Review: Logitech Control Center (LCC) for Snow Leopard

By G | Published: 25 September 2009

USB Overdrive has been a mainstay on my Macs for a long time, from Microsoft’s first laser mouse to my current Logitech multi-button monster. LCC was always pretty terrible, and a previous version didn’t even recognize all the buttons on my MX1000 (on their own mouse!).

But with the recent update for Snow Leopard, USB Overdrive (and Steermouse) does not support all of the buttons on several Logitech models. A fix is promised to come soon, and while I love USB Overdrive, promised features can take years to materialize, if they ever do. Some people are also saying that setup is even more convoluted than before (try adjusting tracking speed on 20 app profiles with 2 pop-up menus each). So in the mean time, I decided to give the free LCC 3.1 a try. I took some screenshots and notes of my USB Overdrive settings then used it’s own uninstaller to remove it completely.

Read More »

Posted in Review | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Depeche Mode Remix Notes

By G | Published: 11 June 2009

I recently completed a retro electro-dance remix of Peace, Depeche Mode’s next single. They were running an official remix contest with Beatport.

Their new album has a very light, though nicely electronic sound to it. Apparently, Martin Gore has discovered eBay and is buying up vintage gear, which they then use for inspiration (very cool). I wanted to bring back some of the chunkier sound from the 80′s for this mix.

Some people have asked about the sound sources. It was a pretty simple mix once all parts were replayed.

Read More »

Posted in Studio | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In The Dark

By G | Published: 23 August 2008

Houten by night
Originally uploaded by Tim Rigter

I was making my way down my darkened hallway and passed by the front door. I noticed that both porch lights were off, so I flicked the switch a couple of times. Nothing. I went to switch the hall light on to see what was going on, but it stayed dark as well. Looking out the small window in the door, I could see three silhouettes setting up to play roller hockey in the tennis courts across the way, and a light was on in the the corner as they fanned out beneath it. But that light was on. I figured there hadn’t been a blackout. Either way, it was very odd for anyone to be out there in the middle of the night but I was too tired to worry about it right now.

Read More »

Posted in Blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

PayPal is great.

By G | Published: 19 July 2008

I’m starting to see why some people end up hating PayPal.

Somehow on Monday the 14th, while I finished adding a new email address to our account, I got dumped onto a “complete your Business Account” page with most of the steps completed except a credit card verification. I didn’t remember seeing this before, but it must be important if PayPal is going to toss it at me while doing something else. So I went back to our account, deleted the old expired card, wondered why PayPal hadn’t asked about that before, entered fresh credit card info and filled in some other blanks like our federal EIN number. A couple of days later, a $1.95 charge appeared on that credit card with a 4-digit code which I confirmed on our PayPal account. Done deal. Same as ever. Our account has been working fine since we opened it in 2002 and has always been PayPal “verified.”

Read More »

Posted in Blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

Thinking About JumpDomain.com?

By G | Published: 17 June 2008

Don’t. This is my recommendation. They were a solid domain reseller years ago when they were connected with OpenSRS/Tucows. At some point, they hooked up with eNom instead, possibly for not responding to customer issues. Luckily for JumpDomain, eNom has a similar level of apathy towards customers. I learned of this as I tried to get the last of my domains transferred elsewhere over the last several months.

All was well until I tried to do a couple of “global edits” to my domains using the control panel on JumpDomain in 2006. It was a simple series of changes to enable Spam Catcher protection on all 12 domains. This hides my real email address so that bots can’t go through registration records, harvesting spam targets. The global edit sat for a few days, then weeks, and finally several months had gone by. My registrant address was still sitting out there. I couldn’t cancel the job or restart it. Worse yet, support tickets went completely unanswered. Uh oh. I had read about other domain registrars going under, and it wasn’t always a safe trip for the domains themselves. Time to leave.

Read More »

Posted in Blog | Tagged | 8 Comments

The Thirsty Spider

By G | Published: 13 April 2008

When I go to bed, I usually have a little water left in a bottle I’ve been working on all evening. So I keep it on the nightstand in case I might want a refresher in the middle of the night or the next morning. I leave the cap off, and have often taken a swig in the dark without looking very closely. That stops today.

The photo here tells the tale. I reached for the bottle this morning and thought something looked odd. The realization happened at just about the same moment my hand touched the bottle. I quickly un-touched the bottle. I did not scream like a little girl. Nope.

After finding and screwing the lid back on, all was right in the world again. Things are funny like that when you first wake up. Now I became the little boy, fascinated by this arachnid I had just captured. I turned the bottle upside-down to dislodge the spider from the top of the bottle, but it quickly righted itself. A couple more turns and I discovered why: The spider had been in there for a while already, and had built a small network of webbing.

What was the final outcome? The spider wanted to be near water. I granted that wish.

Posted in Blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

So

By G | Published: 17 December 2007

So, what the heck is going on in the tech industry where everyone has to begin every sentence with this word? It’s most obvious when they are answering a question or starting a presentation. It makes me wonder if this is a mneme to recall something rehearsed. Are all of these people attending the same memorization seminar? Are they all under mind control?

It doesn’t necessarily stop there. The word “so” is also being used in casual conversation by people who can’t think of anything else to say, but still want to imply meaning from what they did manage to say. I’ll just let you think about this, because I’m going to be annoying here, so…

Update 10 May 2010: So, it appears someone at the New York Times has looked into this important matter. I like how Microsoft employees are trying to take credit, as if this social tic is a good thing.

Posted in Blog | Tagged | 2 Comments