I have a user whose iPhone won't sync properly to his exchange calender on his PC. I am responsible for smartphones at my work and have been troubling shooting this issue for a few days and can't figure it out. I went into setting and hit sync, which didn't reconcile anything. He can accept a meeting notice on exchange on his pc and on his iPhone it will show not accepted. Does anyone know how to make it sync. It's not limited to recurring meetings, or people outside the company.

 Here, I hope, is a very brief video shot at the Haunted House in the Massachusetts village where I live.  My neighbor builds an elaborate circuit within his house and barn and the kids (and grownups) come; there are four or five stations and the locals act out skits etc.  The theme this year was grade school -- the nurses's station, detention, the evil janitor in his closet etc.  You can imagine.  Last was graduation.  That was my venue.  (I've done this several times before, as Igor awaking Frankenstein while Mahster is away, etc.)   What you see here is the end of the previous skit, which was about getting through the MGAS (as are all such events, ours is big on bad puns.)  There is a brief period of total black then as my piece begins -- actually the audience could dimly perceive the graduates in cap and gown facing the dais.  I built the puppet with my neighbor, and I am manipulating it and speaking.  The head is actually a radio-operated talking skull.  At the end the spiel continues as the graduates charge the crowd, but it's drowned out here.


Here!

www.youtube.com/watch

Can I assign a specific phone number to an icon? (for one-click call)

Okay - so I need opinions.

Please go to my YouTube Channel and watch my xena vids - My Immortal and Always - and let me know which you think I should enter into the Creation Music Video contest. Hee! Thanks! I can't choose myself... it's like picking my favourite Xena episode or something...

The folks at MacHeist.com are offering 5 software apps (6, if they get 500K participants) for free.

The apps in this "MacHeist nanoBundle" are:

Shovebox $25 FREE

WriteRoom $25 FREE

Twitterrific $15 FREE

TinyGrab $14 FREE

Hordes of Orcs $25 FREE

And if they get 500,000 participants, they will unlock Mariner Write $50 FREE.

If you are interested, got to www.MacHeist.com to check out the offer. The offer is good for the next 5 days.

(Before you get outraged, the Advanced Reader's Copies, or ARCs, for the rest of this year's books have already reached Publishers Weekly, so they aren't jumping the gun. They have read this year's books.)

Here's their list for teen and tween fiction:


Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking)
A powerful exploration of anorexia, dysfunction and death, Anderson's story of a friendship ripped apart is moving and haunting.

Going Bovine
Libba Bray (Delacorte)
An angel, a dwarf, cults, wormholes and mad cow disease all factor into the surreal cross-country road trip that teenage Cameron takes, in a satirical story that's as memorable as it is funny.

Fire
Kristin Cashore (Dial)
Introducing Fire, a human “monster” with psychic abilities, this companion novel to Graceling expands the scope of Cashore's fantasy world and offers twists, intrigue and romance aplenty.

Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
This much-awaited sequel to Collins's dystopian bestseller, The Hunger Games, doesn't disappoint; it's immersive, voracious reading as the ramifications of Katniss's actions in that book spread.

If I Stay
Gayle Forman (Dutton)
Masterful characterizations make the tragedy at the core of this novel all the more devastating, as narrator Mia weighs the decision to live or die.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Jacqueline Kelly (Holt)
With a detailed, evocative setting and an authentic, relatable protagonist, this turn of the century coming-of-age novel teems with humor, spirit, and energy.

Purple Heart
Patricia McCormick (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray)
This timely and provocative thriller, with a teenage American soldier at its center, is a nuanced exploration of war, heroism, and morality.

The Ask and the Answer
Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
Set on a planet colonized by men and now wracked with strife, Ness's sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go entwines themes of sexism, terrorism, genocide and human nature, while bringing the action to a fever pitch.

A Season of Gifts
Richard Peck (Dial)
The singular Mrs. Dowdel from A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicagobrings humor and heart to this holiday story; as ever, Peck's writing has a comforting, evergreen quality.

When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead (Random/Lamb)
Every syllable feels rich with meaning in this atmospheric mystery involving a girl, her former best friend, and her mother, set in 1970s New York City.

Shiver
Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)
Lyrical and thoughtful, this paranormal romance between a girl and a werewolf offers wit, an intriguing mythology, and dual (but equally honest and compelling) narratives.

Marcelo in the Real World
Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic/Levine)
Artfully crafted characters form the heart of this riveting novel about a 17-year-old with Asperger's syndrome, who grapples with issues of ethics, love, and other real-life conflicts.

Tales from Outer Suburbia
Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Levine)
Tan proves that his prose is every bit as hypnotic as his artwork in this wondrous collection that reveals the banality and strangeness of the suburbs.

Lips Touch: Three Times
Laini Taylor, illus. by Jim Di Bartolo (Scholastic/Levine)
In lush prose, Taylor offers three utterly captivating stories, each centered on a kiss; comic book–style prequels from Di Bartolo, her husband, add to the enchantment.

The Uninvited
Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)
In this thriller about a college student uncovering twisted family secrets, Wynne-Jones expertly draws his characters and setting while ramping up the tension and the creepiness.

I don't think it's going to surprise anyone that I am VERY happy about this list. I've never seen a list with so many books I absolutely love: Wintergirls, Fire, Catching Fire, When You Reach Me, and When You Reach Me. (Libba, I swear, I'll read Going Bovine soon! I'm a rat for not reading it before now!) I think all of these titles are going to be around for a long time--all are unusual, all have meanings that will occur to the reader long after s/he puts them down, and all of them will haunt you until you find yourself re-reading them in college and beyond.

I didn't include the younger readers' list or the nonfiction list: here's the link to those. And if you want the link to the much more controversial adult list (no women writers on it!), here is that link as well.

This is why I prefer kidlit.

Publishers Weekly has issued its list of the ten best adult books for 2009 (they get ARCs, Advanced Readers Copies, so they have seen the "important" books of the year as judged by the important people of publishing). And o my stars and garters, have they raised themselves up a fuss. You see, if you look at that list, the authors are all men.

WILLA (Women in Letters and Literary Arts) is claiming bias, as are quite a few other writers and readers. PW is saying they judged fairly and freely, "without political correctness."

The response is coming now just from WILLA. Britain's Guardian reported it; The New York Times is inviting its readers to post their ideas on which books they think should have made the list. Salon, of course, has an edgier take, including this wonderful quote: Comments on P.W.'s Web site likened the list to "a flier tacked to the wall at a men's club".

I actually like Laura Miller's Salon article very much. It's well thought out, intelligent, and rational. And it's informative.

For my own part, my feeling is, why is anyone surprised? Look at the high school and college required reading lists (unless they are for women's literature or world literature or for alternate schools). They are dominated by White Males (except for Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, the rest are dead before the turn of the 20th century). Look at what's considered valuable in literary publications, and who is considered "great" in literary classes. Look at the writers who are given face and page time in journals all over the world, even when it's not about a writing-based issue. The majority are men.

The bias is an old one. Historically women have been relegated to "women's issues" (said Bryon and Shelley, patting Mary Shelley on the head--girls writing "science"!) revolving around relationships, house, church, and community. We don't write about war, the death of the soul, the future of society and the morality of man (yes, it's still said "of man"). We don't write about the Big Issues. We write improving children's books, sweet little books about family, or torrid and hysterical romances. We don't write about war which sweeps over a devastated landscape (take that, Margaret Mitchell!), or the Hero's Journey, or striving for A New Tomorrow. So it has always been in publishing, and so it is in the literary community.

( Read more )

PW did a children's list which I liked better. I'll post about that on my fan journal later today.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen Joyce Carol Oates, Joan Didion, Margeret Atwood, or any of the other highly admired female literary writers referred to as "great."

The startup disk on my MBP filled up completely over the last day or so. It was getting up there, but on Wednesday *the last time I checked* there was 14 GB free. When I woke the old boy up this morning, I was greeted with the "Startup disk is almost full" message.

Poked around but I must confess I am not really sure what I should be looking for. Or how to, really.

But I looked around found a few redundant files, moved them to the trash, emptied it. The disk size briefly fluctuated and almost immediately went to zero KB available.

I haven't got a clue what is going on here.

What should I be looking at or for?


X-posted

Hi there. Yes I know I am horribly new. New to iPhone as well.I got working fully on thurs morning Aussie time and I am already addicted.

Alright here is the question, does anybody have issues with sounds with certain apps. I ask because I have become hooked to " spore origins" game and every now and then the sound will go really quiet and then go back up again after maybe thirty seconds. I know it's not how i hold my phone because it's the only app that does it. Has anyone else played it and have the same issues?

Also does anybody have any recs for games like spore, I feel i may finishing it soon and I would not Mind something similar

Here's a tricky one for you: after my Mac wakes up from sleep (either display sleep or full sleep, it doesn't matter which), Firefox will not start up properly. The icon will bounce, then stay "lit," but the application window never appears, and I have to force quit. The only way to fix it, so far, is to log out then log back in. As you may guess, that's a pain. Anyone else have this issue? And more importantly, how did you fix it? (The obvious choice - never let the system go to sleep - is not an option for me.)

PS - I'm running an iMac 21.5", 4GB RAM, OS X 10.6.1, and Firefox 3.5.5. Addons are Echofon, Adblock Plus, and NoScript.

A lovely box of contributors copies for Ars Memoriae arrived today. It occurs to me that I should do some promotion.

My best gimmick would be lending out Octavia the kitten. She's fluffy, pretty, and full of vinegar personality. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'd get her back.

So, here's what I propose:

I'll send out hardcover copies to the first three people who respond to this entry. If you're one of the first three, I'll contact you and get your mailing address. In turn, you guys promise to post a review and photo of the novella in your journals.

Then you send out your copy to the very next person who responds to your journal entry. And so on. You get to read the novella, and the novella makes a grand tour.

ETA: All three copies are spoken for. I will ship the books out today and post links to the pictures and reviews as they show up. Remember that these are traveling copies, so if you missed getting one from me, you can haunt doc_lemming's, drachin8's, and bogwitch64's journals and snag the copy for the next round.

This morning I had a delightful time being interviewed by Nanette Savard, voice actor and director for GraphicAudio,  who produced the audiobooks of the Serrano-Suiza books and are now working on the Vatta's War books.

Nanette was great fun to talk with--we turned out to have many interests in common, including singing, so there's going to have to be vast cuts in our chat for the podcast, I'm sure.  We were supposed to talk mostly about those two groups of books, but wandered into various corners of science,  cultural stuff,  etc, etc.   I don't know when it will go up, but I'm looking forward to it.   When I know I'll post it, of course.

Although I've become used to doing telephone interviews, and don't intend any disrespect of any of the interviewers (all have been good) I think this was the most fun so far.   Sometimes you just hit it off with a new person--and that was the feeling.