Oliver Merk's Personal Blog - General

QuickFolders for Thunderbird

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:19:00-0400

Just found a great extension to Thunderbird that has cut down on the amount of time I spend sorting through the daily email flood. QuickFolders is a project created by Alexander Malfait and Axel Grude. They've obviously put a lot of time, thought and care into crafting this very configurable add-on. Here's a screen shot from their site:
As you can see, you create a tool bar of your most-used email folders for easy access. You can also drag emails onto these tabs for quick organization. And there are lots of settings to play around with until you get it looking just right. I think this is such vital functionality that it should be part of the next version of Thunderbird. The project home page is at quickfolders.mozdev.org. If you're a Thunderbird user, this one's a must-have.

RabbitVCS == Tortoise SVN for Linux!

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:27:00-0400

There's been an update to the old NautilusSVN project called RabbitVCS which finally gives Ubuntu/Gnome SVN users something on par with the venerable Tortoise for Windows. I've been testing it for a couple of days and it's really good. The only bug I've found is that if a file is deleted from disk, a commit won't delete the file from Subversion. Guess I won't be able to "sudo apt-get purge kdesvn" just yet, but hopefully soon! It also has one of the best Open Source project sites I've ever seen. Check it out (pun intended) at www.rabbitvcs.org.

My MAX 2008 Presentation

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:30:00-0400

Here's my preso from MAX 2008. If you save the attachment you'll have the cheat sheet that was distributed at the session (until we ran out;)

Thanks to slidesix.com for their presentation application. Let me know if you have any questions or additional tips to share!

MAX2008 update and MAX 2009!

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:08:00-0400

Breaking news from MAX2008. I picked up my Speaker's Badge last night, flipped it over and there it was:
"See you next year"
Los Angeles, California
October 4-7, 2009

Doing my one and only presentation this afternoon, then it's sitting back to enjoy other peoples' sessions.

Toronto Flex User Group Meeting: MAX2008 Goodies!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:13:00-0400

Our next meeting will be on Thursday December 4th, 2008 at Oakham House on the Ryerson Campus, starting at 6:30pm:

Oakham House
Room: Oakham Lounge
55 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 1E9

http://www.oakhamhouse.com/pages/directions.php has directions and parking information.

The evening's theme will be MAX2008 Goodies. We'll look at new product announcements, betas and other news that comes out of the San Francisco MAX conference the week of November 17th.

If you're planning to attend MAX and would like to help present, just drop me a line.

As always, don't forget to register free at www.torontoflex.org so we know how many people to expect.

If you're interested in presenting an application or topic in the future that would be of interest to the group, let us know and we'll try to get you some time at an upcoming meeting.

Thanks,
Oliver

Canadian Do-Not-Call List

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:03:00-0400

Ring..."Hello?" "Would you like to participate in our survey?" "Are you interested in a time-share opportunity?" "Hi, this is Boris the mover. Need help with the moving? We lift all heavy thing for you..." Sound familiar, usually right when you're sitting down for dinner? I could swear I signed up for something like this a few years ago (completely ineffective), but here we go again. Starting September 30, 2008, Canadian residents will be able to register their phone numbers with the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). Any US readers care to comment on the effectiveness of the National Do Not Call Registry? Here's the link that will be slammed on September 30th: http://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng.html

NBC Alienates Users

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:45:00-0400

Not only forcing Silverlight down our throats (see Ben Nadel's hilarious post), but Windows as well. And the hypocrisy of using Flash all over their homepage is brilliant. Nice work NBC. Thank you from all the Linux and Mac users around the world who are shielded from viewing your advertising. The wonderful things that happen when two great companies get together!

Google Hosted Mail Captcha Gotcha

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:55:00-0400

This one's a real WTF. If you're using Google hosted email (a great service, BTW) you occasionally run into a situation where you can login and read your email via Google's web interface, but when you try retrieving your email via POP you get a password error. What the...? Apparently, GMail wants you to verify the host system using a username, paswword, captcha login. The error message gives you no clue as to this problem. Doing a bit of digging, I discovered that you must go to a special URL for your domain, enter your username, password and captcha, and things will magically work again. Here's a sample of the URL you'd need to visit to unlock an email account under yourdomain.com: https://www.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/UnlockCaptcha The logic of this whole "feature" escapes me. First, how is a user supposed to pass a catcha-based login from within a POP client? Second, how about giving the user half a clue in the POP server error message as to how to resolve the problem. Third, there's no logic behind when this kicks in. All the other accounts on my domain had no problem with a POP login. From what I've read, others have run into this with their generic GMail accounts as well. Anyone have an explanation beyond "it's a security thing"?

Webmin: Web-based System Administration

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:04:00-0400

If you're running Apache, MySQL or just about any other service, this one's for you. I ran into Webmin over the weekend as I embarked on re-building my home server (all Linux!). I was finding the new Apache configs a bit of a handful so I started searching. Didn't take long to find this amazing tool for Linux (there's a Windows alpha available as well). And of course, it's free.

Useful Windows Utility: allSnap

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:16:00-0400

One thing I love about KDE is its default snapping behavior for all desktop windows. When I go back onto my work laptop (Windows) I miss this simple feature. A fellow Toronto developer, Ivan Heckman from U of T, has created a great free utility that mimics this behavior in Windows. Check it out here. So what's your favorite free Windows utility? [Thanks Ivan!]

From the Other Side of the Interview

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:36:00-0400

Part of my job includes interviewing candidates for developer positions (Flex, Java, ColdFusion, etc.). In the past two weeks I've sat through some of the most painful ones I can remember; not because of the candidates' skills, but their presentation. Some examples:

One person came in with a one page resume. Five typos, including one in the title. They claimed to be great at communication and document creation. Uh-huh.
During one of the longer interviews, the candidate openly stretched and yawned as he formulated the answer to a question. Sorry to keep you awake.
One claimed to be an expert Java developer. I asked what a Singleton was. They are not an expert Java developer.
Another claimed to be an expert at Flex communications. I asked what an AsyncToken was. They are not an expert at Flex communications.
Yet another said they were a ColdFusion expert, but had not tried that new-fangled CFC stuff yet. They are not a ColdFusion expert.

So some gentle advice for those seeking employment from someone who's been on both sides of the interview table:

Spell-check your resume. Then get someone to read it over for mistakes. Then get someone else to read it over for mistakes. Then get someone else to read it over for mistakes.
Don't exaggerate your skill set. I'll see through it, as will any competent technical interviewer. And they'll likely be royally pissed if you wasted their time with any blatant dishonesty.
Watch your manners. I know it's a nerve-racking experience, but you're presenting yourself to people for the first time and you've got one shot to make a good impression. Something like an open yawn is offensive on many levels.
The interviewer wants you to do well in the interview. We want to fill a position and we hope you're the right candidate for the job. If you sense the interviewer does not have this attitude, think about whether this company is the right fit for you.
The interview is a conversation, not an interrogation. Ask good questions about the company and your future role. We like that. But also listen carefully to our questions and answer them directly. If you don't know the answer, then say so. It's easier to overlook ignorance than dishonesty.

Hope this helps somebody. Hopefully the next person I interview;) Oliver

Speaking at MAX 2008

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:35:00-0400

I'm happy to announce that I've been asked to present a session on Advanced Flex Builder 3 Tips & Tricks for MAX 2008 in San Francisco this November. A topic near and dear to my heart! Hope to see you there!

New Toronto Group Now Hiring!

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:33:00-0400

Looking for work in the Toronto area? New Toronto Group (my employer) is now hiring! If you're a Flex developer, or a Java developer looking to get into the RIA space we'd love to hear from you. We're looking for consultants, developers and trainers, so if you're interested in any or all of these, please email a resume and cover letter to: Ed Van Beilen
New Toronto Group
edv _at_ newyyz.com
Hope to hear from you soon!

Toronto Flex Camp 2

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:24:00-0400

Here we go again! Toronto Flex Camp 2 is happening on May 15th, 2008. Ben Forta, Mike Potter, yours truly and others will be speaking. If you're interested in showing off some Flex or AIR code, drop me a line from the site. Go to torontoflex.org for more information and to register for free.

Using GMail to handle your domain's mail

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:44:00-0400

I tried, I really tried. I did everything by the book. I fought the good fight. After years of struggle, I've finally given up trying to run my own mail server. Getting swamped with spam, I used whitelisting. Then the spammers reported my whitelisting response emails as spam and my ISP accused me of sending spam. I've got better things to do. So I decided to try Google Apps. It took about a day for my DNS entries to propagate with the new pointers to Google's mail servers and I haven't looked back! You get up to 100 accounts with 6GB storage each, exceptional spam filtering and the ability to report the occasional spam that does make it into your inbox. And the cost? You guessed it: free. And there are other apps as well. Check it out at http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/index.html