Sit Down Strike

ABBYY FineReader doesn't work on Snow Leopard

2011-02-05T11:09:00.001-05:00

I have a Fujitsu SnapScan S510M document scanner. It's an awesomely fast and convenient 2-sided scanner with a automatic document feeder. Hit a button and it does everything - it's my favorite peripheral connected to my Mac.

It also came with a great software bundle: Adobe Acrobat 8 for occasionally editing PDF files and ABBYY FineReader for converting scanned documents to text. I've never needed FineReader until today, however when I launched it, I received the error that the document that I'd just scanned with my SnapScan had not been scanned with a SnapScan. Typical for bundled software to only work with images that were scanned on the hardware that they were bundled with, but I'd just used the right hardware.

Turns out to be a bug with the SnapScan drivers and FineReader software. Shame on both vendors for not checking for updates regularly. Go here to download the updates.

FineReader inconveniently doesn't give you the option to install anywhere (I keep most third party apps in a separate folder) but instead installs 3 programs in the folder ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap under Applications: Scan to Excel, Scan to Word and Scan to Searchable PDF. If you installed the previous version of FineReader anywhere else, delete it to avoid confusion after you install this update.

"iPad XXX cannot be synced. The required file cannot be found."

2010-08-23T08:20:00.001-04:00

After upgrading the OS on my iPad, I started getting the above error message during the sync process. I guess Apple can have some obscure, unhelpful error messages as well. Anyway, found a post that resolved the problem for me.

The problem is with the iPod photo cache.

Do the following:
1. Go to home folder in Finder
2. Open Pictures
3. Right click on iPhoto Library and select Show Package Contents
4. Find "iPod photo cache" file and drag to Desktop
5. Close Finder
6. Reopen iTunes and sync your iPad
7. The iPod photo cache rebuilds itself

Could not publish from iWeb

2009-12-26T01:29:00.001-05:00

I received the following error from iWeb when attempting to publish a small change to Mobile Me:

Couldn’t reach the MobileMe configuration server

I tried re-publishing the entire site as well as the small change, with no improvement.

To fix this, I moved ~/Library/Caches to my Desktop and re-published. Fixed, and working so far.

1Password, Syncing between multiple Macs, and DropBox

2009-11-29T10:55:00.001-05:00

I use the Mac program 1Password to keep track of my passwords, software licenses, and other accounts. 1Password has hooks in all Mac browsers to autofill and save passwords and other stuff you might enter into a web page. It's also got an iPhone counterpart that it'll sync with, although syncing this info between my iPhone and Mac is a little clumsy. 1Password keeps this information in an encrypted data file, which can be shared to all your computers through a cloud-based file sharing service.

Versions of 1Password prior to the new v3 used Mobile Me to share the 1Password data file with all your computers. That support ended with v3, claiming that Mobile Me didn't work well enough. On the vendor's recommendation, I am trying the well-reviewed service DropBox, which provides 2GB of free cloud-based storage space and a Mac app.

Migrating from Mobile Me to DropBox

Follow these steps to migrate your 1Password data file from Mobile Me to DropBox.

Go to the DropBox website and click Download Dropbox.
Launch DropBox and set up a new account. When you're done, it will have created a DropBox folder in your home directory. Anything copied there will also be copied to the cloud, and copied to your computers also running DropBox.
Quit 1Password if it's running.
Drag the 1Password data file from Mobile Me to your desktop.
Rename the 1Password data file to 1Password.agilekeychain. The previous version of 1Password kept its data in a folder on Mobile Me named 1Password.agilekeychain\_folder. 1Password no longer supports that filename extension.

When you see this warning about changing the file extension, click 'Use .agilekeychain'.
Launch 1Password and when prompted, open the 1Password.agilekeychain file on your desktop.
Move the data file to DropBox from 1Password's Preferences. In 1Password, go to Preferences>General and click Move...
In the Move panel, select your DropBox folder (mine is on my desktop, yours should be under your home folder) and click Move to Selected Folder.
The Preferences panel will now show DropBox as the location for your 1Password data file.
On your other computer, install DropBox as above.
Launch 1Password and, when prompted, open the 1Password data file in its DropBox folder. Now, all 1Password changes will be kept in sync between computers automatically.
Complete these last 2 steps on all your remaining computers.

You're done! Enjoy having 1Password data quietly kept in sync between your computers.

Snow Leopard Upgrade Notes

2009-08-30T00:22:00.001-04:00

Got a few notes after upgrading to Snow Leopard:

My Apple mini-Bluetooth keyboard was not recognized during the reboot. I hit the sync button on the keyboard a few times with no luck. Mouse was wired, and OK of course, so I clicked through the OK buttons with my mouse until the desktop was visible. I then hit the button again on the keyboard and everything was OK.

I received the following error sometime after the OS had been up and running for a while:
The system extension "/System/Library/Extensions/CNQL4801_ClassicNotSeize.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product's vendor for an update.

The extension is an old PowerPC format extension from Canon. Safe to delete.

I had a system message that I had old copies of my iDisk on my computer. I clicked OK to delete them, which caused the document I had docked from my remote iDisk folder to disappear (replaced by a '?'). The document is still on my iDisk so I'm not worried.

Had an alert from Mail that ODMailBundle.mailbundle is incompatible and should be deleted. I don't know what it is either, but I did delete it as instructed without incident.

Not really noticing that my iMac is faster - quite the contrary, window opening and app startup seems much slower than before. Looking forward to a reboot to see if things improve.

I hope everyone's upgrade is going well.

Extracting Audio from a DVD on a Mac for Free

2009-08-23T23:18:00.001-04:00

Simplehelp.com offers an excellent walk-through describing how to rip the audio track from a DVD. In a nutshell, rip the audio with Mac the Ripper and convert its output to MP3 with ffmpegX. Easy to follow instructions - now you need not be in front of your TV to listen to something from a DVD.

MacBook Battery Management and Calibration

2009-08-10T02:14:00.001-04:00

Over time, notebook batteries lose their ability to keep a charge and the battery included with a MacBook is no different. Apple recommends calibrating your battery every couple of months and free software is available to monitor the condition of your battery and determine if it's time to replace it.

Calibrating your battery

Follow these steps to calibrate your battery every couple of months.

Plug your notebook in and charge your battery to 100%.
Leave your computer plugged in for 2 hours.
Disconnect from power and run the computer on battery power. Allow the computer to sleep when it runs out of juice.
Turn the computer off and leave it off for 5 hours. Do not plug it in during this time.
Reconnect your computer to power and recharge the battery to 100% again.

Monitoring your battery

Senora Graphics makes a great free utility that reports your battery's original and current capacity, current charge and remaining charge cycles. You can download it here. It reports that my relatively newish laptop battery has 85% of its original capacity remaining; my girlfriend's older laptop only has 45% left. She gets a new battery while I get to live with mine.
q

Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman

2009-08-02T15:07:00.001-04:00

Cartoonist Michael Kupperman trade 'Tales Designed to Thrizzle' collects the first 4 issues of his comic in hardcover. It seems like you've seen these characters in old engravings and reminiscent of work by others, but of course not exactly. Stories are great and weird. I've been getting into the stories of Albert Einstein and Mark Twain's woman-chasing, crime-busting superhero stories in issue 5. Retro-future robots are also a recurring theme.

Anyway, check this page out from the latest issue. It's not in the book - look for Volume 2 next year - but it's in the same ballpark.

You might also enjoy this battle between classic and pop:

Harvard Business History Review article

2009-07-06T00:57:00.001-04:00

Here's a random quote from a book my father Peter Mellish Reed's article 'Standard Oil in Indonesia, 1898-1928' from his article published in Harvard's Business History Review, coincidentally, my mother's great-great-grand-relatives worked for in the 1800-1920's.

Peter Mellish Reed
Standard Oil in Indonesia, 1898-1928
For many years Americans engaged in business abroad at their own risk, unaided in any important way by the backing of their government. When confronted with the forces of national self-interest, they faced frustration. Then the policy of the United States, aware of its economic responsibilities and opportunities and dangers, swung to their support. The new diplomacy was not always adept, but it produced remarkable changes. These are exemplified in the thirty-year history of American efforts to gain an entry to the oilfields of the Netherlands East Indies. The files of the Department of State provide an intimate and unique view both of motivations and the mechanisms of change. (Pages 311-337)

Public Image Ltd. truly limited edition

2009-06-06T11:24:00.001-04:00

The fashion designer Jun Takahashi and his label Undercover collaborated with one of my favorite bands from my youth, Public Image Ltd, to assemble a very limited edition line of clothing. The collection features mostly t-shirts with band photos and their ubiquitous PIL logo, and some snazzy blazers with the PIL logo on the breast pocket. The collection is available for just 2 days - June 5 - 7 - right now at Isetan in Shinjuku.

PIL were known for releasing limited edition versions of their recordings. Their first single was wrapped in a newspaper. The original vinyl and CD versions of Metal Box came in a round tin container stamped with the band logo. The original had 3 12" 45rpm LPs.

Reposted from http://blog.honeyee.com/jtakahashi/

Folding Bikes Redux - What I Purchased and Why

2009-04-27T01:11:00.001-04:00

I recently wrote about my search for a folding bike, what I looked at and liked, and why. I finally made the decision and purchased one but not the ones that I expected.

I recently started a job that I plan to start biking to. I have a ten-year-old Trek hybrid bike that is generally fine to ride on (can handle city streets, is fairly comfortable and relatively cheap @ ~$350-400 1995 dollars) but needs new tubes and tires and is heavy, clunky and too large to easily get in and out of the house, let alone sneak into the PATH train during my reverse-commute. So I knew that my new bicycle had to be a folder.

My criteria for a folding bicycle ended up including the following: light, sturdy, easy to fold, easy to maintain and at least 8 gears. Nice-to-haves were good selection of standard accessories, folds small, more gears, less than 1,000USD. To minimize the carbon cost, I really wanted to buy a bike that was made as locally as possible.

I looked at the Reach, Dahon, Citizen Bike, Strida, Airnimal, Brompton, Swift Folder/Xootr and Bike Friday. All were good but each were either poorly made, felt cheap, uncomfortable, heavy, hard to fold, or were expensive. All except the Bike Friday were made overseas. I almost went with the Bike Friday as I greatly preferred its ride (never did test-ride a Dahon or Airnimal) and it met all my requirements and nice to haves except cost at 1300USD.

A friend recommended the Swift Folder and once I looked into it decided that this was the bike to get. It was well made, engineered simply, light and compact enough, rode well and cost $700 for an 8 gear model. Best of all was that one of the inventors built it down the street from me and it's sold through a network of bicycle refurbishers, so getting repairs and recommendations is easy. Only downside for me - besides the hard-as-granite seat - is that it is not as compact a folder as the Dahon, Bike Friday or Brompton.

You can actually buy the bike from multiple sources: mass produced from Xootr for ~650USD; at Recycle-a-Bicycle for the Peter Reich's Brooklyn-built Swift Folder for ~700USD; or one out of hand-built steel from Human Powered Machines for at least 950USD.

Riding it has been great. I've already been able to bike to a couple of places I would have skipped or taken the train to. I plan to post a little more about my experiences using the bike as the unit itself settles in and as I start dealing with a near-daily commute on it.

Peter Funch in Composite

2009-04-14T17:37:00.001-04:00

Peter Funch is a Dutch photographer living in New York who produces, amongst other works, stunning composite New York street scenes. Many of the scenes are quite tense. According to veryshortlist.com, he places his camera in one place over a period of weeks and composites the resulting images and portraits into a single landscape. One work has a pack of yawners; in another everyone's smoking.

He's also shot a series of car crashes, some of which are pretty brutal.

My favorite is probably the shots of the skies filled with airplanes. Which of course is my nightmare, since I dislike flying so much.

Clem Snide

2009-03-19T01:43:00.001-04:00

Just saw Eef Barzelay perform in a 3-piece labeled Clem Snide. Who cares - it's great to see him play in New York, and he plays here so seldom. Here's the set list from tonight's show.

Lux Interior RIP

2009-02-05T01:13:00.003-05:00

For Immediate Release:
February 4, 2009

Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.

The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.

The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.

---
What a shame.

"Creep predominant" with a "loser rising"

2008-12-28T02:37:00.001-05:00

My friend Gillian Webber forwarded this to me and I thought it was funny enough to forward on and geeky enough to include here.

Here's the link to the original MySpace post
Tim

Tool dork loser schmuck buffoon nerd geek martian retard creep

No matter what anyone says, everyone can be labeled.

Here's a place where you can find out (and help determine) just what those labels are.

* * * *

How it works:
This webpage invites you to rate people according to 10 carefully selected chracteristics. By submitting your rankings, you evaluate the degree to which a person is a combination of a select group of negative traits:

tool, dork, loser, schmuck, buffoon, nerd, geek, martian, retard, creep

For a description of the definitions see the blog on this site:

Traits definitions

Everyone is a major and minor in something too. Thus, Charlie Sheen would be said to be "creep predominant" with a "loser rising".

A person gets a score in each category according to the percent of voters who ascribe that trait to the person. And as a final coup-de-grace, the person is given a total score. So you can see not just where someone falls, but also: how hard. You'll be suprised to find out how accurately this system pins down who someone really is.

* * * *

How to play:
Start looking through the blogs to find a person you would like to characterize. Click on the blog and post a comment with your vote of what traits characterize this person, ranking them in order of importance. (And feel free to add whatever comments you like by way of debate and explanation). We will update the blogs semi-regularly to tally the votes and display the results.

If the person you are looking for has not yet been posted for ranking, post a comment on the main profile page and tell us the name(and provide an appropriate photo if you like) of the person you think is ripe for such judgment. If we agree, we'll post the person as a blog and let the voting begin!

* * * *

A few last thoughts:

This is intended as a good-natured, collaborative game of personality analysis--a sort of Myers-Briggs of your foibles. We arrived at these ten traits by means of a rigorous weeding-out process to arrive at a perfect balance. It only takes a brief exposure to gameplay to realize that there is something magical in the way the interplay of these 10 traits manages to capture the warts-and-all essence of a person.

* * * *

Typically, people with thick skins tend to enjoy rating themselves (or hearing themselves rated) in a self-deprecating and character-building way; provided they are not rated a creep or schmuck, which is pretty hard to swallow.

The game works really well with celebrities -- especially in the quest to find the elusive person who has all 10 traits.

So far, Geraldo Rivera is the only winner in that regard.

For some more background on the game, click here

Traffic

2008-12-19T00:16:00.001-05:00

I could read about traffic patterns and traffic management all day.

NYC MTA vs. Helvetica vs. Arial vs. ClearView

2008-12-18T01:09:00.001-05:00

Read the New York Times article about Helvetica in the subway:

This is the movie about Helvetica called, strangely, Helvetica, why it's such a cool font and how it came about. It's available to view on demand on your computer. I love the bit where the designer tears apart advertising style of the 50's and 60's. "Any questions?"

Arial is the version of Helvetica that Microsoft includes with Windows slightly changed to make it "more readable on computer screens" supposedly. More likely it's an almost identical rip of Helvetica but is cheaper for them to include wrt license fees.

ClearView is the new font (intended for highways and the AT&T logo) that provides for fast recognition by designing each character that emphasized negative space and size differences between short and tall letters, in order to improve legibility. It's also intended to be used in upper and lower case, rather than all upper case that signs typically use, also to improve legibility.

Everyone should use ClearView - I have a free rip-off version of it called RoadGeek that I would gladly punt if the price of the commercial version came down from its current 800 bucks. I guess I'm in my small way encouraging free font-alike vendors, so, ah, sorry. I love ClearView!!

Robyn Hitchcock 'I Often Dream of Trains' program

2008-11-23T23:15:00.001-05:00

This is the text from the program handed out at Robyn Hitchcock's performance of I Often Dream of Trains at Symphony Space in NYC on 11/22/08.

About the Artist
1952 Conceived in Stockholm.
1953 Born in London.
1956 I see a dead chicken.
1957 John Lennon meets Paul McCartney in Liverpool.
1959 I get my first plastic dinosaur.
1962 Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis; Kennedy faces off Kruschev; I start collecting beetles.
1963 The Beatles have four number one hits; I try unsuccessfully to compose an instrumental in my head; Kennedy shot dead; First Dr. Who episode transmitted.
1965 I discover H.G. Wells.
1966 I discover Bob Dylan.
1967 The Year Zero. February; Get my first guitar; October; Learn to tune it.
1969 In July, Neil Armstrong is the first man in recorded history to stand on the moon.
1970 The Beatles dissolve; I write my first song, "Baby" with my school friend Martin, who Is now a lawyer in Buenos Aires.
1972 Martin and I play the City and Guilds Art School Dance with our beat group, The Beatles; Somehow the name doesn't catch on. and we play our last gig on December 31. 1973 at the British Council. Topping the bill are Chilli Willi and The Red Hot Peppers. whose drummer, Pete Thomas. goes on to play with Elvis Costello.
1974 Nixon impeached; I move up to Cambridge looking for musicians. and play the folk clubs.
1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes head of the Conservative party; I keep playing the folk clubs.
1976 The Sex Pistols release Anarchy in the UK; I write "It's Not Just the Size of a Walnut." It goes down okay in the folk clubs, but I'm still looking for the right musicians.
1977 I find the right musicians, AKA The Soft Boys. and we release Wading Through a Ventilator in November. Doesn't quite connect with the Year Zero of Punk.
1978 The Soft Boys support Elvis Costello and nearly get a major record deal; Kimberley Rew joins the Soft Boys; Second Soft Boys single "I Wanna Be an Anglepoise Lamp."
1979 A Can of Bees released on our own Two Crabs label. Not immediately popular, but Julian Cope later describes It as a "red-hot poker up the arse of pop music"; Thatcher elected as Prime Minister; I read a lot of lG. Ballard.
1980 Underwater Moonlight, the second Soft Boys LP, is released on the Armageddon label; We get as far as New York, but dissolve the following February; Ronald Reagan elected; John Lennon shot dead In New York.
1981 I release Black Diamond Snake Role and promote it by doing nothing; Inner city riots throughout Britain; Spandau Ballet are huge.
1982 My second solo album, Groovy Decay; I promote it by doing even less except tour of Norwegian fallout shelters, playing to AC/DC fans; Falklands War guarantees Thatcher a second term; Decide to hibernate.
1983 Write lyrics for "Captain Sensible;" Sleep a lot; Unbeknownst to me, U.S. college radio stations are now massively playing our old records.
1984 REM and other new U.S. bands cite The Soft Boys and myself as influences; Meet Peter Buck outside Highgate Cat Protection league; Record first totally solo album I Often Dream of Trains; Play first live show in two years at The Hope & Anchor, Islington.
1985 Start touring U.S. with backing group The Egyptians, featuring former Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe; Booked to support REM but mystery cyst in my abdomen requires surgery which aborts tour; FegMANIA!, the first Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians LP is released; 15-minute standing ovation after our New York show at Irving Plaza; "Walking on Sunshine" is a global smash hit for Kimberley Rew's band Katrina and the Waves.
1986-1992 We sign to A&M records in the U.S.; Element of Light. Globe of Frogs, Queen Elvis, and Perspex Island all top the Rolling Stone Alternative chart.
1989 Finally open for REM on their Green tour; I play my first solo U.S. tour in the autumn.
1990 Eye, my second completely solo record is released.
1991 The Year Punk Broke. again; Nirvana chases us off the Alternative chart and the musical climate changes.
1993 Respect is the last album with the Egyptians; In Britain, the Tories are elected for a fourth term despite the deposing of Margaret Thatcher; Great debut albums from Grant-Lee Buffalo and Belly.
1994 I am now a solo act.
1995 Jonathan Demme appears in the dressing room between sets at my show near his home just outside New York. He identifies himself and offers to film me in concert; All my albums from 1981-1986, plus Eye, are re-released on Rhino records.
1996 Storefront Hitchcock, featuring myself with accompaniment from violinist Deni Bonet and guitarist Tim Keegan playing in a shop window on 14th Street in New York, is directed by Jonathan Demme; Moss Elixir is released on Warner Brothers.
1997 Labour returns to power after 18 years - or does it?
1998 Storefront Hitchcock opens at the Film Forum in NYC. Jonathan & Joanne Demme, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Michael Stipe, and Peter Buck attend. Peter and I busk outside afterwards and collect over $13.
1999 Third album for Warners. Jewels for Sophia; Tour the U.S. as part of the "Revue Against Brain Degeneration" with The Flaming Lips, Sebadoh, Sonic Boom, and Cornelius; Western planes bomb Belgrade; I introduce Storefront Hitchcock at film festivals in Australia, Sweden, Britain and the US.
2000 Tour in the U.S. as a double act with Grant Lee Phillips, doing the Grant lee Hitchcock show; A Star for Bram (companion disc to Jewels for Sophia) is the first release on editionsPAF!
2001 George W. Bush takes office; World Trade Center in New York demolished by hijacked passenger planes; The Soft Boys reform to promote the 21st anniversary re-release of Underwater Moonlight by Matador, and tour the U.S.; George Harrison dies at 58.
2002 The Soft Boys reunion album, Nextdoorland, is released by Matador; I have a cameo appearance as a sleazy rock granddad in the TV play Man And Boy; NASA plans manned landing on Mars within the next 20 years. Subterranean beds of frozen water "may make it habitable long-term;" Robyn Sings, a 2-CD set of Bob Dylan covers, is released on editionsPAF!
2003 At my 50th birthday party show in March, guest musicians include Peter Blegvad, John Paul Jones, Morris, Kimberley, Deni Bonet, and Tim Keegan. Luxor is pressed up to give away to the audience, then released on edittonsPAF! in Britain and the U.S.; U.S. and Britain invade Iraq, on the pretext of nullifying the threat from Iraqi missiles. No missiles were found. Saddam Hussein deposed; Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate, featuring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and L1ev Schrieber is filmed over the winter in New York. I play the part of Laurent Tokar, a sinister operative.
2004 Record Spooked in Nashville with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings in downtime from filming The Manchurian Candidate. Released on YepRoc in October (and on Proper Records in the U.K.).
2005/2006 Record Ole! Tarantula in Seattle with Bill Rieflin, Peter Buck, and Scott McCaughey. Released October 2006 on YepRoc Ex Proper; Begin touring with BUl, Peter, and Scott as RH and the Venus 3; John Edginton films documentary Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Death, Food and Insects for the Sundance Channel. Premieres March 27, 2007 on Sundance in the U.S.; Kimberley, Morris, Paul Noble, Terry Edwards, and (perform Pink Floyd's Piper At The Gates Of Dawn as a benefit for Medecins Sans Frontieres at the 3 Kings in Clerkenwell, London. With this and our one-off performances of Sgt. Pepper's and The White Album, plus money raised from after-gig auctions, our fans have raised over £28.000 for MSF. These shows are all arranged and promoted by my wife, Michele Noach; Democrats regain U.S. Congress.
2007/2008 Continue to tour and record; YepRoc re-release all the old catalogue (plus extras) from the 1980s on two boxed sets: I Wanna Go Backwards (solo records) and Luminous Groove (with the Egyptians); Along with Michele and other artists and scientists, I am on the Cape Farewell expedition to West Greenland, to see the retreating ice-scape; Appear singing in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married starring Anne Hathaway and Rosemary DeWitt; Stock market crashes.
Early 2009 New record with the V3, Goodnight Oslo, due out

iPhone apps on my first home screen

2008-11-22T10:31:00.001-05:00

I keep my most-used apps on the first home screen on my iPhone. Here are the third party ones I store there.

Mobile News
Good functionality is that it downloads all recent AP articles. Bad functionality is that you have to download each subject (Business, Local News, etc.) manually, one at a time.

Twitterrific
Not as huge a fan of this app itself as the fact that I don't have another Twitter app on my phone. It does work and it's free, and I use Twitterrific on my desktop. But the iPhone version doesn't automatically scroll to the top when you launch it, and it has ads.

Facebook
This app gets almost everything right - it's easy to use and exposes enough useful Facebook functionality. I like that I can take and post a photo fairly easily. I use this all the time.

Instapaper
Instapaper works in conjunction with Instapaper.com to download web pages to your iPhone for offline reading. Click a special bookmarklet - which works on MacOSX, Windows or the iPhone itself - to save the web page you're viewing to Instapaper. The app then downloads the text from all your saved URLs to your phone. It's pretty neat and really easy to use.

New York Times
This app downloads most of the day's NY Times content to your phone for offline reading. The functionality is useful, convenient and saves trees; too bad the app crashes all the time and takes forever to download everything to the phone. Now that I have AP Mobile News, I hardly ever read the Times.

OmniFocus
Companion application to the desktop version. This is where I manage my GTD list. It's a good app but doesn't sync automatically, which is a pain.

CityTransit
Provides a New York City subway map, as well as online access to subway system alerts. Too bad the alert system would be much more useful if it downloaded content for offline viewing - like when you're actually in the subway system without net access.

The Weather Channel
View today and upcoming weather. It's a little more functional than the standard weather app - you can e-mail the weather report to someone else, for instance.

Commuter Bike Technology

2008-09-21T02:06:00.001-04:00

The commute to my new job in Jersey City requires 3 trains: F to the A to the PATH at World Trade Center. The commute generally isn't bad - maybe 45 minutes all in - but I sorely miss the days when I biked to my job at UBS in midtown. I stopped after I joined Lehman because of their 24x7 business-formal dress code, and the hairy eyeballs I'd get whenever I entered the Lehman building in running or biking gear. Now that I've landed at a place where I can dress comfortably, I want to bike to work again.

I'm evaluating a couple of folding bikes: Brompton and Bike Friday. I went to bfold (in the basement of the same building I lived in when going to college), met Steve, and test-rode the bikes.

General comments:
* Folding bikes are like clown cars. Everything feels miniature, except the rider, who feels like a jackass.
* They both fold up really quickly.
* The ride is bumpier than a full-sized bike.
* You can bike pretty fast on both.
* They're very expensive.
* Folded, they feel a little bigger than I'd expected.

Brompton
Con: Made in the UK.
Con: 3 gears.
Con: All custom parts.
Con: Weak bell.
Con: Weird handle-bars with a deep dip in the middle.
Con: Heavier.
Con: Slow to assemble.
Pro: Not made in China.
Pro: Most compact fold-up.
Pro: Sturdier - metal pedals.
Pro: Additional little wheels to facilitate wheeling it around when it's folded.
Pro: Simple folding mechanism.
Pro: Securing mechanism feels more secure.

Bike Friday Tikit
Con: Not so compact fold-up.
Con: Cheaper feel - plastic pedals.
Con: Harder to carry and wheel.
Pro: Made in the USA.
Pro: 8 gears.
Pro: Standard parts.
Pro: Great bell.
Pro: Flat T handlebars.
Pro: Can be wheeled around on it's front wheel when folded up.
Pro: Heavier.
Pro: Simple folding mechanism.
Pro: Fastest to fold up.

Summer Streets in NYC

2008-08-06T00:06:00.002-04:00

This is sorta neat. The city is cordoning off a north/south street through Manhattan to traffic. This appears to be a pedestrian nirvana of bikes, children, dolphins and whales all cavorting with one another.

Click here to read more.
Tim

I watch the Watchmen!

2008-07-18T16:22:00.001-04:00

That shudder you felt yesterday was a giant collective nerdgasm, as the trailer for the Watchmen movie appeared yesterday. It's available at Apple in high definition and looks pretty great. The Watchmen was a comic published by DC Comics in the late '80s about a group of flawed, neurotic superheroes. The story was written by Alan Moore, who wrote V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Swamp Thing, a comic I remember buying the first issue of because the artwork was done by Bernie Wrightson.

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Getting ready for the new iPhone 3G

2008-07-07T00:28:00.006-04:00

I'm doing a few things to get ready for the new iPhone 3G. I am preparing my existing data and services; collecting relevant web sites, planning for 1 particular application that I think will change how I use it and what I get out of it, and setting up a better plan so I save some money every month. I'll cover each of these over the next couple of posts.

First, I am updating my .mac environment. Initially this was to sync my browser bookmarks so my own copies were up to date in advance of this warning regarding the service. I definitely keep my bookmarks in sync between my various computers but I use del.icio.us to centralize and share my bookmarks as much as possible. Only my iPhone requires a Safari-managed bookmark list, as much as I can figure out.

In so doing, I also picked up a .mac family pack so that my girlfriend and mom could back up their desktop data easily. Now backups are running at my mom's once a month and both their addressbooks, calendars and bookmarks are backed up centrally.

Photostitching software for MacOSX

2008-03-23T23:59:00.002-04:00

Photostitching software provides a way to create a single panoramic photo from photos of partial sections of the full scene. Some cameras come with panorama functionality built in; Canon has excellent on-board ability, however the Panasonic Lumix FX7 I have does not. In fact, other than its small size, it's not a great camera - terrible noise and so-so color reproduction.

I tried PTGui but found the interface to be pretty crude and not very Mac-like. In fact, it is a cross-platform application, however simple Mac things like drag-and-drop don't work the way they should on MacOSX.

I don't have Photoshop - it's possible that it has a photo-stitching mode, but at whatever-hundreds-of-dollars it costs, I'll never know.

I wanted something that would work well with iPhoto.

I ended up purchasing DoubleTake which is very easy to use, accepts drag-and-dropped photos from iPhoto, and costs $24.95. I posted my first panorama photo on flickr. The results for a very quick-and-dirty run look really good. With some work I can warp the images to fit better (where the lower edge of the car don't meet well in the merged image).

Feeling collars

2008-03-13T10:52:00.003-04:00

There's an article about the possible suicide of Manchester police chief Michael Todd where a colleague says "He wanted to get out there, he wanted to feel people's collars." What a vivid image, this guy itching for the stiff feel of someone's - anyone's - starchy collar in his firm grip. Or did he just enjoy running his hands lightly over them. I hope the ghosts in the "bottle of spirits" found next to his body didn't rise up and feel his collar.

Her Space Holiday new (to me) disc

2008-03-10T00:47:00.001-04:00

I just picked up The Telescope, a CD of Her Space Holiday rock that was released only in Japan. The jacket is a book, with a short story called The Telescope, as well as the disk and some postcards by the Japanese artist PCP, or real name Heisuke Kitazawa. He does sometimes ornate, psychedelic tableaus, other times spare portraits, like Groove Design figures done by hand.

Resetting the Apple Express

2008-02-04T00:04:00.000-05:00

Now that I've hung an Apple Extreme network hub on my network - my cable modem is now connected to the extreme - I can start doing things with it. First, since it has actual Ethernet ports, I can connect my Apple Mini to it and use it as a Leopard server; Leopard server requires a local Ethernet port. That local network is bridged to the wireless network that the Extreme also serves, so my computers and devices can see each other and the net.

However I've moved the Apple Extreme up to another floor, so service for the Apple TV downstairs is spotty, and re-inputting the WEP password is a continual pain. I'm going to try adding an Apple Express to the mix and see if it will act as a bridge or repeater for the network, but operate downstairs next to the Apple TV, with the goal of reducing the timeouts and resets.

I'm in the reset stage of reconfiguring the Express. Here are the instructions (from Macworld):

Soft reset: Plug the Express into power, launch Network System preferences and choose Airport from the popup. Click the TCP/IP tab and choose Using DHCP from the Configure menu. Press and hold the device's reset button for 1 second. The light will flash yellow and you'll have 5 minutes to make changes before the Express reverts to its previous configuration. What a pain in the ass.

Hard Reset

With the Express plugged in, hold the reset button for 10 seconds. The LED will flash green and the device will reset.

Factory Default

Unplug the Express and hold the reset button. Whilst still holding reset, plug the device in. Keep holding until you see the LED flash four times. Release the button to reset the device.

Getting used to Getting Things Done

2008-01-10T23:58:00.001-05:00

I work at a job where I am bombarded by a steady stream of e-mail. They're almost all project and task related - I tend to not be directly responsible for projects, instead delegating the responsibilities to managers who work for me. Although I have fairly bad memory and lose track of some tasks, I am reactive and able to make quick decisions.

I read about a task management methodology called Getting Things Done or GTD. It's described in this book by David Allen and is a method of task management that groups tasks by context in which they should be performed (things to do when you're outside, tasks to do at the computer, etc.) I've read a bit of background in lifehacker.org and 43folders.com, which are both big GTD sites. It's geeky enough that I picked the book up, applied its structure to my Outlook at work, and am trying it out.

Vinyl LP storage

2007-12-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

It's time to move my 800+ record collection to the basement. I've spent days of my life looking for decent storage and finally found something that looks pretty good. I'll reclaim a lot of shelf space for items that I really never use - like books.

UPDATE

So it turned out that these plastic-enforced boxes are pretty awesome. I can fit ~50 records per box and while they're not water-proof, they seem water-resistant. The vendor is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, so if I need more - and I did not buy enough - next time I can drive over and save the UPS fees.

Space Invaders

2007-08-14T23:01:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty neat video reproducing video game classic Space Invaders.

Celsius and Fahrenheit

2007-07-27T00:31:00.000-04:00

I've changed my weather preferences on the web sites and apps that I check the weather on (my.yahoo.com, weather.com and my iphone) to show the temperature in Celsius. My original idea was to learn what Celsius really means, and it basically worked.

The exact conversion formula is to multiply the Celsius temperature by 9, divide the answer by 5, and add 32 to get the exact Fahrenheit measure.
An easier way to get an approximation is to double the Celsius reading and add 30, however that's still too complicated.
The easiest way is to follow my simple rule of thumb:
30's = Hot
20's = Warm
Teens = Cool
Below 10 = Cold

There are plenty of online tools, however I think it's easiest to Google "Convert 30 degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit" to get "30 degrees Celsius = 86 degrees Fahrenheit, which is where hot starts in my book.

UPDATE: A friend turned me on to this easy rhyme which I think would have been based on my simple rule, had it not been invented decades ago to teach British schoolchildren. It's even on a T-shirt from Go Metric:
100 is boiling
30 is HOT
20 is NICE
10 is COOL
0 is ICE

Sweet Smell of Success

2007-06-10T01:08:00.002-04:00

One of my top 10 movies, if only for the classic lines, great New York cinematography and wonderful acting by Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster. But what the hell does 'my right hand hasn't seen my left hand in 30 years' mean, anyway?

There's a great long article in Time Magazine of that details the events and people that ultimate inspired the movie.

MEMORABLE QUOTES from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
HUNSECKER (Burt Lancaster): "I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."
HUNSECKER (holding an unlit cigarette): "Match me, Sydney."
FALCO (Tony Curtis): "Watch me run a 50-yard dash with my legs cut off."
HUNSECKER: "You see that grin? It's part of his helpless act. He throws himself upon your mercy."
FALCO: "In brief, from now on the best of everything is good enough for me."
HUNSECKER: "What's this boy got that Susie likes?"
FALCO: "Integrity - acute, like indigestion."
STEVE (Martin Milner): "The next time you want information, don't scratch for it like a dog, ask for it like a man."
HUNSECKER: "You're dead, son, get yourself buried."
FALCO: "A press agent eats a columnist's dirt and is expected to call it manna."
HUNSECKER: "Sidney lives in moral twilight."
HUNSECKER: "President? My big toe would make a better president."
HUNSECKER: "My right hand hasn't seen my left hand in 30 years."
RITA (Barbara Nichols): "What am I, a bowl of fruit? A tangerine that peels in an instant?"
RITA: "Here's mud in your column."

FALCO: "You were interviewed?"
RITA: "In his apartment."
FALCO: "Where was his wife?"
RITA: "I don't know; it's a big apartment."

HUNSECKER: "With the simple flick of a switch, I could shut out the greedy murmur of little men."
FALCO: "Starting today, you can play marbles with his eyeballs."
STEVE: "Mr. Hunsecker, you've got more twists than a barrel of pretzels."
HUNSECKER: "I don't relish shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun."
FALCO: "Maybe I left my sense of humor in my other suit."
HUNSECKER: "Here's your head, what's your hurry?"
FALCO: "The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river."
HUNSECKER: "I love this dirty town."

Compiled by Rob Nixon

Richard Lloyd Redux

2007-06-01T11:46:00.001-04:00

A few Richard Lloyd updates. He just played at Knitting Factory - you can download the show viat bittorrent from Dime. There's a wacky interview with him as well (here's the abbreviated version). Not sure if this is on the level but Richard guarantees that his will be 'a household name in a year.'

There's another crazy interview with him that's almost disturbing. It's worth the read all the way through; I think these are from the effect of staying invisible too long, to quote one of its comments.

Google Street View...

2007-05-31T19:30:00.000-04:00

Google posted a neat change to Google Maps that shows street level views of some city maps (Brooklyn included). The actual technology behind it is described briefly in this blog. Here are some example shots. Microsoft Maps offers a similar technology but I haven't used it yet.

DVD packaging

2007-05-24T19:53:00.001-04:00

DVD packaging really annoys me. It's unnecessarily large considering the CD-sized disc it contains. So I learned today (on a slashdot post) that 2 DVD cases take up exactly the same size as 1 VHS tape. This way retailers can use old displays and containers to hold DVDs. This makes perfect sense but is still wasteful.

Incredibly, there are apparently no places to recycle CD and DVD packaging - at least on an individual level. The discs themselves can be recycled (US and UK).

Sharpest man made thing

2007-05-19T02:11:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of the sharpest man made thing.

Artwork by musicians

2007-05-18T15:48:00.000-04:00

Brian Eno published his work 77 Million Paintings. It's a hardcover book plus DVD plus Flash web-site. Supposedly Mac and PC compatible and could be an interesting way to burn kilowatts on your fancy flatpanel TV. He's showing at a gallery in SFCA.

David Byrne also published his Microsoft Powerpoint-based artworkMicrosoft Powerpoint artwork (though not online). He actually also does presentations in Powerpoint describing his artistic process. He's a big proponent of Internet radio and, in a presentation at SWSX last year, said that he tended to download pirated music due to DRM content restrictions. Some of his other artwork is displayed here.

Richard Lloyd is in town...

2007-05-18T04:24:00.000-04:00

Television is playing a free, final (with this lineup) show in June, as Richard Lloyd is going to tour with his new band the Sufi Monkeys to promote Radiant Monkey, which he compares to Patti Smith's seminal Horses.

The final show conflicts with my favorite band Heartless Bastards (not current but they have been and will again) that same night. What do to?

Eyeball NYC

2007-05-17T17:33:00.000-04:00

Eyeball NYC is a graphics and animation house in NY that does some cool stuff, some of which is ubiquitous and other not seen much in the US before. Their corporate presentation video is pretty great though.

Hitler or Falwell

2007-05-17T00:48:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty great game because I'm always surprised by the correct answer!

"This 'turn the other cheek' business is all well and good but it's not what Jesus fought and died for."

Gold record

2007-05-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

The Voyager spacecraft carry a gold plated phonograph that's intended to be and audio and visual time capsule for extraterrestrials to enjoy. This was in the age before audio copy protection however they'll need an old turntable to play the 16RPM record.

Someone's even done a mash-up. Listen to more interesting, NASA-free mash-ups are here.

Paintings by Art Frahm

2007-05-15T17:16:00.000-04:00

Fans of classic pin-ups and ladies in distress should check out the work of Art Frahm. He helped popularize this particular take on women in trouble during the late-40's-50's. Bill Medcalf is amongst his less fetishist contemporaries. Without a room full of leering on-lookers and the bad dream, near-possibility of the situations, modern interpretations are much less charming.

You can view larger versions of Frahm's work or purchase prints.

Illogical

2007-05-14T18:13:00.000-04:00

UCLA has published their photography archives online. Goes back to 1920 and has tons of cool stuff. I love browsing old negatives even the half-faded ones with writing all over the edges. Here's a protest of the pending cancellation of Star Trek.

Anyway, there's awesome stuff here. Thanks UCLA librarians!

Current favorite band: Dan Deacon

2007-05-14T15:30:00.000-04:00

One man bands always impress me. There's no one to really play off of and find motivation in besides the voices in your own head. For a while I really enjoyed Phillip Roebuck who performed one possessed show opening for Clem Snide and then sort of disappeared from NY.
Dan Deacon plays like a guy with no other options. Allison and I pogoed like 30 year olds at his show last week. Check out his web site or buy his latest disc.