Borloz.com

From time to time, I'll come across a blog or article on the web where the person has chosen to remove the underline from their links and/or change the link color, but didn't make the color easy enough to distinguish from the body text. This seems to be especially common for links that have already been visited, because the default color for visited links is a dark purple, and most text on the web is black. I grew a little frustrated with this situation and thought it might be helpful to create a bookmarklet that highlights all the links on the page.

To use the bookmarklet, just drag the link below to your bookmarks bar.

Link Highlighter

When the highlighter is active, you'll see a "Remove Link Highlight" overlay at the top-center of the browser window. To disable link highlighting, just click the overlay text.

So far, it's been tested and working in Firefox 2/Mac/Win and Safari 3/Mac/Win.

Known issues:

• Does not work in IE - I keep getting a vague error message about an error at line x, char x and simply haven't spent the time to get it working right for lack of a decent way to debug JavaScript in IE.
• Does not highlight links in iframes.

Please leave me a comment if you find any issues not mentioned above. Be gentle - this is my first bookmarklet, so there may be other issues I'm not aware of.

Since this bookmarklet was created for personal use and currently meets my needs, I'm debating on whether to fix the above issues. However, if there is enough demand to fix them, I'll certainly consider it. Please leave a comment to let me know that you are using it.

Also, if anyone knows of a decent way to debug JavaScript in IE without purchasing Microsoft software (Office or Visual Studio), please let me know.

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My new TiVo arrived today, and it's not just an 80-hour unit, it also has dual tuners! This means I can record two shows at once, or watch live TV while another is recording. Woohoo!

Thankfully, I didn't have to go through the activation process again. When I setup my original TiVo, I had to bring it to a friend's house to use his phone line, since I don't have a land line. I guess since I had already activated my account, I didn't need to go through whatever requires the phone line.

So it's no more live TV for me anymore. Let's hope this one holds up a little better than the last...

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Just got an email from TiVo saying that my new 80-hour TiVo is on the way. Apparently, they really were out of the 40-hour units. Worked out to be a great bargain for me! All I paid was $10.99 to ship the old one back, and in a few days, I'll have one that's 2x the capacity!

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My co-worker, Paul, decided that the world couldn't go another day without an update on my TiVo situation. So here goes...

After troubleshooting my broken TiVo and coming up empty, I decided that I would cancel my TiVo service for the time being and go back to watching good old-fashioned live TV. I logged on to my TiVo account online to cancel my service, but as I suspected, they don't make it that easy; they make you call and talk to a person so they can try to save your account. So, a little annoyed that I had to speak to a live person, because they are always soooo helpful (just a hint of sarcasm there, in case you didn't notice), I called TiVo Customer Service.

I waded through the typical automated system, and finally reached a real person after a few minutes. He went through a series of questions to verify I was who I said I was and then asked what I was calling in reference to. When I told him that I wanted to cancel my service, he asked if I was dissatisfied. I explained that I was not dissatisfied at all, rather my TiVo died and I didn't want to shell out the cash for a new one.

Not more than a few seconds passed after I finished explaining my story when he asked if he could place me on hold to speak to his supervisor. I agreed, half expecting to have his supervisor come on the line and try to convince me to spend a bunch of money on a new unit. Instead, the rep came back on the line and told me something to the effect that I was one of their premier subscribers (translation: I've religiously paid them $12.95 a month for the last 3 years and subscription fees are where they make all their money), and that he had arranged to have a FREE replacement TiVo sent to me. I was given an RMA number and was told that the new one would be in the mail as soon as they got the old one back. Awesome! I'm 2 years out of warranty and totally didn't expect a FREE unit!

It gets even better though...

Since my TiVo is about 3 years old and they don't make the 40-hour model any more, he said that most likely they'll be sending me an 80-hour model as a replacement. I've had an 80GB (80-hours of TiVo capacity) hard drive that I've been meaning to put in my TiVo for about 2 years now, so I guess I don't have to worry about that any more.

Once again, I stepped in a pile of sh*t and came out smelling like roses. I'm not sure how I keep doing it, but I'm feeling pretty lucky right now.

The old TiVo gets shipped back tomorrow. I'll post again when I get the new unit...

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Well, I just got done doing the last bit of troubleshooting I can do on my ancient 40-hour TiVo. It's been a reliable unit for the past 3 years or so, but I came home the other night to find it stuck on the "Powering On..." screen.

I checked various online forums and came up with a few things to try, so I cracked open the case and started going through the steps one-by-one: First, I checked that all the connections were solid... nothing was loose. Next, I replaced the IDE cable... no luck. Then, I took the hard-drive out and connected it to my laptop via an external USB drive bay.... powered up and reported all its partitions fine.

The problem could be that all the partitions are intact but the operating system is corrupt, I suppose. The OS X Disk Utility told me that it couldn't read from the drive. I'm not sure if it's because the data is corrupt or it has a different file system. I'm guessing the latter, but I don't know of any way to tell for sure. The only other possible cuprits are parts that I don't have access to replace myself, like the power supply and motherboard.

At this point, I see myself having a few options:

1. Replace the hard-drive and hope for the best. I found a few places online that sell drives you can pop right in and you're good to go (assuming that the hard drive is the point of failure, which I'm still not sure of). But, the preloaded drives are almost as expensive as replacing the whole unit, so I don't really see that as much of an option.
2. Buy a new TiVo. I could replace my current unit with one of the same model for a little over $100, but I've been wanting to increase the capacity for a while, so I'd be back in that boat all over again. I could also spring for one of the new upgraded units, but these cost more than I want to spend for a fancy VCR.
3. Try to convince Apple to make the Apple TV do what it should have been able to do from the start - act as a DVR! I know this isn't really an option, but I've always wondered (now more than ever) why Apple ignored this feature set in a product that seems so well positioned to provide it. There are some technical issues with the current encarnation of Apple TV that would need to be addressed, such as adding a coaxial input and a way to encode/decode the video, but these don't seem like insurmountable tasks. What Apple would end up with would be a unit that provides a lot more value to the consumer, not just another way buy stuff from the iTunes store. I would never buy an Apple TV in its current form, but I probably would if it was a DVR as well! And you know it would have a beautiful interface and be a breeze to use because it's an Apple product!

So, here's to hoping that Apple realizes what Apple TV could be. I'm sure I'll break down and do something before Apple does, but until then, it's back to watching live TV and sitting through commercials for me.

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I learned the hard way that the iPhone's battery won't last long if you are careless with your settings. Use these steps to maximize the time between charges.

1. Setup a Gmail account as a proxy for your other mail accounts so your phone will only have to check one place for all your mail.
2. Set the Mail application to check for mail less often. Do you really need to check your email every 15 minutes?
3. Turn off "Ask to join networks" in your WiFi settings.
4. Set the brightness to a lower level or turn on Auto-Brightness.
5. Turn off Bluetooth when not in use.
6. Set a short auto-lock time.
7. Turn off keyboard sounds.
8. Bonus step - Stop watching so much YouTube!

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Shortly after I got my iPhone, I set it up to retrieve my email via the Mail application that comes with the phone. I have three email addresses for various purposes, so I set each of them to check once every 15 minutes. What I didn't think about was how much battery power all that checking would use. I soon found out that this (in combination with a few other things) was causing my battery to last less than a day. An additional frustration was that I had multiple inboxes on my phone and had to flip between them when I received mail at different addresses.

My solution was two-fold:

1. I set the Mail application to check less often, since, in reality, none of the email I receive is so important that I need to get it within 15 minutes. I set mine for 30 minutes, but you can set yours to whatever is comfortable for you.
2. I setup a Gmail account to act as a proxy (Google calls it Mail Fetcher) for the rest of my accounts.

Gmail will allow you to check up to 5 accounts (via POP), which means that it will fetch mail from your other accounts (and delete it from the other server once it's done if you choose). The result is that you only have one place (Gmail) to check for all your mail.

Here's how you do it:

1. Login to you Gmail account
2. In the upper-right corner, click "Settings".
3. Click the "Accounts" tab.
4. In the "Get mail from other accounts:" section, click "Add another mail account".
5. Enter the email address from which you wish to retrieve mail, then click the "Next step" button.
6. Enter your username, password, and provider's POP settings (Gmail will give you suggestions. Usually, you can accept the defaults. If these don't work, visit your email provider's website for more information.)
7. Make sure to check "Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server." if you don't want your mail deleted from your other mail provider's server. (You'll want to do this if you check your mail from multiple locations.)
8. You will receive a message saying that you are now able to receive mail from the address you entered. It will also ask you if you want to be able to send mail from the address as well. If not, then select "No", click the "Finish" button, then skip to step 12. If so, then select "Yes", click the "Next Step" button, and continue to step 9.
9. Enter the name you want others to see when you send mail from this address, optionally, specify a different reply-to address, then click the "Next Step" button.
10. You will be presented with a screen telling you that you have to verify that you own the email address you are asking Gmail to send from. Click the "Send Verification" button to be sent an email to the address you have specified.
11. Once you receive the email, click the link to verify the address, or enter the code provided in the email.
12. Repeat for each of your accounts.
13. Set up Mail on your phone to access only your Gmail account.
14. You're done! Fewer accounts to check = more battery life and less confusion flipping through folders on your phone!

As an added bonus, Gmail has great spam filtering, so hopefully, you'll have less spam to sift through as well!

Related post: 7 Simple Steps to Conserve iPhone Battery Power

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With so many negative customer service experiences to be had these days, I thought I'd share a positive one...

I bought a MacBook Pro last February and have been absolutely thrilled with it, but noticed that a small issue was developing with the power adapter. The rubber covering on the cord had started to pull back from the power supply part. (See image left - taken with my iPhone while standing in line at the Apple store.)

So, with adapter in hand, I headed into the Apple store expecting to be told that I'd have to send it back and pay for shipping, or worse yet, have to raise hell to get them to replace it at all. However, this was entirely not the case.

I walked up to the first associate I saw and explained the issue. He told me to stand in line and they would get me a new one. Sure enough, about three minutes later, I got the front of the line and they had a brand new one in the box waiting for me behind the counter. No hassle, no arguing, nothing. They sent the receipt to me via email and off I went with my new adapter.

There was also a bonus to the adapter breaking. The new power supply units are smaller by about 25% or so, so now I have a less bulky unit to try to fit into my laptop bag!

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