I just discovered Synergy, and it’s awesome. Last week, the power supply on my computer at work began screaming and dying a slow death. During this time, the computer would shut down by itself when it began to overheat. As you could imagine, this was extremely frustrating. This was effecting my productivity and mental well-being. I started using a backup computer that I used for remote connections and data backups while I waited for the power supply to be replaced.

After I received the new power supply, I decided to make use of my backup computer to manage databases, execute long-running processes, etc. Just this morning, though, I hit a snag. I had modified a stored procedure on my secondary computer and needed the contents of the procedure moved over to source control on my primary computer. Since you can’t share clipboard contents across machines, I was stuck.

Along came Synergy, a desktop sharing application that lets you share the mouse, keyboard, and clipboard contents across multiple computers. This is purely a software-based solution, making the need for a KVM switch and cables disappear. I followed the setup guide from lifehacker.com and was up and running in about five minutes.

Posted in 200 Words, Tech No Comments »

I’m now able to use Twitter with my cell phone. I have a BlackBerry 7100t with a data account from T-Mobile. I successfully installed Twitterberry on this phone yesterday after upgrading the operating system to 4.1. I’ve had this phone for over four years now and it’s been great. The coverage from T-Mobile has been more than adequate, and the phone itself has been extremely reliable.

Before installing Twitterberry, I needed to upgrade my outdated OS to 4.1.0.377. I grabbed the latest version from T-Mobile’s software upgrade page. This was pretty painless as the installer did most of the work for me. I will be looking at upgrading it once T-Mobile finally launches its much anticipated 3G network, hopefully this spring.

Posted in Tech No Comments »