I am going to write a more lengthy review of the Asus Eee super-small laptop after I’ve logged some more time with it. In the meantime, I wanted to post instructions on how to fix what I considered the most annoying design flaw of the unit: the position of the right shift key on the keyboard.

In its stock configuration, the Eee’s arrow keys are laid out such that the “up” arrow key is where the right shift key normally resides. As a touch-typist, I found myself hitting the up arrow key when I needed to type a capital “d,” and the next thing I knew I was up one line and two letters off. Something had to change, or I was going to have a serious problem with the Eee.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I wrote about acting as a personal shopper for folks. It seemed like a natural extension of my usual role as “product advisor.” Anyway, I’ve had a few takers so far. I’m looking for a Roomba for someone, and acquired a Buddy heater for someone else.

Read the rest of this entry »

You have ten days left to make a 2006 tax year deductible donation to Wikipedia. As stated on the deductibility of donations page, Wikipedia is classified as tax exempt, and your donations are exempt from US federal taxes. I use Wikipedia at least once a day, and it feels nice to kick a little back.

Just in case you missed it the first time, here’s the fundraising link.

Also, if you work for the same company that I do, our employer will match your gift up to $5,000. Double up your donation! See our corporate intranet for more details, or email my work email address for more info/help.

After installing the GIVI FZ351 top rack I installed the side racks required to carry my saddlebags. The side rack was in some ways easier than the top rack (all of the pieces fit without the use of a mallet, for example), but in some ways more frustrating. The clips that hold the turn signals on are a MAJOR pain in the ass if you have even medium-sized hands, and the top rack installation didn’t require any rewiring. I finished this install in about two or three hours with the help of my friend Duke, who helped me reinstall the rear flashers. Trust me, you’ll want a compadre on this one.

How to install a GIVI side case bracket on a 2005 Yamaha FZ6

After burning several hours, my previously-assumed inexhaustible supply of swear words, and the patience of Lady Jaye, I managed to put the GIVI hard luggage top case rack on my 2005 Yamaha FZ6. The original instructions were in Italian, and the English translations weren’t very descriptive. I did my best to take notes and pictures in order to document this process to future sufferers. I mean, FZ6 owners.

I would summarize the install thusly: fucking heinous. If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken the top case and side case racks to someone to do the installation and wiring. With parts of my bike not aligning properly (and requiring the use of a rubber mallet for “fine tuning”), I thought the worst was over when I put the top case on. Little did I know that this would be one of the easiest parts of the whole affair. Holy shit.

How to Install a GIVI Top Case Bracket on a 2005 Yamaha FZ6

Like most Web-savvy damn dirty apes, I use Google and Wikipedia to find information several times a day. After awhile, I got tired of typing in www.wikipedia.com and then plunking in my search terms. I started looking for a better, more efficient way to look up information.

Read the rest of this entry »

The RSS 2.0 was formalized in 2002, and is an XML format designed to summaries of Web content and accompanying metadata. The most common use of RSS feeds today are for article or blog summaries. An example of an RSS metadata item would be the URL for the full text of the article/summary.

If you follow lots of Web sites like I do, RSS is a godsend. I used to repeatedly visit the same Web sites each day, hoping that something new had been posted. RSS readers (also called aggregators) do this for you, by automatically updating each site’s latest feed at predetermined intervals. Instead of compulsively checking my favorite sites, I now compulsively check my RSS bookmarks folder to see if any new items have made the feed ;) This capability is particularly useful for news sites like Ars Technica (shit, do I go a day without linking out to them?), which carries feeds for their main news items as well as their volunteer journal.ars section.

Going RSS-feed only has a few drawbacks. The biggest one is relying solely on RSS feeds side-steps the entire “home page” experience. Despite being part of a world wide web, most Web sites are designed so that visitors funnel to the home page first and then go on to individual stories or subsections. I asked my friend Fish Sprout where her Flickr gallery was the other day — only to be told it’s prominently displayed on her home page. I’d subscribed to her blog’s RSS feed from day one, and had never gone back to the home page.

Easy access in Firefox
One of the my favorite advantages Firefox has over Internet Explorer 6.x is the ability to process RSS feeds (also called LiveBookmarks in Firefox) by default. A few of my friends aren’t sure what an RSS feed is, or how to set up an RSS feed in Firefox. I have added a new page to DrFaulken’s Tome of Useless Knowledge, describing how to set up RSS feeds for Firefox versions 1.50 and higher.

If you’re not using Firefox, unfortunately I can’t be of much help to you. I don’t have the need for a standalone RSS aggregator.