Delta offers e-boarding passes out of Minneapolis and other major hubs.

Web Checking and they SMS you a link to download your boarding pass. Walk up to TSA, scan your phone, and poof! You’re taking off your shoes.

Worked fine for me. Scanner at the gate was more sensitive. But the phone never leaves your hand. Liability policies restrict the employees from handling devices.

Oh, and out of MSP, pick the “Experienced Traveler” lane…

So, I had a rather interesting surprise when I went to set up my TV this weekend.  I have a Sony combo Surround Sound/DVD player device, which apparently is known in the business as an HTIB, or *Home Theater in a Box.  I output the audio from the cable box to this device so I get the good sound when watching cable.

I wanted to hook the Comcast Universal Remote up so that I could control the sound with one remote.  Should be easy, because when I was in MN I had Comcast and it worked just fine.

Yeah, not so much.

Turns out Sony HTIB devices don’t work with a Comcast Remote anymore. Some time ago Comcast changed their remotes so now they take a 5 digit code instead of a 4 digit code. In that process, support for my device was axed.  Not sure if it was by Comcast (the worst company on Earth) or by Sony.  Doesn’t matter. Either way it doesn’t work.

Anyway, after some digging online, I found a workaround.  It requires manually programming function codes into the remote to override the existing function codes.  Don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds.

I don’t know if this will work for other Sony combo devices, but it worked for my Sony DAV-FR8.

Programming a Comcast Remote for a Sony DAV-FR8

Set your AUX to 21232 (a sony code for TV/VCRs).

Then do the following:

1. While still on AUX, press and hold SETUP again until the remote blinks twice
2. Type 994
3. Press and release SETUP
4. Type 32975
5. Press and release VOL+

The remote should blink twice. That should reprogram the VOL+ to work with your Sony device.

For each of the following function codes, follow the same steps and use the codes listed below:

Vol- = 31951
Power = 32719
Mute = 33743

Thanks to Fixya.com for the info.

Thanks to CW

A few years ago, when the “let’s connect everything to the Internet because it would be so much cooler” trend began, my way of mocking the trend was to refer to my e-Washing Machine.  (As in “Who played the Mom in BeetleJuice?”  “I don’t know, let’s go look it up on my e-washing machine”)

Finally, all these years later, the e-Washing Machine is a reality.  Behold- the Whirpool Vantage:

This top-load washer/dryer combo lets users take control using touchscreen LCDs to select settings such as cycles, temperatures and wash times. There’s also a USB port (a washer feature that the manufacturer claims is a first) that allows users to upload firmware updates. And while there’s no built-in Internet connection for now, Whirlpool anticipates future iterations breaking that barrier, allowing users to download new cycles and even create their own custom ones.

Emphasis mine.

I wonder why it took so long to come around?  Oh yeah.  Because the idea is retarded.  I forgot.  Sorry about that.

It’s easy to create a link to a YouTube video that starts the video at a specific time.  Useful if you are linking to a video that has a bunch of filler at the beginning.

If you’re linking to YouTube:

Add an anchor tag to the end of the URL that specifies the number of minutes and seconds to skip.  The example below starts the video 1 minute and 50 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buNcHofCrAZyCrAP#t=01m50s

If you’re embedding the video

Add a url parameter to the querystring in the code.  You have to do this in 2 places.  Oh, and this time you have to indicate the number of seconds to skip, so our 1 m, 50s becomes 110.

<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/buNcHofCrAZyCrAP&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&start=110“>

<embed src=”http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/buNcHofCrAZyCrAP&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&start=110”

Easy stuff that will save your viewers precious seconds.  Like when they watch this.

Found here.

Following the lead of Canada?

Gore wanted to privatize the air-traffic control system during the Clinton years, which would have had the US following Canada’s lead — yes, Canada — in relying on the private sector to maintain air-traffic control.  Such a system would have encouraged technological innovation as well as expansion of resources to meet demand.  Instead, Congress refused to relinquish control, backed by the air-traffic controllers union that feared privatization:

Hot Air has a video by Reason TV that explains the whole thing.  Worth a watch if you can spare 7 minutes or so on a topic so riveting.  If not, just remember the key phrases union and government corruption.

But as a bona fide IBM hater, I liked this part of the story:

Interestingly, I had a connection to the 1980s attempt to modernize the towers while working at Hughes Aircraft.  Hughes had a modern, working system that it submitted to the FAA, while its chief competitor, IBM, submitted a mock-up system that had never been built.  The story is too long and complicated to retell here (it might have made a good book at the time on government procurement abuse), but in the end, the FAA chose IBM’s vaporware.  Hughes sold its system to South Korea and Canada, while IBM eventually failed to produce its system altogether.

IBM selling someone on a system that doesn’t exist?  I find that… actually that’s about right.  Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of using Web Sphere or Lotus Notes knows the “that will be fixed in the next release” game.

Now, go replicate your domino database so you can get the email from IT notifying you of the latest delay in the new intranet rolling out.  And then thank God that the same technology isn’t powering ATC.

I can see it now – “Sir, we’re about to hit another plane!”  “Looks like ATC forgot to replicate again…”

I just installed the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta.  I guess I figured if I was going to be an early adopter why not just go for it.

My first impression is that a lot has changed and it all seems overwhelming.  I never ran Office 2007, so I’m jumping right from 2003 (which I loved) to 2010.

So, this is my first experience with “The Ribbon.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Office 2003 was the last time you’ll ever see the familiar toolbar that’s been around since Windows 3.1.

You go from this:

To this:

(click the images for the full size)

It’s a little jarring.  More than a little.  I’m actually more stumped by this change in Office than I was going from XP to Windows 7.

But, I’m going to give it some time.

The upgrade to Outlook 2010 looks good so far, as long as I can figure out the user interface.  If I was still in a corporate job I’d be most excited about the Quick Steps feature.  It’s basically a set of user configurable mini-macros to make repetitive tasks easy.

For instance, you can set up a quick step to forward an email to your team and pre-fill the content or body with FYI.  Or reply to a message and delete the original all in one step.

But, since I’m not in that corporate world, the best feature I’ve seen so far is that Outlook 2010 lets you change your “from” address easily.

There are some changes to how emails are grouped as well.  For instance, Z and I traded a few emails today, and when I click on the subject line, I get the rest in that exchange, kind of like gmail (but way less annoying).

More to come, I’m sure.  But I was pleased with the install process, and the product looks pretty good at first glance.

Backstory:
I’ve always had Mac laptops. After going through graphic design college, then owning a business in that field, I relied on the smoothness with which I could bang through projects and not have to worry about reliability… Until I started messing with system files. I’ve moved on to a different job, but obviously still use Mac, if for no other reason than how many programs I’ve invested in. Plus, I still do a heavy amount of design in side jobs, and as charity. Windows XP, SP3 is what I have to use at work, and the bulk of the technical work there has to do with developing and maintaining Access programs and web-accessible interfaces. So I thought I should get Windows onto my Mac to back up my work, and expand my development skills on my own. So I stuck Windows XP on there. Then Windows failed to start and failed to be fixed one day out of the blue (screen of death). And finally, when I wanted to give a friend a bunch of photos from my wedding and songs from iTunes, I realized that Apple had (over the years) proprietized the heck out of it’s files. Freedom, I yearns for it. So to open up my options I configured my laptop to boot to a selector utility (like Windows’ BIOS) that chooses between operating systems installed on separate partitions.

File-Neutering:
I gave this term to my new mission (I have no idea if it’s been used before). The mission is to eventually get as many files as possible out of databases or proprietary file formats and into file formats that have open-source and multi-platform alternatives. For instance, Apple locked up my photos into a database. So one photo album at a time is being dragged into separate folders to be labeled and organized however I want. iTunes’ protected AAC formatted songs are being burnt to disc and ripped into mp3’s (and yes, audiophiles, I’m smashing them because if I don’t have the storage space to listen to my music, I don’t care how “clear” and “uncompressed” it sounds, I won’t be dragging it around).
There are more complicated portions to this game, but I’ve excepted that a Garageband file isn’t going anywhere, and my Access DB’s just are what they are. PSD’s and plenty of vector formatted logos seem to have been getting more accessible thanks to open-source programs Gimp and Inkscape. Illustrator might dominate the pro logo crafting biz, but if you can take a couple days to open your mind and learn it, I swear you can do nearly all the important things and much faster than Illustrator with Inkscape, and for free.

OS X 10.6, Windows 7 Home Premium, and Ubuntu 9.10:
I have to admit, I’ve become shamefully excited about these latest OS versions. It’s like everything I used to complain about in college is being fixed some decade later! And all the cool features I used to wish for… IE automagically splitting the screen to two half-maximized windows so you can view as much of both as possible. Mac still has to catch up on that one, but Win 7 and Ubuntu do this in spades. I would easily recommend to anyone who can do this, split whatever computer you get to run it’s proprietary OS and a Linux install. I went with Ubuntu because it’s well-known, easy to use, and it’s getting all the press, so the user-base has forced compatibility and reliability that might not have been there. Yeah, some day maybe I’ll be poking around in Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva, but this is good for now.
Briefly, in regards to the need for 3 systems, Mac has the most assets for what I need. Programs and abilities geared toward what I do. Windows is pretty (now) and supports things I do for my day job and games. Ubuntu has tools that can get into computer guts quicker and easier, and it’s FREE. It should also be noted the the bugless Zach experience award goes to Apple. Windows 7 and Ubuntu have had exactly the same percentage of fixless bugs for me so far (and oddly, it seems the exact same percentage of fixed bug as well).

Notable comments about the OS versions compared to previous versions…

OSX 10.6 Pros:

• Faster than 10.5, at least for me.
• Right clicking actually feels fully integrated! (except in Garageband, where you can only click with it in like two places)
• The Finder is more intuitive and has better options

OSX 10.6 Cons:

• iTunes is even more locked up and does a bunch of background stuff. Hooray for you if you have an iPod, so does everyone else. Free software is widely available to transfer files to and from. I would recommend that versus letting iTunes’ remarkable fragile and bloated structure control your entertainment. (I lost a couple hundred megs of files because of a corruption, very un-mac-like).
• iPhoto stuffs all your pictures into a database, not folders. It organized based on dates regardless of what groupings or albums you create. And if you edit a file and save it? It saves the new file as well as the original, with no option to delete it. BLOAT.
• They still haven’t figured out that people hate taking the time to manually move and resize every damn window.
• They’ve started (in a very Windows fashion) to push products you don’t have from within the OS’s functions. The most obvious are iDisk, MobileMe, and Time Machine.

Windows 7 Pros:

• It’s so pretty! I mean seriously, it actually makes doing things more fun! They finally figured out that if they make superficial aspects of operation more pleasant, it increases productivity for core functions! Congratulations MS, you actually out-did Apple on Apple’s 2nd most famous feature.
• New buttons on stuff. They’ve done some re-thinking about the standard names of menus and functions which is generally not bad.
• Improved UAC. I’ve been bugged a few times by it, but their version of sudo works pretty slick.

Windows 7 Cons:

• Microsoft just bought the rights to your mother. They own everything you do and say and think while Windows is running, probably. I’m not saying they could easily get into your files, but I’m definitely not saying they’re above doing so.
• They still have a registry. It makes me nervous. Despite the fact that they’ve been aware of it’s inconsistency, unreliability, corruptibility, and obsolescence, they refuse to switch from it like Mac refuses to maximize windows properly.
• It’s hideously expensive. I would never be running it if Jacci didn’t have a college email required to get this educational discount. Ended up being $30 and the cost of a burnable dvd.

Ubuntu 9.10 Pros:

• FREE
• Insanely easy to install. You burn a cd, start up from the cd, walk through a few options. It identifies your hardware and gets your drivers for you.
• New software store program in which nearly everything you shop for is FREE.
• Ubuntu is not interested in owning your mother.
• Once you install the FREE Compiz settings manager, the visual effects are almost as pretty as Windows 7, and way more customizable and fun to mess with.
• Once you install the FREE translation tool called Wine, you can run plenty of Windows XP software natively, as in, no emulation or restarting required.

Ubuntu 9.10 Cons:

• You can break it. I mean you could break Mac and Windows too, but it’s not easy to do so accidentally. In Linux, you still have make an attempt to know about what you’re doing if you’re in system settings and uninstalling things. That said, I’m no genius and I’ve never busted it.
• If you’re a gamer, you’re probably not going to find what you want.
• If you need highly professional level software, like CAD’s or high quality sound/video editing, you’ll still need to pay for your OS.

So that’s my perspective so far, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more stories that relate to this.

Alas…

GeoCities, the web hosting platform started in 1994, will shut down on Monday.

Wait, what now? GeoCities was still around?

Here’s hoping the guys who started it were smart enough to save some of the…

$3.5 BILLION!

they got from Yahoo.

GeoCities was bought by Yahoo in 1999 for $3.57 billion at the height of the “dot com era.”

However, as rival web hosting sites sprang up and the cost of having a unique web address became more affordable, sites like GeoCities lost popularity and ad revenues.

Why was I born 5-7 years too late?

Please tell me FortuneCity is still there.  I think I have a place over in the Rivendell neighborhood.

Here it is, patent number7617530. Thanks, USPTO, for giving Microsoft, which is already a monopoly, a monopoly on something that’s been in use since 1980 and wasn’t invented by Microsoft. Here’s Wikipedia’s description of sudo, which you can meaningfully compare to Microsoft’s description of its “invention”.

Read More, O.G.