Category: Software
Update to Ultimate Google Analytics WordPress Plugin
| 21/9/2011 | Posted by Pete under Software |
I really like the Ultimate Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It does exactly as I need it to do in terms of ensuring that the Analytics code is embedded in each page. Unfortunately it hasn’t been updated since 2008, and the code is a little out of date.
I have taken the liberty of updating some of the code, and have posted it here for you to share. This adds in the most recent GA javascript, allowing it to load asynchronously and hence speed the page load time. I am keen to make further changes, but I have contacted the author of the original code to see if he is willing to pass the maintenance burden onto myself.
The code is compatible with any version of WordPress from 1.5 to 3.2.1 and probably beyond. That said, please leave a comment if you do have any problems with it.
Download: ultimate_ga_1.6.1.zip
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Just do it (again)
| 2/9/2011 | Posted by Pete under Software |
Plan to throw one away, you will anyway
It is a well known axiom in computer science that the first system or prototype you develop will need to be discarded. There are a number of factors that can contribute to this. Firstly, the understanding you gain on what the system needs to do from actually building the system quite frequently means that it would make more sense to completely redo the project or code.
Secondly there could be some improvements that you could make after seeing the system in operation, ranging from performance optimisation to additional features that would be useful.
There are doubtless many other reasons that could be brought up. However, I’d like to point out a couple of points on this.
It is not always a bad thing to have to start again. Sometimes this is exactly what is needed, although it is far from the axiomic truth that is is purported to be.
System designers and project managers rarely take this into account when planning and designing new systems. This can lead to project overruns, in terms of budget, time and lead to low quality deliverables.
Agile solutions are proposed as an answer to this, but I remain unconvinced. I definitely see these techniques as being better than the traditional waterfall methodology for a large proportion of projects, but I am convinced that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way we develop and manage large software products.
I will hopefully get round to posting my thoughts on how this can be achieved in the near future.
I would appreciate any comments on this subject.
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How to drop a table only if it already exists [SQL Server]
| 15/7/2011 | Posted by Pete under SQL Server |
This is the best way I have found of dropping a table if (and only if) it already exists.
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.[TABLE_NAME]','U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE dbo.[TABLE_NAME]
GO
the advantage that this method has over numerous other methods is that it will work in tempdb, with temporary tables. i.e you can use ‘tempdb..#temp’
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QuickTodo Android App now Available on Android Market
| 17/12/2010 | Posted by Pete under Software |
Download QuickTodo
Those of you who have an Android phone may want to check out my QuickTodo app, now available on the Android Market.
Either scan the image on the right with the barcode scanner, or if you’re reading this on your phone, simply touch the image to download.
Here is the application description:
QuickTodo is the easy way to manage your tasks.
Use due dates, priorities and repeating tasks to organise and keep on top of everything.
With drag and drop, you can quickly reorder your lists.
Features:
- Repeating Tasks
- Priorities
- Multiple Lists
- Drag and Drop
- Notifications
- Search
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Location of UK Official Update for Cupcake G1
| 5/5/2009 | Posted by Pete under Software |
http://android.clients.google.com/updates/signed-CRB17-from-TMI-RC9-eu.17667e06.zip
Quick Instructions
Make sure your battery is charged at least 75% before attempting this.
1. Put the file on your micro sd card.
2. Rename it to update.zip
3. Disconnect phone from computer and shut down phone. (Hold End Call Button)
4. Hold down home button and press power button. Hold both until the triangle appears.
5. Hold Alt and press L key on keyboard
6. Hold Alt and press S key on on keyboard.
7. Wait while the the update is applied.
8. Press the home and back buttons to reboot when prompted. (Middle two buttons on front of phone, not trackball!)
Enjoy your cupcake!
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Migrate Omnifocus to Things Applescript
| 15/1/2009 | Posted by Pete under Software |
I found a cool site with some code to convert Omnifocus tasks into Things.
This is the original page here.
My version of the script can be found below. I have added due date conversion to the script, and cleaned it up a bit but most of the credit should go to the original author(s).
Omnifocus To Things Conversion Script
Edit: I have corrected the script problems below, so the script should be compilable now.
Edit: Git repository can be found at http://github.com/glennr/omnifocus_to_things
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Tomboy notes
| 3/10/2008 | Posted by Pete under Software |
Currently I am using a tool called Tomboy to store notes and other information. Tomboy allows you to store notes with wiki linking and formatting. There are also plugins that allow you to add sketches to notes, set reminders and add the current time and date to a note.
It is also possible to export notes in various different formats and, thanks to the d-bus interface, possible to interact with Tomboy programmatically. In short Tomboy is an excellent tool for Linux users — and hopefully soon for windows users.
About Tomboy
Tomboy is a desktop note-taking application for Linux and Unix. Simple and easy to use, but with potential to help you organize the ideas and information you deal with every day.
Have you ever felt the frustration at not being able to locate a website you wanted to check out, or find an email you found interesting, or remember an idea about the direction of the political landscape in post-industrial Australia? Or are you one of those desperate souls with home-made, buggy, or not-quite-perfect notes systems?
Time for Tomboy. We bet you’ll be surprised at how well a little application can make life less cluttered and run more smoothly.
Tomboy is currently in pre-release development, but you can still try it out. Tomboy is written in C# and utilizes the Mono runtime and Gtk#. Automatic spell-checking is provided by GtkSpell.
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The almost compulsory Google Chrome post
| 3/9/2008 | Posted by Pete under News, Software |
Google Chrome
Google Chrome was released yesterday for windows, and google have promised that Linux and Mac versions are in the pipeline. I downloaded it on my laptop and played about with it for around 1/2 an hour.
Initial impressions are that it is very fast and doesn’t seem to hang up on flash content quite as much as Firefox, rendering being very similar to Safari’s (being based off WebKit, this is to be expected), but I did not see anything really compelling that would make me switch to it when the Linux version comes out.
I’m sure that I will download the Linux version and play about with it when it finally makes it way out of the googleplex, but in this particular incarnation, I think that there is very little that it offers over firefox and safari – certainly nothing worth writing home about. Your opinion may vary from this depending on how important flash is to you, whether you run Linux, and whether you rely on Firefox extensions. Still it looks better than the IE8 beta in terms of memory usage.
Edit: Security vulnerability in Chrome has been found already.
As usual please post your thoughts on Google’s new baby below.
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