Instrument UX Innovation Reel from Instrument on Vimeo.

There is one snag though: IIS Express doesn't include a SMTP server. So, none of the activation or notification emails ever get to the recipient. You can configure it IIS Ex to use a specific SMTP server if you have one by editing the web.config file WebMatrix created for you on the web app's folder. You simply add:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  ...
  </system.webServer>
	<system.net>
		<mailSettings>
			<smtp>
				<network
						host="localhost"
						port="25"
						userName="username"
						password="password"/>
			</smtp>
		</mailSettings>
	</system.net>
</configuration>

So, I tried this with couple of free SMTP servers out there (this and this). Neither worked for some reason and I kept getting errors; probably due to GMail rejecting 127.0.0.1 as a sender.

20:03:50 [3] Looking for MX domain of gmail.com
20:03:56 [3] gmail.com Domain resolving error: TimedOut
20:03:56 [3] Retrying DNS resolution

An alternative would be to use a GMail account itself and use GMail's SMTP server. But, you really cannot configure IIS Express to email through SSL. So, that doesn't work either. Relaying using hMailServer seemed promising. But, if I wanted to have a fully fledged server running, I might as well have used IIS.

Then again, since I'm only using this WordPress installation for development and testing, I didn't really need the server to be sending out the emails to the recipients anyway. All I needed was to make sure that the emails were sent; or in the case of activation emails, to get the activation link.

So, here's what I did:

• Started miniRelay.
• Go to Configuraton > Advanced and turn on "Do not return mails" option. Click Ok to close the Configuration window.
• Let WordPress send out the emails (either by creating a new user, posting a comment, etc). Wait till miniRelay failed again.
• Go to the miniRelay folder and look in the /queue folder
• Open the latest *.dat file in a text editor, and you will have the contents of the email that you are looking for.

Yesterday, I created a new Microsoft Expression Web "site" folder as a sub folder in one of the folders synced by Live Mesh. Later I found that the folder isn't being synced between my computers. It wasn't really obvious why but, after much searching, I found the reason. Expression Web is marking the folder as a "System" folder [Why does it do that? Just to make sure it gets to change the folder icon ]

Fire up Command prompt on the folder and check:

C:\path to parent folder>attrib foldername
A S <foldername>

There, it's confirmed. Remove the system attribute, and watch as Live Mesh continues to sync the folder.

attrib -S foldername

On a positive note, I guess I figured out how to exclude child folders from Mesh

But the world of smart phones is much different. And mine, is increasingly becoming indispensable. From bringing me my email, keeping my schedules, managing my expenses to even writing this blog, it is one incredibly useful tool. Most of that usefulness comes from it's ability to connect me to the web, where ever I may be. Because of this effect, my "unlimited" data package from Dialog is one of the first things I would configure when setting up any new phone.

Recently, I was asked to configure a hTC Wildfire by a friend. I had swapped my SIM card on to this phone as I was holding on to it till I completed setting it up. That meant that I couldn't go to my phone's settings and look them up. And unlike with feature phones, Dialog support reps cannot send you the MMS/3G auto config settings for most of these Android phones. You'd have to key them in as they guided you over phone. So, I'm gonna post these settings here for future reference and hope that it'll be any use for anybody out there who's looking for the same information.

Go to the APN (Access Point Name) Setup page.

On the Wildfire, this is Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Access Point Names

Tap the menu button and select New APN.

For the 3G connection set the following values:

APN: dialogbb
Proxy: 192.168.122.2
Port: 8080
APN Type: default

Give anything you like for the Name field. Leave everything else in their default values. Tap menu button and then Save

Tap New APN again to set up MMS settings.

APN: www.dialogsl.com
Proxy: 192.168.122.2
Port: 8080
MMSC: http://mms.dialog.lk:3130/mmsc
MMS proxy: 192.168.122.2
MMS port: 8080
APN Type: mms

Tap the back key to get back to the Mobile network settings page. Make sure Enable always-on mobile is turned off. Set Network Mode to WCDMA only (otherwise the phone will switch between WCDMA and GSM depending on signal strength. The back and forth switching will kill your battery).

Tap back one more time and make sure Mobile Network is turned On.

Great! Now your phone is configured for both surfing and MMS.

One quirk that I've noticed on the Wildfire is that the instruction to keep Mobile Data off (Tasker/Widgetsoid) doesn't seem to apply. Looks like the only best way to prevent applications from turning on mobile data is to use the APN Rename technique used by APNDroid and Widgetsoid.

Quite happy with how it turned out.

Here comes the pics:

UPDATES

• Changed the Zoom wheel to a scroll wheel. Wow, that's so much better!
• HowTos: here and here (simplified)
• Mail button changed to open Gmail Compose window
• In Windows7, Devices & Printers, right-click on the Keyboard and select Keyboard Settings.
• On the Key Settings tab, select the Mail key
• Click Configure... Then select, Start Program, web page or file. Click Next.
• Paste the following URL in the text box
• "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#compose"
• Click Finish.