Category Archives: technology

Unnecessary Automation

Sorry, there are not many interesting pictures in this entry, namely because people tend to freak out when you start taking snapping photographs in public bathrooms (you'll see what I mean if you read this entry) But don't fear! If you want pictures, check the entry right above this one, which I posted like 5 seconds after this despite the dates being different. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Well, not really a good morning....

Crayon Post, the Time Lapse Video

Somebody asked me how long it took to make the Crayon Post I put up the other day - well as it happens, I was wondering the same thing at the outset, so I had set up my camera to record a time lapse video of the process, which you can view below. This pretty (HDR) picture of Shibuya, Tokyo is a sneak peek of the next upcoming post... The video itself is a 4.5...

Night Photos and Naughty E-mails

Which brings us back to the present, and this gigantic very explicit pornographic image plastered on my screen, right smack dab in the middle of a crowded Japanese office...!

"EERGLPPPFFFHHH!!!!!" I squeak out an incomprehensible sound as my mind begins to register what the frick is happening. "OH MY CHRIST!!!"

"OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD!!!" I stammer-yell to myself as I realise I'm on a Mac and that shortcut doesn't work. Instinctively I move to hit "window" plus "l" which on a PC will blank your screen and bring you back to the security log on. Guess what it does on a Mac in Entourage. It "refreshes the message list", which means it has just refreshed this gigantic set of pornographic boobies displayed in my e-mail screen.

Applepanda - The Switch

Okay lots to talk about so let's get right into it. Last Wednesday I was at work tip-typing away hard core trying to plow through all the stuff I had to finish before the end of the day when my computer - loyal companion for the past 3.5 years - suddenly fritzed once, heave a terrible, terrible sad sigh that is still ingrained in my mind, then turned black and straight up died. Oh and...

Movable Type Livesearch

I Ever since the last major redesign, I've really wanted to add a "livesearch" function to the site. Up until now, all site searching was handled through Google via the "site search" box over on the right. It works okay, but the Google search page is not only pretty ugly, it also serves up ads and some not-so relevant results (for example, giving category pages instead of specific entries). What I wanted to do was something akin to what Dunstan did on his amazing 1976design blog - a live search that returns dynamic results that change according to what you type into the box. If you've ever used the iTunes search function, then you'll know right away what I'm talking about.

Sunny Road Trip!

On the way back we passed by this random 35 foot tall statue of a Tyrannosaurs Rex growling fearsomely at a curve in the road, apparently as an enticement to come visit the nearby dinosaur museum. What is mildly amusing about this picture is the sign beneath the T-Rex's feet. It reads: "Are you driving safely?" And all I could think was "No, man, a goddamn dinosaur that just scared the shit out of me when I rounded the blind curve here! What do you expect!!?"

How Apple iTunes 5.0 almost ruined my life...

The preamble I suppose I should start off with a disclaimer - I'm not a web design guru, I don't have a background in computer sciences, and the last piece of "software" I wrote was a piano program for my freshman year C++ class. However, I am an American living in Japan with a job that often requires him to deal with a mixture of Japanese and English software. I have a decent grasp of...

Remote Mobile Blogging Panda, take III

Apologies for the depressing timbre of the last post. Will try and make up for it in that way that only remote mobile bloggin pandas can do. Where is panda...!? In a happy, peaceful panda place!! This morning started out in typical Japanese fashion. See, I first received the phone call I talked about in the last post on Thursday night. Thus Friday, I went in to work to try and arrange vacation time and...

Digital Dream Panda

Now sitting in Kansai airport with Tennis waiting to pick up her friend. In the ultimate geek wet-dream come reality, I am being a truely remote mobile blogging panda with my super sleek little computar connected to the wireless network here. The thing about living out this ultra sophisticated high tech digerati fantasy is that all the hardware in the world won't neccessarily help you if you have nothing to write about. I have writer's...

Remote Mobile Blogging Panda...

Panda has officially gone mobile! i am writing this entry on my pocketpc in a coffeeshop using a wireless LAN card. now how cool is that...!? :) *gets tired of pecking at a tiny keyboard with a stylus* ahhhh, and thus dies the novelty of m-life. And everyone wonders why I'm always broke... now listening to: "Paul Vandyke - first of four Ministry of Sound Sessions" (but where are the other three? *rummages through...

Desktop

Peep my sexy desktop. Cleaned, for once in my life. Now listening to: "Sander Kleinenberg - Essential Mix" (is it house? is it progressive? does it matter?) 7:59 pm...