There’s soluto: http://www.soluto.com/ and also the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool: http://pal.codeplex.com/
Category Archives: Apps
Free MSI builder
We’ve used the WIX toolkit (command line tools), however there’s also a nice GUI tool for making MSI packages:
http://www.advancedinstaller.com/
Battle of the PDF Tools
This weekend my wife showed me the benefits of using PrimoPDF instead of PDF Creator. While PDF Creator is Open Source, PrimoPDF is commercial but still free. PrimoPDF offers easier controls for the quality of the produced PDF. Both of them, however, tend to leave off bits of complex graphs produced with MS Office. Still, if PrimoPDF’s license allows, it may be a good idea to replace PDF Creator with Primo.
http://www.primopdf.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Outlook for Mac uses autodiscover.xml
Unlike older versions of Entourage that used Webmail for connection, Outlook for Mac uses autodiscover.xml to automatically configure its settings:
http://www.macwindows.com/Outlook2011.html#031711b
SlingMedia, Slingboxes, Placeshifting
So, Slingmedia (the makers of the Slingbox) discontinued the Slingcatcher some time ago. It is still possible to buy some of these devices, albeit prices vary.
There are alternatives such as Videobrick and Haivision’s Videofurnace, and these scale well with lots of users and channels.
However, if you have a bunch of old Mac Minis or maybe XPe thin clients, these can be used to substitute the Slingcatcher by installing the Slingplayer application.
On the other hand, Dish Network is offering DVRs that are Slingloaded and can be used with the Slingreceiver 300.
Update 6/25: Belkin now sells a reasonably priced Slingbox alternative (@TV), but no receiver.
So… lots of options for placeshifting…
iPad 2 – Full Video Mirroring
No more app nonsese – the ipad 2 mirrors the entire screen (other iOS devices will only allow mirroring in certain apps – e.g. Keynote):
https://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
I’ve updated our documentation:
https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/wiki/LIS/IOS_Projection
Google Apps Outage Feb 2011
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/gmail-back-soon-for-everyone.html
0.02% of Gmail users lost access to all or part of their email (no indication whether this includes Google Apps for Edu).
Google has spent several days restoring email from backup.
Security tools worth reviewing
Identity Finder: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EPS310.pdf
Office 2011
Office 2011 for Mac is out. Easier to manage, faster to open:
http://www.officeformachelp.com/office/administration/mcx/
Notes on VMWare View Integration
* Some tips on how to make the XPe thin clients more streamlined:
http://blogs.vmware.com/view/2009/02/vmware-view-client-as-a-shell-for-xpe-and-xp-pro-clients.html