running with paper

I recently returned from vacation (peeling and cranky, but several delayed flights and Pepsi-only terminals will do that to me) to my lovely home computing devices. I’d been “roughing” it with an iPhone (soon to go away, boo hoo) and a quick dollar spin on a public internet terminal (because I was having a devilish time locating my flight information – date, time, airline, destination …).

I’ve had this theory for a while about Gmail and Facebook, but I didn’t know how to test it, short of how I did: go away for a few days and refuse to upgrade my Firefox. Continue using Gmail and Facebook as usual until they stop. Reboot everything a few times, follow semi-explicit troubleshooting methods, and then give in: Upgrade Firefox.

And tonight, it happened. Gmail and Facebook worked fine in Chrome, Opera, Safari, and even a really old version of AOL’s version of Internet Explorer (yes, I am looking into finally retiring all versions of AOL software from my systems, but I have to negotiate with the Octos to do so).

Firefox? No.

Facebook was fine, but I suspect they don’t have as many brilliant awesome and handsome developers as Google does (or will have had, come a few more weeks – scroll to number five).

But I expect that if I wait long enough, Facebook will stop working, too.

So my theory is thus:

1. Despite the popularity and availability of Chrome, a lot of people use Firefox for their Gmailering.
2. Google, Facebook, and other sites have a vested interest in their users using up-to-date browsers, especially if security patches are involved.
3. While other Google functions probably work during this “code strike”, I haven’t bothered verifying it for a number of reasons ¹.

Therefore, when something really (or somewhat) important is updated in Firefox, Google, Facebook and possibly other sites put up a bit of code that is roughly:

Browser out of date? If yes, block all cool stuff (AJAX, JSON, COMET). If no, let them read their stuff without hindrance or let.

Google doesn’t care if I use their search or any of their other bazillion programs, or maybe they limit those, too. But they know if I care about the cool stuff, like chat, menu bar email counts, and those cute mountainscape backgrounds, I’ll upgrade my darn Firefox to get them working again. Which is fine by them.

That’s my conspiracy theory, and I’m sticking to it. Because honestly? I’d do it, too. Now if only I could turn off certain “pushed” upgrades (I’m looking at you, iPhone!) …

Anyway, I need to go upgrade half a dozen WordPress installs – version 2.8.4 is out …

_{1. Gmail is convenient, Google Docs is not bad, Google Voice has sent me a total of three calls but that’s all I really use. If they blocked their search engine from us slacker updaters, they’d likely have a riot ….}

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ETA: I could not publish this from a non-updated Firefox and non-updated WordPress without some fiddling … I really do need to go through and update all the biddly bits on my bit boxes here. Sigh …

We finally plugged the Wii back in the other night to play our new game – Wii Sports Resort. Pretty fun; I like the improved control given with the game controller add-on.

But one thing that amazed and amused me was the warning we received. The software and possibly hardware configurations and programming were updated when we booted up and started fiddling. The unit informed us an update was about to take place, and politely informed us that if we’d made any modifications to the system, such as making it play DVDs, or other end-user kiss-your-warranty-goodbye changes, those changes would be overwritten and your device might come to some harm.

I loved it. We were late to buy a Wii (weighing the consoles before it won out), so this was the first time we’d seen the warning.

If there’s one thing the game companies have learned, and to some extent, embraced, is that we’re going to hack their stuff. And min max it, and play it, and keep buying it. We might not pay for it if we don’t have to, but we will pay for it in some way, and sometimes the game companies will be the ones getting the money .

But to see that warning was heartening. Too often there are scary details buried in the minutia of End User License Agreements (EULAs) that are written quite badly and can be interpreted quite badly (Google owns all content in your gMail, beta software that can be deleted at any time, the OMG The Government OWNS YOUR COMPUTERS!!!111). This was a simply a friendly warning that hey – we know what you might do, and this might break it, because we don’t necessarily like you modding our stuff …. Or not – mod at your own risk.

Not everyone has this approach, but I do see DirectTV’s point of view* as well. If I’m creating or selling something, I want to be compensated. But virtual (or actual) monopolization of media is steadily eroding as home technology and people who just want to hack continue to do so – the trick is finding something that mostly works for mostly everyone.

We’ll see where that middle muddle is … and in the mean time, happy hacking, do so at your own risks, and so on, and so on!

^{* While this “Game Over” report is dated Dec 08, it refers to events in 2001 and is not annotated as clearly as I’d like. This did lead me to a link to an interview with the creator of the countermeasure that is a great read.}

I’ve been using my iPhone to browse a lot more – looking for retail locations, checking business hours, and amusing myself during down time. Recent searches sent me after articles about local technology companies at a local news site, looking for a blog post about “Cash for Clunkers”, and trying to manage some administrivia on Facebook.

Facebook redirected me straight to their mobile site; I’d followed a “take action” link from their email but the mobile site gave no indication if I took the action, or if I could take the action. All I had was a simple screen with shortcuts. I should have checked my Facebook application instead (which has its own issues) – maybe the administrivia can be done that way. But I was faced with a generic screen of little value.

The “Cash for Clunkers” blog post was something a quick Google search had found for me. I followed the link to Edmunds, and again, dropped straight to a mobile site. Eventually, I was able to find the blog trail I was looking for (the main site of the blog) but I never found the exact article.

The local paper was worse than the rest; a simple page not found message. I clicked the link while on a standard computer later, and was taken straight to the article.

It’s 2009. Why are large sites still using generic web error pages (if any?)?  Is it that expensive, complicated, or cost-prohibitive to come up with a script that generates an error message that tells you something:

• What the site thinks you wanted to do
• What URL you were attempting to access
• Offer alternatives, such as mailing yourself and support the error data

And why do we have generic mobile sites? Yes, not all pages can be designed for all sizes of browser screens. However, sticking the mobile users with limited to no data, and no way to navigate where they intended (such as the URL you were trying to access) without giving them any opportunity to get off of a dumbed-down mobile site is pretty useless.

Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, for example, have done a good job of stripping down their sites while retaining useful information. Searching for a book? The site will take you to an information page about the book, but in usable mobile-friendly format. Certainly, they have a large incentive to do this, considering we’re revenue, but they also make it easy for you to use the full site – just click their respective “PC Site” links.

At the least, it’s making me aware of should and should nots next time I’ve got a large site to create or provide input for. Constructive and useful error pages, decent redirects, and options for more powerful mobile browsers to access a full “PC” site.

Years and years and years ago, I was the proud owner of a shiny new ATM card. It came in its own indestructible pouch, and was a perfect spot to tuck daily receipts in for later check book balancing.

Even after I got a proper billfold, I kept it for small change, folding money, and cache for business cards. You could not wreck that thing – and when it got grungy, I’d wash it and keep using it. It did eventually wear out, but it gave me many years of excellent use.

Eventually, my mail began including priority mail packages in the USPS-branded Tyvek envelopes – great for protecting papers in my canvas bag, and flipping inside out to send packages back out again. It wasn’t as easily recyclable then as it is now, (though I’d argue that mailing it away because local centers don’t take #2 plastic isn’t “easy” enough for Lazy Lizzie), so I had quite a pile until I moved to a community that did recycle them.

Although I never got an anonymous nastygram from an uninformed postal worker, I did inquire, after a few uses, on the “okayness” of using a used envelope for remailing (the guidelines are linked here, but they do not differentiate between “new” and “reused” materials). I spoke several postal employees, but each time the answer was generally “Uh, I don’t see why not, if it’s already been used.”

But the answer is a stubborn “no”, it seems. No remailing, although I don’t know of a federal law that prevents us from cutting them into drink coasters. A shame, since changing rule to exclude used envelopes from the remailing ban and policing it as media mail is policed would go a long way to being quite a bit greener.

As a writer, font fondling annoys the heck out of me. Give me a Helvetica, or Lucinda, or Times New Roman, or even Courier. That’s what I started out with (okay, not Helvetica) on my typewriters back in the day.

If I needed emphasis, I used character symbols or swapped out the daisy wheel on my Brother typewriter, or, as is now taboo in interwebby land, USED CAPITAL LETTERS or Cap Typing To Make My Point.

But only when necessary. I let my writing speak for itself (including one story I wrote as a tween that started nearly every word with the letter “T”).

As a designer, I was all about the Cool Fonting^TM. I drew my own letters (badly) and stripped them down to the barest pixels possible at web time, but back in the bad old days of dial-up download, that was a pretty slow solution, too. And I’m not a fantastic graphic artist, so things were even worse.

Putting a specialized font on a website was a bad idea, too – there was no way to fall back if a browser couldn’t handle it. But now? When web pages can or should be more artsy and you don’t want to force someone into frames or Flash? Enter TypeKit. It looks as though I’ll be able to pretty up my non-bland blog (this one is plain on purpose and won’t change) with fancy fonts that help convey the feeling and look I want to express. And people with a slower connection or older browser can skip it.

Although, being the grump I am, I do worry that this will turn the rest of the web into MySpace – so I hope, unlike some of the latest iPhone features, I can at least have the option to turn it off. Maybe I’ll build a greasemonkey app called “Turn off the Stupid”.

Several of my friends get quite nostalgic about the song Shaving Cream … it was a great way to sing and almost cuss while skating safely on the edge of the profanities we weren’t supposed to know as kids. I’m indoctrinating the next generation, but there’s enough real cussing out there (especially now that it’s being proven good for you!) that Shaving Cream hasn’t got the bite it did in my time. And when I have to explain to them what shaving cream is, well, it violates the third rule of good joke telling.

“Bleeping” is more common now on television than it was in my youth; even more common are alternate angle shots and redubbed dialogue which have improved somewhat; with the editing taking place on a hit-or-miss level in captioning.

Some shows have even taken it to parody level, such as South Park and Arrested Development, but it turns out they have nothing on Netflix. One of my favorite new toys is the Roku (still needs work but is a basic entertainment tool) and the newly-expanded selection available from Netflix through our DSL connection.
Continue Reading »

I went to my first digital “meetup” in gosh – 1992? Meeting folks from a local Bulletin Board and hanging out at a burger joint. Fourteen years later, my employer issued their first “blogging guidelines” and I stopped working so hard to keep my online and offline worlds apart. But I still had a small wall there; careful about the information I shared online and the connections made (mostly).

Then late last year, I finally joined Facebook. I’d tried Friendster, and Orkut, and Plaxo and even LinkedIn. But not MySpace – it hurts.

I held off on Facebook because people weren’t there at first, and because it was still “too open”. And even with privacy updates, just being there got you plugged into applications that your friends chose to use – not you chose – that your friend chose. And I didn’t like that. It was hard to “opt out”, unless you simply stayed away. Continue Reading »

Googler? Googlite? Googy?

This is a “help me” post disguised as a user interaction review .

Was very happy to hear about the Chrome OS. The browser name and image icon make so much more sense now.

But this is more about Google Voice. I got an invite! To my M account, which forwards to my A account. And I clicked on the link and it told me to log in. Fine. I logged in.

And got a page that says “Invalid Link.” And nothing else. No way to recover, no way to go back, no way to ask for help. I figured the error was logging in through my A account in haste, so I logged in again, using my M account.

“Invalid Link.”

Someone please help! I want to use Google Voice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was digging through my “to blog about” pile and found this from last November …

The three o-clock blahs hit me hard the other day. I don’t handle the shortening days well, and my sleep had been disturbed by an allergy attack that kept trying to turn from mere sniffle and headache to the blinding pain of a migraine.

I headed into the communal kitchen to beseech the snack machine gods for a bite to eat; perk me out of the blahs. Nearby stood a co-worker, and in the course of my attempting to explain that it was three-o-clock, the milk-and-cookies hour, I glanced at the watch I’d hurriedly grabbed at a local discount store and realized that my wrist watch has no three.

Reminds me of a comic who had an irregular phone and calendar. My calendar has no Tuesdays, he explained. I would have called you but my phone has no five.

And here I am, in his very predicament. My watch has no three. In other ways it is an unremarkable Timex Water-Resistant Indiglo date and time watch with an inexpensive leather strap. Ran me under $30 at a local discount store.

But if this means no more milk-and-cookies-hour, it’s time for it to go. On the other hand, if it means I won’t be woken by a sick kid, pet, spouse, or neighbor, perhaps I should sell it to the highest bidder ….

So I received another new spam mail at myrealname@realdomain.tld – not unusual. I and my family get such a massive ton of spam at our email addresses at realdomain.tld that we hardly even use them anymore (and yes, sibs, I will nuke and reset things soon!).

But this spam was unusual: it got through Gmail’s spam filters, which are pretty darn good. I read the first line, clicked the “PHISHING!” button* Gmail has, and forgot about it.

Then I got it AGAIN. This time, sent to realnaem@realdomain.tld, my other email address.

Amusing in two ways:

1. It was sent to, and only to, my siblings at their correct realname addresses.
2. It was sent from (apparently) one of my real name siblings. Well, at least seemingly from his address – we called him lots of names growing up, but Brittaney wasn’t one of them.
3. It was sent from FIVE MINUTES IN THE FUTURE.

Forget getting through my layers of spam-filters; I wanna live where it’s five minutes from now. I don’t think I can reach the Satellite of Love from there, but maybe I can live in the Mezzanine of Thinks You’re Kinda Cute and watch bad YouTube clips.

*yes, I know it’s not a button, it’s a link. And it’s gone now. I miss the PHISHING! link so …