Why does the whole world seem to revolve around Google…
I have been trying to work on 3 different web projects today and have been hampered because something is wrong with Google - i.e. their entire infrastructure appears to be down from where I am sitting.
This would not seem to be a huge problem as I can use Yahoo to search, but the as so many websites rely on Google Analytics & Adwords, etc. I am still stuffed: When Google’s servers go down, all the other sites break because they hang when trying to load content from Google.
So, I can’t download the latest version of Wordpress, I can’t seem to read all the blogs from one particular aggregator. I am having problems using my time tracking tool, plus a load of other stuff, which means I can’t do my job today through circumstances beyond my control.
So much for the internet being unbreakable - back to the drawing board people - although this does highlight the fact that relying heavily on one particular provider could bite you in the a** if they go pear shaped.
This provides a good example of why monopolies are bad: if you rely on Google, Amazon, or any of the other big players for your livelyhood, you are stuffed when they screw up. I guess it’s a bit like investing all your money with some cronky US bank, although at least with the internet, “investors” are as stuffed as the “customers” as it is more democratized, which is one nice thought.
Tip of the day - Web designers, put the effing analytics code and any other JavaScript that relies on external resources at the bottom of the page just before the </body> tag. To do otherwise is a bit of a schoolboy error and I shall swear at your incompetent web offerings, then go somewhere else.
Not happy with Adobe today.
I installed the trial version of CS3 to have a play, but it has fucked up all my file associations without asking. As I am busy on live projects using Flash 8, etc. it is very annoying when I click a file only to find it opens up with CS3 programs, especially as something like Flash CS3 takes even longer than Flash 8 to start…
Normally, you can easily restore your file associations by messing round in the folder options dialog box in Windows Explorer or right click the file, choose “Open With” and find the program you want then tick the “Always use this program…” box. Unfortunately, in their infinite wisdom, Adobe have seen fit to dick with my registry because even if I choose Flash 8 as the program to open my Flash files, this choice is overridden..
I like your software Adobe, but my computer belongs to me, don’t dick with my settings and I will think about paying for your software rather than looking for other tools.
Now I have to spend an hour reading up how to fix my registry - a dangerous game even for someone like me - but really unnecessary because I now have to fix stuff for about 50 different file types.
Grrr.
Well I just spent ages trying to fix my printer after I kept getting “document failed to print” messages to no avail, so I blagged a couple of free ones, which did not work.
I went back through the troubleshooter, which asked me if my port was working properly - well it shows up in the printer properties page, but funnily enough, when I checked Windoze Device Manager - LPT1 (parallel port) is missing.
One reboot later and a fiddle with the BIOS, it turns out the motherboard has randomly disabled LPT1. Great, so this is turned back on and hey presto, my printer is back online…
Moral of the story is, if your printer ain’t working - check the ports exist in Device Manager too rather than believing what your printer properties tell you - these are just what you set up (doh!).
Anyone want a couple of printers - one works, needs cartridges (£10 + £10), the other, well, needs cart’s but don’t know if it works.
