What the dilly DAWG?!!!
In the last two days I have downloaded two very small programs which will — and I’m not exaggerating here — totally change my life.
The first I downloaded yesterday. It’s called Pop This!. I read about it at ZDNet’s Anchordesk. When I tried to download it onto my work computer today the site gave an error stating that it had met its bandwidth quota. I assume that a lot of people read about it on Anchordesk, which is surprising, because I didn’t think anybody actually read Anchordesk. I mean, I used to to subscribe to the newsletter, but that was back when I subscribed to newsletters. (Now I just get the one from Sony about PS2.) But you’ve got to get this program. Version 3.0 is about a meg and a half, which seems large for its functionality. If you try to download it from ZDNet or Download.com (which are all part of Cnet), they will tell you that it is on version 1.01 and that it is 155K … I guess there’s been a lack of communication there. And you can’t download it because of the bandwidth issue. I’m tempted to post the sucker right here on my site, but I think even I get a bandwidth quota. Imagine … even with thousands of daily visitors I still don’t hit my limit!
Anyway — so tonight I was emailing myself the installer so I can get it at work tomorrow. I hit the attachment link on Yahoo! Mail and read this line of text next to a little light bulb (for a second I thought it was the Office Assistant): “Want to see a progress bar when you upload your file? Make Yahoo! Mail your default email program.” ZOINKS! Let me tell you — I’ve been waiting for this for a while. I’m pretty sure Hotmail has offered this functionality for years, but Hotmail also offers “two more inches” about 150 times a day. Yahoo’s version is small – I’m talking 35K, tops. In an interesting twist of fate, the installer wouldn’t work because I had Pop This! installed. I guess those windows that pop up that ask you to install components to IE (or install anything – like Gator) fall within the pop-up window category. I thought they were more of an OS thing. Guess not. To fix that problem, I just added yahoo.com to my list of domains permitted to serve pop-ups. That cleared it right up. Of course, if Yahoo! gives me any pop-ups that I don’t like, I’ll take it right back off my permitted list. Simple as that.
Right now I’m waiting for the Pop This! installer to upload to my outgoing email so I can test out a mailto link and record the results here. The anticipation is killing me …
Okay, the little bar at the bottom of my IE window says that it’s done uploading, but the view is not advancing to the “all set” page. WTF? …
It works! Yes! If you don’t have a Yahoo! Mail account yet, this is just one more reason to get one. It’s free, I never get any spam because it gets filtered out in an intelligent way, and your address will be relatively easy to remember.
Other news: There should really be a button on the keyboard for <a href = “”> … Can you appreciate the irony of writing an italic I: <i>I</i> …