I've just cleaned up a dozen or so spam messages from just the last couple of days.  Not a huge deal, but I don't need to be doing this.  I figured I must have left an option unchecked?/  Squarespace doesn't have Akismet (or an equivalent) so I figured at the very least I should switch on 'Comments require moderation by an administrator'.  I can't find such a setting though...I MUST be looking in the wrong places as this feature is a no-brainer.  Any clues, anyone?  All I could find was the place where we switch comments either on or off. 

I'm afraid I need just a little more granularity than that...

When you receive an incoming call on a locked iPhone, you have the option to 'swipe to answer' and that (seemingly) is about it.  To date, what I've been doing (foolishly) is to just switch off the ringer switch, which causes the handset to continue ringing (but muted and still vibrating). Turns out there (obviously) is a way of rejecting a call and bouncing it on straight to voicemail.

So...how do you do it.  With the phone locked, you only have access to three actions that you can execute:

1. Press the Home button
2. Swipe to answer
3. Press the top/power button

The secret is in the last option.  It turns out that:

Pressing the button once will mute the ringing - for THAT call only.  This is handy since I can't remember how many times I've switched the mechanical ringer to the mute position and then forgotten to switch it back on causing me to miss calls. Not very convenient.

Pressing the button twice in succession will do exactly what we want. That's it.  Simply pressing the top power button twice will reject a call on the iphone while its locked. Have fun using this simple function which is so simply on all other handsets I've used in the past.  I have to say, given Apple's usual forethought and attention to detail, I'm disappointed this isn't more apparent. But, now we know...

I'll keep Galoomp with Squarespace for a while - mainly due to the fact that I haven't got the time to shift it to WP, but also because I don't have a need for anything flash...yet.

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Back to the microSIMs.  APCMag reported yesterday that Telstra stores were going to sell them as of today (25 May) and Optus following tomorrow, but it's not looking like all of the Telstra stores got the memo - or the stock(!). A search of Twitter reveals lots of eager consumers wanting to be as prepared as possible ahead of the arrival of the new toys productivity devices later in the week.  A few folks have had some success in securing microSIMs, but mostly there's disappointment.  We still have a couple of days to grab them before d-day and I'm hopeful I can secure one tomorrow so as to not get trampled in stampedes on Friday. 

Incidentally, my iPad is still showing as 'Prepared for shipment'... pah.  A few more days.  What's been your experience?

Google's blog explains the background as well as another easter egg they've dropped in there for good measure:

We also added a little easter egg: if you throw in another coin, Ms. PAC-MAN joins the party and you can play together with someone else (PAC-MAN is controlled with arrow keys or by clicking on the maze, Ms. PAC-MAN using the WASD keys).

Nice work Google!

Naturally, the Squarespace Developer Forums are an excellent place to start as well as Squarespace's own Help Videos. On that page you'll also find some excellent live build videos.

A video demonstrating the build of Dan Trachenburg's blog at www.trachenburg.com

T3chH3lp demonstrates some tweaks to their site here too:

Other Tutorials

Various ways of displaying images for photography sites

Examples are displayed as well as the code and any tweaking necessary

Jerermy Blanchard's site - Bathrobe Warrior - has a bunch of great, short how-to clips.

For me, the best videos are the live-builds.  Each video starts with a vision of how the site will look in the end, a brand new clean empty squarespace template as you'd see it if you had just signed up and then all of the steps to get from start to finish get demonstrated. This is perfect for those taking their first steps and want to see how the pros do it.

If you come across any other useful Squarespace videos...let me know.

As a follow up to an earlier post about those fantastic retailers offering free international shipping (thank you, we appreciate it), I recently came across another great site (Hong Kong based), selling every brand of make up, skin care, mens & womens fragrance, hair care, gifts etc  - almost all of which are at drastically reduced prices.  StrawberryNet.com offers free international shipping to it's customers and has an enormous range. Much of their stock is discounted by up to 60% too so there are some great bargains to be had. They also list their prices in over 40 different currencies, so you can shop without having to fdo rough calculations in your head.

Perfumes and aftershaves are frequently copied, but these are almost certainly the real deal.  For starters, they have an enormous selection of of the top brands and designer collections and secondly, they have almost every product available within those ranges too.

Mother's day is coming up soon and this site may well be worth bookmarking to surprise Mum with some Chanel No.5 or a nice gift pack and save yourself a heap of cash along the way.

Part of the problem is that Eyetv records files in a .eyetv file format. This is not a video format that's recognised by most video playback clients or editing software.  However, EyeTv does some nifty things with this file format, like for every recording it makes, it makes an iPod-ready version ready for syncing with your iPhone or for streaming across your home wireless network. To keep the files manageable, EyeTv holds the full quality video files AND the iPod/iPhone version within an archive - the .eyevtv archive. On a Mac, right-clicking on the .eyetv file and choosing Show Package Contents reveals these two files.  The larger, full quality file is there as a regular MPG file and the iPod/iPhone file is recorded as a .M4V.

Simply copying the MPG file out of the archive gives you a file that's playable on mosts video playback clients, computers and devices but the file is large at a little over 3Gb per hour. So the file requires a bit of post-processing to make it transferrable and less unwieldy.

My aim is, using tools like Hazel, Automator and Handbrake, to get to the point where shows I record with EyeTV be processed automagically using the following automated workflow:

1. Hazel monitors the EyeTv recorded show archive and looks for .eyetv files with recent datestamps and triggers an OS X Automator workflow to:
2. For each .eyetv archive it finds, use the Get Folder Contents action, then select the MPG file within it
3. Copy that MPG file to another folder (used as a holding area) and then have Hazel trigger another script or automator action to invoke Handbrake to process this file using presets via the Handbrake CLI commands
4. Transfer the final file to a shared location on the network, accessible by PS3, Windows boxes, whatever I have on the network in the house.

I'm stuck though...at step 2. :( 

I've put together a basic automator workflow to open the .eyetv archive using Get Folder Contents, but from there I can't get it to select and copy JUST the .MPG file. I've tried Filter Finder Items and then Get Selected Finder Items but it just ain't working out...

Any clues?  I would really be glad of some help.  I'll post the final solution here as a downloadable automator workflow for those that are interested. TIA.

Recipe

• One large ham bone from the deli
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1 large or 2 mediums sized carrots
• 1 quarter white cabbage
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely sliced
• Large tin of diced tomatoes
• Mixed Italian herbs - plenty
• 1 bay leaf
• 700ml of stock - chicken or vegetable
• Salt and ground black pepper
• A handful or two of pasta - shells, Fusilli, broken spaghetti...whatever you have laying around
• Water
• Parmesan cheese - fresh and finely grated

Method

Dice the carrot and onion and fry off in some olive oil with the garlic in a frying pan to give it a little colour and allow it to begin to release some flavour. Turn the slowcooker on to High and transfer the veggies to it. Finely slice the cabbage and pop it in too. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, herbs, salt and pepper. Trim the ham bone to remove excess fat, skin et al - I normally score the ham on the bone to allow it to fall off a little easier during cooking - plonk it in too.

Cook it all for a couple of hours on high. Inspect the ham bone.  You'll find a lot of the meat will have fallen off. Retrieve any fat/gristly-bits from the soup periodically and encourage the remaining meat off the bone. Remove the bone once it's more or less meat free.

Throw in a handful or two of pasta about 20 minutes before you plan to serve. Enjoy topped with a generous sprinkle of parmesan and some fresh crusty bread.

PS. You can make this with beef bones, but for me it has to be ham.  Something about the salty goodness that makes all the difference.