Switch your RSS feeds. This will be the last post to the GreyMatter version of this site. Here's the feeds for the new WordPress version of the site:
http://www.sampletheweb.com/wp-rss2.php
http://www.sampletheweb.com/wp-atom.php
Please update your links. ;-)
c.k. on 12.16.04 @ 10:14 PM EST [
link]
|
Here's the not-quite-ready-for-primetime, WordPress version of this site. All future updates should be being made over there soon. I need to update the template and get everything validating nicely. Check it out. This is my hobby work for over the Christmas break. Hopefully soon everything will look the same over there as it does over here and over here will disappear (but there will be nicely working RSS feeds and comments).
c.k. on 12.16.04 @ 10:46 AM EST [
link]
|
Apple has released Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update (26.4MB; restart required) via Software Update:
The 10.3.7 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users.
Key enhancements include:
- improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names
- improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- improved FireWire device compatibility
- updated Preview application
- improved compatibility for third party applications
- previous standalone security updates
For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n300385
For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
Join me now in throwing caution entirely to the wind, failing to wait for a combined updater, and installing the update immediately, even as I continue to blog about it. Lock and load...
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 05:53 PM EST [
link]
|
John Udell writes about
Google and Libraries. Interesting developments.
More on this from
Anil Dash.
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 01:04 PM EST [
link]
|
Since returning to Safari, I've noticed an odd repeatable bug. I'm not sure if it is Safari or Saft causing the problem, but if I choose
View-->View Source, leave the source window open, and then return to a tab and try to load a site, nothing happens. The first several times it happened, I quit Safari and after relaunching received a notice from Saft "Safari crashed! Would you like to restore tabs?" But, earlier today, it happened again, and this time, I simply navigated back to the open Source window, closed it, and everything returned to working order. Odd, no?
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 12:02 PM EST [
link]
|
Good reasons to use OOo.
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 11:24 AM EST [
link]
|
Matthew Russell has written the first part of a series of articles on how to
Build an eDoc Reader for your iPod. The article's title is a bit misleading, as this isn't a program to run on your iPod but a Mac-coded program to convert files to the proper format for reading on the iPod. The program looks cool, the article would appear to be a very useful tutorial for someone trying to get into Mac-coding, and I'm looking forward to the next installment's discussion of converting PDF files.
If you want to avoid having to code this stuff for yourself, there are already a few programs like
iPoDoc and
Text2iPodX that convert text files to an iPod-friendly format. Text2iPodX will even work with older, pre-3G iPods by porting the text to the Contacts folder. I wrote a couple of articles for
iPod and iTunes Hacks that discuss these programs and cover how to hand-roll an iPod-readable document. Check it out.
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 11:05 AM EST [
link]
|
If you're running OS X,
get Cocktail. It automates all the UNIX maintenance that your OS needs.
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 10:30 AM EST [
link]
|
This week's AppleMatters article is all about getting ink on your iPod. Check it out.
c.k. on 12.15.04 @ 08:42 AM EST [
link]
|
I like GreyMatter, and I'm pretty happy with the way this site continues to validate, but the development on Greymatter seems to have stagnated, I don't have enough time to learn how to hack away at it myself, and the ailing RSS hack that Jay put together for me isn't really as full-fledged as I'd like my RSS feed to be. So I am considering moving this site over to
WordPress. Anybody have any experience with this sort of migration? There's a script that's supposed to help automate the move. I'll back up everything and give it a shot after the end-of-the-semester madness dies down.
c.k. on 12.14.04 @ 08:54 AM EST [
link]
|
It'll block the word ****, but not any compound variant of that word. Odd...
c.k. on 12.13.04 @ 11:43 PM EST [
link]
|
iCal 1.5.5 is available for immediate download via Software Update:
iCal 1.5.5 includes improvements in iSync synchronization on computers running Mac OS X version 10.2.
iCal 1.5.4 or later includes security enhancements to help protect your computer when subscribing to calendars or importing events with alarms that open files or applications.
Lock and load...
c.k. on 12.13.04 @ 05:25 PM EST [
link]
|
I won't be posting much in the next several days, as I'll be grading my students' final projects.
c.k. on 12.13.04 @ 12:32 PM EST [
link]
|
Today is the last day of the class I am teaching this semester (which means it is the last day I will have to get up this early for about a month.
Nice). I'm a little antsy, as I want my students to do well and their final projects are due today (although they have an in-class extra-credit final Wednesday afternoon).
A few things caught my eye this morning in the pre-coffee haze:
Useful tools for teaching irregular verbs. There's a new
blog-ranking system out there to remind me of
my obscurity: sampletheweb.com today: 1150820 yesterday: 1138736. My question is: why are there so many of these? This one is interesting because it tracks according to the freshness of links to the site, but how does this measure my blog's worth? It doesn't. It doesn't account for the nice emails I've received in the past week from other bloggers. That's the value of blogging: Not the ranking, but the connections made.
Also,
Wired picked-up that home-brew iPod ad that has been flying about as of late. It's cool, but the words iPod and mini are oddly-spaced near the end of the ad.
c.k. on 12.13.04 @ 06:47 AM EST [
link]
|
In case you didn't notice, or you're reading me through the RSS feed, I just wanted to comment on the slight site redesign. The basic structure is the same. Cleaner now, I think.
c.k. on 12.12.04 @ 02:32 PM EST [
link]
|
We saw
Blade Trinity last night. If you're a fan of the Blade movies, this one is definitely better than 2, and may even be the best of the bunch. Very stylized and impressive looking without losing the kick-butt action-flick goodness.
Also, it looks like Apple helped fund the movie, as there are Mac screens, Powerbooks, and iPods galore. Actually, there are several close-up shots of iTunes and the iPod, as Jessica Biel's character puts together her playlist for a happy night of vampire-hunting.
My one negative comment: After seeing
Pirates of the Carribean and
Blade Trinity, I think the phrase should be changed from "Curses like a sailor" to "Curses like a half-breed Vampire / Vampire / Vampire hunter."
c.k. on 12.12.04 @ 10:47 AM EST [
link]
|
So, the other day, I ordered some
HP Printable Tattoos for the iPod which arrived via FedEx today. I've printed out about four different designs after finding
this helpful tutorial on how to have the most success printing out the tattoos. Two gripes: one is the obvious "Why did HP leave that gaping wavy craziness on the back of the design?" Very stupid, and easily fixable by making the lines straight and adding about half an inch on each side. Build a little overlap into the template even.
My second gripe is really driving me nuts: Why didn't HP bother to get the screen dimensions for the iPod exactly right? No matter how carefully you place the tattoo on the iPod there will always be a little bit of tattoo covering a little bit of screen. It is only a hair, and I suppose it is to help avoid white space showing through around the screen, but if you were really concerned with white space, then why the weird corner gaps in the design? Really
really driving me nuts because it makes my perfect iPod screen look slightly off, malformed and imperfect. If anybody at HP is reading this, please tell your tattoo department that they should make some changes to version 2.0 and roll them out ASAP. Thank you.
c.k. on 12.11.04 @ 02:34 PM EST [
link]
|
One of the many good things about working in Academia is the number of holiday parties to which one is invited. It also helps that I am in a position where I provide a service to various departments, so in addition to the parties thrown by my department, I am invited to these other department parties, not to mention the one thrown this afternoon by the English Department at Iona, where I teach one class as an Adjunct Professor.
So much for trying to lose weight over the holidays.
c.k. on 12.10.04 @ 12:54 PM EST [
link]
|
You know when I said that my
Porsche-designed LaCie Drive runs a little hot... Yeah, well, today I realized I had my Mac set to not allow drives to cycle down when plugged in. Now it runs cooler than
my sperm-killing 12-inch Powerbook.
c.k. on 12.09.04 @ 04:37 PM EST [
link]
|
This post by ErikEric (oops! sorry, Eric!) Evers, Lutheran Pastor, should be required reading for all consumers who also happen to have a spiritual life. Very insightful.
c.k. on 12.09.04 @ 12:24 PM EST [
link]
|
My new article,
Back on Safari, which is basically an extension of
this earlier blog post, is up and ready for reading over at AppleMatters.
c.k. on 12.08.04 @ 10:36 AM EST [
link]
|
I saw this on exhibit when I first visited New York, before moving here. I purchased a print poster of the piece (and I was reading Berger's
Way's of Seeing at the time). The text is from the beginning of Ralph Ellison's
Invisible Man. I just woke up and frantically had to search for this image on-line, because it is an image that may prove quite useful in my dissertation's discussion of text (in a post-structuralist sense; everything is a text) and of art, the simultaneous intertextuality and inter-connected narratives of books, paintings, pictures, films, and music as texts alongside the insurmountable differences in form between these various types of texts. They cannot exist in the same way as any of the other forms. In any case, I found it.
c.k. on 12.07.04 @ 10:55 PM EST [
link]
|
1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 d5 3. exd6 Qxd6 4. Bd2 Be7 5. e4 Bg5 6. Nf3 Bxd2+ 7. Nfxd2
Nf6 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Ng4 10. g3 Qh6 11. Nf3 f5 12. e5 f4 13. Bc4+ Kh8 14.
e6 fxg3 15. fxg3 Ne3 16. Qe2 Nxf1 17. Kxf1 Nc6 18. Nc3 Nd4 19. e7 Qh3+ 20.
Ke1 Re8 21. Nxd4 Bg4 22. Nf3 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Qxh2 24. Nd5 Qg1+ 25. Bf1 Qd4 26.
c3 Qe5+ 27. Qe2 Qxd5 28. c4 Qg5 29. g4 Rxe7 30. Qxe7 Qxe7+ 31. Be2 Qe5 32.
Rd1 Qxb2 33. Bf3 Qxa2 34. Bxb7 Re8+ 35. Kf1 Qe2+ 36. Kg1 Qxd1+ 37. Kh2 Qxg4
{White resigns}
0-1
I was Black.
c.k. on 12.07.04 @ 04:51 PM EST [
link]
|
It's snowing outside. Light, but steady.
UPDATE: It's still steady, but not quite as light as it was. There's a definite powder on everything outside already.
UPDATE: It stopped. :-(
c.k. on 12.06.04 @ 12:05 PM EST [
link]
|
After several weeks of using Firefox, I'm back on Safari. 3 things really bugged the hell out of me:
- Lack of squiggly-red integrated spellcheck.
- Lack of Services menu support.
- Links opening in new tabs that failed to load also failed to retain the failed address in the menu-bar for immediate attempts at reloading. This last one finally persuaded me to switch back. I was tired of having to close the empty tab, then go back to the originating page to re-click the link.
I'm keeping the Firefox button in the sidebar, as I still support what Firefox is trying to do, but Safari is really the better Mac browser (for now).
c.k. on 12.06.04 @ 11:43 AM EST [
link]
|
Several months ago, I blogged the idea to build some sort of x/y axis based USB interface to put over the screen on my 12-inch Powerbook to make it a touchscreen (can't seem to find the post to save my life, but I assure you I did blog this idea somewhere). I offered the idea free to the blogosphere, and today
I tripped across a variant of the idea born in the real world. Of course, Troll Tech has been around since before I came up with my idea, but nevertheless I enjoy seeing that my idea exists and has been created by someone who had the capabilities to actually create it. Its existence reassures me that I am, indeed, a smart guy.
c.k. on 12.06.04 @ 11:18 AM EST [
link]
|
Ok. This isn't fully realized yet, but check out this
Hack a Day entry that links to
this thread at iPod Hacks. Make sure you check out both links, as the graphics aren't showing up in the thread, but are showing up over at Hack a Day. Pretty cool.
c.k. on 12.06.04 @ 07:03 AM EST [
link]
|
This is a bit late, but it has been on my mind.
I am thankful for my family, both old and new: Kristin, Kevin, Mom, Dad, Mags, Curt, Marian, Gran, Boogie, Lisa, Joe, Laura, Nicholette, M.F., Wendy, Sister, Jim, Valerie, Jeff, the boys, Ta, Uncle D, D's kids, Walter, Ray, Oma, and Opa. I am thankful for my friends: Jason, M.J., Erik, Liz, Tom, Michelle, Andrew, Bill, Tara, Jay, Leah, Kim, Tim, Sarah, Jen, Dan, Laura, Mike, Terry, Jen, Greg, Elise, Katie, Paddock, Lynn, Jill, Ethan, Trevor, Matt, Andy, and many more spread across the globe. I am thankful for my parrot, Misha. I am thankful for my wedding. I am thankful for my jobs, for my students, for my coworkers, for my peers, and my studies. I am thankful for virtual collaborators over the past year, especially Rael and Hadley. I am thankful for the kindness of strangers and odd coincidences. I am thankful for my readers and those who find what I produce useful. I am thankful for vague internet associations with other blogs who are friends to my blog, although me and their authors don't know one another.
I am thankful for all the joy and blessings of the past year and of my entire life. I am thankful for my enemies and the pains and problems of my life, for they have shaped me and made me stronger.
I am thankful to God for blessing me with all the above and more that I didn't manage to fit in the above because of my own limits, inadequacies, and flaws. I am thankful that these inadequacies and flaws are overlooked and that I am smiled upon.
c.k. on 12.05.04 @ 10:46 PM EST [
link]
|
I have never been a huge fan of Microsoft Office. There are things I definitely like about Office, but it's too often overly buggy and crashes on me more often than any other piece of software I regularly use on the Mac. That being said, I recently upgraded to Microsoft Office 2004. Over the past several post-wedding weeks, I've been doing
a lot of reading towards getting back on track with my dissertation. Today, I started going through several stacks of articles I have read, transfering my hand-scrawled notes onto the computer and typing in quotations that I will most likely use or remix into my writing. In doing so, I decided to try out Word 2004's new notebook function, and I have to say, I
really like it.
No crashes so far. I probably just jinxed myself, but for now, I'm using Word again for the dissertation, rather than using OOo, NeoOffice/J, or AbiWord.
c.k. on 12.05.04 @ 07:08 PM EST [
link]
|
AbiWord 2.2 is now OS X native. Get it.
c.k. on 12.05.04 @ 11:47 AM EST [
link]
|
Check out this home hacked iPod case made out of a Milk Jug. I saw it mentioned on
Hack A Day. Pretty cool, considering the inspiration came from one of the hacks I wrote for
iPod and iTunes Hacks:
By now you may be wondering why a milk jug? I was inspired by the book iPod and iTunes hacks, where the author makes a case out of cardboard. That's pretty cool, but not having seen the tutorial, I'll have to say a little chinzy. I mean, you paid a lot for this machine, why not use more exotic and durable materials?
And since we were about to throw out a milk jug, inspiration hit...
Whatever. Cardboard trumps milk jug in my book. I mean, it'll probably always smell faintly of milk. Bleh.
c.k. on 12.05.04 @ 11:31 AM EST [
link]
|
Coolness. I just finished copying all my backed-up MP3s over to the shared drive connected to my Linksys Network Storage Link for USB 2.0. Close to 12 days worth of music that any wireless computer in my apartment can access. I can even stream the music over to my stereo via the Airport Express. Here's the
how-to, but save yourself some time and simply download the pre-built package at the end of the article. Much easier.
c.k. on 12.05.04 @ 10:51 AM EST [
link]
|
I've linked to several articles covering this before, but none of them did the type of "walk-thru for dummies" approach that I was in desperate need of for quite some time. As a result, I felt like an idiot when I figured it out. To save others the same pain, I provide the following:
1. Plug at least one blank USB 2.0 drive into the NSLU2.
2. Plug the NSLU2 into your network and make sure your router and machine are both set to IP addresses in the 192.168.1.xxx family for setting up the device (you can change this later).
3. Launch your browser of choice and type in 192.168.1.77 (the NSLU2's default IP address). You will be met with a web-interface to the device.
4. Click on Administration. You will be prompted for a login and password. Both are "admin" by default on the NSLU2.
5. You need to let the NSLU2 format your drive before you can make any changes. This is the stupid step that kept me scratching my head for far too long: To do this, you have to click on the "Advanced" link under the management tab. There you will find the "Disk" link that you had been searching for for hours and read so much about (d'uh). Click on it. You will most likely be prompted for the same admin/admin login and password again.
6. Now you will have a page that looks like this:
Here you can choose to format your disk. Click and wait. It took about 15 minutes to format my 200GB drive.
7. Now go and change all the passwords, create different user accounts / share spaces, etc. through the web-interface.
8. Once you're done with all the configuration on the NSLU2, click on the Finder, choose Go-->Connect to Server... (or Command+K), type in "smb://192.168.1.77" and click Connect. You will be prompted for a user name and password and you can choose whether to mount a share or the disk as a whole (if you didn't set a data cap on the shares then all of these will be the size of your entire drive). Check the "Add to keychain..." (or whatever it is) box, so that you won't have to re-enter this information each time you want to connect.
9. After the drive mounts, drag it to your Dock. Ta-da! Now you can connect to your NSLU2's shared drive space whenever you like by simply clicking on that icon in the Dock!!!
Your USB drive is now formatted in
ext3 format, so if you want to ever plug it directly into your Mac, you should go
here and download this. If you want to do more crazy hacking with the device, check out
these three articles and join the
two Yahoo! Groups.
c.k. on 12.03.04 @ 04:12 PM EST [
link]
|
Two things really bother me about Firefox. I've switched over from Safari, but still feeling a few things missing. I miss the integrated spell-check. Sure, I have the SpellBound extension installed, but it just isn't as smooth and nice as the integrated system-wide spell check that Safari taps into. The other thing that bothers me (even more so now that I am now actively using DEVONthink again) is the lack of Services support. That highly functional menu (Firefox->Services) sits entirely grayed out in Firefox. Very disappointing.
Also, it would be nice if when I click on a link that fails to load if Firefox would at least keep the address of the page that failed to load in the menubar, so that I could attempt a reload without going back to the link's originating page.
c.k. on 12.03.04 @ 11:04 AM EST [
link]
|
I have to say, I've always been a trackpad devotee, but I
love my Apple Bluetooth Mouse. I've had it for well over a month (probably closer to two), use it constantly, and the battery has never been replaced and is still listing at full capacity:
I'm really surprised and overly-impressed by this product.
c.k. on 12.03.04 @ 10:46 AM EST [
link]
|
I know what you're thinking: "I love to read C.K.'s blog and I just wish there was some way I could repay him for entertaining me with his self-absorbed musings and random bits of information." Well, you can always
send me a little money via PayPal to help support the site. If you want to make the gift a little more personal, I'll take nearly anything from
this list, any of
these cameras, or something from
my Amazon Wishlist.Thanks!
c.k. on 12.03.04 @ 10:32 AM EST [
link]
|
Just got this in my email:
DEVONtechnologies NEWSFLASH
IMPORTANT BUGFIX:
DEVONTHINK PERSONAL EDITION 1.9a, DEVONNOTE 1.6a
Just after we've released DEVONthink Personal Edition 1.9 and DEVONnote 1.6, we've discovered a rare, but severe bug. We've immediately corrected this and provide updated versions for you to download:
http://www.devon-technologies.com/download/commercial.php
We strongly encourage all users of DEVONthink Personal Edition 1.9 and DEVONnote 1.6 to download and install these updates as soon as possible.
Best regards,
Your DEVONtechnologies Team,
info@devon-technologies.com, http://www.devon-technologies.com
Eep! Update, update, update...
Remember kids, make backups of all your databases, especially before upgrading database software.
c.k. on 12.03.04 @ 08:26 AM EST [
link]
|
Lock and load (and reboot):
Security Update 2004-12-02 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:
Apache
AppKit
HIToolbox
Kerberos
Postfix
PSNormalizer
Safari
Terminal
For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
c.k. on 12.02.04 @ 05:09 PM EST [
link]
|
First read this. What happens if every single one of us bloggers blogs the exact same thing which Kottke did? Can they sue us all? Can we sue them back?
UPDATE: Here's
some better responses to this type of issue for bloggers than my knee-jerk response above (also,
here...)
c.k. on 12.02.04 @ 03:38 PM EST [
link]
|
This sounds eerily similar to my life.
c.k. on 12.02.04 @ 11:28 AM EST [
link]
|
But, I bathe every day...
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 07:20 PM EST [
link]
|
I'll take $800 a month.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 04:46 PM EST [
link]
|
/. weighs in on three books on the iPod and comments on
iPod and iTunes Hacks in the process. I especially like this part of the review:
The first real difference between the two volumes I found was that Stern has a few more hardware hacks, including some of the surreal sort of hack that often makes these books so much fun -- who would have thought of making your own iPod case out of cardboard, for example?
Me. I thought of it. That's my hack.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 04:26 PM EST [
link]
|
A little before Thanksgiving, I ordered the
160GB Porsche-designed LaCie USB drive from Buy.com, as it was on sale for $100 (now it has jumped back up to $120). It came in on Monday, and I am liking it. It is small and metal and runs hot like my Powerbook. I named it "BRICK." The only problem is that it isn't bus-powered, and the AC adapter is nearly the same size as the drive itself. So, I need a new, slightly larger computer case. Any recommendations?
Also, it isn't nearly as bright and shiny as the web-pic of it indicates. It's more than a couple of shades darker than both my 12-inch and my G5.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 02:39 PM EST [
link]
|
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
has a list of useful programs for the Mac. Check it out.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 01:52 PM EST [
link]
|
This bit and
this other about blogs.
Why do I blog? Because I'm
far too egotistical and obsessed with the idea that my life is a movie starring myself.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 12:08 PM EST [
link]
|
I don't know if I can relay in words how pleased I am that DEVONtechnologies has released
DEVONthink Personal Edition 1.9. I have been a longtime DEVONthink user, and I
love the product. It has been indispensable in organizing my life, especially the multiple virtual documents related to my dissertation. Unfortunately, although it has been indispensable, over the past several months I have done without it, because the overgrown size of my database had it slowed to a crawl. I'm happy to find that this new version
flies speedily along. Get it. Get it now.
Thanks, DEVONtechnologies! [nag] Please keep the updates coming in a timely manner! ;-) [/end nag]
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 12:02 PM EST [
link]
|
My article,
Give the Gift of Mac, is up and ready for reading over at AppleMatters.
Also, if anyone reading this has a product they would like reviewed by AppleMatters, send an email to reviews at applematters dot com.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 11:00 AM EST [
link]
|
...when I only had one email address and one inbox. Now, I have 6 (SIX!) different, fully active email addresses. And only one of them is really not entirely necessary,although it is the one I have had for the longest amount of time. Crazy.
c.k. on 12.01.04 @ 08:49 AM EST [
link]
|
