Changing Mac Shortcuts to Optimse with Windows on VM Fusion

I have a Mac and run VM Fusion Windows XP to allow me to use great windows programs like Excel and have two Dropbox accounts. However, as a Windows Excel user, you'll have different shortcuts than Mac Excel users, but when you toggle between screens, the keyboard functions don't change. (My friend Geoff write an incredible Excel Tips for Mac users website. It's amazing and as more people use Macs, he should have a lot more fans. However, that'll have to wait until Office 2011 as Office 2008 on Mac sucks like mosquitoes in Panama. For now I will use VM Fusion.)

I haven't solved all the nuances (such as having to hit fn + F4 for an absolute cell reference instead of just F4) but here's three big ones.

Windows:

Undo: Ctrl + z

Redo: Ctrl + y

Skip a word: Ctrl + Left or Right arrow

Mac:

Skip a word: alt + left or right arrow

Skip to end: cmd + left or right arrow

Undo: cmd + z

Redo: cmd + y

Problem:

If you use Ctrl + Left of Right on a VM Fusion Windows, and have spaces enabled due to screen toggling functionality, you can't use the shortcut to skip a word in windows.

If you go to System Preferences->Expose and Space->Change shortcut for switch between spaces. It gives you 3 options to use 1. Ctrl arrow 2. alt arrow or 3. cmd arrow. We can't assign any of those shortcuts because they are all assigned (see above). I like using them all. But I really want a way to switch quickly between windows without having to see the grid (below).

Solution:

Then I discovered a secret! Just click the drop down and then hold shift. Now you can assign switch between spaces via Ctrl + Shift + arrow. I don't think there's duplicate functionality of that shortcut on Windows so yeah! I'm happy.

Applescript Display Folder Actions Status and then Decide "ON" or "OFF"

I think this should be included with default Applescripts. It's not, so I used some skillz to make the source code for your Applescript. Hope it's useful.

tell application "System Events" to get folder actions enabled

if result is false then

set OnOff to button returned of (display dialog "Folder Actions is OFF" buttons {"Turn OFF", "Turn ON"})

else

set OnOff to button returned of (display dialog "Folder Actions is ON" buttons {"Turn OFF", "Turn ON"})

end if

if OnOff is equal to "Turn OFF" then

tell application "System Events" to set folder actions enabled to false

else

tell application "System Events" to set folder actions enabled to true

end if

London Startup Scene, Events to attend

I've updated the definitive list of organizations putting on tech events in London. Spend three months going to these, and you'll be well networked. Please let me know if I'm missing something.

London Startup Scene (ranked by importance)

• Seedcamp
• Techcrunch UK
• BVCA
• DrinkTank
• Minibar
• Bootlaw
• Sun's Startup Essentials
• Open Soho
• Open Coffee
• OpenGov
• Glasshouse
• Facebook Developer Event (Never been to it)
• Geektails
• Drinks and Links
• London Entrepreneurs (Never been to it)
• Web Wednesdays (Never been to it)

Cycling Face Mask

I recently fixed my racing bike and got back on the streets. And the pollution was just awful. I wanted to be airlifted out of there. So I decided to get one of those cycling face masks. I went to Amazon to read some reviews and laughed when I saw this.

I know. How is The Game and a cycling face mask related? I guess when someone realizes he needs higher quality air, he also realizes he needs higher quality women.

Anyways, I bought it. Health is more important than money.

If You Think You're Unhappy

If You Think Youre Unhappy

View more presentations from watertiger.

Gmail Delayed Send

Gmail needs a delayed send button so you can schedule when your email will be sent. Like on birthdays and when you know the person will be at his desk, not on BB. I don't know why they don't introduce that. Just like I don't know why Facebook don't allow you to pay for tickets when you RSVP for FB events. I guess it's bureaucracy or legal issues.

I even suggested it as a feature on Gmail labs (although it seems to have deleted my original post... very strange but follow ups are here.)

The only way to do it now is to use gmail through Outlook and use its Do Not Deliver Before function. For your benefit.

Gmail on Outlook

1. Enable POP in your email account. Don't forget to click Save Changes when you're done.
2. Open Outlook.
3. Click the Tools menu, and select E-mail Accounts...
4. Click Add a new e-mail account, and click Next.
5. Choose POP3 as your server type by clicking the radio button, and click Next.
6. Fill in all necessary fields to include the following information:

   User Information
   Your Name: Enter your name as you would like it to appear in the From: field of outgoing messages.
   Email Address: Enter your full email address (username@gmail.com or username@your_domain.com)

   Server Information
   Google Apps users, enter the server names provided, don't add your domain name in this step.
   Incoming mail server (POP3): pop.gmail.com
   Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

   Login Information
   User Name: Enter your Gmail username (including @gmail.com). Google Apps users, enter your full address in the format username@your_domain.com
   Password: Enter your email password
   
   
   

7. Click More Settings... and then click the Outgoing Server tab.
8. Check the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication and select Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
   
   
   
9. Click the Advanced tab, and check the box next to This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) under Incoming Server (POP3).
   
   
   
10. Check the box next to This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) under Outgoing Server (SMTP), and enter 465 in the Outgoing server (SMTP) box.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Test Account Settings... After receiving Congratulations! All tests completed successfully, click Close.
13. Click Next, and then click Finish.
14. Download the latest updates for Outlook from Microsoft. This will help prevent the most common Outlook errors Gmail users see.

Congratulations! You're done configuring your client to send and retrieve Gmail messages.

Using Outlook Delayed Send

1. In the Message window (where you type your email content), click the Options button. Alternatively, click on View -> Options.
2. In the Message Options dialog window, select and tick the “Do Not Deliver Before” check box, under the Delivery Options. Then choose the desired send date and time to deliver the email by using the calendar and time drop down list.
3. Click Close and then click OK.

The email message that is delayed sending in future date will be held in the Outbox folder after you clicking on Send button. Once the specified assigned date and time is reached, the email will be sent and delivered, and email been moved to Sent Items folder automatically, provided you’re connected to Internet.

The delay email sending trick works in most version of Microsoft Outlook, i.e Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003, XP and 2000. Beside, as the Do Not Deliver Before delay sending function is a feature of Microsoft Outlook (but not Outlook Express), works independently of email account providers, and Outlook can be configured to access many popular free email accounts, thus the postponement of email sending feature can be extend to these free mail accounts, as long as these email providers support one of the email transfer protocols that Outlook supports, such as POP3, SMTP, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange Server and HTTP (for MSN and Hotmail or Windows Live Mail). In quick glance, almost all of the most popular free webmail such as Google Gmail, Yahoo (only paid premium account), Hotmail (Windows Live Mail), Fastmail, AOL, Inbox.com, AIM, HotPOP, can delay sending message by configuring Outlook to access the email account instead of using webmail interface.

how to follow people on twitter

Ok. I just figured out how to follow a twitter user by myself because no one ever tells you how to follow someone on twitter. They just say something like "Yeah I have a twitter account. It's hotfoxyduck." I even searched on google: "follow on twitter" and "how to follow on twitter." Didn't get any relevant results or helpful directions.

This is how to follow on twitter.

1. login to twitter.
2. type "@[twitter username]" into the "What are you doing?"

Common mistake: Notice in the hotfoxyduck example, you can't just type "her" when asked what are you doing. You must tell twitter you are doing @her.

3. then the click on "her" which will be an active link.

4. then you will see a "follow" button under her icon. Click it!

5. Congrats. You are now following her.


11/29/08 Update: Much easier way to do it discovered after writing this long post.

1. type http://www.twitter.com/[username]
2. then you will see a "follow" button under her icon. Click it!

Common bug: If the username is "home" this shortcut fails.

Optimal time to sell stuff on ebay.co.uk

I have to sell my Nokia phone on ebay.co.uk and it amazes me how much the price for the same item in the same condition varies just by chance. This variance can be upwards of 10-25 GBP.

I find that many times, things are cheaper when the auction ends at 11AM to 1PM because most people are busy at work. And I think most people are out on Thursday and Friday nights so there should be less demand. Since I need to make the listing, I did some research first and just wanted to share what I found.

Tips about peak traffic times:

Match Listing Endings to Peak Visitorship

There are two simple axioms that you should keep in mind whenever you prepare to list an item. By considering them in light of listing times and lengths, you can ensure always to post your auctions in the most favorable bid environments possible:

• The longer you list, the more bids you'll get.Three days is better than one, five is better than three, and so on. Many of eBay's visitors check the site once per week or less, so a listing of at least seven days is preferable, ten days ideal (even given the ten-cent surcharge).
  
  
• The closer you end to peak traffic times, the more bids you'll get. The vast majority of eBay bids are placed within the last few minutes of an auction listing's lifespan. Though it takes days to accumulate watchers, most of these people won't actually bid until the auction is nearly closed. Once your auction is down to its last half-hour or so, it will also begin to appear in "closing soon" browse results that draw in still more bidders—if there are bidders around to see it.

Peak visitorship on eBay runs in daily and weekly cycles following the same pattern seen around most of the World Wide Web. In general, traffic flows according to the following two simple rules:

• Daily peak visitorship is between 8:00 PM eastern time and 10:00 PM pacific time. To maximize bidding for daily peak time, list your auction during this window so that it will close during this window and gain the largest possible daily audience.
  
  
• Weekly peak visitorship is on Sunday evening. To match your listing to the weekly peak in order to maximize bidding, list so that your auction will close on a Sunday evening between 8:00 PM eastern time and 10:00 PM pacific time. Listing seven-day auctions every Sunday evening is a convenient way to time your auctions well without having to think about it too much, while also avoiding the surcharge on 10-day listings.

The advice from about.com is aite, but I checked out Alexa and it seems like Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are good for end times on ebay.co.uk:

7 Useful items for protection in London

London is a dangerous place. I have heard over 12 stories of muggings in the 9 months I've been here. One guy was waiting for a bus when some hoodies surrounded him and tried to steal his mobile. Another guy was walking down a tunnel. One guy was walking around Leicester Square with his friend...

This is why I have created this list of useful items for protection in London. But first read the law.

The Law on Knife Carrying

the maximum penalty for carrying a knife is four years in prison and a fine of £5000

• it is generally an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority (for example, a good reason is a chef on the way to work carrying their own knives)
• the maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife is four years in prison and a fine of £5000
• knives where the blade folds into the handle, like a Swiss Army Knife, aren't illegal as long as the blade is shorter than three inches (7.62 cms)

This means I can carry my Swiss Army knife, but it is still dangerous because if the cop says you don't have a good reason to carry it, you can still be prosecuted. I have carried mine since I first bought it in 2006 in Liechtenstein as I backpacked through continental Europe and even when I lived in Toronto and California. Even when I came to London. But someone said it might be illegal and since I'm on a visa, I shouldn't risk it. I have taken up to using a Tesco Club card fob as my keychain so I look cheap and poor. (I'm like a virus with my Tesco Clubcard kinase).

Item #1 for protection in London: Swiss Army Knife

This is your best friend and it's as close as you can get to the feeling of carrying a gun which is awesome. But note you can't intent to use it as a weapon, even for self defense. So I would suggest if you're waiting for a bus or walking in a darken alley, take it out and start shaving an apple with it. Try to make it catch the light and say, "I'm gonna eat you." If running in a park, I suggest hanging it around your neck so everyone sees it.

Item #2 for protection in London: DS LED Flash Light

This is really cool especially if you are out at night. You can use it to find stuff you dropped, point it at cars that are trying to run you down, use it blind bad guys, and of course make scary faces to scare off bad guys. Buy really solid and bright ones that'll burn retinas and will be there for you in life-threatening situations, not the crappy plastic ones. Make sure they're waterproof too. You never know when you might have to dive into a river and hold it with your mouth as you swim to saftey. Also don't buy high quality but non-rechargeable ones. I did once and spent like $13 for each battery...

Item #3 for protection in London: Pepper Spray (for girls) or Mace (for guys)
This is good if you have a purse or a murse. Otherwise, I would not recommend these items because they are not that useful unless you're accosted from in front and given ample time. You also have to make sure that you get it out, uncap it, turn the nozzle the right way, shake it up,etc. which is just stupid. I would rather have something like a grenade that I can take out of my purse and throw it on the ground. It makes a big bang and casts a cloud of smoke allowing you to abscond.

Item #4 for protection in London: Really fast shoes and energy drink

Most bad guys are lazy that's why running is one of your best options. All you have to do is out run them for 58 seconds and you should be fine. So before you enter a school zone or somewhere else that makes your spider sense go berzerk, drink a can of sugar free Redbull or Bawls. Take off da pumps and put on your Usain Bolts. Of course, school kids (most prevalent type of evildoers) are usually in a group making them much more difficult to out run. In this situation, I would suggest complimenting this strategy with Item #6.

Item #5 for protection in London: Communication Device
This is a highly important magical relic that should be kept with you at all times. The most popular speech transference artifact in the town are known as GSM mobile phones. GSM mobile phones can be functional by combining it with a SIM and battery. There are many shops that sell this artifact, however most of these warlocks require you to pledge allegiance for 12-18 months.

Item #6 for protection in London: Decoy
Basically some crap you can drop when it gets hot. Examples: hat, chewing gum wrapper, Oystercard with a negative balance, change, pencils, fat friend who doesn't owe you money, sunflower seeds, CDOs, and any non-iPod mp3 player such as Zune.

Originally I was just going to make a wish list of the items listed above but I couldn't get Amazon's wish list to work so I blogged it. Feel free to buy me anything from the list above, except Swiss Army knife... well I could use a spare. These would be some really nice Christmas gifts. Give the gift of Life.

Link

11/21/2008 Update:

Item #7 found [comments must reach 10 to be unlocked]

Introduction to Venture Capital (Stanford Slides)

Introduction to Venture Capital

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: venture capital)

This is some useful stuff.

Virgin America Airline (VX) Reschedule Policy

*Virgin America's reschedule policy: If you are early for a flight, you can reschedule for free and fly standby. If you're late for your flight, you can reschedule and fly on the same day for free! Or you can pay $25 for a guaranteed seat, instead of standby. If you miss your flight and can't be rescheduled on the same day, you must pay a $40 reschedule fee plus the difference in airfare.

More finding from my research. Accurate as of 1/8/2008:

*Virgin America in SFO is temporarily located in SFO's international terminal even though it is for domestic travel.

*Virgin America doesn't check for ID when boarding gate nor look at ticket when board aircraft nor rip your ticket.
*They have a cool safety video. Strangely, they didn't show it the first time I flew. I think they forgot.
*Their in flight internet is still not working.
*In-flight entertainment is run on linux, redhat.
*Movies cost $8.
*They provide candy and a laptop sometimes at the waiting area.

*For domestic travel. All you need is a ID such as California's Driver's license.

Delete and Remove EISA configuration on a laptop (ACER)

Delete and Remove EISA configuration partition on a laptop computer (ACER, Vista)

Why?

Because it takes up over 9GB of space and I can just do a system recovery from DVD if my system is messed up so the EISA configuration doesn't serve much of a purpose. Although ACER doesn't provide a recovery DVD anymore, you can burn one yourself.

The EISA partition resides on a dynamic disk and there is no drive letter associated with it. When you click on the EISA partition, all you get is the Help command. You can't format, explore, shrink volume, expand volume, etc.

I can't believe I am writing a guide. This is my first time, but there isn't one out there. (or a good one I can find) I am going to follow my own directions and hopefully this will be helpful to other people too.

How?

To delete the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) partition on Windows Vista:

1. Create a ACER system restore or back up DVD disc. Start->Acer eRecovery Managment-> Burn Disc-> click on factory default disc (one of the other options).-> click next to burn the DVDs.

2. Transfer your documents and files from your laptop to a external hard drive or copy on to DVD.

3A. I think you can use PartitionMagic or BootitNG to remove it. Using PartitionMagic is pretty easy to do. Another option is to put in the windows install DVD and restart the computer. Hit F12 to boot from DVD. Delete the EISA partition. "When you get to the partition selection screen you will see the NTFS partition, but not the hidden EISA one. Hit Shift-F10, run diskpart from the command prompt right there, exit the command prompt and hit Refresh." (link). I haven't tried these ways.

Or you can use the diskpart command.

3B. Start-> Type "diskpart."-> type "list disk" -> type "select disk n" (n is the disk you chose, probably 0)-> type "list partition"-> type "select partition n" -> type "delete partition"-> type "delete partition override"

4. Then I should have extended the C: partition to take up the space of the newly unallocated space. I didn't, but you should if you don't want three partitions!



5. Restart computer.



However, I didn't do Step 4, but instead restarted my computer. My C: became system and EISA partition so I couldn't extend it anymore. I didn't want to have three partitions and the main one be EISA so I reformatted my computer (Step 3a, boot from a CD). Then wiped out the hard drive and installed the recovery DVD I made and I got everything on one partition.

This took several hours and it's not as easy as it seemed. One more note is that there's no way to get the Acer eRecovery Management program back once you delete the EISA.

-----------------------------------------
For Start Up Program Reference:

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

Social Travel (List of Online Travel Organization Sites)

Since Online Travel Organization Sites was one of my most popular posts. I decided to enhance it and add value to it. Here is the revised and improved version.



Social Travel--List of Online Travel Organization Sites

I strongly believe the value of online travel organization with social networking (travel2.0 ?) capabilities due to the shift in people's behaviors (from planning, to booking, to coordinating with friends, to what's done with photos after the trip). And other folks think it's a good idea too.

Although most people still coordinate trips the old fashioned way using massive amounts of email, phone calls, instant messages, and wall posts, a centralized way of simplifying social travel is a hot idea. Below is a list of companies leading the way:

TripHub
TripHub create a single "hub" for all trip information and discussions. Users can invite people and track who is coming, research and discuss travel plans and activities, collaborate on decisions and keep people informed, create a shared trip map and schedule of events, and share travel itineraries from any source or supplier.

TripIt
Tripit allows users to organize trip details into one master online itinerary -- even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites. It automatically include maps, directions and weather, and gives the option to book restaurants, theater tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary. Users can safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary.

WAYN
WAYN is the fastest growing travel and lifestyle social networking community website in the UK. WAYN helps you to keep track of all your contacts from around the world and make new friends based on where you are now, where you have been and where you are going!

TripWiser
TripWiser is an intuitive way to capture trip experiences by various profiles and social factors. Users can create, customize and print multiple itineraries, upload photos, write and share with close friends and the broader community.

Trip Tie
TripTie is an online community of travelers, all devoted to planning and sharing their trips. Members plan and store their itineraries, then you take the best pieces of them and create your own. Share your favorite places, travel tips, to-brings, photos, stories, and more.

yowtrip
YOWtrip allows single travelers to find others going on similar trips.

imin
I'm In! is a social media site for organizing travel with friends. It has unique trip ideas, private planning pages, and a place to share memories and trip details.

Trip Up (Side Step)
TripUp is an interactive travel community that connects people from all over the world through a social network with a travel twist.

Matador Travel
Matador is a meeting place. It’s a place for you to express yourself, tell others about your adventures, get meaningful travel advice, and take inspiration from the beautiful and remarkable things others like you have discovered all across the globe.

TripConnect
TripConnect is an online service that allows people to get travel advice from people they know, others who share similar interests, and also from established and relevant information sources. The company's mission is to help people with the process of choosing travel destinations and hotels by presenting them with the most useful sources of information: those that they trust and those that are most relevant to their tastes and interests.

Dopplr
Dopplr lets you share your future travel plans with a group of trusted fellow travellers whom you have chosen. It also reminds you of friends and colleagues who live in the cities you're planning to visit. You can use the service with your personal computer and mobile phone.

Groople
Groople is a online group travel agency dedicated to simplifying the otherwise difficult task of planning travel for your group.

Kango
Kango is a travel information search engine - your first step to deciding where to go, where to stay or what to do. We're here to help you make informed decisions about what best fits your travel preferences.

Yahoo
Yahoo! Travel is a comprehensive online travel destination, where you can reserve cheap airline tickets, hotels, cars, cruises and vacation packages, all in one place. Research trips from a wealth of planning resources including destination and city guides, user and expert reviews, local weather and currency information, and much more.

Travnotes
TravNotes is a micro-blogging service that allows you to note your travels. Share short notes with friends and family, and quickly log your thoughts while traveling, plan an upcoming trip, or ask questions. Categorize your notes by detsination if you wish.

Mylifeoftravel
My Life of Travel is a free web-based travel journal and travel research tool that lets travellers record their journeys, map travel histories, share tips with fellow tourists and keep in touch with friends and family, without the need for mass email communication and photo sharing sites.

There are are a lot more out there that don't really fit into Social Travel, but might fit into Travel 2.0. They are:

farecast helps save money with flexible airfare. (I used it and recommend it.)
erideshare helps you find carpool and people who are traveling to where you want to go. (I am testing it for my Vegas trip)
sidestep searches sites to find the Web's best travel bargains.
kayak is a travel search engine that searches hundreds of travel sites from all over the world.
Yapta enables customers to tag specific flights/itineraries and then monitors pricing and sends email updates when fares drop
hereorthere allows users to share travel experiences.
Charter Bus America is online charter bus service.
RedWeek is a service for timeshares for rent or sale.
SeatGuru is a source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information.
RealTravel is travel guide and trip planner powered by advice from real travelers
Home&Abroad is a travel planning and purchasing service
Site59 is a great getaway last minute travel site that specializes in last-minute, online travel deals.
world66 is an open content travel guide, where people from all over the planet can write about the places they love, the hotels they stayed in, the restaurants that have eaten.
Travellerspoint is focused on cultural travelers and provides a live meeting point for travelers to create more understanding for different cultures
IgoUgo is a community of travelers sharing reviews and photos
wikitravel.org is a wikipedia for travel.
TripAdvisor is just a big, big site with hotel reviews, photos and travel advice for hotels and vacations.

Now I will make my blog more searchable like a website using keywords from several Travel2.0 sites.

TripHub:

<meta name="Keywords" content="Group travel,vacation planning,family reunion,spa vacations,ski trips,girls getaway,girlfriend getaway,weekend getaway,weddings,destination wedding,birthdays,triphub,triphub.com,www.triphub.com,40th birthday,30th birthday,trip planning,hotel reservations,bachelor parties,bachelorette parties,invitations,trip websites,reunions,retreats,church retreats,club travel,school trip,team travel,alumni travel,trip advisor,group rates" />    

TripIt:

<meta name="keywords" content="trip planner, travel itinerary, itineraries, travel itinerary, travel planner, business travel, trip planning, group travel, travel planning, travel organizer, vacation planning, flight itinerary, vacation planner, group trip, group vacation, itinerary" />

WAYN:

<meta name="keywords" content="location, friendfinder, contact, contacts, where are you now, wayn, keep in touch, lost friends, old friends, friends, maps, visualize, world map, search people, contact management">

Online Travel Organization Sites (Social Travel)

Online Travel Organization Sites (Social Travel)

I strongly believe the value of online travel organization with social networking capabilities due to the shift in people's behaviors (from planning, to booking, to coordinating with friends, to what's done with photos after the trip). 30 minutes of research showed these start ups are common. So one does have some options. And for me, it's evidence this idea is good and gives me opportunities to join something I believe in.



TripHub

Tripit

TripWiser

Trip Tie

Trip Up (Side Step)

Matador Travel

TripConnect

Dopplr

Groople

Kango

Yahoo

Travnotes

WAYN

Mylifeoftravel




Bonus:

Interesting Blog about Travel Sites


Not relevant, but related:

farecast

sidestep

kayak

yapta

hereorthere

Real Estate Finance

I'm going to Berkeley tomorrow to audit their Real Estate Finance class. Let's see how it goes.

Although with this Buy or rent? tool I might not have to go. This tool lets you input figures to determine if you should buy a home. And you can just use the inverse to determine if you should sell or lease. That pretty much covers everything....