Got some money to burn? Unica Home would be the place to go if you just have get that designer titanium wallet for Christmas.
Month: August 2005
Digital Photo Prints
Costco has probably the cheapest printing service for digital photo. But instead of going to Costco, upload pictures there, and then possibly having to make a second trip to pick the pictures up, they offer an online upload option for pickup later.
It’s nice to see that Costco (via Snapfish) has a Mac compatible browser plugin for batch upload (beats manual one-by-one upload any day). Sony’s very own ImageStation also has similar features for Mac.
Speaking of pictures, I tried using PictureSync to see if it can make photo sharing any easier on a Mac. Unfortunately, the application is not free among its supported services. So I didn’t bother.
Too bad iPhoto has a really poor “export to web” feature. As of now, my favorite photo export app is PhotoSite TimeSaviour. Not only is it free, the software is also packed with feature that puts iPhoto’s export feature to shame. The only downside is that its GUI can be a bit complicated to figure out. And it seems like the author has stopped developing it. The upside is, once you get the settings figured out, you can save the settings for future use. Excellent~~ (in the tone of George Burns).
UPDATE: I wrote the author of PhotoSite TimeSaviour about future developments of the software. He replied and said:
…I’ve been short of time lately, but I have plans on updating it (with among other things proper CSS-based styling). – Karl B
Sweet. I like the app so much that I even made a Paypal donation. I could really use that css-based styling.
Super Powers
During the first couple weeks of Bryan coming home, some of his senses weren’t really fully developed. But as weeks go by, he’s developed some super senses. As close sighted as he is, he now gets excited with the mobile above his head (which didn’t happen before). His hearing is also more sensitive now. Sometimes he wakes up from hearing the slightest cracking sound from our old wooden floor. That’s why I tiptoe around the house sometimes when he’s asleep.
It’s very interesting to see Bryan’s development on a weekly basis. It makes me appreciate my unemployment (until the bank is completely dried up). I get to observe everything that’s going on with him.
On diapering, we have also learned that he will almost always pee as soon as we open his diaper. So now we just wait for a few moments before we completely remove his diaper for a fresh one. Also, his poops are getting chunkier. I fear the day when his poop outgrows his diaper… Yuck!
Murdza and Geekdom
Part of my dream last night was about Murdza’s geekdom. So this entry is about him.
The part in the dream about Murdza had him sitting in front of a Mac, using just the keyboard navigating fluently around the GUI and various applications. His boss, standing next to him, with a hint of proudness, seemed pleased. I remember back in the days of Mac OS9, he was the one showing me how virtually everything can be done with just the keyboard. Seeing him doing his tricks on a Mac makes one think being a geek is cool.
I inherited most of my cable “wiring” techniques and ethics from Murdza as well (five words: “wire ties are your friends”). After having worked with him for a year, it’s very tough to stand messy and unorganized wiring now. Hey, thanks, Murdza…
Stupid Online Registries
I was trying to get something for Maggie for her bridal registry. She’d registered at Pier 1 Imports and Sears Canada. So I started shopping. First I started at Sears. After I added my items from the registry, filled in my billing info, all excited and ready to check out, it turned out that I had to supply Maggie’s address…
What the hell? The whole point of going through a registry electronically is so that THEY can provide all the vital information. So I ditched Sears.
Pier1.com was my next stop. I went through the same process of adding the items, filled out my billing info and ready to check out, but again, they expected me to have Maggie’s shipping info handy.
WTF?! Why can’t they do it like Amazon where the register’s information is provided without assuming that the buyer already knows what it is?
God, I hate stupid sites.
Foot Massages
I accidentally discovered that whenever Bryan gets fussy about pretty much anything, a nice gentle leg massage usually calms him down quickly. He likes to feel our palms brush gentle strokes from both sides of his butt all the way down to his toes. That soothes him.
He’s also spending more time staying awake during the day, which has consistently translated into better sleep for us at night. Ahhh~ Sleep… ZZzzzz…
Slave States, Bush States
Cambridge in Color
Carl was nice enough to share with me this nice site — Cambridge in Color. The photographer also shared some technical information as well as some techniques.
I REALLY miss photography. But going back to film is inconceivable since the cost of film and development (not to mention all the film needed to produce the images) is much higher than that of digital photography. My latest fixation is the new Nikon D70s. But the Fujifilm S3s is still my #1 choice.
MythTV-Like App for Wintel?
I didn’t think something like this would exist for Wintel, but it does. After sending back the video capture card to Buy.com, I gave up on MythTV (for now). But knowing something like MediaPortal exists for Windows is comforting (for Windows users). But the whole me doing MythTV was so that I could do away Windows altogether.
MailTags for Mail
I still can’t figure out why Apple hasn’t included features such as “priority” to its Mail app. Fortunately, MailTags solves that problem (and then some). This app reminds me of Carl — a super duper organizer who can’t live without sub-sub-categorizing his files and emails.
via [DownloadSquad]
How to Setup a XServe
I don’t have one. And reading about it doesn’t help with the pain.
The article doesn’t really go into depth on how to do it. Nonetheless it’s interesting to see how other people set up their boxes and their justifications for their setups.
via [TUAW]
eBooks. Lots of Them.
Ever wonder where you can get a digital your favorite classical literature? Project Gutenberg probably has one of the largest collection of ebooks online (all 16,000+, free for personal use in the U.S.). A quick search on “Mark Twain” turned up dozens of the late author’s work. Not only does the site have everything in text format, it also includes (in an awkward way) the scanned pages of the original book. Very nice.
via [TipMonkies]