Thumb your nose at the Iron Curtain every time you boot up your iPhone.

These where taken from the piece of the wall on permanent display in the Reagan Building in Washington D.C. Click the thumbnails below to download from flickr.

 

I’ve been having a Facebook conversation with one of my contacts lately. We’re trying to set up the logistics of a trip out here for the Syracuse/Notre Dame game in November. The message string currently has 16 different, fairly long messages which makes me wonder: “Why doesn’t the iPhone Facebook application automatically reverse the order of the messages so that the most recent response automatically appears at the top of the window, rather then the bottom?”

I like the iChatesque thought balloon shaped message windows, and the orientation on the left and right side of the window makes it clear who is “speaking.” It just seems like an oversight to me that one needs to scroll to the bottom of the window to see the most recent message to reply to.

Disclaimer: I am absent-minded and easily distracted and it’s very possible that I’m missing a clearly obvious means of reversing the ordination, but I’d still, even if this was the case, like to see a little “flip-flop” arrows icon at the top of the window to handle this interaction.

iPhone Screen Grab brought to you by curiosity and Google.

I have to give credit where credit is due for the benefit of the literally tens of people who are aware of this site’s existence. Thank you to Google and PC Mike for filling in the details of taking a screen grab on iPhone, something I was tangentially aware was possible, having accidentally done it recently trying to reboot. To take a screen grab on your iPhone, press the Home button and the Lock button together, exactly like you would do to power off, but don’t hold the buttons down. The screen will go white for an instant and the screen grab image will be in your Camera images, ready to be emailed or imported. You do have to hit the two keys pretty much simultaneously because if you hit the Home button first, it will, obviously, send you back to the home screen and away from whatever you were trying to capture. Again, the relevant details are here.

Seth Godin poses the following questions:

Can you capture something you see on your screen and paste it into Word or PowerPoint?

Yes. I use Skitch to do this because I really like the tab at the bottom of the application interface that allows me to drag the screen grabs where I want them to go, be it desktop or (more frequently) the Photoshop dock icon.

Do you have a blog?

I have a tumblog. I would think that would count. It’s a bit rich of me to call the trio of posts (including this one…hey!) here on ATCO a “blog” at this point, although that’s what they want to be when they grow up.

Can you open a link you get in an email message?

Yes.

Do you read more than five blogs a day?

I used to. Recently I’ve been waiting for Google Reader to show 1000+ unread items before wading in. But there are currently…let me see…14 of my 96 subscriptions that are tagged as “Must Read,” and since those bubble up whenever I open Reader, I’d say it’s fair to answer this question: “Generally: Yes.”

Do you have a signature in your outbound email?

I do. It prominently features a quotation from Calvin and Hobbes and: “Go Irish. Beat (Insert mascot of next opponent). For my own amusement, that particular line currently reads “Go Irish. Beat Bye.”

Do you have an RSS reader?

I switched from Bloglines to Google Reader back in the day because I liked having the link at the top of the Gmail window which I had open most of the time anyway. So…yes.

Can you generate a PDF document from a Word file you’re working on?

Probably, but I’d more then likely do it the hard way through the Print dialogue box largely because my affinity for InDesign makes me disdain most Microsoft products and word processors in general, leaving me little interest in learning their nuances.

Do you know how to build and share a simple spreadsheet using Google Docs?

Yes. In fact, I had no idea how to properly set up a spreadsheet until Google Docs made it idiot proof. Now I use them to chart things like local Gas Prices and my 401(k) balance because I like to provoke people into mocking me.

Do have a shortcut for sending mail to the six co-workers you usually write to?

No. I just type letters into the Compose Mail field in Gmail until their email autofills in the space. Actually: Yes. Yes I do. Autofill is my shortcut.

Are you able to find what you’re looking for on Google most of the time?

Yes. Incidentally, if you can hear a song clearly enough to pick out a string of words, quotation marks will allow you to use Google like the poor man’s Shazam.

Do you know how to download a file from the internet?

Yes…though curiously, I routinely have trouble doing this from the project management app that we use at work and very rarely anywhere else.

Do you back up your work?

I do now.

Do you keep track of contacts using a digital tool?

iPhone. So yes.

Do you use anti-virus software?

No. (Hey! First “No!”)

Do you fall for internet hoaxes and forward stuff to friends and then regret it?

Never. Well that’s not true…I plugged my member number into a phishing version of my credit union’s website that I got to through an email link forwarded to me by someone i generally trust while my guard was down (you know who you are, Dad). The tip-off was when I got into the site and realized that a) it was slightly better designed then the actual credit union site, and b) they were asking for my credit card.

Have you ever bought something from a piece of spam?

No, and anyone who, in the privacy of their own minds, can honestly answer “yes” to this question needs to seriously consider administering a self-wedgie.

I am declaring myself to have passed Seth Godin’s test of technological literacy. It’s Miller time.