May 30, 2013

New tracks not appearing in the iTunes music library

By Mike Lewis

For several years, I've been happily using iTunes to organize my music collection and transfer tracks to my iPod. Then, quite suddenly, it stopped working. More specifically, I found I could no longer add new tracks to my music library. There was no error message, no unusual behavior. The newly-added tracks were simply nowhere in sight.

I eventually found a solution, but only after much searching and experimenting. I'll summarize the steps here, for the benefit of any Hex Central readers who face the same issue.

May 24, 2013

FileSystemObject performance issues

By Mike Lewis

In a recent Hex Central article, I explained how you can use the FileSystemObject to read and write large text files in Visual FoxPro. One of the main reasons for doing that is to work with files that would otherwise break VFP's 2 GB limit.

Unfortunately, that benefit comes at a price. In many cases, the FileSystemObject will be a lot slower than using native VFP commands and functions.

May 8, 2013

Welcome improvements to AdSense reports

By Donald Ritchie

Google have just made some small - but very welcome - improvements to their AdSense reports. They've made it easier for you to spot medium- and long-term trends in your AdSense data. They've introduced a number of useful new graph types. And they now let you see at a glance the effect of any changes you make to your AdSense setup, such as introducing a new ad unit, or blocking a sensitive category.