Undefined Range : Category misc, everything about misc

Sharkey 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:36:00 -0800

Still got a laugh out of this classic comic years since it came out. Check out the rest of his site though unfortunately there isn’t a full archive of his work.

Alias Tip

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:27:00 -0700

alias for teh win! Didn’t get into the habit until now because I thought saving a few keystrokes wasn’t that beneficial. But damn it helps with a few edge cases and now I’m addicted.

In my ~/.profile:

# For managing encrypted FileVault containing my Rails products.
# '-owners on' so the owner and groups can be set on files.
alias mount_rails="hdiutil attach /Users/vwoo/Documents/Knox/rails.sparseimage -owners on"
alias umount_rails="hdiutil detach /Volumes/rails"

# alias now takes the place of bash scripts I made for several 
# server software installed through MacPorts.
# Arguments work like bash scripts. $1 is the first argument etc. 
# so I can run 'apache start' and 'apache stop'
alias apache="sudo /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.apache2/apache2.wrapper $1"
alias postgresql="sudo /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.postgresql82-server/postgresql82-server.wrapper $1"

Less Clutter

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:01:00 -0700

Clean, completness, and clarity. There is something refreshing about an empty email inbox. There is satisfaction from accomplishing all to-do tasks. There is liberation from paying off debts.

Something I’ve been striving for in the past couple of weeks is to reduce the mass of junk thats been accumulating in my laptop. Lots of “I’ll do that later” tasks spread out through email, iCal, and text files have been deleted. If I can put a task off for a long time, then it isn’t important. The same with bookmarks, ebooks, media, and applications.

Like archiving a massive iTunes library and only restoring select music only with a need, clean out the dock of all icons and restore only the ones that are used regularly. Mine are Firefox, mail.app, iCal, iTunes, iTerm, and TextMate. Any other apps can be called up through Spotlight or Quicksilver.

I use instant messenging only a bit at random times of the day. The IM client I used previously would add a dock icon and perpetually open window that would take up unnecessary space the rest of the time. So I switched to iChat where it can be hidden away as a menu button when not in use. If iChat isn’t working that way by default, enable it at iChat -> Preferences… -> General. Check off “Show status in menu bar”.

Switching to iChat means a move to a different IM network. It offers a new opportunity to restart with an empty contact list. I added back only the contacts when I have a need to contact them. The end result in a much slimmer quality contact list. Old contacts who wish to can find me with the Jabber account info in my nick.

Console Gaming in OSX

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:03:00 -0800

A year ago, I made the switch from the PC world to OSX rapture – specifically a 15 inch MacBook Pro. It greatly improved my workflow but gaming is definitely a weak point. While there are a few OSX native games that spark my interest, I seriously doubt they’d run well on a laptop. Also, I was given a friend’s old Xbox collection that I could put to use.

Thus began my quest for a cheap USB video capture device. The only find was this product called the EasyCAP. Despite all the negative reviews and comments and the fact that it was Windows only (Parallels should take care of that), I went ahead and bought one of them off eBay.

It was as all the naysayers said it was: a massive disappointment. To its credit, it did manage to work once, though choppy in both video and sound. Nevertheless, No magic incantations or configuration would revive the usb device afterwards. Instead, the laptop locked hard several times.

After all that frustration, salvation was found in VideoGlide, a collection of native OSX drivers and video capture software. It just works and it worked the first time. That’s really all that needs to be said about it. It just works.

Update: July 26, 08: The VideoGlide webpage now lists support for EasyCAP009, EasyCap DC60+ models. EasyCAP DC60, however is NOT supported.

Also, thought I should post some of my config in case it might help people setup their video capture.

Under “Record -> Video Settings…”, make sure that the correct input is selected and/or choose the auto-detect option.

This is what I have under “Record -> Sound Settings…”.

Finally, select the right digitizer. “USB Video Class Video” is for the built in webcam.

Six Cents Aplenty

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:56:00 -0700

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for lowered fees but this email took my by surprise.

Dear Vincent Woo,

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently agreed to reduce their Registrar Transaction Fee from $.25 to $.22. What does this mean for you?

Good news. You have been credited $.03/yr for each domain name you registered or renewed dating back to July 1, 2006*—$.06 has been placed into your account with this customer number: xxxxxxx.

Whose Side Are You On?

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:55:00 -0700

I’m With Turtle.

Play-Asia.com Coupon Code

blog@undefinedrange.com (Vincent Woo) — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:59:00 -0800

HP-XTT-CJZ is the Play-Asia.com coupon code for $5 off a minimum $50 order I don’t need. It expires Feb 4, 2007. Hope it helps somebody.