Jish.Lubaway.com

| STYLISH

Late Morning
Thursday 2008.12.11
Comments Disabled

I've heard of Stylish before, heck I've even used it before. Still, I never really got that into it.

LifeHacker told me to use it to change Firefox 3's chrome. I messed around with it for a while, but changing Firefox's chrome wasn't really my cup of tea.

Recently, I read an article by Jon Hicks (who I've always looked up to as a web-designer). For some reason after reading his article it clicked.

Now I'm changing styles left and right. I can't help myself. I used to get annoyed when websites did something slightly silly, or something I didn't like. Now, I just change it! Problem solved.

Hi, my name is Josh, and I'm addicted to Stylish.

| APPLE'S ORBITAL FREE FALL

Wee hours
Wednesday 2008.06.11
Comments Disabled

Apparently Apple is being bossed around by AT&T. It used to take less than three minutes to activate an iPhone from the comfort of your own home. Now, it takes more than twelve minutes, and you have to go to an AT&T store to do it... lame.

(Airbag)

<ThinkingOutLoud>Hmmm... maybe I should make a link board so I can post random links on here. Then again, maybe I should get ruby on rails running on hostrocket first...</ThinkingOutLoud>

| THE DOWNFALL OF U-SCAN

Wee hours
Wednesday 2008.06.11
Comments Disabled

I remember when U-Scan first came out. (Ya know, the magic computer machines at grocery stores that let you check out without talking to a human.)

Nobody was ever in line. It was new and confusing to most people, and like other new confusing things... people avoided the U-Scan. This meant that I could bypass all of the long person-powered lines, walk right up to a machine, scan my three items, swipe my credit card, and be on my way.

Last summer, I actually had to wait in a line for a U-Scan once. It wasn't that bad though; everyone who used the U-Scan was an early adopting, technology embracing 18-26 year old. They moved through the U-Scan process quickly and effortlessly. Sadly, I fear the glory days of the U-Scan, have come to an end. Why?

Old people have overcome their fear of the U-Scan! I saw some of them in the U-Scan line yesterday. Yes, you read that correctly, the U-Scan line. One was digging for her savings club card the entire time I was in line. She was still there when I left. Holding one U-Scan machine hostage for more than ten minutes.

What can be done about this epidemic? Bump up the number of U-Scans per store from four to eight? Card people before they use the U-Scan? You must be this old to buy alcohol, and this young to use the U-Scan?? I don't know. I don't have all the answers.

| SWEET FIREFOX ADDON

Dinner Time.
Sunday 2008.06.08
Comments Disabled

I got this in an e-mail today:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6067

| NIN SUPPORTS TORRENTS

Lunch Time
Tuesday 2008.03.04
Comments Disabled

Wow, NIN just released their new album over BitTorrent. How cool is that? It's soo cool to see a band actually supporting technology because it's technology. I'm not usually that big into quotes, but this one is awesome:

In the release notes the band writes: "Now that we're no longer constrained by a record label, we've decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them."

Check it - via The Pirate Pay

| SSH NICKNAMES

Ungodly Early
Monday 2008.03.03
Comments Disabled

At work, I'm constantly using ssh to connect to different servers. At home, I ssh into my iPhone (among other things), which means typing out an IP address each time I want to connect. Who wants to type out long server names or all those numbers every time? Not me.

I just figured out how to give ssh hosts "nicknames". If you put a file called config in the .ssh directory of your home folder (~/.ssh/config) then you can specify lots of different options for your ssh connections.

The options I'm interested in right now are Host and HostName. If you specify these, you can essentially give your ssh hosts nicknames. So, open up your favorite text editor and type the following:

Host nickname
  HostName somereallylongservername.com

Host iphone
  HostName 192.168.1.69

PS - Make sure the file is in the ~/.ssh/ directory.

Ok, that's great. What does giving an ssh host a "nickname" do? It saves you time when you're typing out somereallylongservername.com or an IP address numerous times each day. Essentially, it turns this:

ssh user@somereallylongservername.com
ssh somebody@192.168.1.69

Into this:

ssh you@nick
ssh me@iphone

If you feel like it, you can set the User option to save yourself even more typing (ssh x). You can also specify the type of encryption to use, and all sorts of other things. Right now, I'm only interested in HostName, but you can find out about all the other options if you RTFM ;) Happy ssh'ing!

| THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAY THINGS

Lunch Time
Wednesday 2008.02.27
Comments Disabled

I was recommended this book by a co-worker. It seems like an interesting read, and at the low price of only four dollars on Amazon.com, I couldn't pass it up.

The book basically talks about... well, like the title states, "The Design of Everyday Things." Take a door for example. When you come across a door, you need to successfully accomplish one task and one task only, you need to open the door. Once it's opened, you pass through and go on with your day. However, designers everywhere seem to over complicate this very simple object.

Think about this: How many times have you come across a door that required an instruction manual? "Never," you may say to yourself. Think again. You do almost every day. Most doors have their instruction manual printed in large lettering and in plain view, for everyone to see.

The door may have a sign attached to itself that says "PUSH" or "PULL". This is the doors one word instruction manual. Don't you think society could design such a simple object in a manner that it did not require an instruction manual? So do I, and that's why I can't wait to get my hands on The Design of Everyday Things.