Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Feb 4, 2012, 3:52 pm
I successfully updated to Mac OS X 10.7.3 the other day via Software Update, but there were a lot of people who didn’t. Looks like Apple is now pushing the entire 1.3GB Combo Update package at least temporarily until they find and fix the delta update. For what it’s worth, 10.7.3 has been grea...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 24, 2012, 9:01 pm
Looks like Mac OS X 10.7.3 is close. I’m hoping that’s the case, because I’ve suffered from an incredibly annoying bug where portions of the user interface are discolored when I attach or detach from an external monitor (a configuration I switch between a couple times a day). It’s not just ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 18, 2012, 2:06 am
ProPublica has a nicely designed interactive list of likely SOPA and PIPA supporters in both chambers of Congress. Current TV has a cool explanation about how ProPublica’s app, dubbed SOPA Opera, determines who is a supporter and who is an opponent — pretty fantastic stuff (especially if you’r...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 18, 2012, 1:05 am
If you’re curious as to why there is such an uproar about the Stop Online Piracy Act and its companion in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act, read Mat Howie’s post at MetaFilter, in which he describes a situation where he was targeted by a mistaken takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyri...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 17, 2012, 4:42 pm
A common thread through the SOPA drama is that Congress is legislating from a position of ignorance on how the Internet works. In a column for the Guardian today, Dan Gillmor argues the opposite: What we’re seeing does not derive from any misunderstanding. Rather, I’m convinced, this concerted ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 16, 2012, 10:43 am
Update 1/17 @ 4:21PM EST: SOPA markup will resume in February. It’s not dead yet. SOPA has been tabled for now (though the Protect IP Act, SOPA’s contemporary, lives on in the Senate). Pardon my cynicism, but I’m fairly sure that in an election year, no member of the House would want to be s...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 15, 2012, 12:05 pm
I’ve been exploring LESS this weekend as a way to make writing CSS a much more efficient affair. So far, so very good! I’m using LESS.app for Mac OS X to compile my .less files down to CSS with each save. There are Ruby scripts and JavaScript available for interpreting LESS on the fly, but I ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 10, 2012, 1:12 pm
Matt Mullenweg: Every Jetpack-powered WordPress is now a Jabber node you can subscribe to with im.wordpress.com — Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) January 10, 2012 Glad to see someone still remembering how powerful it can be to get notified of social media over IM. It’s still a real shame Twitter...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 5, 2012, 10:51 am
Count me among those who find plenty of value in blog comments not only because the ability to add something to another person’s Web page is quite powerful, but disparate conversations on third-party services are pretty hard to wrangle (Echo and LiveFyre are getting better at this, but they are fa...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 4, 2012, 10:21 am
WordPress 3.3.1 is now out. Upgraded here without a hitch. It fixes a security problem so be sure to update sooner rather than later.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 3, 2012, 4:58 pm
A rumor that Facebook Timeline won’t support IE 7 got traction over the New Year’s weekend. According to a comment by Facebook engineer Stefan Parker, though, Facebook will eventually support Timeline on IE 7 (and 6, for that matter). IE 6 got all the attention for being the straggler, but wit...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 3, 2012, 4:42 pm
Not sure what happened earlier when I posted my missive about IE 6, but Apache lost its mind and ground to a halt earlier today. A quick look at some vitals indicated that the issue was related to the Twitter API (which points to the Twitter Tools plugin which has archived my last four years of twee...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Oct 6, 2011, 9:30 am
Printed photo of Steve Jobs at a makeshift memorial to honor his passing at the Reston, VA Apple Store. Technology’s next tastemaker has some huge shoes to fill.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Sep 15, 2011, 11:46 pm
If you are so inclined (and we are not Facebook friends), you can now subscribe to my public updates there. I’m still a little skeptical of this fundamental change in the way Facebook operates — effectively putting the final nails in the coffin of the original Facebook social contract — and s...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Sep 14, 2011, 3:05 am
My first impression of Windows 8: A BSOD in Segoe font with a new addition I call the Frowny Face of Sad. You could call it FFS, which also is an acronym I used to shout frequently at Vista. (I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine this additional meaning.) To be fair, it appears to be...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Sep 11, 2011, 2:41 pm
Taken while walking in downtown Washington yesterday with Ale and Duke.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Aug 16, 2011, 5:08 pm
Early Lion adopters, 10.7.1 is now available via Software Update. The update I’m being pushed is only 17.4 MB — that’s it. It should fix the Safari video bug, the Wi-Fi bug for periodic disconnections (one I have been getting hit with frequently), and some other assorted issues. Check Softw...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Aug 16, 2011, 8:30 am
The first funny (to me) thing I ever did online: the Tahoma Infatuation banner. I have seen a lot of weird things in nearly 15 years of Internet-connectedness. That being said, I dare anybody to try to top what I saw last night. In high school, two things I really liked were A) satire and B) the ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Aug 8, 2011, 4:30 pm
I can’t believe it’s been a month since I captured the above video of Space Shuttle Atlantis escaping Earth’s grasp to rendezvous with the International Space Station on the 135th and final mission of the Space Shuttle program. I’m still in awe of where I was (3.1 miles away at the press si...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Aug 8, 2011, 7:45 am
It kills me to run into sites that were designed by people who think only at 1024
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Aug 2, 2011, 5:08 pm
Today is August 2, 2011 — or 08.02.11, which geeks the world over are proclaiming as “Wi-Fi Day,” paying homage to the IEEE spec 802.11 which defines wireless networks. I vividly remember the first time I used a wireless network. In the spring of 2003, I was working as a student worker in a ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 31, 2011, 11:58 pm
Our miniature dachshund Charlie, kissing Stephanie incessantly. For the first time in several years, I finally have a camera other than my phone again. The Canon EOS Rebel T3 will go down as my first-ever DSLR; I had been considering the T3i carefully but in the end opted to save several hundred d...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 21, 2011, 5:39 am
A Twitpic of the lucky 50 getting to watch Atlantis’s landing. Via Beth Beck. An era in manned spaceflight — the only era I’ve known — is coming to an end early this morning as Atlantis touches down for the final time at Kennedy Space Center. I’m watching it at SpaceVidCast, which has a...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 20, 2011, 12:42 am
I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Mac OS X Lion for the last few months — thus, I’m pretty excited for today’s release and plan on acquiring it as soon as bandwidth allows. I’m looking forward to many of the user interface changes in Lion, with full screen apps and Mission Control...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 18, 2011, 3:29 pm
While Congress is arguing points of policy labeled with “job-killer” rhetoric, perhaps they should look into what international patent trolls are doing to independent developers here in America. Independent developers have driven so much innovation in the last decade and have been a real bright...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 14, 2011, 10:11 am
I’ve had 20 minutes with Spotify Free (disclosure: it was a Klout Perk) and it, so far, has been incredible. With millions of tracks on demand at pretty good quality, no wonder it took so long to reach the States. I may toss some invites out later as I receive them (depending on how many I get).
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 12, 2011, 7:15 pm
Via Googler Andrew Hintz comes an embarrassing revelation for Sony, where their developers apparently are embedding CAPTCHAs in HTML and using CSS to distort them. While I generally hate CAPTCHAs (especially since most of them have been broken for a long time, now), this is an incredibly foolish an...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 12, 2011, 6:32 pm
Andy Paras, Charleston’s favorite Twitter reporter from the Post & Courier, is now blogging about his use of social media in journalism, and he’s off to a great start. I highly recommend his Google Plus review, for starters. I’m glad he started the blog and look forward to more posts.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 10, 2011, 12:18 pm
A more accurate use of Facebook these days. This pretty much sums up my usage of Facebook lately. Google+ is ridiculously busy now. I can’t imagine what kind of a madhouse it will be like when it opens up permanently to everybody.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 10, 2011, 2:02 am
RadarScope 1.1 for Mac is out. RadarScope has been my go-to radar app on iOS since I got my iPod touch back in 2009, and quickly became my go-to solution for a Mac-native radar viewer. Version 1.0 was fairly solid but was missing some of the AllisonHouse and Spotter Network integration features th...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 7, 2011, 8:28 am
The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. I am at the Kennedy Space Center for the next few days taking in the NASA Tweetup for the final Shuttle mission, STS-135. Atlantis is supposed to lift off tomorrow, but the forecast is suspect (at best). However, I’m just thrilled to...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 4, 2011, 6:33 pm
As we celebrate the 235th anniversary of our independence, Dan Conover at Xark offers a thoughtful reminder of America’s iterative approach to our government and society, especially in the context of elements of our current political discourse, which often is limited to soundbites about the Foundi...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jul 3, 2011, 5:09 pm
It’s just not good when a fire shows up on radar, as is happening right now near Myrtle Beach. Hopefully fireworks weren’t the cause — I’m sure it will be investigated. TheDigitel Myrtle Beach has more — and be safe this Fourth of July!
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jun 24, 2011, 9:30 am
If you consider yourself a power Twitter user and you use a Mac, I strongly recommend looking at YoruFukurou. I’ve been using it exclusively for the last few days and it has made using Twitter much more manageable. In addition to the usual ability to support searches and lists, it can filter my ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jun 22, 2011, 7:30 am
After seeing and experiencing development versions of WordPress 3.2 and its incredibly sexy updates at WordPress DC, I had been kicking around the idea of running a development version here on jaredwsmith.com — and so it is done. Not only am I on a dev version, but I’m also updating it via Subv...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - May 24, 2011, 8:18 pm
Oklahoma Mesonet readings over the last 24 hours. Can you spot the tornado impact? Get a load of this meteogram from the Oklahoma Mesonet in El Reno, OK, tweeted by Base Velocity, LLC. Not only did it measure a 150 MPH wind gust around 4:30 PM, it also recorded a pressure drop to 940 millibars and...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 27, 2011, 10:49 pm
3D view of a severe thunderstorm over Beaufort, SC on March 27, 2011. Image generated by GR2Analyst. The first severe weather event of the spring is in the books for the Lowcountry. Hail was the primary factor, with numerous reports of large hail, with a report of baseball-size hail near Rincon, G...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 26, 2011, 12:16 am
Who out there still fully customizes (or even totally writes from scratch) their own theme for their CMS or otherwise themable software? More and more this seems to be a dying art, especially on personal blogs, and it’s kind of a shame. I find a lot of joy in rolling my own code. Are theme framewo...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 24, 2011, 8:15 am
iPad 2 homescreen, with effects applied by Camera+ for iPhone. I finally broke down and got an iPad. I spent part of my Sunday at South by Southwest Interactive in line at the ad-hoc Apple Store in downtown Austin, TX awaiting an opportunity to get my hands on the iPad 2. They only had 64 GB Wi-F...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 21, 2011, 10:57 am
The second SuperHappyDevHouse Charleston on Saturday was loads of fun and well worth the drive. I got to catch up with old friends, meet a ton of Charleston’s brightest coders, and at least think through a few problems (even if I didn’t write too much code — I’ll rectify that next time). P...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 16, 2011, 9:36 pm
I feel a lot better about being overwhelmed with the breakneck pace of technology over the last year or two after reading Calvin Webster’s post on his trying to keep up. I personally feel the challenge to continually learn and, in some cases, reinvent myself has been the hardest thing about my ca...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Mar 4, 2011, 11:40 am
“Friends don’t let friends use Internet Explorer 6,” says Microsoft. The campaign is encouraging, but I still feel as if IE 6 market share will only continue to drop as machines are replaced, rather than awareness being raised to newer IEs or alternative browsers on existing installs, and it ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Feb 25, 2011, 11:33 pm
In recent years, I have been loath to bring up politics on this blog as the vitriol in our national discourse is a complete turnoff. However, concerns over cuts to the National Weather Service prompted me to do something I have never done before: write a letter to one of my Senators (in this case, ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Feb 16, 2011, 9:49 pm
I’ve talked a lot about it on Twitter, but not so much here just yet — I am getting married in October to my girlfriend Stephanie. It will be a rockin’ good time, I hope. You can find all the mushy details on our new wedding website, which we’ll be tweaking and adding to over the coming mo...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Feb 1, 2011, 8:36 am
Water vapor imagery of the gigantic Midwest snowstorm, via NOAA. I don’t like to sit on the sidelines of very many weather phenomena. The Midwest winter storm is a major exception. With snowfall totals in excess of 20″ in spots forecasted (looking on track if that water vapor imagery is any i...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 17, 2011, 10:00 am
A new year is breathing new life into Social Media Club’s Charleston chapter, as it is set to relaunch with a meetup at Liberty Tap Room in Mt. Pleasant on January 19. The new leadership team in town includes Jeff Webster (who originally founded SMC Charleston in 2008), Cheryl Smithem, Ashley Thi...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 16, 2011, 11:54 am
Web developers, please take note: Unless a piece of video or audio is the centerpiece of the entire page, with no surrounding content and an expectation that the media should start playing immediately, autoplay is not acceptable. I seriously question if the people at large companies who decide auto...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 15, 2011, 12:59 pm
I’m writing this within Firefox 4, Beta 9. So far, so good — Firefox does seem significantly faster over the 3.x versions, and has already withstood a Flash crash without dumping the entire browser, indicating that the sandboxing work Mozilla has done is performing well. The UI has had quite a ...
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 12, 2011, 11:46 pm
I’m young enough to have only had one floppy drive on my computers (in fact, I had floppies on every machine until the MacBook Pro). This question on Super User makes me feel a lot, lot older.
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Jared S. posted an article on Jared W. Smith - Jan 12, 2011, 10:22 pm
James Spann passes along a confirmation of last night’s mysterious fireball: it was indeed a meteorite landing in Mississippi. NASA out of Huntsville used some interesting techniques to confirm the meteorite, too. Take a look.
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