Here's a scenario in Windows XP. I print a document. Windows attempts to contact the printer, but something's wrong, then Windows pops up this deceptively helpful-looking message in the task bar:

Okay, so I open the print queue and open the troubleshooter:

Wait a second, you're asking me what my problem is?

This is worse than useless. Windows has inverted the problem, making its problem into the user's problem. Notice the wording: "What problem are you having?" The workflow puts the user in an impossible conundrum:

1. Windows says there's some problem, but no details on what.

2. But never fear, the troubleshooter can help!

3. Troubleshooter asks the user what the problem is. Funny, that's exactly what the user was wondering, too.

This appears to replace the old way of doing things, where a program would display an error message specific to the problem encountered. But now, with some perverse intent of "helping" the user, we've got a generic error message -- "This document failed to print" -- combined with a troubleshooter that doesn't have the first clue about what the problem is.

What do you say to two guys in a public park with two huge antennas and an improvised hut in the middle?

"Are you trying to talk to the aliens?"

We got that one about three times. The most common inquiry was, "umm, I have to ask, what are you guys doing?" We got that one about twenty times.

Last weekend my pal Joel (W4LL) and me (N0JDC) operated a ham radio station for ARRL Field Day in a park near my house. Field Day is an event where amateur radio operators across North America simulate emergency conditions — improvised locations, no AC power, getting chewed on by mosquitos — and attempt to contact as many other stations as possible.

Continue reading "ARRL Field Day 2008" »

If you've ever hung around an amateur radio operator (a/k/a ham), you may have heard something like this:

I was hoping for some 20m PSK31 DX yesterday evening but I only got some local QSOs on 14.070MHz before the band closed.

Another ham might respond:

Were you running barefoot or did you turn on your linear?

A non-ham, who's a pal and a good sport about ham stories, would respond:

Wow, cool. (nods head, empty stare)

The average non-ham, however, would respond:

Huh? Are you even speaking English?

Truth is, hams have their own made-up language, kind of like Esperanto but it sounds deceptively like English. But the layperson or ham-wannabe can learn to speak ham (or at least comprehend some of it) with a little help.

Continue reading "Understanding Ham Radio Speak" »

For several years I've kept the bulk of my home directory in a revision control system. This allows me to synchronize my files across the two machines I use commonly, keep a backup on my home NAS box, and have complete revision history of files.

There's a price, however: the SCM keeps metadata on my machines, and this can add up. Plus there's the time needed to commit files. When it became clear I needed to switch away from Subversion because it doesn't cooperate with iWork files, I decided to look into alternatives.

Mercurial and Git appeared to be the best solutions, but there's quite the holy war going on between the two. Git's confusing, Mercurial is slow, etc.. I decided to run some of my own tests and let the data speak for itself.

Update 2008.04.25: Adding results for Bazaar.

Continue reading "SVN vs. Mercurial vs. Git For Managing Your Home Directory" »

I just moved multipart/mixed over to VPS hosting at slicehost.com. I've been very happy with SliceHost (I moved Choka On It several months ago) and unhappy with TextDrive, so now I'm bringing the rest of my sites over.

You may have noticed that all URLs go to joshcarter.com now, and hopefully I've got redirects for all possible URLs — let me know if not. That's part of my longer-term plan for this site.

This is partly a how-to article, but mostly a collection of useful tips for Photoshop and Alien Skin Eye Candy filters. I'm using the Cowboy Denim theme I recently created for the T-Mobile Sidekick as an example. The WQVGA version pictured here is part of the final result.

Almost without trying, this theme became a cornucopia of Eye Candy effects. I use Eye Candy Impact on a regular basis in commercial work, but Sidekick themes are a good chance to pull out some of the crazier stuff. Go check 'em out at Alien Skin's web site.

Continue reading "How-To: Creating the Cowboy Denim Theme" »

You gotta give Apple credit, they know how to release products. Tonight they released Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) with great fanfare and no shortage of fans, either. I've seen impressive crowds at previous product releases and Apple Store openings. But what impresses me now is that, even though Apple has four stores in the Denver/Boulder area, and this is the sixth version of Mac OS X, they still drew hundreds of people to each store for the release.

I snapped these photos as the Flatirons Crossing store opened for Leopard. Once they packed the store and the line outside had cleared somewhat, mall security brought over the other line of people that couldn't fit in the first line. I went and got a bite to eat. Came back, store's still packed, line still outside. As I said, impressive.

UPDATE 2007.07.11: version 1.2 released.
UPDATE 2007.08.29: instructions for MT 4.0.
UPDATE 2008.05.01: instructions for MT 4.1.

Joel just clued me in on a new Captcha system called reCAPTCHA. What's different about reCAPTCHA is that they use the verification words to correct OCR mistakes in scanned books. In their words: "About 60 million CAPTCHAs are solved by humans around the world every day.... in aggregate these little puzzles consume more than 150,000 hours of work each day. What if we could make positive use of this human effort?"

They provide PHP code and a WordPress plugin, but I'm using Movable Type here, so I wrote a Movable Type plugin to use this system. Details follow...

Continue reading "Adding reCAPTCHA to Movable Type" »

I'll say upfront I'm no professional 4x4 guide like Bill Burke. But I am obsessive about researching my gear, and one of my recent obsessions is offroading. I've compiled my list of essential (or semi-essential) accessories that I carry in my FJ Cruiser while adventuring in the Rocky Mountains. This list is based on many conversations I've had, web sites and reviews I've read, DVDs I've watched, and of course the essential on-the-trail "boy I wish I had... [x]".

Continue reading "4x4 Offroading Checklist" »

When it comes to photo editing, I'm a do-it-yourselfer. I like to set levels and color adjust by hand, tweaking until I get it just right. Many Photoshop filters I've tried leave me unimpressed -- they tend to clobber any subtlety in the image, screaming, "look at my dazzling filter effects!"

But Alien Skin's Exposure filter is... wow.

Exposure claims to bring "the look and feel of film to digital photography." I don't have any wistful longing for "the film look" but I was suitably impressed by their samples, so I downloaded the demo. It turns out Exposure isn't just about the film look — it's a superb tool for all kinds of photo correction tasks.

Continue reading "Review: Alien Skin Exposure" »