Joseph Sak

Blast from the Past

Saturday, March 29th, 2008 | Apple, Macbook Pro, MySQL, OS X, Programming, Time Machine, Web Development | No Comments

Apple’s Time Machine proves its worth yet again. I deleted my MySQL root user today (I know, total amateur hour) and I was scrambling to figure out how to get it back.

I googled and searched everywhere and couldn’t find a single solution. I couldn’t just reinstall MAMP because I had a client’s database on there that I couldn’t afford to lose.

Then it hit me… TIME MACHINE! I could just restore to yesterday at 4:30 (my last known working copy) and everything would be all set.

In 2 clicks and 3 minutes, I was back in business!

Apple’s iChat Wins for Usability (at least halfway)

Friday, January 11th, 2008 | Apple, Computers, Macbook Pro, OS X, Usability, iChat | No Comments

When trying to send a folder to a buddy who uses the PC AIM client, I got this msg from iChat in the chat window:

Your buddy cannot receive transfers of directories (folders). You could create and send a zip archive of the directory before sharing, or share each file in the directory individually.

This is very nice! Simple easy explanation for what went wrong and how to resolve it. Now go all the way and give a prompt to create and send the zip file for me!

“Would you like us to zip this folder and send it now?” [Yes] [No]

Michigan Peace Team Design Part III

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 | Apple, Design, Macbook Pro, Michigan Peace Team, Photoshop, Projects, Web Development, Websites | No Comments

Here’s design rendition III.

I’m trying the green in place of the blue. I updated the logo with a little modern twist, but I don’t know if I’m completely happy with it yet, just trying stuff out. I noticed a little icon in their favicon or whatever and might try a little twist on that. I also got rid of the rounded boxes and made the right bar more open feeling, and matched the “empowering people” theme down the entire bar for headers.

Got to talk with the client last night and showed them my ideas for doing video and linking to other site’s content, be it print pieces or podcasts or what have you.

Here’s the screenie:

Read Back…

• Part I
• Part II

Michigan Peace Team Design Part II

Monday, April 30th, 2007 | Apple, Design, Macbook Pro, Michigan Peace Team, Photoshop, Projects, Web Development, Websites | No Comments

I felt like the ‘peace in several languages’ thing wasn’t working well, and too cumbersome. It looked like a big blob to me. I also didn’t feel good about the nav links on the top in square tabs anymore. I moved them into the header, and added some copy on the right side for the description and I threw in a tag line and made the logo print bigger.

I like it.

Read On…

• Part I
• Part III

Michigan Peace Team Design

Saturday, April 28th, 2007 | Apple, Design, Macbook Pro, Michigan Peace Team, Photoshop, Projects, Web Development, Websites | No Comments

I’ve begun another side project for Michigan Peace Team of Lansing, MI. MPT empowers people to engage in active nonviolent peacemaking. This is a worldwide effort, and they have teams in Palestine and the US-Mexico border. I’m deeply moved by their presentations and had to help in one of the best ways I know how: web development!

So without further ado, here’s the beginning draft:

I know it looks like this site’s layout so far. Good artists create, and great artists copy. I feel like right now, their site is very dark and cold. My goal here was to warm up the site and brighten it with more orange, soft green, and soft yellow, to make the site feel, well, more peaceful. Also writing out “peace” in several different languages helps, too.

I used the green leaves pattern in the background as a symbol of growth, and the idea that MPT plants seeds of peace(also a non profit org in the US) around the globe. The frame color is a softer brownish/very suftle green, for a soft and peaceful appeal. The logo I made warmer with the sun rise feeling, like a new day rising, and I straightened out the typography. I used the blue for the header, but I’m not sure if I’ll make it stick. It’s a relaxing color, but not as harsh and cold as the extremes on the current site.
Read On…

• Part II
• Part III

Don’t use FAT32 on your Airdisk AEBS(n)!

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 | Airport, Airport Extreme, Apple, FAT32, HFS+, Hardware, Networking, Wireless Networking | 2 Comments

After a few phone calls with Apple, trying to figure out why files over 2gb are giving me unexpected error Code -50, and transferring at 20 or more minutes, I finally figured out why I was having such a problem transferring files to my Airdisk.

You have to usa a HFS+ format, not FAT32. I finally moved to a GUID Partition with HFS+ (Journaled) format and it’s twice as fast when transferring files wirelessly.

So if you’re out there on Google like I was, looking for this, I hope you find this and do like I did.

Configure your AEB(n) to join a Windows Domain

Thursday, April 5th, 2007 | Airport, Airport Extreme, Apple, Computers, Hardware, Macbook Pro, Networking, Wireless Networking, Work Stuff | 2 Comments

So after playing with my Apple Airport Extreme Base Sation with 802.11n wireless capability, I figured out how to get it to work on my office domain while still giving me the ability to connect to my office resources and maintain my 802.11n connectivity to my Airdisk.

1. Plug AEB(n) straight into ethernet jack on wall
2. Configure Wireless to “Create Wireless Network”
3. Configure Connection Sharing to “Off (bridge mode)”
4. Configure your “Internet” settings to set your domain and DNS servers properly
5. Hit update.

And that’s it. Simple, I know, but I thought I’d write about it in case anyone else is searching out there on how to do it.

And there you go,

Having my Cake and Coding it Too

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 | Apache, CakePHP, Code, Marionette, OS X, Open Source, PHP, Programming, Projects, Web Development, Websites | No Comments

1 hour into CakePHP and I’m so enthused. This has re-sparked my love for PHP development. I can’t wait to take Marionette into full swing!

I’m the Proud Owner of an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station

Monday, April 2nd, 2007 | Airport, Airport Extreme, Apple, Artemis Solutions Group, Computers, Hardware, Macbook Pro, Work Stuff | No Comments

I just picked up an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station at CompUSA for $179 retail. I must say I could not be happier with this purchase. Not only was the set up way easier to use than any other router I have ever used (and I’ve used plenty), but the connection is immensely fast.

I’ve set it up at my office to extend the office network, so that I can still have access to the office resources, but I also plugged in my USB hard drive to the back, and am getting speeds similar, at, and even faster than directly connected USB. It’s great! The only problem is if I relocate my Macbook Pro closer to the office 802.11b/g router, I automatically switch to 802.11g, so I have to stay back in my sunless warren in order to be able to work with my hard drive.

That’s fine, but if I can figure out how to make my Airport Card only connect to 802.11n networks at my will, then I will be able to sit anywhere in the office and maintain this speed.

A Web Design Process: Part I

Sunday, February 18th, 2007 | Apple, Code, Design, Macbook Pro, Photoshop, Programming, Web Development, Websites, Wordpress | No Comments

I’m not particularly gifted in web design but I thought I’d like to blog about my process from blank PSD using Photoshop CS3 beta on my Macbook Pro to full on HTML / CSS. So I’ll get right to the meat of my newest project: Veritas Community.

Veritas Community is an emerging church being started in Flint and Owosso by Tom and Rachel Wyatt with the help of the Salvation Army. It’s going to be a faith-based community hell-bent on sharing lives, faith, hope, love, music, art, and the occasional Lebowski references. Tom sent me a list of websites he likes, including Mosaic, which will be the base for my inspiration on the project.

The scope of the project will include a blog, a newsletter sign up, some informational pages (about us, contact us, etc), and an event list for music shows. The gathering place will double as a venue for indie rock bands. My vision is to develop this site using XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, maybe some flash, and host it on Wordpress 2.

So without further ado, here is the preview.

This is Veritas home page, version 1.

Most of my focus was on logo development. I knew right off the bat I wanted a font like Gill Sans. I also knew I wanted to incorporate some sort of leafy symbol, to represent growth. You can see I have taken the greys and blue from mosaic and played with it for my layout and header. I hope they won’t mind. This is obviously not close to being finished but it’s a start and hopefully we’ll see something more as we progress.

Part II of my Design Process is now available