Niks blog

Invoking the ADO Connection string dialogue at run time. ADODB Prompt Data Source.

2013-12-17T08:53:00.002-07:00

If you ever needed to expose the standard ADO Connection String Dialogue at run time and you do not haw to do it at run time, this is a short Delphi example:

1.Add uses to Data.Win.ADODB
2.Call: PromptDataSource(Handle, '');

That's it very simple.

 uses Data.Win.ADODB;  
 {$R *.dfm}  
 procedure TForm1.btn1Click(Sender: TObject);  
 begin  
  PromptDataSource(Handle, '');  
 end;

I've wrote this post mostly as reminder but I hope it will save you time too.

Go Google Go!

2010-01-21T14:44:00.001-07:00

Finally Google supports something that I have been expecting from the very beginning of Google docs and even Gmail - Uploading Any type of file with file size limit up to 250MB. Nice!
I've hated to go on skydrive for storing files. It is much more convenient and organized with Google.

Thanks guys!

in reference to: Uploading any file : Uploading and exporting - Google Docs Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Do you need backup and sync?

2009-12-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of searching good backup solution for my data and meanwhile I found this service:

Dropbox

It is mostly for keeping your files sync between your computers and it has an online access too. Works on MacOS and the best of all you can use it for free up to 2GB.

What do you use for system and file backup?

Funny elastic hamster:)

2009-09-12T01:32:00.002-06:00

Sometimes we could be more hungry than her/him but we will never be more elastic.

Very Funny Greedy Hamster - For more funny videos, click here

Coding Horror: Software Engineering: Dead?

2009-09-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

Nice way to look at the reality hey? read and compare your experience.

Coding Horror: Software Engineering: Dead?

What do you think: Is the real Software Engineering EVER live?

Google Docs gets x'ier with .docx and .xlsx support | Webware - CNET

2009-06-01T16:12:00.000-06:00

Google Docs gets x'ier with .docx and .xlsx support | Webware - CNET

Finaly this will be verry useful!!!

Chrome only browser left standing after day one of Pwn2Own - Ars Technica

2009-04-01T13:23:00.000-06:00

Chrome only browser left standing after day one of Pwn2Own - Ars Technica

Nice! I love this type of contests ;)

Synchronize the built-in calendar and address book on your BlackBerry® with your Google account.

2009-03-27T10:31:00.000-06:00

Great news friends!

Now we can sync not only the Calendars, but also our Contacts!

Google Mobile - Sync

I've googled the net for something like this and I found that Google have new version for Mobile Sync application and it supports Contact synchronization - Great!

Just follow the instructions from Google and you will be fine.

It works good. You need to enable duplicates contacts to make it work but still after some contact updates you will have them all in one ;)

Bluetooth hands free on Windows 7

2009-01-27T22:28:00.005-07:00

I was trying to pear my Platronics Voyager 520 with my Vista with no luck for a hour. Suddenly I've got the idea to check what will happen if I try this under new Windows 7.
And voila! In the second when I've connected my D-Link Bluetooth adapter windows immediately recognized it (btw Vista did it to) and it was ready and working. Don't forget this is BETA 1 version!
OK, next step I clicked to add new device and I turned on my headset in search (and destroy ;) ) mode.
Widows found it and ... the best part. It was working!!! Now I have a hedset for VoiP to :) I can call true Skype and etc. with my phones hands free!

nice!!!

P.S. I couldn't get Chrome working yet. Even developer version doesn't work.. sorry Google.

Windows 7 - first impression

2009-01-18T00:19:00.005-07:00

OK I've tested Windows 7 first beta.

What can I say? First they have a nice and easy setup, the best for me for all Windows versions up to now.
I've burned the iso file to one DVD but it wasn't necessary. You can do the same by mounting it to virtual drive like Daemon tools.
I started the setup.exe under Vista and after choosing a drive on witch to be installed everything went fast and quite. After rebooting 3-4 times and asking around 4 questions my Win7 was up and working for no time.
My 2 monitors was with correct resolution. My sound was on. Sound manager allows you to manage headsets and speakers differently - nice!
I saw IE8 for the first time. Much faster than IE7 but should it replace FireFox or Chrome .. don't know.

The completely new status bar was something that you need to see. This will be the big BUM. I love a new staff, but all other guys that want to stick to the old known UI will cry out the heaven. I like its design, the preview and etc. May be it is a little bit difficult to recognize a shortcut from opened application but it will easy to use to.

Skype works fine with video conferencing. QIP messenger works to.

The big disappointment for me was that Googles browser Chrome doesn't work. There was a nice warning about compatibility issues but Chrome can't load any pages.

Vistas look and feel is everywhere in Windows 7 but everything was fast even those popup questions for UAC to run something with admin rights are eye blink fast. I think there are way to minimize those questions but I didn't deep there yet.

Those are my FIRST observations about Win 7. I'll inform you for more later.

P.P. Probably I'll prefer it over Vista and even over XP ;)

The best dog ever!

2008-12-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Smart Puppy - Celebrity bloopers here

Funny facebook :)))

2008-12-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

2009 parody logos

2008-12-18T08:32:00.002-07:00

How to unsubscribe from push weather? - PinStack.com Forums

2008-11-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Nice article! Thanks guys!

How to unsubscribe from push weather? - PinStack.com Forums: "How to unsubscribe from push weather?"

Chrome speed improvement outpaces Firefox's | Business Tech - CNET News

2008-10-17T13:34:00.000-06:00

Chrome speed improvement outpaces Firefox's | Business Tech - CNET News

Feature film premieres for free on YouTube - CNN.com

2008-10-17T09:20:00.000-06:00

Feature film premieres for free on YouTube - CNN.com

Flash for iPhone - nice!!!

2008-09-30T15:51:00.000-06:00

I don't have iPhone, but I'll be happy to have a Flash on my iPod touch.
As we know iPod touch and iPhone are similar in many ways.

I don't think that is possible to have full flash functionality for any Flash application in the web becouse of the lower performance of Mobile phones (including iPhone) but some preview and making accesible this sites wilbe really great!

Adobe exec confirms Flash for iPhone, says Apple will decide when | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

Do you want a lot traffic to your web site?

2008-09-25T20:23:00.000-06:00

Last moths I started using my blog more actively. Here I'm sharing my thoughts, reviewing some products and services and by that to have real presence in the net. I'll be happy to make some money with it to :)

First problem for me and for the thousands bloggers and website owners is how to get visitors. We need readers, we need users, we need traffic!!!

I knew that there are some companies that can help you with optimization of your web site to go up on search engines, but never thought about sites that will provide you with real traffic!
Yes advertising is good idea but expensive to.

And I found very good solution - FullTraffic.net

This company gives you very good services for delivering traffic to your web site. You can get some global and very cheap (starting from 7$) traffic or you can go and choose more expensive package for Unique IP visitors in territorial or thematic oriented packages. You can even have a gambling traffic!
They also provide you with search engine optimization packages in a price lover than advertising in search engines.

I'm realy intrigued from FullTrafic and I'll test their services on my blog.

I hope my discovery will help you receiving a lot of traffic from FullTraffic.net

If you know other good services, please let me know.

Darth Vader playing golf :))

2008-09-25T08:09:00.001-06:00

This is great!
Just a little fun in the morning :)

Personal experiance with Wester Union

2008-09-23T12:31:00.005-06:00

I could say that I’m person that likes to use new ways, new technologies.

Recently I saw the opportunity to send money thru Western Union using their site and I took it. My idea was to finish this transaction without visiting local agent. But what happen?

First surprise was that after the relevantly easy registration process for account I saw that I need to call free number to confirm and finish my transaction. That’s OK, unpleasant but OK.

Second I call and the person told me someone will call you back after max 15 minutes. I wait for 2 hours and nothing. I called back and the lady there was very polite and she help me with the next steps (next surprises)

Third surprise was that I needed to go thru security check as I’m creating bank account. This took another 20 min.

The next forth surprise was that the person that I wanted to send this money was in country that Western Union didn’t send money from credit card. Some rule that is result from hackers attack or something. What a surprise ha?
You want to be fast and convenient but it is slow and the result is – you can’t send this money online, please use cash with some of our agents. But that’s not all.

The fifth worst surprise was that my credit card was charged with that money amount and for 4 day even on transaction status canceled I didn't receive my money back. No one told me write me or contact me about this. I called again. The explanation was that I will receive my money back but because of US-Canada banking system it will take 8-15 working days. OMG!!!

And I wanted to send money FAST from my computer!

As final note I want to tell you that Western Union support was good, not the best, but good and security measures are OK, but PLEASE let us know first for this long process!!!

This is not a complaint against Western Union but this is WARNING for all new online users. Do not expect your first transaction to be fast! And in some cases of oversees transaction will not happened at all!

P.S.
Next day I used agent – took me 20 min and lower fee.

No more online Western Union!

Google Chrome - New browser tested under XP(32bit) and Vista(64bit)

2008-09-03T14:28:00.005-06:00

Google Chrome - Download a new browser

I've tested thee new browser from Google and my first impression is COOL!

I love it!

Every new feature and improvement is now my favorite :)

Chrome is based on WebKit engine and it is build for easy Web Application use. Google really steps in the future with this new improvements. I've read about IE8 and some of the features in it and I found them in Chrome and more!

Some examples are:

- Highlighting the domain name in the address bar, the rest of the address is in gray.

- Private mode (some call it - porno mode :) )

- Every tab is now in separate process (if crashes other tabs will still work).

and etc..

My favorites in Chrome are "New info" like speed dial when you open a new tab, plus you have the top of your bookmarks. My personal favorite - Task Manager!

Task Manager is great for both users and developers! You can see how "heavy" is your new page, kill some blocked script and etc. I love this minimalistic approach from Google ant here it is in full strength. For 2 days work with Chrome I cant find anything unnecessary in its user interface. I will continue my work and I will tell you my opinion after a month.

In Web Application mode it works fine with Gmail, Calendar under both XP and Vista. I didn't found any problems with my 64 bit version of Vista.

Finally I can tell that I'm amazed with this new Google browser.

Only one thing that I'm no sure about is its speed compared to FireFox 3. FireFox is really fast! Yes, Chrome is much faster than IE7, but against FireFox I thing it is not, it is close but not faster.

Those are my first impressions from Chrome.

What do you think?

AirMiles is not the best rewards program.

2008-08-29T11:11:00.001-06:00

Opinions - Straight Forward Adv.

I'm off with this AirMiles program!

Before some weeks one of my friends told me that TD points are better in any way than Air miles. I wasn't fully convinced then but now I've researched for credit cards and rewards and I found that there are some better rewards than AirMiles.

ScotiaGold Passport Visa and TD Gold Travel Visa are the best for me. It seems that TD have some advantage (3 td points per $1 vs 1 scotia point per $1) but I'll search more for this. Scotia have boost program for points and you can redeem points for merchandise.

The top link is the best material about AirMiles vs TD Points. I'm on the same opinion so far. A lot of my friends had the similar problems with this AirMiles tickets.

What is your best reward program?

Android apps might not feature Bluetooth

2008-08-25T11:21:00.001-06:00

Android apps might not feature Bluetooth

Android Android Android - a lot of buzz about it - WHY?

Google make it just for the old fashioned reason - publicity. Bad news are better than no news. If everything went according to plans why batter to write about it?
I think this Bluetooth buzz is just another publicity. How would be possible to build the latest mobile oss and to not have good Bluetooth API?

What will happen after a week Google will announce that they have this - and again it will be on the top tech news.

Good job Google! ;)

Xbox 360 Question - Keyboard and Mouse support?

2008-08-20T08:49:00.001-06:00

Xbox 360 Question - Keyboard and Mouse support?

I'm old fashioned PC gamer and first thing that I saw in XBOX360 was poor aiming with this controller. I had played Halo on my PC and it was great with mouse. Now It was great with those better graphics but game play specially in aiming is much much poor.

I saw some converter for mouse and keyboard for XBOX but all gays have been writing that is not the same as PC at all.
I home console industry came up with something about this.

Official Google Mobile Blog: No more excuses for being late

2008-08-15T14:08:00.001-06:00

Official Google Mobile Blog: No more excuses for being late

I love it!!!

It is great application. I really found google services very good and useful. They are simple to use and reliable. I'm not paid to praise them :) this is just my experience up to now.

This last synchronization tool will make my life easier.
After wile I will tell you is is good or not.

Now I'm just excited about it.