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AA meltdown

battery leakage
Let this be a lesson to you. Do not store electronics with the battery inside.

My minidisc recorder had a battery leak and now it is broken.

If you plan on storing something for a while, remove the battery before placing in storage.

RTFM, my friends. RTFM. And, also, follow your own advice.

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PNG-8 with alpha transparency

I learned a new web trick today.

Apparently, Photoshop’s inability to save PNG-8 with alpha transparency is not a limitation of PNG-8 but a limitation in Photoshop.

For years, I have been operating under the assumption that I need to use PNG-24 to achieve transparency effects in my web projects. This is usually a compromise in terms of file size and browser compatibility (requiring ie-specific hacks). But it doesn’t have to be…

[Enter Fireworks]

Fireworks to the rescue:

  • Open your big Photoshop-exported PNG-24 with nice alpha transparency in Fireworks.
  • Change the file format to PNG-8.
  • Change the transparency option to “alpha transparency”
  • Rebuild and export your PNG-8
  • Revel in the MUCH smaller file size

Bonus points for ie6 compatibility!

Learned this from Brenelz’s screencast which was linked on NetTuts

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Internet Explorer image resizing tip

Who knew?

Though it’s not best practice to resize images in the browser this could really be useful in the right situation:

img { -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; }

This little snippet will vastly improve the image resizing abilities of ie — bringing it closer to the resized image quality experienced with Firefox or Safari.

example

[seen at devthought via css-tricks]
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TivoSlimserverClient support forum

Even though it has been a very, very long time since I updated TivoSlimserverClient it seems that there are people who are still discovering it and using it.

Though I am usually happy to respond to email or blog comment questions, I think it may be more beneficial to all users to bring the discussion into the open.

I am pleased to announce that I have just opened the TivoSlimserverClient forums.

So please feel free to ask questions there, and hopefully I will get to you soon. Or even better — some helpful fellow user might see fit to answer your question for me.

Go: TivoSlimserverClient forums

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dj mumbler on-the-air

logomain11Starting this Sunday, I will be hosting a radio show on KANM – “the college station of College Station.” It is an AM station, as well as cable FM on Suddenlink Communications. There is a stream available at http://kanm.tamu.edu, which seems like the most normal way to access the show (what is cable FM?).

The show will be free-form.

I will be sharing music I like, and maybe some stuff the station makes me include. The majority of programming on the station is indie rock-centered, so if I do pull from their library I should be able to find some good music. My focus will be dubstep, roots/dub reggae and other musics of the Jamaican diaspora, hip-hop, possibly grime, Bollywood/filmi songs and maybe even some experimental/modern classical music.

Mumblings
Sundays 12-2pm
KANM, College Station
1580 AM
campus cable TV channel 88
kanm.tamu.edu

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Ed’s Music Picks for 2008 (where did the year go?)

It is hard to believe that it is December already almost January. It is even harder to believe that I had to scrape sleet off my windshield today last week in the middle of Texas.

This year saw some big changes:
1. I now live in TX.
2. I now have a regular job. I am not self employed so I have to wear pants and talk to people.
3. I ditched that horrible razr. iPhone, baby!
4. I bought a house.

OK, enough chitchat. On to the music… my favorites from this past year in no particular order:
Continue reading “Ed’s Music Picks for 2008 (where did the year go?)”

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Obama.

I am still trying to wrap my head around this amazing development. Through the numbing fog of cynicism and despite a generalized suspicion of politics, I was genuinely moved when Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. It really does feel monumental and historic.

What happened in CA with Prop (h)8, though? Lame.