Rocket Plumes

infiniteNIL News Blog

2007-01-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've created a new blog on the infiniteNIL site specifically for infiniteNIL News. So for news about infiniteNIL and its products, go to http://www.infinitenil.com/blog. If you have subscribed to the Atom feed of this blog you will now need to subscribe to the feed of the new blog. This blog will continue as well, but I will only write about things not related to infiniteNIL.

On a technical note, the new blog uses WordPress. I've wanted to add categories to my blog for a long time and the new Blogger beta supported that but not for a blog with FTP publishing which I used. WordPress gives me what I want and more control. I will be switching this blog over to WordPress as well.

Downtime

2007-01-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that the infinitenil.com website has been done for a few days. I didn't notice it till tonight. I've been working on having an infiniteNIL specific blog and I messed things up. Sorry about that.

Developer Preview of RubyCocoa 0.90

2006-12-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is good news. Follow the link above to find out about the changes happening to RubyCocoa. It has jumped from 0.50 to 0.90 and the changes are good. And with RubyCocoa being included in Leopard and with Apple giving it support, RubyCocoa is on its way up.

MacSanta

2006-12-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

As a Christmas present to all, infiniteNIL is participating in the MacSanta promotion. So now's your chance to get PackRat at 20% off as well as PhoneWord. Just enter the coupon MACSANTA when you purchase. Merry Christmas!

Basecamp Client: Any Interest?

2006-12-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm considering developing a client for Basecamp similar to PackRat. If you'd be interested in such a product, let me know. I'd also like to know what you think it should do and what features it should have. I think this product has even more potential than PackRat and I'd love to get some feedback.

Freddy Adu is coming to Salt Lake

2006-12-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Freddy Adu, the teenage soccer star of the MSL, has been traded from D.C. United to my local team, Real Salt Lake. This is great news. Freddy hasn't received much playing time in D.C., but of the little time he has had, he has shown flashes of brilliance. In Salt Lake, I'm sure he'll receive all the playing time he wants and we'll see him grow into a true superstar. I know I'll be going to some Real Salt Lake games next year.

PackRat 0.94: Now with reminders

2006-12-01T11:40:00.001-07:00

I just released PackRat 0.94. The big thing for this release is
editing reminders. Now you can add, delete, and edit your reminders.
A lot of people have been waiting for this and I hope you like it.

At this point in PackRat existence, you can now view and edit all
your Backpack data, with the exception of your Backpack calendars. We
are very near a 1.0 release. All that remains is to polish up some
things.

Going forward I want PackRat to take full advantage of the the Mac
platform. This means things like Spotlight support, Applescript
support, Address Book and iCal integration, iPod syncing, and
whatever else makes sense. I love the Mac and want to take full
advantage of the platform. That is why PackRat is Mac only.

I also want to add things that Backpack doesn't do right now. Things
like searching and deleting all completed list items and anything
else you and I can think of to make it more fun and easier to use.

I've also decided that releases past 1.0 will continue to be free
updates. The price of PackRat is meant to reflect its potential to
take advantage of the Mac platform and it hasn't done that yet. Until
I think it has, updates will continue to be free. If you haven't
purchased a license yet, I encourage you do so and support me in this
endeavor. You will get your money's worth and if enough of you do, I
will have more time to make PackRat better and in less time.
Eventually, I will be able to write other applications that you and
others will enjoy.

Enjoy editing your reminders offline.

PackRat Screencast

2006-11-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

I just found a great little screencast that somebody did for PackRat. It's a little out of date but still good. It's great to see people doing things like this and finding PackRat useful. Check it out here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

PackRat 0.93 - Automatic Uploading

2006-11-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've just released PackRat 0.93. The big new thing is automatic uploads. Whenever you make a change, PackRat will automatically upload the change to Backpack, as long as you are connected to the internet. If you are not connected, it will wait till you are connected and then upload them.

I really like how it works and I don't need to manually sync anymore. Of course, I always use PackRat. If you sometimes enter your data directly on Backpack, then you will have to sync to download the data to PackRat. I'll address this in a later release.

I also put back some shortcuts for viewing reminders and synchronizing and fixed a few bugs. For a detailed list, see the release notes in the help.

Enjoy!

PackRat 0.92

2006-10-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've just released version 0.92. This one fixes some annoying bugs
that have been found and I felt it was important to get some fixes
out to them as soon as possible. So, no, automatic syncing isn't in
this one. However, I have made some work on it and it should be in
the next one. I have added one feature though, and that is automatic
update checking. PackRat will now check for a new version at startup
and tell you about it if there is one.

As for bug fixes, if you've had problem with PackRat crashing when
you try to copy or paste then you should get this version. I also
fixed a few bugs with syncing after reordering a list. A bug fix that
I'm happy to release and that has been bothering some of you for
quite some time is now here. If you've had problems with typing in
your username and API key in the preferences window and it not saving
and not syncing then you need this fix.

Download it and give it a try.

PackRat and Modems

2006-10-20T12:34:00.000-06:00

I'd like to know if any PackRat users are using plain old dial up with a modem to sync their data. If so, drop me a line. One user has said that PackRat hangs when he does this but works fine on a high speed connection. I don't have access to a modem at this point but did try it with a bluetooth modem and it worked fine. So, if you're having success the "old fashioned way", please let me know. Or if you're having problems with that, let me know too. Thanks.

PackRat: Now with List Reordering

2006-10-13T10:12:00.000-06:00

I just released PackRat v0.91. It adds a feature that a lot of you have been asking for: List reording.

When you want to reorder your lists just press cmd-R or select Reorder Lists from the Action button or the Edit menu.

PackRat 0.901 and On

2006-10-06T16:36:00.000-06:00

I made a small release last night that fixed a few bugs. The main change is that now SSL is tried first when syncing. This was to provide extra security because Backpack would let some requests go through without SSL even when SSL was turned on.

The next release will feature something many users have been waiting for: List reordering. I'm currently testing it and putting on the finishing touches. If you'd like to beta test it, then just let me know.

Next on the list is automatic syncing. Manual syncing is bugging me and I'm sure it's bugging you. If you have any ideas about auto syncing or things you'd like to see, then please send me an email.

PackRat 0.9

2006-09-06T13:57:00.000-06:00

I've just released PackRat v0.9. This one is just some bug fixes that have been bugging you. The big one is a bug that caused PackRat to have connection problems when you changed your Backpack password. So, if you've been having problems with this, download the new version. Other fixes are: resizing the tags browser no longer causes a crash, you can create notes without titles, and the Edit Page sheet is now resizable and its initial size is larger so you can see more of your page body.

My Hero

2006-09-03T23:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday and this morning has been pretty emotional for me. You see, yesterday was the last tournament, last match, and last day of the tennis career of Andre Agassi, my hero.

Andre Agassi has been a shining example to all of us, how we can become a better person, no matter what our standing in life. Andre has probably had it all most of his life. He could have just sit back and cruised the rest of his life and had fun. Yet, he chose to become a better tennis player, a better person, and make the world a better place. He has shown us that life is not about the wins or the trophies. It's about the journey you take, the decisions you make, and the work and time that you put in that enable you to earn those wins, those trophies. And it is about making the choice that life is about more than just you and your personal wins. It's about the worlds' wins. Its about making the world better, not just yourself.

We have seen the last of Andre Agassi on a tennis court, but we have not seen the last of Andre Agassi. His true greatness has just begun. He will continue to be my favorite tennis player, my role model, and my hero.

micro ISV Incubation

2006-08-27T16:06:00.000-06:00

I've had this idea for a while now and it come up again the other day. I think we need some kind of investment in micro ISVs to help incubate them. My idea is to have an investor agree to pay a micro ISV a fixed amount of money each month. This would be a minimum amount that would cover the developer's monthly expenses. This way the developer could be freed up to pursue their idea full time without doing such things as contracting out their services to make money. As it stands now, I work 4 days a week to make money to live on and dedicate one day a week to work on my products. This is a loss for me right now and it doesn't yet pay for itself, but it will eventually. I have lots of other ideas I'd like to work on and I'd like to devote more time to my current project. I can't do it. Imagine if their was an investor or some kind of union or association of micro ISVs that would provide this funding. Obviously there would have to be a limit on the total funds or the length of time funds are provided. And there would have to be some kind of return on investment for investors. If the details could be ironed out and some kind of system like this put in place, I think a lot more micro ISV could be started and be successful and eventually become full software companies.

Maria Sharapova Nike Commerical

2006-08-24T08:03:00.000-06:00

I just bet Maria loves this commercial. I know I do. I love the McEnroe brothers singing "I feel pretty". Wouldn't it be great to see them in a booth together announcing a game.

Why You Need PackRat

2006-08-23T11:32:00.000-06:00

Even the big guy's web apps go down. Nobody can guarantee 100% availability of your data.

PackRat 0.88: Create and Delete Pages

2006-08-20T18:10:00.000-06:00

I just released a new version of PackRat. This one adds the ability to create and delete pages. Create pages with the New Page command under the Backpack menu or the Action toolbar button, or the + button at the bottom of the page list. Delete pages with the delete this page link on a page or by pressing the delete or backspace key, or by pressing the - button at the bottom of the page list.

I've also added an Activity Viewer for help in tracking down those Backpack commnication problems and there are a few bug fixes. For more details check out the release notes in PackRat Help.

We're getting close to full editing. All I need to do is add the ability to reorder your lists and add support for editing reminders.

PackRat 0.87: Links

2006-08-04T09:28:00.000-06:00

I finally got a new release out. I've been having too much fun on the weekends playing tennis and baseball and hanging out with friends.

Anyway, the main event of this release is the addition of link editing. Now there is a New Link command on the action menu and the Backpack menu for creating a link on a new page. There's an Add link link on a page with existing links. And of course, you can delete links and links are included in synchronization. A nice touch is that you can drag a page in the page list to another page to create a link. There's a few bug fixes as well. Check the release notes for the details.

Agenda Redux

2006-07-02T16:03:00.000-06:00

I've been involved in another project for awhile and I wanted to tell you about it. The project is Agenda Redux. Basically, we are creating a new version of Lotus Agenda for the web. My friend Sonjaya Tandon started up the project and ask me to be a part of it. Recreating something like Agenda is something I've wanted to do for awhile, so I had to be a part of it. Sonjaya used to work on Agenda when he worked for Lotus and we worked together in Park City. Plus, we're doing it in Ruby on Rails, so that's bonus. I invite you to google Lotus Agenda and find out what it's about. No personal information manager since has been able to do what Agenda could do. People still use it and go to great lengths to get an old text based UI application running under Windows, Linux, OS X, you name it. That's how good it is. Check it out and follow the Agenda Redux project. We're still in the early stages, but things are moving along nicely.

Superman Returns

2006-07-02T15:55:00.000-06:00

I saw Superman Returns this weekend. It was very good and I'd call it one of the most fun movies I've seen in awhile. It was awesome to see Superman do his thing with the latest special effects. Also, it's refreshing to see a movie where the hero is a true hero. There are no shades of grey with Superman. He tries to do the right thing all the time and behave in respectful, polite manner. Call it corny, or whatever, but I found it refreshing. I like my heroes to be ideal. Especially Superman.

PackRat 0.86: Tags

2006-07-02T15:52:00.000-06:00

I just released PackRat 0.86. This version adds tag editing. You can now add tags to your pages and edit them offline, and they will be sent up to Backpack when you sync. The full release notes are now accessed via the Help command.

PackRat 0.851

2006-06-19T09:07:00.000-06:00

Well, I released the new images feature a little too soon. Turns out I was displaying the full image rather than a thumbnail image from the Backpack site. This was really slowing things down for pages with lots of images. So here's another release to fix this issue and a few others. Here's the info:

Bug Fixes

- Wasn't using thumbnails to display images. This really slowed things down.
- image descriptions now support markup
- Pages wouldn't display if the note titles were empty

Known Bugs

- Tags browser causes crash when dragging sizer (awaiting fix in RBSplitView)
- Help needs finishing
- Backpack API Bug: Problems syncing pages with unicode characters, HTML/XML tags, or quotes in titles
- Images are not loaded if not in cache
- image thumbnails are not cached in images section

PackRat 0.85

2006-06-18T10:09:00.000-06:00

PackRat 0.85 has been released. Some good bug fixes in this one. If you've had problems uploading your changes to Backpack, there's a good chance this release will fix that. Another hilight is that you can now see your files and attachments on a page. You have to be online to access, but you can see what's there. Here's the info:

New Features

- Now displays a page's files. You must be online to access them
- Now displays a page's images. You must be online to access them.

Bug Fixes

- List and note titles were not converting markup to HTML
- Tables now have borders in the page body
- Wasn't escaping XML characters on page before uploading to Backpack. This was causing sync errors, often reported as a can't login error.
- Now will handle uploading changes to a page that has been deleted in Backpack
- No longer hangs when you sync and the selected page no longer exists
- Backpack API Bug: Setting page body or note body to empty results in body being
set to --- !ruby/hash:HashWithIndifferentAccess {}. Implemented workaround

Known Bugs

- Tags browser causes crash when draging sizer (awaiting fix in RBSplitView)
- Help needs finishing
- Backpack API Bug: Problems syncing pages with "bad" characters, HTML tags, or quotes in titles
- Images are not loaded if not in cache