It’s blasphemy, I tell you!
Tonight I installed Windows on my Mac. It doesn’t even look right when I type it.
Here’s how it happened…
When I quit my job last year and started my full time web design company, I knew I would need a PC to check my work on. I think it’s always wise to make sure your sites look good in all web browsers and across all computers. So before I left, I asked if I could take one of their old PC’s with me that was just sitting in the closet. They said it was fine.
I have to admit, that old PC has really helped me out this past year. True, it’s running Windows 98, it uses a floppy disk drive, it doesn’t recognize the mouse, and it smells like weed. Yes, weed. Marijuana. I’ve never smoked it, but I know what it smells like. Oh, and did I mention it wouldn’t connect to my wireless network so it doesn’t have internet access?
But hey, it was free. I would use a USB drive and port data back and forth from my Mac, checking out my work. It got the job done and I was able to make sure my work looked good before presenting it to clients. It was surprisingly zippy for only having 32MB of RAM (yes, you read that correctly). I think that 98 was the last good version of Windows. I truly do.
Anyhoo, my needs have outgrown the little weed machine. I needed a fully functional, modern copy of Windows. So I bought Windows XP off eBay (because Vista is shitacious!) and I installed it on my Mac.
The sad thing is that Windows runs better on a Mac than I’ve ever seen it run on a PC. Imagine that.
So there you have it. I’ve whored out my Mac to Microsoft. Are you happy now? 
If you’re a Mac user, you probably know that every password you use in any program on your computer is saved to the Keychain. This utility works universally throughout the system, keeping all over your personal information secure. The Keychain also saves things like your contact information, so you can Auto-fill it with web forms.
The problem I’ve run into is that Safari and Firefox don’t have a way to share this information. I switch back and forth between them for various reasons. But it can get irritating when I have my saved information in one browser, then have to remember it again for the other one.
Well, there’s a cure. A program called 1Password works with your computer’s Keychain to keep all of your information in one place, and the software is password protected for extra security.
It’s actually pretty useful. In addition to keeping all your passwords in one place, it also has advanced phishing tools to alert you if you stumble upon a fake website (which is especially common with eBay and Paypal). If the site’s web address does not match up with the exact address you have on file, the program will refuse to Auto-fill your password. Pretty cool.
Best of all, when I save my information in Safari, I can re-use it in Firefox, and vice versa. The software is compatible with other browsers too, like Camino, OmniWeb, and even the RSS program NetNewsWire.
1Password costs $30 to buy, but here’s a link to a special page where you can sign up for a free user license. They are getting ready to roll out a new version, so they are giving away the current one since it will soon be old news. Not a bad marketing idea. I tried it myself and it’s legitimate.
Let me know if you try it and what you think. So far, I love it.
I bought a set of 9 used DVD’s on eBay for the bargain price of $64.00. They arrived today and they are ALL pirated copies! They probably cost like 50 cents to make.
I wrote the seller a scathing e-mail telling him that he had 24 hours to send me a full refund via Paypal, otherwise I was having him shut down on eBay, and also having his account suspended on Paypal. They have very strict policies on pirated DVD’s and if they caught wind of this, he would be in deep shit.
The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry that this guy thought he could rip me off. I’m thinking about reporting him anyway, even if he does provide the refund. Is that vindictive? It feels kind of cruel, but what he’s doing just seems shitty and I don’t want it to happen to other honest, paying customers.
The odd thing about it is that he’s never had one negative comment left on his profile. I wonder how he’s kept so many people happy? Well the joyride ends here.
UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the advice. One friend actually advised me to report him to the FBI. I guess that would be valid. DVD’s do have an FBI warning at the beginning, and this is a classic case of bootlegging.
I decided the FBI idea was a bit extreme, even though it would be fair. So I reviewed eBay’s guidelines and found out he’d violated three of them. I took the proper procedure and reported each violation, so now it’s in eBay’s hands.
Even though he had it coming, I still hated being the one to do it. I don’t know how strict eBay is or what they will do about it, but that’s their problem now.
Does anybody remember Eudora? I loved that program. So lightweight, so uncomplicated. It was a program for reading and writing e-mail. That’s it. You could have 4,000 messages in your mailbox and the program still launched in seconds. I loved it.
Well the days of Eudora are long gone, but it’s currently being re-invented using the code structure of Mozilla Thunderbird. Not a bad idea. If you recall, the once popular Netscape was headed to the graveyard when it was given fresh life by Mozilla Firefox. In just a few short years, Firefox has managed to win over thousands of web users.
Maybe Eudora will get new life too. I really like Thunderbird. It’s my mail program of choice, actually. If I could combine the features that I loved about Eudora with Thunderbird, that would be pure Heaven to me.
We’ll see where this goes. It’s still in the early beta stages, under the codename Penelope. If you didn’t know, a program always has a codename before it is finalized.
In the mean time, I’ve customized the new mail sound in Thunderbird to play the classic Eudora mail sound. It’s such a happy tune.
I have a love/hate relationship with OSX’s Mail program. I mostly use Thunderbird, but I do have one e-mail account that I keep in Mail, and use daily.
Anyone who uses Mail over an extended period of time will probably notice how painfully slow the program becomes.
Have you noticed it? Come on, I know you have… You launch the program and it takes years for the thing to get itself in check. Once it does, everything is fine.
Well I read this article with a really quick fix to speed up Mail. It’s very easy and Mail was noticeably faster as soon as I did this.
Just FYI.
That was a pun. Get it? I want your input on DirecTV, so I’m asking you to “dish” some gossip with me. Not funny? Okay. Fine.
In the endless world of customer dissatisfaction, we’re considering cancelling our cable service and ordering DirecTV. Comcast just isn’t making the cut.
But I have jitters because of DirecTV’s 2 year contract. Companies are all about protecting themselves, and never the consumer. Everything has a contract these days. I really don’t want to commit to 2 years. If they are lousy, we’ll be stuck with an early termination fee.
I’ve scoured the internet for consumer reviews, and naturally there are pages filled with horror stories about how they were sent to a collection agency immediately after cancelling, damage that was done to their roof during installation, poor reception, rude customer service, etc.
Rodney and I both seem to be a magnet for hardware malfunctions and poor service. I’m sure there are thousands of people who just love DirecTV, but I am worried that something would happen with our service, and we’d be stuck for 2 years.
Dish Network isn’t an option for us. They don’t carry Logo, which is a channel we really like, and neither one of us believes in settling for a smaller selection. So it’s either Comcast or DirecTV.
What are your experiences with DirecTV? Do you like their service, did you have any problems, do you have anything to share? If so, please leave a comment.
This post is completely random, but something I would really love is the ability to view thumbnails in Photoshop’s “Open Recent” menu.
I work in Photoshop all day, every day. There are plenty of easy ways to view thumbnails of my work. I can use OSX’s Finder window, I can use Photoshops “Open” window, and I can even use Adobe Bridge. All of these methods are perfectly fine ways to view thumbnails of my work.
But very often, I find myself using the “Open Recent” menu. Usually whatever I’m looking for was just opened a few days ago. But my file names are very basic. An example might be “banner_110306_120×60.gif” which means the banner was created on November 3, and measures 120×60. But that isn’t always specific enough. Was it the banner I created for the website, the e-mail newsletter, or the affiliate marketing?
I guess I could be more specific. I could name my files “This is the banner that is 120×60 and I created it for Joe Schmoe and it has pretty Christmas graphics on it.gif”. Yeah, that would be effective.
There are all kinds of ways to name and organize files. I’m sure I could improve my method, but that’s not the point. If I could just see a thumbnail of what I recently opened, I could jump to a file without opening the last 5.
Maybe nobody else in the world would find this feature useful. But it would make me happy. 
I’d like your feedback on e-commerce sites. Most of you probably shop online, and I’m sure you have your favorites.
What is the number one thing that you see on a homepage that draws you in? What features make you feel safe and secure that it’s a reputable website? And what are some of your favorite websites for shopping online?
I’m asking this simply because I’m a designer and I like doing research sometimes. Most of you are internet savvy people, and I value your opinions. Don’t worry, I’m not opening up an online store for dildos *sarcasm*. I’d just like to know what’s popular and what you like in today’s online market.
Thanks
As a general rule, I am not a big fan of Google. I like some of their features, and I dislike others. It’s a toss-up.
But recently I have looked at Google in a whole new light. They recently went live with their Calendar Beta.
I love using calendars to schedule deadlines, appointments, and general goals. I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I can look at a calendar and see that things are getting done. The problem is that most online calendars are worthless.
Sure, they are great because you can view them on any computer. But they often fall short in usability. The Yahoo! Calendar, for example, has too many damn buttons. I just want to jot a note on the calendar. I feel like they want me to write a whole book about turning in a project on Friday. Bleh.
Google Calendar is so easy and interactive. You just click a date and a box pops up for you to add a note. Close it and you’re done. If you want a more detailed entry, it’s easy to expand on. You can also get alerts e-mailed to you or sent to your cell phone. I’m sure other online calendars offer this, but Google just makes it look simple.
A calendar is a calendar, any way you look at it. Most of them will probably get you through the day. But this is the first time I’ve really been excited about an online calendar service. I give in Google, you’ve finally found the ‘g’ spot.
Oh, the blessed curse of e-mail. It’s a wonderful way to convey a quick message or share a long story with a pal. But it’s also a wicked bitch, isn’t it?
E-mail makes it so easy to misunderstand someone’s tone. There have been many times I thought someone was a jerk because of the way they composed an e-mail. Likewise, people have been upset with me because of how I wrote an e-mail.
E-mail makes us hypersensitive. If we don’t receive a reply within a few hours, we start to form our own scenarios. Is he ignoring me? Why hasn’t he written? That lazy bastard.
Just 10 years ago, the internet was still uncommon in many households. If we wanted to write someone, we had to write a letter, mail it, and wait for a response. That could take a whole week!
Of course, we could always call them. Then again, we still can call. But we often choose e-mail because it’s easier to convey things when we can see our words.
So my point is…
I’m just saying that technology is both good and bad. I can’t imagine my life without technology. What would we do with our time? How would we meet all these awesome human beings in the world? I don’t have a specific point or moral to this story.
More than anything else, I’m writing this because it’s thought-provoking. I do my best to find balance. I try not to run to the phone. I try not to let e-mail substitute a nice conversation with a friend. And I felt like talking about it.
Related Posts:
- The Electronic Curse, Part 1: Phones
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