I was in the unfortunate position yesterday of my flight being cancelled due to some bad weather between the UK and Amsterdam. Luckily (and I have to thank my wife for reminding), but a keep quick website check told me that the flight had been cancelled. It didn't tell me anything else, but I did at least know. That saved me a 90 minute car trip, and more importantly a 3 hour car trip there and back for my wife.

Ironically, trying to get information out of a real person on the phone was more difficult. A stupid touch-tone system made it increasingly difficult to actually get to someone, including one section which said 'This call will be disconnected unless you press 1' continually, forcing to keep listening and pressing the button, instead of waiting patiently in a queue.

I was in the unfortunate position yesterday of my flight being cancelled due to some bad weather between the UK and Amsterdam. Luckily (and I have to thank my wife for reminding), but a keep quick website check told me that the flight had been cancelled. It didn't tell me anything else, but I did at least know. That saved me a 90 minute car trip, and more importantly a 3 hour car trip there and back for my wife.

Ironically, trying to get information out of a real person on the phone was more difficult. A stupid touch-tone system made it increasingly difficult to actually get to someone, including one section which said 'This call will be disconnected unless you press 1' continually, forcing to keep listening and pressing the button, instead of waiting patiently in a queue.

OK, so I'm loving the new printer that I have, but with the very first test I did I found a problem that almost made me think the printer (or the driver) were faulty.

In fact, it turns out that the problem is with Acrobat when you print double-sided. The first page comes out fine, but the last page (or in some cases all subsequent pages) come out as a mirror image of the real page, basically only making it useful for Alice through the looking glass or espionage.

The problem only seems to affect Intel Macs (from a programming perspective), is probably related to the endianess difference between PPC and Intel platforms, and seems to affect a wide range of printers. Just check the Adobe Forums.

OK, so I'm loving the new printer that I have, but with the very first test I did I found a problem that almost made me think the printer (or the driver) were faulty.

In fact, it turns out that the problem is with Acrobat when you print double-sided. The first page comes out fine, but the last page (or in some cases all subsequent pages) come out as a mirror image of the real page, basically only making it useful for Alice through the looking glass or espionage.

The problem only seems to affect Intel Macs (from a programming perspective), is probably related to the endianess difference between PPC and Intel platforms, and seems to affect a wide range of printers. Just check the Adobe Forums.

Computerworld is running a story on the 20 must-have Firefox extensions.

I'm not a regular Firefox user (I use OmniWeb), but I do find Firefox is by far the best browser to use when developing web pages through tools like http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/installation.html, which is invaluable when you are diagnosing cookie issues.

But there are more - GreasMonkey rocks, and there are plenty of tools that will pretty much completely change Firefox from a browser into somethign more. This trend for a ruch basic platform plus lots of extensions (plugins) is becoming increasingly popular.

Computerworld is running a story on the 20 must-have Firefox extensions.

I'm not a regular Firefox user (I use OmniWeb), but I do find Firefox is by far the best browser to use when developing web pages through tools like http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/installation.html, which is invaluable when you are diagnosing cookie issues.

But there are more - GreasMonkey rocks, and there are plenty of tools that will pretty much completely change Firefox from a browser into somethign more. This trend for a ruch basic platform plus lots of extensions (plugins) is becoming increasingly popular.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about my troubles using conference services with Skype. I was contacted by the Skype team and provided with some useful info (which I pass on below). Interestingly, I used a conference service today through Skype and had trouble with the Mac OS X client, but not with my DUALphone. With the OS X client, it would keep dropping numbers by the time the conf service received them.

Listening to Skype dialling the numbers, I think I can determine why - the Skype client sends a tone for a short (set) period, even if I keep the button or key held down, so any minor blips in the audio transfer and the other end doesn't receive it. With the DUALphone, I can send a long tone just by holding the key down for longer.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about my troubles using conference services with Skype. I was contacted by the Skype team and provided with some useful info (which I pass on below). Interestingly, I used a conference service today through Skype and had trouble with the Mac OS X client, but not with my DUALphone. With the OS X client, it would keep dropping numbers by the time the conf service received them.

Listening to Skype dialling the numbers, I think I can determine why - the Skype client sends a tone for a short (set) period, even if I keep the button or key held down, so any minor blips in the audio transfer and the other end doesn't receive it. With the DUALphone, I can send a long tone just by holding the key down for longer.