Sync Outlook and Google Apps on your mobile phone

Posted by OlafMay 13, 2010

I’m using Google Apps as my primary e-mail service for almost 4 years now and I must say the product has grown a lot within the last 2 years. A year ago I got my first cell phone powered by windows mobile and a few days ago I decided to synchronize my e-mail plus calendar with the data I have entered on my phone. Just one more feature offered by Google Apps.

Honestly I tried this before but without success, why? Because I missed one big point, this service is only available for premium accounts. In my case, I like to synchronize much more. As I mentioned before, I have a “personal” Google Apps account and a Windows mobile phone, but I’m using also a Microsoft Exchange account at the office, which I like to synchronize with my Windows mobile phone. The synchronization tool on the phone allows only one server and in fact I have two. But there is a possibility to arrange this.

Synchronize Microsoft Outlook with Google Apps

There is a Google Apps Sync tool to synchronize both accounts (Outlook and Google Apps) with each other including contacts, e-mail, tasks and the calendar. I tried that tool, but I don’t like to have a second Outlook profile for my personal stuff. 1-2 year ago there was already the Google Calendar Sync tool which is able to synchronize the Outlook calendar with the calendar from a Google Apps account. I needed to search the Google Calendar Documentation to find this tool back because Google doesn’t mention this tool anymore (the suggest the new sync tool instead). It works for Outlook 2003/2007 and with the latest version I’m able to synchronize my calendars in one or two ways:

Create PDF documents Online with TCPDF

Posted by OlafMay 27, 2010

Many web applications using PDF documents for invoices, contracts and many other doc types. There are a few PHP classes which are able to create PDF documents online, one of them is TCPDF. This tutorial is about how-to use the TCPDF class while creating a simple invoice document. If you like to take a sneak peak on the result, check this website which generates the PDF Invoice document on the fly.

Why TCPDF and not some other PHP class?

TCPDF is based on the FPDF class, a very stable project written for PHP4. Since several years has TCPDF much more features than FPDF and is written for PHP5 (there is also a PHP4 version). The TCPDF has also some great documentation and of course examples for all important PDF jobs like:
WriteHTML and RTL support, Multiple columns, JavaScript and Forms, Bookmarks (Table of Content), Multicell complex alignment, Barcodes, Set PDF viewer display preferences, EPS/AI vectorial images and many more.

The Zend Framework has some PDF class too…

Yes right, the first plan was to write this tutorial about the Zend Framework, but after writing a few rows of code I’ve noticed that the PDF Class is missing some important functions, like the MultiCell, which is used to wrap multiple rows of text. It’s a required function which was suggested as the Zend_Pdf_Cell 2 years ago and didn’t find the way to the core version until now. I like the Zend Framework a lot but not for creating PDF documents, the PDF class is much too limited.

Online Backup Service – Comparison

Online Backup Service – ComparisonPosted by finalwebsites.comJune 5, 2010

For those people spending a lot of time behind a laptop or desktop PC, some safe backup storage becomes very important. Until a few few weeks ago, I created every night an incremental backup for my files and stored this data on a USB connected hard-disk. While the HD was shock-proof (FreeCom), my motherboard was much weaker. It seems that the motherboard died during the daily backup was processed. Why? Because my hard-disk wasn’t accessible the next day. My backup seems to be worthless and I was very happy that a replacement of the motherboard was the rescue for my data.

Everyone will understand my next step: I started my search for a better backup solution!

Are online backup services the best solution?

Since my laptop has the Ubuntu operating system, I gave Ubuntu One a try. They offer 2GB of free backup space and since Ubuntu version 9.10 you need only to register an online account. That sounds easy right? Just put your backup data into the Ubuntu One directory and wait until the demon has uploaded all files. They offer great features too; synchronization between multiple PCs, sharing files with trusted contacts and there is  a web browser interface. They offer also a paid plan; 50GB storage for $10/month. Not so much actually, but maybe to much for a beta service. In my case Ubuntu One wasn’t the best solution for me. Uploading files took a lot of time and the demon/client needs a restart frequently.

Important: You need to trust your backup service provider!

There are more professional online backup services

There are many companies offering these services and they offering different packages for different needs. Since the synchronization features are very nice (think about how easy you can restore your data to a new computer) I searched  for services offering this features. A second requirement were multi-platform capabilities. The last one is very important because you never know where you need to work with your data. Maybe you need to switch from Linux to Windows or Mac. We tried the following 3 services, all of them offer 2GB of free backup space. So if you like, you can try them all for free.

Mozy – Home Edition

404 Errors: Report, monetize and analyse

Posted by OlafJune 14, 2010

After your websites getting more pages and links, the chance that a visitor will follow a dead link to your site exists. If a visitor is trying to access a page on your site, the server will report (normally) a 404 error. The response is by default some unfriendly page with some spare information about the error which let most visitors stop visiting your site. But using the 404 error the right way, you the site owner can collect important information like:

Of course the broken link or URLThe HTTP_REFERER information where the dead link is availableHow often people try to access the bad URL

Using the right tools you’re able to turn 404 errors into a powerful resource:

Provide a site search feature and let people search what they are lookingAdd advertisements to your error page and start earning moneyLearn about what people like to see on your site

In this tutorial we will show you how-to:

Create a dynamic error page using the Google Site search and Adsense content adsSetup Google analytics to track 404 errors using a filterSet the site search feature with Google Analytics to collect the search queries from your visitor

Error reporting page

With the Apache webserver it’s possible to use custom directives for your error script, place this code into your .htaccess file (place the file into the site root):

ErrorDocument 400 /error.php?err

E-mail marketing software, which is the best for you?

Posted by OlafJune 28, 2010

If you search Google for E-mail marketing software you will find a lot of services and I’m sure a lot of them have great features and are worth the money. The pricing for 1000 mail messages is often very similar and most of them offer a back-end which makes it easy to setup a mailing list and marketing campaigns.

If all of them have similar features, how do choose the right one?

Some important featuresCreating a mailing list takes a lot of time and might be essential for your e-mail marketing success. While collecting subscribers and sending e-mail messages, it’s important that as many messages as possible have to reach the subscribers mailbox. Bigger companies are more trusted and invest more time an money to prevent that their mail servers are getting black-listed.If your list is not very big (

Start a hosting business with DirectAdmin

Posted by OlafJuly 21, 2010

There are thousands of hosting companies on the Internet and maybe this article will help you to start your own. Many companies offering web services are hosting reseller of other (bigger) companies or have partnerships with hosting companies. Maybe you have ever thought to offer hosting services by yourself, with a dedicated server or a VPS hosting account, it’s very easy to offer hosting plans for your existing customers. The following article will show you, using a few examples, how to use a web server installed with the software DirectAdmin to create web hosting accounts using their native API system.

Don’t think it’s easy to pull a new hosting company from the ground. This market is very saturated and we suggest to start offering hosting services most of all to your existing customers only.

VPS hosting versus dedicated server hosting

These days it’s not necessary to have your own dedicated server, a good maintained VPS host is often much more reliable. If the VPS hosting platform is well managed, you don’t have to worry about the shared memory because the virtualization software is able to manage all the resources. Why do you need a dedicated server if a VPS is so powerful? You need your own server for special hardware configurations or if your provider doesn’t have a good VPS platform. While many VPS companies using the same machines, the risk of hardware failures is low because hardware replacements should be a peace of cake. A “special” dedicated or colocated server might be a serious risk, f.e if the motherboard replacement is not available. A VPS host is scalable and often much cheaper than a dedicated server.

PayPal Payment Tools: Information and Resources

Posted by OlafJuly 25, 2010

If you’re looking for a trustful online payment solution, you will always notice PayPal as a well known payment platform. PayPal is a full featured payment solution provider for the (paying) user and for the merchant. This article is about why people should use Paypal and some tools which makes it easier to use this payment provider.

Why should you pay using PayPal?