All Forces

Last week my latest work erwinmcmanus.com was launched. The site runs on WordPress, however it is not set up as a blog. I really wanted to run the site on WordPress to make use of the comment system, rss feeds, templates, pings and trackbacks. I also wanted to push WordPress as a CMS system to see if it can handle it. I was able to get it all working without any modification to the core which was good. WordPress has a killer way of handling templates through themes and I was able to set each section as a separate template file. There are some areas that are still being developed because of the lack of good WordPress plugins but it’s done for the most part. There are some really good plugins out there for WordPress but there are a few but very important ones that are either not up to par or are missing entirely. i.e. the current photo albums are either too basic or too complex. There’s only one “form to email” plugin that makes it impossible to have multiple forms through your site that sends emails to different addresses. And the one that tops it all is that there are no shopping cart plugins at all. Nothing. What do I do? I write one myself of course. So now I am emerging myself into the PayPal API and the WordPress Plugin API world to write my own plugin. Ah, the joy of tech.

Technorati Tags: blog, erwin-mcmanus, mosaic, web, web design, wordpress

I didn’t realize how much I miss browsing through my cd collection until I downloaded this cool little app called CoverFlow. It’s weird, it really feels like I’m at a thrift store browsing through albums. The app is very quick and responsive even with my 8,000 song collection of music. My only complain though is that it’s a separate app that I need to have open. It would be more ideal if it was an iTunes plugin that would replace the current sterile list view of iTunes. According to the author, album covers are pulled from the embedded songs, the synergy database or even amazon. However, I had plenty of songs with embedded album covers that showed up empty :-( . Hopefully a correctable bug. Other than that, this little app rocks. A true Mac OS X beauty.

Download CoverFlow

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes, mac

From my personal arsenal of tools, check out Myang’s Photo Textures. She’s got over 2700 free images of textures, buildings, fabric and objects all organized by category. It’s not stock photography but I think that’s what makes it so unique. The photos seem to be taken with a digital camera and are all high resolution or at least high enough for most small projects. With time I’ve fallen in love with this little site, I keep revisiting it whenever I work on a new project. There’s something great abut it. It feels like I experience a blogger’s journey through photography. One cool thing about Myang’s textures is that you can buy all the textures on a DVD for a mere $50. That is a steal. You can have acces to them when not online or just in case her site ever ceases to exist. So go and check it out and buy a DVD so that she can make some money and keep on doing it.

Myang’s Photo Textures

Technorati Tags: design, photography

The correct title should have been “I got a new Computer”, but since this 12″ Powerbook is so small and so light, I really feel like I have a new toy. After a few weeks of MISERABLY SLOW COMPUTING due to having only half my real RAM, Mosaic was kind enough to hook me up with a new Powerbook (thanks Chad). This will allow me to get back on track with my projects because I was really wasting a lot of my time looking at the Mac OS X spinning beach ball while having my usual(but required) apps opened. My blog posting frequency had even declined cause I didn’t want to deal with even more frustation than the required. So, I have gone from a 17″ Powerbook to a 15″. And now from a 15″ Powerbook to a 12″. Let’s hope they don’t come out with a 10″ cause I really like my menu bar apps and already I’m having issues fitting them all on my new compact screen.

This leads me to my next topic, bags. New computer, new bag, that my motto. Otherwise it’s like giving your new fiancé your old fiancé’s engagement ring. I’ve always had a thing for bags. Through the years I’ve collected some links of bag manufacturers I keep track off in case I nee to get a new bag, like now. So here’s my list. So far I am leaning towards getting the Breakfast Buffet from Crumpler, an Australian company. But, I would LOVE to hear what you think. And I would LOVE it if you introduce me to some new bags too. I’m looking for small, compact, well designed stuff.

Bag Links

Crumpler Bags - really digging the breakfast buffet for my 12″
Incase - interesting bags, very cool new site
Tom Bihn - some hits some misses
Oakley - interesting stuff
Boblbee - hardcore bags
Acme Made - totes for the metro-sexual
demano - very very cool stuff. it’s got european written all over it!
MacCase - androgynous looking bags
Triple Five Soul - some hip hop flavored bags
Booq Bags - very cool (but not cheap) bags for the pocket lover
Messenger Bags - interesting messenger bags but a bit big for a 12″
Ogio - coll sports oriented bags
CamelBak - if u need some water with your laptop
Gravis Footwear - hit or miss bags for the metro-sexual too
Burton Snowboards - cool wearable electronics gear
SFBags - custom made sleeves
Spire USA - so so looking backpacks
Shaun Jackson Design - one side flapping backpack
Timbuk2 - build your own messenger bag
TiBag - one sling bag
Targus - one of the most boring bag design out there
Brenthaven - even worst than targus
Bagreview.com - some really good bags reviewed here
eBags - pretty good selection of bags

Added by User Commments
Koie - hip little bags and totes
Chrome - cool messenger bag but way too big for a 12″
Patagonia - mostly messenger bags
Tumi - need i say more?
RadTech - kinda plain looking bags

Technorati Tags: apple, bags, mac, powerbook

I am so saddened, I just found out that while I was attending my grandparent’s funerals last month in Puerto Rico, Ibrahim Ferrer from Buena Vista Social Club died in a Havana Hospital at age 78. According to BBC News, he has joined the fate of Compay Segundo and Rubén Gonzalez who also died in recent years. We will miss their music greatly. It’s amazing how Ry Cooder captured their brilliance in the Buena Vista Social Club documentary right before they died. Because of this film they found International stardom at a very old age. I had the pleasure of seeing Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén Gonzalez live at UCLA a couple of years ago. It was one of the most memorable concerts I’ve experienced. If you don’t know who they are or ever heard of the film, I STRONGLY recommend you look into it.

Buy DVD from: Amazon

Buy CD rom: Amazon or iTunes

Buy CD from: Amazon or iTunes

Technorati Tags: latin-music, music

It’s official. I am one of the many affected by the Lower Memory Slot Failure on Powerbooks. My wife’s iBook feels faster than my Powerbook. How sad. I’m on the phone talking to an Apple representative right now. The Tech support lady said they are not aware of this being an issue and asked where have I heard about a possible class action lawsuit. I mentioned editkid.com and it’s near 500 signatures. I also pointed her to the class action lawsuit petition put by Lawyers and Settlements. Hopefully this will get them to do something about it since so far they are denying anything wrong to anyone who calls (unless u are under warranty of course). I’m still on hold on the phone. Listening to some cheesy music. Man, they should get an updated playlist. The polite lady is back. She said they have no record of this being an issue caused by the system software update. They want to charge me $50 to troubleshoot over the phone. Since I keep persisting, she’s now going to transfer me to a product specialist who will most likely say the same thing she did. I think they read from the same TelePrompTer. Ah, the beauty of tech support. This must be a higher level tech support because there is no cheesy music while I’m on hold. Instead I get a repeated “Please wait”. Ok, talked some a tech support that’s higher in the food change and guess what, he said the same thing. Gee, how surprising.

It turns out I am out of luck because I have no Apple Care on my Powerbook. I bought Apple Care but I had no idea I needed to buy it and register before my original warranty expired. Dah. So now I am left with the dilemma of what to do. Do i sell my Powerbook? Will anyone buy it now? I mean it works fine, it’s just at half the RAM! Or do I just get a 1 gig chip and wait hoping Apple makes a recall? Decisions, decisions. It doesn’t help that I want to trade in my 15″ for a 12″ Powerbook or that new Intel inside Macs are imminent either.

Technorati Tags: apple, powerbook, lower-memory-missing

John Grubber’s Daring Fireball has published a hilarious short story of the sad fate of the Metal Interface that used to permeate Mac OS X. Truly this is comedy for the Mac Geek. Warning, strong language.

After many frustrating days of no internet connection at home I’m finally switching carriers. I currently had SBC Yahoo DSL. It was fast and cheap. Well, except for the speed part. It turns out my house is very far away from the nearest hub and with DSL, the farther you are from a tower the slower the speed you get. They promised 300k to 1.5mb speed but I was getting 280k and a lot of dropped connections. So I talked them into releasing me from the contract since I don’t get a reliable service. After some digging I found out my local cable company Charter offers 3mb internet. 3mb! I must be dreaming. Granted, it’s not cheap. $40 after the introductory $26 vs. Yahoo DSL’s $25 after the introductory $15. But, faster (and hopefully reliable) service is of higher calling in this house. As you can see above I know get 2.4mb download speed. That’s 8 times faster than my old DSL. I’m ready to do some serious downloading now without my wife calling at me from the other room saying “STOP HOGGING UP THE BANDWIDTH!”.

Technorati Tags: dsl, internet, cable-modem, web

Apple just announced the iPod nano and the iTunes Mobile Phone (carried by Cingular) in an Apple Media Event in San Francisco. The phone does not look anything special and I think Motorola is missing the point by releasing such an ordinary device and not capitalizing on the whole iPod style phenomenon. But, the nice surprise of this Media Event was not the phone, it was the unexpected iPod nano. Think of a Shuffle with a color screen, click wheel and bigger hard drive. The nano is replacing the Mini which leaves us all hoping the regular iPod will eventually take the shape of the Mini once those tiny drives get higher capacity.

2GB $199 5.9 ounces
4GB $249 6.4 ounces

Let the gadget lust begin…..
Buy from Amazon

Update: Apple has posted a video of the Apple Media Event

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod, ipod-nano