Archive for the 'Software' Category

Exporting from Zotero to RefWorks

FINALLY I got it to work. Since Zotero’s been CRASHING on my ass, I decided to export my ridiculous bibliography over to Refworks, which is web-based and clumsy, but at least it doesn’t crash Word.

  1. So export your stuff from Zotero as BibTeX format (I tried lots of formats and this method works best).
  2. Open the resulting file in some text editor that allows for Regular Expression search and replace.
  3. Then run this query:
  4. Search for: \n},
    Replace with: \n} (no comma)

  5. Then save, and import the file into RefWorks as a Bibtex file with the default options (I selected UTF-8 for good measure)

While i’m on this topic I might as well continue my delirium and show the regex for converting from Ottobib BibTeX (Who knew there were so many kinds!?) to Zotero-importable BibTeX.
Search for: '(.*)'
Replace with: {$1}
Yay.

Guitar Software

WOW! There is tons of free guitar software out there… Even a handful of apps that can open GuitarPro files (prolly do a better job than the POS mac version of guitarpro). (These are either osx apps, LINUX apps that can run on OSX, or Web/Java apps). [All are usable at least under OSX, though at levels of functionality that I can’t yet say]
Found via Sourceforge.net

**TabView:”TabView makes it possible to view and print PowerTab tablatures. PowerTab is a well-known and widely adopted tablature editor for Windows systems. You can easily find thousands of song transcriptions in this format on the net. (OSX App)”

**DGuitar Pro: Views, Prints and Plays Guitar Pro (*.GP4,*.GP3,GTP) files!!

**TuxGuitar: A multitrack guitar tablature editor and player written in Java-SWT, Opens GP3,GP4 and GP5 files! Works!! And made “Images” by Cacaphony sound awesome, since it changed a few of the instruments from the GP4 file… (Electronic drums! haha!) And is much smoother working than the official GP for Mac (< a href="http://apoc.buildtolearn.net/wordpress/2006/08/07/guitar-pro-5-for-mac/">blech). Yay!

Hendrix “trains your chords switching skill, in guitar or piano or any other harmonic tool. Hendrix includes metronome and guitar chords dictionary. JavaScript only!”

Tuners:
Instrument Tuner in Java

Untested/Whack:
Tablature is a Java program that lets you author guitar and bass tablatures graphically, playback the songs and publish them into the Web !” (Works, but is awkward and not so useful…)
KGuitar: Untested guitar tab editor for KDE (might work in X11, but don’t have the time to test right now). Can open GP4 files!

Guitar Pro 5 for Mac

…is a complete pile of CRAP! It crashes like nobody’s business! Maybe I’d use it (if it weren’t for all the highjacked music, that is) if it were a public Beta or something, but as paid software? No thanks. (Not yet, at least).

…And what’s with not being able to open more than one document, or have the application stay open even when no documents are open? This always annoyed me on the PC version as well, and you’d think they’d work things like that out after FIVE VERSIONS!

ugh… When you click on an instrument and then try to preview the tuning of certain strings (especially if you go to a second string without first toggling the first one off) you get instant-spinning-beachball-of-death. Blech…

Update: See this fantastic comment by Happyspaceinvader!

Shortcode Search Automator: A Ruby Script Using Watir

Here is my first attempt at a ruby script. Ugly? Probably. Functional? Absolutely! Hoorayy!
Also see: Watir @ Sourceforge

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
#--------------------------------------------------------------#
# ShortCodeSearch v1.0 by Alex Yule
# USShortcodes.com Shortcode Search Automator written by Alex Yule on 6/29/06
#
# Adapted from Simple Google test written by Jonathan Kohl   10/10/04
# Purpose: to test availability of shortcodes at usshortcodes.com
#   * entering text into a text field
#   * clicking a button
#   * checking to see if a page contains text.
#----------------------------------------------------------------#

require 'watir'   # the watir controller

#define test_code method--takes a code
def test_code(code)
   # set a variable
   test_site = 'http://www.usshortcodes.com'

   # open the IE browser
   ie = Watir::IE.new

   # print some comments
   # puts "## Beginning of #{code} test"

   #puts "Step 1: go to the test site: " + test_site
   ie.goto(test_site)
   #puts "Action: entered " + test_site + " in the address bar."

   ie.text_field(:name, "shortcode").set(code)       # shortcode is the name of the search field
   #puts "Action: entered #{code} in the search field"

   ie.button(:name, "single").click   # "single" is the name of the Search button

   if ie.contains_text("Login to BUY NOW.")   #Test for availability
       puts "Shortcode #{code} Available!!!"
       ie.close
   else
      puts "Shortcode #{code} taken..."
      ie.close
   end
end

s = ""
  while s != "end" #conditional loop
      print "enter code: "
      s = gets.chomp #take code input
      if s != "end" #check to see if program should end
	test_code(s) #check the code
	end
  end

Qumana

Word. This is awesome. And they even have a mac version…

(I wonder if I could turn off this thing at the bottom though… (not that I’d want to))

(ooh they use CSS for the formatting…)

my previous post on 3rd party blogging clients in which I recommended MTClient, which is now easily superseded by the effortlessness of Qumana

AND it even links the posts to their archive (permalinked) pages!!!

Powered by Qumana

Jungle Disk: mount Amazon S3 as a drive for cheap reliable infinite storage

Junlge Disk is an application that lets you store files and backup data securely to Amazon.com’s S3™ Storage Service.

  • Store an unlimited amount of data for only 15¢ per gigabyte [per month]
  • No monthly subscription fee, no startup fee, no commitment
  • Your data is fully encrypted at all times
  • Data is stored at multiple Amazon.com datacenters around the country for high availability
  • Access files directly from Windows Explorer, Mac OSX Finder, and Linux
  • Compare Amazon S3™ pricing with other online storage services…
  • read more | digg story
    Holy Crap!
    I hope this is as good as it sounds… Sounds too good to be true!
    So, Amazon has launched an online file-hosting service called Jungle Disk…
    How much does it cost? 15 cents per gigabyte per month!!
    If I decide to try it out I’ll write how it goes…

    “Neogeography” Blends Blogs With Online Maps

    “Neogeography” Blends Blogs With Online Maps:

    “It is as if we shipped a map to someone and they stuck pushpins in it,” said Bret Taylor, product manager for Google. “We provide the map, and other people put in the pushpins.”

    The trend has been dubbed neogeography, and some enthusiasts predict it could spur a revolution in electronic cartography.

    (Via National Geographic News.)

    SANS Top 20 Now Includes OSX

    As a friend of my Dad’s said, “I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
    (italics are mine)

    SANS Top 20 Vulnerabilities - The Experts Consensus:

    WASHINGTON, DC. — The SANS Institute today announced updates to the Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities. The 2006 Spring Update enables cyber security professionals to tune their defensive systems to reflect the most important new vulnerabilities that attackers are exploiting to take over computers and steal sensitive or valuable information.

    Eight major trends are listed in the update:

    1. Rapid growth in critical vulnerabilities being discovered in Mac OS/X including a zero-day vulnerability (OS/X still remains safer than Windows, but its reputation for offering a bullet-proof alternative to Windows is in tatters.)
    2. Substantial decline in the number of critical vulnerabilities in Windows Services, offset by flaws in client-side software, including the WMF vulnerability and Internet Explorer flaws, listed in Trend #3.
    3. Continuing discovery of multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.
    4. Rapid growth in critical Firefox and Mozilla vulnerabilities.
    5. Surge in commodity zero-day attacks used to infiltrate systems for profit motives.
    6. Rapid growth in three types of critical vulnerabilities allowing direct access to databases, data warehouses, and backup data (Oracle, Veritas Back-Up and SQL Injection attacks).
    7. A continuing surge in file-based attacks, especially using media and image files, Microsoft Excel files, and more.
    8. A rapidly spreading scourge of successful spear-phishing attacks, especially among defense and nuclear energy sites.



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