Agave Mountain

There is no auto-logout feature of ssh.  You just have to set the $TMOUT variable in your shell.  To set the terminal to automatically logout after 20 seconds of inactivity, type the following:

   1: $ export TMOUT=20

Your terminal session should be logged out after 20 seconds of inactivity.

Labels: Linux, Mac OS X, Tech

Posted by Joe Turner at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

When I looked at Qt last year, I decided to pass on Qt due to two reasons: 1) the high cost, and 2) uncertainty about what Nokia would do with Qt.  By increasing the cost of Qt, I simply didn't know whether they wanted to take it closed source in the future. 

Today, I received an email that Nokia is releasing Qt 4.5 under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 terms.   This means you have three license options: Commercial, LGPL, and GPL. 

Attached below is a video announcement and the email I received. 

"Dear Qt User:

Nokia is pleased to announce that with the release of Qt 4.5 you will
be able to use Qt under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
version 2.1 terms. When released in March 2009, Qt will be made
available under three licensing options: Commercial, LGPL and GPL.
Prior versions of Qt are not impacted by this announcement.

Nokia is committed to Qt and its continued development. By offering Qt
under LGPL version 2.1 license terms alongside today’s licensing
options Nokia hopes to:

- facilitate wider adoption of Qt across industries, desktop, web and
embedded platforms.
- establish Qt as a de facto standard for application development.
- receive more valuable feedback and increased user contributions to
ensure that Qt remains the best-in-class, cross-platform framework.
- extend Nokia’s existing platform commitment to the open source
community.

By offering a cost-free LGPL license as well as commercial and GPL
licenses to Qt, you can choose the license model that best fits your
development requirements.

Irrespective of which license model you choose:

- Qt Software is committed to continuing to provide our customers with
the same level of professional support, services and regular releases
you have come to expect of Qt Software.
- We will continue to actively develop Qt, and with a greater degree
of cooperation with the community through a new contribution model, we
hope to make Qt even more valuable to our users.

For more information on the introduction of the LGPL license and what
this means for you, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions
section on www.qtsoftware.com.

Best regards

Tom Miller
Director of Sales
Nokia, Qt Software"

Labels: Qt

Posted by Joe Turner at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments

GTD is shorthand for "Getting Things Done," the groundbreaking work-life management system and book by David Allen, that now has a cult-like following.  Here is how I am starting to implement within the confines of a traditional paper based organizer.

One of the things I wanted to improve in 2009 was my overall productivity.  Last year, I transited through several phases where I used various electronic devices (blackberry, palm, and pocket pc), and software utilities.  In the end, I always end up going back to my paper organizer -- a Day Timer (2 page per day format). 

I prefer the paper Day Timer because I never have to charge it and I quite frankly, like being able to staple, clip, tape, and glue things to it.  It is a color scrapbook of my life, in minute by minute detail.  I staple receipts and boarding passes to the pages.  There are coffee mug rings on pages.  Calendar days are colored with high lighters.  Additionally, I can print emails, notes, and documents to a printer and cut the 8 1/2  x 11 paper and slip it into my binder. 

Unfortunately, I since I'm relatively new to GTD, I didn't know how to fit GTD within the structure of a traditional paper organizer.  Here is my first attempt at merging GTD and the Day Timer paper organizer:

• The Journal page is still a record important events in my life, and a record of business information that might be necessary to submit during an audit, such as mileage and expenses.  I jot down notes, like "called and talked to xx about yy."  I highlight, I scribble, and sometimes annotate in multiple colors here.  More than once, I have pulled information noted here for powerful effect during a dispute.  I also still jot down notes about hours I spend on client projects, and staple receipts and boarding passes to it.  This is a blow-by-blow record of my time.
• I staple boarding passes to the day of travel.  If I travel a lot, I will use a 7 hole punch and simply insert them in between the proper pages, to keep the pages from bending under the weight when the pages are in the archive storage binder.
• The appointments pane is still for appointments, events, or things due at specific time of day.
• I almost never fill out the expenses pane.  Most of my business expenses go straight onto a business credit card, but if I do use my personal card, I usually will just staple the receipt to the paper to remind me later to fill out an expense report.
• Currently, I don't have address pages in my binder -- the constellation of contacts I have seems to be relatively steady.  When I do put address pages, I will staple the business cards into either the journal page or the address page.
• All of the above fits together relatively well.  If I get audited and the auditor has a question about a business trip, I flip over the the day, and oh here is my boarding pass, here is the business card of the people I met.  My notes of the meeting, and receipts all together, albeit in a stapled-amateur-art-project kind of way.

So far, nothing has changed.  That leaves the to-do list area.  How should I use it?  I have the following options:

• Use the to-do list as a record of accomplished tasks for that day only or ongoing tasks (copy the completed task there after it is completed and crossed off the contextual list); or
• Use the to-do list as a list of uncategorized and unfiltered captured tasks that come to me during the day, which will then be moved onto a proper contextual task list; or
• Use the to-do list as a list of tasks I need to accomplish for that particular day only, as pulled from the context lists.  This would mean plan out my day, and copy the chosen tasks to the to-do list pane before doing them.

Next, we have the context lists.  For the lists, it was a toss up between post-it sheets and Day-Timer short-trimmed sheets.  Since I already had the short-trimmed sheets, I went with them.  On each sheet, I wrote the context on top.  As a bonus, I can pull the sheets out of the binder and leave the binder behind -- useful when running errands. 

• @Home.  Stuff to do when at home.
• @Computer. Tasks I can accomplish with a computer (but not necessarily online).
• @Online. Tasks that can only be accomplished when on the internet.
• @Biz. Tasks related to running my business.
• @Waiting. Tasks that are blocked waiting for other commitments.
• @Someday. Things I want to do someday.
• @Errands. Tasks that can be accomplished while out and about.

I will try this for a week and see how well I do.

Labels: GTD, Time Management

Posted by Joe Turner at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone is as ready to plunge into 2009 as I am.  Over the holidays I traveled overseas and for the first time in ten years, I relaxed.  Freed from the tyranny of the everyday task list, I read a book, and had time to do some thinking.  As I pondered, I thought about my accomplishments in 2008 and started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2009.

Now, I'm back in the U.S. and have had the opportunity to sleep, I'm ready to get started. 

I'm now clearing out the backlog of voicemail, mail, bills, and tasks.  While I have been checking my email periodically, I haven't been on top of my voicemail.  I will get back to everyone who has left a message in the next few days.

Labels: Announcements

Posted by Joe Turner at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments