Some posts are nothing more than a testament to just how geeky I can be. This is one of them…

Among the many, many geeky things I like, fonts are one of them. My typography collection is pretty extensive. I think making attractive fonts is quite the art form. Fonts are just pretty cool to me.

Two weeks ago I found a link to a site that provides you with a PDF to print out. On it is a grid with a every single letter, number and a bunch of symbols each apportioned a spot. You fill in the grid by hand and then scan it in. Next you upload the scan to the site which then uses it to create true type font file that’s based on your handwriting!

If you too find the idea of being able to convert (or write) an entire document using a font that looks just your handwriting immensely cool, then go check out YourFonts.com yourself. The entire process is quick, easy, and free! What more can you ask for?

Over the last few days I’ve been creating accounts on several different sites and I keep running into the same annoyance. When asked for a username I type in “kane” and more often than not I’m told that kane is already taken. This annoys the hell out of me.

Why does it matter how many people named “kane” are on your site? Kane’s not even a common name, I can’t imagine ever being able to use my name if it was Dave, or Steve, or Jim. You know what is unique to every person sitting behind a computer? Email addresses. While I have seen a few sites move away from simplistic usernames; instead using email addresses as login names, they’re still too few and far between.

So here’s my request to anyone who codes up websites: Please allow me to register with my email address. Let me use whatever “username” I want, allow username duplicates. Everyone knows you can never have enough kanes. Using email registration leaves the possibility that a site could have tens if not hundreds of kanes, and how great would that be?!?!

Be glad that you’re greedy; the national economy would collapse if you weren’t.

Mignon McLaughlin

My life is a constant struggle with the dichotomy that exists between my disdain for endless consumerism and my love for new, shiny (often electronic) toys. Historically the latter is the stronger force. That battle is raging on as I type this.

For the past few months I’ve been web-window-shopping (?) for netbooks. Recently Target has started carrying the Asus 8.9″ eee PC, and the first time I saw it in the store my first reaction was to just buy it then and there. It’s so small!! But I held off; I knew that I was just being dumb. I also worry that the keyboard is a little too small to actually be useful.

Well yesterday I had to run to a local computer store for a few things and they had the Acer ONE not just for sale, but on display! I quickly opened up Notepad and started typing away. It was actually pretty good. I would say I had no more mistakes on that little keyboard than I do on my big ass ergo keyboard that I use with my desktop. Again, I considered leaving the store with one, and again I talked myself out of it.

I’ve been using my laptop more & more outside of the house (my previous two posts were both done AFH) and I can see that it would be nice to have an itty bitty laptop with a long battery life (Can you tell I’m actively convincing myself that I need one?). I still can’t quite justify the purchase, but I’m getting closer to it. If I was living in a cool city, with cool mass transportation, and cool places to chill at (maybe with free wi-fi) I’d definitely be sporting a netbook right now. But as it is, it’s hard to justify needing a smaller laptop when mine works just fine and my Honda Civic can fit my 14″ just fine.

But I did just get a raise…

So I bought another MP3 player. I’m a little bit ashamed, I admit. It’s a Sansa E270 and it’s got a proprietary connector. I caved. But only because it was so damn cheap.

buy.com had refurbished E270s for $40. I figured that $40 was cheap enough that it doesn’t matter too much if it sucks terribly. It’s got 6GB of memory and a microSD expansion slot. Within 10 minutes of turning it on I installed rockbox on it.

Blah.

The life of a tech-snob is tough I guess. I’ve got a player, it’s not what I wanted but it’s cheap enough that I won’t feel horrible when I replace it. Or if it breaks. Or if I lose the stupid proprietary cable. Please though, don’t let my whining bring you down, obviously there are good things to say.

I can once again fit “all” of my music on a single device. Also rockbox does makes things better. On top of that it’s a beautiful day outside, it’s Saturday, and the blonde girl working at this restaurant is making me hee-hee inside. What that has to do with the MP3 player, I’m not sure… but life could definitely be worse.

Well it seems that my three-part series is more than 3 parts. The MP3 player saga continues. If you read my previous post, you heard me say that I don’t hate my iAudio U5. Well things have changed.

Hate

I ordered two additional micro USB cables for the U5 so that I could have one at work and keep one in my bag. Early last week I got the cables in the mail. As soon as I opened up the package and looked at the cables I knew something was amiss. My worries were confirmed when I compared the micro USB connector on the cable to the connector on the U5. Sure enough, they did not fit.

Grrr.

I hit up the internet and hunted down the official specification for USB 2.0 to get things figured out once & for all. I learned two things. First, apparently micro USB connectors do indeed have two different types (this is inconsistent with what I originally said in an earlier post), both A & B. Second, my U5 sports neither of those two connectors! My first instinct was to smash the U5 with a hammer and then urinate on it with all the fury of a lover scorned. But I couldn’t find my hammer and I didn’t really have to pee at the time. By the time I finally did have to pee I had calmed down.

Further research was fruitless. I have no clue what the mystery connector is on the bottom of the U5. This means that any loss of or damage to the cable renders the U5 worthless as I can’t replace the cable. At this point I wanted to return it, but that too was a problem. I purchased the player from newegg and newegg’s return policy for MP3 players is exchange only, no refunds. poop.

Love

I knew of this return policy before I bought the player, so I couldn’t get upset over it now…. or could I? One of the things I really like about newegg is their search features, specifically their “Advanced Search” dropdowns. Cowon says on their website that U5 has a USB connector. Newegg, through their search, agreed as well . So technically what they said I was getting isn’t what I got. So I sent them an email. I told them exactly what I just said and sent the link to the USB 2.0 specification as well. I explained that I knew they had a “no refund” policy but hoped they’d make an exception due to the incorrect information on their site. I sent the email fully expecting a cut & paste reply thanking me for being a customer, promising me they’d pass on my comments, and that I could get fucked before they gave me a refund.

Two days later newegg replied, with an RMA # to send the player back for a full refund! Then they sent a second email with a prepaid shipping label to ship the player back with!! So big kudos to newegg for stepping up in the name of customer service! Newegg isn’t perfect, but this week they’re my hero.

Music

I’ve erased all the files on the the U5 and it’s getting shipped back this Monday. Which means my MP3 player saga is not yet finished. I’ve reloaded my 1GB U2 with the latest songs and will continue hunting. I’m looking at three possible routes at this point. I can either 1) keep looking for an acceptable player, 2) buy a smaller player that’s nowhere near perfect but cheap enough that I don’t feel bad about using it as a temorary stop-gap or 3) look for something else that isn’t primarily an MP3 player but will play MP3s as well like a PDA, netbook or maybe a smartphone.

I don’t know, we’ll see. So I guess: To be continued…