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1. Install SysStat
apt-get install sysstat


2. Enable Stat collection
Open vi /etc/default/sysstat
Edit the file, change “ENABLED” to “true”.

3. Start Sysstat
/etc/init.d/sysstat start


3.a. By default, sysstat reports activity every 10 minutes everyday.
If you’d like to change that interval, edit it here:
/etc/cron.d/sysstat


4. To look at your load averages, type in
sar -A

Tech Monitor, Performance, SAR, Sysstat, Ubuntu

If you have installed a Windows 7 Beta as Guest operating system on a VMWare server, over a Windows XP Base, you might run into issue with Network adapter (..like i did).

If that’s the case, follow these steps.
1. Go to Windows 7 Guest OS VMWare directory on your file system, and open the .vmx file in a notepad.
2. Add the following line to the end of the file and save it.
ethernet0.virtualDev = “e1000″.
3. Restart the Windows 7 Guest Operating system.

Windows 7 will recognize the network adapter and you should be able to connect to the internet.

Tech, Windows HowTo, Network adapter, VMWare, Windows 7

OutTwit’s latest release (#39) is packed with a number of powerful features – For example: Ability to save sent tweets, Keyboard shortcuts for posting tweets, Ability to filter incoming tweets based on Tweet type (FriendTimeline,@replies,Direct messages) to name a few.

In addition to all of that, one feature that I find particularly useful.. is the ability to Tweet my Outlook Tasks and Appointments.
OutTwit makes this almost painfully simple.
Follow these steps:

1. Go to your Tasks folder, select a Task.

2. Select “Retweet” from OutTwit drop down menu.

3. Change the tweet text if you’d like, and hit Update.

That’s all.
Along the same lines, you can Tweet your Appointments, Email messages.

How to receive reminders via Twitter
If you would like to get more fancy, follow these steps to receive reminders for your Outlook tasks, as Direct Messages in Twitter.

In order to do this, you’ll have to add rtm as your friend on Twitter. After completing the setup, follow these steps.

1. Pick a task from your Tasks folder.

2. Invoke Retweet command from OutTwit drop down menu.

3. Prepend the tweet text with “d rtm” and specify the reminder interval as needed. For example:

Twitter will send you a reminder for your Outlook Task item, as Direct message, at the specified time.

You can find more RTM commands here.

Tech GTD, OutTwit, rtm, Tech, TechHit, tips, Twitter

Freez iPod Video Converter lets you get your DVDs on your iPod or iPhone for free, quickly and reliably.
Small Video Soft offers a whole suite of free software – Freez iPod Video Converter, Freez DVD Ripper, Freez Screen Video Capture and more.

Lifehacker offers a few ways to put DVDs to good use. Check it out.

Tech, Utilities, Windows Tech tips

In the previous post, we have seen one way to stay on the top of tweets from a specific set of people.
Let’s look at another way to achieve the same results, using Outlook’s Search Folders feature.

You can create a new “Search Folder” in Outlook and set it to display only tweets from particular senders, or only tweets that contain a particular word, or match any other criteria supported by Outlook filters.

Follow these steps:

1. Install OutTwit if you haven’t already. Complete the basic set up.
Open Outlook. Go to the mail box containing your tweets.

2. Go to “File->New->Search folder” in Outlook.
Outlook displays a “New Search Folder” window.

3. In that window, under “Select a Search Folder“, choose “Create a custom Search Folder”.

4. Next, click on the “Choose” button in that window.
Outlook opens a “Custom Search Folder” window.

5. Give a name to your Search folder. I am calling it “MyTwitterSearch“.

6. Click on the “Criteria” button to specify search terms.
In this example, i’d like to search for all the tweets that contain the words “mashable” or “Lifehacker” in them.

7. Click on OK and return to the “Custom Search Folder” window.

8. Click on “Browse” and select OutTwit’s Twitter folder. (This is the folder you’ve configured in OutTwit).

Click on OK.

9. Your search folder is ready! Go to Mailbox->SearchFolders->MyTweetsSearch.
You can now have a look at all tweets that contain the words “mashable” or “Lifehacker” in them.

This is just one example. You can play around with Outlook’s Search Folder options and tune it according to your needs.

Combine Outlook’s Search Folders functionality with OutTwit and boost up Twitter’s Signal-to-Noise ratio

TechHit Add new tag, OutTwit, Productivity, Tech, TechHit, Twitter

Twitter could be overwhelming, when you follow a lot of people.
Often times, you might find yourself in a deluge of tweets and it is very easy to miss tweets from your closest friends, or other sources of interest.

OutTwit offers a very simple way that lets you quickly check what your sources of interest are tweeting about.

Follow these steps to create your own Twitter group:

1. Install OutTwit if you haven’t already. Complete the basic set up.

2. Click on OutTwit drop down menu in Outlook toolbar. Select “Search/Track Keywords”.

3. Click on “New”

4. In the “Search for” text box, add the Twitter ids you are interested in, to the group.
For example: “from:Lifehacker OR from:mashable”

5. Click on “Select Folder” and assign an Outlook folder for your group. I’m calling it “MyGroup”.

6. Click on Save and return to the “Manage Searches” window, and hit “Close”

That’s it… MyGroup is ready.

Open My Group folder in Outlook and check out tweets from people in your group.

By creating your own Twitter Group in Outloook, you can filter out signal from noise. You no longer have to dig through a pile of tweets searching for tweets from your friends.

There are tons of other possibilities with OutTwit+Twitter Search integration.
Check out this page for supported search operators.

The beauty of OutTwit lies in its seamless integration with Outlook, which you probably have open all the time anyway. So, that’s one less application on your desktop.

Make use of the Search/Track feature in OutTwit and boost up Twitter’s Signal-to-Noise ratio.

TechHit OutTwit, Productivity, Tech, TechHit, Twitter

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Full moon over San Francisco
Bay view
Down town view

Photography

Website Monitoring Services need no introduction. There are several website monitoring services out there that provide uptime alerts and track your site’s response time.

However, if you own a business-critical website, you might need a bit more than simple uptime checks. Your website could be up, but your order forms could be broken. Your users won’t be able to place orders. And you can’t practically check these pages round the clock.

So, here’s an attempt to list a few low cost (<$10/month) website monitoring services, that provide transaction monitoring. It is not an ordered list, but PingDom seems most promising provider of the lot.

Here are a few more options.
Some of them provide very basic uptime checks with out any transaction monitoring.
Some them provide transaction monitoring, but are a bit pricey.

Tech