Don't Back Down

I generally like things being made available online. Sure, I have issues with putting data online, because when my connection goes out - and it will go out - I like to be able to get to it. But providing the option to get at things online is a nice feature. Making it so that they have to be retrieved online just blows. It really blows.

One of the hats that I wear in my life as a computer consultant has to do with networks - and when I'm wearing that hat, it means that I have to deal with Microsoft products. This really doesn't mean that I am a Microsoft hater, because a lot of what they do is decent. But some days they do nothing other than make my life miserable. Take eOpen, for example.

Read "Microsoft eOpen Sucks" »

Last week I mentioned that we had tried out the Redbox DVD Vending Machine, so I figured it was only fair that I review the Netflix DVD rental service as well. While Redbox generally serves the impulse renter, Netflix is more for the serious consumer of videos. The reason being is that Redbox has no commitment. You walk up, choose a movie, swipe your card, and you're done (except for having to return your movie, and even that is optional if you want to pay a hefty price tag for it).

Netflix, meanwhile, requires you to sign up. Now you can try out the service for two weeks - and during that time you can churn through about as many DVDs as you can handle - but you still have to sign up for it, meaning you have a commitment. That isn't an entirely bad thing, however, as Netflix delivers the videos right to your door (well, the mail carrier delivers them, Netflix just sends them), and you can then drop them in the mail when you are done, shipped right back to Netflix. Postage is included in every plan. It's actually a sweet system.

Read "Netflix DVD Rental Service" »

I really try not to take too many medications, mostly because I've had pretty bad luck with them. I don't know how others look at medications, but I believe that most people probably don't look at over-the-counter medications as a problem. Unfortunately I have allergies, and a couple of years ago I just could not shake a cold, so I ended up taking just about anything I could get my hands on (legal items, thankyouverymuch). By that I mean I was looking for any sort of decongestant to provide some sort of relief.

In the end, I found out that decongestants could have a bad interaction with Dilantin, but not before having at least one seizure that we could attribute to it. Now that's not to say that a decongestant by itself can cause seizures. I don't think that they can. I also don't take Dilantin any more, and I don't know that decongestants cause problems with Zonegran. But it certainly made me gun-shy, you know?

Read "Ibuprofen is My Friend" »

One of the more challenging pieces of the Movable Type administration interface in version 4 is the syntax highlighting when you are editing your templates. That's not to say that the highlighting is entirely bad, because it can be nice, and brighten your day. Rather than having a plain old black and white text box, you get colors, and line numbers, and it does make things work a bit better. In 4.0, however, you had problems with cutting and pasting. Though improved in 4.1, there are still some problems - notably slow load times.

While you can disable the syntax highlighting (known as CodePress) by clicking on a button, the problem is that the script still loads and processes the data on-screen before disabling the editor, meaning that load times can still be slow. What's worse is that the preference is stored in a cookie, so if you're on another computer, or if another user logs in, the highlighting comes right back. Because of this, I've seen repeated requests on disabling the highlighting permanently. Unfortunately, you can't just remove the codepress directory or you'll get an error and be unable to edit your templates at all. Luckily, there is a solution.

Read "Disable Template Syntax Highlighting in Movable Type 4" »

Now that we've taken a look at getting a handle on our email spam, it's important to try and figure out how to really get on top of it. Sure, we can manage the spam process, and try to make sure that it doesn't get the better of us, but to make the most of it, it is important that we understand how email works to get the most out of the process. Since I use pair Networks, this will naturally look at it from that angle, but much of this can apply to any service.

First, of course, you have to be aware of the spam that you are receiving. We have already talked about that. But then you have to make sure to do everything in your power to keep from receiving more of it. While I know there are lots of people who swear by GMail for it's effectiveness in fighting spam, I have to say that I really don't find it any better than any other tool. You just have to find what works best for you. That doesn't mean that GMail is bad - it just means that is isn't going to be the best because someone says that it is the best.

Read "How Do You Actually Control Your Email Spam?" »

One of the most annoying items that we all face is undoubtedly email spam. Unfortunately, there is little that we can do about it, and so I figured that it was time to try and understand it better. Not so long ago, I made two changes that made this not only possible, but useful. First, I switched from using POP3 email to IMAP. This in turn led to the other change, which was to (finally) dump Outlook and start using Thunderbird exclusively. In fact, the only time that I've used Outlook in the last few months was to help a family member figure out what was going wrong. But that's a story for another time.

What these two changes have done has allowed me to look at email spam differently. You probably already know that Outlook handles junk email. I've mentioned it before. More than once, actually. Unfortunately, the Outlook junk filter doesn't have much of a brain to it. I'm sure it does something, but it doesn't seem to ever tell you anything about it, and operating in a void doesn't help anyone. Thunderbird, meanwhile, doesn't tell you a lot either, but it does interact with the most popular spam filter on the planet (SpamAssassin) and it also allows you to tag items as junk and not junk, which supposedly will help future items. I don't know if that helps or not, but it feels like it does, and sometimes that makes all the difference.

Read "Getting a Handle on Email Spam" »

It seems like I just can't seem to get rid of an annoying error that crops up every once in a while where I'm unable to delete AVI files through Windows XP. To be fair, I should probably elaborate and say that I'm unable to delete AVI files through Windows XP when I'm using Windows Explorer. Were I to use the command line, I'm sure that it would be just fine.

I think that I might have finally managed to lick this problem - though at this point I'm really suspecting that it has just gone into remission, so I don't know for sure. If you've seen it, then you know what happens. You try and delete (or move, which involves a delete) an AVI file and you get an annoying message telling you that the file is in use. You can kill the file handle using something like Process Explorer, but it would be so much better to not have to worry about it.

Read "Error Deleting AVI Files in Windows XP" »

With the announcement earlier this week that Wal-Mart is going to be placing Redbox DVD vending machines in many of their US stores, I figured that it was time to see if any of them had made their way to Charlotte yet. A little over a year ago, when Peter mentioned Redbox on his site, I checked to see if there were any in Charlotte, and at the time, there weren't. Now, there are a few, mostly at Harris Teeter stores.

So we decided to try out renting from one of the machines to see what it was like. Overall, the result was decent. The idea certainly has merit, but there are certainly a few ideas where it can be improved. Being able to rent a DVD almost on impulse is pretty cool. I mean if it didn't have some chance of success, why would just about every store have stacks and stacks of DVDs that you could buy on your way out the door? The main thing that we noticed was in time. That is, it needs to speed up the process just a bit. Other than that, it was a decent experience.

Read "Redbox DVD Vending Machine" »

Now that I've mentioned what would make TypePad really rock because those features are things that I run into every day, and also came up with a few features that would make TypePad just a bit better with some features that I run into, but perhaps not quite as often, you might be thinking that I don't like TypePad.

That's actually not the case. In fact, the more I work with it, the more I like it. Sure, you can't do PHP on TypePad, and using PHP makes managing sites easier. But you can use SSI, which is awfully close. In fact, since you use the blog name in SSI calls, all you have to do is substitute one blog's name for another in the SSI and you suddenly have a module that you can easily include on multiple blogs. This isn't quite the same as having a module that you can include from multiple places, because you can't actually parse the content for template tags, but it's close. It isn't Movable Type, but there's a lot to like in there.

Read "TypePad Does Have Some Great Features" »

Perhaps this is in reverse order, since I first mentioned what would make TypePad really rock, but hey - those are the things that I run into every time I use TypePad, so they were foremost on my mind. This next batch of items are things that are high on my list, because I get them a lot, but I don't necessarily see them every time I log in. They are just little nitpicky items that I'd like to see go away.

In all honesty, it would probably be better to address these first, because like most things, it's the little things that will get you. In life, you can often deal with the largest of problems, yet you're only too happy to let the small stuff build up and build up until you just can't take it any more. This list is all about the small stuff. The items that you only see from time to time, but that - if fixed - would make using the service just that much better.

Read "Now, What TypePad Could Use to Make it Better" »

Most of the work I do as a Consultant is for Movable Type. But I also work with TypePad, and I've actually seen some increasing activity in this area, most notably from larger companies who may not be ready to run their own MT installation and just want to get something ready and roll it out quickly. For this, TypePad is the perfect platform. It may not be as flexible as Movable Type, but it does offer you plenty of power in a nice interface.

What it doesn't do is give you a few tools that would make things run much better. Though comment pagination was announced a while back, and archive pagination came along afterwards, you still can't paginate your main index (though the code has been added). In fact, you'll find that some customers - even those who pay for the most expensive accounts - can't even use the pagination features that have already been announced! But pagination isn't the only feature missing from TypePad.

Read "What Would Make TypePad Really Rock" »