Circa1977 - Mark J. Reeves

The Slim Kiwi Blog

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:57:11 -0500

Just a quick note if you’re following me here: The Slim Kiwi Blog is now live, focusing on our services, thoughts, trends and online marketing. Add that to your RSS reader, and keep up with me at markjreeves.com.

The nice thing about [web] standards…

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:03:18 -0400

The nice thing about [web] standards…

Fitbit - Automatically Track Your Fitness and Sleep

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:54:46 -0400

Fitbit - Automatically Track Your Fitness and Sleep:

It’s unfortunate that the home page shows the device clipped to a pajama sleeve. The FAQ states that it clips to a wristband that’s included. In any case, Fitbit looks interesting. Analyzing and tracking data is fun.

The new home of Slim Kiwi North in downtown Salem, MA. Pictures...

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:35:42 -0400

The new home of Slim Kiwi North in downtown Salem, MA. Pictures in the Slim Kiwi photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slimkiwi/

The new home of Slim Kiwi North in downtown Salem, MA.

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:33:00 -0400

The new home of Slim Kiwi North in downtown Salem, MA.

Downloadable Designs: Turn Your Phone into a Scanner : TreeHugger

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:00:14 -0400

Downloadable Designs: Turn Your Phone into a Scanner : TreeHugger:

I very often take a pic of items I receive in the mail or of sketches on paper with my iPhone and then email them to Alastair. This would optimize that approach.

Recent web site launches (including 3 today)

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:56:00 -0400

I’ve had the pleasure of launching a number of sites this summer, including three today that we’ll start with:

Jay Peak Resort - Working with Almighty Boston, I coded PHP using the AMFPHP framework for Flash to talk to. That PHP code talked to an ExpressionEngine database, completely bypassing the ExpressionEngine templating system. Not that I don’t like working with EE, and I’m well-versed in its language, but AMFPHP provided classes for Flash Remoting to hook into, and it was easy enough to just code SQL to hit the EE database.

Remote NewView - http://www.newviewtechnologies.com - Remote NewView is an exciting under-development app that will allow you to mirror your digital camera’s view, and some of its controls, on your mobile device. Think iPhone remote control of your digital cam. Why is this exciting? You can position your camera anywhere and hit the shutter button from where you are.

Mark J. Reeves - http://www.markjreeves.com - This was a quick overhaul of my personal homepage, with bio and aggregation of my blogs. I borrowed the design from the newly launched (two weeks ago)…

Slim Kiwi - http://www.slimkiwi.com - One year after tossing up a placeholder page while pitching a client, we launched a real Slim Kiwi home page. More content to come, including blog and portfolio.

Test Devices - http://www.testdevices.com - I worked with Sole Kitchen out of Providence to code this ExpressionEngine-driven, sIFR-using site, whose design originated with Slim Kiwi cohort (and then-Sole Kitchen employee), Alastair Halliday.

Rubie Green - http://www.rubiegreen.com - In conjunction with MOTH Design. I pitched the Magento e-commerce platform to Rubie Green while it was still beta, and they were interested in trying it on. It was a significant effort to learn and adapt Magento to the design that we committed to, but in the end a beautiful site sits atop a robust and ever-evolving platform.

MetLifeBank - http://www.metlifebank.com - I actually worked on this last spring, under contract with Company C Marketing in NYC. It took a while for MLB to fill in the back end and get it live, and now it’s up. I provided XHTML/CSS coding on all templates. Alastair Halliday contributed Flash modules.

Study: Marketers integrate online, offline poorly - Boston Business Journal:

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:01:04 -0400

Study: Marketers integrate online, offline poorly - Boston Business Journal: :

Why bother, then?

I took the 2008 Survey For People Who Make Websites

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:31:00 -0400

I took the 2008 Survey For People Who Make Websites:

Review: Garmin Edge 705 GPS Offers Maps and Metrics for Data-Happy Cyclists | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Thu, 29 May 2008 21:10:29 -0400

Review: Garmin Edge 705 GPS Offers Maps and Metrics for Data-Happy Cyclists | Gadget Lab from Wired.com:

Makes me want to get a bike.

Web Worker Daily Archive : The Coworker's Cubicle

Wed, 21 May 2008 10:09:00 -0400

Web Worker Daily Archive : The Coworker's Cubicle:

Awesome idea for co-working habitats. It folds up, locks, and has wheels.

Apple and HBO Close to a Deal - Portfolio.com

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:12:46 -0400

Apple and HBO Close to a Deal - Portfolio.com:

I can watch The Wire, CYE, etc on my iPhone?

Long Story Short: I got a new MacBook

Mon, 12 May 2008 17:13:00 -0400

Lesson learned: Buy Apple from Apple.

I’ve been eyeing a new mac. My 1.5 year-old MacBook is capped at 2GB of RAM and I really need 4 when I’m slicing and dicing comps, assembling pages, and testing in multiple browsers. Add iTunes, Mail, etc on top of that, and things haven’t been too speedy.

The lineup of iMacs was recently bumped up, and I was looking forward to a 24” screen and a 2.8GHz dual core CPU (just shy of the full 3.06 now offered) this summer.

But then the A key on my MacBook came off, the plastic notches worn down. And then the trackpad button started sticking. And before having a shiny new powerhouse on my desk in the office, I needed a reliable portable.

I couldn’t turn down what Amazon was selling: A $1299 MacBook minus a $75 rebate, and a $25 gift certificate in hand, and Amazon rewards earned, and no tax and no shipping. I could order 4GB of RAM from an Amazon seller for $95 to replace the stock 2GB.

So I did it, avoiding paying Apple $1299 + $200 for a RAM upgrade + tax. And with a free Amazon Prime trial, it came in two days.

Shoddy. It happens with the plastic MacBooks. Corners on the surface popped up a little. A space bar key bowed at the ends. A buckled ripple in the surface plastic. And a trackpad button that didn’t click on the left end. Within an hour of opening it, I had an appointment at the local Genius Bar and headed there.

In 2005 I bought two iMacs from Apple online. After loading a ton of music the SuperDrive in one died. I brought it to the Apple Store and, since it was stock, they swapped it and migrated my installs and settings from one to the other. No such luck this time. “You bought it on Amazon and we can’t tell who sold it. If we open it to replace the buttons we don’t know what we’ll find. It’s a manufacturing defect, so you should return it to Amazon for a replacement.”

I get that it was Amazon’s inventory. I wanted a replacement, not a fix, so I needed to return it to Amazon. But it’s a “manufacturing defect”, and you’re Apple, help me out here. I had an *Amazon* receipt, and Amazon (I checked) *is* an authorized reseller.

I got back to the office and filled out the steps on Amazon.com to return and request a replacement. Getting the RMA and return label was fast and easy. Then I had to wait for an email on the replacement details.

The email came, 24 hours later: “We don’t stock replacement parts. Here’s Apple’s number.” Livid, I called Amazon. No replacement would be offered. I declared that I would be returning it, confirmed I could (as “defective”, the same reason for requesting a replacement), and got off the phone.

Within 2 hours I was at the mall, at the Apple Store, to buy a new MacBook. I was offered AppleCare, software, a case and other things I declined. I was led to the back to be shown two printers I could choose from, free. I chose. I was led back to the front.

The gentleman I was handed off to rang me up on one of the handheld checkout devices. He asked if I wanted a printed receipt, email receipt, or both. Both, I said. I signed. He said I was all set. I paused, then walked out, foregoing the printed receipt to get on my way.

The email receipt never came.

The credit card charge was not $1299 + tax, but instead $1468.90: $1299 + $99 + tax.

The next morning I called and left a message. We went out for brunch at the mall. I received a voicemail and headed into the store. The email receipt is lost. Odd, it’s an address I use only for Apple, that I’ve used in that store, that came up on the handheld per my credit card, that has recently worked for iTunes, and that I received an Apple feedback email at. The printer: I was supposed to be given a rebate card, which I got on my second visit and redeemed.

The other MacBook has been returned to Amazon, by insured Priority Mail. The new one is great so far. A few flukey screen flashes after installing the 4GB of RAM I ordered that seem to be gone after resetting PRAM. And the lesson learned: If want Apple service, buy from Apple. Even then, though - no guarantees.

Some pepper with your email list? - Campaign Monitor Blog

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:32:00 -0400

Some pepper with your email list? - Campaign Monitor Blog:

The Campaign Monitor blog’s link to the Pepper I just posted at HaveAMint.com. Mint is an awesome stats package, maintained by Shaun Inman, that you can deploy to your own server and use to view stats in real time. Shaun has enabled plugin development, known as Peppers in Mint parlance (Pepper + Mint), and a strong community has responded with useful modules in turn.

If you’re checking Mint throughout the day to see who’s visiting your site and when, I thought it would be useful to see who’s signing up for your Campaign Monitor subscriber list as well. If you use Campaign Monitor and Mint, you can download the CM Subscribers pepper at http://slimkiwi.com/go/download_cm_pepper.

Future features planned:

View custom subscriber fields
Set your timezone and edit the interval to display new signups (currently 24 hours)
Error handling, just in case something’s amiss
Track multiple subscriber lists within your account

I’m a little unsure of the appropriateness of the last one. Your Mint stats are for a single site/URL, which would correspond to one email list. The option for more data is always a good one to have, though.

Enjoy!

Business Technology : Accenture's Big Bet on Data Management

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:47:30 -0400

Business Technology : Accenture's Big Bet on Data Management:

Mashups, cloud computing and data management: Trends in technology.

Daring Fireball: Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3 Addenda

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:15:32 -0400

Daring Fireball: Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3 Addenda:

More from Gruber. Count me among those developers who browse with Safari and test/dev with Firefox.

Daring Fireball: Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:35:25 -0400

Daring Fireball: Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3:

Gruber sums up my Safari3 issues nicely, and confirms I don’t need to switch to Firefox3 for daily browsing, but that, as I’ve been saying, I just need 4GB of RAM (new macbook!).

The new office, and other Slim Kiwi photos

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:09:00 -0400

The new office, and other Slim Kiwi photos

Magento Open Source E-commerce 1.0 released

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:33:08 -0400

Magento Open Source E-commerce 1.0 released:

A very, very exciting new offering that should make e-commerce interesting.

Eric's Archived Thoughts: Acid Redux

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:29:20 -0400

Eric's Archived Thoughts: Acid Redux:

I meant to post this last week as well. Safari and Opera have been racing to declare themselves 100% Acid3-compliant. So? You’ve spent all this time coding against specific bugs and rendering requirements; can you see the forest for the trees? It’s like never reading a book or solving one algebraic equation in all of high school, and then passing the SATs based on a study guide. Have you really accomplished anything?