Dropbox – Guide [Windows]

Posted by Mikey on Aug 3, 2010 | 2 comments

I’m an active Dropbox user, and often get asked, “How do you use this?”. This post aims to be a guide for you Windows users on how to use dropbox successfully.

Right, let’s get started, we’re assuming that you have not got a dropbox account yet. Step by step instructions are as follows:

• Sign up – want 250MB extra space from the get go? Course you do! use my Referral link then
• Download and install dropbox.
• Navigate to wherever you install Dropbox (for example, ‘(My) Documents’ and you’ll see ‘My Dropbox‘
• Inside ‘My Dropbox’ are (by default) two directories, Photos, and Public – and a txt file (this one ) – it’s the ‘Public’ file we’re interested in, as all files you drop in there go into your web accessible folder.
• Now, get familiar with Dropbox, get any image, drag and drop it into your ‘public’ folder. Now, wait till it has a little green tick beside it, this means it’s synced with the dropbox cloud, you can then right click the image, and get the dropbox link. Like so.
• Right, so we have dropbox installed, we know where our files go. Now we need an easy, quick way to send files there with the push of a key. Mac and Ubuntu have in-built apps where you hit prntscrn on the keyboard and it asks you where to save it. We don’t get this with windows, but never fear!
• Yes, the windows alternative to this software is called ‘Screenpresso‘ – Download it, install it, try it out by hitting the print screen button. First time, navigate to your dropbox public folder and save an image, it’ll save there without any problems from then on in.
• You now have a file which has a name of something like 2010-08-03-19h43_55.png – there are two things you can do, a] work out how to do some dns magic to a subdomain to redirect to dropbox, so you can have db.mysite.com/2010-08-03-19h43_55.png (like I have with mikey.junkput.com – generously figured out by Chris) or b] just create a shortcut to your dropbox folder and find the file, and right click it (or even remember your dropbox userid and type the url manually)
• These are the absolute basics you need to know to work with dropbox. HTML files will be parsed and output, so will css files, you can host small html files on your dropbox, but PHP doesnt get parsed, you can’t use things such as .htaccess, nor would you be able to host something like a forum from your dropbox account..

Well, now you’re on your way to using dropbox daily like I do Good luck, enjoy!

Popularity: 12% [?]

xenForo

Posted by Mikey on Jul 29, 2010 | 10 comments

Ah yes, the obligatory ‘jump on the bandwagon and blog about it’ post about the new kid on the block. xenForo.

This new forum software is still in Alpha 1 stages, developed by former vBulletin developers, Mike Sullivan and Kier Darby, and currently, it’s been open around 12hrs and has 2000+ posts and 200+ members. I think it’s safe to assume that all of these members are from vBulletin or IPB forums, and have an interest in running the product. The product has currently received a very very positive reception from these formerly disgruntled customers of vBulletin/IPB, which is good in itself, however I feel that it is missing some core features, and I’m personally keeping a list of all the things I’m seeing, and thinking “ooh, that’d be nice if we can do something like this with x, and something which works with y and z”.

What also is making me cringe, is people are willing to jump into the product and fully support it without so much as a hint at the backend options, the plugin system, the templating system, etc. I see people on the official xenForo Community Forum with sigs like “xen coming soon..”

Here’s what I’ve been posting on the plethora of forums which are currently hosting topics filled with people drooling after the software, people are claiming that it will be the vB/IPB killer, I guess only time will tell.

Don’t count on every vB owner dropping their licenses and moving to xenForo. What most likely will happen is they will keep their exisiting boards on vB, and any new startups will be powered by xenForo.

I know that this blog post is seeming very negative, but I wanted it to seem that way, because I think it is important for others to see it from a different perspective, and not through the rose tinted glasses they’re all wearing. In truth, I like xenForo, I’ve known about it since I found the Facebook group on June 20th, I saw it, informed a few select friends and then we all kept schtum and waited. Upon seeing this build, even at Alpha stages, I think that it will shape up to be a very fine product, but it’ll take a while to beat vB or IPB, (no matter what the hyped up masses are saying on the company forums), though I think that in its current form it is beating free alternatives such as PHPBB and SMF hands down. I recognise that it’s a huge achievement that Mike and Kier have done, but it still needs more work, and I believe that even they would agree with that.

btw, watch this space ;]

Popularity: 22% [?]

Future of Forums?

Posted by Mikey on Jul 24, 2010 | 3 comments

Well, more like my own future with forums. At the time of writing I probably have (outside of my own forums) 7 forums (and I’m counting the wetalk.network as one forum on that list :p) which I regularly visit, out of these, around 5 are to do with administration of forums, or a forum where I visit to sell services/products.
This leaves me doubtful of my own future in the forum industry, as an admin or member. I currently own 3 forums, 2 vBulletin and 1 Invision Power Board powered. I only actively admin one vBulletin site and the IP.Board site is The Geek District which is one which I enjoy running.

Due to my dwindling list of Forums, it makes me wonder what it is which is causing the lack of usage nowadays – I have also noticed that it’s not just me who has problems committing to a forum and posting there daily, I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of people using Twitter to communicate with me (based on my follower count and the seemingly unknown people who tweet at me) and a steady decrease in people using Facebook. (this may be due to my Facebook privacy settings.)
Could it be that Twitter is killing the forum goers? I’ve also noticed a decline in new non-automated postings on the blogs I visit (btw, check out the awesome ‘friend blogs’ in my sidebar), maybe Twitter is to blame here too? People are used to expressing themselves now in 140 characters or less, and I posit that people have become lazy in their internet postings.

While some may seem happy *cough*@Mikouen*cough* to see this blog post, it makes me wonder what the future has in store for me, what will keep me interested in forums, and if I’ll start another. It’ll probably be some interesting development in one of the Forum Softwares which rekindles my interest, but until then, I’m joining less and less sites, and dropping activity on the others.

Of course, it could just be the increase in my vBulletin Services work which is leaving me with less and less time for forums, only time will tell I suppose, and I bet I’ll always have a place in my life for forums

Popularity: 40% [?]

Remind anyone of anything?

Posted by Mikey on Jul 3, 2010 | 1 comment

“I am outwardly expressing my dismay and annoyance towards what another individual has done, without overtly mentioning said persons name. Upon questioning I attempt to divert the subject of conversation onto another topic, and if all else fails I revert to such responses as ‘safe’ or ‘innit’, people then ‘like’ what I am saying for weeks after for no good reason, until I find another thing to get annoyed about and then, without ever mentioning what it was that originally annoyed me, I repeat the above process.”

Popularity: 12% [?]

Windows Update Factory Reset my Laptop! :(

Posted by Mikey on Jun 24, 2010 | 6 comments

So, I go to sleep, leaving my LOST playlist on, fell asleep after a few episodes. I wake up and it’s had an Automatic Windows Update. I log in (I dunno how it saved my login password if everything is reset.. weird)..

Immediately I notice something is wrong, as the vista “Welcome Screen” and Sidebar popped up immediately, I then noticed my wallpaper was the one which came with the laptop (A HP One)..

I load Opera, which is still installled, and all my bookmarks and passwords are gone, so I go to my backup list, and every dir (like Pictures, Music, Documents etc) in my C:/Users/Mikey file is empty..

I’m really up shit creek without a paddle now, every program is acting as if I’ve only just installed it, including IRC and such. So, no bookmarks, no settings, and some things aren’t even installed anymore, such as Dropbox and Google Chrome..

So I tried to do a System Restore to yesterday, it just brings me back to the same point, factory reset. This is bollocks, it gives me a popup saying my user account isnt loaded and that I’m on a temporary one, so is my data safe then? No. I realised that programs are installed for ALL users, not just one, so Dropbox and Google Chrome SHOULD STILL BE INSTALLED. Well they’re not.

I think the only thing to do now is to install clean Windows 7 and re start EVERYTHING.

Fucking annoying.

Popularity: 16% [?]

New Social Media Site – Quippd

Posted by Mikey on Jun 4, 2010 | 5 comments

A while ago a friend of mine (aperson) reccommended quippd and I never really visited it, It was just another site which I didn’t visit and forgot about..

Recently they have started emailing me updates and so, instead of doing my usual thing and deleting and ignoring it, I went to check out the website. It’s quite good, I like it. As a member I would describe it as like digg, twitter and reddit all mashed into one nicer looking site

Currently it’s invite only, so if you want an invite, comment with your email and I’ll wing you an email invite.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Mikeylicious gets a new look :)

Posted by Mikey on Jun 3, 2010 | 3 comments

So, today, I bought a years sub to Elegant Themes which have some very nice wordpress themes.
I decided I’d give Mikeylicio.us a new look, so even if I don’t blog very often, you’ll still have something nice to look at. This theme is “Minimal” from Elegant Themes.
My old site skin was one I found on Smashing Magazine which, while it was nice, it was very limited and in use by masses of other websites. I like this skin as it is nicer, cleaner, different, and it has the benefits of a paid theme, such as the ability to turn a dark version of the site on and off, for when I have a headache.
All in all, I’m quite happy, but I’ll let you guys decide for yourselves :p

Click the links for a popup image

New Skin | Old Skin

Popularity: 18% [?]