gHacks technology news » clock http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:43:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Firefox Computer Alarm Clock And Timer http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/17/firefox-computer-alarm-clock-and-timer/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/17/firefox-computer-alarm-clock-and-timer/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:16:40 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=14461 firefoxRunning Firefox with a hidden system taskbar provides more space for the web browser. It does however remove access to the system clock which can be problematic if the system clock is needed in the user’s daily routine. The Firefox add-on Simple Timer can place a clock in the Firefox status bar. Displaying a clock is only a small part of the functionality that is provided by the add-on. It can also act as a computer alarm clock, countdown or notify the user of specific events.

One interesting option is the support for different time zones that can be combined with the notifications. It is for example possible to add the New York, Tokyo and London timezones to the application and receive notifications using the time in these timezones.

computer alarm clock

Multiple locations – each with their distinct timezone – can be added in the options of the add-on for the Firefox web browser. It is a bit unfortunate that only the local timezone can be displayed in the status bar while the other timezones become only visible when hovering the mouse over the icon and only if that feature has been enabled in the options. Notifications can be added easily in the options as well.

firefox notifications

They can be created by selecting a time, timezone and description for the notification. Configuring it to recur and the addition of an url are optional. Simple Timer is an excellent Firefox add-on for users who would like to have access to a system clock on their screen. The notifications, countdowns and timezones are an added bonus that might be interesting for some users as well.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/17/firefox-computer-alarm-clock-and-timer/feed/ 1 Installing and Configuring NTP on Linux http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/16/installing-and-configuring-ntp-on-linux/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/16/installing-and-configuring-ntp-on-linux/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:07:04 +0000 Jack Wallen http://www.ghacks.net/?p=11255 NTP is the Network Time Protocol. This protocol allows servers (or desktops) to communicate to very reliable sources to keep their time synchronized. There are two reasons why you would want to employ NTP: 1) You’re a geek and you want your time to be perfect. 2) You need your servers all synchronized with the correct time.

Naturally the second reason is far more important than the first. But either way, you might very well be driven to keep your machine on the exact time. To that end you can either constantly monitor the time on your machine (manually changing it when necessary) or you can set up NTP to handle your time corrections for you.

Installing and configuring NTP is actually quite easy. It will, however, require the use of the command line. With that in mind, lets’ get busy.

Installing

You could open up your Add/Remove Software utility, do a search for “ntp” (no quotes) and install the matching results. Or you can open up a terminal window and install ntp with one of the following commands (remember, you will need either root access or sudo):

  • apt-get install ntp
  • yum install ntp
  • urpmi ntp

One of the above commands will install the ntp daemon and the configuration file /etc/ntp.conf.

Before you fire up the daemon you will need to take a look at the /etc/ntp.conf to make sure you have the ntp servers you want to use configured.

Configuring

Most likely your NTP installation will already have a configuration file that is ready to go. My Debian-based NTP install had such a .conf file. All I had to do was start the daemon. But you might have special needs or your install might not have been as complete.

The section of the ntp.conf that you will want to take a look at is the server section. Each line in this section is set up like so:

server IP_ADDRESS OPTION(S)

Where IP_ADDRESS is the actual address of the server you want to use and OPTION(S) is/are the option(s) you want to use.

There are two options that you might want to use for every server. These are:

iburst: This option is used when the configured server is unreachable. When your machine can not contact its NTP server it will send out bursts of eight packets (instead of just one).

dynamic: This option allows a server to be configured even if the server is not reachable during configuration. This option assumes that at some point the server will be reachable.

If you look at my /etc/ntp.conf file you will see the following in the server section:

server 0.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst dynamic
server 1.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst dynamic
server 2.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst dynamic
server 3.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst dynamic

If you are not sure what servers to use visit the official NTP organization NTP.org to find a list of trusted servers.

Starting the Daemon

Once you have everything up and running go back to the root terminal and issue the command:

/etc/init.d/ntp start

or

/etc/rc.d/init.d/ntp start

which will start the ntp daemon. NTP will now slowly start to adjust the time on your server. But don’t worry, it makes the adjustment slowly. First the daemon waits for at least ten packets of information before trusting a source.

Now test to make sure your installation is working by issuing the following command:

ntpq -p

which should give you a listing like:
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter =========================================================
+point2.adamants 64.202.112.75 2 u 44 64 377 75.955 -7.045 2.992
*station.mars.or 209.81.9.7 2 u 10 64 377 75.477 -1.144 0.977
-www.broadbandja 64.34.180.101 3 u 56 64 377 72.764 3.766 0.977
+pxe.lax-noc.com 209.81.9.7 2 u 25 64 377 65.686 -7.753 2.539

If you see zeros for the values you know ntp is not connecting. As you can see above my setup is connecting.

Final thoughts

NTP is an easy way to ensure your servers or your desktop is always using the correct time. In mission-critical machines, this can be quite important. Employing NTP will give you the security of knowing your machine’s right “on time”.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/16/installing-and-configuring-ntp-on-linux/feed/ 1 Replace the Windows System Tray Clock http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/21/replace-the-windows-system-tray-clock/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/21/replace-the-windows-system-tray-clock/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:56:22 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5063 The Windows System Tray clock does not provide many ways to customize its appearance and format. The only two options that are available are to display the clock – or not – and to change the time. The position of the taskbar changes the information that the clock is displaying. The clock will only display the time on a horizontal Taskbar and provide date information when the user moves the mouse over the clock.

A vertical taskbar on the other hand displays the time, date and the weekday in the system tray. The best way to create a custom solution would be to use a third party tool like Timekeeper which can fully replace the Windows clock. Timekeeper adds itself to the available Toolbars of the Taskbar which can be selected by right-clicking the taskbar.

The Windows clock can be disabled in the same right-click menu as well. Timekeeper basically can display date and time information in multiple ways to suite the needs of the user. It comes with predefined time and date formats that can be added with just a click and custom ones where the user can pick the information that he wants to see.

timekeeper

Data can be placed separately in various formats. It is for example possible to display the time in 24 or 12 hour format with or without leading zeros. Several information are unique to the application and not provided by the Windows system clock. This includes displaying the timezone as well as day and week of year.

The software adds also visual elements that can be changed. The user can select an alignment for the clock, a text color, background color or choose a transparent background and even the font. That’s great if a custom theme is being used or if the user wants a larger font for the time so that he can see it better.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/06/21/replace-the-windows-system-tray-clock/feed/ 4 Random Time Wall Clock http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/12/random-time-wall-clock/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/12/random-time-wall-clock/#comments Sat, 12 May 2007 13:41:44 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/12/random-time-wall-clock/ If you are looking for a rather unique clock you should take a look at the so called Rnd_Time Infinite Wall Clock. The Rnd_Time stands of course for Random Time but it is not the time that is shown randomly but the placement of the hours on the walls. The hours can be placed randomly on the wall while the clock is still displaying the correct time. It could be hard to tell the time but it sure looks unique. You do get 12 blocks that display the hours from 1 to 12 and another block for the clock hands.

random wall clockrandom wall clock

The clock surely looks unique and the blocks are available in black with white numbers and in white with black numbers. To be honest, I would not pay $204 for this clock. Would you ?

found: uberreview

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/12/random-time-wall-clock/feed/ 0 The Pong Clock http://www.ghacks.net/2005/11/25/the-pong-clock/ http://www.ghacks.net/2005/11/25/the-pong-clock/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:45:57 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=178 This is just to strange, someone build a clock that looks like the game Pong. The left site counts the hours while the right site counts the minutes. This means every minute the right site wins a point and every hours the left one does. Strange concept but great looking unique clock.

Here is the movie that shows the clock.

pong clock gadget unique cool pong clock gadget unique cool

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