4 posts from March 2007

Despite the fact I'm the interaction designer for Vox, I'm not apt to post a lot of entries because I use a mac and can't post in Safari. And we would love to support Safari here and we're looking forward the next version enabling us to.

I could post using Firefox, but it just doesn't feel like a real mac app. The real killer for me is it doesn't quite feel like a mac especially when it comes to composing text.

Being dyslexic, the inline spell checker is a must and I cope by composing most of my entries and comments in the mac Mail app, then pasting it into Firefox and fixing any formatting.

There's a way I can skip the cut-and-paste part though.

We call the feature mobile posting (it's in your account settings) because just like sending a text message, you don't have all the rich text formatting options like the compose page offers. A mobile post is sent by email, which means you can update your blog from any mail application.

While it doesn't support rich text messages and if you want to do any formatting you'll need to write html code, that doesn't matter when you're just posting a quick update to let your friends know what's up.

You can even email your photos to Vox from inside iPhoto.

Here's what you do.

1. Go to your Account > Mobile Settings
2. You should find a couple posting emails already set up to make friends only or public posts.
3. Copy the email address to your address book
4. Send an email to that address (I named mine "Vox: Everyone" and "Vox: Friends and Family" so they'll autofill when I start typing Vox)

We have a couple advanced features you might like as well. If you want to set up and address just to send photos, audio or video files, you might want to turn "Create post" off so they will go directly into your library without making a post. You can also set up emails to automatically add tags or send the post to a group, or several.

Like I said, you don't get all the features from compose, but I was able to create and post this from my mail application. There's more in Vox Help.

This is a test posting to see how well I can email items.

Like this picture of the Streetcar named Desire approaching the Ferry Building.

A Streetcar named Desire heading towards the Ferry Terminal

What's the story behind a time when you got locked out?

Our deadbolt needed to be replaced last year, which meant new house keys. I was away the week our landlord replaced the locks which left me without a key, but my roommate Walter was going to duck out of work to come home and let me in.

He had it all planned out: I would call him when I got from the airport to the train station, a 40 minute notice. Then I would call him again when I transfered trains at Embarcadero Station, which was about 20 minutes for both of us to get to the house.

At least that was the plan, but he didn't get the messages. He was in a meeting and didn't realize he didn't have service in that particular room. It was only when he started wondering why I hadn't called he discovered that.

I was returning from a week long bike ride SF to LA, which was exhausting enough on it's own, but I'd also gotten sick on the ride (there was this nasty stomach thing that was going around, I came very close to bonking one day and spent the afternoon on an IV, anyway...) and there was nothing I wanted more than to go lie down in my bed. I sat on our porch for almost an hour, tired and misserable as I waited. He was happy to see me again, but I must have been a sad sight.

The last time she was here in San Francisco, Nick and I had lunch with Ginevra at a hot dog place called What up Dog. When Mena went earlier this week, I told Nick take pictures next time we went for Ginevra.