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- May 3, 2006
Powerbook Battery Charging Madness
May 3, 2006Read moreWhile I use PCs for most of my day-to-day work, I have a beloved Macintosh PowerBook 12″ that I use for testing and on-the-go computing. Lately I’ve been having trouble with the battery charging, went through the official resetting of the power management chip, to no avail. Finally I bought a new battery.
On the plus side, the new battery lasts for over 4 hours in normal wordpressing / wireless surfing (the old one was pooping out after about 1.5 hours). However, today the new battery failed to charge after I had flattened it inadvertently; the battery life indicator had gotten stuck (gah) and didn’t alert me to my impending doom. So I plugged the PowerBook into the adapter next to the laptop stand, and…nothing! No charging at all! Mysteriously, the green ring light indicated that the laptop was receiving power just fine. Yet, the NEW BATTERY was not charging. WTF!
I swore, I fiddled, and I swapped batteries back and forth. I reset the Mac’s PMU and zapped my PRAM, and was about to try reinstalling all of Mac OS X from scratch when I thought of something: the power supply. I have two: one is plugged in near the laptop stand, and one that’s in my laptop bag for travel. I just tried plugging in the spare, and lo, the battery started charging! WTF WTF!
I didn’t see this “solution” mentioned in the resources I’ve seen online, so if you’re troubleshooting a “battery does not charge” issue, try using a different power adapter and see if that makes a difference.
Really geeky thoughts follow.
- May 2, 2006
Tools for Single Productivity Geeks
May 2, 2006Read moreMy sister sent me a link to a cool pen, and while browsing the rest of the site I came across this bit of interesting information design for a problem I didn’t realize needed solving; Behold! The Procedural Dating Kit is here! From the Uncommon Goods website:
Date blindly no more, because the administrative revolution in romance is here. Whether you want hookups, open-ended fun or a ring on your finger, with the Procedural Dating Kit you’ll always stay on the same page. Show interest without cheesy pickup lines using the “notification of attraction” cards. Avoid awkward waiting periods using the “exchange form for contact information.” Review their dating histories with the “relationship resume.” Track the relationship with the “dating dossier” and “date feedback card.” Avoid ambiguity and heartache with the “notification of non-exclusivity” and “exclusivity agreement.”
And…all 111 items are contained in a handsome binder!
I tried to find out who designed this bit of inspired administrative procedure, but no such luck; I’ll have to see if I can check out the box at Target. I have to admit I’m a little curious about how they put everything together from a packaging perspective…is it actually useful, or is it primarily a novelty gift? I found some closeups of some of the material…hard to call. I suspect that these tools would just get you slapped, unless you formed a single’s user group around the product :-)
UPDATE: My sis’ comments directed me to KnockKnock, the company that makes the product, where the terrifying slideshow reveals that yeah…this is definitely not for actual field use :-) Still, there probably is a market for something that is a little more inspirational, a sort of Cyrano in a Collectable Card format; think “Magic the Gathering” for dating!
On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t think about this any more :-)
Via Uncommon Goods, via (indirectly) my always-awesome sister.
- May 2, 2006
Small Agency Diary
May 2, 2006Read moreStumbled upon Small Agency Diary, which is a nifty blog covering issues that small media agencies face. I used to work in a couple web agencies, and as a freelancer in the same space a lot of those issues are still relevant. For example:
- Does Your Agency Speak to The Right Three Audiences?
- Saying No to Cheap Clients
- How to Write an Effective RFP
- Bogged Down in Fear and Legalese
Zzzz…no, really, it’s really good! What I find remarkable about this blog is that it’s written by actual practitioners, sharing their experiences pitching clients and running their agencies. This is the first time I’ve come across real writing on the subject, in a conversational format without the “look at me” drama I’d expect from a marketing piece. Worth sharing! :-)
- May 1, 2006
Annoying Keyword Ads
May 1, 2006Read moreI am very annoyed at the rollover-popup ads on the Digital Media Online network sites; as you rollover a word, you get a little mini ad that steals focus from your browsing…here’s an example article I was going to read, but I am so mightily irritated that I’m just going to drop these sites from my daily read.
- May 1, 2006
Ad Age Agency Report 2006
May 1, 2006Read moreAd Age Online has released three free documents about the 2006 state of agency:
- The 2006 Ad Agency Family Trees Poster
- A 15-page Agency Report
- An 81-page Agency Profile Report
You may have noticed an uptick in the economy that feels like the early 1990s, and these reports comment on the same trends. Of particular interest is their identification of interactive as a hot growth area, which is good news for anyone working on the Web.
What I find really fascinating, however, is that I have a giant pool of data that can give me an understanding of the advertising agency landscape; this is the shadow network that, along with the news media and entertainment, shapes our culture by controlling what we experience through mass media. Knowing who and what they are is good for you :-)