Samsung D500 synchronization using iSync
Yes, it's possible! Recently (as in 'yesterday'), I obtained a Samsung SGH-D500 cellphone. A very nice phone, 1.3 megapixel camera and 96MB of memory. I was fairly happy with my Sony Ericsson Z520i, but after it suddenly died I had to find a replacement. Getting it to synchronize my contacts and agenda using iSync was a hassle, so here's the solution.
The Saumsung D500 officially doesn't have iSync support. Or the other way around, Apple iSync officially doesn't support the D500. However, after googling for a while, I found out that Nova Media has a set of iSync plugins that adds additional phone support, including for the D500. I purchased the software (€10,-, not too bad) and gave it a try.
Organizing your Photos
As a true student of Telematics, I not only try to keep my digital life organized, but am also constantly looking for better ways to organize my life using digital tools. In the past few years, I have become pretty dependent on my Mac for the regulation of day-to-day things.
The areas in which the digital assets of people like myself fall, are:
- E-mail
- Agenda
- Contacts
- Documents
- Photos
- Audio
- Video
- Finances
And then of course the big issue: Backups.
Most people will recognize these categories, and also recognize the solution they found for organizing each category in the way they like. Except for backups, usually 
The key is finding a way to organize your data that is flexible so you can change it, without having to do too much work. Sometimes however you will still make a big change and have to re-organize your data manually. That's where scripting skills come in handy
The wonderful world of Windows Activation
The last few months I've been running into a small complication when installing Windows XP: activation. I got my windows license from the university, through the MSDN Academic Alliance program. This gives me a license to all microsoft software execpt Office (Why? Don't students need Office?), including driver development kits, business software and all kinds of frameworks. But since I'm a Mac user, I only use Windows XP, and I only use that for the few games I play and testing websites I create in Internet Explorer.
However, the small problem. After installation I need to activate windows, just like a normal windows (in fact, the software is the same, but the license isn't). This used to work using internet activation, but now I get the message that I've activated windows too many times. Luckily, I've found a way to break through the telephone activation procedure (which isn't aware of MSDN AA) and get it activated anyway.
The problem probably has to do with activating it on many different hardware platforms, most of them virtual. I use windows on my PC, and in a number of virtual machines on my mac. Since different versions of the emulation software emulated different hardware, windows 'thinks' I've installed it on many PCs. Which, according to the normal license, isn't allowed.