I’ve had a few people ask how I built my tumblog. I am actually working on a detailed howto for the tumblog but for those of you who are anxious to get working on yours, here is what I did:

1. Installed Wordpress in a subdirectory on Daily Cup of Tech (I used tumblog)
2. Performed all of the basic initial setup for Wordpress
3. Found a theme that I thought was suitable (I used Rounded v.2)
4. Modify the theme to remove comments, etc. that are not required for a tumblog
5. Disable comments and pings on entire site
6. Installed Deepest Sender on my computer so that I can quickly drag-and-post items
7. Installed following plugins:
   1. Postie - allows me to post via e-mail and my smartphone
   2. SideRSS - lets me put Daily Cup of Tech feed on the tumblog
8. Created an iCall account and then configured voicemail to go to Postie e-mail address so that I can create posts via regular phone

That’s the quick and dirty list of how to do it.  I will hopefully have something with a bit more detail in the near future.  Until then, I hope this will at least provide a bit of a framework for your Wordpress tumblog.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/03/24/diy-wordpress-tumblog/trackback/

Google is now taking applications for Google Summer of Code 2007. If you are an eligible student and Google selects you, they will pay you US$4500 to work on some of your favorite open source projects! You have until March 24th (or March 26th, depending on which page you believe) to submit your entry.

Here is the complete list of projects that have been accepted for this summer. I know that when I was a student, I would have done anything to get paid to work on something like this:

If you are interested, you can check out the 2005 and 2006 projects along with some of the results.

For more information, you can check out the wiki or the FAQ. Happy coding!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/03/21/help-wanted-google/trackback/

In one of the comments on Providing User Feedback In AutoIt, Jim is wondering how you can map drives:

I was wondering though, can autoit make an executable that would setup a permanent drive map. Instead of a non-technical user mapping a drive, the executable file would setup a predefined mapped drive. That would be cool..
Thanks
Jim

Well, Jim, there are several different ways that you can map drives but two of the easiest are using a batch file or through AutoIt. Now I know that you can’t make a batch file into an executable but I thought that I would show you how todo this anyway.

Our Example

For this post, I want to use an example to help clarify these concepts. For our example, we would like to map drive letter T: to network share \\server\share.

Batch File

To map a drive in a batch file, simply use the net use command. So, for our example, we would use:

net use T: \\server\share

If you want the drive mapping to return each time you reboot, add the /persistent:yes option:

net use T: \\server\share /persistent:yes

AutoIt

In AutoIt, you use the DriveMapAdd command. Our example would look like this:

DriveMapAdd("T:","\\server\share")

To allow it to survive a reboot, add one more option:

DriveMapAdd("T:","\\server\share",8)

That’s all there is to it. You can then compile this into an executable and away you go!

Hope that answers your question, Jim

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/03/18/automatic-drive-mapping/trackback/

I recently read on Lifehacker about a system called ScrubIT which blocks pornography on your system. Here is what Lifehacker has to say:

All you do is configure your router to use ScrubIT’s DNS servers. Alternately, Windows 2000/XP users can download a utility that tweaks the networking settings accordingly.

I thought, “Very cool!” until I read this:

…there’s no uninstaller for the DNS utility, meaning once you’ve run it, your system will face “scrubbed” sites indefinitely. (I’m still working to extricate it from my PC; incredibly, the ScrubIT site offers no information on undoing the utility’s changes.) I’m hoping this rather startling oversight will be corrected soon, as it’s hard to recommend a service that won’t go away if you want it to.

So, I took it upon myself to investigate. I was surprised to see that the ScrubIT configuration utility was actually a compiles AutoIT script. After a bit of “playing” I was able to reverse engine the original script.

Essentially, all this configuration utility does is set the DNS settings on all of the network cards to their DNS settings; i.e. 67.138.54.100 and 207.225.209.66. In fact, it even uses the built in NETSH command to perform the DNS changes.

To remove the changes made by the configuration utility, all you need to do is the following:Open

1. Open up the Control Panel
2. Double click on Network Connections

Then for each network connection you see in this window, do the following:

1. Right click on the network connection and click on Properties in the context menu
2. Under, This connection uses the following items: click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
3. Click on the Properties button. This will open a new window
4. At the bottom of the window, you will see a section selected that says Use the following DNS server addresses: and then it will have 67.138.54.100 and 207.225.209.66 in the list.
5. If you use DHCP, then select Obtain DNS server address automatically. If you do not use DNS, change 67.138.54.100 and 207.225.209.66 to your DNS addresses.
6. Close all windows.

That should do it for you.

Just one other bit of warning. If you use this configuration utility in a networking environment such as Windows Active Directory, this can break your system. You may experience either extremely long log-on times or lose the ability to log on to the domain at all. It is best to put these DNS settings into the router or firewall.

Update

I have completed the UnScrubIT configuration utility.  This is only to be used if you are running DHCP on your network.

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/03/01/fixing-scrubit-config-utility/trackback/

I firmly follow the 4-H creed of “learn to do by doing”. I have put that into practice ever since I was a little kid. And, I find that it has served me well in all aspects of life, including computers.

So, when I found the Open Source Free Scripts Software Directory, I was ecstatic. Here was a huge pile of scripts that I could take, see what they do, change them, and then put them to work! If here is something that I need done quickly, I do not have to reinvent the wheel. If I want to better understand what each command or function does, I can simply edit them.

They cover a number of scripting languages including:

• ASP
• ASP.NET
• C & C++
• Delphi & Kylix
• Java
• JavaScript
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• Unix Shell
• Visual Basic

Now, the number of scripts that they provide are still limited because they are still quite new but I would like to encourage you to submit and support this resource because it really has a huge potential!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/01/01/open-source-free-scripts-software-directory/trackback/