A really great time logger

Are you already using KDE? If so, you're in luck, cause the best time logger I've ever seen has been available on KDE for years.

Karm (forget about the name, it's a KDE thing that almost every name starts with a K) logs the time you spend on each virtual desktop. Just place all programs related to each project on a separate desktop, and all private stuff (like instant messenger, gmail etc) on the last one. Then set up Karm to track time on the different desktops to the projects.

Also, if you leave the computer for more than a few minutes, when you come back, Karm will ask you if you want to include the time since last activity or not.

Just one more reason why I like Linux, and KDE in particular.

5 minutes well spent: Automatic notification about new information on the web

Todays post is about two techniques to get automatic notifications about new information on the web.

First out is Google's free service "Google Alerts."

Some interesting uses:

• Get notified when other people write about your company.
• Get notified when other people write about your competitors.
• Get notified about what other companies/organizations write. (example: make a search for site:tomra.com.)
• Follow interesting, but not (yet) very hot technologies. (example: seam wicket)

After registering your search, you'll get an email with a confirmation link. This is a technique I use to keep up to date with less surfing. The advantage over just collecting links to various searches is that with Google Alerts, you'll only get the new and updated pages. And you get it delivered to your inbox automatically. Just make sure you make a rule to filter out those alerts to a different folder, so you can read them in a batch. The second tip is to use the firefox extension Update Scanner. I use it for web sites that both are not indexed and have no RSS feed. Examples are the forums for the delphi build tool "want".

Ubuntu post-install customization

Here I've collected some of the things I did last time I installed Ubuntu from scratch on my commuting-part-time-LAMP-developer laptop.

• Get security upgrades.
• Install my favourite firefox extensions:
  
  • Firebug. The must have web developer extension.
  • Delicious bookmarks. I don't care much for the social part of it (at least right now,) but I consider it the best bookmarking feature I've found.
  • Scrapbook. Commuters best friend! Allows me to download web sites recursively, read, and even search in downloaded web pages.
  • All-in-One gestures. (I absolutely love keyboard shortcuts, but when I am using the mouse, why change back to the keyboard just to go back to the previous page? With mouse gestures it's just pressing the right button and drag the mouse to the left, release, welcome back.)
  • Google gears. (For offline access to Remember the Milk.)
• Install LAMP-server. (Using Synaptic.)
• Install subversion.
• Install php-pear.
• Install symfony by running the commands below in a terminal:
  
  • sudo pear channel-discover pear.symfony-project.com
  • sudo pear install symfony/symfony-1.1.0
  (Symfony is, in my opinion, one of the best php frameworks out there. Maybe also one of the best web frameworks, regardless of language.)
• Download PHP Development Tools. Since last fall, Ive considered the eclipse based PDT a better alternative than anything else I've used, including both commercial and open source alternatives. Earlier I used to use jEdit, an awesome heavyweight text editor (hey, I've got 2 GB RAM, and I don't really care if it uses 40 MB as long as it is the best editor I know.) in combination with a lightweight alternative like notepad++ (on Windows) or gedit or kate on Linux.
• Download the php documentation.
• Using the Scrapbook extension mentioned above, download the symfony 1.1 book. (After installing the Scrapbook extension it's just a matter of right clicking the site, choose "Capture Page As..." from the context menu and set depth to follow links to "1" under "In-depth Capture". And if you're in a hurry, like me, choose "Filter" and "Restrict to Directory", so that you'll only download the relevant files.
• Install keepassx and copy the old database from the backup. I use it to keep rarely used passwords, serial keys (e.g. vmware server,) and other details that I don't want to be available for whoever uses my PC.
• Install vmware server.This used to be a matter of installing it from the repositories, but now it's slightly harder. Here is the best way I've found to install it on Ubuntu Hardy Heron, a script made by Brett Alton.

Edit 2008-07-22: Forgot a couple of details when first publishing this post last night.

• Add nautilus-gksu from repostitory.
• Add nautilus-open-terminal from repostitory.
• Add edit as root to the nautilus context menu. It really shouldn't be necessary to open a terminal to edit /etc/fstab . (e.g. for enabling acl)

Edit 2008-07-30: Another detail:

• Add php-xsl from repository. Without this, data-load doesn't work.

Btw: Seems like I'd rather use this checklist myself next time : )

Elektronisk loggbok (på mindre enn ein time)/electronic logbook (in less than an hour) English summary This post describes how to make an electronic, searchable logbook for your company/organization in less than an hour, using your ordinary email system. Yes, and I'm talking about a real, fast, easy to use, cross platform, logging application with integrated search. And you don't have to know programming. It's so simple:

1. Tell your colleagues about the plan, and invite them to a short meeting.
2. Decide a keyword for the log mails. Like "change" or "log". Use some parenthesis or underscores or whatsoever to distinguish it from ordinary emails starting with "change" or "log"
3. Make a group email account either in your company's email system, or locally on each computer.
4. Make a rule in your email system that filters all mails starting with the keyword you agreed on to a different folder (e.g. a folder named logbook), and mark them as read.

Norsk For en tid siden hadde vi en interessant diskusjon om hvordan vi skulle logge mindre endringer som ble gjort i systemene i det firmaet jeg jobbet i. Det som var viktig for oss var:

• Det måtte være så enkelt å logge at alt ble logget.
• Loggen måtte være tilgjengelig for alle som skulle ha tilgang.

De to tankene som først kom opp var å:

• Opprette en loggbok i resepsjonen, der alle endringer ble logget.
• Opprette en enkel nettside som kunne brukes til å logge og lese logger, og plassere den i intranettet.

Det var imidlertid to store haker med dette:

• En loggbok er i dag å regne som litt gammeldags. Den er ikke søkbar, vanskelig å ta backup av, lett å stjele, vanskelig å kryptere/dekryptere osv.
• Et ny webside som skal settes opp tar unektelig minst en halv dag med konsentrert jobbing, dersom resultatet skal bli brukbart. I tillegg blir det en ting mer å drifte.
• Mange har en tendens til å prøve unngå web-applikasjoner, fordi de er trege og lite brukervennlige sammenlignet med andre applikasjoner.

Vi kom frem til en løsning som er like enkel som den er genial. Vi bestemte oss for å ha en epostgruppe for alle de involverte og sende alle endringer som epost til denne. Tittellinjene merker vi med en tag, for eksempel "logg". Bruk noen paranteser eller understreker i taggen, for å sikre at ikke vanlige eposter blir sortert ut. Nå kan alle melde fra om mindre endringer i løpet av 30 sekunder. Større meldinger går også fint. Systemet er plattformuavhengig, basert på kjent teknologi, ingen opplæringskostnader og kommer med integrert søkefunksjon. På den måten har alle medarbeidere tilgang til den felles endringsloggen, uavhengig av hvor de er fysisk. Fordi vi merker alle endringsmeldinger med en kjent tag er det lett å sortere disse ut, merke de som lest og flytte de til en annen mappe, slik at en slipper å bli forstyrret av de når en sitter konsentret med annet arbeid. Bare i tilfelle det skulle være flere bedrifter som trenger et moderne loggsystem. (Denne artikkelen ble endret 2006-11-20 for å legge til et engelsk sammendrag, etter at det viste seg at mange av treffene kom fra USA og Storbrittania. / This article was changed on 2006-11-20 to add an english summay, because many of the visitors came from USA and England.)