Chomper Stomping

8Feb/100

TOTW: Dynamic Dummy Image Generator

This week's Tool of the Week is Dynamic Dummy Image Generator.

What it does:

Allows you to display custom sized dynamic images on any webpage using nothing but a normal image tag and a special URL.

When you need it:

Mockups
Prototypes
Place Holder Images

How to use it:

The Example:

Tagged as: How to, Programming, prototyping, Tool of the Week, TOTW, tutorial No Comments

6Feb/100

Microsoft Advertisement FAIL

This is just... creepy...

I'm not 100% sure why and I had to watch it a few times before I even realized it was creeping me out... But once I figured out why it was distracting/disturbing me, I realized it was just subtly creepy. It's probably the dark colors the guy is wearing in juxtaposition with the all white background. He looks shady. He doesn't look confident. He looks like he is sneaking. When he walks over to the camera he has to bend down to summon you (It would feel less creepy if you were always at eye level). It feels like you are a kid and some stranger is walking by and bending down into your face and saying, "come on kid, come look what I've got". He's got his hand in his pocket... why? That's creepy. This whole thing feels like a drug dealer trying to get me to come smoke pot/crack/whatever with him. It's just... creepy. Yuck.

Sorry Microsoft... but... FAIL.

Here's the whole ad (I was able to extract it from this page)

Tagged as: Advertisement, blog, creepy, fail, Microsoft, Windows No Comments

5Feb/100

One Click Backup w/ Sabrent & Hitachi – FAIL

I can't get a full drive backup. I've tried multiple settings.

First I tried to backup all files:

It kept failing, presumably because I was using the computer during the backup. So, i finally just backed up only the 50+ GB of images (which was my major focus) successfully, WIN! Then I went back to the task of backing up the entire C: drive. I noticed that you could just do "Newer", which I decided would allow my backup to continue from where it failed.

So, next I tried:

Still didn't work, but at least it didn't re-backup files already backed up. After deleting several files that were causing it to fail (had to go to the command line for these, because windows could not delete/recognize/open them) I again tried the backup. This time it failed on UsrClass.dat (see the actual error below):

Create date/time : 2/5/2010--8:06:21 AM Error Report of Backup from [C:] to [Z:\Backup_Drive_C]

C:\Documents and Settings\Christopher\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

I thought, hrm... Maybe I'll just run it again. Nope. Still failed. Ran again, still failed. Ok, so I'm going to have to actually do something about the file.

I *almost* tried switching to another product, again, but then I realized this would be my fourth product switch and maybe I should at least give Sabrent tech support a try. So I submitted the following help request through their website:

1. Purchased Sabrent SATA 3.5"/2.5" Hard Drive to USB 2.0 Docking Station.
2. Installed one click backup software
3. Placed newly formatted/partitioned empty drive in dock
4. Began backup of C: drive to drive in dock (Z:)

Expected Result:
Full Backup of C: Drive to Z: drive

Actual Result:
Failed after ~20,000 files with the following error:
Create date/time : 2/5/2010--8:06:21 AM
Error Report of Backup from [C:] to [Z:\Backup_Drive_C]

C:\Documents and Settings\Christopher\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

http://screencast.com/t/N2E3YjdkYz

We'll see how they respond. If I can't get this to work, the next thing I'm going to try is some sort of Open Source drive duplication or backup solution that will let me copy from one drive to another. If that still doesn't work, I'll start looking at commercial, local backup options.