Blog of the Sage

My new printer - Epson Photo R300

We've been talking about wanting a dedicated photo printer around the house for a while now - instead of sending out to Shutterfly all the time, and to be able to print off "spur of the moment" copies"...

Marla also decided that she'd like a color printer (since the kids and I already have them) for printing out her term papers and reports...

So I headed over to our local Mac-centric shop (since everyone's on a Mac, except me) - Springboard Media - and after looking at the options, settled on the Epson Stylus Photo R300.

I'm pretty impressed with it. The printer can be used entirely standalone, for printing pictures directly off of digital media cards/sticks AS WELL AS any USB-based device you can plug in (camera, CD, ZIP, etc.). You can also plug in a writable device (CDRW, ZIP, etc.) in, and auto-copy the digital media contents to the drive - all w/o a computer! And if you do have a computer, then any cards or USB devices will "pass through" to the computer as if they were directly plugin in. So you don't need a separate card reader.

I then proceeded to hook it up to an extra Mac in the house, enabled printer sharing, and now we can access it from any machine in the house - both Mac and PC! I also ordered the optional BlueTooth adapter to allow wireless printing from my camera phone...

Ran a bunch of test photos and document print last night - all excellent quality and speed is quite reasonable.

It's not 100% perfect - the biggest missing feature is on the 300M, a preview monitor so see the pictures on the media instead of having to print "proof sheets".

A Geek Guide to Kosher Machines

Meet the hacker who makes your home appliances right with God. By Michael Erard from Wired magazine.

Strange things for your keyring

For anyone needing a complete web, ftp and email server that they can carry around - check out WebServerUSB.

Though much cooler is the ability to have a fully bootable and usable GUI Linux on your USB key OR your iPod(!). Check out MetroPipe's Portable Virtual Privacy Machine.

You know you've made it, when they make a Halloween custom of you...

Geek goes as a FULLY WORKING iPod!

iCal for Windows?

Not exactly - but EventSherpa come as close as I've seen!

A .NET application, it has an iCal-like interface with full publish and subscribe integration with Apple's iCal application. Also offers a lot of nice features over iCal including Calendar groups, better web publishing and more.

Oh, and the subscribe-only version is FREE - $99 if you want to publish...

I think I'm going to like it here - but I'll report back if that changes...

Cute little device

NisisUSA has a cute little device that I first saw a few weeks ago at GraphExpo.

The DV4 is a combination 4MP digital still camera, digital video camera (640x480), web cam, portable hard disk, MP3 player and will probably wash your windows if you know which button to push ;). All for only $199(!)

I didn't buy one, because it has two flaws for my personal use.

1. Zoom is digital only - no optical zoom. Have this same problem with my current digital camera.
2. Although it can take >256Mb SD cards, it auto-partitions them into 256Mb chunks.

However, for many folks, this might be a nice unit - esp. as a small alternative for your normal camera or for a kid/student.

GLAT - Google Labs Aptitude Test

For anyone that hasn't heard, Google has been out "shopping" for programming talent for the last year or so - and as part of that they've had a couple of contents and have also finalized their "Aptitude Test", which thier VP of R&D just posted to his blog.

Does strike me as pretty weird that it's 4 72-dpi GIFs however....You'd like a guy who was VP of R&D for a search engine company would know about PDF, wouldn't you???

Mac OS X on a 68K Mac - believe it or not!

Some guy with WAY too much time on his hands, has been able to "run" Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) on his 68k-based Quadra using Debian Linux and PearPC. See here for all the details!

Mac OS X on an Xbox

Finally, a cheap headless Mac? XBox Modification has posted a tutorial on how to install, setup and run OS X on an Xbox. With a list price of just $149 for an Intel P3 733MHz, GeForce 3 graphics, DVD drive, 10GB hard drive, etc, this would seem a rather enticing little hack.

WXPN's 885 Greatest Hits

Our local public radio station, WXPN, has been taking input from listeners all summer about their 10 favorite/best songs of all time. They've compiled this list into the 885 Greatest Hits...

I've been taking this opportunity to scan the list for songs that I don't have in my iTunes library and purchasing them either direct from iTMS or my other music source, eMusic.

Open/Save Dialog tools for Windows

As a longtime Mac OS user, I have gotten used to having 3rd party add-ons installed that add additional navigation features to the Open & Save dialogs. Products such as Boomerang, Shortcut (which I co-authored with Ray Lau), Action Files and Default Folder (the only one still alive with Mac OS X).

About a year ago, I FINALLY found one for use on Windows - QuickFolders. It has all the features that I like in such a product - favorite files and folders, recently used files and folders, as well as some nice additional features and options including a "map folder as drive" feature! My two biggest beefs with QF are that the company hasn't updated it in almost a year (though they promise me they are working on an update) and that it has some compatibility problems from time to time.

So a few weeks ago, I went looking for a replacement and found PS Hot Folders. Although it doesn't do favorite/recent files, it has a MUCH more flexible favorites system including hierarchical lists with separators! It also doesn't have the breath of extra features that QF does, but one thing that it does that I am getting a lot of use out of is that not only does it appear in Open/Save dialogs, BUT also in Windows Explorer (desktop) windows! Using this feature, I can quickly get to my favorite folders from the "desktop".

Both products are inexpensive and I am actually running them both without any problems. Hopefully either/both companies will improve their products and I could stick with just one - but for now, I have the features and functionality that I missed and am much more productive this way.

Up for a bit of air

Been REALLY busy lately trying to get ready for GraphExpo, so haven't had a chance to update the blog - hopefully a bunch of things in the next few days to catch up.

But we have a new look now - using the updated templates from Thingamablog - pretty nice

looking, including the new calendar feature.

iPods vs. Guinness - tough choice!

The Inquirer reports that the 20-somethings of Ireland are spending their money on iPods instead of Guiness, leading to reduced consumption of their native drink.

I have to admit, if I was only a fixed income and had to choose between a pint and a couple of iTMS songs - it would be a tough choice!

What were they thinking!?!!

The Associated Press (AP) reports on a wholesaler in Miami who is recalling 14,000 bags of candy containing a toy, that shows a plane flying into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

The obvious question is WHO would make such a TOY?!?!?!

What's in a name

I frequently wear one my polo shirts with my company name (PDF Sages) embroidered on it...

Usually, most people who notice it and bother to comment on it, ask what it means. I tell them it's my company and we do computer software - easiest way to explain it to the averge person

Today was a bit different howerver...I was out shopping and the cashier (20-something girl) at the store is looking at my shirt. She says...

Must have been absent that day in class...

Excellent primer on product pricing

An old college buddy of mine, Eric Sink, wrote an excellent primer about how to price your software product, based on his experience at SourceGear.

I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone in the software industry!

In case you were unfamiliar with the term...

A "clue-by-four" or more commonly known, the "cluestick" is defined on the jargon web site as:

clue-by-four

[Usenet: portmanteau, clue + two-by-four] The notional stick with which one whacks an aggressively clueless person. This term derives from a western American folk saying about training a mule “First, you got to hit him with a two-by-four. That's to get his attention.� The clue-by-four is a close relative of the LART. Syn. clue stick. This metaphor is commonly elaborated; your editor once heard a hacker say “I smite you with the great sword Cluebringer!�

IceRocket - cool new search engine

Now that Google is public, it's time for everyone to improve upon it...

The first in the crowd, that I've seen, is IceRocket.

Although it has nowhere near the number of sites indexed yet, it does have some pretty cool features that are causing me to play it with more and more.

My two favorites are "web pictures" - a little thumbnail of the web page in question, and a "Related Searches" section.

Try it - you'll like it!

Leonard

A bear with taste...

from CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/index.html....

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.

"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 kilometers) northeast of Seattle.

The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.

They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.

How did I survive without one?