Archive

Archive for September, 2009

Makefile woes: PATH variable

September 9th, 2009 No comments

Was just writing a Makefile and ran into kind of a silly snag. The Makefile wasn’t finding any of the standard Unix commands (rm, rsync, …). What happened was I set the variable “PATH” to a value that I wanted to use on my script, totally forgetting the special significance of it.

Categories: Linux Tags:

GPush App for iPhone

September 9th, 2009 No comments

I just downloaded the GPush App for the iPhone. Main problem I had with it, is that nobody really specified what it does. What it does, is useful, but not what I expected.

So first, let me explain what I expected. I thought it would be an app that would get messages from a server and let you know when you have new e-mails. I also expected the GPush icon to update itself to reflect how many unread mails I have and when clicked, take me to my *updated* inbox.

What this app actually does is give you a popup notification when you get new mail. It also reflects the number of unread e-mails in your inbox on the GPush icon. What it does not do is update your mailbox in anyway. So your inbox is essentially split up into two icons. And now you need access to both icons. One where your actual mail resides and another just for the number of mails you actually have. And don’t click on that GPush icon, because each time you click it, the app verifies your e-mail. And after you’ve set it up, clicking through to the app is useless.

Setting up your e-mail happens through the app’s own interface, but all the other settings are set within the iPhones settings app. A huge improvement would be to move all the settings to the Settings page, and have the GPush icon lead you to the iPhone’s e-mail app. I’m sure the iPhone restricts the app from doing that, but that would be a huge improvement. There’s also the app google itself put out for GMail. I wonder if they can just link to that. Perfection would be to also have the e-mail downloaded when an update happens…
Some pages I found that are useful if you want to get updates about this app:
Company feedback page
Company Twitter page

Categories: iPhone Tags:

Emacs email shortcut

September 3rd, 2009 1 comment

This a pretty crazy little shortcut for shooting out an e-mail when you’re in the middle of something important. C-x m –> write message –> C-c C-c … That’s it. So the idea is that from emacs you can send an e-mail. I came across it by accident when chording. I knew emacs could send e-mails, but never really saw the point. It’s SO easy that I highly recommend testing it out.

Steps:
1) C-x m
2) Write out your message
3) C-c C-c

While you’re at it, you can send me some Python/Django/emacs fanciness to: irani.michael at gmail

Categories: Emacs Tags: