Just Jack

Get the progress-bar-in-the-address-bar addon for Firefox here.

I’m looking for a web based project management tool that allows me to assign tasks to individuals, log time and record billing/payment information.

Any recommendations?

My PC has been hard resetting occasionally over the last couple of days. Event Viewer is giving the following error message:

Error code 1000008e, parameter1 80000004, parameter2 804db9ff, parameter3 ae14d8e0, parameter4 00000000.

Best I can find is this, anyone got any other suggestions before I go installing random patches?

The iPhone ads are available.

I managed to make a decision on a new phone and have gone with the Sony Ericsson K810i. It’s not perfect but I’m very pleased to have a phone with a working joystick again. With a new 1GB memory card I’m a happy man.

It’s worth noting that new O2 contracts purchased through The Carphone Warehouse include 0845 numbers in the inclusive minutes. I know of no other contracts that allow this. They also give £100 cashback when you trade in any phone when purchasing certain contracts.

An ars technica article talks about a paper by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger called ‘Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing‘ in which he expresses his concerns about the amounts of data being ‘remembered’ by the systems that now permeate our lives.

The rise of fast processors and cheap storage means that remembering, once incredibly difficult for humans, has become simple. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor in Harvard’s JFK School of Government, argues that this shift has been bad for society, and he calls instead for a new era of “forgetfulness.”

…

In contrast to omnibus data protection legislation, Mayer-Schönberger proposes a combination of law and software to ensure that most data is “forgotten” by default. A law would decree that “those who create software that collects and stores data build into their code not only the ability to forget with time, but make such forgetting the default.”

This ‘memory’ is an issue that has concerned me in the past. All people do things they regret and some may find that such memories return to haunt them; politicians sometimes discover that an admission of drug taking or an unpopular stance on an issue can impact a career. Even with a simple blog like this, I often pause before posting to consider how an entry or submission might be interpreted sometime in the future.

Engadget is reporting that Nokia 1100 sales have passed 200 million worldwide. It must be doing something right.

All those who complain that modern phones have too many functions, are too hard to use and don’t have good enough batteries, this is the phone for you.

Trust me, my dad has one.

As my contract has run out and the joystick on my K750i is failing me, I’m looking for a new phone. Disappointed by the Nokia N95 I’m hoping the imminent K810i (slimmed down version of the very popular K800i) will be good. Anyone know if Sony Ericsson are bringing out a competitor to the N95 any time soon? 5 megapixel camera and GPS is hard to ignore…

I have long been concerned about identity management on the Web. Many sites require registration but few are integrated resulting in users having to manage many separate accounts. A few options are available, eBay used MSN Passport for a while and Google offer Account Authentication. OpenID, an “open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity”, seems to be gathering momentum and the O’Reilly Radar reports that Sun Microsystems are currently implementing OpenID for employees.

synergy: [noun] a mutually advantageous conjunction of distinct elements

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).

Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen.

Synergy also merges system clipboards, screen savers and screen locking. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Check it out.