Archive for February, 2010

Fix – 1and1 hosting not updating or plugin problems

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I just found out why my wordpress installation was not working as I expected.  My wordpress updates would hang/not complete and the plugin installations would hang/stop or come back with errors.  As it turns out, 1and1.com defaults to PHP version 4 to execute the php scripts.  So, I just had to add the following code to the .htaccess file in my root of my blog directory:

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

After that, everything started working real smoothly.  So, make sure you update that PHP4 to PHP5 if you’re using 1and1.com.

–Ben

Reference:  1and1.com

Droid’s 2.1 Page removed from Motorola – Why – and link to pics

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Motorola had a informational page about what was contained in the 2.1 update.  But they pulled it shortly thereafter.  From the looks of it, nobody’s answering the question of why.  However, Phandroid has a screenshot of the missing page.

The page showed the new features as:

  • Text to speech for any text box
  • Better virtual keyboard
  • 3D Gallery – photos, videos and other image sources are shown in 3D stacks that move when the phone is tilted
  • PINCH TO ZOOM – in web, gallery and maps (finally)
  • News and Weather App/Widget
  • Maps – syncs with desktop, personal suggestions, night mode
  • Music App gets tabs to switch screens
  • Google Goggles – including “reading” business cards and adding them to you contacts (Cool!)
  • Fix on the Pattern Lock Bypass bug (I think)
  • Yahoo email setup optimizations
  • Better Battery Optimizations

For those of you who don’t know, you can manually check to see if you’re authorized for the update right now by going to Settings -> About Phone -> System Updates.  If you’re not authorized yet, try back again later.  Reclicking is not likely to do any good.  Remember that this is a gradual roll-out like the last update.

–Ben

Sources:  Motorola, Phandroid, Phandroid, Engadget

Google Maps 4.0 has Multitouch and is in Android Market

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Just downloaded google maps 4.0 from the android market and it has Multi-touch! Its about time. And I really like it. I can’t wait for Android 2.1 on my Droid! Hope it comes soon.

–Ben

Get Last Modified Date from Webpage You’re Visiting

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I found a neat little trick that allows me to get a last modified date / last changed date from a webpage I’m viewing.

Simply copy the code below into your address bar and it will cause a window to pop-up with the last modified date.

javascript:alert("Last Modified " + document.lastModified)

Very neat trick.

–Ben

Source:  About.com

Utah Safety Data – Violence and Injury Data by Neighborhood on the web

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Wow.  Utah does some cool stuff.  If you’re a Utahn, this may be interesting to see how your fellow people fare, statistically.  In all seriousness, it shows underlying data about neighborhood safety.

Personally, I’m impressed with Utah.gov.  It’s simple and quick to use and the Utah government seems to try to do a lot online, such that its a convenience to use for residents.

–Ben

Source:  Utah.gov, Utah Dept of Health, Utah Violence and Small Area Report

Android 2.1 Droid Update imminent on Verizon -maybe multitouch

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Motorola just announced on their facebook page today that the Droid will get Android 2.1.

My hope is that it fixes the corporate exchange email settings  and IMAP bug.  Engadget reports that the 2.1 update should add multi-touch to the web browser.  But we shouldn’t expect to see all the Nexus One bells and whistles.  However, we’ll have to wait and see.

Happy Updating.  Oh and backup that phone.

–Ben

Sources:  Doodgical, Engadget, Engadget, Facebook, Phandroid

Is Google Autocomplete an indicator of our societal decline?

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I just came across AutoCompleteMe.com and laughed.  I can’t believe the results.  Go view our declining intelligence and you tell me:  Is this an indicator of our decline?

–Ben

Source:  Consumerist.com, AutoCompleteMe.com

Bounce = Google Analytics Average Time on Site 00:00:00

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Just a quick note to those in the Google analytics world that I’ve helped get on the road – an average time on site of 00:00:00 means a bounce.  Google Analytics requires a second pageview on your website to calculate time spent on your website.  If there’s no second pageview, there’s no “time” spent on your site, even if they spent an hour looking at that one page?

So if your website is like mine, that has a good sprinkling of one 0ff content – like my various fixes under Helpdesk – you’re going to get dinged big for average time spent on site.

A bonus is that I hear that the 00:00:00 is only calculated for the average time on site and not on average time on a page.

–Ben

Good Reference:  Scott McAndrew

Fix – Page Numbering in Word 2007 Fails / Broken and gives MERGEDOCUMENT gibberish

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I just ran past a strange error in Microsoft Word 2007 on windows.  A colleague and I tried to insert page numbers at the bottom of the document and got some strange text.

We were opening a microsoft word .doc file (word 97-2003) with microsoft word 2007 in compatability mode.  The solution appears to me that you need to get out of compatability mode.

Here’s the fix:

  1. Revert back to before you put in the page numbers (IE don’t save it – just close the file and re-open or hit undo)
  2. Save the file as a .docx file (word 2007 document)
  3. Close Word
  4. Open the .docx file
  5. Add Page Numbers and continue editing
  6. If you need to go back to the .doc format, save the file as a .doc file (word 97-2003) format after you’ve made your changes.

Hope that helps you.

–Ben

(no sources, just trial and error here)

Droid had Two Calendar Applications – Only Corporate Calendar Syncs with Exchange Unless …

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UPDATE 8/16/2010: With Android 2.2 Froyo, there appears to only be one calendar application again.  The corporate and google calendar applications are now merged into one.  As far as I can tell, it pulls from both the google calendar and the microsoft exchange calendar.

–Ben

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

So, I just had a stupid problem today.  I thought there was only one calendar application for Droid.  Acutally, the calendar application is for google calendar.  The corporate calendar syncs with Exchange.

Luckily, if you want your exchange calendar to sync with google calendar and your calendar application, there is a way.  A way by google.  Download and install Google Calendar Sync.  It will allow one-way or two-way sync to your google calendar.  Could be very nifty.

Otherwise, you can stick with the corporate calendar app native to Droid.

–Ben

Resources:

Google Blog on Calendar Sync

Cell Phone Forums on Sync

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