by steelie -

Apple Releases Safari 3.1…

Picture 5
Picture 5

Apple released Safari 3.1 today. While it’s not completely VOX compatible, it appears to be 95% there. As far as I can tell, the only things that don’t seem to work are the “Decrease & Increase Text Size” buttons in the compose window. Otherwise, at first glance, it appears to be mightly VOX-o-riffic.

If you plan on downloading it, the install will require a restart so, plan accordingly. ;^)
—
steelie

[UPDATE]
Well, in an older “Ask Team Vox” post, I was part of the ongoing threaded conversation trying to figure out some of Safari’s incompatibility issues and exploring alternatives.

An ongoing issue with VOX’s QotD formatting (that I wasn’t previously aware of… clearly I don’t use it enough) was brought up by Rube Burrow:

Still not able to answer the QotD in Safari – the text stays in the “quoted" style of the initial question. No idea why this is the case – even with Safari 3.1 on Mac or Windows. Any movement on this?


Now, see… I have this problem where I can’t help trying to trouble-shoot things that, more often than not, are way over my head. Luckily, every once in a while, things fall into place…

I figured out a little work-around for the QotD issue… on the Mac version of Safari at least anyway — unable to test it on a PC. Right after you click on the Qotd “Post your Answer” button, in the “Compose” window, give yourself a Return then click the “Begin Blockquote” button then the “End Blockquote” button. This will remove the “quoted” formatting and restore the indent to what it would have originally been before the “quoted style was added.

Additionally, as mentioned above, the other big (only?) shortfall I can find, so far, is in VOX’s “Compose” window where the “Decrease Text Size” and “Increase Text Size” buttons don’t work properly. My pseudo little work-around for this one is to select the text you wish to format and Control+Click (or Right-Click) to bring up the system’s Contextual Menu and select “Font > Show Fonts”. You can change the text’s size as well as most other formatting options.

Hope this helps.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

Mac OS X + Twidget + Twitter + LoudTwitter/TwitterSync + Vox/Facebook = Ultra-Efficient/Lazy…

For those of you who are tired of seeing the daily Twitter-update posts from a number of your VOX friends and neighbours, I apologize in advance.


Why?

Because for all the VOX/Twitter/Facebook users out there who also happen to be Mac users, I have figured out the most efficient / laziest one-stop solution to bring all three together by updating your Twitter status using the Twidget Dashboard Widget.

Here is what you will need:

Okay, once you’ve run out and purchased your Mac and installed Twidget, and signed up for all the lovely little account listed above, you’ll need to do some configuring…


First, let’s set up VOX to be able to receive these posts from Loudtwitter. Make sure you’re logged into VOX, then click on  “Account” at the very top. On the “Account” page, click the “Mobile Settings” tab on the left. You can either use your main Mobile Posting address with LoudTwitter or you can create an “Additional Posting Email”. I would suggest the latter as you can custom tag it (twitter, loudtwitter…).

VOX set-up: done.

Next, copy the email that VOX generated for you, and hop on over and log-into to Loudtwitter. Your home page will have all your setting options right there. Click on “Email posting setup”, then enter the VOX-generated email address and click “OK”. Then be sure to change the “Change the twitter followed” setting to your twitter username. You can tweak the “Change post time, formatting, etc” settings to your liking once everything else is set up.

LoudTwitter set-up: done.

Next, let’s set up Facebook. Log into your account and do a search for TwitterSync. Add the application. Now, in the settings for TwitterSync, the only setting you really have to enter is the “Twitter Name” you want it to follow and the password for you account if your tweets are protected. Click “Save Changes”.

Facebook set-up: done.

Last but not least, let’s set up the Twidget Dashboard Widget. Enter your Twitter user name and password into the fields provided on Twidget and click “Done”.

Twidget set-up: done.

Now you should be able to just hit F12 no matter what you’re working on and instantly update your Twitter and Facebook status, simultaneously. At the end of the day (specific time can be updated in your LoudTwitter preferences) LoudTwitter will compile your tweets for the day and post an entry to VOX detailing your adventures from the previous day.

For PC users, I understand that there a number of Twitter plug-ins for Firefox that will essentially serve the same purpose as Twidget. All other steps in the set-up should be exactly the same.

I’m pretty sure that covers everything… if anyone has any problems setting this up, let me know and I’ll figure it out and update the instructions accordingly.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

Ugh…

I’m exhausted. Work has been so busy lately that I’ve been working right through my lunches. However, every once in a while, I manage to peel my eyelids open eyes away from work to give myself a five minute mental break and manage to discover/stumble across something unbelievably cool…


Oh… and note the VOX compatibility. :^D

Free your memories… quickly, easily, and wirelessly!

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No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

To learn more, press the play button to the right.

Effortlessly Upload Your Photos to the Web:

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by steelie -

Keeping up with my end…

Although I didn’t do a disappearing act like Jen, I’ve been horribly neglectful of my Vox and my wonderful neighbours. I am going to try and follow her example by posting once a day for a week and/or answering the qotd or Vox Hunt when not inspired to write something on my own…

Sorry neighbours… From here on in, I will clean up and maintain said cleanliness of the yard, mow the lawn more often, paint the house, an stop randomly taking naps in your driveways. From here on in I will be a better neighbour.

And to commemorate this commitment, I am giving up coffee today… except for the decaf-espresso that I will occasionally allow myself to consume in speciality beverages. I have said I would and tried before but putting in writing helps me with the follow-through.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start by taking my clothes down from your clothesline.

Cheers!
—
steelie

Coffee Beans - Forbidden Symbol
Coffee Beans – Forbidden Symbol

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by steelie -

Apple’s Safari 3.0 Beta for the Mac… and the PC. Oh, and Camino 1.5 for the Mac… sorry PC.

So, today was the ever popular (for all the Mac-addicts out there) World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) where Apple (and other companies of course) usually announce a whole new slew of products or upgrades or technologies or… well you get my drift.

I just want to keep this post brief, as I have work to do today, so I’ll get right to the point… Today Apple released a huge update to their web browser Safari to version 3.0 Beta AND ported the application to run on Windows XP and Vista. I know that the previous version of Safari didn’t really play nice with Vox… and there wasn’t anything that the lovely folks here at Vox could do; it was a Safari problem.

WELL…

When I found out that that Apple had just released a new version of their browser — which, incidentally, I had abandoned because it didn’t really play well with Vox or other “Web 2.0” sites — naturally, I had to download it immediately and try it right away. So far, it LOOOVES Vox… uh… but not so much Inbox.com (my webmail)… oops nor LiveJournal…

Hmmmm… This post is turning out to be more of an “Oh, never mind” entry than I had originally intended. I guess that’s what I guess for reviewing the update as I test it.

Well, the upgrade does indeed bring some good enhancements. Safari finally allows you to use all of the rich-text formatting features Vox and LiveJournal offer without having to use HTML code. Safari also does spell-check on the fly for any site you are using… including your status on Facebook.com. For those of you who are Tab fanatics like myself… Safari has drag and drop tabs so you can shuffle the order as desired — cool but the more I play with it, the less I realise it’s all that necessary.

Okay… I’m stopping now… I really wanted this entry to be short and precise. Looks like I blog like I talk… no exit strategy. ;^)

Summary: Safari 3.0 Beta is waaaaaay better for Vox now. But. It’s apparently still missing features I need.
Remedy to  Safari’s problems: Camino 1.5. Works with any “Web 2.0” site I’ve tried. Spell-checks on the fly just like Safari. Ad-blocker (that’s right I have an add-free Vox… seriously!). Pop-up window blocker / pop-up window warning bar. And more…

UPDATE: WTF! SAFARI DOES NOT HAVE A LINK BUTTON!!!

Okay… to be authentic to my test I composed this post using Safari but when I went back to add hot-links for Safari and Camino, I realised that Safari doesn’t have a “Link” button. I actually had to finish the post In Camino.

F*cking nice. Skip Safari fellow MacVoxers and MacLJers. Download Camino and save yourselves a headache.
*curses under breath*
—
steelie

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by steelie -

Vox feedback for March 10, 2007…

Hello again…

This feedback tidbit has to do with my “Home” page when I log in… and Exploring, indirectly. I’ve been reluctant to explore Vox and add new neighbours because as of right now, the Friends & Family posts I really want to keep track of keep getting bumped by my Neighbours’ posts… What I’m really hoping can be done is some sort of filter that I could potentially adjust myself, that would allow me to chose whether I want my “New in your neighbourhood” section to show recent items from my Neighbourhood, my Friends, my Family or my Friends & Family.

Personally, I would love to be able to log-in and immediately get up-to-date on my Friends & Family. And then, if there was no action on that front, I would be able to click over and catch-up on my neighbours. As of right now, I don’t have the time to check all of my F&F’s blogs individually to see if I’ve missed anything, so I rely heavily on my “Home” page.

I’m not saying that everyone Voxes like I do but it would great to have that option. I’ve also ran this idea by a few other Voxers I know outside of the Voxosphere and they’re in favour of such a thing too.

Thanks for listening.
—
steelie
(I’m trying to be Voxy, honest)

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