Pem’s Tech Blog

I am trying out Windows Live Writing, after enabling XML-RPC.  In WordPress 2.7.1, you just go to Settings –> Writing –> check the checkbox to enable XML-RPC.

Logging into the webpage, especially with a bookmark or direct link on desktop/taskbar etc, already seems like it shouldn’t be painful.  But in the details, somehow it feels less streamlined than I’d imagined.  So I’m trying out Windows Live Writer to see if it will go even further in making it simple painless well-organized quick robust.

Notice the Insert –> Picture link, which lets me select from web, which is good since I like to put my png’s as external links.  Preview tab, source tab.

An interesting thing they do is how you don’t have to be fully aware that under-the-hood it’s writing a file/doc saved on your local hard drive.  You just have File –> Open, showing “Drafts” alongside Recently Posted, and Pem’s Tech Blog (which accesses my posts from online).  Great stuff.

Overall, my first impression is that it looks at least a lot better than just using the default editing in the WordPress web page application.  A big part of it is just the WYSIWYG editing, but it’s also a simple yet powerful central desktop application toolbox hub for blogging.  Imo, great stuff

A minor thing with my (../pemtech_files/) scheme (use relative paths not absolute), is that I had to first insert the image link with an absolute path such as (http://www.mepem.com/pemtech_files/2009_06_03/WindowsLive_Edit_thumb.PNG), then click the Source tab and find/replace it with (/index.php/../).  This worked, even for the Preview tab.

I also noticed you can do posts via email.  And I’m hoping there’s a good Windows Mobile application (I did see there is a WordPress iPhone OS App).  The point is just to make it more streamlined easy convenient to write/manage posts.  But for now, I have a really good first impression of Windows Live Writer.

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/06/03 (Wednesday, June 3, 2009) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

That is an excellent question! My last post was over a month ago… Let me explain the main point of this blog was to try out making a blog (partly just from the technical, setup, website creation, etc perspectives). But also from a writing perspective, and to post some thoughts on ideas, and tips/tricks, and stuff like my favorite software and hardware etc, possibly to share or even just as an online date-based extention of my personal notes.

In theory, I would even get some actual readers who might stumble upon my site through google search etc… Who found my notes to be useful. And then I’d be open to take questions, and help others research a good answer for a question like, “what are the best (or pem’s favorite) options for a calculator or notes or movies etc for Windows?” or “what is your suggested data backup strategies for my specific situation?” or “what are the broad choices for smart phones (or GPS, or laptops, etc) and what do you like?” or “how do I fix my laptop?” etc. However, that was the theoretical grand master plan, but never my actual expectations.

I do have lots of ideas in my notes for more posts, but I try to cut the text down to get to the point (and have some pics etc) before I post/share anything. So in the end, this blog may or may not be dead.

Meanwhile, I am starting to put other stuff I’m working/playing with on www.mepem.com, so check out the other sections. Right now my current distraction (er, project) is: www.mepem.com/game/ (this URL may change later, but probably there will always be a link at www.mepem.com), an adobe flash-based game (or game prototype).

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/08/19 (Tuesday, August 19, 2008) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

Now that I’ve experimented with blogging a little (having written 10 posts), I think a better plan for categories is to make them as I go and let them evolve based on the content of the posts. (This should beat my original plan, which was to fret about making perfect categories from the start that would last for eternity).

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/07/03 (Thursday, July 3, 2008) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

The title is a basic summary. The first paragraph (or opening excerpt) is a slightly more detailed summary. Then the content doesn’t ramble (like most of what I’ve written). Read on for more…

Everything, especially the title and opening/intro should say (through implication) things like “this is about…” and “you should read this post because…” and “here is what you will learn from this post…”

Then if you have enough to say (that is not just pointless rambling), you can put longer content in the main body of the post. Pointless rambling should be avoided even in the body, especially for the kind of posts I was experimenting with (intended to be useful to the point notes). Pointless posts (such as multiple paragraphs rambling about my category names) also suck.

Pictures can be good too and so can videos (of course they can also suck, and that should be avoided too).

Yes, I am aware that I did not follow these guideline in my previous posts O:-)

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/06/29 (Sunday, June 29, 2008) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

In iTunes, select LIBRARY -> Podcasts, then do File -> Export. Here is my list (I deleted the ones that weren’t computer/tech related) (goes inside the <body>): Podcasts_tech_forblog_2008_06_27.opml

I watch these on my iPod. Currently in iTunes -> DEVICES -> [my ipod] -> Podcasts, I am using the “10 most recent new”. When you start to watch a podcast on your iPod, it (almost) instantly gets marked as “not new” and this gets sync’ed with iTunes. A little trick I found is that when you are watching a podcast on your iPod, you can (usually) use the back/left (when watching) to reset it back to “new”.

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/06/27 (Friday, June 27, 2008) :: Blogging :: 1 Comment »

Here was my initial basic list of ideas for category names:
Blogging: Blog Admin, other blogs
Hardware: computer hardware, hardware devices, cell phones, media players, gadgets, hardware accessories, physical products
Software and Services: software programs, tech-related services, online services, etc
Broad Tech: tech-related thoughts, broad tech issues that don’t fall into the other categories

My initial idea was for every post to only be in 1 category, but I think that makes naming the categories more difficult. Maybe “Software” and “Services” should be seprate categories. Microsoft Outlook is “software”. But is gmail and yahoo email “Software” or “Services” or “Web”? An area of the topics I may post about are “Software / Services / Web”. I don’t think whether (you install an application and run it on your local machine) vs. (you run the application through a web browser) should make it go in a separate posting category. There is plenty of software that has both versions (such as instant message).

So I’ll have to think more about the categories. I think they could be a really useful way to organize my posts in the archives.

Here’s another brian storming attempt at categories:
Hardware -> Computers: computer laptop, desktop, workstation/server hardware
Hardware -> Devices: gadgets, cell phones, media players, hardware accessories
Hardware -> Accessories: peripherals, audio, other
Software / Services / Web: software programs, tech-related services, online services, etc
Software / Services / Web -> Communication: email, instant message, social networking
Blogging: Blog Admin, other blogs
Broad Tech: tech-related thoughts, broad tech issues that don’t fall into the other categories

Again, this is just brain-storming. I thought about “Hardware -> Devices” being “Hardware -> Gadgets”, but I’m not sure what “gadgets” exactly means. By “Devices”, I really mean anything smaller than a laptop (making the Asus Eee PC a laptop, and the iPhone a device).

This should also give some idea about what I plan to write about. But feel free to comment to suggest a topic, or ideas about how to organize the posts better (and thanks if you do).

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/03/30 (Sunday, March 30, 2008) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

Part of why I created this blog is just to try it out and learn about blogging (as a technology, and as a tool for writing etc)

I’m hoping that even if I never get any readers, Pem’s Tech Blog will at least be an additional method for me to take notes for me to reference on computer / technology topics (a blog can at least be a diary to yourself). But in addition to that, I expect to enjoy the “learning by doing” aspect to learn about blogs.

This is only my third post, so I am in the experimental stages of my blog, and learning how to use WordPress etc. I have notes about content I’d like to write, but at this point I’m really just learning about how to create a blog and set it up etc.

I’m not sure how much I will post about the details of creating the blog (as a first time blogger), but I made my first category called “Blogging”. I even thought about calling the category “Blog Admin”, because it’s likely to be a potential resource for blog admins / authors (in terms of technical aspects of blogging). At least initially, I expect my posts in the “Blogging” category to describe some of my own experience as a blog admin and blog author.

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/03/30 (Sunday, March 30, 2008) :: Blogging :: No Comments »

Use alphanumeric date/time (organize your file names with a good date/time standard).

I’ve noticed a general standard (in the US) for dates: (March 24, 2008) or (3/24/08)
And for time: 10:15pm

But this standard is not alphanumeric. For anything relating to (or using) computers and software, such as file and folder names, alphanumeric is better (in other words, alphanumeric is better). For ex, it organizes more easily in any file explorer. For ex, you can process the files more easily with scripts. For ex, it lines up better (easier) in a spreadsheet or text file.

Here is a much better format for date/time: (2008/03/24 10:15pm) or (2008/03/24 22:15:15) (22 hr 15 min 15 sec)
Or for a file name: 2008_03_24_2215_15
ISO 8601: [YYYY]-[MM]-[DD]
If we were closer to 10,000 A.D., then I’d support: [YYYYY]-[MM]-[DD]

The first setting I adjusted in WordPress was its default date and time format:

Default date format: Y/m/d (l, F j, Y)
Default time format: G:i (g:i a)

I put the “bad” US standard time in parenthesis, in case the better format confuses anyone. I have to admit that I’m actually kind of trained to see clocks in 12-hour AM/PM time, even though I would never use that for a file name.

Anyway, the point is to make it alphanumeric (with two digits for month, and two digits for date, such as 2008/03/01) (year then month then day).

Update (2008/03/29):
* updated screen shot for wordpress 2.5
* I noticed that WordPress can use a good date format URLs this such as /index.php/../pemtech/2008/03 and /index.php/../pemtech/2008/03/24 – yay for WordPress!

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/03/24 (Monday, March 24, 2008) :: Blogging :: 1 Comment »

Hello World! I am Pem, and this is my tech blog.

The plan is for my posts to relate to technology products, software tools, computer tips… Some of the things I post may be more technically advanced than what you might get from (cnet.com) or (pcmag.com) or (greekbrief.tv podcast) or (tekzilla podcast) or (cranky geeks podcast) or (TWiT – this week in tech) or (Unwired podcast) or even (tomshardware.com)… But in that area.

My posts are from the point of view from a sotware developer (who still loves to improve computer skills) (and I sometimes go too deep into a topic, so I’ll try to be careful). But this is not a software engineering blog (it is Pem’s Tech Blog).

Please talk back with a reply if you think I’m too wordy (or too short), or with whatever you have to say. I have some ideas about what I’ll post, but I’d be glad to take positive feedback on content/etc. Please comment with something friendly and/or insightful.

However, I plan for my posts to be things that any tech-savy or tech-enthused individual can understand (not just professional software engineers / developers). Overall, I hope for my posts to be focused on the practical / useful (well, assuming you are interested in tech-related computer-related stuff), but some of it may just be interesting / fun.

Well I guess the initial purpose of this is to try out blogging.

If you read any of this, Thanks

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/03/19 (Wednesday, March 19, 2008) :: Blogging :: 1 Comment »