Nothing to say

I have photos hosted on no less than 4 sites (possibly more). I’m counting my collective hosted websites as one, so personal and wedding sites combined. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what to do about this mess I have, and while talking it out with a friend, I crafted my plans.

Flickr
This site is brilliant, because they have a well developed community, great functionality, and quick pageloads. The AJAX photo titling and describing is a cinch to use, and they’ve gone the extra mile adding great features like video hosting and geotagging. Now not only do your stalkers know what you’ve been up to, but they know WHERE. And for that, they have great privacy features. All around perfect, right?

Unfortunately, no. There are significant limitations for unpaid members, and my Pro account expired. So I’m limited to 200 photos and 3 sets, no videos, and .. well those are the only limitations. So the membership is only a couple bucks a month, no big deal, but there are other factors. Part of what makes flickr great is what also makes it obnoxious. The community is great for connecting with friends, but it’s also great for connecting with all the bored losers on the internet who really want to appear popular and clever. So they’re always posting ridiculous, stupid, and insanely annoying comments on photos. I’m not the only one bothered by all the “OMG GREAT PHOTO JOIN MY INVITATION ONLY GROUP AND TAG YOUR PHOTO SUPERSPECIALDELUXEGOLDSTAR!!!!!” Um. Your group is lame. Your gold star graphic is annoying. And your compliment is empty. If I am posting a photo for comment, I want to hear what my friends think, or I want constructive criticism from people who can help me take better photos. If not that, then gimme silence. Please.

Zooomr
Zooomr was the brilliant Flickr copycat that I fell in love with when I found it some years ago.  They had geotagging before Flickr even knew what the word meant.  And…. that was all they had.  They didn’t have speed.  The site was so slow for me that I quickly deemed it unusable and just gave up.  I checked in on it today, reset my password, and logged in.  It’s SUPER FAST now!  It also has a pay system, but the limitations are very different.  You can still upload as much as you want, but there are ads, and you’re limited on what you can browse.  You can’t go find random photos.  You can’t browse unknown photos.  You can just flip through the popular ones.  Weird.  Anyway, it doesn’t matter.  The community is cool, but chock full of people who take really nice photos.  Me, I take crappy photos to help me remember things.  I don’t fit in, and I don’t know anyone there, so the “community” benefit is hardly a bonus at all.

Picasa
Picasa is great and fine.  They have the software and the online hosting.  They work really well together.  I have 2 albums on my picasa account, because flickr was blocked at work.  I just used it for viewing at work.  Now I don’t use it at all, and am quite at peace with that.  One awesome thing I have to give Picasa props for, though, is reading RAW images.  For a quality photo organization program with an integrated database, and RAW capabilities … you’re paying for it.  Except with Picasa.  Awesome.  That said, I use something else.  Next!

Gallery
This is the first photo gallery I used on my site.  It’s literally called Gallery, because they wanted to make themselves difficult to search for online.  That’s the only logical reason they’d choose such an … innovative name, right?  Anyway, it’s slow as molasses.  Apparently, you can customize it and cut out some of the components that slow it down, like Print ordering (as if I’d ever need that), but doing such things is a total hassle.  And then I found….

Zenphoto
This is what I use now, and I love it. There are templates, there is AJAX functionality for editing titles and descriptions, like in Flickr. It totally spanks Gallery in speed and size. It’s a very lean installation. It caches the files so people are loading static HTML files from the server instead of dynamically creating them all the time. You can force an update of cached files if you update anything and the automatic update doesn’t work or happen fact enough (it always works, though, but it’s nice to know you COULD force it if you ever needed to).

I already pay hosting, regardless of how much I use this, and I have space galore on the server, so it’s effectively free. The only real downside is that there isn’t a community or “friend” system. I can’t make a photo friends only. My friends won’t see my photos in their friends updates. But it DOES have an RSS feature, so friends can add me to their google reader, Firefox, or whatever RSS reader they use. Sure, most people don’t use an RSS reader, so that’s kind of irrelevant, but for my geekier friends, it’s a nice feature.

And so it’s decided. I’m not going to migrate all of my other photos and albums to Zenphoto, but I will continue to use it going forward. I’m going to keep my free Flickr account for keeping up with my friends, and will probably occasionally post the odd image there, such as the color swatch I did today.

What do you think? What do you use? If you look at my photos, what are your viewing preferences?

Wow, this is apparently my first post since upgrading WordPress.  The new interface is nice.

Alright, down to it.  I’m sitting in the main library (downtown Boulder, CO), and saw some shared computers in Finder.  I remembered that iTunes was open and that some people share their playlists, so I gave it a look and saw this.

vness is gone now, which is a bummer, because that was a really interesting playlist.  I was listening to Mos Def when the signal failed.  Fortunately, John Spencer is a fan of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.  I had no idea he did a version of Wind Beneath My Wings.  Wow.  I don’t think there’s any way I’ll ever like that song.  :)  But the rest of the tracks I’ve heard so far have been great.

So everybody: Put iTunes on your laptop, share your playlist, and leave the program open when you’re out in public.  What fun!

Also, if you ever see my signal, come and say hi.

I have determined that I need to use software to manage my projects. As mentioned in a previous post, the 105 GTD Software Apps comparison page is a pretty handy resource. At last it’s broken out by OS, so it beats the other lists I’ve seen. My investigation is specific to GTD apps on the Mac. It is also relevant to note that I’m running Leopard 10.5.2. Now let’s get to it.

Check Off

Ok, this was my original solution, and I was really fond of its simplicity. It turns out, however, that it is simply TOO simple. I need a little more. Ciao!

Chandler

Holy crap is this confusing. Maybe I’ll come back to it later when everything sucks, but for now… Pass!

Shadow Plan

Call me shallow, but the website is so inelegant that I’m betting the software is as well. I didn’t bother to download it.

Frictionless

This one seems far more promising. The website isn’t amazing, but it’s quite clear in how it’s laid out. Best of all, the developer seems seriously committed to the project. I’ll skip the few details I have on the setup process, and cut straight to the worst of all. Worst of all, it crashed on me. Twice. One of the times, I was simply removing the “work” context from the context list. Unacceptable. Sayonara.

iGTD

This one easily has the best website of those listed so far. But holy cow is it complicated. It was actually the first thing I installed today, but I just gave up and went for something simpler. Also, I got it to crash a couple of times, though I forget what I was doing to cause it. Oh, I know, I imported the text data from Check Off, and was promoting one of the tasks to a project. Apparently, that was a bad idea. Three times in a row. That’s why I gave up on it. I’ll go back to it and see how things go. Now if it’s crashing on manipulating the data from another program, well, that could be acceptable, as it isn’t a part of normal functionality for me. And there’s not enough stuff in Check Off that I can’t just retype it.

Anyway, the interface is the prettiest of the batch so far. I want to like it and use it, if that counts for anything.

Ok, wtf. Neverming. I CANNOT ADD PROJECTS! Baleeted.

Chandler

Didn’t I say I’d be back? Ok, so the app is complicated, but the site is so well laid out. There are even videos and a very thorough Getting Started guide! How handy is that? Let me answer for you. Very handy. Good answer! So how easy is it to setup?

The answer to that apparently depends on your existing system. Their Get Started guide has a wealth of info on importing calendars, tasks, emails, notes, and data from all sorts of sources. That’s tremendous. If, on the other hand, you’re a disorganized slob like me, well, you can’t very well import from the pieces of paper you’ve just written, so you’re essentially on your own. I was unable to find documentation for the quick entry bar, and there’s no advertised shortcut to access that blank anyhow.

At least it hasn’t crashed yet.

[time passes]

Chandler does not have projects.  Furthermore, it lacks any possibility for creating sub-tasks.   What it does have are Collections, which are displayed vertically in the left-most pane.  The defaults are already created for you: Work, Home, Fun.

If my life consisted solely of single things that needed to be done, and none of my tasks involved more than one or two steps to complete, this would be BRILLIANT.  Just for one example, though, I need to update my contacts.  This is a fairly simple, straightforward process that determines taking all of my contacts, updating them to contain current info, and then collecting them all into one place and propagating that information back to any other sources that need it.

How do I enter this in Chandler?  Do I create one item that says “update contacts” and then put notes in it that say “Sync phone contacts via bluetooth.  Sync Palm contacts via USB.  Export Gmail contacts.  Clean up data and import individually into existing contacts spreadsheet.  Remove duplication.  Sort through emails for any updates.  Contact friends individually if I know there is more current info… oh wait, you’re bored reading this.

No, that’s not going to work.  What other options are there?  Decide all the next actions and enter them as separate Notes in chandler?  No, because there’s no structure or order to that.  So I do instead just enter the Very next action, and then when that’s finished, determine what the next Next action is and add that?  You know what?

BALEETED.

Conclusion: If you want a good GTD solution, don’t be such a cheapskate!

Note: I haven’t tried ThinkingRock because I absolutely abhor java apps, so it’s automatically excluded.  I have read that it’s brilliant.  Nothing personal.  Cheers, mate.

This is kind of a simultaneous vent session and cry for help. I will gladly accept input from anyone who has some advice. I just asked one person via email and hope he’s got a good answer. If so, I’ll follow up here.

Ok, for any new readers, let’s preface this with some facts:

1. I’m a geek
2. I have a lot of computers
3. I grew up on MS Windows
4. My relationship with windows ends with XP
5. I tried converting to Ubuntu a couple times, but FAIL
6. I tried converting to Mac a few times, and finally SUCCEEDED
7. Citrix (to connect to a client) works best on XP
8. I need to keep my XP machine, but I prever my Mac

Ok, there’s your background. Now here’s my dilemma. I have three external USB drives, and I need to organize the files on the lot of them. It would be INFINITELY convenient if I could format them each as one partition that worked with both XP and MacOS. I have 10.5 Leopard if that’s relevant. All the drives are formatted as NTFS right now, but I can shuttle files around enough to clear them and reformat them one at a time. What file system should I use, though?

• NTFS is perfect for XP, but Mac can only read it. I need read/write.
• Fat32 works great for both systems, but I’m not breaking my 500GB drive into 15 32GB partitions.
• Mac’s default is, what, HFS+? XP can’t read that natively.

The fourth option, the one I need, is either a file system that works with both operating systems, or a utility for one that allows it to read the others’.

Suggestions?

I got sick of all the issues with my existing computers (iBook doesn’t work, Toshiba laptop is getting lines on the screen, and the sound hasn’t worked in nearly a year; and the PC is loud and slow) an got a MacBook Pro.

I’m just barely getting used to the keyboard, but there are unfortunately plenty of things I haven’t yet figured out how to do with the keyboard. The upside is that I LOVE the trackpad, which is more than twice the size of the one on the Toshiba, and the gestures for it are super efficient. I’ve very quickly become accustomed to that. The only downside is that the actual button for the trackpad is tough to hold down while dragging an item from one window to another.

I may do one or more posts on the transition from PC to Mac, too. There are a lot of resources for finding great software setups, but nobody’s opinion is more important to me than my own. ;)

I finally placed an order for a DSLR a couple days ago.  I’m getting the Nikon D40 kit from B&H with the 18-55mm lens and 1GB of Lexar (the description said “twin pack”, or something, so I assume it’s two 512MB cards.)  I also ordered the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 autofocus lens (made in the USA!)  Fianlly, I got a 52mm glass filter to protect the glass on the lenses.  I should have ordered two (one for each lens), but had already spent enough.  It should be arriving at Mom’s house today.  We fly out tonight, and will be arriving there late, late tonight.  Well, actually, like 3 or 4 am.

According to Digital Photography School, Digital Photo Magazine rated the 50mm f/1.8 as the best 50mm lens for portraits.  My current camera will go to f/2.8, but there’s no way to force it to that wide aperture.  So I’m really excited to play with such a fast lens.  Without going into too much detail, the f/ signifies the aperture, or how wide the hole is that light comes through.  Smaller number = wider hole.  Wider hole = more light.  That means that this lens will be better in low-light conditions, like at my sister’s rehearsal dinner and reception this weekend.

Still, the camera is way more complicated than I’m used to, so I’m going to keep my little Panasonic handy…

Ubuntu has a strict policy of including only free software in their distributions. Having downloaded and installed Ubuntu, nothing that wasn’t free was loaded. Things are easy to correct oneself, even to a complete novice, but the decision must be made by the user.

When I first installed the distro, as I mentioned, there was no wireless. A little bubble alert popped up to tell me that some hardware wasn’t fully supported. It told me that the driver is proprietary, and thus cannot be supported. Do you want to use it? Yes. Wireless networks found. Neat.

Firefox is the web browser they choose in Ubuntu. It’s free, so it’s installed. Flash player is proprietary, so it’s not. The first time you go to a page (homestarrunner, youtube, whatever) that has a flash animation on it, there’s an alert. Do you want to install it? Yes. It’s installed. The animation plays. Neat.

The coolest thing about Firefox is that it’s for Linux and Windows and Mac and everything.

Firefox also has something called Extensions. They’re great. Firefox extensions work in Firefox, regardless of what operating system you’re using. If you have Firefox installed, you can load extensions on it. Two of the most popular are called AdBlock and NoScript. AdBlock literally blocks ads. It tells your computer to not go to certain sites (you can create the list yourself, or subscribe to an existing list). If you choose to block the sites that host ads, you don’t see those ads. It’s super simple. NoScript blocks sites from running Javascript and other scripts. A LOT of sites won’t work with javascript blocked. You’d be surprised how many. But they also can’t install malicious software on your computer if they’re blocked. Where AdBlock allows everything by default (then you choose to block what you want), NoScript takes the opposite approach. It blocks EVERYTHING, and then you tell it what to allow (this creates what is called a ‘whitelist’) and it allows it.

Apparently, there are reports of Firefox in Ubuntu crashing like a teenager in a bumper car. That is to say frequently. Before visiting ANY sites, I installed the two aforementioned extensions in Firefox, and I haven’t had a SINGLE crash. Not one.

Conclusion: Install NoScript and AdBlock, subscribe to the adblock list for your region, and have fun.

Yesterday, I installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my laptop, and nearly everything was working perfectly. That night, I was searching for a solution to the one little problem that didn’t work itself out. I found that solution in this thread: HOWTO: TI SD Card Reader

I ran the fix, rebooted the system, and tested both a 128MB and a 2GB card. Everything works perfectly.

I will be keeping up with this forum and learning how to transition from many years of Windows usage to a happy life of Linux. That process will be sporadically documented here under the Linux tag. If you find this uninteresting, feel free to skip any entries with that tag. :)

Next up, I would like to learn some more keyboard shortcuts, get acclimated to managing my images and music, and of course backing up my DVDs. For now though, it’s back to work.

I installed Ubuntu on the laptop today. Wireless drivers installed automatically. The trackpad works perfectly, including gestures (scroll on the right margin, 3finger tap = right-click). It is gorgeous and awesome. It has already updated a few things. I have installed all my Firefox extensions. The whole thing went flawlessly. I am thrilled.

I am eager to figure out a few things, and gain more productivity, but for web-based activities, I’m already back to normal speed. The trackpad is more sensitive by default. I could adjust it, but it gets me across the screen faster without being TOO sensitive (now that I’m acclimated). I may figure out something fun to alias the windows key to (maybe open Firefox of the terminal). I have a lot to learn about terminal commands, and other things I can do. I will learn more keyboard shortcuts and the like. Oh, and I need to figure out how to backup my DVDs here. Should I run Wine (a windows emulator) and then run my 2 old backup programs, or should I find something new? I’ve some more reading to do, and will probably test a few things out before I’m happy. I also need to get used to the office software, since I won’t be using Microsoft Office on this. Will I be happy with OpenOffice, or Google Docs and Spreadsheets? We’ll see. Maybe I’ll type my school papers wherever, and then format them for printing in Word on a PC.

I’m just happy to finally be rid of Windows on this machine. Huzzah!