As a kid, I enjoyed taking things apart to see how they worked (and sometimes I’d even put them back together). That natural curiosity led me into software development where I actually get paid to take things apart and put them back together. Working in with computers funds my flying habit, and this section of the site is about technical things I find interesting.
New home for pfactor.com
posted in Technology · Aug 27, 2006 · Comments: 2
After several years at my old hosting company, WebIntellects, I have decided to switch to DreamHost. They’ve got a good reputation, great prices and packages, and support for everything I need today for this web site. They also support several things I’m interested in doing in the future, such as Ruby on Rails.
Visitors to pfactor.com should not see any difference, other than improved performance. If you notice something different about the site that you think I should be aware of, please drop me a note.
iPod Battery Replacement
posted in Technology · May 01, 2006
Happiness is a full battery meter.
My 30GB iPod is now about 2 and a half years old, and it still works great except for one thing: the battery. When new, the battery would last about 8 hours (which was about what Apple advertised for the third-generation iPod). However for the past few months the battery life has been dwindling down. This is a big deal for me, since I listen to my iPod during work, and the battery life was down to about 6 hours. I’d either need to start working part-time, or do something about my iPod’s battery.
I found out about Sonnet’s iPod Replacement Battery kit which was only $30 and the kit let me replace the battery myself. This was much better than spending $66 with Apple which would involve me shipping my iPod back to Apple. Plus I’d get a chance to see what’s inside the sleek little iPod.
Three Ways to Can Spam
posted in Technology · Mar 15, 2006
Don’t you hate how most websites and businesses ask for your email address these days? I don’t mind at all since I just give out a disposable email address. A disposable email address forwards messages to your real email address. The real benefit is the fact that you can have the disposable address automatically self-destruct after you no longer need it, and potential spammers never get your real email address.
An Introduction to Textpattern
posted in Technology · Feb 14, 2006
Destry Wion has started a series of articles introducing key concepts of Textpattern.
The first in the series is Understanding Textpattern Building Blocks which is quite well-written.
Going Live With Textpattern
posted in Technology · Jan 29, 2006
This website has a new look, but even more has changed under the covers. We’re now using Textpattern as the content management system. While porting over, Nancy and I gave the site a new set of colors and added the new tabbed-navigation controls at the top of the page.
After finishing the work to port the original version of this website (see Porting to Textpattern), there were just a few things that I really needed to clean up before actually going live with the site.
There are more improvements planned over time, so stay tuned. Please drop us a note and let us know what you think of the new look, or if you find any problems we should know about.