Bill Boebel

Who needs Google Chrome?

2008-11-15T13:14:11-05:00

While watching College Gameday this morning I decide to make my Firefox act like Google Chrome. Here is how...

Install these Firefox add-ons:

Speed Dial - Displays thumbnails of your most frequently accessed sites on new blank Firefox tabs. (not automatically populated like Chrome, you must add sites manually)

Tiny Menu - Lets you collapse your menu to save space.

Locationbar² - Emphasizes the domain name in the address bar, to reduce risk of being tricked by a spoof site.

Prism - Application shortcuts for online apps. This one was tricky to get working with Ubuntu. The firefox add-on didn't work and v0.9 had some style issues. To get it working I installed v0.9.1 from Fabien Tassin PPA.. https://launchpad.net/~fta/+archive ...it's probably much easier in OS X and Windows.

Then you can create Webmail Prism app using URL:
https://beta.mailtrust.com/mailbeta/login.php?user_name=EMAIL&password=PASSWORD
(filling in your email address and password)

Here is the launcher icon I used:

Not quite as pretty as Chrome, but its a good start...

(oh ya, and I turned my Ubuntu desktop into a Mac. More on that some other time)

OpenOffice 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10

2008-11-02T09:49:18-05:00

Ubuntu 8.10 didn't come with OpenOffice 3.0 (for good reason it seems). Once v3.0.1 is released they'll put it in the Ubuntu backports repository, but in the mean time you can get it here: https://launchpad.net/~openoffice-pkgs/+archive

full instructions

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid upgrade

2008-10-24T22:47:07-04:00

I upgraded to Ubuntu 8.10 tonight. It went smoothly.

The new mobile broadband connection management looks awesome, but it only supports AT&T and T-Mobile by default. Anyone know how to get it to work with Sprint?

Targeted ads

2008-10-17T11:57:57-04:00

Targeted advertising at it's best:
http://www.davidcatalano.com/article/perfect-ad-placement/

Set expectations high, then exceed them; Or...

2008-09-17T17:17:54-04:00

After a horrible 20 hour airport experience flying from Boston to Charlotte in July, I received the email below from US Airways. This was one of many bad experiences I've had on US Airways over the years, so I thought "Wow, their customer service dept actually did something right!".

Well, I just got off the phone with US Airways to book a flight for my brother and I using our free vouchers, and guess what?... the vouchers saved us $27 per ticket!!! Is it just me or does the email below do an awesome job at setting their customers' expectations high (free ticket) and then not meeting those expectations. This is the opposite of what a good customer support organization should do. If they had not emailed me these vouchers, they would have only let me down once, not twice.

US Airways: Please have the leader of your customer support department call me so that I can him/her a good book to read.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Customer Relations" <customer.relations@usairways.com>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:44am

Dear Mr. Boebel:

We are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation of flight 2127 from Boston to New York on July 27, 2008 and for the impact this situation had on our valued customers. We recognize you expect reliable, convenient service and realize we fell short of that standard for your flight.

A thorough investigation of this incident revealed that weather was the reason for the unexpected cancellation. As the safety of our passengers and crew is our number one priority, we would not operate an aircraft that compromises this objective. Prior to departure, every aircraft must undergo numerous system checks by both certified mechanical and flight personnel before they are given clearance to depart.

As a result of the inconvenience you experienced, we have authorized one Electronic Air Check Plus (E-ACP) Voucher per passenger. You may apply this voucher towards the purchase of travel on US Airways. To take full advantage of this compensation, please review the enclosed terms and conditions of use. When you are ready to make your future travel arrangements, please call our Reservations Department at 1-800-428-4322 and refer to your voucher locator:
XXXXXX - BOEBEL/SCOTT
XXXXXX - BOEBEL/WILLIAM

We are grateful for the opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding your travel with us and would like you to return to US Airways for future travel. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Lori Flores
Customer Relations
Corporate Office

In case you miss me...

2008-08-18T20:08:31-04:00

http://twitter.com/bboebel

Boat

2008-05-26T22:50:26-04:00

I finally bought a real boat... a 21 foot 2004 Chaparral 204 SSI, with a 260 HP 5.0 L Mercruiser engine -- much better than the 16 foot Skiff my brother and I had before. We took it out for the first time today and it ran beautifully. The water in Claytor Lake was a bit cold still, but we got in for a few minutes.

Here are some pictures from today. I need to name her. Any suggestions?

No more Twitter Updates

2008-05-04T12:35:52-04:00

Damn it LoudTwitter! Fix your bugs. You are no longer allowed to post twitter updates to my blog.

Sorry about the 10+ duplicate posts folks. I've turned off all twitter updates now. It won't happen again. You can still get the updates via twitter.com/bboebel

Daily Twitter Updates

2008-05-03T20:29:20-04:00

21:24 Sitting outside at Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Cincinnati. Men in pink pig suits just repelled from a 30 story bldg. Runners are weird. #
15:55 At the "Bodies" exhibit at the Cincinnati museum. 16 real dissected and preserved dead people. I got to hold a human smoker's lung. #
17:00 A lady backed into my rental car at a light & drove off. I chased her through the ghetto for 10 min while on the phone w cops. She got away #
17:24 While giving details about the hit and run to a motorcycle cop , another car backed into me. Now this is just funny. #
19:46 Ferarri's Little Italy, Cinci - family style like Magiano's. The girls carb loaded for the marathon, while Kevin and I cab. loaded. #

Space Invaders

2008-04-24T11:13:03-04:00

Will and Jason hooked up one of the walls in our office last night with an 8-bit space invaders theme from whatisblik.com. Check it out...