Computers
Blog software update
Tuesday, 06 Jun 2006 Permalink
RapidWeaver has released a beta of version 3.5, which adds some new themes and permalinks and fixes some bugs. I'm trying it out now. Looks good except for a couple of weirdnesses with scroll bars in the preview mode - no big deal.
I also added a resume page to the About section. Would you like to hire me? I'm available.
I also added a resume page to the About section. Would you like to hire me? I'm available.
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Some free time to fix the broken pictures
Sunday, 16 Apr 2006 Permalink
I managed to steal some time to figure out why the pictures didn't work in the "And then I drove her home" story. They should be visible now — enjoy.
Welcome, visitors from the old site!
Monday, 13 Feb 2006 Permalink
Hi there, and welcome to the new digs. I hope you like the new look.
I'm using RapidWeaver to build this site. It's pretty cool (and very inexpensive) but somewhat limited. We'll see if I can continue to live with the small annoyances, or if I decide to do something else.
Enjoy!
p.s. For those of you just joining us (Hi, Don! Send me your email address please!) the old site is still available here. But not for much longer, I'm afraid.
I'm using RapidWeaver to build this site. It's pretty cool (and very inexpensive) but somewhat limited. We'll see if I can continue to live with the small annoyances, or if I decide to do something else.
Enjoy!
p.s. For those of you just joining us (Hi, Don! Send me your email address please!) the old site is still available here. But not for much longer, I'm afraid.
OK, that's all right, then
Tuesday, 10 Jan 2006 Permalink
In our last episode, I was made very angry by the Gizmo Project's new feature that tricks you into sending out their spam. I placed a strongly-worded complaint into their help desk ticket system, and I just received a reply.
So there you have it. They're really really sorry, they know they made a terrible mistake, and they're going to spare no expense to fix it as soon as humanly possible. Chris was so concerned with letting me know ASAP that he couldn't spare the time to spell-check his message. How thoughtful!
Also, they're sending me a $20 gift certificate for Applebee's as a thank-you for bringing this to their attention. Gosh darn it, those Gizmo guys really do care, don't they?
Or not.
Doug:
obvioulsy, the "tell-a-friend" wizard was not intended as a trick.
We have considered changing the default behavior to be having all the contacts unselected, and then allowing people to either select them individually, or have some kind of "select all" button. We will most likely do this in a future version.
Chris Lawrence
Gizmo Project Support
http://support.GizmoProject.com
So there you have it. They're really really sorry, they know they made a terrible mistake, and they're going to spare no expense to fix it as soon as humanly possible. Chris was so concerned with letting me know ASAP that he couldn't spare the time to spell-check his message. How thoughtful!
Also, they're sending me a $20 gift certificate for Applebee's as a thank-you for bringing this to their attention. Gosh darn it, those Gizmo guys really do care, don't they?
Or not.
Gizmo Project suddenly turned evil!
Sunday, 01 Jan 2006 Permalink
I've been using the Gizmo Project software since it was called SIPphone, and have always loved it. Free phone calls over the Internet, whee! I was able to figure out how to call my sister's Vonage number for free, too.
Anyway, it's just been getting better and better.
(cue ominous music)
Until now.
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild, etc.)
The latest release includes a wizard that purports to take contacts from your Address Book and add them to your Gizmo contact list. Cool. I tried it out and here's what I saw:
Looks pretty innocent so far. Note the human interface violation — no default button. Small potatoes, but much worse is to come.
(cue ominous music again)
After clicking the Continue button, the following dialog comes up:
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild again, etc.)
Suddenly we're no longer importing contacts.
We're EXPORTING SPAM!!!
(monster roars, villagers scream, etc.)
Now here's where I made my mistake. I didn't fully read the dialog box, and didn't realize that the whole focus of the operation has changed from sucking in addresses to spewing out email. The only way forward is the Continue button.
(cue ominous music)
Which I clicked.
(divers alarums, etc.)
The next thing that happened was a progress bar and a dialog that said something like "Spewing Gizmo spam to all the people in your address book that trust you to know better and who have received numerous chastisements from you over the years to NOT send chain letters and other spams". Shocked, I clicked the Cancel button, but apparently I wasn't quick enough.
(the music stops)
(narrator's voice echoes throughout the castle)
I HAVE SENT GIZMO'S SPAM, WITH MY RETURN ADDRESS ON IT!!!!
(heroine shrieks, organist sprains his wrists, etc.)
I sent them a nastygram and am also going to send a message to MacInTouch about it. They really need to fix this, and quickly.
In the meantime,
(music swells to crescendo)
Citizens Beware! This could happen to YOU!!!
Okay, that was a little over the top. But seriously, I'm really really angry with those guys. Bad programmer, no biscuit. Go and read your Human Interface Guidelines from Apple. Then fix the program. Then come back for your biscuit.
Only then will I resume recommending Gizmo Project to everyone around me.
Anyway, it's just been getting better and better.
(cue ominous music)
Until now.
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild, etc.)
The latest release includes a wizard that purports to take contacts from your Address Book and add them to your Gizmo contact list. Cool. I tried it out and here's what I saw:
Looks pretty innocent so far. Note the human interface violation — no default button. Small potatoes, but much worse is to come.
(cue ominous music again)
After clicking the Continue button, the following dialog comes up:
(thunder crashes, organist goes wild again, etc.)
Suddenly we're no longer importing contacts.
We're EXPORTING SPAM!!!
(monster roars, villagers scream, etc.)
Now here's where I made my mistake. I didn't fully read the dialog box, and didn't realize that the whole focus of the operation has changed from sucking in addresses to spewing out email. The only way forward is the Continue button.
(cue ominous music)
Which I clicked.
(divers alarums, etc.)
The next thing that happened was a progress bar and a dialog that said something like "Spewing Gizmo spam to all the people in your address book that trust you to know better and who have received numerous chastisements from you over the years to NOT send chain letters and other spams". Shocked, I clicked the Cancel button, but apparently I wasn't quick enough.
(the music stops)
(narrator's voice echoes throughout the castle)
I HAVE SENT GIZMO'S SPAM, WITH MY RETURN ADDRESS ON IT!!!!
(heroine shrieks, organist sprains his wrists, etc.)
I sent them a nastygram and am also going to send a message to MacInTouch about it. They really need to fix this, and quickly.
In the meantime,
(music swells to crescendo)
Citizens Beware! This could happen to YOU!!!
Okay, that was a little over the top. But seriously, I'm really really angry with those guys. Bad programmer, no biscuit. Go and read your Human Interface Guidelines from Apple. Then fix the program. Then come back for your biscuit.
Only then will I resume recommending Gizmo Project to everyone around me.
New Website
Monday, 12 Dec 2005 Permalink
OK, my shame at leaving my previous blog untouched since May has finally driven me to fix the deficiencies that was keeping me from working on it.
I originally set it up as a place to keep a journal of my project of converting a 1971 VW Karmann Ghia to electric drive, which I started a few years ago. I wanted to post copious pictures, and therefore wanted to host it on a local machine so I didn't have to pay lots of money for disk space. I picked Blosxom as my blogging platform. Free, open source, and I could probably add picture capabilities with a bit of Perl hacking.
Then came Gmail, and everyone started offering gigabytes of storage.
Meanwhile, I just couldn't seem to find the time to sit down and program the iPhoto to Blosxom interface, but I wanted pictures, so I basically stopped posting.
Finally we began to prepare to move away from Bend, so I started looking at things to get rid of. My eyes fell upon the old lime iMac that's hosting the old blog. Hmmm - it's time to migrate to remote hosting.
Anna has a .Mac account with tons of free space, so I finally settled on RapidWeaver and started experimenting. This evening I think it's in good enough shape for public consumption.
So enjoy. Let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions.
I originally set it up as a place to keep a journal of my project of converting a 1971 VW Karmann Ghia to electric drive, which I started a few years ago. I wanted to post copious pictures, and therefore wanted to host it on a local machine so I didn't have to pay lots of money for disk space. I picked Blosxom as my blogging platform. Free, open source, and I could probably add picture capabilities with a bit of Perl hacking.
Then came Gmail, and everyone started offering gigabytes of storage.
Meanwhile, I just couldn't seem to find the time to sit down and program the iPhoto to Blosxom interface, but I wanted pictures, so I basically stopped posting.
Finally we began to prepare to move away from Bend, so I started looking at things to get rid of. My eyes fell upon the old lime iMac that's hosting the old blog. Hmmm - it's time to migrate to remote hosting.
Anna has a .Mac account with tons of free space, so I finally settled on RapidWeaver and started experimenting. This evening I think it's in good enough shape for public consumption.
So enjoy. Let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions.