http://disqus.com/people/chartier/enFri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:53 -0000http://finerthingsiniphone.com/2009/10/23/watching-video-in-the-ipod-app-offers-some-great-features-some-which-appeared-with-os-30-but-only-if-you8217re-watching-in-the-vertical-orientation-you-can-use-the-new-30-second-skip-back-button-and-s/#comment-22064390Odd, I could've sworn I watched a Daily Show from iTunes Store at the gym once in portrait mode, but I guess you're right. And of course I agree, it'd be great to have both orientations for all video types.chartierFri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:53 -0000http://blog.davebc.com/post/231397734#comment-21763739Yea, I think you've basically got the situation right. It's a budding market, costs are high, and mobile data is a premium.<br><br>Also: yes this theme is new. I've finally slimmed down my sites to what I want, so I don't need a sidebar on this blog anymore. I can finally use a purty and flashy Tumblr theme.chartierTue, 03 Nov 2009 10:54:27 -0000http://blog.davebc.com/post/231009709#comment-21695875Touché.chartierMon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:17 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/11/01/ftim-is-now-mobile-friendly/#comment-21603645Hey Jim, I finally understand what you were talking about. Turns out there were some feature conflicts when I installed this plugin, and I didn't realize that it was serving the mobile-optimized version to some users even if they were on desktop browsers.<br><br>That was not the intention, and after a round of fixing the conflicts and lots of testing, I think I nipped this in the bud. You should now see the full desktop version in a desktop browser, and the mobile-optimized version only if you're on a relevant device.<br><br>Sorry again about this.<br>David Chartier<br>Finer Things site ownerchartierSun, 01 Nov 2009 23:48:35 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/11/01/ftim-is-now-mobile-friendly/#comment-21603077Sorry, no this wasn't intentional. It was a bug because of the mobile-optimizing plugin I just installed. I think I just fixed everything so desktop users see the proper site, and only mobile users see the stripped-down version. Please let me know if you don't see the proper version again though.chartierSun, 01 Nov 2009 23:35:40 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/11/01/ftim-is-now-mobile-friendly/#comment-21602243Sorry for the trouble everyone. Apparently there are a few conflicts between the WPtouch plugin I'm using to serve an optimized site for mobile devices and the cache plugin I also have installed. I just fixed all the known conflicts and settings, and had a few folks test the site in various desktop browsers to make sure it's serving the proper desktop version. Everything seems fine again, but please let me know if you're still seeing an iPhone/mobile version of this site in your browser, and which browser you're using. Thanks.<br><br>David Chartier<br>Finer Things site ownerchartierSun, 01 Nov 2009 23:25:29 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/11/01/ftim-is-now-mobile-friendly/#comment-21563859Hi Jim, sorry for any confusion, but my target market isn't just iPhone users, even though this is a heavily Apple-centric site (and so is <a href="http://finerthingsiniphone.com" rel="nofollow">http://finerthingsiniphone.com</a>, where many of these changes will appear soon). In fact, as I state in this post, I chose the WPtouch plugin specifically because it optimizes a site for more than just the iPhone OS - it optimizes for Android, BlackBerry, and generic phones as well.<br><br>As far as this being a major design change to the site for desktop users, I don't think it is. This is really just an addition to make the site much more friendly to mobile devices. You shouldn't notice a thing if you only visit FTiM in a desktop browser.<br><br>I hope this helps to clear up any confusion.<br>David Chartier<br>Finer Things site ownerchartierSun, 01 Nov 2009 20:31:09 -0000http://davebc.com/2009/10/30/work-is-progressing-on-finer-things-migration-to-wordpress/#comment-21545720I'm drafting a post about it now. In a nutshell, though, it boils down to power and management. WordPress and its many plugins offer a ton of power not just to me as a publisher, but you as a reader. It's a lot easier for me to moderate and edit submissions, create a navigation menu with hierarchical categories and drop-down menus, and tag or categorize entire batches of posts.<br><br>As a reader, this makes the site a lot easier to use, and you get things like RSS feeds for every category or tag on the site. My vision is to turn all the Finer Things sites into a resource and a community, and not just a linear, throw-away blog. I want them to become searchable directories of tips and useful information, highly organized by tags and categories.<br><br>Actually, that's basically my blog post right there. Maybe I should just go ahead and publish this comment as a post. :)<br><br>David Chartier<br>Finer Things site ownerchartierSun, 01 Nov 2009 16:27:50 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/30/app-switching-in-dock-expose/#comment-21356293I'm using WordPress and various plugins to power this site. Most of the writing is done in the browser at my WordPress Dashboard, though I do sometimes use desktop Mac applications like MarsEdit for blogging, as well as Screenflow and iShowU for screencasting. Is that what you were asking?chartierFri, 30 Oct 2009 11:29:03 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/29/snow-leopard-sort-windows-alphabetically-in-expose/#comment-21293139Thanks Chris.chartierThu, 29 Oct 2009 17:32:41 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/28/path-finder-does-what-snow-leopard-can-not/#comment-21293073The Finer Things sites are about both the product (Mac) and the platform. This means posts about third-party software features, UI polish, or even quirks and bugs are not only accepted, but encouraged.<br><br>One of the reasons I'm moving these sites to WordPress is that, soon, you will be able to view or subscribe to an RSS feeds of just the specific topics you want. If you only want Snow Leopard tips, or only third-party software tips, or Leopard tips, you can bookmark those sections or get an RSS feed of just those tips. You can see some of these sections already in the site's navigation. Here is the Snow Leopard section: <a href="http://finerthingsinmac.com/category/snow-leopard/" rel="nofollow">http://finerthingsinmac.com/category/snow-leopard/</a> Soon it'll have an RSS feed too.<br><br>I'm hoping to get this set up either by this weekend or the next, depending on how much work is actually involved. I have a lot of work to do in going back through posts and organizing and tagging them appropriately. I'll post on the site once I make some real progress.<br><br>David Chartier<br>Finer Things site ownerchartierThu, 29 Oct 2009 17:31:26 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/27/snow-leopard-imports-iwork-text-substitutions/#comment-21126240Wait, which menus do you mean?chartierTue, 27 Oct 2009 16:18:38 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/27/slow-mode-for-some-mac-os-animations/#comment-21126176Why? Do you want some other behavior to happen when holding Shift and invoking these features? Or are you simply a "chronic shifter?" It's ok, you can tell us. :)chartierTue, 27 Oct 2009 16:17:28 -0000http://finerthingsiniphone.com/post/223794779#comment-21081415I think this is only for multi-day events, as I can't reproduce it on any other kind.chartierTue, 27 Oct 2009 00:05:23 -0000http://www.finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/24/psa-finer-things-in-mac-sorta-downtime/#comment-21000662Definitely. I'm shopping for a professional theme that offers some specific features. I wanted to have it ready by the time I moved the site, but the longer I waited to move, the more work it would be once I finally did. I had to pull that trigger first, and I hope to get the final design in place by next weekend.chartierSun, 25 Oct 2009 19:32:24 -0000http://www.finerthingsinmac.com/2009/10/24/psa-finer-things-in-mac-sorta-downtime/#comment-21000627Yep I'm asking support about this. Not sure what's up.chartierSun, 25 Oct 2009 19:31:10 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/221127934/snow-leopard-uses-vista-style-blurring-on-dock-context?fbc_channel=1#comment-20958297Right-click menus don't. They have a solid white background.chartierSun, 25 Oct 2009 00:12:40 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/219894179#comment-20865618RSS feeds for specific topics and tags is something I'm working on. Stay tuned.chartierFri, 23 Oct 2009 12:34:16 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/219958860#comment-20865585For what it's worth, the developer is working on it. He completely rebuilt the iPhone app for Tweetie 2, and he's using a lot of that code for a new version of Tweetie on the Mac. It's "coming soon," from what I hear.chartierFri, 23 Oct 2009 12:33:36 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/219293826#comment-20778632I think there's a plugin for InDesign files, though I don't know how far back in versions it goes. There's actually a website that catalogs Quick Look plugins created by third-parties for stuff like this.chartierThu, 22 Oct 2009 09:07:08 -0000http://blog.davebc.com/post/219662294#comment-20776224That's exactly my point. Ballmer's talking shit about a mobile handset that shook up the mobile industry two years ago, when he has absolutely nothing to show for it. Microsoft *did* stop innovating in the mobile space years ago, which is what this quote was about. Not Windows.<br><br>I've owned Windows Mobile devices long enough to remember when they were called "Windows CE" and "Pocket PC 2003." Generally, almost nothing has changed. At least nothing of much consequence. The software installation experience has always been terrible. The browser is terrible. Windows Mobile 6.5 was absolutely panned across the board.<br><br>Which brings me back to my point: Ballmer is doing a terrible disservice to Microsoft. The company employs some of the smartest people in the world, but all Ballmer does is talk shit like a college jock without having anything to back it up. Microsoft has had its face pounded into the ground in the mobile space over the last three years, and he's taking clueless, inaccurate jabs at one of the devices responsible for that beat down. It's ridiculous.chartierThu, 22 Oct 2009 08:01:17 -0000http://blog.davebc.com/post/212866945/mozys-customer-support-is-going-down-the-toilet?ref=nf#comment-20648138Sigh, didn't know they don't do .app or .dmg files. I quickly hated the inflexibility of their UI and options though anyway. No way to schedule backups, adjusting throttling from the menubar... the state of online backup is pretty dismal so far. Guess I'll take a look at CrashPlan.chartierTue, 20 Oct 2009 16:13:38 -0000http://blog.davebc.com/post/212866945/mozys-customer-support-is-going-down-the-toilet?ref=nf#comment-20176969I don't think Backblaze was out at the time. To be honest, I think Mozy was the only service that supported the Mac, because I signed up almost three years ago now. Plus, Mozy's customer support was great. Pre-sales questions were answered quickly (no surprise), but support while getting set up was always responsive, literate, and knowledgeable. About 7-9 months ago, though, Mozy's support took an absolute nose dive, as it feels like they shipped it all overseas to a small building employed by people who have never heard of Mozy and barely even understand what it does.<br><br>I'm giving Backblaze a try now. Things are going well, and I've interviewed people at the company for previous Ars stories. I've bugged customer service about a couple of things to see if it's up to snuff, and so far things are going well. We'll see though.<br><br>What I'd really prefer is a service like this where you could ship them a drive of content that you encrypt with a key ahead of time. They can move it to their servers and so you're set up almost instantly without having to take all the time to upload a ton of content. I haven't been able to find a single competitor that does this, or will even hint that it may be coming sooner or later.chartierThu, 15 Oct 2009 23:26:55 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/213809793#comment-20150056It's always a PITA to re-learn keyboard shortcuts, but in this case, it's the right thing to do. Cmd-K is Mac OS X's standard text control for adding a link across other apps. Try it in TextEdit or MacJournal.chartierThu, 15 Oct 2009 16:39:35 -0000http://finerthingsinmac.com/post/212900625#comment-20066714You bring up a confusing discrepancy in managing files in the Finder, though. Cmd+D *duplicates* files in the Finder, but it brings you to the desktop in Open/Save dialogs. That's bad design which still lingers in 10.6.1.chartierWed, 14 Oct 2009 15:45:40 -0000