Mac OS X Platform and Tips & Tricks Tobi on 18 Feb 2010
Technology Tobi on 31 Dec 2009
Uses for the USB port of Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express
This is something I always wondered about. This Apple Support article explains very detailedly what works and what doesn’t.
MS-Windows Platform and Mac OS X Platform and Software and Tips & Tricks and Workflow Tobi on 27 Dec 2009
PDF OCR Batch-processing with ScanSnap
The ScanSnap S1500M (but also the S1500 as well as the earlier models S510 and S510M) comes with ABBYY FineReader for OCR support. This is great for creating searchable PDFs. Especially handy on a Mac with Spotlight. The problem is that in the default setup, each scan is OCRed right after the scan and depending on the age your machine (my G5 is getting a little long in the tooth) in can take quite a while. When you’re in the process of scanning many hundred’s of pages of paper documents, you don’t want to have to wait for the computer to do it’s OCR recognition, you’d rather feed it all the documents and let it do OCR while you’re doing something else. Continue Reading »
Technology Tobi on 08 Nov 2009
Replacing An Old Honeywell/Crane Mercury Thermostat
Mine has this model number T86A7X103BD2. This blog post, describes a similar model and the instructions worked for me. In my case, the cables were actually red and blue which made it easier to connect them.
Transportation Tobi on 15 Oct 2009
Driving on the Autobahn
An excellent summary and explanation of driving rules and regulations on the German Autobahn (found here).
Language Tobi on 12 Jul 2009
“The Sound Makes the Music”
Huh? This is an attempt to translate a German expression: “Der Ton macht die Musik”, meaning that it not only matters what you say, but how you say it. This NPR piece is just about that, namely, how language in Washington has changed recently to make uncomfortable topics sound more pleasing and less confrontational.
General Tobi on 02 Jul 2009
Optimal Human Group Size
I like to keep an eye on the Schneier on Security Blog. Usually there’s some interesting information. While the post I am commenting on here does not seem like a natural security topic — it rather seems the security aspect was forced on it — it is a very interesting post simply for its theory about optimal human group sizes for various scenarios and social situations. While I am certainly no expert on this, the numbers given sound very reasonable and correct based on personal experience. Continue Reading »