If you want to delete a single item / entry (or URL) from:

• Firefox’s Address Bar History
• Firefox’s Search Bar (on the top right)
• Firefox’s Text Field Auto-complete (within any web page)

…Simply start typing as you normally would, when it start to give auto-complete suggestions you can use the arrow keys to highlight the entry to you want to delete. Once highlighted, press the delete key and it will delete the single entry. (If for some reason that doesn’t work try Shift+Delete, but you shouldn’t need to)

Now you can clear out the 50 misspellings of your email address you have to see every time a form is filled out.

Today I noticed that Windows Explorer in Windows 7 uses around 200-300MB of ram when idle, and as I’m writing this is currently using 1300-1700MB of RAM for reasons unknown to me. I’m not sure why this is, but on top of the fact that it’s using a ton of RAM, it’s roughtly10% less responsive than Windows XP.

To sum it all up…If you upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP X64, in my opinion you’re not getting a better or faster operating system. The primary benefit that you’re getting is an operating system that’s supported by Microsoft, as well as all other main stream developers and will be for years to come. For example, installing iTunes on Windows 7 doesn’t take hours on end like it does with Windows XP X64, which is nice…I’m sure I’ll have some more posts complaining about Windows 7 shortly…

Note: This article focuses on the HTC Hero, but should work just as well for the HTC Eris.

The HTC Hero can play a variety of video codecs and formats, but there’s one far better than the rest. That would be the x264 codec, which is the open-source version of the h.264 codec. According to the HTC Hero’s specs it’s able to play x264 mpeg4s (.mp4), so I wasn’t going to settle for anything less. Finding the correct settings turned out to be a close to impossible task, but after some testing I figured it out. My goal was to create a profile in handbrake that could output a video, which would play perfectly smooth, have good quality, and wouldn’t take up too much space.

As for those who don’t know what handbrake is…it’s a open-source application used for encoding and transcoding video into other formats. In my case, going from a DVD to a format that would work on my HTC Hero. handbrake is free, simple, and it isn’t trashy like so many other video converters. It also runs on PC, Mac, and Linux, so it should work on your machine. You can download handbrake from http://handbrake.fr.

Moving on, here’s the end results of my handbrake profile settings. (for creating my x264 HTC Hero videos)

Handbrake Profile Settings

 

Here’s the same results as above, but in a text based version:

Output Settings

• Format: MP4 File
• Large file size: unchecked
• Web optimized: unchecked
• iPod 5G support: unchecked

Picture Settings

Crop

• Crop: Custom
• Top: 0
• Right: 0
• bottom: 0
• left: 0

Size

• Width/Height: 480 x 272 (note – this is for widescreen videos, if your video isn’t widescreen 480 x 320 may work better)
• Anamorphic: None

Filters

• Detelecine: unchecked
• Decomb: unchecked
• Deinterlace: None
• Denoise: None
• Deblock: Off

Video

Video

• Video Codec: H.264 (x264)
• Framerate (FPS): 24 (note – 15 works fine for most videos too, try both and see which you prefer)

Advanced Encoding Settings

• Grayscale Encoding: unchecked
• 2-Pass Encoding: checked
• Turbo first Pass: checked

Quality

• Target Size (MB): leave blank
• Avg Bitrate (kbps): 384 (note – feel free to play with this setting, but as a warning the hero sees my videos at 536kbps when I specify 384kbps in handbrake.)
• Constant Quality: 0%

Audio & Subtitles

Audio Tracks

• 1: Automatic (or choose english)
• Audio Codec: AAC
• Mixdown: Stereo (if you’re going to be using the phone’s speaker you can choose mono)
• Samplerate (kHz): 44.1
• Bitrate (Kbps): 160
• DRC: 1

Subtitles

• Subtitles: None

Chapters

Chapter Markers

• Create chapter markers: unchecked

Advanced

Advanced H.264 Options

• Reference Frames: 2
• Mixed References: unchecked
• B-Frames: 0
• Motion Estimation Method: Uneven Multi-Hexagon
• Motion Estimation Range: Default (16)
• Subpixel Motion Estimation: Default (16)
• Analysis: Default
• 8×8 DCT: unchecked
• Deblocking: Default (0) x Default (0)
• No Fast-P-Skip: unchecked
• No DCT-Decimate: unchecked
• CABAC Entropy Coding: unchecked (note – having this turned on will result in solid green screen when trying to playback video)

Query Editor

Query Editor

• Click the Generate Query button and your command line should look simular to the following (except the file names and paths will be different).

-i “D:\VIDEO_TS” -t 1 -c 1-21 -o “B:\Hero Video\super_troopers.mp4″ -f mp4 -w 480 -l 272 –crop 0:0:0:0 -e x264 -b 384 -2 -T -r 24 -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 44.1 -6 stereo -D 1 -x ref=2:me=umh:cabac=0:bframes=0 -C 8 -v

This profile was created on version 0.93 of handbrake, I plan on doing some more in depth tests when I have the time. If anyone discovers improvements for these settings please let me know!

Skype Voicemail Options

Of course one of the issues with Google Voice,  are voicemail issues. Not so much with Google Voice itself, but having many phone systems that all have their own built in voicemail services. When I first setup Skype I realized that having voicemail turned on would be problematic, so I unchecked the button labeled “Send unanswered calls to voicemail”. Unfortunately what I did not realized is the voicemail settings are part of the application and don’t effect your Skype account.

A few days ago I was having trouble getting an expected call from a client. None of my 2 phones connected to Google Voice or Skype rang, but a few minutes later voice mails started coming in. Although I was getting no type of notification from Skype that I was getting a call or had a new voicemail, email notifications were being sent to me (Skype notifications, not GV). I noticed Skype froze up and the icon was still showing, but the programing wasn’t responding. After restarting it I got both missed calls and voicemail notifications within Skype.

I have my primary computer turned on all the time so it took me a while before I noticed this issue, but your incoming Google Voice calls will go straight to Skype voicemail if…

• You have Skype turned off
• The computer running Skype is turned off
• Skype has crashed
• Your internet is down or not connected

Of course there’s other phones that will have the same issue… If a cell phone is off it may send calls straight to voicemail, bypassing GV. The problem with Skype is there’s a lot more potential for something to go wrong, like what happened in my case when the program crashed.  I contacted their support asking if I could disable voicemail, so I’ll report back what they say.

Update: After talking with Skype support they said the voicemail issue is being worked on…It sounds like there is no way to completely disable voicemail from within Skype. I wrote back and asked if I can cancel my voicemail subscription (which is included with SkypeIn) without canceling my other services, but since the voicemail is included they won’t let you cancel it.

You'll be seeing this a lot...

The short answer is NO, I don’t think they could…

A while back Apple released the 64 bit version of iTunes. Since its release, I’ve had to upgrade iTunes 3 times and each time it has taken 4+ hours to both install iTunes AND get it working with my iPod Touch. What bugs me is rather than giving you the option to install with a warning saying, “You’re on your own…X64 isn’t supported by us” they put a bunch of restrictions on the installers. I’ve been using the 64-bit version for a long time now and have yet to see any aspect of the program that is not supported on my computer.

So, here’s the ridiculous process (in a super-condensed list format)

1. Download iTunes from Apple’s website.
2. Open the installer and have it tell you the installer is 32-bit and you should use 64-bit.
3. Go back to Apple’s website and hunt down the 64-bit iTunes installer in their support section.
4. Run the 64-bit installer and have it tell you it’s only for Vista. (Didn’t you just “recommend” this to me apple?)
5. Extract the contents of the installer using WinRAR or 7Zip.
6. Download a copy or Orca MSI Editor, needed to edit the installers.
7. Edit the iTunes installer, settings the operating system requirements down to XP.
8. Drop various tables from the installers, so you can install each MSI file separately. (By default running the iTunes installer will automatically run through all the other files)

At this point iTunes was installed and worked perfectly…but unlike the last 2 times I’ve updated, the AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi was more problematic then usually.  So after watching it install to 99% and then rollback and fail over and over, I decided I would just force quit the installer at 99%. If anyone is unsure, yes…that’s a horrible practice, but I didn’t care at that point. Finally, I was able to go into Device Manager and “update” the decide to use the iPod drivers rather than the default camera drivers windows will use.

In conclusion:

The best part about this warning is it doesn't pop-up in front of other windows...

-I have a working copy of iTunes that complains I may not be able to burn CDs when I open iTunes (But I can).

-I also have a iPod Touch that works perfectly, although when iTunes starts it says the 64bit iPod service couldn’t be started. See iTunes Complaining More

-When I plug in my iPod it tell me 3-17 times with a pop-up box that the iPod service couldn’t be started…then proceeds to work perfectly. Warning me just one time would be more than sufficient…This Message is Annoying

-I was able to rent a movie and watched it while working out, which was why I upgraded in the first place (Although it wasn’t until the next morning).

-Around 4 hours of my time was wasted and iTunes is $3.99 richer.

If you’re looking for some tips for installing iTunes 9 on Window XP X64 you can have a look here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151665&start=0&tstart=0

This is the default welcome message from Google Voice:

Welcome to Google Voice! Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. To start enjoying Google Voice, just give out your Google Voice number. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as SPAM. Just click on the settings link at the top of your inbox. We hope you enjoy Google Voice.

It seemed like it would be a good test to read back the default message as a voicemail. The results were somewhat comical…

welcome to google police google flight gives you pricing ball phone number is it rings all your phones states your voicemail online and transcribes your voicemail to tax other cool features include the abilities i’ll listen in on messages whether being left and the ability did make will cost international call to start i’m showing google place just give al your google voicemail number you can recall court custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers bite marking them is spam just click on the settings the link at the top of your inbox we hope you enjoy a google point.

Although I feel if anyone can make this feature work it Google, it’s just not at an usable state. If I got a text message with this transcript I can’t say I would have any idea what to do. Furthermore, I don’t think I would have enough confidence with Google’s transcript to actually call back a phone number that was given in a voicemail. As I mentioned before though if anyone can do it, it’s Google. I’m waiting to see what other features they roll out as the beta goes public.

Unrelated sitenote: Currently it costs $10.00 to change your Google Voice number, so take your time and pick a number you really want.

This tutorial will show you how to make email links (mailto links) open a new window in Chrome, and automatically compose a new message using Gmail or Google Apps. If you’re using Firefox, you can have a look at this tutorial on lifehacker.com . For the advanced users, you can jump to the bottom of this page and grab the end results.

I can’t confirm all the operating systems this will work on, but I do know it will work on Windows XP, Window XP X64, and Windows 7. (possibly Vista, but I don’t have an install to try it on – EDIT: as per xceptional’s comment, it doesn’t look like this trick will work on vista). If you’re on Vista you can try going to Default Programs and then “Associate a file type or protocol with a program”. For the XP or X64 users…

1. Go to Control Panel > Folder Options
2. Select the File Types tab
3. Under the File Types column look for “URL:MailTo Protocol” , which will probably be towards the top of the list (15th entry for me).
4. With the “URL:MailTo Protocol” selected, click the Advanced button.
5. In the Actions box there should be “open” already, since by default mailto links open with Outlook Express.
6. Select “open” and click the “Edit…” button.
7. Under “Application used to preform action:” we’ll delete what’s there and then replace it with:

“C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/?extsrc=mailto&url=%1

8. There’s two parts, the first half is specifying where Google Chrome is located on your computer. If you’re unsure, you can right click on the shortcut and it will tell you. Also, change USERNAME to your own windows profile name.
9. The second part is telling Google Mail to open and compose a new message using the mailto link that was clicked. You’ll need to change the URL to your own Google Apps URL. If you’re unsure, you can look at the URL when in your inbox.
10. For users using Gmail instead of Google Apps you can use:

“C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” http://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1

11. As I mentioned at the start, one of the features I like about Chrome is the Application Shortcuts. That being said, I definitely don’t need to see my address bar or bookmarks when I’m writing my emails. I grabbed two parameters off one of my Application Shortcuts: –app= and -disable-popup-blocking. Here is my final results:

“C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –app=http://mail.google.com/a/domain.com/?extsrc=mailto&url=%1 -disable-popup-blocking

12. And if you’re using Gmail with Chome:

“C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –app=http://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1 -disable-popup-blocking