Archive for May, 2009

Getting things done with iGoogle

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Over time I’ve managed to get my iGoogle homepage set up as a “one-stop shop” for the things I use frequently. Below is a screenshot and info on how to configure the gadgets (for anyone who might find it useful).

igoogle-gtd

You’ll notice the big Google logo and search box have been removed, I used the Super iGoogle user script to do this.

Here are the gadgets I’m using, from left to right…

1. Betwittered plus Greasemonkey hacks to make it bigger and pack in more info.
2. Google Calendar (handy hint: use their SMS alerts to set yourself reminders when you’re on the go)
3. Gmail - filtered view (based on iframe gadget). The intention of this is to try and show unread mail from real people (as opposed to mailing lists etc) so I have filters set up to tag stuff from robots as “mailing_lists”. The URL of the iframe gadget is actually a mobile link to a search: “to:me in:inbox is:unread -label:mailing_lists”.

Title link:
http://mail.google.com/mail/?source=navclient-ff#search/to%3Ame+in%3Ainbox+is%3Aunread+-label%3Amailing_lists (to link to the Javascript-enabled equivalent)
Iframe URL:
http://mail.google.com/mail/x/?ie=UTF-8&s=q&q=to%3Ame+in%3Ainbox+is%3Aunread+-label%3Amailing_lists&nvp_site_mail=Search+Mail&f=1

4. Google Reader
5. Facebook
6. Remember the Milk - configured for Inbox view
7. iframe gadget with frequently used links - this is actually pointing to the web view of a Google Doc.

Betwittered Greasemonkey Hacks

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Warning: major geekery ahead!

I use Betwittered on my iGoogle home page and it’s great, but wished there was a way to pack more info into the display to reduce the amount of scrolling I have to do.

Using Greasemonkey and Platypus I created a couple of user scripts that will (a) reduce the size of the profile icons, (b) remove the post box, buttons etc from the top (I don’t actually post from betwittered itself) and (c) resize the iGoogle module to 700 pixels high (default is 350 pixels).

Here’s what it looks like when running.

Before:
betwittered-before

After:
betwittered-after

Here’s the user scripts - you will need GreaseMonkey installed to use them. The first one runs on betwittered.com (which is the iframe used by the module); the second runs on www.google.com/ig* to alter the module size.

Minimal Betwittered

Resize Betwittered iGoogle Module - this is unfortunately hardcoded to the module ID on my homepage so have a feeling it won’t work for others without tweaking. If you’re a happy Greasemonkey / Firebug hacker you can probably get this to work by updating this line:

do_modify_html_it(window.document,document.getElementById('m_91_b'),/height: 350px;/,'height: 700px;',null);
where m_91_b is the ID of the module in my homepage; you can use Firebug to inspect the ID that your one is using.

Hope someone finds it useful - let me know any bugs in the comments below.

Free wallpapers

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Uploaded some of my favourite photos that I think make good wallpapers. Original resolution. Enjoy!

View and download here

konamimaps

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Add the power of Konami Code to your favourite mapping site! (Firefox only)

Hint - make sure a map is showing before doing the combo…