Get Your Cow Chips Together, Moo.com

Update: Moo.com reached out to me and offered to print the cards a third time. They explained that the PDF had embedded fonts but hadn't been converted to outlines, and this caused the poor quality. They've converted the text to outlines and are reprinting. I'll post again with the results.

 

I ordered some cards from Moo.com in February. When they arrived I wasn't happy with the print quality but they were good enough to give out at SXSW so I let it slide. Last week I needed a new batch of business cards so I contacted Moo support, described the problem and asked if I could hope for anything better if I ordered more cards.

The very helpful support person said the issue was that I had used a PNG image file for the back of my cards, albeit a 300dpi PNG, and they would be happy to reprint the cards for free if I would send them a vector image for the card backs.

I did. Moo reprinted the cards. They're still embarrassingly low-quality so I'm taking my business elsewhere.

Here's a close-up picture of what you can expect when sending Moo a high-resolution bitmap or a vector image for the back of your business cards:
Content

Here's a shot of the PDF I sent them:

I don't know what the problem is, but I'm no longer recommending Moo.com to friends, and will be finding a quality print shop instead.

The line outside Briargate Apple store. They have 4 left. There will be a lot of sad people here tomorrow.

My Dream House Will Have This Sink

Surgical scrub stations should be the default in every new home and public restroom.

iPod Makes the ER More Fun

Waiting for the doc to come back and repair his head wound. So thankful we don't need all the other gear in this OR-looking room.

Dinner at NSCoder COS

Rabbit food, trying to survive bachelorhood untill the family comes home.

Ready for Syncing - My iTunes Bookshelf

Can it be tomorrow already?

Me and My Analog External Brain Versus the NSZombie

Tools: fieldnotesbrand.com and Staedtler 925 25-05 (sadly only available in Japan or via ebay)

DTSAgile DevSummit 2010 Party Photos

Good food, Colorado beer, and great conversations at the DTSAgile DevSummit Party.

                         
Click here to download:
DTSAgile_DevSummit_2010_Party_.zip (4302 KB)

Sprint Overdrive Security Vulnerability

I'm a huge fan of my Overdrive mobile router, and will be even more so after all the travel I have planned for the next 2 months. In the process of writing an iPhone app to manage the device, I discovered a critical security vulnerability in all firmware versions prior to 1.07

The previous firmware versions didn't require a login to perform administrative functions at the server level. This means that anyone connected to your wifi network could have total control of the device, up to and including locking the owner out.

I'm happy to say that Sprint and Sierra Wireless' engineers have fixed the problem in firmware version 1.07, so make sure your Overdrive has been updated.

You can do so via the built-in admin interface (usually found at http://192.168.0.1) and the new firmware can be downloaded here.

Airbnb: Travel like a human.

I'm heading to Austin in a few weeks for SxSW Interactive. Looking around for roommates and cheap hotel rooms didn't yield anything, but then I found Airbnb.
Their motto is "Travel like a human," and I think it's a perfect description of the site. You search for a destination and date range like any hotel site, but that's where the similarities end. Instead of cookie-cutter hotel rooms, you're searching individual people's couches, air mattresses, real rooms, and even entire houses that they've posted. Everything is shown on a map, with pictures of the accommodations, rates, and details written by real people.

I showed up at Airbnb hoping to save money, and I'm saving literally hundreds of dollars over the best hotel deal I could find in Austin, but I'm equally excited about the fact that in a couple weeks I'll get to meet Elizabeth, David, and their dog Jake, and in the process spend a few bucks with hospitable human beings instead of the same old hotel chains I've been to a thousand times.