mysiteonline™

Well, I didn't have any updates since I left work on Thursday for two reasons:

1. I stopped off at a friends house to give her the Christmas gift I picked up for her only expecting to be there a half hour to an hour. I was there from about 5:45pm 'til 9:00pm, I never got to BestBuy to pick up the keyboard/mouse.
2. I took work off on Friday to drive down to New Hampshire to see my new niece (and nephew, sister, and brother in law), and also exchange Christmas gifts with them. I picked up the keyboard and mouse while in New Hampshire (no sales tax) but didn't bring my laptop or Mac Mini with me, so I finally got it set up today.

Okay, well, either every single Macintosh lover I've met in person is extremely incompetent at describing things in full detail (that actually matter), or Mac OSX makes things so easy that people go all up in arms if something doesn't work as expected, and get extremely confused.

The keyboard and mouse worked flawlessly right out-of-the-box as a standard mouse and keyboard. It was all I wanted. I knew I needed to use the USB dongle regardless of the Mac Mini's internal Bluetooth or not...so the reviews weren't completely useless, but here I was thinking I needed to spend another $15 on ControllerMate and I really didn't. The mouse is as smooth as can be, too -- and I'm using it on my multicolored bed spread (because I'm cheap like that).

As an aside, the Macintosh automatically detected my 42" 1080p LCD TV as a 42" LCD monitor and also knew it was capable of 1080p resolution. It's kinda fun watching the HiDef Apple trailers now. Too bad I'm listening to the sound through the internal Mac Mini speaker.

"Read More" for the picture of the Mac Mini, 42" LCD, and my "desk" at home.

Continue reading "Happy New Year"

Posted by Brendon Kozlowski

According to Apple's new advertisement campaign, specifically the ad where "everything just kind of works with a Mac", I suspected that I'd have no problems when looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo for my new Mac Mini (first attempt at using the Mac OS, I figured it'd be good to add to my resume, and I also just enjoy learning new things -- no, I don't own an iPod, though I might buy a Nano purely for the ability to use the Nike+iPod functionality). So the Mac Mini comes with Bluetooth, and I needed more than a six foot (~1.8m) distance between myself and the computer as I plan on using my LCD TV as the monitor; that mean that standard wireless keyboards/mice won't work as their distance is averaging around 6', I needed something more like 12'. Bluetooth has a minimum distance of approximately 30', some advertise as ranging up to 100' distances.

...anyways...

So I start looking around for a keyboard that I might like. Nothing too expensive, I don't do all that "media function key button" stuff, I just want a standard keyboard that would hopefully have a above the Enter/Return key, and the two-column three-row set of keys above the arrow keys. Logitech's Cordless MX Duo would have been almost (I can't remember if it was Bluetooth capable or not, if it was then it really would have been) perfect...but they no longer make it, and it's virtually impossible to find for sale. So I kept looking, and looking, and looking. Keyboard/mice combos are pretty expensive these days! And some of them don't even have a base station recharger! Ridiculous!

Come to find out from reviews that many wireless keyboards (or mice) just do not work right out of the box with a Mac. Oh, and if you want to connect it -at all-, you'd better be ready to forget the internal bluetooth and use the USB dongle. As it is, to get certain things to work with the Mac, you need third party software that you either have to pay for, create yourself (with third party software), or go on a scavenger hunt. Oh, and then if you happen to have a NEW system that has not been booted once yet (ala mine), how do you install these drivers and/or pieces of software to get your non-wired devices to work? Right, find a spare USB keyboard. Luckily I actually have one - I'm not big on spare parts if it's just for my own stuff.

So, I now have to pay $15 extra, after getting a keyboard/mouse combo that I decided on because I had 4 requirements that didn't fit into Apple's plan:

1. I don't want Apple's Bluetooth keyboard.
2. I'd like to get a combo pack (keyboard & mouse).
3. I want a mouse charger so I don't have to continually buy batteries.
4. I need it to reach at least 12' (3.5m), thus the bluetooth - most cordless seem to advertise only a 6' reach...

I'll be going out to purchase my keyboard and mouse within the next hour or two and attempt getting it working over the weekend. I'll update things with my progress here. I hadn't posted any new blog entries lately because of all the unnecessary (at least it should be) research on getting standard devices (albeit over a non-standard, as far as drivers are concerned, protocol) to work on an OS. Other than this, I've been trying to work on an automatic image resizing script using someone else's class library. It should be quite easy to do once I finally decide how I want it to work.

Posted by Brendon Kozlowski

I don't think I can say it any better than Invision Power's main developer, Matt Mecham:

When people rush out to the nearest supermarket and buy enough food for a month when they only need two days worth. When people are flustered, irritated and easily annoyed. When it's all elbows and fuck yous when you're trying to navigate around the store. When the same four Christmas songs are played on the radio over and over again. When we wish for a white Christmas but the best we get is fog. When we watch Christmas films to try and invoke that elusive "Christmassy" feeling.

When you're with your family and it's all worthwhile.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Posted by Brendon Kozlowski

I've not posted much to my blog recently due to a few reasons. I have been taking time to myself, trying to understand the Zend Framework, MVC Authentication Design Patterns, Free MMO Asteroids-esque gaming (with Geometry-based eye-hand coordination and a new twist on multiplayer strategy fun mixed in), some beginning AJAX without any frameworks (that doesn't seem to work for me...), and a few other things...like sleep.

However, during the hiatus of non-posting, I've come across some interesting things:

1. Mike Cunningham, a scholar, gentleman, and fellow developer - though three times my senior (in terms of knowledge and experience)
2. An interesting way to complete a milestone with all involved stakeholders (I really like this simplicity)
3. "Veracon", the amazing 15 year old who has already made his mark on the internet society with his CSS Thesis site (a website dedicated to showcasing semantic, standards-based web designs) is going through a gradual see-it-as-it-happens website update. Somewhat fun to watch. Oh yes, and his blog is created with a completely home-spun Python based blogging system...and no, not Django (the [Ruby on] Rails of Python), straight Python.
4. MyMicroBalance, a free (donationware) application that can be used to track financial information has been released with an English language pack. When a fellow forum member showed this application in German, I had to ask if an English version was available. He requested it be made, and he updated me today with the news! Any other alternative programs (free or otherwise) have seemed to be either huge overkill, have a horrible interface, or just didn't seem to work.
5. Microformats and the interesting abilities they pose when coupled with things such as IBM's "Operator" Firefox extension to not only notify of found microformats, but use them and test/help create them!
6. Firefox Extension Sage for a small and lightweight feed reader (thanks, Mike).
7. Mozilla's Firefox Search Engine Plugin Code
8. Mozilla's use of OpenSearch for the new plugin code (which works for Firefox v2.x+ and IE7+) (as of this writing, there's nothing newer than FF v2.0.0.1 and IE7)
9. SearchPlugins.net - a repository for search plugins (and creating your own). Too bad I found it late...as of right now their upload function isn't working either.

Oh, by the way, I don't know what caused it, but an invalid character from within the database was causing the feed to be faulty. The RSS parser still should have (at least in my mind) removed it, but it didn't. It was easier just to modify the offending blog post and fix the corrupted character than to figure out why the script didn't remove it. I still need to edit the RSS parser to omit object/embed type tags and replace them with the URL instead (and be sure that multiple tags referencing the same URL are not duplicated). So, fret not fellow Serendipity users awaiting an update.

Posted by Brendon Kozlowski

Tomorrow's my birthday and I've been so busy working (and resting on weekends, I needed a break, it felt good) and finalizing Christmas gift stuff, I haven't had much time to sit down and relax. Considering how much money I realized I need to save up within the coming months, I think I'll have quite a bit of time on the weekends this winter. It's only another 10 days until the Winter Solstice! Until then, Happy Early Winter!

Posted by Brendon Kozlowski