There is, of course, a catch. iTunes is supposed to automatically replace the old track with the new update track. Unfortunately this process is imperfect and not every track is properly replaced. After an iTunes Plus upgrade, I have suddenly found myself with multiple copies of the same tracks, some in playlists, some not, some with ratings, some without. In short, my precious, meticulously-organized collection has been thrashed. This is an OCD nightmare.

iTunes includes a “Show Duplicates” feature, but there is no way to use this feature to place replacement songs in playlists or to update playcounts, ratings, or skip information. It is also time consuming to page through thousands of tracks and select which version is the keeper. Luckily, I am not the only one with this problem. A solution exists, and that solution is Dupin.

Dupin, written by Doug Adams (not the late author), is not an iTunes duplicate finder, it is an iTunes Duplicate manager. It not only finds duplicates, but it can merge playlist, playcount, and other metadata before purging the unwanted tracks from the iTunes library. This software is what the iTunes Show Duplicates feature should be. By using Dupin instead of iTunes built-in duplicate handling features I’ve saved at least 3 hours of tedious work, easily worth the $15 price tag. Thank you Doug Adams and Dupin.

Google Gears

Google Gears is a browser plugin that adds new features to your web browser. Today we’re looking at its local data storage and syncing features. After downloading and installing the plugin by following the instructions listed on gears.google.com, you’ll see a new item in the upper right of the Google Docs screen: “Offline.”

Clicking this link and granting their site permission to access your Google Gears plugin will enable offline sync and access to your Google docs. You’ll be able to get to docs.google.com, even when disconnected from the internet, and your changes will sync up once you reconnect to the internet and log back in to your Google docs account.

Gmail IMAP

Given the very large amount of data stored in a Gmail account, syncing Gmail is more complicated than Docs. Google is working on implementing Gears support for Gmail, but they’re not there yet. Fortunately, we already have an email syncing technique called IMAP. If you need offline access to your email, It’s worth setting up one of the desktop email clients (Mail.app, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) to connect to your Gmail account. Google provides terrific instructions here.

Clicking Links

We’re used to clicking links in our web browser and having those links launch the appropriate software to deal with the content we’re trying to access. Online email throws a wrench into the works, but not one that we can’t extract. Google has written a small desktop app that directs web browser email address link clicks to Gmail rather than to a desktop email client. It’s called the Google Notifier and it’s free from Google.

Once installed, it has to be configured as the default mail program on your desktop.

To do so in Windows:

1. Download the Gmail Notifier.
2. Right-click the Notifier icon in your system tray, and select Options.
3. Check the box next to Use Gmail for internet mailto: links.
4. Click OK.

If you decide later that you don’t want to use Gmail as your default email application, simply uncheck the box.And, if you’re using a Mac, you can set your default mailto handler by following these steps:

1. Download the Google Notifier.
2. Open the Notifier.
3. Click the Mail icon on the Menu bar and go to Preferences…
4. Select the Gmail tab and choose Gmail as the program from the Compose mail in drop-down menu.

Calendar

Gears support for Google Calendar is also still a work in progress. Google’s added support for a different Calendar syncing technique called CalDAV to Google Calendar. Apple’s iCal on OS X 10.5 (and up) also supports this protocol. Google has posted instructions for enabling it here.

There are a few cases in which a more robust syncing solution will be necessary. CalDAV syncing on Google Calendar has problems with event notifications, and if you’re using MobileMe to sync iCal with your iPhone, there’s no support yet for CalDAV. BusySync, a tool I use, is an alternative technology for syncing iCal with Google Calendar.

If you need help understanding any of these concepts or implementing any of these solutions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Happy syncing!

Basecamp

I can’t rave enough about Basecamp. I use this software to provide a virtual meeting place for me and my staff, and to keep my clients informed of the status of their systems and accounts. I’ve never felt more in touch and on the same page with my team as I do now. It’s an office with no walls.

Highrise

This is a call sheet on steroids. In an executive/assistant scenario, this software trumps kludgey excel and filemaker solutions that I’ve come across. Everyone I’ve converted is hooked. Will you be next?

Zendesk

Zendesk forces me to respond to problems. Every time someone asks a question, leaves a voicemail, or reaches out for help, we make a ticket in our Zendesk app. I can then view tickets by context, urgency, client, or age. This tool helps us keep response time down and accountability up.

Freshbooks

Freshbooks makes invoicing simple and saves the planet (if only slightly) while doing it. Invoices generated with Freshbooks are delivered to my clients via email and the status is tracked online. This enables faster delivery, and tracking of statistics like payment time and average invoice size. They even offer postal mail delivery of invoices for those who insist on paper.

BusySync

BusySync keeps us on-time. Both our appointment information and our time tracking for invoices is done in iCal, so calendars are important to us. There are a few players out there in the calendar syncing world, but our requirements are strict. We need by-calendar permission control, offline access to calendars, and near-realtime syncing. BusySync delivers.

Time Machine

Apple’s OS X 10.5 Leopard’s built-in backup software is called Time Machine. It’s brilliant. This software protects against the three types of data loss: hardware failure, software corruption, and accidental data loss. Paired with a Time Capsule it’s almost a perfect backup solution.

Drive Backup Express

This is the closest thing to Time Machine I’ve found for the PC. It basically replicates the Time Machine feature set, though it’s not quite as pretty.

Mozy & SpiderOak

Offsite backup. Network connections are finally robust enough that online offsite backup is practical for most small business and even some home users. This is not a replacement for local backup — recovery times can be quite long for large data sets — but offsite backup protects against disaster and theft. A backup is no good if it gets stolen.

PhoneTag

If you’re already a Feedwire customer, you’ve probably seen that voicemails you leave for us are transcribed into emails. This is a great time-saver. PhoneTag is the company that does this for us. It gives us only one in-box, which helps us to focus and keep our response times down.

Dropbox

Cloud based file storage systems are great, but nothing beats having a local copy of the files. Dropbox handles syncing our project files between Feedwire employees. We operate a distributed office and don’t always have internet connectivity, so a traditional file server doesn’t work for us. Dropbox keeps all of our computers synced and even allows us to roll back to old versions of files. How cool is that?