Firefox 3 – Maintain Image Height & Width for Broken Images

June 26th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Random Stuff - (1 Comments)


For some reason, Firefox 3 doesn’t maintain the height and width of an image through the dimensions set in the image tag. Any missing images or broken images are simply not displayed if there is no ALT or TITLE tag specified. If the ALT or TITLE tag is specified, then Firefox simply displays the value of the tag, but does not retain the height and width of the image as set in the tag.

I’ve been looking for a fix to this problem, and I thought I found it when I read that you can do the following:

  1. Type about:config into the Firefox address bar.
  2. Type image into the filter bar.
  3. Make sure the browser.display.show_image_placeholder option is set to true. This value can be changed by double-clicking it.

I’ve tried this fix, but have had no luck getting images to retain their size. If anyone knows how to fix this problem, please post a comment and share it with the world! Thanks!

IIS7 on Windows Server 2008 – 503 Service Unavailable Error – Application Pool Stops Unexpectedly

June 25th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Tech/Web - (8 Comments)


So twice now, I’ve had a problem where an IIS7 Application pool unexpectedly stops and does not restart itself, and it does not put any events in the event log that help to track the root of the problem. On a server that runs about 20 different websites, all other sites continue to function normally, it has just been 1 site, on 3 different occassions now that ceases to run. For some reason, it just stops, and when looking at the application pool list, it has a stopped icon next to it:

IIS 7 Application Pools Listing

There is an option under the “Advanced Settings” – just right click on the application to get there. Select Advanced Settings and you’ll be presented with a screen that looks like this:

IIS7 Application Pool Advanced Settings

Apparently, if you set the Start Automatically option to True your application will restart if it crashes, but this hasn’t been the case for me. Each time my application has crashed (with the Start Automatically option set to True) the application hasn’t restarted on its own, I’ve had to login to the server remotely to restart the application.

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Halo 4, Start a New Fight – Halo 4 Leak, Halo 4 Screenshots & Information

June 24th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Gaming - (143 Comments)

Pre-Order Halo Reach – Delivery on Launch Day


This is one of the best deals you’ll find! Pre-order Halo Reach (no waiting in lines). Plus you get a $20 credit to use at Amazon.com for any other video game releated purchase. You can even use it to purchase Microsoft points!. Don’t pass this offer up!


Basically, the way this works is you join the site by submitting your personal information, name, address, etc. Once you’ve submitted your information, you’ll have to fill out and complete some merchant promotions in order to receive any sort of opportunities for gas cards and/or any other type of rebates that they may be offering. Check out these other posts for a little more information on Radio Gas Deal – America’s Gas Relief Program.

Would I endorse this program, no. I’m sure there are plenty of other sites and options out there to receive free gas cards for filling out surveys and/or signing up for offers from merchants. Especially considering the fact that RadioGasDeal.com has no history, the domain was initially registered on June 15, 2008, so as of this post, they’ve only been around for 9 days… expect many more of these sites to popup too!

Alternatives to RadioGasDeal.com

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Gas Relief Program, Gas Discounts – Saving Money On Gas Could Be a Rip Off/Scam

June 24th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Automobiles | Random Stuff - (2 Comments)


As gas prices climb higher and higher, we will begin to see more and more gas relief programs, and gas relief scams that promise prices of $2.49 per gallon, or promise free gas cards. The moral of the story is that gas releif programs are actually made possible by getting users to sign up for some other type of service. These gas relief programs, such as radiogasdeal.com, radio gas deal, America’s gas relief program, America’s gas rebate program… I’m sure there are others out there that I may be forgetting. Anyhow, all of these gas rebate and gas relief programs are typically just affiliate marketers that get some sort of commission for having people sign up for credit card offers and magazine offers, when the owners of these sites receive their commissions, they in turn offer a gas card, or some type of gasoline rebate, keeping the difference in their commission less the gas rebate card.

Is this a scam? No, not necessarily, I’ve received a few emails and comments from people who said that they completed this successfully, however, it does take some time and effort on the part of the end user. Am I signing up for these gasoline relief programs? No, I’m just getting it stuck to me at the pump… currently paying $4.43 for regular in Southern California. What are you guys paying elsewhere?

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iPhone 2.0 Firmware Release Date – iPhone Firmware Update Cost & Release Date

June 22nd, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in iPhone Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)


So it doesn’t look like the iPhone firmware release date is going to hit in June as was previously anticipated. I’m betting that we’ll see the release of the firmware on the same date that the new iPhone is released: Friday, July 11th. All the Apple website says is “Coming Soon”, still no specific date for the launch of the 2.0 firmware update, so I’m banking on July 11th. I’d love to see it prior to that, but I’m not betting that its going to happen.

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American Gas Relief Program – Gas Rebate Program – RadioGasDeal.com

June 17th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Random Stuff - (18 Comments)

So I was driving into my office today, and I heard an advertisement for a program called the “American Gas Relief Program” and/or the “American Gas Rebate Program”. The advertisement states that you can get gas for $2.49 per gallon. If you’re interested, you can check it out here: RadioGasDeal.com but just keep in mind that it’s really not that simple. To get this deal, you apparently need to complete offers (I’m assuming credit card offers, or magazine subscriptions… I really didn’t dig too deep) in order to get a gas card which is said to cover the price of gas to $2.49 per gallon with up to 15 gallons per offer.

Here are some alternative offers that I have found while browsing the web:

Re: Unauthorized Use of Getty Images’ Photograph – No Cease and Desist Letter?

June 17th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Finance/Investment | Random Stuff - (151 Comments)


Isn’t it a requirement to first send a Cease & Desist letter if someone is infringing on your copyrighted work or material? Getty Images seems to have just gone right past this step in sending out settlement demands to any company or person who has an image from the Getty Images library displayed on their website.

In my case, and I’m assuming that this is the case with many others, we hired a 3rd party designer to create our website. How on earth are we supposed to know if an image provided in that design is copyrighted? We certainly don’t have the time to scour through every image in the Getty Images library to compare our site.

How does Getty Images find their images on other sites anyway?
Getty uses a 3rd party service from an Israeli company called PicScout, Inc. PicScout searches for image matches by creating digital fingerprints of images in a catalog. It then sends webcrawlers out across the internet comparing images on websites against the Getty Images catalog. The PicScout engine will find images regardless of whether the name has been changed, the color has been altered, the image has been cropped, and probably more.

If you received a a letter from Getty Images – Re: Unauthorized Use of Getty Images’ Photograph what are your options?

  1. Pay the listed amount and let it be done?
  2. Ignore the letter?
  3. Hire an attorney and see what he/she can do to get you out of it?

Has anyone else dealt with this problem? Did anyone take actions via any of the 3 courses listed above? I’d like to make a post about each of the options so that people who have this same problem can use this as a reference to find out which option will best suit them.

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Getty Images Settlement Demand – Unauthorized Use of Getty Images Photograph

June 14th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Random Stuff - (6 Comments)


So I came into my office today, and I had a large letter from Getty Images, addressed to “Legal Department” at my company. We’re a small company… we don’t have a legal department.

Apparently, Getty Images has been sending these letters out like crazy since 2006, luckily this is the first I’ve seen. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, because they’re asking for $2,000 for the use of 2 images that were found on our company website. $2,000 for 2 images!!! Do we get exclusive rights for that fee? No. They then want us to purchase the images.

It is copyright infringement if the images weren’t, I have no problem admitting that. However, $1,000 each? Isn’t that robbery? Would it be worth hiring a lawyer to get out of some cost on this settlement demand? Or would it be a waste of money? Where do they come up with this absurd amount for the settlement demand?

Has anyone encountered this issue with Getty Images and got out of it for less than the requested amount? If so, I’d love to hear your suggestions/opinions.

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Visual Studio Color Schemes – How To Change Visual Studio Color Schemes

June 12th, 2008 | Posted by i.nconspicuo.us in Programming - (4 Comments)


Many current Visual Studio developers learned how to code in a different development environment, and with that being said, many of those developers are probably more familiar with other color schemes while coding different types of pages and files. I’d like to start a list of other editors, and hopefully start hosting Visual Studio settings files that will allow people to import settings into Visual Studio that will imitate their favorite editor.

Here are some editors that I’d like to see Visual Studio color settings for:

  • HomeSite
  • Dreamweaver
  • TextPad

As soon as I create the the Visual Studio settings files for the above listed (and any other) editors, I’ll post them here so that you have an easy place to just grab a .vssettings file and import/export it using the wizard in Visual Studio.

If you’ve already created a color scheme, just comment here and I’ll get in touch with you via email so that it can be posted for others to use.

If you’d like to create your own Visual Studio Color Scheme, you can do the following:

  1. Click Tools > Options
  2. Click Environment > Fonts and Colors
  3. Show settings for Text Editor
  4. Start changing your colors to your hearts content

If you’d like to apply a Visual Studio Color Scheme that you downloaded, you can do the following:

  1. Click Tools >Import and Export Settings…
  2. Select Import Selected Environment Settings
  3. Backup your existing settings if you’d like
  4. Browse for the file that you’d like to import and select Next
  5. Select the specific setting that you want to import
  6. Then, to import only Color Schemes, select:
  7. All Settings > Options > Environtment > Fonts and Colors
  8. You’re all set – click finish

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