shahine.com/omar/

How do I know that a product is getting the proper amount of care and feeding?

When they fix and implement the little touches that make a difference.

I've been using IE 8 for a few weeks now and noticed that something that has always bothered stopped bothering me.

What is this feature?

The search box in the upper right corner now updates based on the searches that you do in Google, Live Search etc.

Let's day I fire up the web browser and hit control-E (the shortcut to take you to the search box).

I then type "Ryovac AAA" and get some results. However, I now want to refine my results by clarifying the search a bit.

So in the search page I type "Ryovac AAA Hybrid" and hit search. Now I open a new tab and want to issue that same search so I can browse a different page. Uh oh, the IE search box says "Ryovac AAA".

Well in IE 8 it says "Ryovac AAA Hybrid".

Thanks IE Team!

This feature is actually more useful when you are searching some error message you are getting on your PC and you are constantly refining the search over time and have like 5 different tabs open as you continue your research.

To me this feature is just like the one where IE finally started matching text in menus the way it's supposed to. This feature has saved me countless frustrating minutes.

For at least the past year I've had "blog about rechargeable batteries" on my list.

When we had Sarah, the number of things we own that use batteries increased an order of magnitude. I also noticed that rechargeable batteries have gotten CHEAP. Also, regular batteries, like CFL bulbs, contain heavy metals and need to be disposed of properly. If you throw them in the trash, well, you are breaking the law in California.

Up until February 8, 2006, California residents were allowed to throw away any 'spent' battery in the trash. However, Since February 9th, all batteries have been prohibited from every solid waste stream in the state due to those toxic materials.

I first purchased my rechargeable batteries in 1999 on my first trip to Japan. I marveled at the compactness and convenience of the Japanese Sony rechargers. More specifically my Sony recharger had a "wall plug" and could work anywhere in the world. Here in the US we were stuck with huge contraptions that barely worked. I picked up 8 AA batteries and a charger and still have them. In fact the only two gadgets I purchased in Japan (in Akihabara) were this charger and batteries and 2 sets of Sony headphones.

One of the items we used heavily for the first 6 months of Sarah's life was the Fisher-Price Nature's Touch Baby Papasan Cradle Swing. This thing ate D batteries at a rate of 4 per 3 days in some cases. I was not about to make Duracell and Energizer a big part of my monthly budget.

That's when I loaded up on lots of rechargeable batteries. I power every single battery operated device in my house now with rechargeable and I have about a dozen spare batteries waiting to replace others. There is no reason not to.

Well there is really no point in writing a post now, because Jeff Atwood has done it in his usual awesome kick ass style that you can only admire as a geek.

It's posts like these that keep his blog at the top of my list. It feeds my inner geek.

I plan on purchasing the La Crosse Technology BC-900 (use the link on his blog to purchase) right now. I have been looking for something like this. Thanks Jeff!

PS - Speaking of batteries, what ever happened to the "A" battery and the "B" Battery?

I wrote about this in the past, but CFL bulbs have a dark secret. It's near impossible to find a "safe" way to get rid of them.

CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, and well, there is already too much mercury in the water, hence the Tunas getting all loaded up with it.

In my area I've identified 2 places I can take my CFL bulbs for disposal.

1. IKEA
2. The local recycling center

CFLs are considered hazardous waste.

IMHO there should be curb side recycling or at least force everyone that sells CFLs to also support disposal.

But really, millions of CFL bulbs are still going to make their way to our landfills cause people are lazy or ignorant of the hazard.

The solution of course would be to have an energy efficient bulb that did not utilize mercury.

While I have lots of CFLs in my house (see my post on which ones I recommend) I also have lots of halogen and incandescent bulbs. I'm a big fan of the new Philips Halogena Energy Saver. Looks like Osram (aka Sylvania) is also getting in the game.

I expect LEDs and low energy incandescent bulbs to get better and more practical over time.

Bottom line is that CFLs have amazing energy savings benefits, but they are a major step down from incandescent and halogen bulbs. Hopefully CFLs will be a thing of the past in a few years.

I tried using my USB Wireless Lock again the other day, but it's just too dammed flaky. My PC would lock it self randomly even when my FOB was close by.

Then I came across this post on lifehacker about a program called Blue Lock that will use your Bluetooth phone and Lock once the phone is outside of the visibility of your PC.

I've been running it for a few days and it works flawlessly. So well in fact that sometimes it won't lock if I am around the corner because the range of bluetooth can be pretty substantial.

The program works best when your machine is using the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack. I have a Microsoft Laser Mouse 8000, which of course uses the MS Stack. But my Lenovo Thinkpad uses the Broadcomm stack (you can still use the MS one if you uninstall the Lenovo software).

Quick note. If you want your machine to automatically lock again after you unlock your PC (it doesn't do this) you need to go into the configuration file in the bluelock folder and change:

clearLockDeviceFieldOnLock=true

to false:

clearLockDeviceFieldOnLock=false

and definitely pay attention to the warning. I set my timeout to 30 seconds.

A few months ago, Torres sent me this link and told me not to watch this at work or I'd cry.

I watched it at work, in the teaming area of our floor actually... and tears did form.

Once a month I watch this video, for no other reason than to remind myself how lucky I am.

I spend a lot of time searching boutique web forums finding the answers to obscure questions.

It's a bit like searching the internet before there was Google (painful).

Enter Twing.

Pretty awesome.

[via lifehacker]

It seemed all great, but then I noticed that not all my events sync. Today for example, Google says I have 3 appointment, but really I have 5.

I found this gem in the help:

I'm using Google Calendar Sync and not all my events are syncing.

If your Microsoft Outlook events aren't being transferred to Google Calendar, check to see if the email address associated with Google Calendar is listed as the organizer or a guest of the event. Currently, Google Calendar Sync requires that you're either the organizer or a guest on an event to sync it properly. For additional details please see the Google Calendar Sync - FAQ in our Help Group.

Check to see if the email address associated with Google Calendar is listed as the organizer or a guest of the event?

What exactly does that mean and how do I ensure that the right email address is listed?

According to the FAQ:

To sync all events between Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar, the email address associated with Google Calendar needs to match the email address associated with Microsoft Outlook. For example, if you're using user1@domain.com with your Outlook Calendar, enter user1@domain.com in the Google Calendar Sync Settings window, and then view your synced events with the Google Calendar associated with your user1@domain.com email address. If you don't yet have Google Calendar set up with your user1@domain.com email address, just visit the Google Calendar homepage and click on "Create a new Google Account."

I have to create a new Google Account just to get all my events synced? Why do some work and not others?

Perhaps I should use OggSync, which doesn't have any of these limitations, and is what my wife uses to sync her Windows Mobile Phone to her Calendar.

For now I've just uninstalled the sync client.

There is a lot you can read about Getting Things Done that's primarily focused on you. How you deal with your email at work and home, how you deal with your stuff etc. Most all software is focused on yourself.

But what about GTD for your family? I've found that one of the most difficult aspects of implementing GTD isn't focused on how you deal with the fire hose at work, but how you deal with the fire hose at home, when you are sharing tasks with some one else (in my case my wife). In this case, my wife knows nothing about GTD and isn't willing to read the book, so in a way, my job is twice as hard.

It gets further complicated when you are raising a small child. It's then that the tasks and appointments that you have together require an extra level of focus. Today's software tools do a poor job of seamless integrating shared artifacts and responsibilities.

I haven't blogged about Productivity or GTD in a while because, frankly, I'm still figuring it out. It's been 4 years ago today that I started the process of learning about, understanding, and implementing GTD.

I've learned a lot in that time, and I've slowly altered behaviors that I continue to refine and improve. I've tried dozens of software programs and tools and find that I'm still not there yet, but I've gotten pretty far down the path of achieving "Mind like water".

Over the next few months I'm planning to write a series of topics focused not on how to implement GTD to get your inbox to zero (cause that's what a lot of the focus is on), but how to achieve a zen like state if you, like me, have a spouse and possibly a child.

Some of the tools are the same for yourself and some one else, but some require a bit more "help". I'll still occasionally write about learning's I've had about GTD at work (most specifically, the mechanism Scott Hanselman uses, called Inbox - CC, or what I call "Inbox - Hold"). Something that I learned while on parental leave.

But I've got a bunch of things that I plan to focus on like how to:

• coordinate appointments
• coordinate tasks
• organize and get rid of paper files
• cut down on your analog junk mail
• manage and share digital photos
• manage a bunch of computers and make sure they are backed up
• store and share passwords, bank account information, insurance policies, etc

and other topics I think of.

I also hope this serves as a way to force me to regularly post to this blog, something I've struggled to do in the past 12 months since our daughter was born.

Anyway, thanks David Allen, for writing your book and starting me down this path.

Google finally released a Calendar Sync add-in for Outlook. I downloaded and installed the software to do a 1 way sync of my Calendar so that my wife can see my availability.

Google did a fantastic job of building something simple "that just works". Unfortunately it only allows for sync of your default calendar and not any other calendars.

There are three options to sync:

• Two Way
• One way to Google from Outlook
• One way from Outlook to Google

I'm using the last one. Then I can share my free busy with my wife.

There is a little tray application that tells you what is going on:

This makes family scheduling great because in addition to that we have the following calendars:

• Family Calendar (all family stuff goes here, including people who visit). My wife and I have read/write access. note: this is just a regular calendar in Google Calendar.
• Omar's TripIt Calendar (so Lora can see all my upcoming travel).
• The In Law's TripIt Calendar (so we can see all our travel from our in-laws)
• few others

Here is a pic illustrating the calendars:

In addition to this I get email reminders a day in advance for all Family stuff, that way I don't miss anything.

Lora gets email reminders 1 week in advance for all my travel, so she is aware of things with enough time to plan.

Very cool stuff.

Helps a lot with "Mind like water".

A few weeks ago I replaced my Thinkpad T60 with a Thinkpad X61T. My reasons were:

• I want something smaller
• See bullet #1

I got tired of lugging around a 14 inch screen even though the T60 was the best laptop I've owned in many years.

Lenovo X61T

I was looking for something small that had a high resolution screen, and that only left a X61T for consideration (I was only looking at Lenovo laptops). The regular X61 has a 1024 x 768 screen and Homey don't play that!

I have to say, using a Tablet again is fun. There are some features in Vista (flicks) that I helped the team with over 2 years ago (I was an early tester using the flicks stuff on XP). It's nice to see them in the product.

Anyway, I very much like my X61T. There are a couple of things I don't like:

1. The screen has some weird coating that is impossible to clean
2. The resolution is high for a 12 inch screen (1400 x 1050)
3. It only has VGA out on the docking station and laptop. I plan to fix this with this gadget I just ordered.

But there is a lot to like. 4GB of RAM, 1.6 ghz Core 2 duo, 1GB of Intel Turbo Memory (flash memory for my hard disk allowing for Vista ReadyDrive).

I really like this laptop, and shortly thereafter I got to play with a MacBook Air that I bought for my Dad to replace his ancient Sony Vaio with cracked screen.

MacBook Air

When the details of the MacBook Air were unveiled at Macworld I was like "Bleh". Not for me. Steve just fixed one set of trade offs and created a new set of problems.

However, unpacking, holding and using a MacBook Air will change anyone's mind.

This product is special, it's so ridiculously light it reminded me of getting my first iPod nano... You just experience disbelief that this thing is a laptop.

However, the MacBook Air is not for me. The first thing I did was install Vista on it and get it all set up. Within an hour I saw a bluescreen. That was the only one for a few days, but lets just say this thing is a bit temperamental about waking from sleep, running on a battery, using the DVD drive and so on.

If the MacBook Air survives (I'm not sure it will, it could end up like the G4 Cube), v2 will certainly be the version worth getting.

I'd also like to see a higher rez screen. The laptop is quite large even though it's very thin.

Lenovo X300

Yummy. This meets every need I have in a laptop except 2

• VGA only video
• SSD only drive option

SSD is not worth the sacrifice yet. I hope they offer an old skool drive like Apple and help bring the price point down.

I've very excited about this laptop though...

Oh, it even has special feet.

Amazon finally has the new Soft Cover Moleskine Notebooks in stock!

As I mentioned a few days ago Comcast said they would upgrade me to Blast by the 29th of Feb.

A Picture says a thousand words:

Before

After

note: at first I didn't see this upload speed. It turned out that the Gamerfuel setting on my D-Link DGL-4100 was restricting my upload speed. I fixed that by manually setting my upload speed:

Since the day I installed Vista on my laptop I have had nothing but unexplained problems with docking and connecting to a projector. Additionally, my Media Center with an Intel Graphics card would also have problems when it would reboot or login and my plasma was off.

I experienced:

• Random changes in resolution from my setting to 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600
• Changes in resolution when my laptop would awake from sleep
• Changes in resolution when docking my laptop

If you go and read about Transient Multimon Manager (TMM) you will learn that you aren't supposed to have any of these problems.

On my old Thinkpad T60 these problems eventually went away when I installed the Lenovo custom ATI driver. However, now I have a Thinkpad X61T which has an Intel GMA graphics chip, similar to the one in my Media Center.

The problems on my Media Center went away when I upgraded to a nVidia card.

However, my laptop is still foobard.

If you read about TMM you will find such promises as:

Transient Multimon Manager (TMM) is a Microsoft Windows Vista operating system feature targeted at improving the user experience of connecting and disconnecting displays, particularly for the mobile user. Currently, although the Microsoft Windows operating system notifies the user of most hardware devices when it arrives, it does not do this consistently for displays. Windows is not aware of the arrival or removal of a display on a desktop system, and the user must manually set up and configure the display through the Windows display control panel or an IHV display UI. On a mobile system, the experience often involves cryptic function keys, a variety of user interface, and possibly reboots. It is particularly inconvenient with a transient display, a display that comes and goes, which is also unfortunately the most common scenario for mobile users.

Windows Vista is committed to addressing this problem through the Transient Multimon Manager (TMM), which enables the automatic detection and setup of displays as they are attached and removed. Furthermore, TMM persists the user's settings on a per-display basis when possible, so that users can move between multiple displays at ease. The goal is to enable users to work with displays in the same stress-free, Plug and Play fashion as with most other peripheral devices today, and alleviate the frustrations of using multiple monitors.

Umm, am I missing something? I am constantly frustrated about this and as far as I can tell, even with Vista SP1, this is still an area that is rife with bugs.

Is it the driver's fault? Generally Intel does excellent work... but I'm starting to wonder... when will connecting a laptop to a display be truly seamless?

There is really no excuse for my laptop not getting this 100% right after it gets to know my monitor (they are on a first name basis) and the 5 or so projectors I use every week.

Anyway, to disable TMM you need to:

1. Press the Windows Key and type "Task Scheduler"
2. Navigate to Microsoft\Windows\MobilePC
3. Right Click on TMM
4. Select Disable

now reboot.

One nice side effect of this is that your laptop will wake from sleep a few seconds faster.

As of yet I can't figure out what feature I am missing, as everything "just works".

Comcast is upgrading all customers on their Performance Plus plan (8 MBits down / 768 KBps up) to Comcast Blast (16 MBits down / 2 MBits up) by the end of Feb.

I just upgraded from slow poke cable modem (6 MBits down / 368 KBps up) a few weeks ago so this upgrade is very welcome!

I'll post a new pic when I'm upgraded.

I'm now running Vista SP1 everywhere. The best thing about Vista SP1 is that there is a bug fix to Windows Imaging Component (WIC) that addresses an issue with photos on network drives. Under Vista meta data changes to files (like keywords and ratings) would take 30 seconds to 1 minute to get written per file.

This was incredibly annoying for me since I store > 20 GB of photos on a Windows File Server and utilize numerous Vista computers to manage that library. With Vista it was unusable to manage meta data.

I'm extremely happy that the Vista folks took this bug fix for SP1. It now means I can use Windows Live Photo Gallery to manage my keywords and ratings again.