Sunday, May 29, 2005

Create PDFs in Windows for Free

The best free way to create pdf files on Windows is to use CutePDF Writer. It's easy to use and it doesn't leave watermarks on the documents. Why create a pdf? Because Microsoft Publisher files can't open on the Mac and professional printers may require a pdf file.

MSN Messenger Disconnecting Solution

I think Am found out why MSN Messenger keeps disconnecting when using a router. He said it's because of uPnP, or Universal Plug 'n' Play. Older routers don't have uPnP and wind up dropping packets that are sent to the computer, resulting in a dropped connection. The solution would be to update the router's firmware or turn the firewall off. This should work if you have a Linksys router. Unfortunately, I don't think this works for the Airport Extreme.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Still Waiting for Tiger

Like many Mac users I was anticipating Apple's release of Tiger many months before any official details were revealed. Panther fixed a ton of bugs I had with Jaguar and added many minor tweaks that made my computer faster and easier to use, so I was hoping that Tiger would be even better for my machine. However, when Tiger was released and the 200 new features were published I was a bit disappointed. The only new feature I really liked was Dashboard, but it alone wasn't worth 55 bucks.

Another concern I had was that my four-year-old iBook couldn't handle another operating system. It has 8 gigs left, suffers from the spinning beach ball of death constantly in Safari, and only has a 600mhz processor. I want it to last much longer, but it may fall apart in two years. Putting Tiger on this computer is probably a bad idea. Maybe I should just delete some things and get an external harddrive.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Pop-Ups I Like

Like most people I hate pop-up ads. They get in the way of surfing and I don't like the products advertised. But one type of pop-up I like to see is comment boxes on blogs. If comments don't pop-up in a separate window then a new page loads showing one post but everything else (blogroll, links, and pictures) loads again too. It's just a minor annoyance for most, but if you read and comment on a lot of blogs it turns into a major pain. It's easy to turn on that feature in Blogger, but I'm not sure about WordPress and MovableType. All bloggers should have comments that pop-up.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Playing Games

That's what I've been doing the past week. Katamari Damacy and The Sims 2 have occupied most of my time and I haven't felt like writing anything. Unfortunately, it's going to end when summer courses start on Monday. I told myself that I'd get some stuff done during time off from school, but I did nothing. Oh well.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

I Love Napoleon Dynamite

You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Everybody who spends hours surfing the internet from home is Kip Dynamite in some form or another. Watch Napoleon Dynamite, it's the best movie with no plot.

Summer Blahs

Most people become weak and depressed during the winter months because of lack of sun light, exercise, and fresh air. But for me the winter months are the best time of the year. I love wearing heavy jeans and sweatshirts from universities I've never been to and waking up on a cool, dark morning. Summer is my least favorite time of the year. It's too hot outside, there are bugs everywhere, the sun is too strong, mornings too bright, and winter clothes are unsuitable. Summer depresses me because the heat gets to my head and makes simple tasks like cooking, laundry, and vacuuming much harder. And to think I wanted to go to school in Hawaii! I should move to a cool weather place like Iceland.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Video Card

To play the Sims 2 I need a new video card. I'm not sure what to look for and am not looking forward to installing this thing.