A few days ago I posted a message on Twitter asking if anyone would like to take a few PC parts off my hands before I take them to the recycling center to dump them.

Through a couple of Twitter users (Thanks Guys!) I was put in touch with BlueKop. Bluekop take in computer hardware parts and refurbish them to give to schools or charities.

As luck would have it, a couple of the BlueKop guys were in Cork recently which allowed me to pack the car with several CRT monitors, Keyboards & mice and some 20 – 80GB hard drives and meet the guys behind BlueKop in person to hand over the parts I had.

Parts given to Bluekop are tested and cleaned (physically and data-wise) and new fully working systems are assembled. They usually install Microsoft Windows XP and are Microsoft authorized refurbisher’s so they’re not passing on any potential problems with serial numbers to a school or charitable organizations.

They supply ongoing support to their customers via remote desktop connections or through local companies which can visit premises.

I know that there are plenty of techies and businesses out there with old computer parts that are no longer being used, taking up space in corners, hallways or attics. If you have some computer parts spare, don’t leave them there or dump them, contact Bluekop at 01 4800560.

I signed on to the Microsoft Bizspark programme a number of weeks ago and I’ve been trying out some of the Microsoft applications that I’ve never had access to before without forking out a lot of money.

I’m planning a lot of projects right now so I installed Microsoft Project 2007 to try it out. I have to say, I like it a lot so far. I got a couple of lessons on using MS Project from my brother in law who uses it as part of his own work for a large Engineering company in the UK.  I imagine I’m barely using 2% of its abilities but it’s working out very well for me already in planning the time and costs for a project.

As well as Ms Project I’ve begun using MS Word 2007 too in place of Open Office which I’ve been using for years. Open Office gives problems when using bullet points and when copy & pasting from OO to other applications so I installed MS Word. I can open the odd .docx file that people send me now too.

For emails I use Thunderbird,I’ve used this for years and I’m very happy with it. Recently though I’ve been a little frustrated with its ability to connect to other apps. Several addons are needed to sync Thunderbird with anything.

I use a Thunderbird extension called Lightening to provide an interface to my calendars.

I use Provider for Google Calendar“  to sync Lightning to a Google Calendar, this has been failing recently.

On my Nokia e61i phone I use CalSyncS60 to connect the phone calendar with Google Calendar. CalSyncS60 used to be free but now its proprietary and called Googasync.

MS Outlook provides a calendar facility built in without any addons. It syncs with my phone using the Nokia PC Suite via cable or Bluetooth.  It has an added bonus of syncing the contacts and notes on my phone too. I’m a big note taker.  I’m thinking of getting the cradle for the Nokia e61i since I’ll be syncing more often.

Outlook can also be linked to the projects in MS Project. Emails in my inbox can be drag and dropped into tasks which can then be imported into a project.

There is a Journal section too in Outlook 2007 that can record the time spent on documents which is great at accounting for time but I’m not too familiar with this yet. Maybe it could track time spent on Twitter

I moved my emails from Thunderbird to Outlook over the weekend and I’m planning on using Outlook/Word/Project for a few weeks to see how I get on. I may eventually go back to Thunderbird, I know Thunderbird 3 is on the way promising more facilities.

Moving from Thunderbird 2 to Outlook 2007

I followed a guide to  move from Thunderbird to Outlook. Thunderbird emails are stored in MBOX format. This cannot be imported into Outlook 2007 directly so a couple of steps are needed.

I used ImapSize to convert the MBOX files from Thunder bird to .eml files.

Then Drap and drop those eml files into Outlook Express, recreating any custom folders.

Use Outlook Express to Export to Outlook to Outlook 2007.

For the address book, export the address book from Thunderbird as an ldap file. Import into address book in Outlook Express, Export to Outlook 2007.

I’ve upped my backup routine too. I picked up a Seagate 1 TB external USB drive which is on offer in Eason’s at the moment for only €89 and started backing up my documents, projects, downloads incrementally to the drive each day instead of each month to a 320 GB drive as before.

For backing up the folders I’m using Second Copy. Thank you @lecraic for the recommendation on Twitter.

It’s a great app and easy to set up. It automatically backs up several folders on my hard drive and compressed a couple of them and provides email notifications when complete or if errors occur. I highly recommend it.

So overall, starting this Monday morning, Im a little more organised and connected thanks mainly to the Microsoft software available through the Microsoft Bizspark programme. If you’re an SME, check it out.

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Speed Dial is a Firefox extension developed by uWorks that allows you to create shortcuts to your favourite websites. It takes a screenshot of the site and shows it in a little window, visible each time you open Firefox.

Its not a new concept, Opera and Chrome have very similar shortcuts to your favourites or most visited sites when you open the browser. I think Opera were the first to do this.

Its a very handy extension that I’ve been using for a few weeks now with shortcuts to some of the apps I’m developing.

I had the idea to use it for a slightly different reason the other day. To watch the websites of some competitors. Rather than taking the time to periodically visit each competitors website, I’ve set each of them up as a tab in Speed Dial. Each of them is visible to me each time I open a Firefox or a new tab.

By default, the screen shots that Speed Dial takes are updated every 24 hours. This can be changed to take new screen shots every 2 seconds if you like.

Its handy for motivation too if you keep seeing the other businesses updating their sites. It could be used too to see if a favourite blog has been updated.

Heres a screen shot of Speed Dial keeping an eye some Search Engines

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IKEA in Dublin opens this morning. More importantly than that, a new site developed by Brightspark Consulting in Dublin launched today to help buyers assemble their IKEA purchases, Aptly titled SimpleAssemblyMeHole.com

Flatpack furniture assembly including the complete IKEA flatpack furniture range.

I set it up for people like me. I’d be just the one to go in for a milk jug and come out with a sofa, wardrobe, and a new set of pots and pans… but I’d hate having to face the assembly nightmare back home

- Maryrose Lyons, Brightspark Consulting.

Simple Assembly Me Hole offers the following services

• Delivery - we’ll deliver next day for all orders before noon. People may find they’ll have to wait 7 days for Ikea to deliver
• Assembly of Ikea furniture - at a very reasonable rate.
• Installation of Ikea kitchens - again at very reasonable rates.

Anton Mannering wrote about Simple Assembly me Hole too on his blog. A commenter mentions that there are plenty of other assembly outfits out there. With a team of 21 carpenters, cabinet makers, and fitters dotted all around the city with next-day delivery its hard to beat the professional service that Simple Assembly are offering.

Simple Assembly is also on Facebook and Twitter. If you’d like to keep updated on progress there will be regular updates to the Facebook Fan Page and on Twitter.

I wonder will they deliver and assemble in Cork?!

As a start up new business, I’m doing everything on a pretty tight budget. A few weeks ago I got a logo designed for Murrion Software by Ion Ltd in Dublin.

This week I got some business cards made up on the lowest budget ever… my father printed them out.

My father is a fantastic photographer (though I may be biased) and in the past few years has been what he would refer to as ‘messing’ with various digital cameras and printers to make prints, moving over from developing them in his dark-room.

His office has a half a dozen printers and often prints out the same shots on different pictures to compare the shade of black that comes out. He leaves these images out on the counter to surprise us and get our opinions when we call in home.

As well as the printers he has various types of paper and inks. A couple of weeks ago I asked him if he would have a good type of paper and a printer that could print business cards. Turns out he does.

The paper/card he used is Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. The ink is HP Ink, Vivera pigment (Good for 200 years) and he used a HP 9180 Printer.

The cards look excellent. I was worried the paper would be too light but its not the case. The card is a good weight and feel and the logo and text is crisp. Im very happy with the cards and im even pretty happy with the close-up photo I took of them too.

Thanks Dad!