Blue Sky Workshop

Cyberduck Drag and Drop stops working

2012-02-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

Problem: Using Cyberduck on Windows and suddenly drag and drop does not seem to work. When I drag a file or folder to Cyberduck, I get a "Not Allowed" icon and nothing happens.

Cyberduck is a great SFTP, FTP, and WebDAV client for Windows and Mac.

Solution: Have you been using VPN? In my case I had just used Cisco's VPN software to connect to the corporate network. Depending upon how the VPN software is configured, it may cut off all access to the local network. That should be cleaned up after you exit VPN. But apparently, it does not clean up everything. Just reboot your machine and that should fix the problem.

Windows 7 Updating a Read Only Directory/File

2012-02-21T14:25:00.001-07:00

Problem: You need to edit a read only file located in the C:\Program Files. However, you cannot reset the read only status of the file.

This is the problem I ran into when trying to edit C:\Program Files\NetBeans 7.1\etc\netbeans.conf. This is a NetBeans configuration file. The file is read only and so is the parent directory and the parent directory above it. I tried turning off the read only bit using File Explorer, the command line, you name it. Running as administrator had no effect.

Workaround: Do the following:

Copy the file to a directory that you have write access to.
Edit the file and make the changes you need.
Rename the original readonly file. You can do this with Administrator privileges.
Copy the edited file back to its original location.

Your read only file should now be edited.

My GMail IMAP just stopped working, what do I do?

2012-02-16T15:49:00.001-07:00

My GMail IMAP just stopped working this week. It was definitely an issue on the server side since none of my machines could log in. There had been some suspicious activity on my account and I had to change my password. Apparently when that happens, a bit gets flipped turning off your IMAP. Well I asked a question in the Help forms and found out a CAPTCHA gets turned on which is preventing my IMAP from working. To clear it, follow this link.

Clear Your CAPTCHA

It is a mystery to me why GMail doesn't send me an e-mail or something telling me to do this. But anyway, problem solved. Thanks bkennelly from the help forums.

3 Great New Tech Sites on the Web

2012-02-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

Three cheers for corporate bureaucracy! Thanks to a few buyouts and mergers a few web sites have been spawned much to our benefit.

The Verge
Josh Topolsky and these Engadget refugees have set up a really nice gadget and tech web site. A different kind of design for their site, but I like it. It sort of melds a newspaper layout with a web page. I like the look and the content.

PandoDaily
Sarah Lacey left TechCrunch to create this site. The focus is on cool new web sites and businesses. A nice clean interface and a lot of good information.

ANewDomain.net
Gina Smith left the new Byte.com to start this site. Thanks corporate overlords for unleashing Gina and gang. Lots of good writers (including John C Dvorak and Jerry Pournelle) and good stories.

Latest ATI Video Cards

2012-02-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

AMD has some new 7700 series video cards out. The Verge has a summary:
AMD ATI 7700 Round Up

Add Windows Update to Your Start Menu on Windows 7

2012-02-13T11:01:00.004-07:00

I found a tip on how to do this on anewdomain.net.

The only thing I had to do was create the shortcut to begin with. Just click Start and then search for "Windows Update". You should see a program entry for it. Right drag that to the desktop. A popup menu should allow you to create a shortcut. Once you have done that, follow everything in the tip.

This is an awesome tip, because I hate having to wait 5 minutes after a reboot to see if there are any new patches.

Combine Multiple Commands on one Line with Windows

2012-02-07T19:10:00.001-07:00

Can you combine multiple command one one line with a Windows command prompt? You bet.

Just separate each command with a semicolon (;) and precede the command with two ampersands (&&).

For example, the following line performs three directory listings with one command line:

dir;&&dir /w;&&dir /b

No Start Button for Windows 8

2012-02-06T10:18:00.002-07:00

According to this CNET story, Windows 8 will not have have a start button:

Microsoft Removes Start Button from Windows 8

Instead, the lower left corner will be hot and will popup the menu.

I don't know about some of this stuff. Microsoft seems to be really emphasizing a touch interface. But 99% of their customers use desktops and that does not seem likely to change any time soon. Looks like another Vista disaster is on the way. At least we can live with Windows 7 while Microsoft figures things out.

Apple and eBooks

2012-02-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well I posted earlier about Apple's eBook announcement. And I have been waiting to get more information before I posted. The best and most thorough discussion is from the MacBreak Weekly 1/24/12 podcast.

Leo and gang do a great job of covering all the different angles of the announcement. So if you want more information on the text book angle and iTunes University, check out the podcast.

So let me see if I can summarize what I consider the highlights:

Apple has announced a new ebook authoring tool, iBook Author.

Available for free from the Mac App Store
Creates books in a proprietary eBook 3 format
Only works on OS X 10.7 Lion

Publishing options are a tad limited

To publish a book for sale, you can only use the Apple iTunes store. Also, Apple must approve your book. If they don't approve it, you have no alternative for sale.
If not using the iTunes store, the book can only be released for free. Going this route, you can publish to PDF or the proprietary format.

My take... this is a bit of a blunder. Apple has shown its hand to competitors Amazon, Adobe, and Barnes and Noble in regard to its eBook strategy. Limiting the publishing options and the app to only OS X Lion, also prevents wide adoption. Thusly, competitors should have time to respond and should be able to take the moral high ground if they support actual standards.

From what I have heard, the books produced from the tool are fabulous and very cool.

But is it my book? Not really. It seems to me, if you were to write your own book, I would use another tool and maybe port it to iBooks Author if I think it would be worth it.

Anyway, I would like to spend some more time with ePub3. It looks like the content is just HTML5 with some special packaging rules. Hopefully I can post more on the subject.

Can't Login to Administration Console with NetBeans 7.1 and GlassFish 3.1.1

2012-01-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ok. This is really weird. This has happened on two different machines now.

Problem: You have just installed NetBeans 7.1 Java EE version on Windows 7 64 bit and you want to look at the Administration Console. You open a URL to localhost:4848. You are prompted for a user name and password. Nothing works.

For years the default login for GlassFish on NetBeans has been:
User: admin
Password: adminadmin

According to some of the documentation and various posts the password is now:

New Password: changeit
or
New Password:

So blank or changeit. Neither worked for me.

Workaround: I can confirm that the username is actually "admin". However, I cannot confirm what is going on with the passwords. This is what I did.

Go to the NetBeans Services Tab
Start GlassFish from the Services Tab
Launch the Administration Console by right clicking on the GlassFish server icon
You get the login screen. Nothing works.
Stop the GlassFish server
Restart the GlassFish server
Launch the Administration Console by right clicking on the GlassFish server icon
You are automatically logged into the console.

At this point to can go in and change the password and everything seems to work normally from then on.

Have you experienced the problem? If yes, please leave a comment. If other people are having this problem I need to file a bug. Thanks. Mike W.

Update 5:05pm: I am still experiencing the same issues. After further testing, I can only conclude that the AppServer only accepts passwords on the second or third restart.

Starting a Small Internet Business

2012-01-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Found this on the net today:

goop.com: Starting a Small Business

This is Gwyneth Paltrow's site which normally focuses on other subjects. Today's post includes lots of good advice from a number of Net companies on starting a small Internet business. The original story I found about this post seemed to be a skeptical about the merits of the source. However, it looks like great information to me, so I'm sharing. :)

Big eBook News From Apple Tommorrow?

2012-01-18T09:02:00.001-07:00

According to this Ars Technica story, Apple is gonna announce some new eBook creation tool tomorrow. And GigaOm explains why eBooks are gonna be a big deal.

If the product is indeed announced, here is why that is a big deal. Right now there are very few eBook creation tools. Apple includes an ePub format tool with its Pages word processer, but that is the only eBook specific tool that I am aware of. Right now, most eBooks are just text, very plain like a paperback book. However, formats like ePub allow you to create much more interactive books closer to HTML pages than paperbacks. Thus, a tool for making these sort of book easier to write is gonna be a big deal. The paper book and text book industries are in for be changes methinks.

Collapse and Expand threads with Thunderbird

2012-01-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick Thunderbird tip. My inbox has been annoying me lately because I can't read collapsed threads. Did you know Thunderbird has keyboard shortcuts for expanding and collopasing threads? Me neither.

To expand all threads, click the astericks key (*). To collaps all threads hit the backslash key (\).

Java FX 2.0 Links (Updated)

2012-01-08T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here is an updated list of Java FX 2.0 Links. I will keep updating the list as I find new information.

Java FX 2.0 Links

JavaFX: API - javafx.com
JavaFX and CSS: CSS Reference Guide - Skinning with CSS Tutorial
JavaFX UI: UI Controls Tutorial - Layout Tutorial - Sizing and Aligning Nodes
FXML: Getting Started with FXML - Introduction of FXML
Blogs: FX Experience

Set the Menu/Application/Interface Font Size for Firefox or Thunderbird on Mac OS X

2012-01-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Some of my Macs have a very high screen resolution. Therefore the font size of the menus for Firefox and Thunderbird seems a little small. It turns out you can actually adjust the size of the application fonts in Firefox or Thunderbird using CSS.

To change the default fonts, edit the userChrome-example.css file. The trick is to find this freaking file. For Thunderbird, the file does not exist and you must create it from scratch. Things are easier for Firefox.

First, here is the CSS code you need to add to userChrome-example.css to change the default font.

* { font-size: 11pt !important; }

This sets the default font size for the interface to 11pt. Next you will need to create the file in the appropriate directory for each application.

Thunderbird
For Thunderbird, first find the Profiles directory.
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/someRandomeString

In this directory:

Create a chrome directory.
Create userChrome-example.css in the chrome directory include the CSS code shown above

Firefox
For Firefox, the chrome directory already exists and actually includes some sample CSS files.

Your profile can be found in:
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/someRandomeString

Change into the chrome directory and create the userChrome-example.css file as described above.

That is it. With this code, the default font size for menu and other application text should now be set to 11 pts.

For details on modifying specific parts of the interface, check out this page: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Pane_and_menu_fonts

Library Folder Missing in Lion

2012-01-03T15:29:00.001-07:00

I just noticed today that my Library folder was missing on Mac OS X Lion. The folder is located in /Users/YourUserNameHere/Library. The folder is still there, it just doesn't show up in finder. To unhide it, open a terminal window and type:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

You should now be able to see the folder in Finder again.

A more complete write up on the subject can be found on CNET:
CNET: Where did my Library go?

The Latest on Mozilla Firefox

2011-12-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

CNET has a nice write up on what's going on with the Mozilla foundation and Firefox.

CNET: Mozilla is more than just Firefox

Sometimes I think people forget the importance of open source software and affect on the growth of the Internet. I regularly use Firefox, Chrome, and Safari and still find Firefox the best of the bunch.

Apps are not the Future

2011-12-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Dave Winer wrote some interesting posts in the last couple of days on the future of apps.

Apps are not the Future
Enough Already with the Apps

The gist of his posts are apps can't link like the web. Thus in the end, the web will win out. And, I have to agree. For all the hype about apps, I still spend the vast majority of my time in browsers. Being able to link and share is what gives the Internet its power.

However, I gotta say the Mac app store is super useful. Buy an app, and you can install it on all your Macs. It saves money, time, and hassle. But I think the best apps like Dropbox and Evernote complement the web, they aren't walled gardens.

How do I un-indent an HTML list with CSS?

2011-12-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

I was looking around for the answer to this question and could not find a short answer. Thus the post.

Question: How do I un-indent an HTML list with CSS?

Answer: Set the padding for the <ol> or <ul> tags to zero.
ul { padding:0; }

That's it!

JavaFX 2.0 Links

2011-12-13T20:43:00.001-07:00

Been working on JavaFX 2.0 and thought I should make a list of useful links.

GUI with Java Code

GUI with JavaFX FXML

WebOS Lives

2011-12-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like WebOS lives! It is going to be opened sourced by HP. However, tablets only, no more phones.

The Verge: WebOS Open Sourced

It will be nice to have another open source option. But since it is tablet only, you have to wonder if it will have the same kind of traction of iOS and Android.

Free Screen Sharing (VNC) Client on Mac OS X Lion/Snow Leopard

2011-12-07T17:42:00.001-07:00

Did you know that there is a free Screen Sharing app include on Mac OS X Lion and Snow Leopard? Obviously I didn't until a few days ago. You will find the Screen Sharing app in the following directory:

/System/Library/CoreServices

You can connect to any other Mac simply by launching the app and typing in the IP address of another Mac. Of course that Mac must have Screen Sharing turned on. I have also tried to connect to a RealVNC server on Windows 7 and that does not seem to work. I have not yet tested other VNC server. I will provide a more complete write up in another post.

MacLife January Highlights - Chips, Siri, and Rays

2011-12-06T14:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the highlights from this months MacLife magazine available on the web.

MacLife: The Future of ARM - A great story on where ARM is headed with their processes. More power, less electricity should make for some great devices.

MacLife: iPhone 4s Review - The scoop on what is new with the iPhone 4s.

MacLife: 10 Questions to Ask Siri - I like the fact that Siri has a sense of humor. I look forward to this sort of tech.

Ray Solar Charger - For $50, get your own Solar charger for your iPhone.

Image Panning Using JQuery

2011-12-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

For work I am looking into JQuery plugins for panning around or scrolling around images. Here is what I found.

JQuery Zoom and Pan - Hover over the thumbnail image and you are zoomed into a bigger version of the image which can be panned around. Looks promising but the plugin is not free, but at $4, it is not expensive either.

JQuery Pan/Zoom - a free option that requires a click. It looks promising as well.

JQuery Image Scroller - This has a nice design but only scrolls vertically.

JQuery panView - This appears to be an official plugin, but the JQuery plugin site seems to be down at the time of this writing. Anyway, I have not found a working demo of this.

Internet Explorer #2 Browser?

2011-12-01T23:18:00.001-07:00

According to a ReadWriteWeb story, Chrome has overtaken Firefox for the #2 spot in browsers worldwide:
ReadWriteWeb: Chrome tops Firefox as #2 Browser

But to me, the more important inference is that alternative browser like Firefox and Chrome, when combined, are at 60% compared to 40% for Internet Explorer. Also remember, that both Chrome and Safari use the same Webkit browser as the foundation for their products. Chrome plus Safari is approaching IE's share as well.

The more people using Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, the better. So if you haven't given one of them a try, any one of this is better than IE.