Sidingsound

Readers of Eee 701 Planetoid (my blog devoted to the Asus Eee 701 ‘netbook’) may be aware that I’m a big fan of Dropbox, the online storage/file synchronisation service which also happens to work perfectly with the 701. I just wanted to share a quick tip for Dropbox I learned from an article at Lifehacker, which may be of use to other users, especially if they’re running Linux or Mac OS X:

As you may know, installing the Dropbox client on your Mac, Linux or Windows computer, gives you a special folder into which you place other folders or files; these are then copied not only to the online Dropbox storage space, but to any other computers linked to your account. This is very handy, especially if you have a laptop or other portable machine; it’s perfect for my Eee netbook, as I can back up files to Dropbox and my Mac with very little effort.

But what if you wanted to link folders/files on one machine to Dropbox, which aren’t located within the Dropbox folder? For instance, my Eee (running the Eeebuntu Linux OS) has a “Documents” folder in my home directory, and I’d like this to be backed up to Dropbox (nothing sensitive or confidential there, BTW), even though the folder should really stay where it is.

The answer—certainly if you’re on Linux/Mac—is simple: you just create a symbolic link (or ’symlink’—like a Mac alias or Windows shortcut) within the Dropbox folder, which points to the folder (or file) you’d like to link to. In the Linux and Mac terminal, you would change to the Dropbox folder, and from there, enter:

ln -s /path/to/your/item

This would create a symlink in the Dropbox folder with the same name—if you wanted a different name, you enter the new name for your symlink after the path:

ln -s /path/to/your/item alternative_name

(I would recommend symlinking a folder rather than a file for this purpose, just to be ‘tidy’.)

I use this method to ‘place’ my Eee’s Documents folder within Dropbox, so it appears to exist in two places (within my home directory, and within the Dropbox folder). The contents of ‘Documents’ are backed up to Dropbox, and also to the Dropbox folder on our Mac, meaning that in effect I have three copies of each item in the folder.

Check out the original Lifehacker article (“Sync files and folders outside your Dropbox folder“) for more details, including how to achieve the symlinking effect on Windows (basically, if you’re on Vista or Win7, use MKLINK at the command prompt).

A couple of months back, I looked back on some of my “computing milestones” from the past fifteen years or so, and in passing, mentioned that for a couple of years I was the proud owner of a Psion Series 5mx.

Whilst I had time to write about how I was getting on the Internet with it in 2001 (via my then mobile phone—a Nokia 6310i, as I recall—via GPRS over an infrared link!), I didn’t mention another use for the Psion at the time: it was also my calendar, which I synchronised with Lotus Organizer (sic) on my desktop PC via PsiWin.

Of course, there’s little new in syncing a PDA with a PC/Mac—owners of handhelds have been doing this since the 1990s. However, after parting with my Psion I didn’t get back into calendar-syncing activity until acquiring my current mobile phone (a Nokia N95), in the summer of 2007. This syncs very nicely with our iMac (either over USB, or more often, wirelessly via Bluetooth), but it can also exchange data with calendar hosts on the Internet.

Since last year, I’ve been syncing Google Calendar with the N95 over the Internet (3G or WiFi, whichever is available). A sync setup has evolved over time between the iMac, the N95 and Google Calendar where:

• Google acts as the de facto ‘master’ calendar, mainly because until relatively recently, Apple iCal couldn’t update Google Calendar directly. Therefore, I set up iCal to “read” the GC data, and updated GC via either the N95 or the Web interface. (I just learned that iCal now supports “write access” to GC via CalDAV, of which more shortly.)
• Until now, the N95 has synced with Google Calendar over HTTP, via the GooSync online service. (You will note the past tense, the reason for which follows in a moment.) I also sync via HTTP to Nokia’s Ovi service, as it seems to me one can never have too many data backups…

The problem with GooSync, is that they have just discontinued their Free service, in favour of offering “Lite” and “Premium” packages. The “Lite” package isn’t ruinously expensive (about £6 a year), but being a bit of a cheap sort (!), I thought I’d look around for free alternative solutions for syncing between Google Calendar and my N95, or even completely different approaches.

Well, at time of writing, I’m still looking. Basically, I haven’t found another free service offering sync between S60 phones and Google Calendar over SyncML (the preferred method for S60); they’re all paid services. Google’s own SyncML-based service is limited on S60 to contact information (so no calendar sync); however, they offer contacts and calendar sync if you’re prepared to download Nokia Mail for Exchange, which Google warns may result in data loss (“make sure to back up any important data before you set up Google Sync”, but then that’s good advice anyway).

One positive development: I’ve managed to set up iCal on the Mac to access Google Calendar via CalDAV, so I can now not only read GC items within iCal, but add them as well. Whilst I could get around the GC-N95 sync problem by syncing the N95 and Mac (i.e. the Mac becomes the ‘master’), this wouldn’t work if I’m away from home, and I’d also be stuck if the home Internet connection goes down.

Loads of fun, anyway. In the end, it may turn out that I have to bite the bullet and pay for a Google Calendar syncing service after all (in which case, I’d probably stick with GooSync). It all makes me feel as if I took the ability to sync my calendar online from my phone, for free, somewhat for granted.

Whatever the case, it looks like I have some weighing-up of options to do.

This seems to be a time for following up on previous blog posts, so here’s another one “revisited”:

Back in May (when this blog was still run off Blogger), I wrote about how I’d really like to find a “hard” carrying case for my Apple wireless keyboard, which I use a lot with my Nokia N95 as an alternative to a laptop.

Basically, I haven’t been able to find one to date—I suspect my particular application for the keyboard isn’t a very common one—so at present I use the cardboard box which the keyboard came in, to protect the keyboard when it’s being carried in my gadget bag (and believe me, without protection, it would really get beaten up in there).

The box works, but I’d rather like a more elegant solution. The nearest I’ve found online is a padded “sleeve” case made especially to fit the Apple wireless keyboard, but nice though this is, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent the keys being pressed whilst the keyboard’s in the gadget bag, and I’d rather avoid this happening to save the keyboard’s batteries (and the N95 responding to unwanted key signals).

I’ve been thinking more about what I’d want in a hard case for the Apple keyboard, and here are a few of my ideas:

• The case’s dimensions should be quite close to that of the cardboard box which the keyboard came in, including the recess to accommodate the cylindrical part of the keyboard which holds the batteries and the power switch, and tilts the keys off the desktop.
• There should be some measure of foam rubber padding inside, if that can be done without increasing the case’s size much.
• I’d like to be able to use the keyboard inside the case (i.e. lift the lid, and it’s ready to go)—think of how a laptop works, and you’re on the right track.
• Related to the above point: if possible, the lid should be “angle-able” like a laptop’s screen, and I’d like to be able to place the N95 on the lid so that I can see it while controlling it with the keyboard. (In concept, this would be a bit like the phone holder on the Nokia SU-8W Bluetooth keyboard.)
• Definitely not essential, but a carry-handle might be useful, a bit like those you see on briefcases (and preferably smaller than those).

I wouldn’t really mind what material the case was made from, as long as it worked as set out above (and wasn’t liable to give me splinters or damage anything near it).

It’s at times like these that I wish I were more “handy” with DIY, software-coding and that sort of thing…

Posted by Wordmobi

Here’s a ‘poser’ for you for the middle of the week: what do all the following items have in common?

1. Bluetooth keyboard support
2. Support for Flash in the Web browser
3. 5Mp still photos
4. Carl Zeiss lens/optics
5. Video editor, with the capability to add captions and render movies at full VGA resolution

Guessed it yet? Yup, they’re the features which (to the best of my knowledge) the iPhone 3GS doesn’t have, which my two-year-old Nokia N95 does have (and which I actually use), and which Apple are going to have to add to the next iPhone before I will even consider switching.

Now, believe it or not, I’m not trying to be deliberately provocative here. I love my gadgets as much as anyone (if not more), and as a Mac owner, I really would love to like everything about the iPhone. I’m happy to admit, the above list is gradually getting smaller than it used to be—the 3GS now supports cut/copy/paste (as the N95 always did); it now supports Bluetooth headsets (ditto); and you can now use the live video-streaming service Qik with the 3GS (thus joining my N95, which I’ve been using with Qik for the last eighteen months).

It’s hard to believe one still can’t use a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPhone without ‘jailbreaking’ the latter—ironically, it doesn’t even support Apple’s own wireless keyboard (which, to further ladle on the irony, I use perfectly well with my N95). It seems to me that an iPhone or iPod Touch paired with a BT keyboard, would make a brilliant laptop replacement, so I wonder if Apple has deliberately withheld this support so as to avoid cannibalising sales of MacBooks (which wouldn’t make much sense, given the disparity in price between the products).

To top all this off, comes the continuing speculation that Apple is readying an “iTablet”—that is, basically a larger iPod Touch with a bigger screen (and presumably a few more bells and whistles). Sounds interesting, except I’d place a bet that it’ll have an eye-watering price tag, and probably still won’t have Bluetooth keyboard support (again, not to cannibalise sales from the MacBooks).

Anyway, it looks like I’ll be sticking with my trusty N95 at least a bit longer, even if it doesn’t look as cool as a laser-engraved Apple product…

I've been trying to get another post up here for the last week or so, but something always interrupted me, so here's a go at a quick e-mail post from my mobile phone.

Basically, we recently invested in an iMac, partly to retire our old PC which is getting rather long in the tooth, but also for producing music and some graphics (the latter mainly for Joy's music activities for children). I bought Logic Express to go with the machine, and have been experimenting with it to add an extra dimension to our music production.

Yesterday evening I finally got to try one of Logic's software synthesisers that I've been dying to have a go on: EVOC, a vocoder synth (which blends the synth signal with an audio input such as a voice). In a nutshell, I was recording some guitar synth parts for "When The Sun Goes Off To Sleep", a song for the "concept album" (which I'm still hoping to finish this year, honest!), and decided to add some 'vocoded' voice to the end. The song has been around for a few years (I wrote it as a lullaby for my daughter), and my original acoustic demo dates from late 2004, but I've wanted to re-record it to give the song a more ambient, dreamy air. In particular, I hoped Joy might sing a bit on it, as I had conceived a female vocal sound for the ending, but she felt a bit shy and backed out, so the idea was shelved until I thought of using Logic's vocoder (which might capture even better the effect I wanted).

So, last night I recorded the voice part for the vocoder to use, set up the MIDI guitar and played the melody on the vocoder. The results were just what I was looking for—an ethereal 'voice' (or 'voices', as I'd played a 'chordal' part into the vocoder), floating behind the lead vocal in the final verse. I also tried my original idea for the song ending: two lines from the Korean nursery rhyme which gave the song its chorus melody. This worked pretty well too, so I think you can expect to hear all this on the final version of the song, when I get around to putting out the album.

The moral of this story: vocoders are fun