Balsamiq Mockups Kicks Other Mockups Butt

I've been using Balsamiq Mockups Adobe Air application for several months now.  And I can say that I am very impress.  The other day, one of my colleges sent me an email asking what was meant in the requirement.  Instead of having to go into a huge email write-up, I just fired up Mockups and drew out what was meant.  Took me a just a minute.  You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, Mockups made the picture part that much easier.

Head over to their site and take a look at how easy it is to use it.

http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups

The tabs across the top gets you into control groupings so you can find what you want easier.  Then all you need to do is drag and drop them on to your workspace.  And editing them is just as easy because each individual control is modifier as plain text.  See below image.

So with the least amount of dragging, clicking, and typing, the user can create a “mockup”.  Works great to get your idea across as well as requirement documents.

The only hang up I have is that it really does look like a crude mockup.  I know, I know, it is supposed to be a mockup.  But sometimes I wish it can look like a Web Form or a Win Form so that I can show how it will look exactly.  But I guess that could really make the app more complicated which defeats the purpose.

So all in all I totally recommend this app to any Project Lead or Business Analyst that deals with getting your ideas across on a fairly regular basis.  Even if it is just a simple send of an email, this app will help you.

Control Your Startup Apps with Startup Control Panel

If you haven't noticed, I go out of my way to find and use different applications and utilities that I hope to improve my productivity. But as things may have it, it also have the potential to slow down my computer. Now I find myself closing a few applications that insist on starting up when Windows start. Not really wanting to uninstall these apps but rather would like control over when to actually start the application. Wouldn't you know it, others have the same problems that I do. An individual by the name of Mike Lin create a utility called Startup Control Panel that helps you take back control of your startup programs. It doesn't look that good visually but it does its job well. You can find the application at the following location: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Ignore Whitespace When Comparing in VS2008

Normally when you compare two different versions of an object, a compare tool would show up and highlight the differences between the two versions.  Unfortunately, it does not ignore the whitespace by default.  It could be the difference in the indentation or an extra space somewhere.  One such compare shows me that just about everything is different in the two versions but really it is just showing the extra space that was at the end of each line to be different.

Well, I found a little trick so that Whitespace is ignored when comparing two different versions of an object in TFS.

1. In Visual Studio 2008;  Go to Tools –> Options
2. Go to Source Control –> Visual Studio Team Foundation
   
3. Click on “Configure User Tools…”
    
4. Click “Add…”  Then type in the following:
   Extension: .*
   Operation: Make sure it is set to “Compare”
   Command: diffmerge.exe
   Arguments: /ignorespace %1 %2
   
5. Click on all the “OK” buttons after that.  Now if you compare two different versions of a file, it will ignore the whitespace.

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

So I have been reading a couple of computer magazines and it seems like their editors like the program alot.  So I decided I should give it a try.  I have to say, the program definitely does a fine and good job of auditing your PC.  Frankly, I think it does too good of a job.  So well in fact that I'm kinda scared to keep the report file the program generated anywhere on my computer in case it falls into the wrong hands.  So why was I scared.  Well, the report it generated had every software that I have ever installed on my PC.  Not only that, it was also good enough to show you all the Keys and Serial numbers associated with the software.  It also shows all the hardware that I have on my PC including model numbers and types.  So, I would probably not use this program on a normal routine basis.  What I would use Belarc Advisor for is to generate a report before I format and reinstall my operating system.  I would print out the report and delete the HTML report file it generates so you will have a paper printout to keep handy when installing your OS back.  And once the OS is back up, then you have the Serial Keys and the list of programs that you had installed on the previous OS.  Now you can see all the programs you need to install to get the PC to where it was before.  Of course, this doesn't mean you should install all the program again because some of those may have led you to the problems that you have and caused you to reinstall the OS in the first place.

Platform: Windows Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT 4, Me, 98, and 95.
Price: Free
Website: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

PureText (Copy and Paste without Format)

As a web developer, I’m amazed I didn’t try to find this before now.  Now that I have it, I sure I won’t be able to live without it during my working hours.  There’s many times that I would copy text from a Word document and try to paste it into my HTML editor and getting a whole bunch of garbage asscociated with text formating.  I would then open up NotePad, paste into it to clean the formating out, then copy it to paste it into the HTML editor.  Let’s just say it’s a big hassle when you do this as many times a day as I do.  PureText makes it much less complicated.  PureText is a simple program that constantly runs and lives in the Window System Tray.  It just sits there waiting for you to cut or copy text.  Once you copy a set of text, you activate the text cleanup process by hitting the "WindowKey + V".  It will then clean up the formating and paste your text into the current application you are using.

Check out Steve Miller’s website at the following URL: http://stevemiller.net/puretext/

Color Cop

There are many times that people would send me a mockup of a screenshot and telling me that they want the DataGrid to be highlighted in that particular color. Instead of having to pull it into Paint.NET, GIMP, or Photoshop, I fire up Color Cop. It allows me to take a sample of anything on my screen. Just grab the Pipette and drag it to where you want it to sample the screen and it will display the RGB of the color. If you right-click on the Pipette then you can also set the sampling size. I think it saves me a lot of time and wanted to share it with all of you.

http://download.cnet.com/Color-Cop/3000-2383_4-10047009.html

Finally Jailbreak and Unlocked my 2G iPhone 2.1

I followed the following instructions from http://www.iphone-hacks.com/2008/09/23/how-to-use-quickpwn-21-to-unlock-and-jailbreak-iphone-21-on-windows/ except I had to make sure I installed the SIM that I want to work with in the iPhone before doing anything.  The following is all written by Alias420 found on the above link.

How To Use QuickPwn 2.1 To Unlock And Jailbreak iPhone 2.1 On Windows

Posted by Alias420

These are step by step instructions on how to use QuickPwn 2.1 for Microsoft Windows to unlock & jailbreak your first generation iPhone 2.1 2G/EDGE.

REQUIRED:

• iTunes 8 installed (make sure to reboot). - Download iTunes

Note: If you have already upgraded your iPhone to firmware 2.1 skip step 2.

Step One
Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage.

Download the following files and place them in this Pwnage folder you just created on your desktop:

• QuickPwn 2.1
• iPhone 2.1 ipsw Download
• bl39.bin 3.9 BootLoader Download
• bl46.bin 4.6 BootLoader Download

Unzip the QuickPwn21-1.zip file inside the Pwnage folder.

 

Step Two
Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable.

Select your iPhone from the list of devices on the left side navigation bar. Now hold down shift while clicking the Restore button.

Navigate to the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop and select the 2.1 firmware ipsw file. Double click the ipsw file or select it and click the Open button to proceed.

 

Step Three
Once iTunes has finished upgrading your iPhone to the 2.1 firmware you may launch QuickPwn 2.1 from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop.

Step Four
Make sure you iPhone is still connected to the computer via USB cable then click the blue arrow to proceed.

Step Five
Click the Browse button to locate your iPhone firmware.

Step Six
Select the 2.1 firmware ipsw file from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop then double click the ipsw file or select it then click the Open button.

Step Seven
QuickPwn will check to verify that the ipsw file is valid. After completetion of the verification, click the blue arrow button to proceed.

Step Eight
You can now select whether to Add Cydia, Add Installer, or Replace Boot Logos. Select the ones you would like to perform then click the clue arrow button.  Installing Cydia and Installer is highly recommended to enjoy the full jailbreak experience.

Step Nine
You will now be prompted to select your bootloader files. Click on the Browse button and select the 3.9 bootloader from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop. Repeat this for the 4.6 bootloader file. Then click the blue arrow button to proceed.

Step Ten
QuickPwn will now ask you to confirm your iPhone is still connected via USB cable before it continues. Click the blue arrow button to proceed.

Step Eleven
QuickPwn will now automatically put your iPhone into recovery mode. Once its in recovery mode you will be prompted to: Hold the Home button for 5 seconds, Hold the Home and Power buttons for 10 seconds, then release the Power button and continuing holding the Home button until your iPhone is in DFU mode.

Note: Pay attention and do exactly as it says

Step Twelve
Once QuickPwn detects your iPhone in DFU mode it will begin the jailbreaking process.

Step Thirteen
Once jailbreaking is complete QuickPwn will inform you that it haz Pwned! Your iPhone will then reboot and run BootNeuter. Let BootNeuter do it’s thing, do not interupt it. This process will take about 5 minutes. Remember patience is a virtue. Your iPhone will reboot when it has completed.