David Acevedo's Blog

Markdown for those that don't know is a type of file encoding (extension .md) that can be easily converted to HTML. To use Markdown, you just need a text editor but some programs make using it easier by showing you the rendered output in HTML. For Windows there is the excellent Markdown Pad which is a great example of a small light program that does what it does best. And for Mac, I suggest Textmate but there are others like Mou . I haven't found a great one for Linux but once you get the hang of Markdown you don't need a specialized text editor for it, any will do. For the iphone/ipad I suggest NOCS , which I got for free on a sale and is great. # Why is Markdown so awesome? # 1. It can be rendered easily into HTML, but also LaTex, and PDF. But that's a given right. - It makes writing HTML easy. Especially lists. It makes it so easy I use it for writing my TODO list. I love that after you establish  the first number every dash get's converted to the next num...

I'd been frustrated and had resigned to give up on using the command line (CLI) on Windows. Alas, the Microsoft product seemed to not have improved since I started using the command line in High School back in the 90's. Clunky and completely lacking super useful tools, like 'which' on Linux/Mac, I'd just abandoned it. I even wrote scripts in Ruby to avoid using the command line in Windows (which is not a bad idea btw). Yet today I found the missing piece. I knew that you could install Cygwin on windows to get a Linux like prompt, but cygwin is a monster of an environment and you essentially have to live inside of it to use it. But I found Gow and all is well. First things first, the terminal or command application on windows sucks. I highly recommend using Console2 , which is a portable application that is way better at giving you a command prompt than anything Windows has by default, and it's free. You can set a start-up directory in it, so you can launch it ...

My Windows 7 computer crashed last week. It had been giving me BSOD for a few days. This gave me an opportunity to start fresh with a new Windows 7 install. In re-installing I found a few thing I hadn't found before and re-visited some cool options. Configure the BIOS Windows 7 doesn't require any fancy BIOS setting but I would recommend that you make them Hackintosh compatible now, otherwise you wont be able in the future. There are three changes you should make: set Suspend to S3, SATA to AHCI, and HPET to 64bit. Installing Windows 7 64-bit I don't have a wired connection to my computer so I install from a DVD, then I run through this installation procedure. Install Wireless Driver: TP-Link (from CD) Run Windows Update (several hours & restarts) Use Ninite ( ninite.com ) to install Microsoft Security Essentials first. Then use Ninite to install other software like for example:  Chrome, Opera; Skype, Pidgin, Thunderbird;...

Opera Opera was for the longest time my favorite browser. It had tabbed browsing when that was just an idea in the back of a Firefox developer and it had a great hiding ability in the PC which made it great for work, Ctrl+H (they changed it afterwards) and it minimized to a task-bar icon, perfect for that unexpected visit to your workstation and even better, as my job was visually intensive but I could listen to whatever, it has a voice reader built-in on Windows XP. Unfortunately, Opera has more or less dropped from my the list of browsers I use with one exception: It's my default feed reader and IRC chat client . I also use it on my Mac laptop because it allows private tabs (as opposed to the whole browser) saving screen-real-estate. Sadly on the PC it has gone from main browser to occasional special use, which is a bit sad considering Opera pioneered a huge amount of the technologies used in other browsers like: tabbed browsing, keyword searches, persistent tabs, bu...

Incredible! But the first 64-bit browser out of the gate was Internet Explorer, typically known for leading from behind, IE 9 is a really nice 64-bit browser. I mean 64-bit browsers are nothing new, Firefox, Chromium have had 64-builds for a while, but for Linux. Windows remained 32-bit bound. However now with the Flash plug-in being 64-bit, there is no excuse. Firefox even has a 64-bit build on it's nightly page . And now Opera Labs has a 64-bit build. The rise of the 64-bit browser is a welcome happening as it brings with it speed and stability. My Firefox Nightly build just eats up the regular 32-bit bound Firefox. Additionally 64-bit browsers will be able to access a lot more RAM memory than their 32-bit (4GB RAM maximum) predecessor which should increase performance.

Here is how to install CoffeeScript sans Cywin on Windows 7. First, install Noje.js. Go to nodejs.org  and download the windows installer. Once you'll install it you'll need to add the Node.js directory to the path. Second, to add Node.js to the path open the Control Panel and select System, then "Advanced System settings" then the tab "Advanced" and the button "Environmental Variables..." Scroll down until you find the variable PATH and add to the end ";C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs" you don't need to put a semicolon at the end. Thirdly install CoffeeScript from the command line (search for "cmd" on the Start menu)with this: npm install -g coffee-script (make sure you run the command with privileges by right clicking and selecting "Run as Administrator") Fourth verify the version with this: coffee -v you should get something like this: CoffeeScript version 1.1.3

A new version of iTunes 10.5 came out for Windows with compatibility for iOS 5. After upgrading my boot time jumped a huge amount of time. Here is how to tame the Windows Boot back into shape when you have installed iTunes. 1. First install Soluto (mentioned in my Windows utilities post ). Then go to chop boot and look for these processes Apple Application Support Bonjour -- this one is optional Mobile Devices (Apple Mobile Devices Support) And set all three to "Delay." Unless you only use your computer for iTunes/iOS support from the minute you start the computer, there is no real reason for those to hold up the start-up of your computer. 2. Then open Run... and type 'msconfig' and go to the start up tab. On Windows 7 you can just type it on the Start search bar and it will fire right away. Don't ask me why but when things are set up here sometimes they conflict with Soluto. Go to the Startup tab and look for any processes that shouldn't ...

Here are more utilities that make life on Windows easier. (If you didn't catch my previous utility post, it's here .) 9. PDF XChange Viewer This PDF viewer is way quicker than Adobe's Acrobat. I've tried many Acrobat substitutes and none came close to the original from Adobe. After using the ultra quick Preview on the Mac, I wanted something with more speed for my Windows and I found it here. It works with browsers too so that's what makes it a great Acrobat substitute. 10. Launchy Launchy is like the Gnome-Do program in Ubuntu, or the Quicksilver on the Mac. Basically it works by launching a window where you type the program you want by hitting a keyboard shortcut. (I like Alt+Space.) It's really useful, because instead of wasting time navigating through the Start menu to look for a program or having a shortcut in your desktop you can type it directly (and dynamically) and get it to launch. 11. f.lux F.lux allows you to change the colors of your ...

Invaluable Windows Utilities: 1. 7zip Until the inclusion of a limited zipping functionality in Vista you needed an external program to even handle zipped compressed files. Even now none surpass 7zip, being free and open source it's still better than the built-in zipping capabilities of Windows. 2. doPDF This Utility allows you to print to PDF, a feature already available on Mac. But doPDF does such a better job than Mac or Linux equivalents. Still free but not open source, it's one of the utilities I use the most in my research as it allows me to save webpages quickly, without having to worry about book marks or incompatible formats. 3. Soluto This cool utility form a start-up in Israel allows you to easily select what programs get loaded at boot-up speeding up the time it takes for your computer to boot up. The killer feature is that it allows you to delay utilities that I would like loaded but after I boot, like the Uninterrupted Power Supply utility that doesn't...