At home I use Linux and Windows, at work I use a Mac.  I enjoy aspects of all three OS’s but for a while Mac’s have had a killer app that was not available on any other OS.  This applications biggest asset was what it didn’t do — Get in the way!

The app is called Growl and it provides useful notifications only from applications you want to monitor.  For example if you are chatting with someone and reading an intriguing article from Wired but your browser is taking up the entire screen.  With Growl there is no need to flip back and forth between the browser and the IM client, instead Growl pops up a small, non-obtrusive “bubble” with the message from your friend which “floats” there for a few seconds, then goes away.  Growl works with a grocery list of applications to display useful information you may want to be aware of like completed downloads, new IM’s, new e-mails and so many other things.  If you want tend to the notification you can click on the bubble and the appropriate application will be made active, if not, it will just fade away after a few seconds.

For you Linux users out there an application with the same idea in mind is available called Mumbles.  It works with the Gnome desktop and can be installed via a source or a .deb package.  The range of supported applications is not as vast but the ones that matter to me work out of the box — Pidgin, Firefox and Thunderbird.  More support is coming and what is available is already a must-have.

Finally, for you Windows users an app called Snarl is available.  The current issue with Snarl is application support.  I believe it’s on its way to being a great app — just give it a few months.  It does have a developers guide available for anyone who wants to add Snarl functionality into their existing application.

While all three apps serve the same purpose Growl is by far the pack leader.  It has been around the longest and provide support for tons of applications. (Both of the others are admitted attempts to bring “Growl” functionality to the respective OS.) If you are on the computer even half as much as I am I can assure you that once you use these apps you will wonder why someone didn’t think of this a long time ago.  Don’t just take my word for it, download the apps and give them a test run!

Growl - http://growl.info/

Mumble - http://www.mumbles-project.org/

Snarl -  http://www.fullphat.net

Popularity: 10% [?]

Just over a year ago this blog was a big part of my life.  I was in a transition period and had quite a bit of free time on my hands.  I was pumping out 2-3 posts per day and was starting to get a steady stream of readers.  Then opportunity knocked and I opened the door.

I landed a job at a web-hosting company.  It wasn’t just any job — it turned out to be one of the best things in my life thus far.  I work with a small group of extremely talented people whose combined knowledge could overload a supercomputer.  I have superiors but they do not make me feel inferior.  I not only get to come up with ideas but implement them.  I spend most of my time dealing with server related issues but my input in many areas of the company is respected.

I have the joy of getting paid to “play” with computers, help customers avoid certain web disaster, become a Linux guru and, with the help of my co-workers, learn the skills it takes to be a damn fine system engineer.

I hope anyone who reads this has the opportunity, at least once in their life, to truly enjoy their career.  There is nothing better in life than enjoying what you do for a living.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Popularity: 43% [?]

Wordpress 2.5 is coming out soon. I decided to give it a test drive and thought you might like to see it as well.

You can’t see all the changes unless you can login to the wp-admin section so I setup a test site and login so you can check it out without having to install it on your own. If you want to give the backend of WP 2.5 a looksie, then follow the link below:

http://wptest.jemmille.com/wp-admin

Username and password are: editor

You will have “editor” privileges so you can’t do much other than look around or make a test post but it will save you the hassle of installing your own copy. Don’t worry about breaking anything, just enjoy!

Leave your comments below on what you think!

Popularity: 77% [?]

This post is for anyone that ever submits a help ticket to technical support (web hosting specifically in this case) then gets mad when you get a “default” reply that asks you for more information.

Let me start by saying that there are default replies for a reason.  Certain information, as trivial as it may seem, is often very necessary to help solve your problem.  For example, here are a few common “issues” I see at work that elicit a default response:

• “My e-mail isn’t working.”
• “I can’t login.”
• “My site isn’t showing up.”
• “My site is broken.”
• “FTP won’t work.”

That’s it.  A customer submits a ticket and that is all the information I get.   It makes my head boil.  I reply with what we call a “pre-def” (predefined response) asking for more information which includes a list of specific questions related to the issue.  If the customer did actually provide some information, like what mail or FTP client they are using, their domain name, or - god forbid - a way to replicate the issue, I kindly remove those parts of the pre-def to not make them repeat the same thing (unless I’m in a bad mood).

If you want to avoid these “pre-def” responses I suggest the following for any type of tech support ticket (web hosting or not):

Provide as much information as possible, including but not limited to:

• Operating system and version you are using
• Browser type and version, if applicable
• Mail client and version, if applicable (Outlooks comes in so many flavors)
• A ULR to replicate the issue, if applicable
• Any error messages that you encountered - copy them exactly, including the error codes
• A way to create or replicate the error
• A time-frame, ex. it always happens, sometimes happens, etc.
• Your IP address (http://ipfinder.us works great)
• Any username(s) or password(s) needed to replicate (change to a temporary one if it makes you feel more comfortable)
• Location, if applicable (connecting from an office or workplace can cause all sorts of problems)

Basically, the more information you provide, the more time tech support can spend fixing your problem and not having to wait for more information from you.  Most tech support people are more than happy to help you but you have to throw them a bone first!

Popularity: 100% [?]