Real World Computing

A couple of days ago, I was checking a Gmail on the BlackBerry and noticed that Google had sent through a link to the Google Mobile Update applet. Since I love new gadgets, especially from Google, I quickly downloaded it. This utility is impressive. It does the same thing as Google Updater does on the PC (which is more or less a google style Windows Update). On the mobile, it lets you update the following; Search Google Maps Gmail News Google Sync Google Reader Google Docs Picasa and the Updater Applet itself. I didn't have all of these but decided to add them anyway. For me, the "New ones" were Google Sync, Reader, Docs and Picasa. I had the other apps, albeit older versions. Google Sync This synchronizes your Google Calendar with your Blackberry Calendar - and - if you've got a domino server running, you can sync with that too. This means that your three calendars can always be in synch. Obviously, this isn't for everyone as some people share their Google c...

I've just added a bunch of social bookmarking links to my blogs. Since it took me a while to figure out how to do it, I thought I'd share my wisdom. Note that this method supports Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress and others. At this stage, I don't know if it supports Domino Blogsphere - Any Domino people want to provide an update? Getting the Link Information 1. Go to the Site: http://www.addthis.com 2. Click Get your Button 3. Choose Bookmarking Widget and select the type of Widget, where you want it and the blogging platform. 4. Click the button marked Get Your Free Button 5. You'll be prompted to Login / Become a Member 6. After this you'll be supplied with some code, copy the code for pasting into your Blog (see step 7 below). and here's a picture to show how simple the selection is. Making the Code Change (Blogger Only) Note: The web site ( http://www.addthis.com ) gives you pointers for blogger, and I presume for the other platforms too, so if you use a differ...

As rightly pointed out by Bruce Elgort in a comment on my last post, IdeaJam is actually an IBM/Lotus developer community initiative. I did know that, but somehow I accidentally wound up giving credit to IBM/Lotus anyway. (sorry). The IBM/Lotus systems are blessed with IMHO, the best developer community in the world. Sure, a lot of praise is due IBM/Lotus for their commitment to the community and to their evangelists, Ed Brill , Alan Lepofsky , Mary Beth Raven , Adam Gartenberg and Bob Balaban among others. But the real credit has got to go to the generally unsung heroes of the Lotus Community... The people behind initiatives like IdeaJam , OpenNTF and regular submitters to the IBM Lotus Sandbox . I could rattle off a huge list of names and linked blogs, but then I'd be competing with the likes of Facebook and Orkut. If the measure of an application's success is at least partially determined by the quality of the people it attracts, then there can be no doubt in my min...

I've been looking at this site for a while now and am quite impressed. This concept might not seem complex at first but the business possibilities for this type of Web 2.0 app are endless. Idea Jam ( http://ideajam.net/ ) The idea behind this site is to let people submit ideas, in this case for improvements to the Notes/Domino product, then allow others to comment and vote on them. The best ideas gradually move to the top. Well done IBM !! Also, today they announced code to allow you to embed your ideas on your web page or blog (though it doesn't seem to work in blogger yet) so... Please vote my ideas :-) Obviously I want them to progress Can we have a Code Wiki near the Forums Clipboard access in LotusScript without API's

Continuing with my implementation of BlogSphere, I feel sadly let down, not by the product, which seems to be very good but by the documentation - sorry, lack of documentation. At any rate, pressing on... Configuring BlogSphere You can't configure blogsphere without the ACL being set correctly. As far as I can tell, you can only be a member of one role (ie: not in multiple groups with multiple roles). This could be completely wrong but so far it's working for me. I put myself directly into the ACL with Manager rights and the [UI-Admin] role. Logging out and then back in gave me access to the configuration options. Configuration can be selected by clicking the BlogSphere config button in the top left hand corner of the Navigator. Side Blocks The initial web view of BlogSphere V3 is much better than V2, cleaner and nicer. That said, I'm sure you'll want to add some content to the sides. In this example, I'm going to do a calendar because that one works - I haven...

I know I was going to continue on Domino's BlogSphere but I just had to mention this... Google Blogger just keeps on getting better and better. Today, my RSS feeds gave me a post on Blogger's New Slideshow tool entitled Show off your photos with the new Slideshow . This is very impressive. It allows you to add a layout element that will display your photos from a given folder in Picasa Web Albums . The integration between Google's applications is spectacular. What's more, it's not limited to Google - It works with Flickr and Photobucket too as well as other sites supporting Media RSS. Add this to features like the ability to publish RSS entries of interest directly from your feeds in Google Reader and (sorry IBM/Lotus BlogSphere) Google Blogger is, at least for the moment IMHO, the untouchable king of Blog tools. IBM - If you're reading, this sort of integration is the main reason why you should be putting more effort into integrating your systems (and oth...

These instructions use Notes 7. Getting hold of the Template Go to OpenNTF.org and login. If you don't have a login, you should register for one. It's free, but you can't download without being logged in. Download the BlogSphere Template . At the time of writing, the current version was 3.0 Documentation Documentation for BlogSphere is at the BlogSphere Wiki . It's obviously going to be a better source of information than this blog. I'm only writing this because I want to keep my notes somewhere and I want to show how easy the product is. [Note: Sadly, I've just had a look at the documentation and, at present, I'm not sure if it is actually better than this blog entry. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong - I hope so]. Save the Template on your Domino Server and Sign it with an appropriate ID. Creating a New Blog From the Notes Client select File, Database New . Specify the Correct Server, Path and Filename to the Database (whatever you like really). C...