mattfahrner.com

Category: General

  • Out of the mouths of Astronauts…

    Matt Fahrner

    Applies to IT as well:

    “And it’s worth remembering, too, there’s no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse also.”

    – Commander Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut

  • Useful Intel links…

    Matt Fahrner

    Two links from Intel are particularly useful for desktop/laptop users. First, this tool will find out if the Intel drivers you’re using are up-to-date:

    http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect

    since many if not most desktops/laptops include some Intel based chipset (even if it isn’t the main CPU), then this is a pretty useful site to use.

    If you’re interested to know what Intel chipsets your system uses without checking for updates, this downloadable tool is useful:

    http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/sb/cs-009266.htm

    When run it lets you know what at a minimum your mainboard chipset is (assuming it’s Intel).

    Of course AMD users mileage will undoubtedly vary. Note that both of these are Windows only apps (sorry).

  • Beware of Outlook…

    Matt Fahrner

    Just to save you the embarrassment I thought I would warn Thunderbird users about a little something I discovered today if you use HTML formatting with Thunderbird while interacting with users of Outlook 2007.

    Attached are two views of the same email created in Thunderbird and sent out. One view is from Thunderbird, the other from Outlook. First as Thunderbird sees it:

    Thunderbird Version

    Now as Outlook sees it:

    Outlook Version

    As you see, Outlook has essentially stripped all the formatting. This is actually for two reasons:

    1. It expects, wrongly I think, for the sending email client to change the color of the quoted text. So instead of showing “>” or a blue “|” in front of the text, it throws that part away and uses the HTML color specified in the email, which defaults to black – the same color as non-quoted text. Outlook always sets the color, so it doesn’t care.
    2. For indents it ignores, wrongly again, the absolutely standard HTML construct of “<blockquote>” and instead expects a CSS DIV offset margin, which Outlook uses.

    If you’re a person who sometimes has to send replies to C-level executives like myself, and aren’t aware of the issues, this can yield some embarrassment – you’ve essentially sent them unintelligible gobbly-gook where your reply text is indistinguishable from the text you’re quoting.

    It appears that it is possible to fix this through something like this:

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/tips#app_quotelevels

    Though it’s not clear if it really works and I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort.

    Interestingly, if you use “text only” email with Thunderbird, Outlook correctly shows the “>”.

    Anyway – just an FYI.

    ust to save you the embarrassment that I am now feeling, I thought I would warn you Thunderbird users about a little something I discovered today if you use HTML formatting with Thunderbird.

    Attached are two views of the same sent email, one from Thunderbird, one from Outlook. First Thunderbird:

    Now Outlook:

    As you see, Outlook has essentially stripped all the formatting. This is actually for two reasons:

    1. It expects, wrongly I think, for the sending email client to change the color of the quoted text. So instead of showing “>” or a blue “|” in front of the text, it throws that part away and uses the HTML color specified in the email, which defaults to black – the same color as non-quoted text. Outlook always sets the color, so it doesn’t care.
    2. For indents it ignores, wrongly again, the absolutely standard HTML construct of “<blockquote>” and instead expects a CSS DIV offset margin, which Outlook uses.

    The reason this is embarrassing to me (though I actually already knew #2) is because I sometimes have to send quoted text to executives and what they’ve been seeing is probably next to unintelligible when I quote stuff.

    It appears that it is possible to fix this through something like this:

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/tips#app_quotelevels

    Though I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort.

    Interestingly, if you use “text only” email with Thunderbird, Outlook correctly shows the “>”.

  • ICANN to end (finally) domain tasting/kiting

    Matt Fahrner

    Domain “tasting” and “kiting“, which are where companies (often registrars) use a loophole in the domain purchase cancellation policy to hold domains without paying for them, are finally heading toward an end. Using “tasting” and “kiting” techniques a huge number of domains that otherwise would be available are held by corporations who essentially “squat” on the domains and collect click through advertising revenue.  The technique is ultimately highly profitable and easily pays for the the difficulties of managing huge swaths of essentially stolen domains.

    Unfortunately those huge swaths of stolen domains are subsiquently not available for general registration for legitimate users. Furthermore since these false registrants currently hold the domain, they can essentially offer them for ransom, even though they don’t actually own them.

    ICANN is now adding fees, though relatively low, that will make it cost prohibitive to kite the domains – no longer can the specious registrants get a full refund. The net effect should be to put an end to the tasting/kiting schemes.

    For those of us who need domains for legitimate uses, corporate or otherwise, this is great news.

    More can be found here.

  • Handy “Mozilla” backup page

    Matt Fahrner

    If you want to back up your Mozilla settings, whether it be Firefox or Thunderbird, this is a very hand page:

    http://kb.mozillazine.org/Migrating_settings_to_a_new_profile

    I had actually figured out most of these, but it help me catch a few I might have otherwise missed.