Stupid Sucks!

I was hoping to write up a nice post full of fixes for Battlefield 2142 for Mac but I don’t really have time so, I think I will tackle the different problems as I have time.

First up, PunkBuster! If there is an application for OS X I really hate, it’s this one. This application has been the biggest problem in getting Battlefield 2142 to work properly on my iMac. Now, I really think EA is the one to blame for these problems but most people know, I think EA failed spectacularly with this game for Mac. It is what it is though. Anyway…

If you’re having problems updating PunkBuster for Battlefield 2142 on Mac, then doing the manual update with PunkBuster is probably updating the files in the wrong location. Navigate to your Applications folder (Apple + Shift + A while in Finder). Right click on Battlefield 2142.app and select “Show Package Contents”.

See the folder in there called “pb” ? When you download and run PunkBuster to manually update Battlefield, PunkBuster creates a folder in your Applications directory called “pb”. It’s in the wrong place!

Visit the Battlefield 2142 update page for PunkBuster and download pbsec.htm and your client update file (I download the first two). Copy pbsec.htm into your “pb” folder. Then copy the client update file into the “htm” folder within the “pb” folder.

And there you go! PunkBuster is updated and you should be able to play without getting kicked out of every server. If you are having other problems, feel free to comment to this post and I might be able to help out. Enjoy!

Update: You can download the patch via my server here: http://www.stupidsucks.com/downloads/public/Battlefield2142-485and941A-to-1512.zip

Yes, I am a mac “gamer”. Two words that don’t belong in the same sentence. I’m not really a big gamer (I used to be) since I usually just work all the time now BUT for quite awhile I’ve been waiting on EA to release the 1.50 Patch for Battlefield 2142 for Mac users.

EA is terrible about supporting their Mac gamers. Everything comes WAY WAY later for Mac than for the PC guys. But, I guess you can’t blame them. The Mac guys are definitely the minority, lol. Anyway, the patch has finally been released! I’m downloading it now but it is going slow as heck so once I get it downloaded, I’ll upload to my server and post a link here for others to download it faster (who likes waiting an hour for a download? Not me.. ).

**EDIT**: Drop.io gave away more than 20 – 5Gb 1 year premium upgrades to the first people that twittered them with a suggestion on their service! I just got one myself! This is why Drop.io rocks. Thanks Drop.io

Awhile ago I wrote a review about a pretty cool service offered by Drop.io which I was a big fan of right off the bat. Although the features they had to offer were helpful, there were some drawbacks that threw a kink in my work flow.

There is one thing for sure though, Drop.io is not twiddling their thumbs on the job. They know what needs to be done and are doing it and doing it well. To make things even better, they’re listening to what people want and need. They even picked up on the blog I made about it. They’re on twitter too!

So what new features has Drop.io been dropping in the mix?

• Small improvements (design wise) of their home page and drop page(s).
• You can subscribe to drops via email, which is great when you need to know when something is added or changed.
• The way you interact with documents has greatly improved (added links to delete, comment, send & save).
• You can now send files between drops which is a really helpful feature I think.
• Improved embedding
• Sending files via mms, email, fax, or existing drop.

The feature I have been the most happy to see added was a delete link per document (you had to view the file then delete previously). As great as it has been to see these features added there are still some drawbacks I find annoying during my daily work flow.

On a daily basis I have to proof files with clients (I’m a graphic designer) so Drop.io is a great service to do just that. But I work at a newspaper which means I have to proof anywhere from 10-50 or more ads per day. Within 20 minutes I have proofed several versions of an ad with a client. What am I getting at?

The way files are managed should be improved upon more (which I’m sure they’re doing). I think the following features would really help improve the service.

• Multiple file deletion at once – it’s a pain to have to delete one file at a time.
• Selective archival – it would be nice to be able to archive/download multiple files at once rather than the entire drop or a single file at a time.
• Send multiple files – many of the clients I interact with have several ads. It would be great to see a feature that would allow for sending multiple selected files at once.

So, aside from multiple file management, what else could Drop.io possibly do to make their already awesome service even better?

• User management or selective password protecting. Since I deal with multiple clients, it’s not a good idea to leave the drop unprotected. Clients would be able to view each other’s files. If the drop could be setup so that you could password protect files individually that would be great. Although if the following was an option I suppose this wouldn’t be necessary..
• Send files via link rather than sending the actual file. One of the main reasons why I use Drop.io is because sending large attachments via email isn’t fun with clients. When I noticed that you could send files via email I was pretty happy but quickly disappointed to find out it sent the file itself rather than a link. I don’t want to clutter my clients’ inbox.

All in all, Drop.io is one of my favorite services. It’s super simple to use and is actually quite powerful. Recently I used the conference call feature and was really impressed at how easy it is to use, tell other people how to use and the quality was fantastic.

If you haven’t checked out Drop.io, take a few minutes, it’s well worth it. If there is something you feel is missing, contact someone and let them know, they are really nice and want to hear what people think of their service. They have stated that what is available now is just the tip of the iceberg so I’ll be watching for the upgrades!

I happened to come across this tonight and wow! I already love Gmail (except for the recent spam problems that should be solved soon) but this just adds yet another reason why people should be using it.

(credit to MakeUseOf.com for the original post)

Part 1:

You can receive email to youremail@gmail.com with a dot in any part of the “youremail” section. For instance, y.ouremail@gmail.com (or @googlemail.com). You can put the dot anywhere in “youremail” and it will go to youremail@gmail.com. That isn’t anything I got excited about.

Part 2:

Here’s the awesome part. You can add extra information into your address! What you do is add a + and then the extra info. you want. So youremail+website@gmail.com (again, @googlemail.com as well).

This one is particularly nice because you can use that to figure out if you’re getting spam from a particular website by signing up using youremail+website@gmail.com

Additionally, if you use labels and filters you can setup filters with this. So maybe myemail+netflix@gmail.com and have them all filtered into a Netflix label. 

——————-

This has been around for awhile but I know tons of people who don’t know about it. It’s pretty nifty and could be pretty useful. 

While researching some other web technology today I kept running across mentions of Drop.io Now, I actually came across Drop.io about a month ago. I took a peek at it and set it aside for later. ….and then I forgot about it.

Well, now that I’ve come across it again I thought i’d take some extra time to really see what can be done with it and what they have to offer. I have to say that thus far I’m really impressed. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it works…really well.

The first thing you’re going to notice (since it’s the entire point of drop.io) is the file storage/sharing capabilities. It’s simple, name your drop, upload your files, pick your settings (super simple) …and drop it!

They don’t ask for an email, you don’t have to go through any sign-up, and it’s fast. Once you choose your drop name and drop it, you go right into the drop (account). As the front page will tell you, you’ll see in your drop that you can do so much more than upload and download files.

Drop.io sets you up with an email address that you can send notes and files to, a voice mail number, the capability to setup a conference call and faxing. So here’s a breakdown:

• Email Address: You can send text for a note or attachments to upload files
• Voicemail: Simple, call your voice mail number, punch in the extension, and leave yourself a message. It will save the message as an mp3 in your drop that you can listen to, share, etc.
• Conference Call: I haven’t tried this one but you have a number setup as your conference call line.
• Receive a fax: You can have people send you faxes, which show up in your drop. They have to print out a cover letter with a special section at the bottom but thats a minor inconvenience.
• Send a fax: I really like this feature. You can easily just send a fax from a .pdf or .doc to anyone in the US.

So thats the gist of the list of features. There are a couple other minor ones like adding links, notes, etc. The last two things I want to mention are premium and widget.

You only get 100MB for free. I know that is not nearly enough for getting some of the files I handle moved around but thankfully you can upgrade the service to 1GB for $10. That also upgrades the drop life to last 1 year. The point of Drop.io isn’t long term storage or large storage, it’s a quick “drop” space but I have a feeling it will turn into much more than that. One thing they don’t mention anywhere except on the “Custom” page is you can purchase more space.

Now about the widget! I don’t like having to go to the drop site every time I want to upload a file. I don’t like having to tell person after person the drop address either. Thats where the widget comes in. Just get the code snipet for your widget and put it in your site.

You can even customize the widget a little bit (assuming you know a little html and css) which is easy. The image above is an example (the View Drop button was added). You can also have the look customized by Drop.io

So there ya have it! Quite a useful site, even for those old faxing goobers out there. This is definitely something aiding the fight against stupid!