Category Archives: Hardware/Software

Hardware/Software, Personal

Do any serious writing?

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Scrivener for Windows

I’ve been waiting ages for Scrivener to come out with a viable Windows product. I’m happy to say that my wait is now over. I’m plugging away on their latest version, 1.0.3, and it’s working flawlessly. It doesn’t yet have all of the features of the other computer company at version 2, but it’s coming along nicely.

I’ve plugged three projects into it, and plan on using it from now on. I find the software extremely useful for story planners such as myself. If you’re a pantser, perhaps not so much.

A trial version is available for 30 days of actual use. Like the ad copy says, if you use the trial for two days a week, it lasts 15 weeks. Try it and buy it, right away. I did. Once you get past the learning curve, you’ll not go back to Word. The price can’t be beat either.
Scrivener for Windows

Hardware/Software

Export failed due to an unexpected error – fix here

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MS Word 2010 may give you this useless info box “Export failed due to an unexpected error” when attempting to convert a doc file to a pdf.

Here’s a new fix from a bulletin board:

  1. Go to Windows\System32.
  2. Find t2embed.dll (you must set the option to see all files and folders in windows explorer).
  3. Open properties.
  4. Open security tab.
  5. Select ‘Everyone’ or whatever users you are trying to allow.
  6. Click Edit.
  7. Check Full Control allow All.
  8. Click Apply/Okay.

Problem solved.

If that doesn’t work, try scrolling to the MS fix partway down this page and click on the “Enable” box. That should do the trick.

Hardware/Software, Popular

Weather Center Gadget

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Weather Center Gadget

Update March 14, 2014: How to add Windows 7 gadgets to Windows 8.1

Update November 18, 2013: Fix for Gadget display issues after IE11 Installation on Windows 7.

Update for Windows 8.1, October 18, 2013: Following the install of the Windows 8.1 update, I had to completely uninstall and then re-install 8GadgetPack‘s v8.0 to get the sidebars to show. No big deal, because they now work just as well. Remember, though, that these gadgets are for the Windows 8.1 Desktop. They are NOT for the Windows 8 Start Screen.

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Update January 11, 2013: Looking for gadgets for Windows 8? Look no further. 8GadgetPack has a 3-page collection that can be loaded onto the Windows 8 Desktop. I’m using some of them, and they work perfectly, especially the exact same weather gadget that’s on this page.Yes, that’s right. This weather gadget can be loaded onto the Windows 8 Desktop.

No, they’re not for the Windows 8 Start screen. They’re for the Windows 8 Desktop. If you spend the majority of your time on the Win 8 Desktop, as I do, then these gadgets are for you, too.

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I like having a weather gadget on my desktop. When the simpleton Windows 7 weather gadget stopped showing me the little sunshine icon in the top left for the city in which I live, I was annoyed. I experimented with every city in the world and discovered that mine was the only one without the little sun shining brightly down upon me, even when the sun was actually shining brightly down upon me.

Obviously I searched for the solution to the problem. If you’re having the same problem, don’t bother searching. The morons that write about these things in blogs (for example, this one) and forums don’t have the foggiest notion why the OEM Windows 7 weather gadget has stopped shining down upon us all. Furthermore, they all have absolutely no idea how to get it working again!

But don’t despair, dear reader. I have the solution. It’s called Weather Center gadget. You can obtain the latest version here.

Don’t look on the official Windows Gadget page. It’s not there.

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To change the number of days that show up:

  • click on the gadget and then use the scroll wheel to choose the number of days that are displayed.

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Note that this gadget is NOT a solution to the “Cannot connect to service” that sometimes appears on the Win7 weather gadget.

Hardware/Software

I’m finally in the 21st Century

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Motorola V262
I have replaced this antique

(Phone-wise, at least.)

I avoided it for as long as I could, but it was eating batteries, and at 50 buck$ a pop, I just got fed up. It was good to me though, and traveled around North America well. The perfect traveling companion–no space in the luggage racks was required; no change of underwear necessary; no makeup needed. There was never any complaining.

I have moved on to someone something newer. Call me fickle if you wish, but admit it–you’re jealous.

HTC Desire HD
with an HTC Desire HD

 

 

 

 

Hardware/Software, Popular

Getting into hot water with Tassimo, oops, I mean Keurig

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UPDATE 2019-12-22: I finally replaced this leaking, broke-down Tassimo dog with a Keurig. The price was right, compared to the overpriced, faulty, leaking, completely useless Tassimo I would be forced to replace if I was stupid enough to buy another Tassimo. Obviously I’m in favor of price.

The Keurig gives me more choices for a cup size, too. All in all, I am extremely satisfied with my new Keurig. It also makes great tea!

* * *

Tassimo brewerI like tea. I like Tassimo tea. There just aren’t enough varieties of Tassimo tea to keep me happy. Consequently, I scratched my head for a bit and then remembered the yellow cleaning T-disc tucked away in the back of the machine.

Voila! Hot water – in an instant.

To get a full cup, I taped a tea bar-code over the bar-code on the cleaning disc. You must orient the new bar-code in the right direction, or the Tassimo won’t recognize the cleaning disc (which is now your hot water disc). Don’t forget to first put the tea-bag into the cup and let it infuse for the best tea. Any other way of making tea just isn’t.

After the process is complete, when the green light appears, I hold down the button for another seven seconds to get a full oversize cup. Your time might vary somewhat.

Should you want to ensure the piping hotness of your cup of tea, hit the cup with some hot water from the hot-water tap and allow it to sit for a bit. Empty and wipe the pre-warmed mug before placing it in the Tassimo brewer.

Noodles? Of course. You can heat heat noodles that way, too.

Bravo, Tassimo! I can now drink tea made from a tea-bag, any variety I desire.

UPDATE: Looking for instructions on descaling your Tassimo and turning off that red light? I use a 50-50 solution of CLR and water to descale mine. It works like a charm. Don’t forget to rinse the tank well and run some fresh water through the machine using the cleaning disc.

Here’s how to descale:

  1. Take out the water filter (if you use one). Descaling won’t work with the filter in there.
  2. Mix up 500 mL of descaling solution in the water supply bucket. You must have at least 500 mL of solution in there or it will run out and you’ll have to start over.
  3. Put the cleaning disc into the machine and close the little disc door.
  4. Put a cup that will hold at least 500 mL into the machine (you will probably want to take out the cup stand to make room for it). If the cup won’t hold 500 mL, it’ll overflow and you’ll have a mess.
  5. This is the key: press and hold the brew button for at least 3 seconds. Now wait 20 minutes.
  6. DON’T FORGET to run several cups of hot water through the machine to clear out the CLR or whatever else you have used to clean the machine.
Hardware/Software, Personal

Gfeller Casemakers Moleskine leather cover

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Gfeller notebook cover

Update March 15, 2021: A very nice antique-leather look has developed. I continue to enjoy the appearance of the covers immensely.

Update March 20, 2016: Five years later, I can report that the Gfeller covers, both large and small, are nicely aged and are performing just as reliably as when first purchased. I still can’t recommend the Gfeller covers enough.

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Update: I liked my small Gfeller cover so much I bought one for my larger Moleskine. Furthermore, two-and-a-half years later, both of Gfeller’s leather Molskine covers have aged nicely and look fantastic. I can’t recommend these enough.

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If you’re a fan of Moleskine notebooks, you’ll be a huge fan of these Gfeller leather covers. Here’s a link to a review better than I could ever write. All I can say is that I now have mine, and I’m thinking of ordering another for the large Moleskine. If you want to see true craftsmanship, watch their video.

I’ve got mine (NC.SNH) on the soft-covered Moleskine and it fits just fine, although it’s made for the hard-cover Moleskine. Added bonus: with the soft-cover Moleskine, I can slide a pen under the cover and still use the elastic to keep it closed.

If you’re outside the U.S., you’ll have to order by email/PayPal, or order by phone and pay by credit card. Don’t be in a hurry to get it. It takes time. Mine took a month–but considering the quality of the product, who cares how long it takes?

Hardware/Software, Stupidity plain and simple

feedbooks.com is down

Update January 4, 2011: It appears as though the feedbooks site is now up and running as it should.

Update January 3, 2011: The current feedbook.com backup that has been installed is one made very late yesterday, prior to edits that I made online at the site. That leaves me wondering if feedbooks was using a RAID array, thinking that backups weren’t necessary because of the redundancy of RAID. If that’s the case, they must have received a huge shock.

There has been a total lack of communications from feedbooks.com regarding this debacle. One tweet saying they were having datacenter power outages, followed by a second a day later telling us that everything was back to normal when in fact it wasn’t, is not good business practice. In fact, nothing has been back to normal for two days since that last tweet, as evidenced by the partial backup installation now running, and the partial backups installed multiple times yesterday.

If you’ve done any online editing of your work over there in the last three days, you’d better download a copy to determine if it’s a current version. I’m thinking it won’t be. I shut down my two publications yesterday. I’ll be uploading fresh copies to replace the incorrect versions today. We’ll see how it goes from there.

It’s now 1500, January 3 in Paris and feedbooks is unavailable yet again. I wonder which backup they’re restoring this time.

It’s 0100 January 4 Paris time. Feedbooks is back up, but experiencing some outages so far, as it has done all day today. Still nothing on twitter, the book of faces or the blog about a major outage. I find that inconceivable, given Feedbooks huge audience. Absolutely ridiculous, and thumbing one’s nose at one’s lifeblood – customers. Free or not.

Second update January 2: They must have some serious problems going on beyond power failures. A completed book I had uploaded an  hour ago has been replaced in it’s entirety by a copy from early this morning, and is now unpublished. I’d say there’s more going on than servers with power failures if they’re restoring old backups this late in the game.

Yes, serious problems. Another work I had published has also been restored as a backup, and is minus the edits I made to it today. I can leave it up as is, but I’m wondering how many others there are in the same predicament but don’t know it because of the lack of communications from feedbooks.com.

When they’re resorting to restoring outdated backups there’s something very wrong going on.

If you’ve got work published there, I hope you all have current backups on your own computers.

The most recent tweet, now some hours old, says everything is fixed. That is so not true.

Yet another backup has been restored, and it too is out of date. Serious problems, folks.

I took my publications offline because of the unreliability of this outfit.

smashwords.com is starting to look pretty good.

Update January 2, 2011: It appears to be up (for now), but it’s virtually unusable for doing anything should you want to attempt any editing. I tried doing some last night, but it looks as though a backup has been installed, since all of the edits were gone this morning. Now I can’t do anything. At this time I wouldn’t recommend trying to edit, because the site keeps going down.

At best, editing remains spotty and unreliable, although it could be because of increased demand since the outage.

*     *     *

All we get is a single tweet yesterday(December 31) morning saying feedbooks had power problems with their servers? Nothing on their blog. Nada. Rien.

Nothing on their book of faces page since December 28, when someone remarks that the online editor isn’t working and that feedbooks will fix it next week.

Next week?

WTF is with this place?

Is it a one-man operation running out of a basement in Paris or what?

When might it be back up? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year?

So much for communication in this age of enlightenment.