TonodoPlug Torrent Auto Upload

I bought a TonidoPlug some time back and have been quite pleased with its functionality.  The built in Torrent application is one of my favorites as I can easily add a Torrent to be downloaded and the TonidoPlug handles the rest.

But it has one major drawback.  The uploading of the torrent files to the server is not currently automated.  I must browse to a web page, after entering my username/password, access the Tonido Torrent application, choose to upload it, etc. etc.  It’s just frustratingly silly.

Sometime back I posted to the Torrent support pages asking if there was a location that I could just drop the torrents to and have them automatically be processed to commence downloading.  I was told “No, but you can use the TonidoTorrent Firefox plugin”.  Now I was already using this little gem, and yes, it does save a great deal of time when I am browsing the web and need to download a specific torrent.  Even so, this little plugin makes me Click OK to TWO dialog boxes, the first asking if I want to send the torrent to my TonidoPlug and other confirming delivery. There are no options to override this, no auto accept, or even an option to time delay and auto accept.

There are several applications out there that scan the web for you and find new torrents to download, but do not support torrent downloading themselves. All I want to do is quickly receive a torrent file via any one of many methods (even unattended) and to rapidly add it to the TonidoPlug Torrent application.  I have searched and searched and cannot find one.  

AutoIt to the rescue.  I created a small compiled script that can be assigned as your default Torrent application or specified in an application as the default to use to open a torrent when the download is complete.  When passed the filename, it will pass the file off to Firefox (where the TonidoTorrent Plugin must be properly installed and configured) and Firefox will “download it” and offer to send it to your TonidoPlug.  The AutoIt script will accept both dialog boxes and upon completion of the upload delete the source torrent.

This way I can leave my torrent scouring application running and whenever it finds a new torrent it will send it to my TonidoTorrentPush application and start the downloads completely unattended. Or if I find a torrent, or am emailed one I can easily open it and TonidoTorrentPush will open it and handle the rest.

Not the most glamorous, but it works, and until I have the time to not be a hack, it will just have to do.

To run TonidoTorrentPush you will need a TonidoPlug, Firefox, TonidoTorrent Firefox plugin properly installed, and Firefox configured to save torrent files.

 

The script is quite simple and you can copy it from here, modify it to meet your needs.

Let me know if you find this useful.

ShellExecute("C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe",  $CmdLine[1], "", "open")
Opt("WinWaitDelay",250)
Opt("WinTitleMatchMode",4)
Opt("WinDetectHiddenText",1)
Opt("MouseCoordMode",0)
WinWait("Tonido Torrent","")
If Not WinActive("Tonido Torrent","") Then WinActivate("Tonido Torrent","")
Send ("{ENTER}")
WinWaitActive("Tonido Torrent","")
If Not WinActive("Tonido Torrent","") Then WinActivate("Tonido Torrent","")
Send ("{ENTER}")
FileRecycle ($CmdLine[1])

You can also download the the AutoIt script and executable from here. If you have Firefox installed in the default location with the plugin you can start using the TonidoTorrentPush app right away.

New Reality Show Needs Funding

I'm on vacation typing this my phone so excuse the brevity.

I do enjoy my job, but seriously folks, how can you NOT want to sit and do this all day, every day.

If some crazy ass T.V. Exec wants to take me up on this and put me up in a beach house, make me indepently wealthy and see how long I can do absolutely nothing every day, I am up for the challenge. Viewers of "Beach Bum" will likely findy my daily adventures of beach combing, photoraphing tide pools and watching the fog rolling in RIVETING.

Viewers WON'T see me doing Tai Chi in the mist. Look very carefully. The dot dead center where beach meets water is the Oregon Mist Tai Chi monster. Expending that much energy scares the living daylights out of me.

I couldn't run though, I was to busy being lazy.

Bedtime?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdhzhY9sfo

Sent from my iPhone

Acronis and Drobo Technical Issue Updates

I have not blogged much on this site since my wife started our married blog.  I had two tech issues that I had issues with recently and I though I would share the solutions.

Acronis:

I finally solved this issue.  It was a combination of 2 things.  Windows XP SP2 and Vista have this wonderful new security feature that “blocks” files on your system that come from another computer.  Now this has not caused me any other specific issues, in fact, I was not aware of it until today.  Some files if you show properties, there is a security  area that shows the file has been blocked.

Now as I said, this has not caused me any issues until now.  Acronis has the option during backup to store files unencrypted, and I had selected that option.  It appears that any file that is security “blocked” will cause Acronis to choke on it and be unable to read the file for backup.  Simple fix for this is to NOT enable storing of backup data as unencrypted. Unblocking files did NOT appear to fix this, but each file that it was chocking on shows this dialog.

 

DROBO

So recently during all the backup troubles, my Droboshare would stop allowing me access to my Drobo.  I could ping the IP but not access my data. Reboot, and all would be well again.  Then it would stop working again over time.  The short of it, I discovered there was a specific folder that when accessed would cause this lockup.  Interesting enough it was my backup folder location so every time a backup would start, the Drobo would freeze.  Not helpful.

As soon as I discovered it was a specific folder I disconnected the Drobo from the Droboshare, connected it to my laptop and ran a disk check.  Sure enough errors were found and repaired.  I connected it to the Droboshare and I was back in business with no issues.

One small detail is that I had formatted it to NTFS, not the recommended EXTFS that Drobo recommends for a Droboshare setup.  If I had, I would not have been able to easily repair my disk issues.

I contacted Drobo support and was informed that the Droboshare has ZERO automation for checking for and fixing disk issues.  Something every Drobo owner should keep in mind.  Just be sure to format the Drobo to a file system that you can easily connect to any of your other systems for disk repair.

Season's greetings

Happy Holidays!

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/promotions/elfcard/?eyes=4&body=6&hat=5&message=2

Click the link above or copy and paste it into your browser.

What I Love About Sorting In Microsoft Office

I have emails.  Some I have read, some I have not.  I want all the Unread emails at the top.

Let's put the Read field in the header.

Right click on Subject or other header and select Field Chooser

 

Drag and drop the Read field to your header.  You should now have this nice little Envelope field.

 

Now, Hover over the Icon and Microsoft will give you this great tooltip "Sort by: Read" SWEET…

 

Now CLICK IT.  Yes, sort your emails by Read vs. Unread.

 

 

PWND by Microsoft!

Forgive me, for I have Sp@mmed.

I cannot take it anymore.

This is not something I read, nor was it forwarded to me.  My newly registered Democratic "elitist" mind came up with it all by myself, so excuse any grammatical or errors of passion.

If you like it, forward it to all your friends.  If you don't, just remember Republican voting day is on November 5th (I'M KIDDING)

If you want to flame me, do it in the comments.

http://www.marriedgeeks.com/2008/10/keating-five-for-president-08.html

Greg

McCains Gonna Pay For His Plan How??

GR2008061200193.gif (GIF Image, 624x447 pixels)

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Free FTP Storage @ DriveHQ.com

Warning: This blog is a blatant plug for a site I have a referral link to.

I will not lie to you. If you use the link here to access DriveHQ.com you are being referred. Why should you care? You shouldn't, you should be thanking me for referring you.

I found this service over labor day weekend while looking for a place for my IP Kamera to FTP images to so I could create an image sequence with them. Strangely, it will let you capture single snapshots and store them to your local network drive, but it will not do the same for timed image capture (i.e. every 30 seconds).

So I was looking for a cheap or free location to have my camera upload its images via FTP and I came across DriveHQ almost by accident. I have to say I almost didn't stay with them but let me explain why.

When you create an account with DriveHQ if you do not read carefully enough, you will get the free AND LIMITED version that lets you expose your published locations for 20 minutes at a time.   This is exactly what I did and I almost went straight to Google to look for another free service (yes, I am cheap). Useless, right? If you use an email address that is a corporate (i.e. paid ISP) NOT free like GMail or Hotmail, you get 1gb of free FTP, a basic website publishing folder, etc, etc. Really a whole lot of cool stuff for free.

I was really impressed with their interface AND if you do need to purchase additional services you will find their prices really reasonable. At the time of this writing $3 a month for 2gb of online file storage. If you are only storing image albums of course Picasa or Flickr or such things are the better solution but if you want FTP access and need a location to store large files, their service seems to be pretty cheap and works well. They even have a free FTP client that shows bandwidth usage so you can predict if or when you will exceed your free service boundaries.

What they offer:

Online Storage & Sharing

Store, access and share files online from anywhere at anytime. Includes explorer-like web interface and the state-of-the-art FileManager 4.0. Supports any browsers on PC/Mac. Supports group/sub-group file sharing with read-write access.

Online Backup Files & Emails

Includes DriveHQ Online Backup 4.0 automatic backup software, optimized for business and enterprise users. Backup is never so easy, secure and reliable! No device needed, works anywhere. Even if you have local backup, you need offsite backup to prepare for major disasters!

FTP Server Hosting & Software

Includes FTP Client, Server & Hosting. You cannot find any other FTP hosting service that has as many features as ours, and for a price as low as FTP client software! Works on PC/Mac/Linux; supports any number of users, groups & sub-groups.

SMTP/POP3 Email Server Hosting

Includes email server software, hardware & hosting. Designed for businesses, works on PC & Mac. Supports: multiple accounts, private domain, SMTP/POP3, Outlook, alias, auto-reply, auto-forward, mailing list, private discussion group, etc.

I like em. I think they are great so far and am really impressed with what they offer for free. Take a look and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from others who may be using them, or have used them in the past.  I think they will hook me with the free offerings and I will probably pay as my needs grow.

Acronis Backup-What is your problem?

Some time back, I bought Acronis Backup due to its apparently large feature set and ease of use.  For the few times I used it to backup specific items like my pictures folder and such to a DVD, it worked perfectly.  Since I set it up for an automated backup procedure with my Drobo as my backup storage location its begun causing me a headache that I just don’t think I should have to suffer through.

During each backup I now receive this dreaded error.

Can someone tell me why an automated backup procedure should prompt me and NOT tell me why it cannot backup the particular file.  I find that for the backup to complete on the remaining files I have to click Ignore several times to get beyond the files that it cannot backup.  It seems that a scheduled backup should log the failures and notify me upon completion.

I have searched and cannot seem to find a solution.  Anyone have any ideas?

#1 in MSN Search Results

Thats right. GeekOutOfTheBox.com is #1 in the MSN search results.

There is one small caveat. We are number 1 in the search results for "pictures of mother in law xxx". Can you say ewe?

Ok, I know you are all wondering why I would be searching for "pictures of mother in law xxx". Seriously do you need to ask. Search for yourself, obviously, you arent the only one searching for it. And you will find the search results ABSOLUTLELY relevant. Really.

I discovered this while I was reviewing all the really relevant statistical information for all of the 3 people who read my blog yesterday and how they got to my site, and found the I am the tops in familial porn searches. See dad, I told you I would amount to something.

New Blog MarriedGeeks.com Goes Live

Many moons ago my wife and I discussed starting a blog where we posted opinions, differing or not. I actually created a site, but at the time blogging software was just not where it is today and a CMS just wasn't cutting it for ease of use for her.

Well, finally she has been bit by the blogging bug and the site is now a reality.

I think I will be keeping this blog and changing its focus (i.e. simply removing family related items) and make it strictly more geek and technical.

Check out MarriedGeeks.com

Terror Turns To Angel

This post has been relocated to my family blog MarriedGeeks: He Said/She Said.

 

More Than One Reason MySpace Sucks

1. Its just kinda lame unless you are a teen or tween.
2. They delete accounts under pressure from Christian groups.
3. A messaging system that emails me I have a message and I have to visit the site to read it(what?) lame.
4. Deleting your account doesn't delete all your account info.

I created an account on a slow day at work when it everyone was "MySpacin". Hardly used it, hated the messaging system and decided to delete it when I found out they apparently coddle bullies, pedophiles, but repeatedly delete atheist group accounts. Also lame.

Today I got an email from MySpace. What? I deleted my account and they still send me emails. I can't "unsubscribe" because I don't have an account.

I posted a message to their contact us page (which asks for your password btw?? lame also). I will post their response.

UPDATE 8-9-08: Never heard back. MySpace sucks. plain and simple.

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Terror Turns To Angel

This morning my daughter woke up screaming for mommy. Her mommy was out garage sale shopping is as her usual Saturday morning ritual. Her time away with friends and adults.

When I went into my daughters room to get her up (she never leaves her room of her own accord) she screamed at me "NO, I want mommy". I replied "Mommy is not here, so you can just stay in bed until she gets back."

I stormed out of the room, waiting to get just out of sight to hear my daughter beg for me to return. Instead I hear her yell "SHUT MY DOOR!!", as simple and demanding as that. Remember, she is three. Well, rather than get upset about it. I did. What the hell. If she wants to lay in bed and wait for mommy. More power to her.

I left her in her room for over half an hour, and thought perhaps she had fallen back asleep. When I poked my head in again to check on her she said sweetly and pleasantly. "I want to get up".

She was sweet for all of the fifteen minutes as she drank her morning sippy and watched an episode of Caillou and it was back to being a little snot.

Doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to get dressed, a closed fist punch to her brothers face when she didn't like what he was saying. Like the title says, a Terror (yes, it deserves a capital T). She is not like this often. This is the exception and not the rule, but it was enough to start my day off on the wrong foot.

So I had to get out of the house, change the environment and perhaps the mood. We got pancakes and hash browns and Micky D's. Of course Braedyn threw a tantrum because he wanted to eat in the "Lunch house" and play on their play structure. Oh joy. The Micky D's play structure where the noise level exceeds OSHA standards for a safe environment. Thats what I want to do on Saturday morning when I am already in a funk. But I persevered and we drove to the new park and ate breakfast in the car in the parking lot. Then the the children transformed.

They were outside. They were playing with other kids. They were having a great time. It was windy as hell. Braedyn didn't care, but Emily sure hated the mist being blown on us by the sprinklers.

Mom met up with us so it was less stressful to track the kids in a park the size of Yankee Stadium and on this day seemingly as many people.

I sat at the bottom level of the play structure and Emily began running back and forth to me, giving me very wet kisses. Sweet and adorable and then she hid behind the pole and played peek-a-boo. Just twice. Just long enough for me to get this shot which melts my heart and makes it all worth while.

My little Terror is growing up. I love you Emily.

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Allegra’s Memorial Webpage Found

In another post I mentioned our Dog Allegra who passed away last March.  We were hosting her memorial page on an webserver I was running here at home.  I took that server down some time ago.

In reviewing all the content I moved to my Drobo I found the webserver folder and the memorial page.  This was written by my wife Susanne, and I am posting it here for a more permanent location.

Allegra’s Journey, May 2001 – March 1, 2007
(More Photos Here)

Allegra was born around May 2001. Around the end of June, Greg, Jacob and I were sitting on the stoop at the Lake Street House visiting friends after an afternoon downtown at the Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival. A young man who was staying downstairs at his brother’s apartment walked up with the most adorable little puppy. He told the story of how someone was giving away puppies in front of Winco, and he didn’t have the heart NOT to take the little pup in his arms. He continued by telling us he had no idea what he was going to do with her because his apartment complex didn’t allow dogs. He wanted to find a nice place for her to live. As if in the same nanosecond those words exited his mouth, both Jacob and Greg looked at me with, ironically enough, puppy eyes, eyes that were begging and pleading with me to say we’d provide her that nice place to live. I was secretly excited, but I had to play tough, getting Greg to convince me that he would be okay with her because of his allergies to dogs. Greg said he’d do whatever it took to keep her, and so our journey with our new family addition began.

What’s in a name? We looked through our friend’s baby name book right then and there and decided upon the name Allegra. It was both funny and fitting for this little pup. It means “quick, with a happy air” as well as being the name of the allergy medicine Greg would have to take to keep her. How appropriate for this lively little one.

She was so tiny, that is all except her ears. We were up at Galena Forest with her during her first winter, and these two snow-shoe guys were walking down the hill. They had to have been 50 yards away when we heard them holler “Check out the ears on that dog!”

Even though she was tiny, I had a HUGE adjustment to make. I was the type of person who would grab onto Greg’s arm in a parking lot when I heard keys jingle because I thought for sure it was the sound of a collar on a huge dog just waiting to chase and chomp me. So, with this new tiny addition to our family chasing and nipping at my heals, I found myself in tears. Greg even asked me if I wanted to get rid of her.

I said no, convinced that I could get past my fear of dogs. And that I did. Allegra turned me into a dog person, and she was an integral part of our family.

On Saturday Allegra became ill. After a rough night, we took her to the emergency room on Sunday where they kept her on fluids all night. We took her to our regular vet on Monday morning, where her x-rays, blood work, and exams gave nothing conclusive as the source of the problem. She couldn’t keep anything down, and a Berium (sic?) series indicated some sort of problem with her stomach. On Tuesday, they operated on her and found a piece of mesentery wrapped around and tying off part of her bowel. Part of the bowel had died, so the doctor removed the bad portion and sewed her back up. Allegra did okay with this surgery but still could not keep anything down. She continued to get ill. The only option was to go in and see if there was a second issue in the stomach. On Thursday afternoon, the doctor had a two-hour surgery with her. This surgery was a very difficult surgery for the doctor. He found that since the first surgery a huge section of her small intestines had died. He removed this dead section of her small intestines, and she almost didn’t make it off of the operating table. Greg and I saw her that evening. She was zonked out on pain meds, but we got to give her loves. We were hopeful that she would make it through this, but it was all too much for our beloved dog. She passed away in the night.

Those of you who knew Allegra know how amazing she was with children, how playful she was with other dogs, and how puppy-like she was regardless of any time that had passed. She was loved, and she will be missed.

Allegra eating doggy ice cream.

MOTHER-IN-LAWS TUTORIAL TO CREATE A PICASA ALBUM

This is Part 2 in a series of tutorials I made for my mother-in-law. Part One was how to get pictures off your memory card. Part 3 (to come) explains how to burn a CD.

1. Click on the first picture in a group that you want to be in an album.

2. Scroll to the last picture in the same group, press the SHIFT key and click again. If you wish to select images from other folder groups you will need to use the CTRL key and click on each additional image.

3. The pictures you have selected will show in the bottom left of the Picasa window as shown here.

4. Click the Add To button and select New Album

5. A box will pop up asking you to add a date, description and location. Fill out the information and click OK.

6. You now will have an album that shows in the upper left of Picasa that holds only your chosen photos. Click on the name to see the pictures in that album. In this example the new album Snakes and Bugs is highlighted.

Coming Soon – Part 3 Copying Pictures To A CD From Picassa

Password Generator

I saw a post on CNET that talked about passwords.  I posted a method that I use.

 

Create your own method of generating a password that will not make sense to the average viewer but can easily be remembered without writing it down.
My method:
A) Pick a sentence from your favorite book, one that you can easily remember. 
B) Then pick a split point (a comma or junction for example) that makes a great break point. 
C) Now create something to insert at that point that you consistently use from each site, how about the first two characters of the url (other than ww from www). 
D) Then say, add the first two numbers of your birthday to add to the end (or month and year or other combination). 1/12/24 would be 13.
So...from Stephen Kings Firestarter...
"He looked at her and saw how pale her face was."
becomes the password on this site (news.cnet.com) 
Hlahaneshphfw13
the NE in the middle being the first two characters of the url in this page.  Now, each password for each site you visit is
1) easy to remember
2) unique to the site you have visited
3) not easily figured out for other sites, should one be breached (ie if you use the same password on all)
4) easy to remember once you have created the method in your head, you will know how to create a new one or remember one for each site you visit.

Our Dog Allegra

Allegra passed away unexpectedly last summer (we had a tribute to her online, but I seem to have broken that, working on fixing it).  Anyway, I was working on getting UPnP Fuppes working on my Drobo with the newly released SDK and apps and I ran across this video recently.  This just epitomizes her spunk  and the joy she brought to our family.  I truly miss her.

For The Love Of FSM - It's A KILT