I finally had some time this evening to install Mac OS X 10.5 on my MacBook Pro. I have not done a thorough run through of all the new bells and whistles but I have to say – it is pretty sharp OS. Everything is very crisp and clean. I will report back later when I have more of an opinion. 
Archive for October, 2007
All posts written in October, 2007.
Oct
31
2007
Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Finally
Oct
29
2007
Battlefield 1942
Well, after hearing my brother-in-law was a hardcore Battlefield 1942 player still, I decided to pick it up so he could experience my wrath. I also pulled in a few friends (Ken and Doug). I finally got it installed and even played a quick round this afternoon to get used to the controls. So – if you still play this old, but good game, I will be playing under the screen name of [beckett]. (Thomas Beckett)
Oct
25
2007
full tv episodes on the web (legal).
I have been watching TV shows on the web through the big Network’s web sites (ABC, CBS, NBC) for a little over a year now when the TiVO or the TiVO user fails to catch a show I am interested in, but I really had not checked out all the big network’s full episode catalogs in awhile. I mainly go to ABC to catch up on Brothers and Sisters and had also decided to check out a few new series (I really like Car Poolers). I then decided to go to CBS and NBC’s catalogs and I was very impressed! I can even watch my soap opera Guiding Light – in full – from anywhere I have a web browser and a high speed connection. If you have not checked out the “full episode” sections of ABC, CBS, and NBC – do so next time you find yourself flipping aimlessly through the channels. There is a good chance you missed an episode of something you watch – which is now available for you free!
Oct
23
2007
Out of Disk Space
If you all the sudden get database errors (select, cannot login, cannot write, etc) – and everything looks ok (from the database end of things) check to make sure you have not run out of disk space. How do I know? Well – let’s say last night I had to do a major fall clean-up. If you know me and my monitoring habits, this will sound a bit confusing because one of the many things I monitor is disk space, but when your hosting company accidentally halves your disk space – trouble can occur, and quickly. I have not had many issues at all with Liquid Web – but this was major…and handled a little slower than I would have liked.
Oct
22
2007
Easy CSS Fix For Height Issues
I have been working on a number of half baked sites – sites that some other developer started and I was called in to complete them. Two of the sites had the same issue – major differences in height/spacing. If you ever run into this, please take a look to see what the “line-height” is set to. If it is not set at all, set it to something and work from there. If it is set to something, make sure it is not set in multiple places for the same element. Line height is one of the most overlooked way to troubleshoot IE/other browser spacing/height issues.
Oct
17
2007
Late Night…
I know I am working too late when my menu bar eyeballs are bloodshot. (I have been carrying around this “Extension” since Mac OS 7.)
Oct
16
2007
Jappler Recommends: Do Not Use iPowerWeb Hosting
I have a lot of hosting companies – thanks to my clients who come in with all kinds of hosting companies. I have found that some hosting companies are better than others in terms of support and I just found another horrible support company that I wanted to mention: iPowerWeb. I was on hold multiple times today for over 30 minutes and I waited to “Live Chat” with someone for over 20 minutes. When someone actually got on and tried to help, after 1 hour, they told me they could not help me and had to escalate the issue. Yikes. (other hosting posts)
Oct
15
2007
Slightly Less Busy Now!
I am always excited to complete a project – as the end of the project is by far the most stressful, but when the project goes live – it makes up for it. The last few months I have been working with a talented group of people at TIME Inc. to create a web site for their senior political analyst Mark Halperin and the site debuted today. The site was exciting to work on and I learned a lot. Now that this is out, hopefully I will be able to post a bit more.
Oct
11
2007
Jappler Recommends: McDonalds' Online Monopoly Game
If there is one thing I absolutely love about McDonalds (besides their superior Coke mixture) I love their Monopoly game. I even dreamt about the game a few nights ago that I pulled off Park Place and Boardwalk from the same Coke…and won $246. With that said – the excitement of pulling off the little game pieces from my medium Coke and putting them onto the board is usually enough to make me smile. I happened to have a pile of pieces at my house (maybe 6) and decided to go online and check out their “online Monopoly game“. When I first got to the page – I was instantly frustrated. My #21 pet peeve in life happens to be sites that resize my browser window. However, after I resize it back to how I wanted it – I was blown away with the coolness of the site. I entered in my name and information, and then started to play. It was cool, intense, and well done (and my #12 pet peeve in life is overdone flash). I look forward to playing soon! If you have not checked this out – do it! (This means you Julie)
*For the most fun, wait until you have 5 pieces – each piece = roll of the dice.
Oct
08
2007
Jappler Recommends: Smooth Gallery
I have needed a good solution for a “cool” image gallery/slideshow for a few clients and have been very happy with Smooth Gallery. Why do I like this over something else from YUI or jQuery? I think this is by far the most easy to use and customize gallery/slide show. The documentation is clear and easy to read, and adding or changing parameters is extremely easy and clear. The other libraries have similar gallery/slideshow code, but if you are not a javascript fan – this is the one for you.
