Sync

Apr 27 2009

Extending Bloglines

For those of us that spend time on multiple machines, the easiest way to track updates to your favorite feeds is to do it online with Blogliens.

However, thanks to a powerful API, there are a slew of applications that can access and display information from your account.

Applications

OS X Notifier

This tiny application sits in the Dock and notifies you of the number of unread feeds. Access them with a control click.

BloglinesMenu

Get your unread feed count in the menubar. Click on this menu item to get to your feeds.

Konfabulator Widgets

If Konfabulator is your Widget environment of choice, then you’ll be happy to know you have two notifiers to chose from.

Dashboard Bloglines Notifier Widget

If you’re running Tiger (or Panther + Amnesty) you’ll be glad to know you can track your unread subscriptions in this widget.

Livelines for Firefox

This extension lets you add feeds to your Bloglines account with a command-click or through the RSS feed icon in the status bar.

Bloglines Toolkit for Firefox

This extension adds a Bloglines notifier to the Firefox status bar which indicates when you have unread feeds.

Features

Sync with NetNewsWire Pro

In the most recent version of NetNewsWire Pro, you can sync the feedreader with your Bloglines account. NetNewsWire Pro is not free, but it well worth the price.

Watch the Weather

Pop in your Zip and a constantly updated forecast is added to your subscriptions.

Search for Jobs

Bloglines allows you to predefine a job search (via Indeed.com) and follow it as new jobs meet your criteria.

Package Tracking

Track packages in the same spot you track feeds. Very nice.

Bloglines is evolving as a true web services, adding features all the time. Thanks to great Mac developers we can enjoy excellent integration into the platform of choice.

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: account applications, API, bloglines, choice, click, count, feedreader, job search, konfabulator widgets, livelines, mac developers, notifiers, online, search, Sync, time, tiny application, true web, widget

Apr 27 2009

Handheld Goodies

This week we have more fun tricks you can try at home with your handheld. And, to be sure everyone can play, we’ve widened the definition of handheld.

Soybo

Rather than connecting to your desktop with VNC or another traditional remote client, this application lets you use powerful Open Source technologies to provide web-based control of your desktop to your web-enabled phone or PDA. Installation requires you to have or install PHP, MySQL and some scripting additions.

iPod

We won’t argue whether or not the iPod is a handheld. It certainly does manage personal info. This week I have two different ways of getting text files from your desktop to your ‘Pod.

books2burn

Before you would-be book arsonists get too excited, you should probably know that this application converts text files into AIFF audio files, fit to burn to CD or sync to iPod. Put your matches away.

Book2Pod

If you aren’t interested in burning or converting your text, you can use this free program to sync, organize and manage text files saved on your iPod as notes.

Palm

Our friends at Queuesoft are busy as always, firing out useful and new Palm related software.

iPalm Photo

Use this new app (still in beta) to manage photos on your Palm device. This application reveals goodies like category, size and date taken.

iPalmMemo Widget

This Widget you access your Palm notes from Dashboard. Uses the iPalmMemo app ($9).

Thanks for joining me this week. I wish you all happy syncing.

Brian

Downloads provided by MacUpdate

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: arsonists, client, Dashboard, desktop, home, info, iPalmMemo, Open, open source technologies, palm device, palm notes, phone, related software, Sync, two different ways, VNC, web based control, widget

Apr 27 2009

Online Office

Contacts, calendars and tasks lists are great, if you have your Mac handy. But if you’re on the move, and on other computers during the day, how to you keep things in sync?

By moving your information online, you’ll get universal access to your data. With today’s picks you’ll also be able to sync your info back into your Mac applications.

This week’s picks are all PHP/MySQL web-based applications, so to take advantage of them you’ll need hosting that supports these. If you’re looking, consider 1&1, A Small Orange, Dreamhost or Pair.

The Address Book

This online contacts solution offers the speed of MySQL to the convenience of vCard portability. The Address Book easily manages many contacts, and exports easily to many formats including vCard, so you can bring your web-based contacts right back into OS X’s Address Book.

Multiple user support and authentication allow you to share your contacts with only the people you want to. Unfortunately there isn’t upload support for vCards, but if you’re interested in a four step conversion (requiring Address Book Exporter, Excel and phpMyAdmin) contact me at brian AT macmerc DOT com and I’ll send you the details.

VTCalendar

This gem comes courtesy of Virginia Tech. With VTCalendar you can manage your calendar on your own server. You can even divide your calendar into sub calendars by category and subscribe to your calendar(s) via iCal.

A handy JavaScript pop-up calendar (for choosing dates) and internal authentication make this an easy-to-use and powerful calendar system.

Tasks Jr

Tasks Jr is a free version of Alex King’s Tasks web-based task manager. While it doesn’t have the advanced features of Tasks, it is more than robust enough for most of us.

Tasks Jr manages your task online with priority and % complete tracking. Better still, it provides a calendar of your tasks (both scheduled and unscheduled) which you can subscribe to and view right in iCal. Hierarchal organization and a PDA/Mobile friendly interface don’t hurt either.

That wraps up out quest to move our personal information to the web, while keeping in within the reach of your Address Book and iCal. Now, don’t forget to back up those databases!

For those of you without PHP/MySQL hosting (come on, it’s cheaper than .Mac!) stay tuned for a future episode where we’ll look at similar solutions hosted by 3rd party service providers.

Until then, keep it free…

Brian

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: alex king, Book, calendar system, Contacts, Dreamhost, fri, info, javascript pop, mac applications, online, Pair, solution, step conversion, Sync, system tasks, Tasks, vcard, vcards

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