WYSIWIP http://zakimirza.com/blog What You See is Work In Progress Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:07:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en Wordpress iPhone app http://zakimirza.com/blog/wordpress-iphone-app/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/wordpress-iphone-app/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:34:23 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/wordpress-iphone-app/ Testing out the wordpress app. Makes great sense for quick blog posts.

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/wordpress-iphone-app/feed/ Apple.com switch? http://zakimirza.com/blog/applecom-switch/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/applecom-switch/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:42:36 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/?p=112 First there were three places to buy the new iPhone 3G

Three ways to buy

within minutes now only two places

two-ways-to-buy

What happened?

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/applecom-switch/feed/ Putting Comcast on Notice http://zakimirza.com/blog/putting-comcast-on-notice/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/putting-comcast-on-notice/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:47:09 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/?p=111 safari page not found screenshot
Creative Commons Licensephoto credit: stephen.hackett
For the last few days around 10:00pm till sometime during the next day my internet connection is down. At first I thought it might be a fluke and reset the modem and it still wouldn’t work, well this Friday it wouldn’t come back on at all. I decided to get of the computer and give Comcast an ear full.

I call them up and am prompted with the worst automated system second only to Bank of America. After finally getting a human turns out it’s a sales rep who cant help me with anything technical nor can he transfer me to the tech dept. How utterly useless. I call back a few minutes later and get a tech rep on the line, and immediately ask for an appointment for someone to come out and check the line, (since I have already done the standard reset procedures as well as release/renew on my IP). Of course they don’t have an appointment on the weekend, so I ask for the earliest one on Monday.

I call back this Saturday and to confirm, and they tell me that my appt is on Tuesday. Um… what the heck? So I decide to give them a chance and troubleshoot over the phone, after 30 minutes of getting nowhere, they rep on the phone found out that a slot was available today at 2. Perfect! The tech will come and fix the issue! Too bad this isn’t a perfect world.

The tech shows up on time, which was great however he turned out to be the most condescending and unhelpful person I’ve ever met. When I would ask him any sort of questions, he would reply in a sarcastic and mocking manner. He fiddled around a bit as if he didn’t care or they weren’t paying him to be here.

Finally got up and went out and brought his “test” modem in. it looked like a new model, and he plugs it in and some of the lights start blinking and gets this “WooHooo! I’m a genius” look on his face, soon to be replaced by this “crap… I look like an idiot” face.

Obviously his test modem did very little. He decides it must be the line in the backyard, he’s gone for about 10 minutes, come back and says he fixed the filter out back, so I’m thinking… uh ok sure maybe that was it. At this point the unhelpful tech hooks up my original modem to my Mac and I have an IP address, hooray! So he was good for something. I’m online. Awesome. Well what about my other PCs and my router, well turns out he cant help me with that. I plug the modem into my PC and I get an IP but I still cannot get online. I ask him about this and says well maybe its your PC or your wire. My wire? O RLY? Ok we’ll use the wire that was working for the Mac on the PC. Oh guess what… still not working.

If it’s not the wire than what is it? His response is simply… you saw it working on you’re laptop… I’m done. And in 5 seconds he is downstairs and out the door. As he is leaving he says try restarting your computer… I wanted to hurl the Comcast modem at him.

I call up Comcast again to let them hear my thoughts about the condescending tech with the 7th grade education… well they cant help me on Saturdays… are you serious? Ok fine… then at least troubleshoot my modem, 30 minutes later… they still can’t figure out what it is, and am forced to I schedule another appointment.

Something crazy was going on. For those of you that know me, I’m pretty tech savvy and know what the heck I’m talking about. However I couldn’t put my finger on it. Why would it only work on the Mac. (And don’t give me that, Mac > PC) crap because after resetting the modem, the Mac wouldn’t get online either. So I start fiddling around and I push the “reset” switch on the back of the modem and connect it straight to my brothers PC laptop. Instantly he is online. What the heck? Ok… well know let me plug it back in to the router, and see if the rest of the computers can connect. Crap. Still not working. Ok now I’m slightly confused. Each time I reset the router and plug it in… only the first machine works, and usually its my Mac that works because it’s the one I’m testing wired/wireless on.

Well after messing around and trying different things, we (my brother and I) determine that the ridiculous Comcast modem (model: DPC2100R2) is caching the MAC address of the first machine you plug in. This happened to be my MacBook Pro.

Solution:

Well this problem was only solvable by cloning the MAC address of my MBP to my router. Making the modem think that it is still talking to my MBP.

Once we cloned the MAC address the router got an IP and we were on our way.

<sarcasm>Thank you Comcast for educating your techs on how to solve this issue with your craptacular equipment. </sarcasm>

</rant>

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/putting-comcast-on-notice/feed/ There and back again, a SXSW and BarCampAustinIII Tale http://zakimirza.com/blog/there-and-back-again-a-sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii-tale/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/there-and-back-again-a-sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii-tale/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:41:48 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/there-and-back-again-a-sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii-tale/ Last weekend was great, more like all sorts of awesomeness. It was my first SXSW and it left an interesting impression. The panels, the trade show, Screenburn… all were really exciting and I had a blast. Not to mention Austin, TX is a pretty cool place sans the traffic and the horribly maintained streets.

SXSW

SXSW banner
SXSW as an event itself was quite the experience; the immense geek aura that emitted from the Austin Convention Center could be seen miles away, the countless people drinking coffee in the morning, and alcohol in the evening was a humorous sight. Inside the convention center, the geek vibe was at its peek, laptops, blackberrys, iPhones/iPods, OLPCs, etc… the amount of technology inside and the potentially cancerous waves of wireless frequencies were a not only a turnoff but an avoidable necessity. I cant remember how many times having WiFi access saved us. The amount of walking also got annoying fast. Although the massive legos section was pretty tempting but I didn’t have time to build that time machine.

One of the highlights of SXSW was the Mark Zuckerberg keynote. Suffice to say, it was pretty brutal, for Sarah Lacy that is. During the entire interview the crowed was not pleased with they way she seemed to interview herself and not Mark. It got so bad she decided to open it up for questions and have a “digg like mob rule”. One of the audience members asked

Other than rough interviews, what are some of the biggest challenges Facebook faces?

It got a lot worse throughout the interview, you can find more information all across the web.

BarCamp Austin III

BarCamp Header
BarCamp Austin III was held at the magnificent GSD&M | idea city building about a mile from SXSW. We walked in greeted by friendly faces and whurly putting bands on everyone’s wrists. BarCamp just had a different energy about it, more lax yet at the same time more productive for example the iPhoneDevCamp had been working for about 12 hours straight. Towards the end, there was live entertainment and the unicorn made another appearance there.

Michael Cummings showed up shortly after with some crazy equipment to take some really awesome pictures. That ring light was amazing. As you know the theBelafonte designed the badges and the shirts… but did you see the truck design! Now that is “all sorts of awesomeness”!

See you all again for BarCampAustin4 and SXSWi 2009!

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/there-and-back-again-a-sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii-tale/feed/ SXSW and BarCampAustinIII http://zakimirza.com/blog/sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:08:48 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii/ Over the next few weeks it might be a bit quiet here. I’m graduating from the Art Institute of Houston and I’m working on my final portfolio. So I’ve got a bit of work ahead of me and only a few weeks left. Not to worry though, the bulk of the work is done. After the portfolio is due, is when the fun really begins. March 7th I’ll be in Austin for SXSW also during this time I will attend BarCampAustinIII. Props goes out to Aaron Belafonte for an amazing job with the badges.

Also wanted to say thanks to Marianne (who is in fact made of awesome) for helping out with the arrangements.

See you guys at BarCampAustinIII and SXSW!

And of course Graduation when I come back! March is going to be crazy!

Oh and I killed a snake tonight.

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/sxsw-and-barcampaustiniii/feed/ Moo http://zakimirza.com/blog/moo/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/moo/#comments Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:39:46 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/moo/ moo cards, hopefully they come in time for SXSW. Moo cards are simply awesome, great paper stock and quality print job. Plus 100 of these awesome cards for about $25 shipped. Cant go wrong. They’re the perfect size and really do have so many more uses than a calling card. I’ve got some ideas as to what the next batch will be like, just need to find time to do them. ]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/moo/feed/ Audi R8 spotted outside starbucks http://zakimirza.com/blog/audi-r8-spotted-outside-starbucks/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/audi-r8-spotted-outside-starbucks/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:18:26 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/audi-r8-spotted-outside-starbucks/ Outside Starbucks Jean-Marc spots a couple of exotic cars including the Audi R8 that was recently shown in this years Super Bowl commercials, as well as a Ferrari F430, a Rolls Royce Phantom, and Bentley Continental GT. Turns out the Ferrari is owned by Jean-Marc’s friend. Small world. Anyway here are some pictures.

Audi R8 Angle

Audi R8 rear angle

Audi R8 rear closeup

Audi R8 Front

Audi R8 Light closeup

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/audi-r8-spotted-outside-starbucks/feed/ The New wysiwip http://zakimirza.com/blog/the-new-wysiwip/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/the-new-wysiwip/#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:50:31 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/the-new-wysiwip/ Introducing the newly designed wysiwip blog. Special thanks goes to theBelafonte for all his help. Designing and building this theme has been quite an experience. This theme has been a long time coming. I didn’t realize the core part would only take an hour or so. The rest of it was just tweaking the CSS and how I wanted to lay the information out on the home and subsequent pages. Wordpress has really made easy to create not only blogs but also CMS based websites. For all those out there who don’t think they can make a custom theme, think again. It’s really quite simple.

I’d love to get some feedback on what you guys think of the new look.

I’m going to constantly be upgrading and adding new things to this theme, if I left it, it wouldn’t be a work in progress now would it?

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/the-new-wysiwip/feed/ Ice cream http://zakimirza.com/blog/ice-cream/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/ice-cream/#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:24:41 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/ice-cream/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/ice-cream/feed/ Macbook Air or Hot Air? http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/ http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:07:39 +0000 Zaki http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/

Apple MacBook Air eh…. I’ve always been a fan and advocate of the PC. The complete customization, the abundance of parts and accessories, the immense software selection…. all great aspects of the PC. Of course not all is well with the PC. The infamous BSOD, random restarts, hardware/software issues, etc. Sure XP fixed a lot of that, some would argue that Vista fixed even more. All fine and dandy. Yet I still use a mac….

At my current job I have been given a first gen MacBook Pro, since I’ve had it… I’ve pretty much used my (well built and powerful) PC system for pretty much just gaming. With Parallels I don’t have to worry about any “lack of software support” that the mac might have. The machine has been great for me at work, at school, and on a personal note.

Recently I have grown very accustomed to the mac. In fact you could call me a switcher. I’ll never forget my PC roots, but point is lately I’ve been pretty pleased with the way apple has been going till now.

Today’s keynote was well… kinda weak. An update to the apple tv which no one cares about, iPhone and iTouch coming out with a handful more apps (previous owners need to pay another $20 for the apps)… again no one cares because everyone who’s savvy has their iPod unlocked or has used jailbreak. Time capsule? what?

So now we come to the Ultra light, ultra thin Mac Book Air personally I don’t like this machine. I don’t even care for the name much.

Lets just do a simple Pros and Cons of the new MBA:

Pros:

  • Ultra thin
  • Ultra light
  • SSD Potential
  • Bragging Rights

Cons:

  • Price
  • Non-standard DVI connection
  • Single USB
  • NO Optical drive
  • NO expansion slot
  • NO memory upgrade
  • NO RJ-45 port
  • NO user-replaceable battery ($129 replacement)
  • Battery life not impressive
  • SSD costs another GRAND
  • Extra 200mhz costs $300
  • Typical apple markup
  • $99 external super drive that might only work with the MBA
  • Mono channel audio

MacBook Air is ultra thin, ultra portable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don’t lose inches and pounds overnight. It’s the result of rethinking conventions.

Uh… no you lose inches and pounds by removing necessary and basic features of a computer.

I like my MBP because its pretty thin and pretty light… and the fact that its a complete computer…. not like the toy described above.

Being a hardware tech savvy guy, I cant stand the thought of not being able to replace my own battery, or add memory.

Bottom line is the MBA is a glorified iPod.

]]> http://zakimirza.com/blog/macbook-air-or-hot-air/feed/