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Showing posts from June, 2006

Tip: Converting a CSV File into XML by Excel

I came across a problem to convert a historical data in comma-separated format (CSV) into a modern & more useful XML format. There are many ways to do such conversion. The most obvious one is to do it programmatically by writing a program to read CSV data and exporting it to an XML file by means of the Simple API for XML (SAX) or the Document Object Model (DOM) libraries. But I was too lazy to do it. I knew that Microsoft Excel 2003 supports exporting worksheets into XML data. I tried it out but found that it is not that simple -- we have to define an XML schema and bind each element to each column of the worksheet. So I went on researching. Finally, I found a very useful tool on MSDN: Excel 2003 XML Tools Add-in Version 1.1 ( download ). The Excel Add-in's "XML Tools -> Convert a Range to an XML List" menu command allows us to simply select a range in a worksheet (with or without first row as column names) -- with the advanced options to specify the XML root

ASUS P505: Problem Sending Files via Bluetooth

I've been wondering why I cannot send a file via Bluetooth from my ASUS P505 -- the built-in File Explorer just cannot find any other recipient but an infrared device. I don't think there is a problem with the hardware because I regularly use my Bluetooth GPS receiver and the Bluetooth headset. I came across this thread on PDAMobiz.com (in Thai) and it confirms that someone using ASUS P505 is having the same problem. I continued to Google and found this thread on PDAPhoneHome.com that mentions about Resco Explorer 2005 . I've known for a while that Resco Explorer supports "send to Bluetooth recipients" but never compared it with the built-in File Explorer. So...I tried Resco Explorer 2005 right away, and "it works!!" If you own an ASUS P505 Pocket PC phone and have problem sending a file via Bluetooth like me, let's try Resco Explorer 2005. For reference, the ROM version of my ASUS P505 is V3.15.73 WWE, and the Radio firmware is V4.5.0. Keywords: a

ASUS P505 and GPSProxy: Failed to Load Virtual COM Port Driver

I tried to use my new ASUS P505 Pocket PC phone with my favorite GPS configuration: GlobalSat BT-338 bluetooth GPS receiver + Garmin Que software + Andrew Klopper's GPSProxy software. This configuration worked fine while I was using my HP iPAQ h4150 Pocket PC. Unfortunately, somehow the notorious "Failed to Load Virtual COM Port Driver" always occurred on my ASUS P505 whenever I started GPSProxy--both the latest version 2.2 and the older version 1.6--and the proxy engine just wouldn't start. At first I noticed this problem occurred when I turn on ASUS Menu animated screen saver (via ASUS Menu -> Personalization -> Animated Home Screen -> Animation). Later, I noticed that the problem still occurred even after the turned Animation off. After spending long hours identifying the source of the problem, here are the list of software that conflict with GPSProxy 1. ASUS Menu : To disable, go to Start Menu -> Settings -> ASUS Menu -> Uncheck the "Ena

Research: Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

Personal knowledge management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Interestingly, I've discovered that the research area that I have recently been working on--managing and exchanging individual's personal portfolio of knowledge--has a special title "Personal Knowledge Management", with the "PKM" acronym. I checked its explanation on Wikipedia and this is exactly what I've been researching on. Here is a quote from Wikipedia: Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a concept that has grown out of a combination of knowledge management (KM) and personal information management (PIM) and cognitive human abilities. More particular, the Personal KM is focused on helping an individual be more effective -- to work better. PKM has recently been linked to social bookmarking , blogging or k-logs . The idea is individuals use their blogs to capture ideas, opinions or thoughts and this 'voicing' will encourage cognitive diversity, promote free exchanges... Well.

Tip: Official MP3 Ring Tone Patch for ASUS P505 Pocket PC Phone

I just bought a used ASUS P505 Pocket PC Phone last Friday. (See review here .) It runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and supposedly plays MP3 ring tones. The firmware allows us to select (and "preview") an MP3 file to be ring tone. Unfortunately, the P505 does not play the selected MP3 file properly. I asked a junior friend who has owned a P505 for more than a year and was informed that this is a known bug in the present firmware (ROM version 3.15.73 WWE). He recalled that there is a patch/fix posted on ASUS website. I went ahead to ASUS.com and finally found this MP3 Ring Tone Patch . I downloaded the patch, unzipped and installed the extracted CAB file, and soft-reseted the handheld. The patch is listed as "ASUS MP3 Plug-in" in Settings -> System -> Remove Programs. I proceeded to Settings -> Personal -> Phone, and tried some MP3 ring tone files out. Bravo!! My P505 now plays MP3 ring tones properly. Personal ring tone management software, such

Tip: Microsoft Outlook 2003 and MHTML Attachment

I found a webpage on Pantip.com that contains an excellent article Why We Thai People Love Our King Bhumibol So Much . I tried to save the page to my hard drive in the MHT (MIME HTML) format with Mozilla Firefox's " Mozilla Archive Format " extension. I prefer saving a web page as an MHT file over the "Web Page, complete" option because it is more handy to get an archive of a webpage in one single MHT file than getting so many files inside a folder generated by the complete Web Page method. I sent the MHT file as a attachment in an Outlook 2003 email to my girlfriend and by chance learned that this is an extremely more convenient way to send an archive of a webpage to someone than to "copy all and paste" a webpage in Outlook's Microsoft Word editor. From my experience, Outlook takes unacceptably long time to process pictures, texts, and formatting pasted into its Word text editor from Internet Explorer or Firefox. Sending a webpage by an MHT att