LaTeX tip of the day

If you want to want to include source code into your tex document you can always use the listings package. Listings can do all kind of fancy stuff to source code including pretty printing and boxing (see screenshot below) .



To be able to use listings, add \usepackage{listings} to the document's preample. Then at the place where you need to add the source code do:

\lstset{language=HTML,backgroundcolor=\color{yellow}}
\begin{lstlisting}
Insert HTML source code here
\end{lstlisting}

Check out the documentation here (pdf).

German Keyboard wows!

If you are out of luck (like me) and got stuck with a powerbook with a German keyboard layout, then may be this post will be a little help for you.

Powerbooks with German keyboard layouts come with many important characters not visible. That is you won't be able to find them on your keyboard. These characters include important ones like "\" ,"{" and "}". To be able to type them in, you will need to enter a combination of keys. Here is a very short list of common ones you might need...

{ = option + 8
} = option + 9
| = option + 7
] = option + 6
[ = option + 5
\ = option + shift + 7

My personal advice is, if you are into any kind of programming then save yourself from the hassle and stay away from German keyboards ;)

Cool OS X toys!

I have been playing lately with a couple of really slick mac apps. The first one is called Coverflow (see screenshot below). Coverflow allows you to browse through your iTunes library using the albums artwork. Although it needs extra polish, it looks very promising. When you open Coverflow for the first time, it will take a couple of minutes to index your library. After that you can navigate through the albums either with your right and left arrows, using the horizontal scroll bar in the app itself or even using your mighty mouse horizontal scroll wheel.

-Screenshot of my library in Coverflow-

Another app I have been really impressed with is called Quicksilver. Quicksilver is geared toward keyboard-savvy users. You can launch about everything from Quicksilver; websites, system preferences, applications, and even navigate through your iTunes library, all with a few keyboard strokes. Trust me on this one, Quicksilver will let you gain wizard-like speeds when working with your machine. BTW it is orders of magnitude faster than Spotlight. Aaaaand it is FREE!!

One-Minute Album review

I was able to get my hands on the new (released today) album "The Rising Tied" by "Fort Minor". "Fort Minor" is a hip-hop side project by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

Although not a hip-hop fan, I must say that this album kicks some serious butt. The production is astounding and the whole thing just sounds superb. If you view Linkin Park's music as rap/rock then Fort Minor will be the rap part.

My favorite tracks on the album include "Right Now", "Feel Like Home", "Cigarettes" and "Kenji". The lyrics on "Kenji" scores 10 out of 10 on the Lyrics O' Meter (if ever there was one). I highly recommend the album specially to those who enjoyed Linkin Park's Reanimation album.

Seek N' Download

Ever wondered if there are any servers out there holding music free to download, Well, Wait no more. Let's say you want to find mp3z for Madonna. Fire up your favorite browser and type in google the following:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "Madonna"

You can of course replace "Madonna" with your favorite band or even the music genre. For example,

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "pop"

Don't be discouraged by the not-found webpages that you will encounter, there are tons of servers out there that will work and with quite descent download rates.

Have fun.

Google Middle East HQ!

Speed up iTunes

I have been having speed issues recently with iTunes 6, scrolling through the library is too slow. So here are some quick tips to speed it up. They worked perfectly for me and may be they will for you.

1. Disable "Crossfade playback" and the "sound enhancer".



2. Disable "Show links to music store".



3. In the library, only display columns that you actually need. By default many unnecessary columns are displayed like "last time played", "play count", "Genre" and "time". You can remove them by ctrl+clicking the column bar and unchecking the fields you don't need.



4. Enjoy your new super-fast iTunes ;)