I just got my regular monthly email from an educational loan company telling me that this month’s updated information is now available on the web. Nothing special there. But I decided to actually read the email fully this time (who reads this stuff?) and found this:

If you are receiving this notification via US Postal mail, please take a few minutes to login to [our website] and update your email address. In order to continue receiving monthly reminders, you must provide your current, valid email address.

So my loan company apparently has no idea that they’ve just sent me an email, or they don’t know how to tell the difference between email and postal mail. This isn’t some rinky-dink outfit I’m talking about. This is a gigantic company. Apparently they have no idea how they’re communicating with me, and need to just put boilerplate text everywhere, just in case. No, it’s not phishing. This email is totally legit. And stupid.

At least make “login” two words, guys. The single-word variant is a noun.

I had said earlier that I would write more about BootCamp, and then I never did! Sorry. I’ll kinda make up for it here, but I need y’all to understand one thing: Apple gives me a paycheck. So… I may not be entirely unbiased about Apple’s products. What I can do, of course, is talk freely and openly about my opinion of Windows XP.

In a word: meh.

Continue reading “BootCamp” →

This may not be a huge deal, but it’s an interesting little tidbit of news from today. You may have heard of Skype. It’s a piece of software for Mac, Linux, and Windows that allows you to do voice chat (and text chat, and video chat in some cases) over the internet for free, worldwide. The sound quality is pretty good (better than a normal phone), the software is easy to use, and it’s totally free. I’m “josh78” on there. Look me up.

Today Skype announced that for the rest of 2006, they’re going to allow free PC-to-phone voice chat for everyone in the USA and Canada. So if your computer (again Mac, Linux, or Windows) has some speakers and a microphone, it just became a free phone. A free phone that can dial anywhere in the USA or Canada for absolutely no money whatsoever. The other party doesn’t need a Skype account, they just need a phone number. I suppose if you’ve got a laptop, it’s now a mobile phone. (Hehehe…) Download and enjoy!

I swear I’m not trying to turn this into YouTube Central, but this is some pretty sweet technology. Looks like a ton of fun. Check it out here or over at YouTube. The guy in the video is Phillip Torrone, senior editor of MAKE magazine.

Steph and I went to the Maker Faire today, which was really interesting. I picked up a packet of LED Throwies from the peeps at Graffiti Research Lab, and when I got home I couldn’t resist making a how-to video (even though I doubt one is necessary). It’s pretty brain-dead simple, really; probably one of the simplest things at the faire to make. All the same, I think they’re beautiful and fun. Enjoy!

(I’d recommend letting the whole video load before watching it. Otherwise it’s kinda choppy.)

I installed Boot Camp yesterday, and things went well, but I’ve got a few things to say about Windows XP.

Before we start that, though, does anyone have a copy of Half-Life 2 that they’d like to get rid of nice and cheap? I mean, you’re already done playing it, right? And you’d sell it to me for like $10, right?

I sure hope so.

The How-To includes this gem: “All totaled, this almost entirely Apple produced remote control fart machine will set you back at least USD$896.99. That’s almost as competitive in the fart machine market as the Apple Leather Case for iPod is in the iPod accessory market!!” That’s good geek comedy.