Scottie’s Blog

I’ve been Google-ized!1
scottie posted in misc on March 29th, 2006

I received an unexpected email from Google today letting me know that they have accepted me to help beta test there new gmail for your domain service. This is sweet! I cannot tell in the terms of service if I am permitted to share screen shots of the service or not. However, I don’t see any harm in you checking out the login page for my email which is pretty cool. The admin control panel is very basic it allows you to create email accounts (up to 25 for free), MX record settings so you can update the MX records for where your mail is currently going and some simple settings to personal the logo on the page. Cool stuff. That’s all I am going to say because I don’t want any part of Google’s legal team and I want to continue to use there service.

evoketv.com0
scottie posted in misc on March 28th, 2006

OMG! This frickin’ site is awesome. It allows you to customize your TV schedule, rate shows and episodes, and share them via RSS! You can also share your TV schedule on your website or blog! To see my TV schedule do to my main page. Head on over to evoketv.com and check it out. As you all know I am a 30boxes.com user and RSS allows me to put my TV schedule automatically on my calendar. Sweet stuff.

1963 Quarter2
scottie posted in misc on March 20th, 2006

I tried to buy a soda today from the vending machine, like I do
everyday. The macine just wouldn’t take it. After trying both the
vending machines and almost giving it ” The People’s Elbow” I noticed
my quarter looked “funny”. It turned out to be a quarter from 1963. It
apparently is too old for the machines to accept as legit currency.

WinXP Boots on an Intel Mac!0
scottie posted in misc on March 19th, 2006

As many know some one has won the contest to boot XP on an Intel Mac. If you want to see it in action, head over to MacBreak on TWIT’s site and they have a Video of it running and how easy it was to do.

Make GoogleMail your Webmail App Using a DIFFERENT account then gmail4
scottie posted in web apps on March 18th, 2006

Okay, so as you know I just registered a new domain and have a new email account which I hope to use for everything(scottie@scheldberg.com). I am hosting all my domains through DreamHost which includes Squirrel Mail (Email for nuts!) as there webmail application. So I got to thinkin’… dangerous I know… what if I could use GoogleMail’s web application to completely manage my emails?

Now you are probably thinking, sure you can you just setup a forward from scheldberg.com over to your Gmail account and you’re done. Right? Well sort of. If you do it that way then when you respond to people or create new messages they are still coming from the Gmail account address. There is a way to setup GoogleMail where not only will it obviously accept the forwarding of your mail from different accounts, but it will allow you to add a different email account and set that account as the default email account! Very cool… why? Because now no matter where the message is coming from, for example I have my .Mac and my scheldberg.com mail forwarding to my Gmail account, when I reply-to or create a new message in GoogleMail it will send it as if it where coming from my scottie@scheldberg.com.

There are a few steps you need to take to accomplish this. It took me 45 minutes of testing options to get it exactly right so I thought I would share it. Probably would have been easiest to just look at Google’s help which tells you how to do it.

“I’m just livin’ the dream!” - Chaz, Wedding Crashers

Welcome to my new blog!1
scottie posted in misc on March 17th, 2006

Hi all! This is my first post on my new site. This will be a much better home for my blog than on .Mac. Now you can leave comments on my blog posts if you have something to say, which is important to me.

If Microsoft Created the iPod Packaging0
scottie posted in Uncategorized on March 12th, 2006

I originally learned of this hilarious video from Patrick’s post on geekgather.org. It was originally on youtube.com but was then removed. I subscribe to the macTV Video Podcast and they just released it tonight. Frickin’ good times.

Versamail and Treo 6501
scottie posted in Uncategorized on March 10th, 2006

As most of your know I am the proud owner of a Treo 650. Love it, use it… the thing OWNS!  That is until the 700p comes out in the spring and then the 650 will be a paper weight. In any case… Palm includes an email application with the Palm named Versamail. It’s a simple, lightweight application that allows you to setup POP and IMAP accounts as well as the ability to setup active sync for Exchange servers. You then connect to the email server over your cell providers data network.

Being in a business setting I have had to setup multiple accounts in Versamail for testing purposes. Especially with the new Exchange Server we have. Little did I know you can only have 8 accounts setup in Versamail. Now, you are probably thinking, no one would ever have 8 accounts setup in Versamail anyway so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that the only way to clear out old accounts is to sync with the Versamail Conduit. So now you are thinking, so why don’t you sync with the Versamail conduit and S.T.F.U.? Well, I’m glad you asked, because the
Fu(k!n Versamail conduit is only on PC’s and not on the Mac. So once I had created 8 accounts it just doesn’t allow me to create anymore. Even though technically the only account I have in Versamail is my one .Mac account. The rest I have deleted. Instead Versamail gives me a nice error message telling me to sync with the Versamail Conduit to restore an old account… retarded.

So, the only way to be able to add my other email account in Versamail is to sync my Treo 650 with a Windows machine that has the Versamail Conduit installed. Screw you Palm, if I wanted to sync my Treo with a Windows machine I would have purchased a Windows machine. For the love of God man. I researched this topic online through Palms support and through a Google search and found no solution for fixing this without getting a PC involved (which wouldn’t be hard for me, but think of your average Mac user). I did find a lot of other unhappy Mac users with the same problem though.

I found a solution, and this is what I did.
1. Perform a sync with your computer and the palm.
2. Navigate to your Home Directory and drill down to:
/Documents/Palm/Users/(your user folder)/Backup
Find three files which are inconveniently not named anything to do with Versamail. These files are called:
MultiMail Attachments.pdb
MultiMail Disconnected.pdb
MultiMail Messages.pdb

3. Delete these files and empty the trash.
4. Perform a hard reset of your Treo which is holding the power button down and the reset button under the battery cover at the same time. Release the reset button but continue to hold the power button. When you see the blue splash logo for Palm release the power button. It asks you to press up on the directional pad to erase all data. I know it’s scary, but do it.
5. Sync with your computer again.

When you do this all of your data will come back on your Treo. The only setting that I found that didn’t come back was turning BlueTooth on. Now when I go into Versamail it sees not accounts and allows me to setup my two email accounts.

I thought about adding Palm to the no talent ass clown category that I have placed Dell and the Geek Squad. I think I will and I think they deserve it. There is no excuse to not have a solution for this on the Mac platform. I would think they would have a very high Mac user base for Palm.

Scottie’s Podcast, Episode: Web 2.01
scottie posted in Uncategorized on March 5th, 2006

I have just released the latest episode in my podcast. Please click on the Video Podcast link at the top of the page to have a listen. You can also subscribe to my podcast from that page by clicking on the RSS link. This will allow you to subscribe to my podcast in iTunes so you always, automatically get the latest episode.

Diagnosing a Dell that won’t boot0
scottie posted in Uncategorized on March 4th, 2006

My brother called me up a couple days ago and said that his Dell Dimension desktop would not start up. Being the fix-it type guy he is my brother dug right into the guts of the machine to take a look at the power button. Not understanding the workings of a computer he cut the wirings going into the power button and twisted them together thinking it would complete the circuit and the computer would come on. He did get my approval for that move. Of course it didn’t do any good because those wires don’t complete a circuit they just provide the “action” to the power supply to provide power to the rest of the machine.

Being the brother that I am (and the fact that I am in debt to him because he converted my loft into a bedroom for me for next to nothing) I offered to take a look at it. I knew The Geek Squad or someone else would charge $100+ an hour to look at it not including parts. I couldn’t let him be subjected to those prices and those no talent ass clowns.

I brought the machine into work so turbo Tim and I could tear it apart and figure it out. Turbo Tim tried everything in his arsenal to diagnose the problem. I was more of a spectator at first because Tim loves this shit. And I don’t have the knowledge of x86 hardware like Turbo does. First thing Turbo did was solder the wires back to the power switch. Then he ripped the power supply out of the machine and plugged in a different one. That power supply worked but we didn’t get any video. So then he tried a different card in the same slot. Still didn’t work. He then got a PCI graphics card to try one of the other slots to rule out a pad slot on the board. Still no video. We tried my bros old graphics card in a different machine and confirmed that it did work.

Thinking that it was the motherboard I called Dell just for fun to see how much a new power supply and motherboard would be. Thinking that there mother board was probably proprietary. They quoted me a total after shipping and tax of $204. They told me how I should only buy there stuff to ensure quality and asked me about three times if I wanted to order the stuff. I told them I would think about it and to email me the quote. Tim and I stared one last time at the machine and we decided to take the heat sync off to reseat the processor. When Tim grabbed the heat sync it came right off without having to unlatch it from the board. Not good. Whoever put the thing together at Dell did a half ass job.

Since the processor was glued to the heat sync I used a blade to pry it loose. We then re-seated the processor properly, placed the heat sync back on top and properly clasped it back on. I hit the power button and…. WOOOSH, it fired right up with video! At this point we grouped the Dell person that put the machine together into the same no talent ass clown group as The Geek Squad. Knowing that all I needed now was a power supply I headed over to CompUSA and picked up a slightly better one than what Dell had provided for $24.99 (Dell had quoted me $48 not including shipping and tax). We put everything back together and problem solved.

How do you like them apples dork squad and Dell? Oh, and thanks a TON Turbo Tim for your help!