the P.Pole

Disclaimer:

I don’t work for Postbox, but I do appreciate their software and how it actually does what I want. This is why I am promoting it to friends and family alike.

This guide is written for Postbox 1.1.1, on Mac OS X (I’m on 10.6.2 at time of writing this), so I cannot guarantee success on the Windows version via the same steps, but all the settings in Gmail + preferences should be more or less identical.

When you get this set up, you should be able to archive messages just like in the web interface to keep on the Gmail servers, delete emails to the trash (or immediately) via Postbox, and get the most out of your Gmail-on-desktop experience. I hope this also helps anyone else who has trouble getting these things to work. I spent a good hour last night figuring it out.

If you read through this and try it out on a trial version, and you like what you see, you can save $10 on the purchase of Postbox by using a referral purchase page here (you will see a small message at the top confirming the $10 discount). Students with valid photo ID will get a 50% discount too.

So this application was mentioned by Lifehacker and I have since purchased it. I do not often purchase software (opting for the awesome freewares that are offered out there instead), but after using a trial version of this app, I instantly fell in love with the level of actual, real interoperability with Gmail IMAP. Having had no success with Mail or Thunderbird working properly with IMAP (i.e. archiving is wonky, as is expunging from the inbox), I tested this alternative out and found it to do exactly what I needed (mostly without any major configuration in the newer version).

If you’re looking for a feature list, please see their site for their marketing pitch.

I’m going to go over a quick guide to set up Postbox with Gmail, such that the archiving works along with trashing, inbox cleaning, and all that jazz. Currently, I have not found any other comprehensive guide that is proven to work that takes into account both the Gmail settings and the Postbox settings to ensure things play nice. Enjoy, and I hope this helps you if you’re having trouble.

Getting Postbox

First, you’ll need to go download a copy of Postbox (free trials are available for both Windows and Max OS X). Install by following the instructions (duh, straightforward, really). Go here for the download file (you’ll need to click the button at the top to get your OS-specific download, as their site automatically detects your operating system). Continue reading

Welcome the latest addition to our tech-family my brand new PS3 Slim. I did not get the increased (to 250 GB) model and opted instead of an extended, 2-year “don’t ask, don’t tell” warranty from Future Shop. This is mostly because I will later on expand the hard drive myself with something huge and inexpensive when it is time. Or, I will be streaming stuff off a home server anyway so there’s no need to store much content on the PS3 itself.

Anyway, other players in my game of chess include a HDMI (male) to DVI-D (female) connector bit, so I can connect my existing ass-kicking 22″, HDCP compliant computer monitor (Hans, as I named him), and—in the audio department—a pair of sister parts: a stereo audio RCA (female) to 3.5 mm (male) connector, and a 3.5 mm female-to-female bridge piece. With these two together, I will be able to game on my PS3 while plugging into audio with my headphones, or any set of speakers I may acquire later on.

Also, “Batman: Arkham Asylum” is on the way, so that’s going to be my main game for the next long while. In the meantime, MGS4 (that I bought last year) and Mirror’s Edge (today, new for $20 at Game Stop) will keep me preoccupied. I will also go ahead and set up a PSN account too. But, alas, it is time to bed. But yes, woohoo to the max.

Note: I have yet to come up with a good name (female) for my PS3 and am open to suggestions (though I reserve the right to ridicule horrible suggestions). Leave one (or more) in the comments if you please.

I am as shocked as you are. I have no idea who made this, or why they chose me (because they clearly had me in mind when programming this), but I am both honored and disproportionately concerned about this. I believe we can call shenanigans on this and get on with life.

I don’t know if I would buy it, but it was featured on the home page of the AppStore.

Note: I am neither promoting this app, nor telling anyone to boycott it. Enjoy it (or don’t) for the $0.99 price tag.

This is long overdue!

5 things I had to buy recently:

• a hacky sack from Green Earth for $4 at Fairview Mall (Kitchener)
• Owl City’s “Ocean Eyes” album from HMV for $8 (on sale)
• a super secret present from a mystery merchant for $? (awesome)
• a squash racquet from Sportchek at Conestoga Mall for $60
• Rock Band 2 disc from Future Shop for $20 (thanks to Adwin for the tip)

Total: $92 + ?

The good news is that I will not need to spend any more money on any more things until after Christmas.

In other, more free, news, I started a new game in Tactics Ogre for the PSX on my PSP and am soon to acquire three Terror Knights, after having built up my two Holy Dragons. All that would be left is to recruit Vice back and then upgrade my main character (I called him Captain Owl, leader of the Snowls) to the Lord class (two swords + healing magic + major offense).

Also, if you are a Mac user, MacHeist is holding another nano-bundle thing and there’s lots of free licenses for paid software for members of MacHeist. Check it out if you like the proposition of free software! I am digging my free copy of Twitterific.

Okay before we talk about this, you should understand the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit. What it boils down to is how much memory (RAM) that your programs can access, as a function of how many binary digits you can use as a reference to where in memory you want to work. Think of it like this: how much information you can show on a road sign is sort of related to how big you make the sign.

Anyway, I installed my copy of Windows 7 Pro in 64-bit over my Windows XP SP3 partition today. I downloaded the ISO and obtained my serial number from the MSDNAA. The entire package cost me $0 since I am a University of Waterloo student, so there’s that for awesome uses of some services provided by my school. For fellow Waterloo kids with functioning Quest login credentials, here’s the page. Continue reading

Higgins is the tentative name for my new monitor that I received today. What speedy delivery Newegg has!

I’ve busted the monitor out of its boxes and wrappings and have been using it since doing so. Basically, this is a sexy piece of hardware that I am going to take full advantage of tonight, when I finish off Leon the Professional (starring Natalie Portman when she was 11 y.o. and some badass French dude) with my fair lady.

Higgins is a 22-inch, widescreen (16:10) LCD monitor from Hanns-G. I got him on discount and after all fees and taxes were paid, the entire bundle cost me around $213 CDN. This is including shipping, and also including a separate DVI to DVI connector cable (both ends are male…) from Nippon that I also ordered from Newegg.

So far, it looks super crisp (I’m glad I got the DVI cable) and after some minor calibration, the colors are a near-perfect match with Belle’s rosy visage. I’ve moved all my Geektool meters and my iStat Pro widget onto Higgins (developer’s mode FTW). Now Bellamy feels less cluttered and cleaner while I get to keep all the sexiness of Geektool on the secondary.

Once my dad returns home, I will borrow his fancy-pants DSLR camera to snap a few shots of this mammoth monitor beside Bellamy for you all to see. I actually hadn’t realized just how much extra real-estate a 22″ extended desktop would give me, and now I know.

I came upon this hack today and have applied it with complete success over power level 9000. Basically, the new MBP and the MBA both have gestures using four fingers that are possible considering the hardware inside but disabled by Evil Apple on the previous-generation of MBP (namely, my Bellamy’s generation). With this hack + OS X 10.5.6 and higher, this functionality is possible. The hack is painless and dead simple.

If this at all sounds like anything you’d be interested in doing to your previous-gen MBP, click here for the tutorial and file download.