Posted on By Kim Townsend

Laptop Died – NVIDIA Failure

Alrighty…So amidst of all the chaos in kimtown, I went to turn on my MACBOOK PRO after putting it to sleep the other night, and lo and behold, the light was on but no one was home.

After troubleshooting and trying several different solutions, I found this article about the NVIDIA graphics card. I’m having all the classic symptoms and believe this is what it is.

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

The good news: I don’t think I have lost any data on the laptop, I just can’t SEE anything.
The bad news: I can’t see anything to get anything off of there.

So after the external crash last week and the laptop this week, well all I can say is that I’m glad I’m backed up. The only things I didn’t have time to back up were my recent follow up list for emails/files (although I have a manual back up method) and my calendar.

So this puts me yet again, a couple of days behind…We are also going to be part of the class action lawsuit against NVIDIA. Remember., it’s not IF it happens, it’s WHEN it happens. Be ready.

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Posted on By Kim Townsend

How fonts work with HTML design

Many people mistakenly think that any font can be seen on any computer when browsing your site. This is only true under a couple circumstances: flash and flash. I refer to this table often and wanted to share it with you too. There are windows and mac versions that are typically called “browser safe fonts” and can be seen on just about everyone’s computers.

If you are new to web design, maybe you are thinking: “Why do I have to limit {myself} to that small set of fonts? I have a large collection of nice fonts in my computer”. Well, as seasoned web designers already know, browsers can use only the fonts installed in the same computer, so it means that every visitor of your web page needs to have all the fonts you want to use installed in his/her computer. Of course, different people will have different fonts installed, and thus come the need of a standard set of fonts. Fortunately, CSS allows set several values for the font-family property, which eases the task a bit.

First, a few introductory notes:

  • In some cases the Mac equivalent is the same font, since Mac OS X also includes some of the fonts shipped with Windows.
  • The notes at the bottom contains specific information about some of the fonts.
Windows fonts / Mac fonts / Font family
Normal style Bold style
Arial, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif Arial, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif
Arial Black, Arial Black, Gadget, sans-serif Arial Black, Arial Black, Gadget, sans-serif
Comic Sans MS, Comic Sans MS5, cursive Comic Sans MS, Comic Sans MS5, cursive
Courier New, Courier New, Courier6, monospace Courier New, Courier New, Courier6, monospace
Georgia1, Georgia, serif Georgia1, Georgia, serif
Impact, Impact5, Charcoal6, sans-serif Impact, Impact5, Charcoal6, sans-serif
Lucida Console, Monaco5, monospace Lucida Console, Monaco5, monospace
Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, sans-serif Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, sans-serif
Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua3, Palatino6, serif Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua3, Palatino6, serif
Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif
Times New Roman, Times, serif Times New Roman, Times, serif
Trebuchet MS1, Helvetica, sans-serif Trebuchet MS1, Helvetica, sans-serif
Verdana, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif Verdana, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif
Symbol, Symbol (Symbol2, Symbol2) Symbol, Symbol (Symbol2, Symbol2)
Webdings, Webdings (Webdings2, Webdings2) Webdings, Webdings (Webdings2, Webdings2)
Wingdings, Zapf Dingbats (Wingdings2, Zapf Dingbats2) Wingdings, Zapf Dingbats (Wingdings2, Zapf Dingbats2)
MS Sans Serif4, Geneva, sans-serif MS Sans Serif4, Geneva, sans-serif
MS Serif4, New York6, serif MS Serif4, New York6, serif

1 Georgia and Trebuchet MS are bundled with Windows 2000/XP and they are also included in the IE font pack (and bundled with other MS applications), so they are quite common in Windows 98 systems.

2 Symbolic fonts are only displayed in Internet Explorer, in other browsers a font substitute is used instead (although the Symbol font does work in Opera and the Webdings works in Safari).

3 Book Antiqua is almost exactly the same font that Palatino Linotype, Palatino Linotype is included in Windows 2000/XP while Book Antiqua was bundled with Windows 98.

4 These fonts are not TrueType fonts but bitmap fonts, so they won’t look well when using some font sizes (they are designed for 8, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24 point sizes at 96 DPI).

5 These fonts work in Safari but only when using the normal font style, and not with bold or italic styles. Comic Sans MS works in bold but not in italic. Other Mac browsers seems to emulate properly the styles not provided by the font (thanks to Christian Fecteau for the tip).

6 These fonts are present in Mac OS X only if Classic is installed.

The Mac font list was obtained from the Browser Safe Fonts PDF of webbedEnvironments and from the List of fonts in Mac OS X of the Wikipedia.

Posted on By Kim Townsend

The Good News & The Bad News

I never like to report bad news, but it’s inevitable some times. However, with a little bad news, good news will soon follow.

The bad news: One of our external hard drives stopped working yesterday. It has seen better days.

The good news: We are constantly backing up everything to an off site area thanks to Back Blaze. I can quickly and easily login and retrieve any lost data.

The bad news: It may take a few days to recover the data (since there is a boatload on there).

Bottom line: ALWAYS have another backup source. NEVER put all your “eggs” in one basket (I’m SO glad I didn’t)

Also today, please remember to keep the lives lost & those saved in the September 11th attack on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 in your thoughts and prayers today.


Posted on By Kim Townsend

Closed for Labor Day

kimtown will be closed on Monday, September 6 in observance of Labor Day

Here is some fun stuff about Labor Day:

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 6 in 2010).

The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.[1] It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[2] The September date was chosen as Cleveland was concerned that aligning an American labor holiday with existing international May Day celebrations would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair.[3] All 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.

The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations,” followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of thelabor movement.

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest and parties. Speeches or political demonstrations are more low-key than May 1 Labor Day celebrations in most countries, although events held by labor organizations often feature political themes and appearances by candidates for office, especially in election years. Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water sports, and public art events. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer recess. Similarly, some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school, although school starting times now vary.

In U.S. sports, Labor Day marks the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons. NCAA teams usually play their first games the week before Labor Day, with the NFL traditionally playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day. The Southern 500 NASCAR auto race was held that day from 1950 to 2004.

Source: Wikiepedia