Tracks – GTD Systems in Ruby on Rails

September 29th, 2009

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Tracks GTD Ruby on Rails

I’ve been using a free GTD system called Tracks for about a month now.  From their web site:

Tracks is a web-based application to help you implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done™ methodology. It was built using Ruby on Rails, and comes with a built-in webserver (WEBrick), so that you can run it on your own computer if you like. It can be run on any platform on which Ruby can be installed, including Mac OS X, Windows XP and Linux. Tracks is Open Source, free and licensed under the GNU GPL.

So far I’m really diggin’ it. I installed it on an Ubuntu server in my office so I can always access it from my laptops or my iPhone. The application is very, very straightforward and does a good job of giving me the tools I need and none of the tools that I don’t. The mobile version (included) is also implemented very well, allowing you to enter tasks and projects quickly from your phone.

If you’ve been looking for a simple task management system you can run locally and access from many devices, Tracks might just be for you.

Modify the KDE Application Launcher Menu

August 16th, 2009

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I’ve recently installed Kubuntu on my Acer Aspire One netbook. The Acer came with Windows XP, but I decided to dual-boot so I would be able to develop in Linux.  Kubuntu is really nice, and the install was relatively painless. However, I’m still getting used to the little quirks and unknowns of KDE.

After installing Eclipse, the first thing I wanted to do was add a shortcut to it in the KDE application launcher (equivalent to the Start Menu in Windows). I actually feel a bit silly that it took me a while to figure out how to do this. Just in case someone else is having trouble finding where to add to and edit the shortcuts in the menu, here’s how to do it.

Right click on the KDE button in the taskbar. The first option is Menu Editor. Now click it. Yeah – it’s that simple.

KDE Menu Editor

The KDE Menu Editor

WORDPRESS ALERT – Admin Privileges Unchecked in Older Versions

August 10th, 2009

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I had been rocking along with an older version of Wordpress for about 2 months now – 2.7.1 to be exact. I was hesitant to upgrade to the latest release which as of this time is 2.8.3. I knew that several plugins would be broken if I attempted to upgrade so I had been busy contacting the plugin authors inquiring about new releases that were compatible. Boy, did I learn my lesson.

I came to my site last Thursday morning to find the URLs were completely screwed up. I went into the permalinks tool and noticed my configuration had been modified to include a bunch of javascript garbage in the URL. Some ass clown had undoubtedly changed this setting in order to gain further access to my site or the server it’s hosted on.

After investigating, I found no further damage, but I was left wondering how in the world someone could have gained access to that admin tool within Wordpress. I soon found the answer here. The article by Core Security Technologies identifies and describes how someone can gain unfettered access to some core admin screens as well as configuration panels for plugins by simply modifying the URL.  Specifically – inserting an additional slash before the php file name causes Wordpress to bypass the privilege system checks. Not good and so simple it’s really quite horrifying.

After fixing my site, I was still loathe to upgrade Wordpress without testing everything first. The phrase “bull in a china shop” comes to mind. So instead, I put in a bit of Apache mod_rewrite magic:

# Remove double (or more) slashes from the URL.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)//(.*)$
RewriteRule . %1/%2 [R=301,L]

So I had Apache protect me while I went about the process of (sanely) upgrading and testing my Wordpress installation and plugins. As of today, I’m all happy on version 2.8.3, but I definitely will be paying more attention to security notices from now on.

Mafia Wars “What else you got?” Achievement

August 10th, 2009

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Well, it seemed like it took a lifetime, but I finally got the”What else you got?” achievement for completing all the job tiers in New York. I can finally call myself a “Master Boss”. Not sure if it means much on a resume, but I’m going to brag about it anyway!

My bragging post on my Facebook profile

My bragging post on my Facebook profile

iPhone Video Camera isn’t Half Bad

August 5th, 2009

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iphoneToday is my dad’s birthday so I decided to post a video of his granddaughter having a good time in celebration (well, we’ll pretend she actually knows it’s his birthday).  I used my new iPhone 3Gs since I didn’t feel like busting out the regular video camera and going through all the importing and exporting jazz.

I have to say I’m a bit surprised. Even after exporting from iPhoto and using MPEG Streamclip to convert it to flash format, the video doesn’t look half bad at only 3 Mb in flash format and 640 x 480 resolution.

Take a look:

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

Trade Books, Video Games, Music, and Movies with Swaptree

July 31st, 2009

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swaptreeI have a lot of books and video games that I won’t ever read or play again. For books, I had ventured out to my local used book store a couple of times, but the way the credit works usually makes me not want to go back and actually use that credit. For video games, I either sell them on e-bay for anywhere from $5 to $20 or trade them in at the local Gamestop.

I figured there had to be a better way of recycling these items so I went looking around and found swaptree.com. Swaptree allows you to trade books, video games, music and movies with others for free. After signing up, you enter in UPC and ISBN numbers to populate the list of things you have and are willing to trade. You can also search for and select things that you want in return.  These are your “have” and “want” lists.

Swaptree finds matches with other people and sends you both an email to setup the trade, and both parties can either accept or reject the trade.  Swaptree will also not propose a trade for two items of unequal value (like a book for a recently released video game). If both parties accept, you’re then given a link to print a shipping label. The shipping cost is then charged to your credit card.  So far it looks like normal shipping costs range from $2.50 to $3.50. But it just depends on the weight of the item.  I’m sure shipping an encyclopedia would be more expensive than $3.50.

I’ve accepted 5 trades so far and shipping out all my items this morning. I have 3 new books and 2 new video games coming in, and I’ve spent about $15. Not bad considering the books and games I traded were sitting on the shelf for months collecting dust.

Do you know of any other sites out there where you can trade these kinds of items? How do they stack up against Swaptree.com?

Mafia Wars Tip – Don’t Buy Limited Time Offers

July 23rd, 2009

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Mafia Wars gives you the opportunity to buy “Limited Time Offers” in the form of weapons and vehicles. They cost $10,000 each and you have to add two mafia members for each one you buy. It’s very tempting to snatch up all you can get. You mean I can get a Punch Knife with 21 attack and 11 defense for only $10K? Great! Well, not really…

The problem is that eventually you CANNOT GIFT these items. There is no way to get rid of them at all. You’ll eventually start collecting more powerful weapons, but you won’t use those in fightts because these limited time offers are stuck in the way.

Here’s an example of how I could improve my combat score but can’t. I bought 23 Punch Knives when they were made available. Later, I started looting and finding Cane Knives with 18 attack and 28 defense. The problem is that Mafia Wars uses the weapon with the higher attack score – in this case, the Punch Knife. But your combat score goes up when you use weapons, armor, and vehicles with the highest COMBINED score (attack + defense). So the Cane Knife is better (46 total) than the Punch Knife (32 total), but the only way to make Mafia Wars use the Cane Knife is to get rid of the Punch Knives. Since you can’t gift those limited time offers, you’re stuck. As a result, I have 41 Cane Knives that are doing me no good whatsoever.

So learn from my mistake and don’t be overly anxious to go buy limited time offers that you can’t gift later. Be patient and wait for the good stuff.

Mafia Wars Tip - Limited Time Offers

Mafia Wars is currently offering a Hearse. Don't buy it!

Mafia Wars Tip – Get the Golden Throne Early

July 23rd, 2009

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Mafia WarsA lot of people think you have to complete job levels in order, but you can actually jump around however you wish. One of the best things you can do is completely skip the underboss level and concentrate on Boss. The Boss level takes forever, but once you complete it you get a Golden Throne (big yellow toilet). The Golden Throne gives you two experience points every 4.5 minutes instead of only one experience point. Now you’re gaining energy twice as fast and can go back and knock out the Underboss level FAST.

Mind Maps on a Mac

July 22nd, 2009

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Mind MapsI’ve recently started using Mind Maps to organize my thoughts and to plan out features of a project or site.  In case any of you are interested, the best Mac software I’ve found is XMind.  It’s completely free, very intuitive, and makes some really good looking mind maps.

My first project using mind maps is to describe the features and plugins we want to have in the next iteration of our company’s Core product.  I really think this is going to help all of us understand what we’re building and how it all fits together.

Mafia Wars Consumables

July 18th, 2009

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Consumables are items that are spent every time you do a particular job. Things like computer setups, illegal transaction records, and blackmail photos are all needed in order to do various jobs. You either have to spend your energy doing other jobs in order to gain these consumables or beg your mafia family to give you their extra.

One of my mafia members put together a list of consumables, where they’re needed, and ultimately how many you’ll need.

BLACKMAIL PHOTOS 403
35 needed on Consigliere levels
184 needed on Boss levels for “Buy off Fed Agent”
184 needed on Boss levels for “Blackmail DA”

UNTRACEABLE CELL PHONES: 306
25 needed on Capo levels for “Flip A Snitch”
62 needed on Capo levels for “Dodge FBI trail”
35 needed on Consig levels for “Ransom kids”
184 needed on Underboss levels for “Order a hit”

ILLEGAL TRANSACTION RECORDS: 424
52 needed on Consig levels for “Fix the big game”
184 needed on Underboss levels for “Extort Corrupt Judge”
79 needed on Underboss levels for “Embezzle Funds”
109 needed on Boss levels for “Shake Down”

COMPUTER SET UP: 263
79 needed on Underboss levels for “Embezzle funds”
184 needed on Underboss levels for “Take over ID theft” (Enforcer)

Mafia Wars Tip – Use Bobby Heartrate’s Bookmarklets

July 15th, 2009

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mafia-warsZynga did a great job building Mafia Wars, but the sometimes the integration between the game and Facebook limits how efficiently you can do things.  In order to make some of the more mundane tasks easier, use Bobby Heartrate’s Mafia Tools.  They are a collection of bookmarklets that you can drag and drop onto your Firefox or Internet Explorer toolbar. They give you the ability to do things like switching quickly between someone’s Facebook and Mafia Wars profiles. Another handy bookmarklet allows you to add someone to your mafia while viewing their Facebook profile page.

Go get Bobby Heartrate’s Mafia Tools. Note: these only work in the Facebook version of Mafia Wars. You MySpace losers are S.O.L.

Change Reply-To Address in Wordpress

July 13th, 2009

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Why in the world Wordpress doesn’t allow you to change the Reply-To address in the confirmation emails sent to new subscribers is BEYOND ME. But luckily Andrew Hamilton has created a plugin that gives you that power.  I installed it on a project this morning, and it works like a charm.

Go get it here.

wordpress-mail-from-plugin

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