Hasta La Gadget!

BlackBerry Messenger – or BBM – has been updated today to include a list of fixes and feature additions for Android and the inclusion of a couple new devices for iOS. This new version of BBM works with the wi-fi-only iPad now as well as the iPod touch where the first version did not. This […]

This article was written on August 20, 2010 by CyberNet.

I normally don’t post scripts and batch files that I use, but I wanted to share this particular script because I use it all the time. VBScript files are nice because typically they are simply coded, and work across virtually all Windows-powered machines. You just have to throw the code in a .VBS file, and from there it can be executed in your batch files very easily.

The contents of the file are below, and once set up you’ll be able to send emails using any Gmail account straight from the command prompt. In the code there are two things that you need to configure: the email address and password of the account you want to send as. When executing the VBScript file you simply pass it three parameters: recipient email address, subject line, and the body of the email. There is an optional fourth parameter that it accepts which is the file path to a file you want to attach to the email. That’s it.

Why do I use this all the time? I can easily call this file from other scripts or batch files so that it sends me an email notification whenever something completes. Sometimes I use it just to have a nice history of when some of my batch files complete (or to verify that they even ran), but other times I will insert “dynamic” text into the body of the email. For example, if an error occurred I may have it put the error message in the body of the email. An alternative to that would be attaching a log file using the optional fourth parameter.

The nice thing about the way this script works is that you’ll be able to send emails without setting up an SMTP server on your machine. Of course you won’t be able to send out mass quantities of emails since Google limits you to around 500 sent messages per day, but that should be more than adequate for personal purposes.

Let’s take a look at what the code looks like…

Code begins here:

'Usage: cscript sendemail.vbs <email_recipient@example.com> "<subject_line>" "<email_body>" "<optional:email_attachment_path>" 'Ex. No attach: cscript sendemail.vbs example@gmail.com "test subject line" "test email body" 'Ex. W/ attach: cscript sendemail.vbs example@gmail.com "test subject line" "test email body" "c:\scripts\log.txt" '*********** '****CONFIGURE THE FROM EMAIL ADDRESS AND PASSWORD Const fromEmail = "email_sender@gmail.com" Const password = "password" '****END OF CONFIGURATION '*********** Dim emailObj, emailConfig Set emailObj = CreateObject("CDO.Message") emailObj.From = fromEmail emailObj.To = WScript.Arguments.Item(0) emailObj.Subject = WScript.Arguments.Item(1) emailObj.TextBody = WScript.Arguments.Item(2) If WScript.Arguments.Count > 3 Then emailObj.AddAttachment WScript.Arguments.Item(3) End If Set emailConfig = emailObj.Configuration emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = "smtp.gmail.com" emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 465 emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = 2 emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate") = 1 emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpusessl") = true emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") = fromEmail emailConfig.Fields("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") = password emailConfig.Fields.Update emailObj.Send Set emailobj = nothing Set emailConfig = nothing

^ That is the end of the code (Download the Script) ^

You can see that the code starts with example usage of how you can call the VBScript file. Given the nature of executing VBScript files you may or may not have to include the “cscript” portion, but in general you are always better off having it there to ensure that it will run on your computer just fine. Here’s an example of what it looks like when being executed from the command prompt:

Note: The “sendemail.vbs” file was located at the root of the C Drive when I ran this.

Armed with this script you should be able to take it and throw it into batch files, or call it from anywhere that can execute things via the command line. One thing you may want to consider is creating an extra email account just for sending these emails. Not only will that keep your “sent mail” clean in your primary Gmail account, but it will also be a bit more secure since the password for the sender account is stored in plain text within the script.

Here is a nicely formatted version of the VBScript from above that you can download, and have all ready to go for you (after you fill in the two email/password inside the script file, of course):

Download a Zipped Copy of the VBScript

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This article was written on May 04, 2006 by CyberNet.

Firefox 2 now has inline spell checking capabilities! This is one feature that I have been waiting for a long time to see. The screenshot above shows it in action and shows what nice features it has. It will spell check as you type and will underline the misspelled words with a red dotted line.

First the updated Add-ons Manager and now a spell check feature. Mozilla must really be trying to get a lot of important features implemented for the Firefox 2.0 Alpha 2 that is scheduled for May 9. This is really starting to get exciting now.

NOTE: The download file below is for a nightly build of Firefox. Nightly builds are known to be very unstable and you should only download it after backing up your current profile.

Download The Firefox Nightly That Has The Spell Check Functionality

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This article was written on January 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

There’s no doubt that your browser stores a lot of important information that could leave you in quite a bind should it disappear all of a sudden. The Firefox users out there probably have a bunch of extensions installed and configured, settings tweaked just the way they like them, obscure passwords stored that no human could possibly memorize, and enough bookmarks saved to make even a hardcore geek nauseous.

I don’t find much joy in the fact that a hard drive can crash at anytime for any number of reasons. We’ve had it happen twice this year, but fortunately for us we had backups of all our most important information. You shouldn’t even think twice about backing up your browser’s profile, and that’s why today we’re going to show you two easy and free Firefox profile backup solutions!

–MozBackup (Homepage)–

This is a small program that you can download, and on the website you’re given the choice between an installable version or a no-install ZIP version. I opted for the ZIP version because I can always keep it on my USB drive, which conveniently happens to be the place where I store my Firefox profile backup.

MozBackup is not restricted just to Firefox profiles either. It can also backup profiles for Thunderbird, Seamonkey, Mozilla Suite, and Netscape. Don’t worry, you’ll be prompted early on in MozBackup to select specifically what application and profile you want to backup.

You’ll then be able to pick exactly what you want to backup, such as bookmarks, history, extensions, passwords, cookies, and more. I’ve documented the entire process in screenshots:

(Click to Enlarge)

Once you’ve got the backup done it will create a single file that can be used to restore everything that you backed up. To perform a restoration just go back through the wizard, and on the second screen just choose the Restore a profile option instead of Backup a profile.

Tip: Close Firefox before using MozBackup, otherwise it will prompt you to do so in the middle of the wizard.

–FEBE (Homepage)–

I find this to be a rather interesting profile backup option for Firefox. FEBE (short for Firefox Environment Backup Extension) is an extension that can be used to backup important parts of your profile. Things like themes, extensions, bookmarks, preferences, cookies, passwords and more can all be saved to a single file, and restored at a moments notice.

What really makes this a fantastic choice for backing up your Firefox profile is that it has scheduling capabilities. You can choose to have your profile automatically backed up daily, weekly, monthly, or you can just set it to remind you every few days.

The first thing you’ll want to do after installing FEBE is go and setup the directory where your backups will be stored. Then from the Tools -> FEBE menu you can initiate your first backup of whatever profile items you chose in the options.

(Click to Enlarge)

As you can see this is an extremely intuitive option for backing up your Firefox profile, but MozBackup is also nice since it works with several different Mozilla applications. The choice of which backup solution is obviously up to you, but take them seriously because they could save you a lot of trouble in the future.

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This article was written on April 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

If you’ve got a video recording device and two minutes to spare, you could end up with a $10,000 Digital Home Makeover, courtesy of Microsoft. They started a contest  to help celebrate the availability of several new Extenders for Windows Media Center. There are thousands of people out there with all kinds of digital media on multiple devices that don’t interact with one another (many of you can probably relate) who could benefit from such a makeover. Microsoft thinks all digital media should be shared across devices and so one lucky winner will receive a Windows Media Center PC along with Extenders to create a “connected entertainment center.”

How to enter: Create a two-minute video explaining why you need the experts to come to your house and set you up with an entertainment system. What do you do with your media currently, and what do you wish that you could do?

What they’re looking for in a video: Enthusiasm, show your current system, and give a story that will appeal to other digital home entertainment users. Contestants must upload their video to video.msn.com.

When the contest starts/ends: The contest started on March 21st, 2008 and runs until May 2, 2008, so you’ve got plenty of time to come up with something good.

At this point, we say that the Xbox 360 is still one of the best Media Center Extenders out there for the price, even though there is a whole selection of extenders available. One such extender (on the high-end) is the Niveus Media Extender which retails for a whopping $1,499! On the lower end is the Linksys DMA 2200 Media Center Extender which retails for around $300.

Unfortunately this contest is available only to those living in the United States. Oh, and don’t expect Microsoft to come in and remodel your home if you’re the winner. While reading the rules of the contest, I noticed the following statement: This prize does not include remodeling or redecorating the winner’s home to accommodate any new equipment awarded. It’s humorous the kinds of statements companies have to put into the rules of contests to protect themselves from lawsuits, isn’t it?

Source: Windows Vista Blog

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