Category Archives: Software

I gather the Library of Congress is archiving all Tweets for eternity. AFAIK, however, this isn’t searchable online.

Is there an online searchable archive of older tweets out there? As Twitter more and more becomes an awareness mechanism, it seems more and more imoprtant to keep an eye on it, or at least keep the option to keep an eye on it.

Failing an online searchable archive, is there a way to direct the increasing number of Twitter feeds I think I ought to read, but often actually don’t get around to reading, into some sort of easily searchable pile, ideally with a friendly front-end?

Do I want to install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on?  On the one hand, I don’t mind letting the proprietors of web pages know I visited: they created the free content, and the least I can do is let them bask in the hits.

On the other hand, I don’t especially want Google, or anyone else, profiling me.

Somehow, my Firefox syncs stopped syncing.  I think it had something to do with updating the plugin on one machine but not another.  Anyway, in my attempts to fix this, I got to a point where the secret key was not the same on all the machines.  But when I tried to change it, the change key button was greyed out and I couldn’t type over the (wrong) key.  As a public service, I’m reprinting the solution, found — most obscurely — on a Firefox help thread entitled The article mentions a “secret phrase” but I got a “Firefox Sync Key” instead. Is this the same thing?:

After upgrading to FF 3.6 (now at 3.6.12) , I began getting an error message “! Error while signing in. Please try again” and when I clicked on it, the explanation “Sync encountered an error while connecting: Wrong Sync Key” appeared along with a link to “Preferences” – clicking on this link took me to Sync Preferences > Manage Account. Click on the tab “Sync Key” and the key on that computer is shown – but, you can’t change the Sync Key there (except by generating a new one, which resets the entire account with a new random-generated key, which is not helpful as your other computers can’t generate the same key). How to get all three computers on the same Key? It turns out you have to print the sync key from one of your computers, then trigger the error message on each other computer having a different key. On each other computer, click on Preferences > Manage Account as before, but don’t click on the Sync Key tab; instead click on “Connect” next to your account name. Now you will receive another error message saying “Wrong Sync Key” in red – and beside that, links to “update” and “reset”. Click “update.” (“Reset” merely sends you to generate a new random key.) “Update” takes you to a text box with a blank inviting you to enter a new key: enter the one you copied from the other computer. This box is pre-configured to accept only an alpha-numeric key in blocks of 1-5-5-5-5-5 characters – you cannot enter your choice of text, only a key already generated on another computer. When finished, you should get the message “Your sync keywas successfully changed!” None of this is from FF Help; just trial and error.

Got that?  Here it is in an easier-to-read format:

1. Print the sync key from one of your computers (or save it to your Dropbox)
2. Trgger the error message on each other computer having a different key.
3. On each other computer, click on Preferences > Manage Account as before, but don’t click on the Sync Key tab; instead click on “Connect” next to your account name.
4. Now you will receive another error message saying “Wrong Sync Key” in red – and beside that, links to “update” and “reset”. Click “update.” (“Reset” merely sends you to generate a new random key.)
5. “Update” takes you to a text box with a blank inviting you to enter a new key: enter the one you copied from the other computer.

Thank you acbar8!

UPDATE (12/25): While the above does in fact allow you to get all your computers talking to each other again, it doesn’t fully solve the problem: sync will still intermittently fail to connect after working perfectly well. And then later it will work again. This seems to be a bug relating to version 1.6 on the server end. And from the look of things, I don’t think I’m going to be out of the woods until Firefox 4.0 comes out… I advise sticking with version 1.5 on all your machines until this gets worked out. (Note that it’s fairly complex to downgrade from 1.6 to 1.5 as they use different encryption or storage methods. I think you would have to unload the plugin from all the machines, then start a new account with the 1.5 data; otherwise you will end up with a mess, either missing or duplicated bookmarks.)

Maybe it is time to go back to the dead?

Dropbox just announced a major new version: 1.0.10. Get it while it’s hot.

Actually, if you already have Dropbox, it will auto-upload in the fullness of time. Mine, however, never does it very fast. So if you are impatient, you can download it and install it yourself, and it will load over your older copy pretty seamlessly. One small warning: I found that it took a lot of CPU to “update” the database for a minute or two when I first ran it, but it then settled down nicely. Here’s some PR about the changes in the new version; Faster syncing is always welcome. Selective upload sounds like it will be useful for some, although I’m not sure I have a use for it myself. Mac users will apparently find Dropbox much easier to use.

If you have never used Dropbox before, and you regularly use more than one computer (e.g. home/office) it will likely make your life a lot better. Dropbox creates a shared folder on every machine you install it to, and it updates and syncs that folder automatically every time you close a file (it doesn’t sync open files, so some programs, like calendar programs, do need to be closed down before you switch machines). Dropbox keeps a backup copy of all the files in this folder, and has revisions going back 30 days, which is a useful backup tool but also has certain privacy implications that you should be aware of. Encryption is your friend.

Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage free, and charges you if you want more. The other way to get more space is to refer new users to Dropbox (If you want me to have the 250MB bonus for your signup, download Dropbox from here.) Dropbox is one of my major productivity apps: No more forgetting my USB key at home in the morning! It’s the best thing I’ve downloaded since Pandora.