Perfect (suckless) Google Reader alternative

Since a month a have been using the perfect alternative to Google Reader. My requirements were:

• Sync between laptop computer and Android device
• Quick reading experience, no clutter
• Easy navigation: next, previous, delete
• Tagging

All these requirements are met by an old technique that has been around since the very first beginning of the internet: email. 

So I set up several IFTTT recipes: whenever there is a new feed item on a certain feed, it sends an email via a gmail account to an emailaddress (feedtag)+feed@(myemaildomain).nl. Setting up the recipes is the most time-consuming part, as far as I know there is no API to do this apart from the web UI of IFTTT, and you have to enter each feed URL as a different recipe. But this is a one-time operation. 

A nice email template for this in IFTTT is:

subject: {{FeedTitle}} - {{EntryTitle}}

body: 

<strong><a href="{{EntryUrl}}">{{EntryTitle}}</a> 

- via {{FeedTitle}}</strong>

<br><br>

{{EntryContent}}

After that I set up a filter in my email that files all *+feed@* emails to a special folder called "Feeds". I could refine that further, but I cleaned up my feed list and as of now, I don't need extra folders or filters.

Now I can read my feeds both on my Android device via IMAP and on my desktop computer in the email webinterface, without the need of a sucky Google Reader wannabe. 

Probleem met dataverbinding en WiFi op de HTC One X

Mijn nieuwe HTC One X van Tele2 had een vervelende eigenschap: de dataverbinding ("Mobiel netwerk") startte niet automatisch als ik WiFi had gebruikt. Bij het verlaten van het WiFi-bereik moest ik dan gaan rommelen met de vliegtuigmodus aan en uit zetten of zelfs de telefoon herstarten om het dataverkeer weer aan de praat te krijgen.

Na veel proberen en uitzoeken en zelfs een nieuwe ROM installeren, wat allemaal niet hielp, bleek het probleem te zijn dat het APN (toegangspunt) voor mobiel verkeer voor Tele2 niet goed staat. En uit berichten in forums blijkt dat het probleem ook voor andere providers geldt.

Repareer dit voor Tele2 als volgt:

• Ga naar instellingen > Mobiel netwerk
• Kies "Namen toeganspunten"
• Kies "Tele2 internet"
• Zet "Verificatietype" op "geen"
• Zet APN-type op "default,supl"

De instellingen voor andere providers kun je (met een beetje technische kennis en zoekwerk) vinden in de apn configuratie van CyanogenMod . 

Open Microsoft OneNote urls from Freemind (workaround)

Freemind doesn't support custom uri protocols. Because OneNote links begin onenote://, it's not possible to create a link to a OneNote page from Freemind.

There is a (somewhat painful) workaround though:

• Create a directory that will hold intermediate files
• In Onenote, right-click on the section or page that you want to link to and click the "copy hyperlink" option.
• In the directory with the intermediate files, right-click and select New > Shortcut
• Paste the OneNote hyperlink and click Next
• Choose a meaningful name and save the shortcut.
• In Freemind, make a link to a file (ctrl+shift+K), choose "all files" to see the shortcut, and select the shortcut you just created in the intermediate files directory.

The war on crapware

People download and install everything from the web, safe or not. Malware takes advantage of this, and virusscanners obviously don't work.

Every now and then, we, the ones "working with computers", have to clean up the computers of friends and relatives because of this. Everytime we visit, that is.

The idea: the friendly Trojan horse

Programmers could compile a stealth anti-malware component into their regular software. A friendly Trojan horse. Because anyone downloads anything, no one would notice.

After installation, the software installer executes the anti-malware component. This component performs the steps that we have to do manually each time on cleaning up a system:

• It removes the unnecessary components from the startup places
• It removes any additional toolbars from IE
• It removes search hijackers and other stupid malware
• It will stop and turn off unnecessary or crappy windows services
• n...

No questions asked. It does not ask the user permission to do this, since that would be a competitive disadvantage in the struggle against crapware.  It just removes stuff the we decide is crapware. To cover legal issues it could be mentioned somewhere hidden deep down in the EULA. That's how our opponents do it, so let's take advantage of their methods.

If the idea works, it could save us a lot of time. It may even result in a real visit the next time we visit anyone, because we don't have to fix any computer.

Ema Personal Wiki is free and open source

From today, Ema Personal Wiki, both the Android and Windows version, is free and open source.

• Go to the download page for the apps.
• The source can be found on github.
• The Windows app manual.
• The Android app manual.

Have fun with it. If you feel like coding, the first priority should be a search function in the android app.