jpreardon.com

Back in January, I pointed to the EasyPay Xpress Metrocard program. As promised, I mailed my application that very same day. A week or so later, my cool, purple and white Metrocard arrived. Since then, it has worked quite well.

I have only one complaint: The EasyPay Metrocard does not work on the Airtrain at JFK. Inserting the EasyPay card in the turnstile at Airtrain yields a “see agent” message. The agent I saw was quite curious about my strange looking Metrocard as she had never seen one before. After a few questions, she politely directed me to one of the Metrocard vending machines so I could purchase a more conventional card.

My dreams of never having to visit a Metrocard vending machine again have been dashed. Nevertheless, I’m happy to buy Metrocards when I need to go to the airport rather than every 12 trips on the subway or bus.

Update 2007-05-10: I’ve received several inquiries from people regarding the status of their EasyPay applications or accounts. Please note that this site is in no way affiliated with the MTA or the EasyPay program. If you have questions or concerns about the program, contact the MTA. Whatever you do, please don’t leave your credit card number and expiration date in the comments here. I’ve also been asked by a few people to send them an application. If you are in need of an application, please download the application from the MTA’s site (this was linked to in the original post as well).

Joyent Slingshot allows a Ruby on Rails application to run both online and off. Allegedly, the addition of only 30 lines of code will make a Rails application Slingshot ready, complete with data synchronization. Having not had the chance to play with this yet, I can’t vouch for it. But, I can think of many web based applications that would be really nice to have off line as well. Sounds great!

Well, it might not quake, but it can certainly do other things, providing you have some form of bluetooth device on you. Jesse David Hollington describes how to set up bluetooth proximity detection on a Mac. This allows one to execute an Applescript when a certain bluetooth device (like a phone) is within range and another script when the device is out of range. Jesse provides some scripts that inactivate/activate the screen saver and run isync among other things.

I simply pause iTunes when my phone goes out of range and play when the phone is back in range. Very nice.

This all relies on Proximity 1.0 to do the actual bluetooth detection. The system requirements for Proximity 1.0 state that it needs OS X 10.4 or higher, but it is working fine for me under 10.3.9.

via lifehacker

To follow up on a post from a couple years back, the first Airbus A380 flight touched down in New York today. The massive, $300 million plane can carry between 555 and 853 passengers depending on the configuration.

Just how long does it take 853 passengers to squeeze down the jetway and stow all of their crap in the overhead bin or the seat in front of them?

Did you know that you can select text vertically in Word and other text editors?

Neither did I. Just hold down the ALT key in Windows or OPTION key on Mac while making the text selection with the mouse.

via Windows Fanatics :: Lifehacker

Eater is soliciting feedback on buyback frequency at New York drinking establishments. What will they do with all of this information? Buyback ratings of course: The good, the bad, the ugly. So nominate your favorite bar/pub/club over at Eater.

If buybacks are what you are looking for, my personal advice is to follow these easy steps:

1. Don’t travel in large groups. One, two or three people are more likely to get a buyback than six.
2. Sit at the bar.
3. Don’t be a pain in the ass.
4. Go to the same place more than once in a blue moon.
5. Tip generously.

Good luck, your mileage may vary.

Some time ago, I questioned my somewhat complicated email archive. This is an archive that had been building up for several years. It contained many, many, many subfolders in an attempt to keep things organized and easy to find. This worked well for a time, but in more recent years, I found myself wondering which sub folder to archive things in. This really started to feel like a waste of time; as a result, things were hastily misfiled. Since things were now being misfiled, all of these subfolders were no longer making things organized or easy to find. A couple months ago, I got so fed up I decided to flatten the whole damn archive and remove all of the subfolders.

After a couple of months, it is safe to say that this was a very positive change. When something needs to be archived, the question of which folder to use is already answered (there’s only one, even I can figure that out). When I do need to find an old email, it is as easy as searching with Google Desktop or looking at the most recent additions to the archive folder.

Once in a while, I want to archive a copy of an email I am sending. One can accomplish this in several ways but I’ve found that sending it to myself is the least cumbersome way to make it happen. To make this more automatic, a mail rule comes in handy…

The Rule:

Move all mail sent from your address that has “>2ARCH<” in the subject line to the archive folder and mark it as read. Stop processing other mail rules.

Handling mail:

To copy a reply to the archive, add “>2ARCH<” to the subject line of the reply and include yourself in the CC or BCC line.

When this message comes back to you, the rule will automatically move it to the archive. Having “>2ARCH<” in the subject line of the email might turn the recipient on to the fact that you are archiving the email. Personally, I don’t care about this. If you do, you could certainly change this to something else so long as it is unique and your rule is looking out for it. I need this little indicator because of another routing rule I have, if you don’t have such a rule, then it is even easier, just skip the “>2ARCH<” part of the rule and don’t worry about adding anything to the subject line.

I know at least one person with a bricked iPod. Perhaps this HOWTO on fixing an unbootable iPod can help. It describes several different fixes starting with the easiest (resetting) and moving right up to the really fun, warranty voiding stuff (cracking the case open).

Ambient Devices is beta testing a new Ambient Clock. In true Ambient Devices style, the clock’s face changes color based on information drawn from one or more Google Calendars. The clock should also show transit time (based on Google Maps), but I haven’t been able to get that working yet.

The actual device does not yet exist, but a Google Gadget that mimics the clock’s interface is available. If the gadget proves to be popular, Ambient may manufacture the device in the future

via Micro Persuasion::lifehacker