Fireworks won’t start anymore? It probably doesn’t like your fonts.
April 13, 2009 at 10:04 am Filed in:Design 1 Comment
The other day I was going to create a new mockup, but when I launched Adobe Fireworks, it kept crashing after 30 seconds of the ‘loading’ pane. Would a reboot fix it? No such luck. Uninstall, reinstall? No dice.
What had I done since the last time I’d used Fireworks? Put together a few flash demos, wrote some code, installed 600+ new fonts….
A-ha! I opened Font Book, selected the User font group from the left column, selected all fonts contained within, and disabled them by right-clicking in the list of fonts and selecting “Disable” (or something of that sort). Launched Fireworks again, and it loaded – no problem.
So, if you’re having trouble getting Fireworks to launch when all other Adobe apps seem to be playing nice, try disabling any fonts you’ve installed. If that works, re-enable them as you see necessary.
And Adobe peoples – bugs that actually prevent an application from loading are kinda bad. You might want to set it as P1… ’cause that whole designer target market might actually have non-standard fonts on their systems.
I know your mother’s maiden name…
April 10, 2009 at 7:58 am Filed in:Privacy No Comments
While wandering around the interwebs this morning, I came across an interesting link to a relative’s family history. Actually, the facts were nothing new to me, as it was simply a list of the members of one branch of my family tree. But one thing was interesting: they listed my relatives’ mother’s maiden name.
I suppose that this information has been publicly available for quite some time. If you spent the afternoon digging around a courthouse or a public library, you could find court records, birth announcements, death announcements, and other blurbs in the local paper which often list a woman’s maiden name. But now, this information is instantly, easily accessible on a global scale. And it’s also the first time that any with less-than-scrupulous goals can perform web searches to find out your address, phone number, personal habits, and the uniqueness your name is – so that they know how many potential victims they’ll have to weed out before they can steal someone’s identity.
Although it appears to have been waning in popularity, some businesses and other institutions still use mother’s maiden name, birthdate, the road you grew up on, the as a means of verifying your identity, all of which are easily accessible to identity thieves or those trying to get your information for other reasons. Continue Reading
Opening day
April 1, 2009 at 8:17 am Filed in:geek No Comments
Nope, not baseball season or anything related to endeavors of a sporting nature, but the opening of the Web 2.0 expo – for me, probably the closest equivalent I could imagine (aside from the WWDC).
Will likely be popping in throughout the day with random observations, and hopefully reports of a job offer or two. Were there any better place for me to find employment that takes advantage of my understanding cultural phenomena, design, and geekery, I couldn’t imagine it. Hopefully this will be the opening of a new chapter in my life that suits me far better than the last.
And hopefully, I’ll be meeting up with my Adorkable friend Kate, another brilliant and talented member of the unemployed masses.
Blogging about blogging and web 2.0 at the web2.0 expo… wow, I’m so meta.*
Me Do My Myself: renegade baking, creativity, and Fashioning Technology
February 6, 2009 at 9:31 am Filed in:Craft | Design | Technology | food&drink 1 Comment
I had my first renegade baking experience was when I was 4. My mom was outside working in the garden, and my friend and I decided that we wanted to ‘bake’ for the first time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the recipes, so we just threw everything in our reach that looked like ingredients in the bowl. But (luckily) we couldn’t reach the stove or the oven, and when she came back inside, she found us with a big bowl full of a green mess.
About 45 minutes after enquiring as to what we had put in the bowl, our green monster cake came out of the oven. She had magically turned it into a verdant, yet quite tasty spice cake (a miracle, quite possibly, as the two items I recall within reaching distance from our fridge in those days were anchovy paste and Aquavit).
Why is that memorable? It taught me creativity and ingenuity in the kitchen can sometimes lead to fantastic, although slightly bizzare results. Thanks to that fantastic experience, to this day I’m hard pressed to follow a recipe to the letter. I have an appreciation for all types of cuisine, and I’m open to the bizzare.
And I really like green food.
But now I have a problem. I’m addicted to books full of fantastic diy projects – various forms of knitting, electronics, sewing, glasswork, cookbooks… but I never seem to actually MAKE anything from those shelves full of books, taking up so much valuable space and collecting dust in my tiny San Francisco apartment. Continue Reading
Powered by Microsoft? Ford must really be in trouble.
October 23, 2008 at 6:57 am Filed in:Design | Technology 1 Comment
Yup, there are all of the old jokes:
If Microsoft built your car, your car would crash randomly three times a day while you were driving down the road… and every time you made a left turn.
or
If Microsoft built your car, every few months you’d have to reinstall a new transmission, but you wouldn’t be able to figure out why.
or
If Microsoft built your car, all the warning lights are replaced with a single dashboard indicator which lights up to read ‘Your car has experienced an unexpected error” - but it is only after the engine is ‘unable to recover.’
Microsoft doesn’t immediately bring to mind stability, reliability, or even functionality. If Ford’s main marketing pitch for the Focus is letting people know that they’re integrating Microsoft technology, they must really be in trouble. Continue Reading
Windows without Walls?
September 30, 2008 at 4:15 pm Filed in:Advertising | Technology 1 Comment
Windows without walls? You can’t have a window without a wall, let alone multiple windows without walls. Otherwise, what would the windows be windows to?
Windows without walls are called GLASS WALLS.
Easily broken.
Ah Microsoft, you’re lucky. So many metaphors, so little time.
A letter to an ex. Or an L.
July 19, 2007 at 1:41 pm Filed in:Fail No Comments
Dear L,
There’s so much I need to say to you.
When I first moved to San Francisco, I was attracted to you immediately. When I saw your profile on the internet, and after meeting you a couple of times, I thought we’d make a perfect match. At first, I saw you at least twice a day. I was enraptured by the way you’d take me to work in the morning, and bring me back home at night. I’d never had anything quite like you in my life.
You know, there were parts of our relationship that seemed a bit strained. Like those three minutes in the… uh… tunnel after leaving the Castro, heading back home. You always moved so… tentatively. Were you afraid of hurting me? You know, it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst I’d ever had… it was just a little… awkward.
But then, you started to get neglectful. You’d show up 10, then 20, then 30 minutes late. You’d get distracted on the way, and sometimes you’d make me get out and find my own way home. You started to ignore me if I wanted to get home after 10 pm. And sometimes it seemed like you were only half there. But the last straw was in January, when you left me stranded, to fend for myself alone every night after 9. It was then that I decided to leave you for someone else I had my eye on for a while, wanting to get to know him better. Yes, it was your brother, NJ.
For months, my relationship with N was fantastic. I could leave whenever I wanted, come home whenever I wanted. He’d go anywhere with me, do anything. But then, I think N started fooling around. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was with that new girl, T.
I put up with it for as long as I could. But it just kept getting worse and worse… he was late all the time, if he even showed up at all. He stopped taking me where I needed to go, sometimes kicking me out downtown and leaving me to walk the streets alone instead of taking me all the way to Caltrain. A girl can only handle so much neglect, so much psychological abuse, I tried to tell him. I threatened to leave, but I just didn’t have the money to go where I needed to everyday without him, and I was still too mad, too proud to return to you, L.
But finally, after several months of treating me worse and worse, N’s disregard and psychological abuse became manifest as physical violence, sending me to the emergency room, and leaving me unable to get anywhere on my own for the unforeseeable future. At that instant, I knew it was over between me and N.
So, now, L, I’ve returned to you, with my head hung low. You might not take me to as many cool places as N, we may not be able to stay out as late, and I may not be able to get coffee when I meet you every morning. And you did almost do the same thing your brother did when I was leaving you the other day, but you realized and atoned for your mistake quickly. When we’re together, it might still be a little… uh… awkward at times, but I can deal with that, L, if you’ll have me back… for now.
In anticipation,
elle L.