It was only in a revelation whilst I was in bed last night that I wondered if I could use Dropbox’s Public directory as the target to publish my files.

It works! Here’s how…

1. Install the Dropbox client,
2. Once installed, navigate to the Public sub-directory in whichever directory you assigned as the Dropbox directory,
3. Right-click on the “How to use the Public folder.rtf” file,
4. In the Dropbox menu item, click “Copy Public Link”,
5. Paste it into any notepad application,
6. In Visual Studio, in the Publish tab of your project’s properties, use the following information (substituting your own locations as required):
   • Publishing Folder Location: C:\My Documents\My Dropbox\Public\Project1\
   • Installation Folder Location: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/xxxxxx/Project1/ (Paste the link from step 4, removing the How to use the Public folder.rtf portion and adding the project directory)
   • Click the “Updates” button,
   • Update Location: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/xxxxxx/Project1/ (I always do this just to be on the safe side)
7. Publish
8. That’s it! The files will sync to the Dropbox servers, and the project is deployed!

Now all you have to give out is the URL to either the http://dl.dropbox.com/u/xxxxxx/Project1/index.html file if you chose to generate one in your publishing options, or http://dl.dropbox.com/u/xxxxxx/Project1/setup.exe directly.

Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

I’d initially looked at the RCA EZ409HD, but after reading the disappointing reviews, I decided on the Flip Ultra HD. It’s fairly inexpensive and very easy to use, and the quality is excellent.

You can see some of the early camera work by me and Laura on Alfie’s blog.

That’s four so far; roll on Christmas!

It’s the same course and the same cars, so why does it feel like it loads everything all over again?

Have they never heard of caching?

</$0.02>

Why do I have to be signed in to XBox Live to use a media codec?

I was trying to watch a programme last night with was encoded using the ISO-MPEG4 compatible XviD codec, but I was having trouble signing in, so it wouldn’t let me.

Why can’t they add it to a dashboard update and have it available all the time?

Grrr.

Now I hadn’t changed anything, so I was a bit bemused to say the least.

Today I found the solution.

It appears as though Google have added an “Enable Google Sync” setting to the “Service Settings –> Mobile” section of the dashboard for your Google Apps domain.

Thanks for letting us all know, Google! I know Google Sync is still in beta, but adding a setting that effectively kills your calendar, contacts and email without letting us know is a bit much.

So this is a bit of a heads up or anyone else who is having this problem; there’s nothing wrong with your phone, your Google account, your sync settings or anything else.

All it takes is one little unchecked checkbox.

[Via: Google Support]

Kill Bill and Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room on Thursday.

Thai police told the BBC a hotel maid found the 72-year-old naked in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.

[Via: BBC News]

During a time when many people are losing their homes, nevermind their jobs, the members of the Westminster Parliament are still being exposed for making the most outrageous expenses claims on top of their already overblown salaries.

It seems that during the interviews, in which it sounds like they have been forced by their party bosses to explain themselves, the same two soundbites that are heard over and over again.

“The money for that claim has already been paid back.”

Two points.

That implies that had your expenses not been exposed, you wouldn’t have paid them back; and having paid them back, you must have realised that the claim was invalid in the first place.

And who is authorising these claims? Whoever it is gives the impression that they are so far removed from reality, it beggars belief.

“All of these expense claim are within the rules.”

Yes; the rules, you as MP’s, voted in. Sounds suspiciously like “I was only following orders”, or “Everyone else was doing it…”

Apparently, it doesn’t matter how badly the country is doing financially, as long as you can feather your own nest.

Analysis by tax expert Richard Teather of Bournemouth University shows that an MP’s nominal Parliamentary salary [of £64,766] nowhere near reflects their huge package of benefits.

As The Mail on Sunday revealed last week, MPs have voted to make their benefits exempt from tax.

To pocket the same salary, buy the same gold-plated pension and receive the same string of perks as the average MP, an ordinary taxpayer would have to earn a salary of £319,165 – about 18 times the pay of the average voter.

Mr Teather’s findings have been set out in three tables to show how MPs are benefiting and those who are benefiting the most. Here, we show the 20 highest-earning MPs in each of the three categories. You can see the whole list at www.mailonsunday.co.uk/mps.

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy tops Table 1, which shows the true value of MPs’ pay and perks compared with the average wage of their constituents. The figure for expenses has been adjusted upwards to reflect the tax that would be payable if treated as salary.

To get the equivalent to the wages, pension rights and perks of Mr Murphy, his constituents in Torfaen, South Wales, would have to earn £423,932 before tax and national insurance – 28.1 times their average pay.

[Via: The Daily Mail]

The Speaker, Michael Martin, bore the brunt of my fury during last night’s news.

Patricia Hewitt, the former Cabinet minister, was [also] cut short by Mr Martin as she argued for greater public scrutiny of what MPs are paid and able to claim in allowances.

Mr Martin replied,

“Let me put this to you and to every Hon Member in this House – is it the case that an employee of this House should be able to hand over any private data to any organisation of his or her choosing?”

[Via: The Daily Telegraph]

Since when was how these elected officials spent public money “private data”? Who exactly is this man defending, and on what grounds, because it certainly should not be privacy of the expense claims of public servants.

Shame on you all.

Who the hell do you people think you are? Far from serving us, the public, they are taking us to the cleaners.

Clever network admin Pete decided to mess with his wifi-piggybacking neighbors by flipping all the images they’d see on web pages upside down.

[Via: Lifehacker]