashing (this will depend on how many files are in the backup) the Devices Preferences panel closes.

Burning Brain Decay

2011-08-21T06:23:00.000+01:00

iTunes Comment - Too Much Information

2011-08-18T13:49:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, even a short comment (this is for an iTunes app) can have too much information.

15seconds Along The Motorway

2011-08-07T22:39:00.000+01:00

[0:15s] Shot with 15seconds app. Colour processed in Movie Looks HD to increase the brightness.

An experiment in progress. I did process the video with some 8mm effect apps but the resulting video, which looked ok on the iPod, looked dreadful when seen via YouTube on the Desktop. So this is not the look I want nor the combination of video speeds that please me. I post it as an irritation that needs to be changed. Maybe I should have left the grotty one on YouTube as something to work from, instead I will use this one.

A2Hosting: How To Get To cPanel From My A2 Hosting

2011-07-29T23:45:00.007+01:00

1. Login to My A2 Hosting

Go to http://my.a2hosting.com
Enter details and click Login

2. My Products & Services

Click My Products & Services on the My Menu

3. Manage

Click Manage for the Hosting Produce/Service

4. Login to cPanel

Click Login to cPanel below the Product Details and you are there

iTune window buttons - as you were

2011-07-20T20:24:00.002+01:00

I see with the update to iTunes from version 10.3 to 10.4 on Mac OS X (10.6.8) that the experiment of vertical window buttons has ended.

Samsung Chromebook - from off to login

2011-07-09T22:23:00.005+01:00

[00:12] How long it takes from a 'cold start' to the login dialog on a Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook (approximately 7 seconds).

The video was shot with an Xacti CG6 and uploaded straight from the SD card to YouTube using the Chromebook. I was able to preview the video in the Chromebook Media player from the SD card.

Drawing with a Cherry on an iPad

2011-07-07T01:31:00.002+01:00

[0:48s] This video was record using a USB camera connected to my iMac. It was transferred to the 8mm HD app on my iPad 1 via iTunes. I saved the video from 8mm HD to the Photos app then reloaded it into 8mm HD to record the effects.

A 15second Turn Around The Bay

2011-07-04T23:06:00.001+01:00

[0:15s] Shot with 15seconds app. Edited with CinemaFX Video, Movie Stiller and Silent Film Director. All done on an iPod Touch (4th Generation).

Using a Cherry as an iPad Stylus

2011-07-01T12:50:00.002+01:00

[0:15s] I noticed that a cherry works on an iPad (or iOS device) as a capacitative stylus. Shot with 15seconds app, edited with iSupr8, Silent Film Director and ReelDirector using an iPod (4th Gen).

#15seconds Edit

2011-06-19T22:45:00.001+01:00

[0:15s] Shot with 15seconds app. Edited with CinemaFX for Video, Tiltshift Video and ReelDirector on an iPod (4th Gen).

There work order of editing the original 15s clips means that they have become overly compressed but this was a first go experiment.

Slaidburn Retrollect-ive

2011-05-29T15:55:00.003+01:00

[0:54] iOS App Retrollect has a very different experience for viewing photos when seen using an iOS device than when seen via a web page. I just wanting to show the experience via an iPod.

Music from Synthesizing - Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat in iTunes

Snagit for Mac Transparent Fill

2011-05-19T22:37:00.001+01:00

Trying out the Transparent Fill

I thought to try out the Transparent Fill on Snagit for Mac.

With the White Background Image

With an image I did on my iPod with a white background.

With some other elements

I filled the white background with transparent then added the transparent background image over another screenshot and a translucent shape element.

I didn't realise that I could easily 'knock out' a single colour ground in Snagit.

Neil Boyd Artist

2011-05-17T22:59:00.002+01:00

From my Flavors.me Stats page

Sometimes it takes a stranger to tell you what you are.
A Light has Dawned.

Blogger Custom Domain with A2Hosting

2011-04-21T14:31:00.016+01:00

Setting up a Custom Domain with Blogger using a Domain registered with A2Hosting. I've found that I need to check that the nameservers are correct; park the domain; edit the CNAME Record and Add four new A Type Records and delete the original A Type Record (editing the original A Type Record resulted in an error).
Then wait... Being in the UK and my domain name being a US hosted .com, the changes take many hours to take effect. It took 18 hours in total. I have found that I can use a US based proxy server to check the domain is working properly virtually right away and long before I can access it directly from the UK.
Short URL to this post: http://cl.ly/6AMc

Note: Blogger Help Instructions

Blogger's Help instructions can be found under the title "How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?"

1. Check A2Hosting Nameservers are correct

By default, when buying a domain name from A2Hosting the Hostname is set for shared server numbers greater than www46. It's easy to overlook changing this when buying the domain name. If they are incorrectly set this process will not work.

2. On my.a2hosting: Change Nameserver Hostname

On my.a2hosting site:

Sign into my.a2hosting.com
Click My Domains on the My Menu
Click Manage for the Domain to be changed
Check the correct Hostname is being used e.g.:
Primary Server Hostname: NS1.A2WEBHOSTING.COM or NS3.A2HOSTING.COM
Secondary Server Hostname: NS2.A2WEBHOSTING.COM or NS4.A2HOSTING.COM
Click Save Changes

Note: once saved the uppercase characters change to lowercase.

3. In cPanel: Park the Domain

On the domain's cPanel site:

Login to cPanel [How to get to cPanel from My A2 Hosting]
Go to the Domains section and click Parked Domains

4. Add the Domain

Type in the Domain name that is to be use. Check it's spelt correctly.
Click Add Domain

5. Successfully Parked Domain

Click the cPanel Home button at the top of the web page to return to the main cPanel A2Hosting page.

6. With Parked Domain: Domains - Advanced DNS Zone Editor

Goto to Domains Section of cPanel
Click Advanced DNS Zone Editor

7. Choose the Domain

Click the Domain pop-up menu and choose the Domain you have Parked.

8. Changes to the WWW CNAME

In the Zone File Records section:

Click the Edit link on the same line as www.[domain-name].com.
Delete the text in the CNAME field and replace it with: ghs.google.com
Click Edit Record button

9. A record address 1 of 4

I've found that I cannot edit the A Type record in the Zone File Records section. To add the A Type record addresses I need to add each one using the Add a Record section.
This list of Type A Addresses are listed on the Blogger's Help link "How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?". They are:
216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21

The Name is the 'naked' domain name. I typed it in as app404.com and Tabbed to the next field. The dot was automatically added to the end of .com [NOTE: use your own domain name not app404.com !!]
I used the default TTL number that is suggested.
Type A is the default setting and I left it unchanged.
I entered the first of the four address listed by Blogger.
I clicked Add Record

This is repeated for all four addresses.

10. A record address 2 of 4

11. A record address 3 of 4

12. A record address 4 of 4

13. The edited Zone File Records

The five entries that I edited.

14. Delete the original A-record

Not being able to edit the original A-record without an error, I deleted it after adding all the new ones.

15. On Blogger Dashboard

Sign in to the Blogger Dashboard.
Click Settings > Publishing > Custom Domain

Update: The place for this has changed in the new 'Blogger in Draft' Dashboard

Update: On the new 'Blogger in Draft' Dashboard

On the new Blogger in Draft Dashboard, the Custom Domain setting is found on:
Settings > Basic > Blog Address > +Add a custom domain

Update: If you already own the domain click the 'Switch to advance settings'

Note: this is on the Blogger in Draft dashboard

Update: Advanced Settings for Blogger In Draft

16. Switch to advanced settings

Look to the left of the page an click the link Switch to advanced settings

17. Enter the domain including www.

Enter your 'properly registered' domain name
Enter the 'Word Verification' characters
Click Save Settings

Note: Originally I enter the address as app404.com - Blogger does not allow a 'naked domain' or domain name without the 'www.' in front of the address. I didn't realise this and enter the domain without the 'www.' in front of the domain which caused me to get a warning about nudity.

18. Congratulations - just one more thing

Click to Check the Redirect... box
Enter the 'Word Verification' characters
Click Save Settings

After saving the settings in the previous step, the Check Box to Redirect... appears. Having setup all the A-records, check this so that typing the web address into a browser without the 'www.' in front of the address will be redirected to the fully-clothed address.

19. The Blogger Custom Domain seen in the browser

It took 18 hours for the web address to work from the UK.

a1. To undo Custom Domain

To return to the original blogspot.com web address:

Sign In to the Blogger Dashboard
Click Settings > Publishing > blogspot.com link

If any of the details are wrong, I found that after correcting them I need to switch back to the original blogspot.com address then re-do the Switch to Custom Domain setup.

a2. Return to Publish on blogspot.com

Without changing anything the original Blogspot address was shown. I then:

Complete the Word Verification
Click Save Settings

Quora is down webpage

2011-04-21T13:03:00.007+01:00

[0:09s] As a result of Amazon EC2 being down, so are a lot of other sites. Quora has an interest twist on the down page.

I did the screen capture video using Screenium Single Window capture method encoded using x264Encoder, 12 fps, 800KBytes/sec, single pass, medium quality. I cropped and uploaded it with Shave Video 1.3 beta.

Not long after uploading this video webpage, it was changed to a more 'responsible' video-less page.

...the Question is Why?

Cancel A2Hosting Domain Renewal

2011-04-20T22:52:00.003+01:00

The arrival of the my.a2hosting.com has changed the way Domains are cancelled with A2Hosting. Now you 'Disable Auto Renew' (even if you don't have a credit card set up to Auto Renew and have always 'Manually' renewed your Domains).

Click Disable Auto Renew

Login to my.a2hosting.com
Click My Domains
Click View Details for the domain to cancel renewal
Click Disable Auto Renew to cancel the domain renewal

Disabled status warning

Current Status will change to Disabled and a nice big red warning will appear.

10 iOS Apps I Use Most Days

2011-04-11T23:31:00.004+01:00

This is a general list of apps I use most days on my iPod. Currently I am using 4th Generation iPod Touch, iOS 4.3.1, which has a built in low resolution camera and can record video. Some iPhone apps I used to use a lot, do not install on an iPod Touch and so are not included here. As far as I know, all apps that install on an iPod will install on an iPhone. Favourite apps are different from most used. I can see a series of post on this theme.

Evernote

Evernote app iTunes Web Page
I have the One Year In App Purchase because I want to have offline access to my notes.

The Guardian

Guardian app iTunes Web Page
I have the 12 Month subscription. The app has a glitch where having looked at an article and going back to the main feed it just shows a white 'Loading...' page. Totally quit the app and relaunch to over come the problem. Sometimes it doesn't happen, sometimes it's infuriating.

Plastic Bullet Camera

Plastic Bullet Camera app iTunes Web Page
The Apple camera app is useful for quick photo taking. To change the look of a photo, this app is easy to use and I like to varied effect although you can't adjust them. Take the photo, tap the refresh button until you see an image you like, save the image. Repeat.

Tweetlogix for Twitter

Tweetlogix for Twitter app iTunes Web Page
I uninstalledTwitter for iPhone when they add the 'Quick Bar'. Echofon is nice but doesn't translate Tweet and has had a series of problems with emailing from the app. HootSuite is a bit too 'Corporate' for me. The only thing I don't like about Tweetlogix at the moment, is the way it handles Converations. If you like Twitter for iPhone then don't start looking at Twitter apps because it's like searching for the Holy Grail.

PhotoAlbum for iOS4

PhotoAlbum for iOS4 app iTunes Web Page
There are two things I frequently want to know about an image in the Camera Roll; 1 - When was it created, 2 - What is its pixel size. This is the best app I've found to give me that info.

Birdbrain Twitter Statistics

Birdbrain Twitter Statistics app iTunes Web Page
I originally got this to unblock blocked Twerps. I tend to run it once a day to see what changes.

iSupr8

iSupr8 app iTunes Web Page
Makes videos look all Super 8-like without the developing costs. I like 8mm Vintage Camera too. Click the labels on isupr8 or 8mm_vintage_camera to see some of my examples.

Dropbox

Dropbox app iTunes Web Page
Since I've started using Evernote more, I've found that I use Dropbox less but Dropbox is very useful and lots of app connect to it.

Go Calc

Go Calc app iTunes Web Page
Whilst there are calculator that do specific things like calculate the Pre VAT Price of an item, I like the game of make-your-own calculator to find the Price Before Discount or Markdown Discount Rate. You have to work out your own formulae but if you're ok with Excel you should be ok with this.

CalcPad Smart Calculator

CalcPad Smart Calculator app iTunes Web Page
This app is not new, it's pre-iOS4 but I still find it useful for adding up lists of numbers. There maybe better apps now but this one still serves my purpose. If you use the iPhone calculator, don't forget to try turning the iPhone from portrait to landscape position to see the scientific calculator.

StampTools Free in Mac App Store

2011-04-10T17:21:00.003+01:00

[0:29s] StampsTools is a free application in the Mac App Store thats add a date stamp image to documents although Version 1.1 does not work with Microsoft Office:Mac 2011 Applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) causing them to crash.

All Change Under YouTube Share Button

2011-04-08T16:44:00.003+01:00

No soon than I write-up about manually creating the short URL to a YouTube video than underneath the Share button is change. Now clicking the Share button displays large the short URL *but* hides the link to publish a video to Blogger. Click 'show more' to see the Blogger button.

The Default Two Share Options

All Share Options Revealed

I also notice that if the video has been uploaded in HD resolution, clicking the Share button also reveals a Check Box for the shared link to be to the HD version.

Picasa Unhide Hidden Folder

2011-04-08T16:25:00.003+01:00

[1:17s] The convoluted way needed to Unhide a hidden Folder in Picasa. I'm using Picasa for Mac 3.8.9.390. Hiding a folder of images was very easy but as a the new user to Picasa, trying to unhide it was much more of a problem. Eventually I found the arcane key combination to Unhide the hidden.

Twitter's New Corporate Look?

2011-04-07T22:20:00.001+01:00

NewTwitterLook Front Page

On 5-Apr-2011 I went to sign in to the Twitter web page. As I did so the cached page change to a more corporate looking one. I had to double check because I thought I had typed the wrong address and ended up on some spoof site. The page loaded very slowly, as can be seen by the thumbnails along the bottom in the image above not all appearing. Shortly afterward Twitter announced that it was disabling NewTwitter. #NewTwitter has since returned but not the #NewTwitterLook.

The Tale in Tweets:

Twitter's front page has got a new 'corporate business' look http://twitpic.com/4hc3ntTue Apr 05 19:50:29 via YoruFukurouNeil Boyd
neilboyd

Twitter.com is experiencing problems displaying home timelines. We’re currently working to resolve the issue.Tue Apr 05 21:53:19 via webSupport
Support

We’re temporarily disabling #NewTwitter. Our engineers are working on re-enabling it. We'll send an update once the issue is resolved.Tue Apr 05 22:24:03 via webSupport
Support

Temporarily Disabling Trends - Sticking with our retro theme, we’re temporarily disabling trends. http://t.co/ZHjnwDcTue Apr 05 22:40:50 via TumblrTwitter API
twitterapi

OldTwitterLook Front Page

iOS View Image At 100%

2011-04-07T17:16:00.003+01:00

Comparison of Same Image on Picasa using Safari

In Safari on an iOS device, double tap with a single finger will zoom in on an image. Using the pinch motion will zoom in or out. Not so obvious is that using a two-finger tap will view an image at 100%. This also works with some other apps such as Evernote.

[via BloggerPlus on iPod]

iOS Seach Web Page

2011-04-07T01:59:00.003+01:00

In iOS 4.3 it is possible to search for words on the current web page. Go to a web page. Tap the Google Search box. Type in the search word and notice there is now a bar just above the keyboard with "On This Page...".

Pull up the bar and tap the "word" to go to the current web page and jump between each occurrence of the word.

[via BloggerPlus on iPod]

iOS Secret Volume Control

2011-04-06T18:25:00.007+01:00

Double-clicking the round button on an iOS device reveals a bar showing all app currently open (iOS 4). Sweeping from left to right reveals the iPod player controls. Sweep once more to the right reveals a volume slider that has the same effect as clicking the physical volume control buttons.

[via BloggerPlus on iPod]

Update: It seems to centre the image, I need to apply text formatting alignment and not the image alignment.

iOS AutoCorrect Misspelling Tip

2011-04-06T01:44:00.009+01:00

AutoCorrect on the iOS will replace or offer word replacements as you type. This can be very useful and equally very annoying. One way that it is useful is replacing lowercase 'i' with 'I' or 'ill' with 'I'll' which is the more often used variant. There are other words where a deliberate misspelling causes a useful auto-correct for example spelling well with a triple 'l' AutoCorrects to we'll.

Time to start misspelling.

[via BloggerPlus on iPod]

Note to Self: Removed and re-added image using Blogger's editor. Set to Medium size and Centre. I don't understand why the originally posted images are set at Centre but are left aligned on the blog.
Solution: Align image using text (paragraph) formatting control.

Trying iBlogger 2

2011-04-04T02:54:00.004+01:00

Only one image per post

A quick try of version 2 of iBlogger. Attached image, chose Picasa folder and gave it an image title; aligned image and gave it a caption; set thumbnail to full-size. The one thing that confused me with adding an image was the square crop window. I will need to try a full rectangular image within the square and see what size is uploaded. Also, how many images can I add to a post? It seems that I can only add one per post.

[via iBlogger 2 on iPod touch]

Update 1: I was surprised how larger the iBlogger image appeared once uploaded and that once posted I could not make any changes to the image. I've resized the image to Medium in Blogger's desktop browser editor. Clicked align Left then Centre then Publish and the resulting image *was* centred. So why does that not happen with all images when I do that? When viewed on the new Blogger/view page the image was not centred on the page but to the left. I have removed and re-added it using the Blogger editor. The result -- looks exactly the same; lopsided left align caused by some iBlogger HTML setting the maximum width to 640px wide; removed in Edit HTML view.

Update 2: I have turned off "Convert Line Breaks" on "Dashboard > Settings > Formatting" page. To see what happens.

Update 3: I foolishly tried to re-edit this using iBlogger. Which whilst it allowed me to edit and publish the changes for all the world that everything had worked, it did not publish anything that had been added outside of iBlogger i.e. the Updates (in effect it deleted the Updates). I'm going to uninstall iBlogger and leave it in my iTunes for the foreseeable future. I haven't enjoyed using it.

Trying BloggerPlus

2011-04-04T02:38:00.012+01:00

Having been surprised how larger iBlogger uploaded an image and that once posted I could not make any changes to the image, I thought I would give BloggerPlus (Blogger+ ?) a go. This is being posted with BloggerPlus from an iPod. I've added two images, resized them to 480px higher, and added a photo border with shadow to them. I don't seem able to Title or Caption the images. Blogger+ has the option to change font, add a link and hide the keyboard in the Text Editor.

It seems I can have text between pictures without too much problem.

I can resize pictures from within BloggerPlus as well as add the frame with shadow effect but I cannot crop the image, as far as I can tell, using BloggerPlus (see Update 2).

Update 1: I resized the above picture after posting to 360px high. This creates a new picture in Picasa. Having a frame adds 20px to the picture so the total height is 380px or 500px for the 480px resize. I have re-centred the pictures in the desktop browser Blogger editor. Originally they posted left aligned although they were had centre aligned chosen in the Blogger editor. I don't know if it's to do with the theme I'm using, if I change that alignment to left then centre, they appear centred in the editor but not when Published. To get images to be centred I have to delete them then re-add them from Picasa with centre alignment.

Update 2: You can crop the image to a limited extent. Add a Content Type... > Choose Photo & Edit then the selected image can be moved vertically and zoomed (scaled) but only within a square format. More specific or rectangular crops would need to be done outside of BloggerPlus.

There was a little glitch in BloggerPlus whilst I tried to add some more text below the two pictures. I added two Text panels but they didn't show. Nor did the first panel of text that I had added. If I tapped the first image I saw the first panel of text and not the image. I went out of the Draft mode and came back into the post to find the text editing areas that originally didn't show when added. I shifted one of the text block additions to between the pictures to have a text-image-text-image-text arrangement.

[via BloggerPlus on iPod]

Update 3: 7-Apr-11 So far I like BloggerPlus better than BlogPress. I don't like iBlogger.

Manually Creating YouTube Short URL

2011-04-03T22:31:00.003+01:00

It is possible to have a short URL for any video on YouTube. A simple way is to go to the page of the video (not the Channel view), click the Share button then check Short URL and the link is automatically converted.

To do this manually for a YouTube link:

Replace http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
With http://youtu.be/

For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWX6-jqN1to
...becomes:
http://youtu.be/NWX6-jqN1to

Sparrow Problem MobileMe Double Message

2011-04-03T15:42:00.008+01:00

[1:16s] I find that I am getting a duplicate message on my MobileMe account when I send myself a message e.g. a note from my iPod to deal with on my main machine. It happens with MobileMe not Gmail nor Yahoo.

If Sparrow is open when the self message arrives from an iPod, the message is single. Then if I quit and relaunch Sparrow the message is duplicated and shown as two.

If the message is sent from Sparrow. It arrives as a duplicate.

The duplicate message does not happen with Mail.

Remove Colours From Apple Colors Palette

2011-04-03T01:13:00.010+01:00

[1:01s] The way I've found to remove the colours from the Apple Colors palette panel on the Mac.

Echofon for Mac Auto-complete Username

2011-04-02T22:13:00.007+01:00

[0:14s] Little video note to remind me to tap the Tab key to auto-complete the username when using Echofon for Mac, Twitter client.

Google Search New Icon

2011-04-02T21:08:00.012+01:00

I just noticed a new view when searching with Google from an iPod. No idea how long it's been there.

Tap the little magnifier symbol

To see the results as thumbnail page views.

[via BlogPress on iPod]

Update: I cropped and drop-shadowed the screenshots to square format using Picnik within Picasa then re-added them using Blogger's editor.

Mac OS X Software becomes App Store

2011-04-02T14:00:00.002+01:00

I just noticed the Apple menu change from:
Apple > Mac OS X Software... which opened Safari and Apple's site to:
Apple > App Store... which opens the App Store application.

The App Store came with OS X version 10.6.6 on 06-Jan-11. Version 10.6.7 came out on 22-Mar-11. I've not noticed the change until today.

Posterous Comment Post to Twitter

2011-03-30T22:50:00.000+01:00

Posterous has change the way to turn off posting comments to Twitter when making comments on a Posterous blog, since the last time I commented on such a blog post. It used to be an nice, easy see, easy understand button. Now the 'Designers' have got hold of it.

Posterous Comment Post to Twitter ON

Posterous Comment Post to Twitter OFF

Spot the difference.

Clue: You have to click the subtle blue disc to turn it grey. Grey meaning that the comment will not be posted to Twitter.

Guess whose timeline got 'spammed' with test comments whilst I tried out the Live Inbox commenting, launched 29-Mar-2011 by Posterous/Hotmail/Live.

Storify: Amazon Cloud Raining Men in the UK

2011-03-30T13:11:00.005+01:00

Trying Storify. Above should display an embedded Storify powered Tweet story. Currently it does not display in the new Blogger 'view' option. Click the title link to see the post.

On the Storify - Click 'Load more' to see the video notes.

Trying Amazon Cloud MP3 playback on iPod from UK

2011-03-29T22:56:00.004+01:00

Update: Amazon Cloud Player now works on iOS devices and from the UK.

[0:46s] It's possible to play an MP3 from the Amazon Cloud Drive by selecting it and downloading it. The music starts to play in the browser. Only one track can be played at once but with iOS4 the music can be played in the background. You cannot use the playlist feature of Amazon Player but instead of a playlist, you can always upload an MP3 'mixtape' of tracks to complete the experience -- like back in the day.

Using Amazon Cloud Player from the UK

2011-03-29T22:32:00.004+01:00

Update: Amazon Cloud Player works from the UK now without having to mess about with proxies. Currently, you still need to go to the US amazon.com/clouddrive to access Cloud Drive and Cloud Drive Player and not the UK Amazon site.

[2:15s] Looking at Amazon Cloud Drive and Player from the UK from a Desktop Mac.

Storify: The Tale of the Deleted Tweet

2011-03-27T22:27:00.001+01:00

Trying Storify

Storify: A bit of Color behind the app

2011-03-27T19:14:00.005+01:00

Trying Storify.

Change Signature in Sparrow mail app

2011-03-27T17:01:00.009+01:00

[0:42s] This shows how to change the signature of each new mail message created with Sparrow mail app and how to remove the default 'Sent for Sparrow' link.

Reorder accounts in Sparrow mail app

2011-03-24T15:31:00.013Z

[0:38s] Sparrow from the Mac App Store is a mail client. From version 1.1, it can add any IMAP email account including MobileMe, Yahoo and Gmail. This video note shows how to re-order a list of accounts in Sparrow.

Sparrow Default 'From' Account
I notice that with Sparrow set as the default email client, the top email account in the list is the default email account from which new emails are sent. Update: Which ever account is selected in Sparrow becomes the account used as the 'default' account. So if a I choose to email a link from the browser and Sparrow is open and the third account down the list is selected, that third account will be the 'From' account (it's easy to change the From account but take care not to overlook this). If Sparrow is quit and I email a link from the browser, Sparrow will launch and the top account in the list of email accounts will by default be selected and so will be the 'From' account.

Note on ScreenFloat Mask in screencast
To try out an idea for hiding part of the screen, I used a screenshot of the Desktop background to cover the email account names using the app called ScreenFloat. With hindsight, it would have been better to have used a plain piece of the Preferences panel and resized it, to cover the details.

Changing Flavors.me Twitter Service to RSS

2011-03-23T15:04:00.008Z

Currently there is a problem with Flavors.me and their Twitter Service which causes it to not refresh. A work around is to change the dedicated Twitter Service to using the generic RSS Service for Twitter. Sadly the result is unsatisfactory unless you like the Tweet becoming both the Title *AND* Content of each Tweet Post.

This is the method to change to the RSS feed for Twitter in Flavors.me

Login to Flavors.me

Login to Flavors.me
Click Show Design Panel

Click Content > Manage

Click Content
Click Manage

Scroll to the Twitter Feed and Delete

Click the X to delete the Service

Click OK to delete the Service

Click to back arrow

Still in Content - Click Add

Scroll down the Service and click RSS

Click the RSS button

This reveals a box where to paste your RSS Feed URL

First Problem:
On the 'Old Twitter', finding your RSS feed was simple. You could copy the link of "RSS feed of _username_'s tweets. This would copy a link in the format:
https://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/_your_user_number_.rss

With 'New Twitter', this is no longer available but you can manual create the link using this format (replacing _your_username_ with your Twitter username):
https://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/_your_username_.rss

Paste in your Feed URL and click Connect

The Twitter Feed is added

Second Problem:
Unfortunately because Twitter doesn't use Titles for posts and RSS needs them, each Tweet is used both as the Title and the Description of the Tweet. This makes the result look visually confusing and is unsatisfactory. As well, you cannot exclude @Replies from the Twitter Stream like you can when connecting with the Flavors.me Twitter Service.

Let's hope the Service starts functioning again properly soon.

Changing Default Mail account on iPad

2011-03-16T00:01:00.022Z

The route to change the Mail Default Account on an iPad.

Short URL to this post: http://cl.ly/5GNq

Tap the Settings icon

Tap Mail, Contact, Calendars settings

Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars on the left panel
Scroll down to Default Account on right panel
Tap current Default Account name

Note:

The note in Settings below 'Default Account' says:

"Messages created outside of Mail will be sent from the default account."

So you may still need to change the From address when Replying to an email that has be forwarded to the non-Default Account.

Tap the new account name to be the Default Account

Click the round Home button on the iPad to Close the Settings app.

Changing Mail 'From' Address on iPad

2011-03-15T23:13:00.011Z

How to change which email account a Reply message is sent from on an iPad

Short URL to this post: http://cl.ly/5G1w

Tap the Arrow Symbol then Reply

Tap the From address

Tap the From address again and choose the new From address

Switching Airplane Mode On or Off on an iPad

2011-03-15T21:39:00.011Z

Switching On Airplane Mode is a quick way to turn off Wi-Fi (and 3G if applicable) on an iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. This is to show where to find the option on an iPad.

Short URL to this post: http://cl.ly/5FmE

Tap the Settings Icon

Tap (Airplane Mode) OFF to turn the Mode ON

If you prefer, you can slide the switch from left to right.

Tap (Airplane Mode) ON to turn Mode OFF

My Pi Day Tweet - 3.14 15:_9

2011-03-14T23:37:00.005Z

I'm sure 14.3 was never Pi in my day. This is my type of pi http://cl.ly/5Eoa (with a touch of Flare App)Mon Mar 14 15:09:51 via Itsy!Neil Boyd
neilboyd

By pure chance, my Pi Day Tweet was posted at 3.14 15 9

Trying QuickMark QR Code Decoder from Mac App Store

2011-03-13T16:16:00.006Z

[0:32s] Trying out QuickMark from the Mac App Store. Using the Transparent Mode to decode to QR Code on the QuickMark description App Store page.

Troubleshooting Videocue shot in iSupr8

2011-02-18T15:28:00.010Z

Problem: When editing text in Videocue that backspace delete removes the title effect component not the text.

Solution: Use Shift-Backspace Delete key combination to delete just the text.

[1:27s] Having worked out the solution before sending it to Support, I thought I would try out the new Import feature of iSupr8 iOS app, to make some use of an otherwise Trash-bound video note. Whilst the video note was done on an iMac, the vintage processing has been done on an iPod Touch (4thGen). The original imported file was 640x360px, 2.4MB in size.

Skitch Plus Capture Whole Webpage

2011-02-17T00:42:00.007Z

From the Skitch Menu Bar menu click 'Snap Safari'
You can get the same menu by right-clicking on the icon in the Dock.
To get it from the menu bar, take care to click the little arrowhead to the right of the icon.
Also the Safari browser needs to be open and not minimised nor hidden.
The whole of the webpage will be captured, including un-displayed areas.

Skitch is a free, screenshot application that also allows annotation and sharing of screenshots [Skitch Website]
Note: Snap Safari is a feature of Skitch Plus, the $19.95/year subscription version of Skitch.

A Misty Night In Morecambe - Shot in iSupr8

2011-01-20T11:51:00.005Z

[0:25s] Playing with iSupr8 and ReelDirector apps on an iPod (4th Gen).

Shot in Olde Morecambe Towne, England.

Day Trip To Morecambe - Shot in 8mm Vintage Camera

2011-01-09T17:02:00.004Z

[0:59s] Playing with Nexvio apps 8mm Vintage Camera, CinemaFX for Video and ReelDirector on an iPod (4th Gen). Shot in Morecambe, England.

Zena On The Hook - Shot in 8mm Vintage Camera

2011-01-07T17:13:00.004Z

[0:39s] Trying out 8mm Vintage Camera app and ReelDirector on an iPod 4th Generation. All done on the iPod.

No Move option in Windows Live SkyDrive

2011-01-03T17:57:00.006Z

After a frustrating time trying to 'Move' a document file on my newly setup Microsoft Window Live SkyDrive, I realise that there is *no* Move option if the file is not in a folder. By default, files created in Office Web Apps are saved in the root level of SkyDrive Office and not in the My Documents folder. To add to the frustration, Microsoft Document Connect on the Mac does *not* see files in the root level of Office > All Documents

In the SkyDrive All documents view

1. Hoover the cursor over a file reveals the Menu bar.
2. Clicking 'More' reveals options but NOT the option to 'Move' if the file is not in a folder.
3. To move a file from the root level, 'Download' the file then upload it into the desired folder.

'Move' option is available in My Documents folder

1. Files inside a folder have the 'Move' option available under 'More'.

Microsoft Document Connect on a Mac at root level

...does *not* show the root level files. (There are two in this example.)

Microsoft Document Connect inside My Documents

...does show files inside My Documents

Add Image Watermark on iPhone - Dropbox and PNG

2010-11-05T00:55:00.007Z

This is an alternative 'how to' method to add a watermark to a main image using the iPhone app PhotoCanvas by Big Canvas Inc. It uses a transparent PNG image which is download via the web using the iPhone (iPod Touch/iPad) and saved to the Photos Camera Roll. The image appears black in the Camera Roll but when used in PhotoCanvas, the black areas are transparent. This method allows multiple layers of the logo watermark which can be merged down and different image blends to be used in the Actions panel.

This method will work with any app, for example Layers, that allows the addition of new layers to an image and the resizing / rotation of the added layer.

In Safari: Go to the uploaded image

I have found that Dropbox is a very easy way to upload the transparent PNG image to the web. I then shorten the URL using bit.ly for ease of typing into Safari on the iPhone.

As far as I am aware, transparent PNGs can be created by apps on the iPhone but cannot be saved from an app to the Camera Roll. When the image is saved from the app, it is converted into a JPG and looses its transparency. *But* a transparent PNG can be saved to the Camera Roll from Safari on the iPhone.

Save the Image to the Camera Roll

1. Press and hold on the image. The save dialog should appear.
2. Tap Save Image

The saved image will appear black where it is transparent

In PhotoCanvas: Images section: Add the watermark image

Having loaded the main image:
1. Tap +
2. Tap Add a photo layer
Choose the saved watermark image

Pinch, resize and place transparent PNG image

Make sure you are on the same layer as the watermark in order to manipulate the image, in this case -layer 2.

The resized watermark

More watermarks can be added

Tap the + icon to add a second or third watermark to the main image

Merge down layers to add more images

It is possible to add more than four layer to an image by merging down a layer. Once a layer has been merge into the previous layer, the watermark can no longer be resized nor re-positioned.
1. Tap the … icon
2. Tap the 2-into-1 icon. This will merge layer three onto layer two, for example.

Add Image Watermark on iPhone - Blend JPGs

2010-11-04T15:16:00.007Z

Using the iPhone app PhotoCanvas by Big Canvas Inc., this is one method how to add a second image and use it as a watermark on the main image.

In PhotoCanvas: Add the main image

1. Images section
2. Tap +
3. Add a photo layer
4. Select image from Album

Add watermark image

1. Tap + again to add a second photo layer
2. Choose the image to be the watermark from the Album

Pinch, resize and place watermark image

1. With the watermark layer (2) selected pinch, resize and place the waternark.

In Action section: Tap 3-into-1 (Image Blender) icon

1. Tap the Action section icon at the bottom of the screen
2. Tap the 3-into-1 icon at the top of the screen

Select Multiply then tap Done

Tap Save or Share

Save will save the image to the Photo Album
Share will upload the image to Big Canvas PhotoShare (e.g. My Photos on bcphotoshare.com)

Trying Blogium - Image size confusion

2010-02-15T22:07:00.012Z

In the previous post using BlogPress to post to two different sites from a single post, the image on Blogger was too big for both sites (subsequently I found out how to change this).

So with this post I am using Blogium to post the same image, to see if this is also horribly large. Here goes...

Result: The size used by Blogium was the original image size, 400px. Blogium does not have the option to change image size, it just puts the image to left aligned and it seems not wider than the column width, which in many ways is the simpler and a more desired option if you just want to add one picture to the top of the blog post and no more. In BlogPress, you can set the image alignment as well as adjust the image size and use more than one image.
Update: I have moved the image to Picasa and centre aligned it using the Desktop Blogger post editor.

Trying BlogPress - Two in one post

2010-02-15T19:00:00.016Z

This is a moment of confusion that will hopefully create clarity; I am using BlogPress on the iPhone to post to Blogger and TypePress Micro with a single writing. Wish me luck.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The post on TypePad Micro:
http://neilboyd.typepad.com/blog/2010/02/two-in-one-post.html
Result: Whilst BlogPress did post the single post to both Blogger (BlogSpot - what's the difference?) and TypePad Micro and used Flickr as the image host (now change to Piscasa), what I don't understand is why the image is so horribly large. It is too big for both sites.
Answer: The image was set to display at 600px which was too wide for the theme template and wider than the orignal image size of 400px.
Update 1: I changed the size of the thumbnail to 200px in BlogPress
Update 2: I change the picture from being hosted on Flickr to being hosted by Picasa. I change it to small in the Desktop Blogger post editor.

Long time, no see

2010-02-15T01:53:00.007Z

'Tis morrow long and bitter since the never starting stalled.
Time passed by then did Buzz be and more confusion reigned.
Never was a little when more was plenty flooding.
The cold will give to flowers and confusion will blossom.
Such times.

The Daily Blog Post… Stalled

2010-01-15T18:05:00.015Z

The first of this years daily blog posts. The blog with a new and interesting post every day of the year, starting this magnificent new millenium decade -- Twenty-Ten. All from the mobility of an iPhone - images'n'all.

And…
…The excuse for 15 days delay
…slow start
…due to
…icy pavements; obviously.

Trying Blogium app on the iPhone

2009-12-29T12:56:00.009Z

This is a try of Blogium. On creating a new post, I am given the option of adding a picture either from the Camera Roll or Camera. So it seems, one picture per post. There is no obvious way to add text formatting. Simple HTML maybe? (Update: Yes) Not sure where labels are added. Save for now.

Trying Emoji Mailer app with Blogger

2009-12-27T17:20:00.010Z

Trying Emoji Mailer on Blogger sent by Mail to see if the emoji work on the Desktop and stay in place in the text .

Sent from my iPhone

Update: Hurray! It works. When sent to TypePad Micro the images appear each on a new line but not here :)

Trying BlogPress on the iPhone

2009-12-27T17:01:00.008Z

I've connected BlogPress with Picasa to host images. So hopefully there should be an image below:

The BlogPress ability to add images to Blogger is something that iBlogger cannot do.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trying iBlogger from the iPhone

2009-12-27T16:44:00.008Z

A short note from the iPhone using the iBlogger app. The noticeable thing with this combination is that posting images is not available to me. What am I doing wrong?

First Post

2009-12-18T10:55:00.003Z

18-Dec-2009 And the blogger experience begins.