http://gre.gs/

Facebook & Windows Live on Messages for Mac

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 01:33:00 -0700

I’ve used many instant messaging clients over the years. Especially since the move to Mac back in 2007, I’ve particularly found Adium and Trillian to be the best matches for me. However with the release of Messages on Mac it’s now a little frustrating to have two messaging applications sitting on my dock.

By default Messages accepts AIM, Jabber, Google Talk, and of course your Apple account to enable you to send and receive messages to iPhones and iPads. One thing that bugged me though was the lack of support for MSN (Windows Live) or Facebook. I like to have all my messaging services logged in at once to make me available to my various contact lists.

Facebook

Firstly open up Messages then go to Preferences. From here you’ll want to select the Accounts tab and click the small “+” icon at the bottom left to add a new account. Then input the following information.

Account Type: Jabber
Account Name: [Your Username]@chat.facebook.com
Server: chat.facebook.com
Port: 5222

You’ll want to leave Use SSL and Use Kerberos unchecked. If you don’t have a Facebook username yet then go to facebook.com/username and set one for yourself.

MSN (Windows Live)

Unfortunately it seems to get MSN connected to Messages there isn’t quite a clean way of doing it. There are ways to hooking up your MSN account to Jabber but it’s a little convoluted and I honestly couldn’t be bothered doing it.

Instead I found a simple little plugin, called Cocoon, for Mac which enables iChat to have the option for MSN. This means it will work for Messages since iChat was replaced with Messages. Once installed simply return to Messages > Preferences > Accounts > “+” and you should now be able to select MSN as an Account Type.

Download Cocoon

Note: Cocoon doesn’t seem to be actively supported by its developers, guessing from the state of their GetSatisfaction board. Use it with caution and be aware bugs may fly into your face.

Changing the Location of Screenshots on Mac

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:23:43 -0700

I wanted my screenshots I take on my Mac to be saved to my Downloads folder. For some reason it was bugging me that they were filling up my Desktop. Also handy since I keep my Downloads folder in my dock, it means I have quick access to my latest screenshots.

So here’s how to do it, simply type this command into Terminal whilst replacing the ~/the/folder/you/want with the location of your desired folder.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/the/folder/you/want

Once you’re sure you have the folder you want then run this command to make the change stick;

killall SystemUIServer

All done.

Surprisingly I haven’t found a way to do it which didn’t involved a couple of Terminal commands. Seems like something Apple should have included in the preferences for Finder.

-mozkit-formatting-browser-specific-css

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:00:00 -0700

This is something many of you may already do or have better solutions to the problem at hand but I thought it would be worth sharing for those who haven’t given it some consideration before.

When it comes to making your CSS completely cross browser compatible you’re often required to include some browser specific CSS. This is particularly true with various CSS3 properties like border-radius and box-shadow, of which I use very, very regularly. Normally I write CSS properties in alphabetic order, makes it really easy to scan through lines of code and find what you’re after. Problem I face is when code is written alphabetically, especially when CSS3 properties come into play you get a rather annoying mess like so;

.class {
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
background: #fafbfc;
border: 1px solid #cdd3d9;
border-radius: 3px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
padding: 10px 8px;
}

One of the major issues with this formatting is I often forget to update the vendor specific values, resulting in difference experiences between browsers. A simple yet elegant solution makes both the writing and modifying of vendor specific properties very easy.

.class {
background: #fafbfc;
border: 1px solid #cdd3d9;
border-radius: 3px;
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
padding: 10px 8px;
}

All vendor specific properties are listed below the generic property and tabbed. It means when you come to edit the generic’s value you remember instantly to update the vendor’s value since they’re directly below.

It’s such a simple thing but it makes a big difference to your CSS’s eligibility and ease-of-updating.

My Three YC Mistakes

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 10:30:00 -0700

And how you can go about avoiding them if you apply.

I was very honored to be part of the Summer 2011 class of Y Combinator with my product Interstate. I will admit that pretty much up until our interview in Mountain View I hadn’t the slightest clue who or what YC was. I think I knew it was some kind of investment firm but not much else, I also knew it had invested in a few products I already used such as Dropbox and AirBnB but that was pretty much my extent of knowledge about YC. Unfortunately that likely led me to mistreat the YC process and not use it to its full potential. Here are some of the things I think are important to take full advantage of which I unfortunately didn’t.

Use Office Hours

This is probably the most important of the whole lot so at least make sure you read this section. Office hours for those of you who don’t know are quick help and advice like sessions with the YC partners. They range quite a bit in terms of length depending on who you speak with and what you plan to speak about, generally everyone gets the same share during the course of a day.

When we were in the 3 month period of the YC dinners I think we maybe attended 4 or 5 office hours in total, mostly because we didn’t know what to speak about or just felt like we didn’t need to. Both of these thoughts are wrong.

Firstly the sessions are extremely helpful for finding things you should be speaking about that you didn’t think of before. The partners will often ask you questions which you hadn’t given any thought to and you’ll be better for it.

Secondly we had the idea we didn’t need help because we were still in the heavy development process and that maybe it would be too much of a distraction to make the hour trip to the YC office. Not only will the partners provide great advice on how to approach various development issues but they may even have a contact who will take away the need for something to be developed altogether.

Meet Your Whole Group

I think this is mostly a problem with a few of the later groups who have 30 or more companies in their batch. There were 150 founders in my batch if I remember correctly, that’s quite a lot of people to try and speak to let alone get to know. However I found the few I did speak to I became good friends with which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. I found that when I met some of the other founders outside of YC or at YC events after our initial time period there I got along with them fantastically too, which is a shame since I spent 3 months at a dinner table with them but never spoke.

Of course there are more benefits than just meeting great people, those same great people will help you progress too. Much like the partners your fellow YC'ers will provide you with feedback and help when you come a cropper and you will find you will do the same back. This will be incredibly beneficial once you begin to raise funds because investors will likely ask you and the other’s what you think about various companies from your batch. If you have a great relationship with your batch members then you’re more likely to do well after the initial 3 months are up too.

Bring A Notepad

During the 3 months you spend at YC you will get so much advice that you may be left spinning in circles. One of the ways you’ll be given advice is by the dinner guests who will usually present in front of the room with stories about how they got to where they are or provide incredibly helpful and thoughtful information regarding running a startup.

The frustration looking back now is caused by the lack of any note taking I did. I would often lie to myself that I would simply use my iPad or laptop in order to take notes. However iPads are awful to try and type on, especially if you make a mistake. It would be rather embarrassing to ask an important guest to pause for a second whilst you tap a couple of words you screwed up. Laptops are great for taking the notes but you quickly realize how loud the keystrokes are when you’re trying to keep up with someone speaking.

So, buy a notepad and preferably a large one or many small ones. Note down every piece of advice you think will be relevant to you or your startup. Most importantly keep them safe or even transcribe them for your fellow YC'ers. I was very grateful that we had numerous people who kept notes and sent them to all their fellow batch members, if they hadn’t I would be completely noteless.

The Indefinite Tesco Newsletter

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:59:00 -0700

A few years ago I signed up for a Tesco Clubcard since I lived directly opposite a Tesco in Birmingham. As usual I never actually finished the sign up process and was never a Clubcard holder. Obviously that doesn’t stop Tesco from sending me newsletters on how to get the most out of my non-existant card.

I get a Tesco Clubcard newsletter about every few weeks or months, never reading them of course. Mostly scrolling directly to the bottom to find the unsubscribe link. There’s one problem though, I can’t unsubscribe.

The page the newsletter links to asks for your email address in order to unsubscribe. I provide my email and then I get a lovely error that says;

Sorry, due to a technical error, we have been unable to opt you out of receiving Clubcard emails at this time. Please try again later.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt for the first 6 or 7 times then it started to get annoying. Every single time I got one of their ugly and annoying emails I’d try to unsubscribe and get the same useless error notice.

So this week I decided I’d contact Tesco directly in order to get myself removed finally. I used their online form on their site which annoyingly asks for ridiculous amounts of information just to ask a question. It required a UK mobile number and home address just to send a damn email to get help. Both of which are pointless for me since I live in California but my assumption was they were asking it merely to get information for information’s sake.

Then I got this email;

As I said I’m not in the UK and to prevent from being charged ridiculous amounts for receiving SMS or phone calls to my UK mobile I keep it in Airplane Mode. This is why they weren’t able to contact me however at no point did I ask for phone support. If I wanted phone support I would have called in the first place, all I’m asking is for my email to be removed from a mailing list.

I was slightly annoyed that they just wouldn’t remove my email without contacting me by phone. I am sending the email from the address I wish to be removed as well, so it’s not as if they require any more proof that it is in fact me who is requesting removal. So I respond explaining I’m not in the UK and therefore my phone number will not work and asked for my email to be removed once again.

Then I got another lovely email from them;

Yup. The same copy as there was in the previous email stating they had tried to contact me by phone again. I don’t know if it’s even worth my time responding again as I have a funny feeling I might get the same email again.

This is the single best way to piss me off since I never read newsletters and never knowingly sign up to receive them from any services. Hopefully someone sues the ass off Tesco just to get them to wisen up about their newsletter policies.

Update

Received an email from Tesco but it’s kind of a crap solution. They say;

I’ve completed our email unsubscribe form for you today and closed your Clubcard account. Although it won’t be fully effective for about 21 days, after this time you won’t get any emails from us.

21 days To remove my email from a mailing list? Tesco need a new web team.

A Brand New Interstate

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:57:46 -0700

TL;DR: Sign up for the new Interstate BETA at http://interstateapp.com/beta/.

After months of radio silence from us here at Interstate, we’re very happy to finally announce the BETA of a brand new Interstate.

We decided to build a brand new Interstate simply because the product which we have today is very different to what it was when we first launched. The first release of Interstate was a very simple one-page app that just let you make a public roadmap. Since then Interstate has evolved in to a full-blown project management tool but we haven’t changing much of the UI or codebase. Whilst we’re happy and proud of the current product we have today, we’ve known that it could be much better if we had the chance to re-build it from a clean slate - so that’s exactly what we did and boy is it good.

The new version of Interstate is now ready for BETA testing and so we’re looking for users willing to try it out.

Simply go to http://interstateapp.com/beta/ and enter your email address to show your interest and we’ll shoot you an email when we’re ready for you!

We are really looking forward to launching the new Interstate, it’s certainly both our most exciting and our most advanced release to date and we think you’re going to love it. We know that we do.

Neil deGrasse Tyson's iPhone Story

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:49:00 -0700

I was watching the interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson on On The Verge where he was asked about his life as a meme and his wishes for NASA. However the interview then moved onto gadgets and Tyson is a particular fan of Apple products and says his MacBook Pro is a part of him, not just a computer. He then told the story of how he first bought the iPhone, I’ve tried to transcribe it as best as I could below;

Some years ago, the year when the iPhone first came out, I had semi-season tickets to the Yankees. So I’m at Yankee’s Stadium, the iPhone had been out for a month. When you have season tickets you know the other people in the sections. I’m there on a Wednesday afternoon game and a couple comes in, kind of young, if I were to stereotype them I’d say fresh out of college, first internship in new york, summer intern, right? So maybe early twenties, a couple. They come in and sit to my left. She sits to my left, he sits to her left.

The woman is especially attractive, like on a scale that’s just kind of off scale. [Interviewer: Beyond 10?] Yeah 11. He is kind of frumpy, you would not have pair them but love knows no bounds, so it’s fine. So they’re looking around and, it’s my town, it’s my stadium and clearly they’ve never been to the stadium before. So I said “Have you been to Yankee Stadium before?” “This is my first time ever at any sporting event.” she replied. So I said “Oh okay well that’s Babe Ruth’s Corner and that’s where they…” While I’m saying this, it’s the first and a half inning, she’s on the jumbotron so the left field camera found her. Who ends up on the jumbotron? Really beautiful people and crazy people end up on the jumbotron, right? People with like their underwear on their heads, stuff like that. So it wasn’t just my assessment, the left field camera from 200 yards away found her and put her up on the jumbotron. So she think everybody’s turn is up next because beautiful people don’t really know what the world is actually like.

So he pulls out his iPhone, and so I looked because I’m thinking about the iPhone but I want data. Data not supplied to me by Apple alone. So I lean to him and I say “How do you like your iPhone?”, she answers “It’s his new girlfriend!” and I said “Wooooooaaaahhh”. So that was a Wednesday and by the Monday I had my iPhone. If he’s looking at his iPhone and not her and she’s on the jumbotron that’s gotta be an awesome device.

So to this day, I think about this all the time, if I ever have the opportunity to build a time machine with Stewie (Griffin), we go back and if I were to meet Isaac Newton and bring one thing back it’s going to be the iPhone.

You can watch the interview over at On The Verge and Tyson’s interview starts at roughly 22:30.

The Mac login screen has some sexy little user picture...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:24:25 -0800

The Mac login screen has some sexy little user picture containers. Decided to make a replica PSD, free for all to use.

Download Now

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I'm a Steve Jobs fanboy...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:24:46 -0800

As many of you know today (March 7th) they announced the 3rd generation iPad with a couple of hardware updates and some sleek new applications. Nothing that impressed me but I’ve not been impressed nor expected to be impressed since the original iPad. As a product the iPad is a sidekick to my iPhone and Mac. It only comes into its own when I have an 11 hour flight ahead of me.

What I noticed today whilst watching the live blogs and streams of the Apple event is that I’m definitely not an Apple fanboy like many would label me. I’ve known that for a long time since I still consider products like Apple TV and iTunes to be some of the worst in their field. Apple TV mostly due to its lack of content, especially comparing to the likes of Roku. iTunes because it’s still overpriced for non-music content and it’s possibly one of the worst pieces of software that I use regularly.

Turns out I’m a Steve Jobs fanboy. Even without watching him present live, just the pictures of him presenting on the live blogs gave me anticipation for the full video. I would without a doubt watch the event once the video went online however now I know for a fact I will just watch the ads and clips Apple release afterwards. As much as I think Tim Cook is more than capable of running Apple he’s just not Jobs. He’s not the father of Apple and never will be unfortunately.

I remember the first time I was properly into Apple products, it wasn’t that long ago. Up until the age of 17 (4 years ago) I was a Windows user. In fact I didn’t really know Macs existed and hadn’t even used one yet. To me Apple made iPods and that was their best product. Then I went to college and one of my classmates had a white 13" MacBook. I instantly fell in love with it and went out that weekend and used my savings my grandparents setup for me to buy one. It was not only my first Mac but also my first laptop to myself, I had desktops to myself before that but no laptops.

Within a few months the MacBook Air was going to be launched and I decided I’d give the event a watch. I discovered this fellow with grayish hair, John Lennon-esque glasses and a strangely captivating manner. Turns out his name was Steve Jobs and he founded Apple. That was me hooked, not to Apple but to Apple’s events to be entertained by this man. He made simple products sounds incredible and lo and behold a lot of them were due to their simplicity.

For many he was an innovator but for me he was also part entertainer. His captivating style and presence is among the likes of Sir David Attenborough and Morgan Freeman for me. He could narrate nature documentaries.

October sucked.

Live analytics from the day Aziz Ansari tweeted a link to Drunk...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:46:00 -0800

Live analytics from the day Aziz Ansari tweeted a link to Drunk Ron Swanson. This contributed massively to the site reaching 1,000,000 views by more than 700,000 people with more than 850 hours of dancing being watched.

Thank you very much Aziz!

Keeping Windows In Position Across Displays On Mac

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:33:00 -0800

For a while now I’ve had the problem of rearranging my application windows whenever I connected or disconnected my MacBook to a display. I first had it with my 15" MacBook Pro to a 24" Cinema Display back in 2010 and now have run into the same problem after getting a 13" MacBook Air and the 27" Cinema Display.

For a while I just used window snapping or arranging tools which allowed me to use keyboard shortcuts or drag-n-drop to arrange the windows by size and position. This was fine but still meant I had to do it every time I connected or disconnected, since I do this twice a day minimum it started to get frustrating.

I’ve now found what seems to be a pretty full proof solution to this, although slightly pricey for my taste. Stay is a menubar application which allows you to record the positioning of windows per display size. That means it detects the display resolution you’re using and arranges the windows how you saved previously. The price of $14.99 is steep but worth it if you connect and disconnect a lot I suppose.

I have experienced an issue with Google Chrome automatically being restored to the correct size and position. So far this is the only application I’ve found which doesn’t, but I simply use Window Magnet. Again it’s a tad pricey at $4.99 but worth it for originally arranging your windows into various sizes and positions.

How I like my Mac’s sound setup!

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:57:26 -0800

How I like my Mac’s sound setup!

5 years ago today I signed up to my first service as...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:00:05 -0800

5 years ago today I signed up to my first service as “Awfy” and have been using that username ever since.

Photo

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:31:41 -0800

A beautiful painting from Hyde and Francisco of San Francisco.

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:52:00 -0800

A beautiful painting from Hyde and Francisco of San Francisco.

I have a friend working with me today.

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:06:24 -0800

I have a friend working with me today.

I think Microsoft just gave up when they designed the Kinect...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:11:00 -0800

I think Microsoft just gave up when they designed the Kinect wheel, it’s horrid!

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:18:15 -0800

Ashlee and Jon know how to celebrate the holidays!

LG’s almost-borderless TV looks incredible. I’d love...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:45:07 -0800

LG’s almost-borderless TV looks incredible. I’d love to see this wall-mounted so that ugly stand wasn’t there.

Apple’s new iPhone ad featuring… Santa!

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:36:05 -0800

Apple’s new iPhone ad featuring… Santa!