dfbills.com http://dfbills.com dfbills.com http://dfbills.com/images/main/dfbills_logo_rss.jpg 200 42 en contact2007-2@dfbills.com Copyright 1995-2008 2008-08-27T22:36:48-05:00 Google Gears for Safari Beta http://dfbills.com/display/705 Today, Google announced the release of beta version of Gears for Safari. This open-source project is a set of JavaScript APIs which aid in the development of offline access to web apps.  The potential is to make web apps as strong as regular desktop apps.  Proceed with caution and download your copy today. One of the best parts is access to the Geolocation API which gives location awareness to web apps. Mac, News, Webdev, Today, Google announced the release of beta version of Gears for Safari. This open-source project is a set of JavaScript APIs which aid in the development of offline access to web apps.  The potential is to make web apps as strong as regular desktop apps. 

Proceed with caution and download your copy today.

One of the best parts is access to the Geolocation API which gives location awareness to web apps.

]]> 2008-08-27T23:36:48-05:00 Are you ready for the new Peggle game? http://dfbills.com/display/704 PopCap Games announced a new Peggle game today- “Peggle Nights.” More Peggle joy coming our way in just a few short weeks. And a sweepstakes will kick off the gaming excitement. Gaming, Mac, News, PopCap Games announced a new Peggle game today- “Peggle Nights.” More Peggle joy coming our way in just a few short weeks.

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And a sweepstakes will kick off the gaming excitement.

]]> 2008-08-26T21:34:55-05:00 Settings for Microsoft Office: Mac 2008 Compatibility http://dfbills.com/display/700 Many users are having compatibility problems with the latest version of Microsoft Office.  This version introduced a new file type for the first time in 11 years.  These new documents can only be natively opened by the latest version of Office on both Mac and Windows. My recommendation is to “save down” to the older version in order to minimize problems with sharing files with other users. Below are instructions for doing this in each of the Office 2008 applications. In Word: ------------------------------ Go to the “Word” menu Choose “Preferences” Click “Save” And in the “Save Word files as:” dropdown, choose Word 97-2004 Document (.doc) Finally, click “ok” In Excel: ------------------------------ Go to the “Excel” menu Choose “Preferences” Click “Compatibility” And in the “Save files in this format:” dropdown, choose Excel 97-2004 Document (.xls) Finally, click “ok” In PowerPoint: ------------------------------ Go to the “PowerPoint” menu Choose “Preferences” Click “Save” And in the “Save PowerPoint files as:” dropdown, choose PowerPoint 97-2004 Document (.ppt) Finally, click “ok” Mac, Tips, Troubleshooting, Many users are having compatibility problems with the latest version of Microsoft Office.  This version introduced a new file type for the first time in 11 years.  These new documents can only be natively opened by the latest version of Office on both Mac and Windows.

image

My recommendation is to “save down” to the older version in order to minimize problems with sharing files with other users.

Below are instructions for doing this in each of the Office 2008 applications.

In Word:
------------------------------
Go to the “Word” menu
Choose “Preferences”
Click “Save”
And in the “Save Word files as:” dropdown, choose Word 97-2004 Document (.doc)
Finally, click “ok”

In Excel:
------------------------------
Go to the “Excel” menu
Choose “Preferences”
Click “Compatibility”
And in the “Save files in this format:” dropdown, choose Excel 97-2004 Document (.xls)
Finally, click “ok”

In PowerPoint:
------------------------------
Go to the “PowerPoint” menu
Choose “Preferences”
Click “Save”
And in the “Save PowerPoint files as:” dropdown, choose PowerPoint 97-2004 Document (.ppt)
Finally, click “ok”

]]> 2008-08-22T16:20:44-05:00 Nice dark design, awesome product http://dfbills.com/display/696 The longstanding iPhone camera tool, Snapture, is not only a great product, but also sports a pretty snazzy website.  The fonts may be a bit tiny, but it is a nice “dark” site with plenty of whitespace.  Too bad the software is Jailbreak-only.  I’m looking for a good camera enhancement package. iPhone, Reviews, Webdev, The longstanding iPhone camera tool, Snapture, is not only a great product, but also sports a pretty snazzy website.  The fonts may be a bit tiny, but it is a nice “dark” site with plenty of whitespace. 

image

image

image

Too bad the software is Jailbreak-only.  I’m looking for a good camera enhancement package.

]]> 2008-08-22T14:02:39-05:00 Comic Life for iPhone = Comic Touch http://dfbills.com/display/694 Dunno how I missed this, but Plasq has brought he fun of Comic Life to the iPhone. Comic Touch is not the full ‘Life experience, you you can squeeze and stretch photos with your fingers and add hilarious comic speech bubbles to your shots on the go. iPhone, News, Reviews, Dunno how I missed this, but Plasq has brought he fun of Comic Life to the iPhone. Comic Touch is not the full ‘Life experience, you you can squeeze and stretch photos with your fingers and add hilarious comic speech bubbles to your shots on the go.

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]]> 2008-08-21T14:30:05-05:00 Upcoming Microsoft ads to feature Seinfeld & Gates http://dfbills.com/display/693 According the Wall Street Journal, an upcoming $300 million Microsoft ad campaign will feature Jerry Seinfeld and Gates Gates.  This new creative is set to battle Apple’s popular “Get a Mac” ads and not surprisingly “Microsoft’s immediate goal is to reverse the negative public perception of Windows Vista.” News, According the Wall Street Journal, an upcoming $300 million Microsoft ad campaign will feature Jerry Seinfeld and Gates Gates.  This new creative is set to battle Apple’s popular “Get a Mac” ads and not surprisingly “Microsoft’s immediate goal is to reverse the negative public perception of Windows Vista.”

]]> 2008-08-21T13:43:57-05:00 iPhone 2.0 Field Test Mode http://dfbills.com/display/689 The iPhone 2.0 Field Test mode can be accessed by dialing *3001#12345#* from the phone app.  Apparently, this is the same code that’s used on other phones including some Nokia-branded models.  Using and understanding the values is another matter. iPhone, News, Tips, The iPhone 2.0 Field Test mode can be accessed by dialing *3001#12345#* from the phone app.  Apparently, this is the same code that’s used on other phones including some Nokia-branded models. 

Using and understanding the values is another matter.

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]]> 2008-08-21T02:43:36-05:00 Another one bites it http://dfbills.com/display/699 Only fair that I add this to my collection of “server down” snaps.  Fortunately, the DB server was back up when I hit refresh. Actually, I’m quite proud of that screen- I designed and coded it into the CMS.  The real problem is when you don’t see that screen. Webdev, Only fair that I add this to my collection of “server down” snaps.  Fortunately, the DB server was back up when I hit refresh.

image

Actually, I’m quite proud of that screen- I designed and coded it into the CMS.  The real problem is when you don’t see that screen.

]]> 2008-08-20T15:07:15-05:00 HTML Signatures on the iPhone Revisited (updated 3x) http://dfbills.com/display/686 Due to popular demand, I’m posting an updated version of my iPhone html email signature that’s more broadly compatible with a range of email clients.  This version of the html code replaces the CSS inline encoded background image with a standard image tag. The code below has been tested to work (as of 08.18.08) in Apple Mail.app 3.4, iPhone 2.0, Outlook 2003, GMail (new version), Yahoo! Mail (new version), Hotmail and MobileMe. Please note that when using this version, your recipient will almost certainly have to click a button or link to display the image unless you are already a “trusted sender.” <div style="font: 10px 'Lucida Grande',Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; line-height: 18px; color: #525252; margin: 6px 0; padding: 6px; border-top: 1px #999999 solid; border-bottom: 1px #999999 solid; background: #fff;"> <img src="http://dfbills.com/images/avatars/iphone.jpg" width="63" height="57" alt="photo" style="float: left;" /> <strong>David F. Bills</strong> <br/> <a href="http://dfbills.com">http://dfbills.com</a> <br/> sent from my mobile</div> Too bad you still need a jailbroken iPhone to install this properly.  Thankfully, this particular modification tends to stay in place across upgrades- including 1.4 to 2.0. For more information on the full hack, see my previous posting: Set a custom css signature on your iPhone. Update 1: fixed curly quotes in code Update 2: Another point to note is that the Microsoft HTML renderer, in both Outlook & Webmail, will not allow padding on IMG elements.  In my example, I’ve taken 6px of padding out of CSS and moved it to the actual JPG. Update 3: Make sure to reboot after updating the .plist file on the iPhone. iPhone, News, Webdev, Due to popular demand, I’m posting an updated version of my iPhone html email signature that’s more broadly compatible with a range of email clients.  This version of the html code replaces the CSS inline encoded background image with a standard image tag.

The code below has been tested to work (as of 08.18.08) in Apple Mail.app 3.4, iPhone 2.0, Outlook 2003, GMail (new version), Yahoo! Mail (new version), Hotmail and MobileMe.

Please note that when using this version, your recipient will almost certainly have to click a button or link to display the image unless you are already a “trusted sender.”

<div style="font: 10px 'Lucida Grande',Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;
line-height: 18px;
color: #525252;
margin: 6px 0;
padding: 6px;
border-top: 1px #999999 solid;
border-bottom: 1px #999999 solid;
background: #fff;">

<img src="http://dfbills.com/images/avatars/iphone.jpg" width="63" height="57" alt="photo" style="float: left;" />

<strong>David F. Bills</strong>
<br/>
<a href="http://dfbills.com">http://dfbills.com</a>
<br/>
sent from my mobile</div>

Signature

Too bad you still need a jailbroken iPhone to install this properly.  Thankfully, this particular modification tends to stay in place across upgrades- including 1.4 to 2.0.

For more information on the full hack, see my previous posting: Set a custom css signature on your iPhone.

Update 1: fixed curly quotes in code

Update 2: Another point to note is that the Microsoft HTML renderer, in both Outlook & Webmail, will not allow padding on IMG elements.  In my example, I’ve taken 6px of padding out of CSS and moved it to the actual JPG.

photo

Update 3: Make sure to reboot after updating the .plist file on the iPhone.

]]> 2008-08-18T19:57:10-05:00 Terminal tricks http://dfbills.com/display/680 I’ve been spending a large amount of time in the MacOSX terminal lately.&nbsp; Naturally, I had to install a few fun terminal toys: (yes, I know both been out for a while) Visor: gives you keyboard shortcut and slick animation to reveal a terminal window, similar to the Quake console GeekTool: is a PrefPane that can overlay terminal output on your desktop.&nbsp; Very useful for watching system logs, graphs or any long-running process Mac, Tips, Unix, I’ve been spending a large amount of time in the MacOSX terminal lately.  Naturally, I had to install a few fun terminal toys: (yes, I know both been out for a while)

Visor: gives you keyboard shortcut and slick animation to reveal a terminal window, similar to the Quake console

GeekTool: is a PrefPane that can overlay terminal output on your desktop.  Very useful for watching system logs, graphs or any long-running process

]]> 2008-08-12T23:33:38-05:00