I need to send a mate a link to an item on eBay after breaking his strimmer. The nice people at eBay have reworked their URL structure recently to improve SEO, so a link to a single item now looks something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Medium-duty-bump-head-for-Kawasaki-brushcutter-strimmer_W0QQitemZ190302614007QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA?hash=item2c4eeb71f7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1686|293:1|294:50

..which is not exactly Twitter, Live Messenger or email friendly. Long URLs break often in email and instant messengers when they ‘wrap’ at the end of a line (like the above is doing).

Solution

Here’s the old style linking system that still works: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190302614007

So you can use that structure for a link to any item. Just paste…

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=

…into your browser, email or anything followed by the item number, as above, and it’ll work.

If you can’t find the item number in the complicated URL, remember its on each item listing page here:

Bonus trick for Chrome or Firefox users:

Chrome and Firefox both allow custom searches to be added easily via bookmarks. These allow you to type a ‘keyword’ into the address bar, then a ‘search phrase’, and automatically search a specific site for it. This useful functionality is perfect for getting a link to an eBay item. What you do is create a custom search with the keyword ‘el’ (for ‘eBay Link’, but use whatever you’ll remember, keep it short!) and point it to ‘http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=%s’. Note: the ‘%s’ is substituted for the search phrase – in this case an item number – when the search is done.

Chrome Instructions

Open the Chrome options:

Then follow this process:

1. Click the  ’Manage’ button in the ‘Default Search’ area.
2. In the ‘Search Engines’ window, click ‘Add’.
3. Name the new custom search.
4. Give it an easy to remember keyword.
5. In URL enter: “http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=%s”.
6. ‘Ok’ the window, and ‘close’ out of the others.

Here’s the visual process:

Now to use your new custom eBay item linker, type “el [item number]” into the Chrome address bar, and hit ‘enter/return’. You’ll notice that as soon as you’ve typed “el” and a space and start to enter the item number, Chrome shows that you’re about to do a custom search:

great right? Yea I love it too.

FireFox instructions

In firefox it’s a very similar process:

1. Open the ‘Organise Bookmarks’ pane with Ctrl + Shift + B (on a dirty mac it’s Shift + Command + B).
2. Under ‘Unsorted Bookmarks’ add a new Bookmark and name it ‘eBay Item Link’ or whatever.
3. In Location enter “http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=%s”.
4. Add an easy to remember keyword like ‘el’.
5. Click ‘Add’ button then close out of the bookmarks pane.

Here’s a visual prompt for the process:

And here’s what it looks like when you use it:

There, If you know a better or quicker way, or have an issues, please leave a comment below.

A colleague was having trouble getting a DVD imported to Adobe Premier for some overlay edits etc and asked me to take a look.

Solution

VOB files are MPEG-2 files with a different coat on. Rename the .vob file to .mpg and it should work. This also works in Sony Vegas and probably other software. No idea how copy-protection on some disks might effect this?

That really WAS a quickfix and probably not worth posting. If you have any questions, thoughts or corrections please post a comment below.

While doing web development, I frequently need to insert lorem ipsum into a text field or textarea. To do this – bearing in mind that I don’t really like or use bookmarks, too messy – I tend to google “lorem ipsum”, hit lipsum.com, select/copy the block of text, and then return to my form field and paste it.

I wanted a quicker solution, and as I find myself using IE more and more to develop in now (thanks to the excellent ‘Developer Tools’ extension – never thought I’d say that!) my lorem ipsum fix would have to be in the form of an IE toolbar button or menu item.

Solution

It turns out that adding a simple javascript based text field filler option to a context menu is really easy, so that’s what I did. Here are the steps:

Firstly: Create the javascript to access the currently focused field, and insert the lorem ipsum text. Create a new html file in a location of your choice –  I used C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins – and copy the following code into it:

<script language="JavaScript">
var parentwin = external.menuArguments;
var doc = parentwin.document;
var rng = doc.selection.createRange();
rng.text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, \
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. \
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi \
ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit \
in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur \
sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt \
mollit anim id est laborum.";
</script>

Save the file as loremipsum.htm.

Secondly: Create the registry entry for the menu item:

1. Open/run ‘regedit’ (Start > run… > “regedit” > ‘Ok’)
2. Use the tree to navigate to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt
   using the tree view on the left of the Registry Editor.
3. Create a new key (Right click, “New” > “Key”) and call it “Lorem Ipsum” or anything you like.
4. Inside the new key, open the ‘default’ string value that’s already there (double click on it), and enter the path to the script you created just now. i.e. C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\loremipsum.htm
5. Now create a new DWORD value (Right click, “New” > “DWORD Value”) and rename it “Contexts”. Set the value to 0×04 (hex) or 4 (decimal). Here’s an explanation of the different values.

The new Key and values in RegEdit

That’s it! Now open IE, find a textarea or text field, right click, and you should see something like this:

Note the new highlighted option in the context menu

Yesterday I found out how to run Chrome in ‘Incognito Mode’ from a shortcut. However, now I have two identical ‘Chrome’ Icons in my Quicklaunch bar, and need a way to distinguish them.

Which ones the incognito link? New icon needed!

Problem

Solution

Make a modified Chrome icon! Here’s the one I made:

If you want THIS cheesy icon, click on the image to download it.

Using the Icon: Once you have another icon to use [or you have downloaded my one by clicking on the image above], here’s how to use it:

• Save the .ico file somewhere sensible. I put mine in the same directory as the chrome executable for tidiness. The paths to the XP and Vista install locations are listed below in the ‘Make your own icon’ section.
• Right click on your ‘incognito’ shortcut, select ‘Properties’, and click the ‘Shortcut’ tab. Then click the ‘Change Icon’ button shown below:

The Change Icon button is in the 'Shortcut' tab of 'Properties'

• In the ‘Change Icon’ window that pops up, browse to the .ico file you’ve saved.

Browse to the ico file, and click on your new icon

• Now just ‘Ok’, and ‘Ok’ again, and you should see your new icon showing on your shortcut.

Make your own icon: If you want to make your own version of the chrome icon, get yourself an icon editor which is capable of pulling icon data from exe/dll files. You’ll also want one that can handle transparency properly. I grabbed a 30 day trial copy of Axialis IconWorkshop. Once that (or another icon editor) is installed, you need to ‘open’ the icon from the chrome.exe file which resides here in XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\[your username here]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\Chrome.exe

and here in Vista:

C:\Users\[your username here]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

The icon editor should simply ‘pull’ the icon info from within the .exe file when you try and open it. You will notice that the .exe file contains 6 different versions of the icon: 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48 pixels with 256 colours and one ‘flat’ transparent background colour. And then 3 more in the same 3 sizes with Alpha transparency (256 levels of opacity, per colour, giving you nice smooth transparency).

Using the icon editor, edit as many versions as you need. For example, if you use XP, and have both a desktop icon and a quicklaunch icon, you will need to edit the 16×16+alpha version (for your quicklaunch shortcut) and the 32×32+alpha version for the desktop shortcut.

I found the easiest way to add the sungalsses to my icon was to ‘export’ the 6 icons from IconWorkshop as a PSD file, open them in Photoshop, do the work there, save them, then ‘import’ back into IconWorkshop.

That’s about it. All you then need to do it save the collection as one .ico file, and follow the instructions above in the ‘Using the icon’ section to use it.

Good luck! Any questions, comments or corrections – just post a comment below.

I use Google Chrome’s Incognito window mode regularly to view multiple Google Analytics accounts at the same time on one PC. It’s very useful – it means I don’t have to keep signing in and out of my primary google account – but what annoyed me each time was having to open chrome, then open a new ‘incognito’ window from there, which leaves the old ‘normal’ window open in the background.

Solution

Since Chrome came out of beta, the ‘??incognito’ command line switch has been available.

So, to get this switch working with a short cut, do the following:

• Copy the existing Chrome shortcut in your quicklaunch bar, desktop, or start menu.
• Rename the shortcut to something obvious, I called mine “Chrome Incognito”.
• Right click on the shortcut, and select ‘properties’.
• The Properties window opens, and you can select the ‘Shortcut’ tab as shown below:

Note the 'Target' path field

• In the ‘Target:’ field, add the switch ‘ ??incognito’ to the end of the target path, as shown below:

incognito 'Switch' added to target path

• Click ‘OK’ to save your changes.

There, all done, that shortcut will now open Chrome in incognito mode window. If you have other normal chrome windows open, they will not be effected by this window. For example, you can stay logged into a google account, a live account, or any other persistent cookie/session driven system. Incognito windows are also great for logging into online banking sites if you’re a bit paranoid.

Note: If you have a 0.* version you will need to upgrade to v1.* or higher.

You can’t subscribe to any Podcasts in iTunes music store because the the buttons are greyed out. An example is shown below:

Greyed subscribe button

Solution

This happens when the ‘Podcasts’ item is not enabled in the iTunes library. To enable it, follow these steps:

1. Open the iTunes Preferences. To do this, either press ‘Ctrl+,’ (that’s the control key, and the comma key at the same time); or Go to ‘Edit’ in the top menu, and then ‘Preferences’.
2. Select the ‘General’ tab, usually on the left most.
3. Tick the ‘Podcasts’ item in the ‘Show:’ options list (highlighted below):

Select the Podcasts checkbox

Once you say ‘Ok’ to the Preferences box, the ‘Podcasts’ item should appear in the top-left-hand side of the iTunes window. If you now view links to podcasts in the iTunes Store, they should be clickable.

If you have any corrections or alternative solutions to this problem, please leave a comment!

For a long time, MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger have been able to display what is currently being played on Windows Media Player. It gets displayed next to your ‘Display Name’. If you use iTunes, what you’re playing can also be displayed in the same way.

Solution

Firstly, open iTunes and go to the Preferences window. You can do this 2 ways:

1. Press ‘Ctrl+,’ (that’s the control key, and the comma key at the same time).
2. Go to ‘Edit’ in the top menu, and then ‘Preferences’.

…then click on the ‘Advanced’ tab, usually on the far right. Within the ‘Advanced’, tick the item that says “Use iTunes as the default player for audio files” (shown below):

Setting iTunes to be the default player for audio files.

Secondly, open the Live Messenger main window (the one that shows all your contacts), then:

1. Go to ‘Tools’ then ‘Options’ in the main menu.
2. Within the ‘Options’ window, select the ‘Personal’ tab on the left.
3. Tick the “Show song information from Windows Media Player as a personal message” check box, as shown below:

Setting the Show song info checkbox item

Now when you play something in iTunes, people will see what you’re playing. Examples of what they might see are shown below:

Song showing in the contact list

Song showing in the conversation window

There… now all you need to worry about is not playing any Abba or other music that could earn you ‘Social Outcast’ status!

Recently I bought an Apex single from iTunes. Excellent though the tracks are (They really rock, honestly, if you like D&B, have a listen!), they both have about 5 seconds of blank ‘emptiness’ at the beginning. This is quite annoying when cueing them for an impromptu mix, or when they are part of a playlist.

Solution

I found this by accident, while looking for a solution. If you right click on the track in iTunes, then select the ‘Options’ track, you should see an option labelled ‘Start Time’. This is the time that iTunes uses when it plays a track, so if you set it to 0:05 for example, when you play the track it’ll start 5 seconds in. Simple but effective! Genius!

See? It was right there all along!

While we’re on the subject of Drum & Bass, if you like your intelligent programmed beats and ambient sweeps, you have to check out the following tracks:

• Japanese Electronics – Commix
• Balaclava – Nu:Tone
• Piece Of Mind – Q-Project (looses it around 2:15, gets it back at 3:40!)
• Sagrada Familia – Fracture & Neptune [no site? no MySpace? cummon fellas!]

Moving to IMAP from POP can be a pain, and my biggest ‘gripe’ with it is the way that items need to be’Deleted’ AND’Purged’ when you’re trying to get rid of them. When an email is highlighted and the delete icon, context menu item, or keyboard key is pressed, all that happens is the message is flagged for deletion, and appears struck-through. To get rid of it fully, you need to go to the ‘Edit’ menu, and select the ‘Purge Deleted Messages’ item.

Solution

Well this isn’t a fix really, managing IMAP email still sucks, but it should make life easier. It’s possible to add a ‘Purge Deleted Messages’ button to your toolbar, anywhere you like, but I’d suggest putting it next to your existing delete ‘X’ icon like this:

Outlook toolbar showing the new button

To do this:

• Open the ‘View’ menu item, select ‘Toolbars’, and then click ‘Customize…’.
• The ‘Customize’ window pops-up, and select the ‘Commands’ Tab.
• In the left-pane labeled ‘Categories:’, find and select the ‘Edit’ item.
• In the right-pane labelled ‘Commands:’, scroll down until you find ‘Purge Deleted Items’ (see below):

Purge item selected, ready to be added to toolbar

• Click-and-hold on the ‘Purge Deleted Messages’ item, and drag it to the toolbar, then let go.
  Note: A special mouse-cursor will show while you’re dragging, showing a cross (‘X’). Once you are hovering over a place in the toolbar that the item can be added to, the cursor will change and show a plus sign (‘+’).
• Now, once you have deleted the emails you want to, you can purge them with one button.

This one crops up every-so-often, and a colleague just asked me again, so it’s probably worth posting. When an FLV is loaded into a Flash app, the FLV file is ‘played’ when the SWF or Projector is run. When this is done locally – i.e. you run an SWF from your hard drive, or file server – it’ll work fine. The problem comes when you upload it to your IIS web server. The server probably won’t recognise the ‘.flv’ filetype, so it’ll display nothing.

Solution

To make your IIS 6 web server aware of FLV files, do the following:
 

• Open ‘IIS Manager’.
• Right click on your site in ‘Web Sites’, and select ‘Properties’.
• Choose the ‘HTTP Headers’ tab.
• Click the ‘MIME Types…’  button on the bottom-right.
• Click ‘New…’ and then add ‘.flv’ and ‘video/x-flv’ as shown below:

Setting FLV Mime type in IIS site properties.

• ‘Ok’ your way out, and ‘Apply’ when needed.
• Your video should now play in a browser when embed in an SWF.