Archive for category themattbrown.com

Apple Store “Geniuses” not so Genius

Posted by Matt Brown in Daily Ramblings, Technology, themattbrown.com on February 23, 2009

So I was in the new Apple Store at Friendly Center today getting my Macbook Pro looked at since it went crazy on Friday and won’t boot up due to kernel panics. After sitting down at the Genius Bar, they took it to be looked at and tested “in the back”, I browsed the store.

So I spent about 10 minutes looking at the new Apple 24″ Cinema Display. Even though the screen is super glossy, I’ve wanted one since they first came out. The only problem is, that would require me upgrading to the new Unibody Macbook Pro because the Cinema Display is only compliant with MiniDisplay ports, which are only available on the new lineup of Macbooks. Apple doesn’t offer and most likely won’t offer adapters in the near future. And I can’t quite force myself to muster up close to $500 or so after selling my current MBP + the $799 for the new Apple Cinema Display (after the $100 education discount wahoo!!!).

The Kernel Panic that displays every time I try and start up my Macbook Pro.

The Kernel Error that displays every time I try and start up my Macbook Pro.

Anyways, while I was looking at the Cinema Display, an Apple “Genius” guy came over, and I just wanted to clarify and make sure that no new adapters had come out for the new Cinema Display. I asked him if I could connect my MBP to it, and he said “Sure. Our adapters are right over here.” He tried to convince me that the Mini-DV is the same as Mini-Displayport. When I challenged him, he asked an associate, who didn’t know. Basically, we went through 7 other Apple “Geniuses” before finally talking to the Manager who answered my question right away.

24" Apple Cinema Display with Macbook Pro

Note to self and Lesson of the day: next time you walk into an Apple Store and have a question, just ask the manager directly.

Now, maybe I should apply to the Apple Store for a summer job? Sweet discounts, awesome t-shirts, and I would get to sell Mac’s all day. What do you all think?

On that note, what is your ideal summer job?

(Please note, I am still currently looking for a summer internship in Interactive Strategy/Marketing, so if you know of anything, please let me know. My Resume is here.


, ,

1 Comment

My New Theme…..again

Posted by Matt Brown in Daily Ramblings, themattbrown.com on February 15, 2009

So last week you probably saw my post my New Setup on my blog. It was a really cool JQuery inspired blog with lots of cool motion/action and little loading of new pages. Well, it turned out to be a whole lot more trouble because plugins were clashing due to the overloading amount of Javascript.

So today and yesterday I sought on a quest to totally redesign my theme from scratch. And this current theme is what I came up with! My first question is what do you think about it?!?!? please leave your comments below!

It’s a simple, neat and fresh looking theme, yet highly effective:

Basic features:

  • Optimized for speed and loading time
  • SEO optimal titles
  • SEO optimal page layout and headings
  • XHTML/CSS valid
  • Customized 404 page
  • 3 column theme
  • Integrated Social bookmark buttons
  • Integrated Multi Page widget
  • Prints parent category in title
  • Incoming Google image searches are expanded to site
  • Adsense ready

My Take:
I am pretty happy with my work. I made a big emphasis on the SEO aspect of the site when designing it as I want to start getting some advertising revenue eventually on the site. Therefore, I made it Adsense ready. I also included a lot of social networking support .

The two level navigation is also a nice integration I think because it can save space and provide a way for the user to highlight the important categories of the blog. I’m pretty happy with the color scheme and the font types. The colors used have  a cool and soothing effect to the eyes and the font types are easy to read. It’s also widget-ready, even though I hand-code instead of using widgets. The thing I love most about my theme is how fast it loads. The combination of a fast load as well as full SEO makes it pretty desireable. Hopefully my analytics and traffic in the next few weeks will reflect this.

Do you like this theme and would you be interested in purchasing to use on your blog? Why or why not?

, , ,

5 Comments