Dave Shea makes some good points in his post at Vitamin about the upcoming IE7 release and browser hacks. I started to weigh in amongst his comments, but I got a little long-winded so I figured it was better written on my own blog instead of using Dave's bandwidth.

A question was raised in his comment section -- "Why do developers hack anyway?" However, later, this same person admitted they don't have to code "pixel perfect layouts" -- they are given leeway and control over what's done from a design standpoint. Lucky them. That would certainly make it easier. That's not how a great deal of my jobs work though. I have several web development companies that I do client side development for. I am expected to create pixel perfect layouts based on the comps I'm given. After I slice and dice and reassemble, the company I'm coding for anticipates that they'll see the very same art they handed me, reproduced in code form. All that said, I rarely have to hack. When I do, it's generally something in IE having to do with hasLayout, and I use the star filter to beat it into submission. (On the other side of IE, I do hack to hide things from the Mac flavor. I do not, however, attempt to make it pixel perfect now that it's not developed for or updated any longer. I simply make it usable.)

Of course, if you're keeping track of the development of IE7 (and it is time to do that), or if you read Dave's post, you know that the star filter is now "fixed." Lucky us!

I use a Mac and I've been using BrowserCam for a while now. BrowserCam has the IE7 beta installed (though I'm not sure exactly which version). Thus far (fingers crossed), I've seen very little difference between IE6 and IE7. Meaning, the star filter in my code that fixes IE6 and is not seen by IE7, has hardly made a difference to my layouts. It seems the bugs I'm using the filter for in IE6 are, for the most part, fixed in IE7. I have seen something wonky with menu lists that I will likely have to address, but on the whole, there doesn't appear to be anything too major. (As we get to final versions of the browser, I'll be spot checking my sites a bit more thoroughly.)

I resisted IE Conditional Comments for some time due to the fact that I prefer all my code in one CSS document. It always felt easier for me to manage. However, for new sites, I'm using a general IE CC to place any IE specific code in. If I need IE7 to see something different than IE6, it resides in the same IE CC, but I continue to use the star filter within the IE CC because the older IE browsers will always understand that filter/hack. I'm aware that I could use separate CSS documents for each flavor of IE, thus saving bandwidth (each version will only grab the page they need). But honestly, with only a rule or two for each, it hardly seems worthwhile to me. It's easier for me to keep it all in one. 'Course that's just my way of dealing with it. YMMV...

I've had my computer back long enough now to reliably report that it's been successfully repaired. Yes, I can conclusively say that replacing the topcase (or is it top case) and logic board has fixed all remants of narcolepsy. It hasn't fallen asleep one single time since I got it back last weekend.

For those of you that happen onto this thread (and without a doubt you've got a 1.67GHz PB -- either 15" or 17") and aren't prepared to read the 80 or 90 comments on the previous two threads, here's my recommendation to you:

• Install the little program called Temperature Monitor (it's freeware)
• Set it up to keep the trackpad sensor temperature reading in the menu bar where you can see it at a glance. Also, be sure to set the history to record.
• You can run the hardware test that came on your OSX disk, but it may or may not show anything wrong (if it does, it will likely be related to the logic board)
• You will likely notice that when the trackpad temperature starts to wildly fluctuate, and then goes up into what is equivalent to the 200-something degree farenheit range, your computer goes to black screen. (Some can get it to wake up by jiggling the space bar or the shift key. Others have had to remove the battery.)
• After you hit a phase where the computer will stay awake long enough, go to your system.log. You will see some comments like this:
  
  Jan 23 17:40:06 name-of-computer kernel[0]: Power Management received emergency overtemp signal. Going to sleep.
  
  
• Save this in a text file so that you can show the correlation between the system.log information and the temperature history (which will show a big spike in temp at the exact same time).

When you talk to Apple about it, do not let them tell you they've never heard of it (the low-level person on the phone may not have, but you can get the problem escalated to a PowerBook specialist). Feel free to send them to these threads for proof. The comments of the other two threads are filled with people having the same problem. We can actually help Apple save money by sending them to this information. It has conclusively and repeatedly been shown now that replacing the Mother Board doesn't fix the sleep problem. There's no reason to replace the keyboard, the power supply, airport, wipe the HD and/or reinstall all the software. All those things have been done and none of them help.

All that needs to be replaced is the topcase and, most likely, the logic board (though it seems some may have been fixed with topcase replacement only -- at least they haven't come back here to report problems with that repair).

I had originally thought my Powerbook was from the April batch. But when getting it repaired, I learned it was actually purchased in October, thus it was much newer than I realized. (My problems began in earnest in January when it was three months old.) This problem seems to manifest itself early in the life of these computers.

Good luck to you and happy repairing!

How many times have I complained, or read the complaints of others, related to various company's poor customer service? If you enjoy that kind of thing, move on. This time, I wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge some web goodness.

The back story is, I've used GoDaddy to purchase domain names for my clients since about 2000. I've never had anything but good things to say about them. They're inexpensive, I rarely have a problem, and when I have one they get it resolved very quickly.

Currently, I have no domain issues. So I was surprised to hear from them by phone last week. Thinking there might be something I was unaware of, I returned their call (the woman who called me was Sue, and she specifically asked that I ask for her when I called back). The number rang me in to the "Customer Appreciation" Department. Hmmmm... sounds kinda hokey. Like Newspeak from 1984 or something. Was I ever wrong...

If everyone at GoDaddy is as friendly, helpful and personable as Sue, they've got it made. Sue thanked me for my years of being a customer, told me how many domains were in my account and proceeded to tell me about several ways I was unaware of that I could recieve discounts on things I was already doing at GoDaddy. Sure, she also told me about some of their other services (none of which I needed), and when I declined she moved right along. No hard sell.

The best part was - she sent me her personal email address. I now have direct access to Sue for any issue I might have. Heck, she'll even purchase domains for me if I don't want to log in and do it myself. I think Sue may be my new best friend -- at least she made me feel that way. ;) Very valued, appreciated and listened to. Sue rocks! Point me to another good sized company who routinely make their customers feel like something more than a basic household pest! I'm sure they exist, but I haven't run into them lately.

Thanks again, Sue -- and kudos to GoDaddy for having such a great team.

Out of all my friends, I was one of the very last to get a cell phone. Then, 2 years later, I was one of the last to upgrade (yes, at MAX two years ago, people laughed at my phone openly). Cell phones have always been, to me, a phone. They make and take calls. I'm happy.

This year, right before MAX, we reupped our plan and replaced our phones. I wanted one that would go online so I could start checking sites and such. The only one my carrier (SunCom) sold that fit the bill was a Nokia 6670.

It's been quite a transition to remember that I can do things other than talk on it. I admit, I've barely tested any web sites on it, but recently, I began to remember occasionally that I could take photos (I even put a few up from my recent ski trip on my Flickr page).

Today though, I learned something really useful. I wanted some less boring ringtones, so I went to the Suncom site. They were simply awful. Hokey. I was complaining to my friend, Jesse Rodgers at the University of Waterloo, about it (he has the same phone) and he came back with a profound statement. "Just load an mp3 over to it." Huh? How in the world would I do that? Turns out that with Bluetooth, which I use to get the photos off my phone, I can put MP3 files on my phone. Who knew! :)

Thus began a slightly frustrating journey that Jesse helped me through (did I say "thank you" Jesse?). I'm sharing it here in case someone else wants to do the same thing.

1. Find the song you want to send over from your computer. Make sure it's in MP3 format.
2. Under your bluetooth menu, select "Send file..." Navigate to the file, click Send, and choose your device.
3. You'll need to then click OK on your phone to accept the file.
4. Nokia accepts this file as a text message and thus, it will appear in your Messages > Inbox. You must move it to your memory card for it to work as a ring tone.
5. It will likely start autoplaying. Hit stop. Click Options (on the bottom left) and choose Save. Place it on your memory card in the Sound Clips folder. Make sure to delete it from your Inbox to save space in the phone memory.
6. Now go to Menu > Profiles (either choose an existing profile to change or create a new one). Look for the name of the MP3 file you just saved in the list. Select it and Save.

Voila! Call yourself from another phone to hear your new ringtone. ;)