Archive for the ‘Computing & Internet’ Category

At Macworld Expo 2010

I’ll be at Macworld Expo starting tomorrow night.
As I usually do with trade shows (when I’m not already hopelessly over-booked), I like to be open and offer to meet with just about anyone… fans… people that want to write for the sites, all the way to companies exhibiting.
Just hit the contact me link to let [...]

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Apple’s Glass Trackpad for New Users – Confusing? Or a Goodbye?

This is a great case study in explaining new technology to new users.
Apple’s glass trackpad makes a lot of sense to people that have been using trackpads for years. Whenever I hand someone a MacBook with one… they take a look at it and are perplexed… sometimes scared.
But then I tell them to just “click [...]

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Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2 is Much Better, Ready for Prime Time

While I suggested mainstream techies avoid Flash 10.1 Beta 1, the new beta is much better. 1080p YouTube now works flawlessly in Windows and Mac OS X.
It’s actually quite impressive, especially considering Apple won’t let folks author QuickTime X plug-ins.
I do have to take this moment to warn Apple that 2014 could very much be [...]

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Sprint Dev Conference 4G Modems Finally Work

As I noted previously, Sprint 4G modems issued at Sprint’s Open Developers Conference did not work with Windows 7 or Vista SP2.
Fast forward to last week. SmartView 2.28 was released, and I fired it up in hopes that the demo units finally worked.
The result? They do. Download it and finally enjoy your 4G freebie.

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Snow Leopard + FAT32 Format + Windows Mobile = Problem

I’ve run into a bug, and am having a bit of trouble pinpointing who’s side it’s on.
Here’s the long and the short of it. Take an SD card, format it on your (Snow Leopard) Mac for MS-DOS (FAT32). Now, insert it into a Windows Mobile device.
As I’ve found, Windows Mobile won’t read the card. I’m [...]

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Bento Users: Issues Upgrading to Bento 3? Try Firefox.

Tonight I attempted to purchase the upgrade from Bento 2 to Bento 3. It didn’t go perfectly.
FileMaker is offering Bento 1 and Bento 2 users a discounted upgrade to Bento 3 for $29. I personally think Bento 2 users should have gotten more of a discount, considering the lightweight transitions. But, this is FileMaker, and [...]

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What to do when Microsoft sells you an invalid Product Key?

No seriously, I’m asking what department I’m supposed to go to.
Here’s the deal. I purchased two Windows Vista Home Premium product keys way back when Vista was shipping. They were $50/each, under their Family Upgrade Discount deal. I purchased the keys from a special Windows e-store that is since defunct.
Fast forward to 2009. I only [...]

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Comcast Can’t Activate My Modem In (Their) Market

Or… You’re (not) ready already with Comcast…
The reason I wrote this article, in full detail: I hope Comcast reads this. I hope it’s passed around in their halls quietly. I hope they look at this and it gets slipped under each and every VP’s office door. I hope they all see that these are the [...]

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My New Favorite BSOD

Right outside of Apple Store Santa Clara. I could tell it was a genuine Blue Screen of Death instantly from the code. But… this could make for a good marketing strategy.

Bonus points for diagnosing the BSOD and finding the best solution.

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Google Needs to Realize People Travel (to Puerto Rico)

I had to vaporize all cookies in Google Chrome today, because Google kept defaulting to www.google.com.pr instead of allowing me to switch back to www.google.com.
It appears this problem is mostly limited to anyone (and everyone) that pulls up Google while traveling to Puerto Rico. When you travel, Google loads up the in-country version of Google [...]

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