Cory's Blog

Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion', coming soon!

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 20:39:00 -0700

Apple announced a event called ‘back to the mac’ is scheduled for Wed Oct 20th. On the invitation to that event is clearly a Lion, which, if you ask me is clear evidence the next Mac OS version will be called Lion.

What to expect? I would assume some UI updates, how extensive I don’t know. Other then that there hasn’t been many leaks at all so we’re left guessing :)

Also we should see updated macbooks, most likely the Macbook Air.

Free VOIP calling with Gmail, Google talk & Google voice

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:14:00 -0700

Today google announced they will be rolling out a ‘call phones’ feature to all Gmail users over the next few days. And Google voice users will be able to receive calls in Gmail as well. Nice!

I can't wait to have a working iPod touch again!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:50:27 -0700

Two days ago I attempted to take my iPod apart to see if it was at all fixable, and while I was trying and trying to get it to come apart, I cracked the front glass and wrecked part of the plastic frame that holds it together. I knew I’d break it if I tried to open it, it’s just inevitable for me with something that small. But I figured it’s not working anyway so what’s there to lose?

Anyway, so once I finally got it open, I cleaned out all the dust and lint that somehow found it’s way in there. I looked around at the logic board and such, and couldn’t find anything that seemed broken/fried/waterlogged. So I decided to plug it in apart and see if anything would happen, and….. It came on! It came all the way on, backlight and everything so I shut it back of, finished cleaning it out and snapped it back together. I plugged it back in, again it came on, I let it charge and then I tried to swipe the unlock button. And it wouldn’t move. Thinking maybe I didn’t connect the touch screen connecter properly, I opened it back up (which this time was easy since all the glue was unstuck first time around) and checked, and it was, indeed connected properly. So then I realized I had destroyed it’s touch screen abilities by cracking the glass, as I made a crack the goes all the way from the top to the bottom of the screen, along with other smaller ones.

So…. Off to ebay I went where I found a front glass, touch screen and the plastic frame assembly is only $18 with free shipping! So…. That’s in the mail now, I’m anxiously awaiting it’s arrival, and fortunately it will be very easy to install. It seems the iPod goes together much easier then it comes apart.

And… I learned something while taking this apart: When Apple says ‘precision engineered internals’ they really mean ‘Lots of teeny-tinny-itty-bitty electronics glued into a super thin case using no screws at all to hold it all in’. So, in other words, unless you’re a surgeon, if you’d like to be able to take your device apart, look elsewhere. :)

"We try things. Remember, we celebrate our failures. It’s absolutely okay to try something..."

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:58:00 -0700

“We try things. Remember, we celebrate our failures. It’s absolutely okay to try something that’s very hard, have it not be successful, and take the learning from that and apply it to something else.”

- Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Cory: Now, if only a certain other CEO would act this way….

Goodbye BumpTop!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:14:16 -0700

Yesterday my iMac’s desktop went from 119 items to zilch, save for hard drives, which really don’t count as items anyway. I had been using BumpTop, which is a cool idea that turned my desktop into a 3D room with four walls and a floor where I organized my stuff. One of the best features was piles, which lets you pile stuff into little stacks. But…… The whole thing is very much like a real life desktop, as in it gets un-orginized quickly, that one thing you really need gets lost right when you need it, and it needs constant re-organizing to keep it from being one big messy pile of 3D junk.

So my new solution? Bury everything in folders, and use a search utility to get to everything. So far I have Quicksilver, Alfred & Google quick search box. So far I think Alfred looks nicest, but it does nothing with what it finds, making it no more useful than spotlight. Quicksilver can do the most but it’s not very intuitive and it looks outdated (which it is). Google’s Quick Search Box looks decent, is easy enough to use and can do some actions with what it finds, but not many.
Basically, I have two points here: 1. Please, please give me some more options for a search box if you have any. ;) 2. Until I find a better alternative, Quicksilver is what I’ll be using, clunky or not it is the most useful.

Gmail tip: Search archived email and nothing more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:24:00 -0700

So, a friend of mine wanted to be able to search just archives, without searching all mail.

The solution is to add this to the end of your search, without quotes: “label:all mail -inbox”

That removes the inbox from your search, and you just have to add any other labels you don’t want to show up with a subtraction sign in-front of them to the end of that.

"I have no problem with Microsoft’s success, they’ve earned their success for the most..."

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:55:00 -0700

“I have no problem with Microsoft’s success, they’ve earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they usually make really third-rate products.”

- Steve Jobs (via The Unofficial Apple Weblog) Cory: Tell that to the Microsoft KIN. Biggest product fail ever. It was on sale a whole 45 days before it was discontinued due to consumer non-interest.

"Artists and designers are never really satisfied with their work, always trying to one-up..."

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:10:00 -0700

“Artists and designers are never really satisfied with their work, always trying to one-up themselves.”

- Evan Brooks - brsev.com & brsev.deviantart.com

Comment system is here (again)!

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:16:00 -0700

Welcome back to the Disqus comment system which I had set up on the old theme, and now I’ve finally got it over to this theme :)

Try it and see what you think, you’ll need to log in to post a comment, although there’s no need to make a new account just to comment on my site, you can just log in with your Facebook, Twitter or OpenID, and it will pull your name, info and Profile pic automatically.

You will notice the ‘{Number of} comments and {Number of} reactions’ link below each post, just click it to see the comments or post a comment :D

Picasa tip: Embed full size pictures

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:32:00 -0700

Ever wanted to link to or embed a full size picture from picasa web? Here’s how:

Go to “link to this photo”, and copy the embed code to wherever you’re embedding/linking-to it. It doesn’t matter what size you pick, as you have to manually change it anyway. Get the code, which, depending on the options you chose, will look something like this: http://lh6,ggpht,com/_i8tjQU6rloE/TCFKe3BxbyI/AAAAAAAAAVE/2-X9F-ls8WA/s800/Jack%20creek%20Panorama2.jpg

Then, replace the number marked in bold above with a zero. (my ex is 800, yours could also be: 144, 288 OR 400). Now your link looks something like this: http://lh6,ggpht,com/_i8tjQU6rloE/TCFKe3BxbyI/AAAAAAAAAVE/2-X9F-ls8WA/s0/Jack%20creek%20Panorama2.jpg

Done!

Your image will now load the same size as was originally uploaded :) Enjoy!

It is also possible to use other sizes rather then full size. All sizes up to 1600 work. The number represents the width of the image in pixels. 0 loads the originally uploaded size, even if that is bigger than 1600px. Thanks to commenter stansult for pointing that out!

Jack creek, NV. One of my favorite places along our trip to...

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:36:00 -0700

Jack creek, NV.

One of my favorite places along our trip to Cali.

Click the picture to see full size.

"Instead of crashing out, Apple’s new store app should just say-‘AT&Ts lame servers simply..."

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:40:00 -0700

“Instead of crashing out, Apple’s new store app should just say-‘AT&Ts lame servers simply can’t handle demand for the new iPhone!’”

- @alexlindsay; Twitter.

"Windows is still as user friendly as updating the BIOS on a soviet fax machine."

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:05:00 -0700

“Windows is still as user friendly as updating the BIOS on a soviet fax machine.”

- Gizmodo

Noah's injury, the full story.

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:43:00 -0700

Thursday, June 10th, 7:54PM; I am upstairs doing chores. Daniel is downstairs, Mom is downstairs, Noah asked her if he could ‘rip’ a board, on the table saw (rip is what they call cutting long ways). She told him ‘No Noah, that’s dangerous’. He proceeds to cut it anyway.

Mom goes back upstairs, and then we hear what we both thought was pretend screaming. Noah ran upstairs, still screaming, and my mom essentially had a panic attack. After she finishes screaming and jumping up and down, she has him lay down and has me get a towel. She wraps the cut in the towel, has me get another towel and ties it higher up on his arm (like a tourniquet) and gives him phosphorus, a homeopathic for bleeding. I tell Elijah(6) & Asa(3) to get in the car and wait. Me and mom then carry Noah downstairs, stick him in the car, Daniel gets ice (Noah says he’s hot) and we starting heading to the hospital. This all happened so fast, it feels like it was in about 30 seconds.

On the way out the driveway, mom tells me to give Noah more Phosphorus (you’re supposed to give it every 15 mins for the first hour after a injury) and Noah responds ‘I don’t need anymore, I already have a mouthful!’ Along the way, we try to call Dad, who, as usual, is not answering his phone. We then call 911, and they tell us to stop giving Noah water (he was very thirsty), and send the paramedics in our direction.

As we are approaching Costco, we see them, get their attention, and pull into the (mostly empty) Costco gas station with them behind us. Now, it all starts to calm down. They say the bleeding has stopped, so he did not hit a major artery. They take him in the ambulance, tell mom to drive slowly and not to follow them. They also will not let me go with Noah (mom has to drive us there, I can’t drive yet, and Dad is finally on his way). Noah hates hospitals, doctors, the dentist, all that stuff. He’s the kind of kid that doesn’t want to go to to the doctor for a longstanding cold, so going in a ambulance, to the ER would definitely be something he’d want someone he knows with him for.

My Point of view(POV): Wait, wait, more wait. We got to the Prescott hospital, and that’s all I did, sit in the waiting room and wait, they never would let me in to see Noah.

Noah’s POV: Basically, they stitched him up (14 stitches), the paramedic informed him and mom that he had squeezed his finger as hard as he could and Noah could not feel it, and the doctor told us to call the surgeon (in Prescott) first thing in the morning, and that they want the surgery done Tomorrow. (he went home that night)

Friday, June 11th ; We called the surgeon first thing. They start “I don’t think your insurance will cover us”, “the doctor is off on Friday”, and then say they’ll see what they can do and call us back. After not hearing from them, mom calls dad and tells him to come home and just take Noah to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and just get it taken care of properly and now.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital; (this is a mix of Dad’s POV and Noah’s POV, I did not go) Once in, they asked “the Prescott hospital didn’t give him anti-biotic?!?” “No.” “And they didn’t give him a tetanus shot?!?” “I don’t think so” (I think Noah would’ve notice if he got a shot) “And they didn’t have the surgeon look at him last night?” “No.”. So that’s Yavapai Regional Medical center for you. Mom now says, she’ll go to Prescott, get the major stuff stitched up and what not, then go straight to Phoenix next time.

They sat around for a long time, waiting for the surgeon, and then, finally he went in for surgery.

The surgeon said he hit 4 tendons, he did hit a major artery, and he hit two nerves, one is 100% severed, the other 80%. He has a chance of regaining the nerves and feeling because he’s still growing.

They had to cut farther up his arm as part of the surgery. Now he has 29 stitches.

Thursday, June 17th; Noah had his first checkup today, for those who want to see, here is the picture of his hand: http://twitpic.com/1y9zi0

Don’t click it if you don’t want to see. ;)

Update Jun 30th: Noah has started physical therapy and goes twice a week. All his stitches are out now.

Update Jul. 3rd: They finally got the operational report, and the therapist said he cut just about everything he could cut, and that he’s lucky he didn’t go much farther cause he would’ve cut off his hand. The surgeon has him listed as a devastating injury.

SquirrelFish, SVG animation demo. Also hilarious looking :)

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:16:35 -0700

SquirrelFish, SVG animation demo. Also hilarious looking :):

Notice how fast it loads, and how little CPU needed to run it. And, you don’t need to install anything. Adobe can’t say the same about flash. I know it works in Chrome, Safari and mobile safari, I’m not sure of others, probably won’t work in Internet Explorer.

Noah is feeling better, so he says. For those of you who don’t know, Noah/Nowell cut his wrist...

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:33:14 -0700

Noah is feeling better, so he says. For those of you who don’t know, Noah/Nowell cut his wrist on a table saw Thursday night. He hit four tendons, a major artery, 100% severed 1 nerve and 80% severed another. He had surgery in Phoenix Friday, and still cannot feel the palm of his right hand. The Doc said ‘summer is over for him’. He has a chance or getting that feeling back though.

Photo

Sun, 30 May 2010 12:31:33 -0700

Am I leaving Facebook?

Fri, 28 May 2010 10:52:00 -0700

I’m starting to notice something: I check my google buzz multiple times a day, and I check my email and twitter a few times a day. But I go on facebook about every few days, more like a few times a week. And when I DO go on, I usually am just either A.) getting someone’s profile info, like a email, etc. B.) Updating my status or profile. But on buzz or twitter, I’m actually reading EVERYTHING on my stream. I think that’s cause facebook is so over loaded with useless information, like ‘this friend is now friends with that friend’ and ‘this person likes this page’ that it mixes it all together with the little information you DO want to see, that it just gets in the way. Both Gbuzz and twitter only show you stuff your friends POST. Period. No apps. Nothing. I guess the point is, slowly yet surely, I’m leaving facebook for better alternatives. Hopefully most of my friends will be coming with me.

More photos :) (nothing was photoshoped, promise)

Wed, 26 May 2010 21:58:00 -0700

Salt lake

Salt lake

More photos :) (nothing was photoshoped, promise)

This may (or may not) become my new profile pic everywhere

Mon, 24 May 2010 20:00:06 -0700

This may (or may not) become my new profile pic everywhere