1. You’ll need to have the Android SDK installed on your PC. More about that here.
2. You’ll need to have your Android device plugged in.
3. You’ll also need to install a freeware app called FileMenuTools – a fabulous tool that I’ve used for years.
4. Open FileMenuTools and in the top left, click “Add Command”.
5. In the Properties pane on the lower left, select “Run Program” for your action, for Menu Text I chose “Install on Android“, for icon browse to the SDK Manager.exe because it is an easy Android icon, for Element Types I chose “Only Files“, for Folders I chose “No“, for Files I chose Yes, and for Extensions I typed apk, then for Program you need to browse and find adb.exe in your SDK\program-tools\ directory, and for arguments enter install %FILENAMES%.

Now, if you right click on an APK file that the Corona SDK provides after a build, this should briefly pop up a command window while it copies and installs it to your device.

It will bypass the Install prompts and should show up directly in your Applications folder.

8GB $229
32GB $299
64GB $399

FaceTime with Front Camera
HD Camera on back for HD Video Recording
iMovie for editing video
Retina Display with 4x pixels, 326 ppi, 24-bit color and an LED screen
Apple A4 Chip (lasts longer, works faster)
3-axis gyro (will make help gaming considerably)
iOS 4.1 with Game Center

Its very simple. Instead of telling the batch file to run, you tell a Visual Basic script to launch the batch file; and Visual Basic has the ability to launch things invisibly.

Follow this demo and you’ll be up and running in just a few seconds

You’ll create two files: the vbs script and a sample batch file

 

Open Notepad, and paste this content, then save the file as invisible.vbs to the Desktop

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

Open Notepad again, and paste this content, then save the file as 1.bat to the Desktop:

echo hello > "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.txt"

Now double click on invisible.vbs. You should see a 1.txt file get magically (invisibly) created on the Desktop.

That’s it! Modify to your liking!

I set this up because my photography workflow had turned into something horrid: I have two digital cameras that we use. One of the two has video, but I don’t use Flickr for my videos, I use Motionbox. So to get photos or videos off the cameras involved the following:

1. Plug in each card
2. Copy the pics from the card to the PC, name the folders, etc
3. Copy the videos to the My Videos folder
4. Delete the photos & videos from the card
5. Use the Flickr Uploadr and hope it successfully uploads all the pics
6. Upload videos to Motionbox.
7. Come back later and delete the photos & videos off the PC after they got uploaded

I decided to put a little thought into it and get a better setup. I now do the following:

1. Insert flash card into card reader right after taking pictures – pictures & videos download automatically in less than 10 seconds – card automatically formats (optional, but recommended)
2. (photos are now uploading to Flickr in the background – so I leave )

I’ve completely eliminated my involvement with the computer. I simply plug in the card reader (or camera) and the computer takes care of the entire process of copying the photos over to the computer, then deleting them from the card. It then automatically uploads the photos to Flickr as private. All in the background without any of my involvement.

You can modify the batch file to upload all photos and videos to Flickr.

There are several steps you’ll need to take in order for the process to be completely automatic. Here is an outline of what all is involved. Start to finish the process takes about 15 minutes.

1. Give Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)
2. Download Python
3. Download the “Uploadr” python scripts
4. Download the batch file for your camera
5. Install TweakUI and add Batch file to the AutoPlay menus
6. Configure AutoPlay for your digital camera
7. Test it out

First Step

Give Memory Cards and Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)

In order for you to be able to reliably copy images from a particular card or device, you should set it up so that every time you plug in the device it uses the same drive letter. With your memory card or device plugged in, right click My Computer and select Manage:

Select Storage ⇒ Disk Management (see picture)

In the right panel, your devices will be listed, probably with letters like E, F or G. Do not change the drive letter of the C: drive, and you probably shouldn’t change a D: drive if you have one either. Right click on the flash drive that you need to change and select Change Drive Letter and Paths: (see picture)

The next box shows you the letter that is already assigned. Just click Change:

This box will ask you what letter you want to assign to it. I start from the bottom, in this case, Z: (see picture)

It will ask you to confirm this. Click Yes. (see picture)

Repeat this for each card or camera that you would like to setup for this.

Now if you go to My Computer, your drive letters should be updated to the new letters.

Next Step

Download Python

You may have several network connections in this box, depending on your configuration. But most likely you will need to modify the “Local Area Connection”. If you are unsure which one to modify, look for the one that is not grayed out and does not have a big red X on it. It doesn’t matter what it is called. If you are really brave, you can test to make sure you have the right one by right clicking on it and selecting Disable. Once it is disabled, you should no longer be able to browse the internet. If so, you’ve found the right Network Connection. (Now right click it and select Enable.) (see picture)

Double click on the “Local Area Connection” icon.

A box will appear with the name of the Network Connection in the title. It will be called the the “Local Area Connection Status” box. The “General” tab will selected. Click the “Properties” button at the bottom. (see picture)

The “Local Area Connection Properties” box will appear. You will need to scroll down inside the white box until you see “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”. Select this and click the “Properties” button. (see picture)

In the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” box, your setting is probably on “Obtain an IP address automatically”. This means that on your local network, your private IP address can change from time to time. To set a S tatic IP Address, click “Use the Following IP Address”. (see picture)

You shouldn’t just guess what IP Address to use, or you’ll have a hard time with your local network down the road. Instead, go back to the “Local Area Connection Status” box (it should still be open) and click the “Support” tab. Your current IP address, Subnet Mask and Gateway will be in this box. Change the last number in your IP address to an IP address that is below 100, but not 0 and not 1. It should be an IP address that is not in use. (192.168.1.3 is generally safe) If you want to be sure that the IP Address is not in use, open a command prompt (Start-> Run -> type “cmd” and hit enter) and type “ping 192.168.1.3″. If it says “Request Timed Out” then the IP address is not already in use and you are safe to use it for your PC.

Enter this new IP address and the values for Subnet Mask and Default Gateway into the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” box that you were just on. Where it asks for “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value that you used for the Default Gateway (it will probably be the IP address of your Router, most likely 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1). (see picture) Now click OK to all open boxes until you are back at the Network Connections box. Your network connection will now refresh. When you double click on the “Local Area Connection” icon in Network Connections, you can click the Support tab and see the new “Static IP Address”.

This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up your PC so that when you are away from home, you will be able to log into it using any other Windows PC (on the planet). When you sit down to the off-site PC, your screen will look identical to the screen you are using at home. We won’t be viewing your home PC through a browser. No sir. This will look like you are sitting down in front of your PC. Wallpapers and all.

Man, it is the coolest feeling when you use this for the first time and see your screen pop up on someone else’s computer, no matter where you are.

Let’s get started.

To access your PC when you are away from home, we need to run through the following steps:

1. Setup the Home PC to Listen for Remote Desktop Connections
2. Assign a static IP address to the Home PC
3. Open a Port in the Router’s Firewall to Allow Remote Desktop Connection requests
4. Setup a free DynDNS account with an easy to remember name
5. Tell DynDNS to automatically update our Public IP Address
6. Test it from another Location

Step 1

Setup the Home PC to Listen for Remote Desktop Connections

1. Right click on the My Computer icon on the Desktop or in the Start Menu and click Properties. (see picture)
2. Click on the Remote tab
3. In the “Remote Desktop” box, check the box that says “Allow Users to Connect Remotely to this Computer”. Add your username to the list of allowed users, then click OK to exit My Computer Properties. (see picture)

Your computer is now listening for Remote Desktop Connections, and an exception has been made in the Windows Firewall to allow this traffic to come through. But the traffic has no way of knowing where this computer is, so first, let’s assign a static IP address to this computer.

Next Step: Assign a static IP address to the Home PC

Here are three commands that come in handy:

1. wordpad
2. notepad
3. calc (for calculator)