Adobe Flash Crashing On Mac OSX Lion

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Brad

I found a great post today to help with the wide spread issue of flash crashing on Mac OSX Lion. It appears that certain fonts cause the Flash player to crash.

You can read all about how to fix the problem here.

Good luck,

Brad

Posted in Design | Comments Off

Updated Site Design

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Kevin

We’ve rebuilt our website. It’s been over two years since we updated the design and it was time for a refresh. We’re still running WordPress, but are now up to the latest version. We’ve found that it’s a fine Content Management System (CMS) for smaller informational sites like ours. We hope you like the new design and we’ll be making an effort to post more regularly to the blog, though, as usual, clients and family come first.

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Dell 968w Mac Setup Process

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Brad

So i recently switched over to using a MacBook Pro and have had all kinds of issues with getting software and hardware configured properly. Nothing has been worse that trying to get my Dell 968w printer to work with my new Mac. After a few hours and a lot of forums here is what i found.

Setup Process:

  1. Go to System Preferences > Print & Fax
  2. Click on the little plus sign (+) to add a new printer
  3. In my case I had already setup the printer using a windows pc and had configured the wireless settings, if you haven’t you need to do that first.
  4. Go to the IP tab
  5. Select “HP Jetdirect – Socket” as the Protocol
  6. For the address you need to go to the Dell printer and print your network settings page.
  7. UPDATE – You need to make sure you are only trying to print wirelessly to the printer. If you have an Ethernet cord or usb cable connected to the printer you will not be able to connect wirelessly to print.
  8. Under TCP/IP on the network settings page you printed you will find “address”
  9. This IP address is what you put into the address field on the IP tab
  10. Leave queue blank
  11. Type in a name, I used “Dell 968w”
  12. Type in a location if you want, I used “Work”
  13. For print using you need to go to “select printer software”
  14. Then in the pop up prompt search for “Lexmark 9500″
  15. There will be 4 results
  16. The first two results and the last two results look identical but they are NOT.
  17. You must pick the SECOND “Lexmark 9500 Series” in the list.
  18. I repeat, you must pick the SECOND “Lexmark 9500 Series” in the list.
  19. When it shows you the options available with the printer it should give you the option to check “Tray 2″ and also there should be a select box next to “Two-Sided Printing Dry Time”
  20. If you don’t see the option for “Two-Sided Printing Dry Time” you have FAILED and picked the first “Lexmark 9500 Series” in the list
  21. You can check off “Tray 2″ or leave it uncheck.
  22. I choose to check the box and left “Two-Sided Printing Dry Time” on “Use Printer Settings”
  23. Click OK
  24. Done

All i do is win.

-Brad

Posted in Hardware, Software | 16 Comments

I'm Back

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Brad

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, and I felt it was time to get back to the “conversation” if you will. 2010 was a roller coaster of a year. There were many things both personally and professionally that I was very excited about. There were also a few things that made me happy to close the book on 2010.

Kevin and I have been very busy with new projects and along the way I felt I was too busy to post anything. Now after looking back I realized there is a lot of cool stuff I should have posted and there are a few things I am going to write about.

I have started using Twitter and have found it to be a great resource for work. I constantly find new and exciting information from lots of great people. One of the reasons I have decided to start posting again is so I can start to share with the Twitter community.

You can find me on Twitter: @brad_hall.

Posted in Business | Comments Off

It’s not “just business”

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Kevin

I’ve found that some people go through life trying to act like the things they spend a third or more of their day doing is not a personal endeavor. As though you can treat people badly or disregard the impact of your actions on others so long as it benefits you because it is “just business”. I find this disingenuous at best and sociopathic at worst.

The truth is while the law may think that businesses are pseudo people that can behave independently of human beings you are really just dealing with individuals, sometimes one, sometimes many, but just people like you and me. Business interactions have an impact on real people and we should reflect on that every time we interact with  a business, while we’re at work or just around town getting food, filling our gas tank, or seeing a movie. You’re not interacting with a soulless corporation. You’re interacting with people.

Your choice of where to shop dictates who will have a job and who will not. Your choice to use one supplier or another for your business dictates who will hire and who will not. Your choice to betray or show loyalty makes a difference to real people.

I’ve been reflecting on this of late after watching people we’ve done business with and seeing some that are great and some not so great. I see no need to name names publicly, but I found a common thread running through interactions with people that went badly. They seem to regard interactions as “just business” (they also often use that phrase to justify their actions) and disregard the effect they have on real people. I think that sucks.

I’ve also had the good fortune to work with some really great people and even become friends with some of them. The common thread there seems to be that they focus on doing something good. They want to make money and succeed, but not at the expense of others. They want to help people, make the world a little better through their efforts each day, and they don’t see businesses, instead seeing all the people they are interacting with. They are the ones I want to stay up all night solving a problem for. They are the ones I want to be working with 5 or 10 years from now. They are the ones we should all try to emulate.

Next time you hear the phrase “it’s just business”, stop, think about who uttered it and what they are doing, and think about if you really want to be a part of it.

Posted in Asides, Ethics | Comments Off

NFL.com Ruins Monday

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Kevin

I am a Lions fan. So I suffer a lot of grief. They hadn’t won since 2007, but I keep watching and rooting for them. Yesterday their game was blacked out because fans had mostly given up on them, however the NFL said they would put the game online today for people to watch. So I avoided the news and looked forward to still seeing the game. Then I visted NFL.com to try to watch the video.

Suspecting they would show the score I Googled for the video section of the site Game Rewind and found a pay registration page for watching games, but no mention of being able to watch the Lions game for free.

So I went to NFL.com and tried to avoid seeing the score while finding the video link in the navigation… and my day was ruined. They showed the final score in 3 places before your eyes reach the advertisement to watch the game at the bottom left (I dimmed the rest of the page to highlight this below). What the hell? Why not hide the info for the game that people haven’t seen yet? Perhaps they could use some form of a Spoiler Alert? Or better yet, create a page like Kottke did for the moon landing anniversary that you can load before hand so you don’t have to go through a site full of reporting on the game youwant to watch and enjoy. What fun is watching a game when you know the outcome? NONE!!! NFL.com sucked it up badly. And, since there likely will be more blackouts the rest of the season, and very few wins, I may have to wait another year to see a Lions victory. Thanks NFL jerks.

nfl_website_sucking

Posted in Asides, Design | Comments Off

Super Helpful Fireworks CS4 Error

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Kevin

I saw this error when I tried to open a document or close the application in Fireworks CS4 today. Don’t get me wrong, I really like using Fireworks most of the time (though the Export feature keeps creating additional images folders I don’t want, ever), but this error message really made me laugh. I definitely know how to fix what went wrong now.

fireworks_cs4_error

Posted in Good Design, Software, Usability | Comments Off

The opposite of extremism is not the opposite extreme

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Kevin

[Via Boing Boing]

Great video posted on Boing Boing today about a series of encounters between the KKK and Reverend Wade Watts. I’m not religious, but if religion resulted in more people acting like Wade Watts I might take a another look at it. Seriously worth 4 minutes of your time.

Nod to Alex M from the Boing Boing comments for the post title.

Posted in Asides, Ethics | Comments Off

Apple Customer Service

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Brad

I purchased a Griffin Elan Form Case from Best Buy to protect my iPhone. As i was putting the case on and sliding the stiff polycarbonate screen protector in place and i realized that there was a large scratch running down the center of my iPhone. So i pulled the case and screen protector off and examined the iPhone. It was officially ruined. The screen protector had managed to put a deep scratch along the majority of my screen making it painfully annoying to try to use.

I went back to Best Buy and showed the sales associate the scratch. All he could do was look in amazement that this could possibly happen to an iPhone screen. I explained to him what happened and he basically told me to go talk to the folks at Apple.

I went to the local Apple store at Partridge Creek after making an appointment online. The tech at the Apple store took one look at my iPhone and asked what i did. I explained what happened and I asked what he could do if anything. He explained that there isn’t any way to fix a scratch like i had but they could swap out the iPhone. At first i thought i heard him incorrectly, and i actually asked him to repeat what he said. I have had my iPhone since July 11th, 2008 and even though i had the Apple Care warranty i was pretty sure that screen scratches aren’t covered. The tech asked if i had all my data backed up and i told him i had. He disappeared for a minute and sure enough he came out with a new iPhone and he promptly switched my information over to the new device.

I am eternally grateful to the team at the Partridge Creek store for taking care of my issue even though it was caused by a third party product and not covered under Apple’s warranty. I will not soon forget the service they provided and the next time i need to get anything computer related, the Apple Store at Partridge Creek will be my first stop.

Posted in Business, Customer Service, Ethics | Comments Off

Knowing History

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Kevin

[via Mike Davidson]

This clip is great in that it shows the difference between a blowhard and a pundit. You don’t have to agree with Chris Matthews to see that Kevin James has no idea what he is talking about. He’s spouting off about appeasement and Neville Chamberlain with no idea what Chamberlain did, right or wrong, before World War II. James makes Mark Green look like a genius by virtue of his ignorance and refusal to shut up when called out on his ignorance.

As a society I think we can do better in our political discourse than this kind of shouting over each other to cover up ignorance. If you don’t know about something, just stop and ask or look it up before pressing your side. Hell, you might even change your views based on actually possessing a knowledge of history. I often enjoy talks with my Dad about these sorts of topics precisely because of his knowledge of history and ability to point out subtleties I might have missed. We had a great talk over the weekend about the differences between Communists in China, Cuba, Russia, and other nations and why those differences can lead to being trading partners with one country while having an embargo against another (though I still say this Cuba embargo has failed for far too long). We don’t always agree, I place more weight on civil liberties as a protective measure against tyranny, while he favors security through a strong military and intelligence presence and will sacrifice some civil liberties to fight terrorism (perhaps our ages and his experience in the Air Force help explain those differences). We share a healthy skepticism of governments in general.

Going into any argument armed only with buzzwords is a great way to look the fool. James is a great example of this, sometimes you can learn something and come out looking better if you just shut up and listen for minute, even to your opponent… wait, I think that’s what James was arguing against, perhaps he defeated himself in this one. Oops.

Posted in Asides, Politics | Comments Off