Monday, November 26, 2007
Idiots
This blog has been dead for so long it's not even funny. Yet, some douchebag take the time to paste their ignominious spam in comment on random post and force me to clean up.
No more I say! Comments are turned off for good.
Did you know that 95% of all traffic on the Internet is spam? This is my small contribution to make it drop to 95% (I know, there's little difference, this is due to rounding)
Please keep this blog dead. Thank you for not reading it. ¶ 9:15 AM
This blog has been dead for so long it's not even funny. Yet, some douchebag take the time to paste their ignominious spam in comment on random post and force me to clean up.
No more I say! Comments are turned off for good.
Did you know that 95% of all traffic on the Internet is spam? This is my small contribution to make it drop to 95% (I know, there's little difference, this is due to rounding)
Please keep this blog dead. Thank you for not reading it. ¶ 9:15 AM
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Free Web Probulation
Free as in no charge. Or no upfront charge. There will be a price though.
I several time got caught thinking it would be dandy and convenient, as a crafty consumer, to get some insurance quote over that new thing, you know, the internet they are talking about.
Everybody does it. It's even easier than non-prescription all herbal Valium or those things I get advertized in my inbox.
Unfortunately, this process, as much as they claim is protecting my privacy, stops short of asking from a stool sample for just getting a quote. Yes, I'm going to disclose my last 5 years of addresses, current income, marital status, work address, SSN, let them probe my background history and more. Then you get a quote. And that is free. The only cost is that you gave up the accurate description of the marketing profiler's wet dream.
I'll pass. It's not worth it. ¶ 10:46 PM 0 comments
Free as in no charge. Or no upfront charge. There will be a price though.
I several time got caught thinking it would be dandy and convenient, as a crafty consumer, to get some insurance quote over that new thing, you know, the internet they are talking about.
Everybody does it. It's even easier than non-prescription all herbal Valium or those things I get advertized in my inbox.
Unfortunately, this process, as much as they claim is protecting my privacy, stops short of asking from a stool sample for just getting a quote. Yes, I'm going to disclose my last 5 years of addresses, current income, marital status, work address, SSN, let them probe my background history and more. Then you get a quote. And that is free. The only cost is that you gave up the accurate description of the marketing profiler's wet dream.
I'll pass. It's not worth it. ¶ 10:46 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The wrong fight
Microsoft Cuts Price of MSN Dial-Up
Why you ask? Well, to undercut AOL of course. Why you ask again? Because AOL just jacked up their price for shitty dialup from $22/month to $26/month.
Then there are alot more question coming up. Most obvious are "People are still on dialup?" "People are paying $22/month for dialup?" "Why haven't they all switched to the $10/month isp yet?" or less obvious, "AOL? WTF?"
Most funny is AOL's motivation for the price hike, I kid you not:
It must be that company where all coworkers are monkeys. ¶ 1:28 PM 0 comments
Microsoft Cuts Price of MSN Dial-Up
Why you ask? Well, to undercut AOL of course. Why you ask again? Because AOL just jacked up their price for shitty dialup from $22/month to $26/month.
Then there are alot more question coming up. Most obvious are "People are still on dialup?" "People are paying $22/month for dialup?" "Why haven't they all switched to the $10/month isp yet?" or less obvious, "AOL? WTF?"
Most funny is AOL's motivation for the price hike, I kid you not:
The move comes little more than a month after rival AOL announced its decision to increase the price of its most popular unlimited dial-up access plan to $25.90 per month in order to nudge subscribers towards adopting its new High Speed broadband service.So the point is to scare people into broadband. Guess it'll scare them away from AOL. If those people don't want broadband, increasing the price of what they think is good enough is not gonna make them get broadband. And in any case, I'd be more tempted to get broadband from my local cut rate DSL (my area has 768Kbps throttled DSL for $16/month) than overpriced shitty content no added value AOL broadband. It does not take a rocket science degree in business and marketing to understand that shaking the tree, price hikes and forced pitching is not good for customer retention.
It must be that company where all coworkers are monkeys. ¶ 1:28 PM 0 comments
Monday, March 27, 2006
How to not do it: $500 TB server
I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. So I had to read the article and come back disapointed.
Terabyte file server the wrong way
I like the idea of one giant amout of disk space concentrated in one place. Terabyte is just about to become affordable (back in the old days, I remember I spent $500 on a 340 MB hard drive!) And I admit, so much disk space feels like a lot of power. However, power comes with responsiblility. By cutting corners and getting the absolute cheapest crap available on the net (and discounting shipping and handling fees) you can build it. Sort of.
Point by point:
- 4 no-name 250 GB disk. $81 bucks each. Not only you get a no-name disk, but only a 6 month warranty. Checked Newegg, they have 250 GB Sata (more on SATA in the next point) for $84, of course, does not include shipping.
- With the crappy Celeron MB/CPU combo, you get 2 two-channel ide connectors. For a total of 4 devices to connect. Unfortunately, once you connect those 4 HD you can't connect your cd-rom drive to install your OS. And if you disconnect one drive to replace it with a cdrom, the 4th disk won't obviously be available for the install, that's messed up. You should have bought SATA drives. They don't share a bus 2 by 2, you can have more than 4 devices (provided you're smart when you get your MB) this would have left the Mobo IDE for the cdrom.
- You should have an OS disk just for that. Add one HD, install the OS on it and secure it. Don't mix OS, Applications and Data. Keep things separate.
- You're willing to build a one TB server, but there is not safety net. I'm pretty sure you ain't gonna play DJ with dvd-rom to backup that much data. Add another drive and build a raid5 array. At least it's somewhat failsafe.
- It's not $500 because it runs Windows. Last time I checked, Windows wasn't free. So add in the price of it.
All in all, to be done correctly, to the base $500, you need to add:
- Extra 250GB: $85
- Extra HD for OS: $50
- Windows XP: $85 - $140 from home to pro, OEM, if you can find it at that price.
Then again, Newegg has 500 GB for $290, so all that trouble of building a new server and all, you might just want to add two HD to your existing PC and call it good.
Personnally, I'll be waiting another 18 month and purchase 2 1TB hard drive for $310 each at Amazon.com/NewEgg, and build a nice mirrored volume in my current computer. ¶ 9:18 PM 0 comments
I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. So I had to read the article and come back disapointed.
Terabyte file server the wrong way
I like the idea of one giant amout of disk space concentrated in one place. Terabyte is just about to become affordable (back in the old days, I remember I spent $500 on a 340 MB hard drive!) And I admit, so much disk space feels like a lot of power. However, power comes with responsiblility. By cutting corners and getting the absolute cheapest crap available on the net (and discounting shipping and handling fees) you can build it. Sort of.
Point by point:
- 4 no-name 250 GB disk. $81 bucks each. Not only you get a no-name disk, but only a 6 month warranty. Checked Newegg, they have 250 GB Sata (more on SATA in the next point) for $84, of course, does not include shipping.
- With the crappy Celeron MB/CPU combo, you get 2 two-channel ide connectors. For a total of 4 devices to connect. Unfortunately, once you connect those 4 HD you can't connect your cd-rom drive to install your OS. And if you disconnect one drive to replace it with a cdrom, the 4th disk won't obviously be available for the install, that's messed up. You should have bought SATA drives. They don't share a bus 2 by 2, you can have more than 4 devices (provided you're smart when you get your MB) this would have left the Mobo IDE for the cdrom.
- You should have an OS disk just for that. Add one HD, install the OS on it and secure it. Don't mix OS, Applications and Data. Keep things separate.
- You're willing to build a one TB server, but there is not safety net. I'm pretty sure you ain't gonna play DJ with dvd-rom to backup that much data. Add another drive and build a raid5 array. At least it's somewhat failsafe.
- It's not $500 because it runs Windows. Last time I checked, Windows wasn't free. So add in the price of it.
All in all, to be done correctly, to the base $500, you need to add:
- Extra 250GB: $85
- Extra HD for OS: $50
- Windows XP: $85 - $140 from home to pro, OEM, if you can find it at that price.
Then again, Newegg has 500 GB for $290, so all that trouble of building a new server and all, you might just want to add two HD to your existing PC and call it good.
Personnally, I'll be waiting another 18 month and purchase 2 1TB hard drive for $310 each at Amazon.com/NewEgg, and build a nice mirrored volume in my current computer. ¶ 9:18 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Not that I hate commercials
I got caught on the stupid Comcast commercial, where they advertize their stupid bundle Internet+Phone $59.99. Fuck it. I have both from Comcast, how come I'm not getting the sweet deal? Read again. $59.99 for the first three month. Right. Could be $5.99 for the first three month. What am I? A 10 yo with a 10 second attention span? What happens after 3 month? Well, it don't say. I won't look it up. But I'm sure it won't go down. Screw them. Screw me for listening to them.
In other news I also hate commercials for medicine. WTF. It's not enought the evil drug companies lobby my doctor and his employer to stuff their shit down my throat? They want to turn me into a drug demanding drone? I don't think so. The only drug I'm asking my doc are Valium and Vixodin. But only for relaxation and pain. Promise. ¶ 8:07 PM 0 comments
I got caught on the stupid Comcast commercial, where they advertize their stupid bundle Internet+Phone $59.99. Fuck it. I have both from Comcast, how come I'm not getting the sweet deal? Read again. $59.99 for the first three month. Right. Could be $5.99 for the first three month. What am I? A 10 yo with a 10 second attention span? What happens after 3 month? Well, it don't say. I won't look it up. But I'm sure it won't go down. Screw them. Screw me for listening to them.
In other news I also hate commercials for medicine. WTF. It's not enought the evil drug companies lobby my doctor and his employer to stuff their shit down my throat? They want to turn me into a drug demanding drone? I don't think so. The only drug I'm asking my doc are Valium and Vixodin. But only for relaxation and pain. Promise. ¶ 8:07 PM 0 comments
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Online scam?
Can't be!
I was just going through my spam folder in gmail, and I saw one of these fake ebay email. This one was slightly different. Instead of the usual "we're investigating your account, please login here or we'll suspend your account" style of email, it was a little more subtle. It was worded as a buyer's question (interestingly, I've never sold anything on ebay, but I guess when you're a scammer-spammer you don't really care about details) and the content was a mildly threat from someone claiming he bought an item from me, and he was gonna report me.
I should add gmail correctly flagged that one as fishing. Not that I would fall for this, but I'm pretty sure my awareness for those things is slightly above average.
More funny is the item # quoted in the email. 5801824341. It'll probably vanish in a few days, so I'll printscreen it here (click on it to actually read it):
In other news, how would you like to receive free text messages on your cell phone? Join the biggest online community of people that have cell phones or something like that? Yes? That's great. You probably don't know what I'm talking about. There:
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008835.html
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008792.html
But Google is a better friend, caching old stuff for you and all:
View the original post in Google cache
I can see how Russell got himself trapped in that one. Sign up to a service, half read the agreement that contains burried misleading language (or don't read it at all, like anyone else) because the previous page had a huge spinning FREE! TOTALLY FREE! NO CATCH! WE'RE GIVING IT AWAY! animated flash graphic. 35 days later, you get a bill for sms received from your carrier.
I was in Belgium last XMas and I was amazed how many SMS (text message) scam crap was advertized everywhere. I guess I'm getting too old. I use my phone to place calls. It does not even sing to me when it rings. It just rings! wow :)
¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments
Can't be!
I was just going through my spam folder in gmail, and I saw one of these fake ebay email. This one was slightly different. Instead of the usual "we're investigating your account, please login here or we'll suspend your account" style of email, it was a little more subtle. It was worded as a buyer's question (interestingly, I've never sold anything on ebay, but I guess when you're a scammer-spammer you don't really care about details) and the content was a mildly threat from someone claiming he bought an item from me, and he was gonna report me.
I should add gmail correctly flagged that one as fishing. Not that I would fall for this, but I'm pretty sure my awareness for those things is slightly above average.
More funny is the item # quoted in the email. 5801824341. It'll probably vanish in a few days, so I'll printscreen it here (click on it to actually read it):
In other news, how would you like to receive free text messages on your cell phone? Join the biggest online community of people that have cell phones or something like that? Yes? That's great. You probably don't know what I'm talking about. There:
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008835.html
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008792.html
But Google is a better friend, caching old stuff for you and all:
View the original post in Google cache
I can see how Russell got himself trapped in that one. Sign up to a service, half read the agreement that contains burried misleading language (or don't read it at all, like anyone else) because the previous page had a huge spinning FREE! TOTALLY FREE! NO CATCH! WE'RE GIVING IT AWAY! animated flash graphic. 35 days later, you get a bill for sms received from your carrier.
I was in Belgium last XMas and I was amazed how many SMS (text message) scam crap was advertized everywhere. I guess I'm getting too old. I use my phone to place calls. It does not even sing to me when it rings. It just rings! wow :)
¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments
Friday, February 24, 2006
Peep Show
The probably the funniest pee your pants funny show on BBCa. Crippled by the american way of doing tv though (commercial every 7 minutes)
Still, they have the balls to air words like (cover your ears and poke your eyes out) shit, shitting and more shit. Cock muncher is also uttered. But fuck is blanked out (there are limits I guess)
The content is hilarious in a British way. The characters have enough mean quirckiness to keep you interested and the writers are not shy: one of the heros is pissing all over his coworker/women he loves office and drawers.
- What happened?
- It's not piss!
I just love it. And I love the title too. ¶ 9:20 PM 0 comments
The probably the funniest pee your pants funny show on BBCa. Crippled by the american way of doing tv though (commercial every 7 minutes)
Still, they have the balls to air words like (cover your ears and poke your eyes out) shit, shitting and more shit. Cock muncher is also uttered. But fuck is blanked out (there are limits I guess)
The content is hilarious in a British way. The characters have enough mean quirckiness to keep you interested and the writers are not shy: one of the heros is pissing all over his coworker/women he loves office and drawers.
- What happened?
- It's not piss!
I just love it. And I love the title too. ¶ 9:20 PM 0 comments
Friday, February 17, 2006
Kind of a funny rant from Russel Beatie in this entry. I understand that his thing is the mobile world and especially mobile apps. Hoever, not everyone is on the go. Most of us in IT sit behind a huge (lucky like me 3) screen and stare at Windows all day (ouch, could be luckier).
I'm currently involved in a distibuted project. Oregon site, manager in LA, outsourcing drones in 2 locations near Boston. Parent company in PA. In OH too. The official methos of communication and information sharing is ... email. Yep. Target with the TO field, shower everyone w/CC.
So I would be happy to do just chat sessions sometimes with more than one site. Quick question, quick answer style. With a forum like format, or self building FAQ. Not hard, someone has a question, another has an answer. If you have the same question come up 6,985,041 you can save alot of breath by just pointing at the FAQ (and stupidity too)
If companies are developing new stuff using decade old technology, some are using 5 decade old technology... And don't get me started with phones! ¶ 9:13 PM 0 comments
Do I have a bolt fetish?
I'm wondering about this as I am gathering suyplies to make my own bean bag
(not to sit on, just to rest my camera for close range macro-like
photography.
I'm really thinking about fitting one bag with a tripod mount. Home made
with nice nuts and bolts from Lowes. It's not necessary, but I think it
would be nice. Do I have a bolt fetish or something?
Friday, February 03, 2006
Preview this!
Cool.
A dude ran a security tool that he wrote to test Microsoft's browsers. On a beta. And he found a bug. Wait, it's not even beta 2, it's beta 2 preview. That is, close to beta 2 but still with plenty of bugs in, even more than there will be in beta 2.
Wow.
In other shoking news, smoking cigarettes causes cancer. ¶ 2:33 PM 0 comments
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124595,00.asp
First IE 7 Beta 2 Bug Found
Security researcher needed just 15 minutes to find a flaw in Microsoft's browser.
An independent researcher needed just 15 minutes to find the first bug in the Beta 2 preview release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser.Tom Ferris, of Mission Viejo, California, published his findings just hours after Microsoft released the beta code. His findings are posted online
Cool.
A dude ran a security tool that he wrote to test Microsoft's browsers. On a beta. And he found a bug. Wait, it's not even beta 2, it's beta 2 preview. That is, close to beta 2 but still with plenty of bugs in, even more than there will be in beta 2.
Wow.
In other shoking news, smoking cigarettes causes cancer. ¶ 2:33 PM 0 comments
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Daytime TV is the best
Daytime TV is the best, because you get to watch the stupidest shows on broadcast network. I'm watching Starting Over on UPN, did not even know that existed before, really wished I had not found out about it.
But really, that's not the best part. It's the stupidest commercial for the most stupid things. Why would you want to make a penny shine like that? Why would you pick the cheapest Lasik surgery people? They really do insist on the $299 per eye. And ever 500,000 procedures done so far.
Wow, kind of slaughterhouse fashion. You know it's safe because it is cheap. You know eyesight is the most important sense to you. Go ahead and have a trained monkey shine a high power laser through your eyes. It's safe. And you know the dude is gonna care about you because he's doing 625 other procedures that day. You go ahead. It's a good idea. From $299 per eye. ¶ 1:47 PM 0 comments
Daytime TV is the best, because you get to watch the stupidest shows on broadcast network. I'm watching Starting Over on UPN, did not even know that existed before, really wished I had not found out about it.
But really, that's not the best part. It's the stupidest commercial for the most stupid things. Why would you want to make a penny shine like that? Why would you pick the cheapest Lasik surgery people? They really do insist on the $299 per eye. And ever 500,000 procedures done so far.
Wow, kind of slaughterhouse fashion. You know it's safe because it is cheap. You know eyesight is the most important sense to you. Go ahead and have a trained monkey shine a high power laser through your eyes. It's safe. And you know the dude is gonna care about you because he's doing 625 other procedures that day. You go ahead. It's a good idea. From $299 per eye. ¶ 1:47 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 30, 2006
Blast from the Creepy Past
I admit, I had to code stuff for Windows 3.1 (I can't call it developping, it is more aking to hacking the crap out of the system) and I sure do not have dear memory of the time.
One creepy detail (which is still kind of relevant now) is terminology for common things. When everyone think of the mouse pointer as a (...) pointer, MS called it a cursor. Just because. What about the blinkyblink thingy where the text is supposed to come out of when you type? (that was a perfectly grammatically sounds sentences, wasn't it?) Well, they called that a caret. What a carrot? nope, caret. Just because too. Or maybe because cursor was already taken.
One of the most fantastic feature of Windows was that, for some unimaginable reason, an application could hide the Mouse Cursor. To do so, just call the ShowCursor function as is:
ShowCursor(false);
To show it again,
ShowCursor(true);
That was simple.
Whare's the catch?
Also, I just checked, in XP the mouse cursor is called pointer (control panel, mouse) and the caret is called cursor. But still, the API is ShowCursor() and ShowCaret(). Mmm... caret soup! ¶ 4:17 PM 0 comments
I admit, I had to code stuff for Windows 3.1 (I can't call it developping, it is more aking to hacking the crap out of the system) and I sure do not have dear memory of the time.
One creepy detail (which is still kind of relevant now) is terminology for common things. When everyone think of the mouse pointer as a (...) pointer, MS called it a cursor. Just because. What about the blinkyblink thingy where the text is supposed to come out of when you type? (that was a perfectly grammatically sounds sentences, wasn't it?) Well, they called that a caret. What a carrot? nope, caret. Just because too. Or maybe because cursor was already taken.
One of the most fantastic feature of Windows was that, for some unimaginable reason, an application could hide the Mouse Cursor. To do so, just call the ShowCursor function as is:
ShowCursor(false);
To show it again,
ShowCursor(true);
That was simple.
Whare's the catch?
- Hiding the cursor would hide it for the whole Windows desktop. Obviously making other application kinda hard to work with at the same time. Negating all the (feeble) benefit of multitaking in Windows 3.1 (I know, I'm high, multitaking in Windows 3.1 is like snow in Hawaii)
- You must call ShowCursor(true) exactly as many time as you did the opposite ShowCursor(false). That one sucks. I guess you have to be careful, or at least know how to count.
- If your application crashes while the cursor (aka pointer) is hidden, well, you're boned. If Windows is not crashed, well, it's pretty unusable. No more visible mouse.
Also, I just checked, in XP the mouse cursor is called pointer (control panel, mouse) and the caret is called cursor. But still, the API is ShowCursor() and ShowCaret(). Mmm... caret soup! ¶ 4:17 PM 0 comments
I was wrong
Crap. Big Mamma's house #1 at box office report after this weekend. Beating Nanny McPhee 2:1. What a load of crap. People will swallow shit by the boatload and still be happy to be charged $8 a piece. Not that Annapolis or Nanny McPhee would be so inherently better. But as least I would not be as wrong. ¶ 9:34 AM 0 comments
Crap. Big Mamma's house #1 at box office report after this weekend. Beating Nanny McPhee 2:1. What a load of crap. People will swallow shit by the boatload and still be happy to be charged $8 a piece. Not that Annapolis or Nanny McPhee would be so inherently better. But as least I would not be as wrong. ¶ 9:34 AM 0 comments
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Newsflash: lacrosse is here
Whatever lacrosse is. Yeah, like hockey minus the ice. Just as much kick in the face action. Probably a local thing though. (local as in PDX). With season tickets as low as $90. It's probably as dumb and pointless as something else, it'll probably be a great success.
Now I'd love to see more rugby. That's not one of those sissy sports. That's real. ¶ 6:29 PM 0 comments
Whatever lacrosse is. Yeah, like hockey minus the ice. Just as much kick in the face action. Probably a local thing though. (local as in PDX). With season tickets as low as $90. It's probably as dumb and pointless as something else, it'll probably be a great success.
Now I'd love to see more rugby. That's not one of those sissy sports. That's real. ¶ 6:29 PM 0 comments
Movie Review: Big Mamma's House 2
How can I review a movie that's not out yet? Simple, I watch the preview. On TV. Every 10 minutes.
Don't see it. It surely not as good as the first one (have not seen that one either) but the first one is a piece of crap too. It's ok to make transgender/fat jokes because I'm black kind of movie. Inane (lack of) plot.
All crap.
It does not matter what I say, flocks of idiotic sheep will flock to the theater. I predict #2 at box office, just behind Nanny McPhee (the ugly looking Mary Poppins) ¶ 6:17 PM 0 comments
How can I review a movie that's not out yet? Simple, I watch the preview. On TV. Every 10 minutes.
Don't see it. It surely not as good as the first one (have not seen that one either) but the first one is a piece of crap too. It's ok to make transgender/fat jokes because I'm black kind of movie. Inane (lack of) plot.
All crap.
It does not matter what I say, flocks of idiotic sheep will flock to the theater. I predict #2 at box office, just behind Nanny McPhee (the ugly looking Mary Poppins) ¶ 6:17 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Quick note to advertisers
Especially when shooting a car commercial, especially when the car is supposed to be kinda sporty, it is not advised to show close up of the car do a sudden lane change. Just witnessed it on the latest Lexus IS250/350 commercial. No matter how sporty and good handling the car is, it looks like a huge lump with body roll and shows an obvious reluctance to change direction.
Gee, you can only do that when you advertise a formula one car. Maybe a BMW M3. But everyone knows your Lexus is only sporty-looking, it's just another bland soft luxury car. ¶ 9:59 PM 0 comments
Especially when shooting a car commercial, especially when the car is supposed to be kinda sporty, it is not advised to show close up of the car do a sudden lane change. Just witnessed it on the latest Lexus IS250/350 commercial. No matter how sporty and good handling the car is, it looks like a huge lump with body roll and shows an obvious reluctance to change direction.
Gee, you can only do that when you advertise a formula one car. Maybe a BMW M3. But everyone knows your Lexus is only sporty-looking, it's just another bland soft luxury car. ¶ 9:59 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 23, 2006
Buy a DVD?
I'm already not sure I'd buy a DVD. After all, I would want to be sure I want to watch it somewhere around 4 or 5 times or more, just to make it worthwhile compared to renting it from my local blockbuster hollywood video, several times.
Then again, Netflix is there to save me from the evil of poor selection and weird looking (and smelling) patrons. Not to mention teenage workforce who don't give a shit.
Back to the original question: buy a DVD, I don't think so. Why then all the advertisement for B-grade movies all over the place? Well, it's a subliminal message: it's out on DVD, go rent it.
Now, does anyone actually go buy it? And does anyone has ever really bought the PSP version? Now I really don't have an answer for that. ¶ 9:17 PM 0 comments
I'm already not sure I'd buy a DVD. After all, I would want to be sure I want to watch it somewhere around 4 or 5 times or more, just to make it worthwhile compared to renting it from my local blockbuster hollywood video, several times.
Then again, Netflix is there to save me from the evil of poor selection and weird looking (and smelling) patrons. Not to mention teenage workforce who don't give a shit.
Back to the original question: buy a DVD, I don't think so. Why then all the advertisement for B-grade movies all over the place? Well, it's a subliminal message: it's out on DVD, go rent it.
Now, does anyone actually go buy it? And does anyone has ever really bought the PSP version? Now I really don't have an answer for that. ¶ 9:17 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 20, 2006
Arrr! I'll take some music with that hook!
Really?
Or maybe buying music online is becoming mainstream (like buying from amazon.com). Or the fantastic success of iPod+iTunes combo is snowballing. Or people are getting lazy, finding music on P2P is increasingly painful/risky (RIAA after you, Virus, spyware); P2P's never been too mainstream anyway, it's kind of a geeky nerdy stuff. Or the initial number was so low that tripling it is no big deal.
Wait. A little bit of all. But the tripling thing is a good suspect. From $380 mil to $1.2 bil. You'd think that's a big number in itself. But in a typical PC World fashion, you don't get any point of reference (like total Music sales?, total entertainment industry?)
Wait. It's world wide sales number. And now yes, it sounds totally ridiculous. The average person on earth went from buying 0.05% of one track per year to 0.15% of one track per year.
Now really. Thinking piracy is recessing is worse than wishful thinking, it's appalingly stupid. ¶ 1:30 PM 0 comments
Digital Music Sales Triple in 2005Increase could be a sign that anti-piracy efforts are working.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124434,00.asp
Really?
Or maybe buying music online is becoming mainstream (like buying from amazon.com). Or the fantastic success of iPod+iTunes combo is snowballing. Or people are getting lazy, finding music on P2P is increasingly painful/risky (RIAA after you, Virus, spyware); P2P's never been too mainstream anyway, it's kind of a geeky nerdy stuff. Or the initial number was so low that tripling it is no big deal.
Wait. A little bit of all. But the tripling thing is a good suspect. From $380 mil to $1.2 bil. You'd think that's a big number in itself. But in a typical PC World fashion, you don't get any point of reference (like total Music sales?, total entertainment industry?)
Wait. It's world wide sales number. And now yes, it sounds totally ridiculous. The average person on earth went from buying 0.05% of one track per year to 0.15% of one track per year.
Now really. Thinking piracy is recessing is worse than wishful thinking, it's appalingly stupid. ¶ 1:30 PM 0 comments
Thursday, January 19, 2006
EVDO Rocks!
Especially when it's company paid. I kind of weaseled into getting this Verizon EVDO pccard. Now I get broadband on the road, in the train, in the rain, does not include green eggs and ham though. I'll take the high speed connection nonetheless.
Can you hear me now? Nope, it's for data, dude. ¶ 12:36 PM 0 comments
Especially when it's company paid. I kind of weaseled into getting this Verizon EVDO pccard. Now I get broadband on the road, in the train, in the rain, does not include green eggs and ham though. I'll take the high speed connection nonetheless.
Can you hear me now? Nope, it's for data, dude. ¶ 12:36 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
American Idle
Tonight is the first night. It's actually running EST I guess. The new season of American Idle. Idol. iDol? No, that would be an Apple product.
Get ready for another edition of bad singing, dreadful acting, poor ethical standards (and really high on drugs judges, no I'm not looking at you Paula) With totally lacking credibility.
The only regret is that never-smiling annoying terrible singer/actor/performer Scott Savol (or was it Sabol?, Savon?, Avon?) can't reenter again.
Maybe this year they'll give a chance to a black chick, because last year, the only one that could consistently sing (just could sing, sometimes outstandingly) were the black chicks (oops, PC filter: african american females) I'm pretty sure this was a coincidence, what was not was the stupid rally behind Blondish-no personality chick and I'm-a-rocker-but-I-can-t-sing-to-save-my-life dude. Appalling results. But what did I expect, this is TV, and this is Fox.
Rejoyce and brace yourself because tonight show is 2 hours long (and one of the cheapest to produce, auditions, lots of laugh, little content, alot of stupid Simon comments. I hope he's in a bad mood) ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
Tonight is the first night. It's actually running EST I guess. The new season of American Idle. Idol. iDol? No, that would be an Apple product.
Get ready for another edition of bad singing, dreadful acting, poor ethical standards (and really high on drugs judges, no I'm not looking at you Paula) With totally lacking credibility.
The only regret is that never-smiling annoying terrible singer/actor/performer Scott Savol (or was it Sabol?, Savon?, Avon?) can't reenter again.
Maybe this year they'll give a chance to a black chick, because last year, the only one that could consistently sing (just could sing, sometimes outstandingly) were the black chicks (oops, PC filter: african american females) I'm pretty sure this was a coincidence, what was not was the stupid rally behind Blondish-no personality chick and I'm-a-rocker-but-I-can-t-sing-to-save-my-life dude. Appalling results. But what did I expect, this is TV, and this is Fox.
Rejoyce and brace yourself because tonight show is 2 hours long (and one of the cheapest to produce, auditions, lots of laugh, little content, alot of stupid Simon comments. I hope he's in a bad mood) ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 09, 2006
Bender Rules!
Hey, do I preach to you when you lie stoned in the gutter? No! So Beat it!¶ 8:36 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 06, 2006
When I die...
I know everything about the 70's, I was born in the 70's. At least then, a man could speak his mind. ¶ 10:14 PM 0 comments
When I die, I wanna be buried face down, so anyone who doesn't like me can kiss my ass.For some reasons, I've been watching this 70's stupid show, and Red is by far the funniest character. This is the funniest quote from him.
-Red Foreman
I know everything about the 70's, I was born in the 70's. At least then, a man could speak his mind. ¶ 10:14 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
No Thanks
Innovative marketing ploy: lure you with something you don't want. If I understand correctly, Subway is having some kind of sweepstake where you can get some gym subscription. There's a picture of a scratch and discover your price: lose weight.
I'd scream: "Are you calling me fat? Are you saying I need a diet?"
That's fantastic. However un-PC that is, it is well known that on TV, people just want to see young, slim, fit, healthy people. Especially in commercials. You want the viewer to identify to a positive image.
I don't see how telling me that I'm fat and I need more exercise will help them sell more (icky tasting) sandwiches. ¶ 9:12 PM 0 comments
Innovative marketing ploy: lure you with something you don't want. If I understand correctly, Subway is having some kind of sweepstake where you can get some gym subscription. There's a picture of a scratch and discover your price: lose weight.
I'd scream: "Are you calling me fat? Are you saying I need a diet?"
That's fantastic. However un-PC that is, it is well known that on TV, people just want to see young, slim, fit, healthy people. Especially in commercials. You want the viewer to identify to a positive image.
I don't see how telling me that I'm fat and I need more exercise will help them sell more (icky tasting) sandwiches. ¶ 9:12 PM 0 comments
Friday, December 09, 2005
This time it's gonna work
Assuming there is no evil filter to the emails going out. I do not think
there is, then again, it could be an evil hidden filter.
We'll see in a few minutes.
¶ 12:36 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 07, 2005
A Whole Bunch of Dohickies
http://extensions.roachfiend.com/howto_bug.html
http://www.xulplanet.com/tutorials/mozsdk/
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/dom/domref/dom_shortTOC.html ¶ 11:14 PM 0 comments
http://extensions.roachfiend.com/howto_bug.html
http://www.xulplanet.com/tutorials/mozsdk/
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/dom/domref/dom_shortTOC.html ¶ 11:14 PM 0 comments
Whacking!
Especially good is the see-wep-crack 5 minutes video demo with obnoxious German folk music. A must see.
http://whoppix.hackingdefined.com/index.php/Main_Page
And what about these?
http://stashbox.fromtheshadows.tv/ ¶ 3:00 PM 1 comments
Especially good is the see-wep-crack 5 minutes video demo with obnoxious German folk music. A must see.
http://whoppix.hackingdefined.com/index.php/Main_Page
And what about these?
http://stashbox.fromtheshadows.tv/ ¶ 3:00 PM 1 comments
Friday, November 04, 2005
Pretty Simple
Using JavaMail is pretty simple. At least according to this article:
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2001/jw-1026-javamail.html
I'm in the process of (re)sharpening my Java skills by rewriting one of my dotnet projects in Java. No I will not be translating code. Hopefully, this will be 2.0 quality (or maybe 1.0 since the dotnet version was never released. Oh, wait, none of my crappy home projects ever get released :) If there is enough demand, I'll publish some of them (hahaha, my audience here is 1, so there's little chance of that) ¶ 4:12 PM 0 comments
Using JavaMail is pretty simple. At least according to this article:
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2001/jw-1026-javamail.html
I'm in the process of (re)sharpening my Java skills by rewriting one of my dotnet projects in Java. No I will not be translating code. Hopefully, this will be 2.0 quality (or maybe 1.0 since the dotnet version was never released. Oh, wait, none of my crappy home projects ever get released :) If there is enough demand, I'll publish some of them (hahaha, my audience here is 1, so there's little chance of that) ¶ 4:12 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Everything Sucks!
My job first, but these people have a different opinion. Web 2.0 sucks. Blogging sucks. Flock sucks. Wow. It is really funny though. They sound serious, but the fight is kind of irrelevant. Flock? Who cares.
http://flocksucks.wordpress.com/
Update: after reading between the lines, I tend to agree that flock has little value. However, their fight over Web 2.0 sounds a little better justified. Because before you know, Web 2.0 sounds like a new bubble. People don't learn. Kudos to flocksucks. ¶ 8:46 PM 0 comments
My job first, but these people have a different opinion. Web 2.0 sucks. Blogging sucks. Flock sucks. Wow. It is really funny though. They sound serious, but the fight is kind of irrelevant. Flock? Who cares.
http://flocksucks.wordpress.com/
Update: after reading between the lines, I tend to agree that flock has little value. However, their fight over Web 2.0 sounds a little better justified. Because before you know, Web 2.0 sounds like a new bubble. People don't learn. Kudos to flocksucks. ¶ 8:46 PM 0 comments
Monday, October 31, 2005
Not New
This is not new. But this is good. And cheap.
http://www.gumstix.com/spexwaysmalls.html
Actually featured in the high altitude balloon described here:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/%7Ejac208/pegasus/pegasus1.html
Version 1.0 did not use gumstix: http://vpizza.org/%7Ejmeehan/balloon/
From the friendly people at HackADay ¶ 8:29 PM 0 comments
This is not new. But this is good. And cheap.
http://www.gumstix.com/spexwaysmalls.html
Actually featured in the high altitude balloon described here:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/%7Ejac208/pegasus/pegasus1.html
Version 1.0 did not use gumstix: http://vpizza.org/%7Ejmeehan/balloon/
From the friendly people at HackADay ¶ 8:29 PM 0 comments
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Counterproductive Crosspromotion
Let's face it, we're just dumb consumers. We'll jump on any good deals like flies on a turd. This is why you get things like free cell phone when you sign up for 2 years or rebates on things you buy. Why not discount the price directly? Cuz you're a dumb consumer that's why.
However, I just saw a good one. If you have Directv, sign up for Starz (and the shitload of channels it comes with) and get, yes, a $20 gift car from Barns & Nobles. Get more TV, so you can ge more books. Then not watch TV? Mmm... ¶ 12:19 PM 0 comments
Let's face it, we're just dumb consumers. We'll jump on any good deals like flies on a turd. This is why you get things like free cell phone when you sign up for 2 years or rebates on things you buy. Why not discount the price directly? Cuz you're a dumb consumer that's why.
However, I just saw a good one. If you have Directv, sign up for Starz (and the shitload of channels it comes with) and get, yes, a $20 gift car from Barns & Nobles. Get more TV, so you can ge more books. Then not watch TV? Mmm... ¶ 12:19 PM 0 comments
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Make is my friend
From the make people.
Good led and transistors 101. I glanced at it and thought it's clear and simple enough for me to understand.
http://www.iguanalabs.com/1stled.htm
Paper cars. Cool. There's a Ford GT40 and a DeLorean. Wow.
http://grumlt.citrina.lt/CitroPasakos/CitroZaislai.html
Good collection of satyrical content. Or is it just cynical?
http://www.blacktable.com/archive/idioticthings.htm ¶ 9:31 PM 0 comments
From the make people.
Good led and transistors 101. I glanced at it and thought it's clear and simple enough for me to understand.
http://www.iguanalabs.com/1stled.htm
Paper cars. Cool. There's a Ford GT40 and a DeLorean. Wow.
http://grumlt.citrina.lt/CitroPasakos/CitroZaislai.html
Good collection of satyrical content. Or is it just cynical?
http://www.blacktable.com/archive/idioticthings.htm ¶ 9:31 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 21, 2005
Awesome!
Sometimes, as a programmer, I get my head under a rock for a long long time regarding certain subjects. My favorite: XML. After several years of buzz, well, it looks like they are on to something (j/k). So there I am trying to figure out some XML-RPC API in general (and Blogger specifically) and there is surprisingly very little context infor that makes sense to me. All I can find are good old dump of what is actually transmitted over the wire with xml and all. But really, I don't care about that. I don't want to generate xml. I just want to call a method and stick a few params in it. This is what the XmlRpc lib is supposed to do. But no. Can't find simple code examples. But great detail about the plumbing, I find:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/10/15/dive.html ¶ 11:45 PM 0 comments
Sometimes, as a programmer, I get my head under a rock for a long long time regarding certain subjects. My favorite: XML. After several years of buzz, well, it looks like they are on to something (j/k). So there I am trying to figure out some XML-RPC API in general (and Blogger specifically) and there is surprisingly very little context infor that makes sense to me. All I can find are good old dump of what is actually transmitted over the wire with xml and all. But really, I don't care about that. I don't want to generate xml. I just want to call a method and stick a few params in it. This is what the XmlRpc lib is supposed to do. But no. Can't find simple code examples. But great detail about the plumbing, I find:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/10/15/dive.html ¶ 11:45 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
I got flash!
Apparently I'm addicted to flash games. This one is not really a game, it's more a rendom hypnotic animation. But that's the point of getting addicted: it's hypnotic.
http://files.deviantart.com/f/2004/188/8/7/gridgame.swf
And this one is a really intense click and jump. But lots of clicking. Gotta bother coworkers.
http://www.we-are-freex.com/projects/GunRun/GunRun.htm ¶ 8:51 PM 0 comments
Apparently I'm addicted to flash games. This one is not really a game, it's more a rendom hypnotic animation. But that's the point of getting addicted: it's hypnotic.
http://files.deviantart.com/f/2004/188/8/7/gridgame.swf
And this one is a really intense click and jump. But lots of clicking. Gotta bother coworkers.
http://www.we-are-freex.com/projects/GunRun/GunRun.htm ¶ 8:51 PM 0 comments
Finally!
This has been one of my pet peeves for a long time. Long after everyone switched to Hotmail and Yahoo, and then to Gmail, you still had to cope with the default mailto: links. That is, whatever is configured in your OS is launched (and on this laptop, it is Lonus Notes, AAAAAAAARGH) So this is the solution:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/18/... ¶ 3:05 PM 0 comments
This has been one of my pet peeves for a long time. Long after everyone switched to Hotmail and Yahoo, and then to Gmail, you still had to cope with the default mailto: links. That is, whatever is configured in your OS is launched (and on this laptop, it is Lonus Notes, AAAAAAAARGH) So this is the solution:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/18/... ¶ 3:05 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Too bad you don't know french
Cuz you could read and understand this...
http://www.levif.be/Weekend/CMArticles/ShowArticle.asp?articleID=641§ionID=4
¶ 1:14 AM 0 comments
Cuz you could read and understand this...
http://www.levif.be/Weekend/CMArticles/ShowArticle.asp?articleID=641§ionID=4
¶ 1:14 AM 0 comments
A little hard
This was not easy to figure out at first (I mean, in the first 3 minutes) but it's actually pretty funny. If you're into that kind of humour that is.
http://longorshort.blogspot.com/
¶ 12:58 AM 0 comments
This was not easy to figure out at first (I mean, in the first 3 minutes) but it's actually pretty funny. If you're into that kind of humour that is.
http://longorshort.blogspot.com/
¶ 12:58 AM 0 comments
Random good find
About once in a million years, I find a good blog by hitting the next blog button in blogger. I only do that when I'm really bored, because I know I'll find 45% spam blogs, 22% drunken sports fan and the rest college/highschool students bitching about their life and minute annoyances. So here it is. Very well worded. Open and not rabid for a change.
http://benjaminhartman.blogspot.com/
¶ 12:17 AM 0 comments
About once in a million years, I find a good blog by hitting the next blog button in blogger. I only do that when I'm really bored, because I know I'll find 45% spam blogs, 22% drunken sports fan and the rest college/highschool students bitching about their life and minute annoyances. So here it is. Very well worded. Open and not rabid for a change.
http://benjaminhartman.blogspot.com/
¶ 12:17 AM 0 comments
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Yeah... I'm gonna need all your cash...
Hi, my name is John Johnston, it is not my real name for I work for the secret services. I'm gonna need all your available cash so I can mark it with a microship. Please leave it under a table there. Do not talk to anyone about this. Thank you for your cooperation.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1814531,00.html
It's daring, but the scammed people are particularely stupid. You're supposed to use that little thing in your head called your brain. ¶ 11:12 AM 0 comments
Hi, my name is John Johnston, it is not my real name for I work for the secret services. I'm gonna need all your available cash so I can mark it with a microship. Please leave it under a table there. Do not talk to anyone about this. Thank you for your cooperation.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1814531,00.html
It's daring, but the scammed people are particularely stupid. You're supposed to use that little thing in your head called your brain. ¶ 11:12 AM 0 comments
Just don't look suspicious.
You just can't help it. When you know you're being observed you become slightly self conscious. Even if you don't care. It's there, in your brain. And even if you're not aware of any observation, you may be having the wrong attitude or posture or behavior or trigerring other's alarm of suspiciousness.
That's especially bad when you're french, living in London and carrying a backpack in the subway. This dude had an Orwellian experience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1575532,00.html
To the police defense I should say that it must be really hard to deal with the unrealistic expectation that they will prevent any terrorist attack in the subway forever. However, my experience with European police (not british though) is that every policeman I met were just about as smart as a bacterium or maybe a kitchen knife.
Even then, it's a scary thought. The crime of looking suspicious should not be enough to be the subject of those terribly invasive searches, loss of privacy and being filed in some police file forever (do you really think they will get rid of his fingerprint and DNA records? I did not think so)
In conclusion, don't go to London. London sucks. But if you do, don't take the subway. But if you have to, don't look suspicious. But if you do, well, don't run, cuz they'll shoot you.
¶ 11:07 AM 0 comments
You just can't help it. When you know you're being observed you become slightly self conscious. Even if you don't care. It's there, in your brain. And even if you're not aware of any observation, you may be having the wrong attitude or posture or behavior or trigerring other's alarm of suspiciousness.
That's especially bad when you're french, living in London and carrying a backpack in the subway. This dude had an Orwellian experience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1575532,00.html
To the police defense I should say that it must be really hard to deal with the unrealistic expectation that they will prevent any terrorist attack in the subway forever. However, my experience with European police (not british though) is that every policeman I met were just about as smart as a bacterium or maybe a kitchen knife.
Even then, it's a scary thought. The crime of looking suspicious should not be enough to be the subject of those terribly invasive searches, loss of privacy and being filed in some police file forever (do you really think they will get rid of his fingerprint and DNA records? I did not think so)
In conclusion, don't go to London. London sucks. But if you do, don't take the subway. But if you have to, don't look suspicious. But if you do, well, don't run, cuz they'll shoot you.
¶ 11:07 AM 0 comments
Less work!
I just realized I did not post anything in the last 4 days. What's up with that? Grrr... I'm more busy at work. Let me use this entry to state officially that it sucks. Drats.
On an unrelated note, I remember reading some bloger's advice to newbies at blogging, one of those was proofreading. What a bunch of hoey.
My advice is not to proofread anything. It's a blog, it's not a novel or a new country's constitution. It's supposed to be natural writing. Just spit out thought in a semi-organized fashion and you're good. If your readers wanted some nicely polished words and dumb content, they would be reading their local news paper.
Yet another post without a link though.
¶ 12:47 AM 0 comments
I just realized I did not post anything in the last 4 days. What's up with that? Grrr... I'm more busy at work. Let me use this entry to state officially that it sucks. Drats.
On an unrelated note, I remember reading some bloger's advice to newbies at blogging, one of those was proofreading. What a bunch of hoey.
My advice is not to proofread anything. It's a blog, it's not a novel or a new country's constitution. It's supposed to be natural writing. Just spit out thought in a semi-organized fashion and you're good. If your readers wanted some nicely polished words and dumb content, they would be reading their local news paper.
Yet another post without a link though.
¶ 12:47 AM 0 comments
Linux is better than fiction
Usability is in my opinion the biggest issue with everyday use of Linux. Linux on a user desktop, that is. Windows is easier to install/maintain. Just try to install wireless networking hardware in Linux and you'll see. I know it's getting better every day. But still, it's far from perfect.
I'm using Linux as much as I can during my daily routine (at home that is). It's my web browsing machine, it rips CDs, makes iso images, it's my DAR (digital audio recorder. A fancy name for the tool that record the radio from the sound card line in) So in a typical user fashion, I just want things to work. And I don't want to fight for it.
So yesterday night, I tackled 3 of my pet peeves. Even though my linux box sits next to my windows box in my office, the linux box is headless. I use the desktop through Xvnc server and client. My Fedora distribution came with VNC 4.0 so I just had to do some config here and there to get it working. Comes my pet peeve #1: can't copy/paste between Window and remote session. After a long time of figuring out, it turns out you must run the vncconfig applet on the X desktop, and leave it running for the clipboard thing to run! That's really stupid, but now I'm able to copy URL in firefox running in X and paste them in my mighty home made little posting tool. I know, that tool should be run under Linux, but you see, it's written in C#, and it happens that it does not run well at all under mono because it uses a rich edit control. maybe in 2013 mono will catch up with all the Windows widgets. I could also have written this tool in Java, but C# and Visual Studio are sooooo nice. (and I suck at Java gui programming too)
#2 pet peeve: no web site looks right because they all use those god damned Microsoft fonts like verdana, tahoma, and georgia. This blog included. So I found those explanations there:
http://www.kegel.com/linux/tt.html
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/stable/x/xfree86-setup.html
Not sure if the cache rebuild and the likes are necessary but it took several attempts before it actually worked, so I'm not sure any more. I also rebooted. Probably not necessary. My uptime before reboot was 47 days. My record uptime was 235 days on the same computer, but I must admit I did not use it as much as I do now.
And finally, for last is something I did not quite solve. Just improved a bit. The only feature that would sell me Windows XP over Win2k (because really, Win2k was the best MS operating system ever) is the cleartype font smoothing. The one that works especially best with a LCD. It also works great on a CRT, tons better than standard antialias. Sadly, Linux's version is nowhere as good as MS. But I still could tweak it by finding some applet in the Control Center thingy.
Well, it turns out, when I use my posting tool to write entries (and not the butt ugly Blogger interface) I can rant for quite a few sentences. If you read this far, I probably killes half of your good braincells left. Sorry. Go watch Broadcast TV now. ¶ 12:41 AM 0 comments
Usability is in my opinion the biggest issue with everyday use of Linux. Linux on a user desktop, that is. Windows is easier to install/maintain. Just try to install wireless networking hardware in Linux and you'll see. I know it's getting better every day. But still, it's far from perfect.
I'm using Linux as much as I can during my daily routine (at home that is). It's my web browsing machine, it rips CDs, makes iso images, it's my DAR (digital audio recorder. A fancy name for the tool that record the radio from the sound card line in) So in a typical user fashion, I just want things to work. And I don't want to fight for it.
So yesterday night, I tackled 3 of my pet peeves. Even though my linux box sits next to my windows box in my office, the linux box is headless. I use the desktop through Xvnc server and client. My Fedora distribution came with VNC 4.0 so I just had to do some config here and there to get it working. Comes my pet peeve #1: can't copy/paste between Window and remote session. After a long time of figuring out, it turns out you must run the vncconfig applet on the X desktop, and leave it running for the clipboard thing to run! That's really stupid, but now I'm able to copy URL in firefox running in X and paste them in my mighty home made little posting tool. I know, that tool should be run under Linux, but you see, it's written in C#, and it happens that it does not run well at all under mono because it uses a rich edit control. maybe in 2013 mono will catch up with all the Windows widgets. I could also have written this tool in Java, but C# and Visual Studio are sooooo nice. (and I suck at Java gui programming too)
#2 pet peeve: no web site looks right because they all use those god damned Microsoft fonts like verdana, tahoma, and georgia. This blog included. So I found those explanations there:
http://www.kegel.com/linux/tt.html
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/stable/x/xfree86-setup.html
Not sure if the cache rebuild and the likes are necessary but it took several attempts before it actually worked, so I'm not sure any more. I also rebooted. Probably not necessary. My uptime before reboot was 47 days. My record uptime was 235 days on the same computer, but I must admit I did not use it as much as I do now.
And finally, for last is something I did not quite solve. Just improved a bit. The only feature that would sell me Windows XP over Win2k (because really, Win2k was the best MS operating system ever) is the cleartype font smoothing. The one that works especially best with a LCD. It also works great on a CRT, tons better than standard antialias. Sadly, Linux's version is nowhere as good as MS. But I still could tweak it by finding some applet in the Control Center thingy.
Well, it turns out, when I use my posting tool to write entries (and not the butt ugly Blogger interface) I can rant for quite a few sentences. If you read this far, I probably killes half of your good braincells left. Sorry. Go watch Broadcast TV now. ¶ 12:41 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Funniest anim
This is the kind of flash movie I like. They got the most important part: content. Then voice. Then anim. It looks mighty crappy but it is super offensive. Awesome!
http://www.thefrown.com/player.php?/thebadlife ¶ 10:54 PM 0 comments
This is the kind of flash movie I like. They got the most important part: content. Then voice. Then anim. It looks mighty crappy but it is super offensive. Awesome!
http://www.thefrown.com/player.php?/thebadlife ¶ 10:54 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
...
http://www.lifehack.org/
This is where I found this: 10 foods you should never eat. ¶ 9:54 PM 0 comments
http://www.lifehack.org/
This is where I found this: 10 foods you should never eat. ¶ 9:54 PM 0 comments
Marketing 101
We're surrounded by ads and commercials. It's easy to tune them out, but if you're like me, you can take pleasure at dissecting them and analyze them.
That makes it even more fun when you spot a really bad one.
Broadly, there are two general genres: the ones that make you indentify with the product user and the ones that make you laugh.
The idea is to make you remember the product (and not the commercial itself). That's fairly simple to follow. Show a mother using cleaning product when you target women who typically clean their home. See the flurry of Johnson and Johnson products commercials.
Makes you laugh too works. Geico. Capital one. Works.
Now for the really bad one. VW Passat. Take a look at it here. Checkpoint. It's the one called "Checkpoint". Basically it pictures a lone guy stuck at a checkpoint in an unnamed country that looks South American. The current militia inspecting the car get so intrigued by the not so common 120 features of the car that they tear it apart. And yes, the guy is white and the policieros are latin. They speak spanish. All those good stereotypes are in.
Bottom line: you could have bought a GM Grand Crapolo but no, you had to be a smart ass and get you this car for those people will just rip it apart and abandon you carless in the middle of nowhere. Buy a VW Passat = you're an idiot.
¶ 9:17 PM 0 comments
We're surrounded by ads and commercials. It's easy to tune them out, but if you're like me, you can take pleasure at dissecting them and analyze them.
That makes it even more fun when you spot a really bad one.
Broadly, there are two general genres: the ones that make you indentify with the product user and the ones that make you laugh.
The idea is to make you remember the product (and not the commercial itself). That's fairly simple to follow. Show a mother using cleaning product when you target women who typically clean their home. See the flurry of Johnson and Johnson products commercials.
Makes you laugh too works. Geico. Capital one. Works.
Now for the really bad one. VW Passat. Take a look at it here. Checkpoint. It's the one called "Checkpoint". Basically it pictures a lone guy stuck at a checkpoint in an unnamed country that looks South American. The current militia inspecting the car get so intrigued by the not so common 120 features of the car that they tear it apart. And yes, the guy is white and the policieros are latin. They speak spanish. All those good stereotypes are in.
Bottom line: you could have bought a GM Grand Crapolo but no, you had to be a smart ass and get you this car for those people will just rip it apart and abandon you carless in the middle of nowhere. Buy a VW Passat = you're an idiot.
¶ 9:17 PM 0 comments
Useless facts of the day
Salmonella does not come from salmon. Nope. Daniel Elmer Salmon discovered the salmonella bacteria and they named it after him. Now that's a cool thing to be remember for.
Starbucks (the coffee company) was named after first mate Starbuck (first mate is the rank, not the affiliation) on the Pequod (name of the ship) in the novel Moby Dick.
{More on this} ¶ 1:58 PM 0 comments
Salmonella does not come from salmon. Nope. Daniel Elmer Salmon discovered the salmonella bacteria and they named it after him. Now that's a cool thing to be remember for.
Starbucks (the coffee company) was named after first mate Starbuck (first mate is the rank, not the affiliation) on the Pequod (name of the ship) in the novel Moby Dick.
{More on this} ¶ 1:58 PM 0 comments
Carrying things around
I'm used to carry tons of junk around. Mostly electronic devices. It probably feeds from personal insecurities. How mankind could survive so long without cellphones is beyond me. Anyway, I usually carry a cell phone, pda, thumb drive, mp3 player, keys, wallet, watch and probably more crap. The DIYer in me is impressed with the minimalistic approach of this toolkit. Fits in an altoids can. Maybe I'll start carrying one around too. I need a backpack though :)
http://www.escapemyhead.com/2005/10/tttk-travel-tinker-trouble-kit.html
From {Make} ¶ 11:02 AM 0 comments
I'm used to carry tons of junk around. Mostly electronic devices. It probably feeds from personal insecurities. How mankind could survive so long without cellphones is beyond me. Anyway, I usually carry a cell phone, pda, thumb drive, mp3 player, keys, wallet, watch and probably more crap. The DIYer in me is impressed with the minimalistic approach of this toolkit. Fits in an altoids can. Maybe I'll start carrying one around too. I need a backpack though :)
http://www.escapemyhead.com/2005/10/tttk-travel-tinker-trouble-kit.html
From {Make} ¶ 11:02 AM 0 comments
Sunday, October 09, 2005
One Liners
Engadget fighter? Nah. Just funny though.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/
Greenspun is still talking.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/
Blogs a mistakes. 7 most often made mistakes in the first 7 days.
http://blog.studentnyc.com/archives/26 ¶ 8:09 PM 0 comments
Engadget fighter? Nah. Just funny though.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/
Greenspun is still talking.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/
Blogs a mistakes. 7 most often made mistakes in the first 7 days.
http://blog.studentnyc.com/archives/26 ¶ 8:09 PM 0 comments
Reality is better than fiction...
It reads like a spy novel. It really sounds like one, but look closely at the url.
http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol47no3/article02.html ¶ 1:55 PM 0 comments
It reads like a spy novel. It really sounds like one, but look closely at the url.
http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol47no3/article02.html ¶ 1:55 PM 0 comments
Good Security
This is an amazingly insightful piece on dumb ideas about computer security.
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/ ¶ 1:48 PM 2 comments
This is an amazingly insightful piece on dumb ideas about computer security.
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/ ¶ 1:48 PM 2 comments
Stuffed
I have so many entries on Ruby and Ajax, I kinda feel I should actually use those. (i.e. move my ass and do instead of talk). I guess I'll start with Ruby, cuz really, I hate Javascript.
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/ ¶ 12:06 AM 0 comments
I have so many entries on Ruby and Ajax, I kinda feel I should actually use those. (i.e. move my ass and do instead of talk). I guess I'll start with Ruby, cuz really, I hate Javascript.
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/ ¶ 12:06 AM 0 comments
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Ajax and Ruby
Ajax here:
http://www.dojotoolkit.org/
Ruby:
http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/distributingrubyapplications/rails.html
¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments
Ajax here:
http://www.dojotoolkit.org/
Ruby:
http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/distributingrubyapplications/rails.html
¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments
Be sure you mean it!
Little advice for you and your resume writing skills.
http://alanso.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/04/25-words-that-can-hurt-your-resume.html ¶ 8:17 PM 0 comments
Little advice for you and your resume writing skills.
http://alanso.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/04/25-words-that-can-hurt-your-resume.html ¶ 8:17 PM 0 comments
Free everything
Ii just looks like more and more people rebel against the tighter grips of copyright and intellectual property. Let it be free and copiable and distributable without constraint (or just the constraint that it remains free).
Opensource, free software, creative commons, open content. Wikipedia is a good exemple. Another good project is wikibooks at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page and yes, you guessed it, free books that anyone can edit and participate in. ¶ 7:26 PM 0 comments
Ii just looks like more and more people rebel against the tighter grips of copyright and intellectual property. Let it be free and copiable and distributable without constraint (or just the constraint that it remains free).
Opensource, free software, creative commons, open content. Wikipedia is a good exemple. Another good project is wikibooks at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page and yes, you guessed it, free books that anyone can edit and participate in. ¶ 7:26 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 07, 2005
Hamster wheel
Now that's a pretty nice color wheel picker thingy.
http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html ¶ 4:39 PM 0 comments
Now that's a pretty nice color wheel picker thingy.
http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html ¶ 4:39 PM 0 comments
Set the fox on Fire(fox)
I use Firefox on about 73 millions different computers (no, just about 4, really) and once in a while I realize I did not tweak such and suchsettings (or more annoyingly, I did not install some much needed extensions) So here are some values worthy of reminding myself for a good about:config tweak:
I use Firefox on about 73 millions different computers (no, just about 4, really) and once in a while I realize I did not tweak such and suchsettings (or more annoyingly, I did not install some much needed extensions) So here are some values worthy of reminding myself for a good about:config tweak:
- network.http.pipelining: true
- network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: some higer number (like 10)
- nglayout.initialpaint.delay: 0 and I'm not quite sure I like this one.
- image.animation_mode: none (does anyone need to see anim gifs anymore ever? No, I did not think so)
Color is Added!
Now it is fair to claim that my little posting tool supports colors in a WYSISWG fashion. Now for wishing I got it right on the HTML side. If I could just add support for Blogger API, I could have a simple but effective blog editor. Cool! ¶ 3:00 PM 0 comments
Now it is fair to claim that my little posting tool supports colors in a WYSISWG fashion. Now for wishing I got it right on the HTML side. If I could just add support for Blogger API, I could have a simple but effective blog editor. Cool! ¶ 3:00 PM 0 comments
More clean web!
http://www.ajaxinfo.com/
And hopefully I will get my ass of the couch and actually do something w/it! (I mean with Ajax, not my ass...) ¶ 2:52 PM 0 comments
http://www.ajaxinfo.com/
And hopefully I will get my ass of the couch and actually do something w/it! (I mean with Ajax, not my ass...) ¶ 2:52 PM 0 comments
Torrents, this way
Maybe I'll finally get to see the pilot of Invasion!
http://isohunt.com/stats.php?mode=btSites
http://www.bitenova.org/ ¶ 2:50 PM 0 comments
Maybe I'll finally get to see the pilot of Invasion!
http://isohunt.com/stats.php?mode=btSites
http://www.bitenova.org/ ¶ 2:50 PM 0 comments
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Cheaper by the pound
There is a whole bunch of random stuff. I may revisit some, but I'm just gonna do one post.
Pretty good photoblog. Nice compositon, sharp focus, good use of black and white. I like it overall pretty good.
http://myernore.blogspot.com/
One day I'll come to my senses and realize javascript is not totally evil. Wait, it is. Except for the once in a while useful Ajax app (really, Ajax is just a buzzword, it's just fancy javascript, just extra fancy) like google maps and the like.
Some article about Ajax: http://particletree.com/features/the-hows-and-whys-of-degradable-ajax/
A really cool javascript color scheme picker. Good for people like me who don't always make the best choices when it comes to pair colors together: http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
A google maps based app that shows the outline of US zip codes. Awesome! http://maps.huge.info/?zip=97113
Ajax library: http://openrico.org/rico/home.page
Particularely good delicious Ajax app: http://sandbox.sourcelabs.com/livemarks/
Ruby sounds like a slightly quirky programming language. I already like it. http://www.rubyist.net/~slagell/ruby/index.html
I'll just rip this whole paragraph from that PC World article.
I'm not sure this intelligent bacon is worth it's share of pork. Too long to read it now, so here is the link. http://intelligentbacon.blogspot.com/2005/10/16-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-blog.html ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
There is a whole bunch of random stuff. I may revisit some, but I'm just gonna do one post.
Pretty good photoblog. Nice compositon, sharp focus, good use of black and white. I like it overall pretty good.
http://myernore.blogspot.com/
One day I'll come to my senses and realize javascript is not totally evil. Wait, it is. Except for the once in a while useful Ajax app (really, Ajax is just a buzzword, it's just fancy javascript, just extra fancy) like google maps and the like.
Some article about Ajax: http://particletree.com/features/the-hows-and-whys-of-degradable-ajax/
A really cool javascript color scheme picker. Good for people like me who don't always make the best choices when it comes to pair colors together: http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
A google maps based app that shows the outline of US zip codes. Awesome! http://maps.huge.info/?zip=97113
Ajax library: http://openrico.org/rico/home.page
Particularely good delicious Ajax app: http://sandbox.sourcelabs.com/livemarks/
Ruby sounds like a slightly quirky programming language. I already like it. http://www.rubyist.net/~slagell/ruby/index.html
I'll just rip this whole paragraph from that PC World article.
Was looking for something like this. Lets you snoop on those http header. A life saver for debugging web apps, if you know what I mean. http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/index.html. Yes, it is for Firefox. If you're using IE, you probably don't know.Sometimes the best e-mail and chat support in the world is no substitute for a conversation with a real person. But that kind of talk isn't cheap, so to cut costs, Net-based companies like Amazon often make their phone numbers hard to find. Not to worry: A site called Cliché Ideas has dug them up:
- Amazon: 800/201-7575
- EBay: 800/322-9266
I'm not sure this intelligent bacon is worth it's share of pork. Too long to read it now, so here is the link. http://intelligentbacon.blogspot.com/2005/10/16-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-blog.html ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
$100 Laptop!
Obviously this is cheap for a laptop. Unfortunately it is where most people stop when they are told about the project. The aim is to distribute the computer to children in developing countries as an enabler for communication. Children are not expected to shell out $100 per computer, those will be sold in bulk to governments and education branches. $100 is the target price to produce. They obviously like to make it as cheap as it comes. Reading the specs though, it's pretty beefy in features, and some are not found in standard laptop - hand crank power for example. But it also has a screen that can be used in bright sunlight (wow!), wi-fi and cellular support. On the software side, MIT media lab developped support for mesh networking to share internet connections, i.e. no need for extra hardware for a whole bunch of them to share one internet connection.
This is a great example of technology used in a selfless fashion. It is meant for developping countries, it is for children and it is for education.
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=%24100+laptop ¶ 9:13 AM 0 comments
Obviously this is cheap for a laptop. Unfortunately it is where most people stop when they are told about the project. The aim is to distribute the computer to children in developing countries as an enabler for communication. Children are not expected to shell out $100 per computer, those will be sold in bulk to governments and education branches. $100 is the target price to produce. They obviously like to make it as cheap as it comes. Reading the specs though, it's pretty beefy in features, and some are not found in standard laptop - hand crank power for example. But it also has a screen that can be used in bright sunlight (wow!), wi-fi and cellular support. On the software side, MIT media lab developped support for mesh networking to share internet connections, i.e. no need for extra hardware for a whole bunch of them to share one internet connection.
This is a great example of technology used in a selfless fashion. It is meant for developping countries, it is for children and it is for education.
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=%24100+laptop ¶ 9:13 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Cheap Flying
Those people have cheap flying thing. Like a 50 bucks plane. With radio. Cool. (I know, it's not a real plane. It does not have 8 way controls, it does not have a kerosene turbojet... but it's cheap!)
http://www.horizonhobby.com
¶ 10:16 PM 0 comments
Those people have cheap flying thing. Like a 50 bucks plane. With radio. Cool. (I know, it's not a real plane. It does not have 8 way controls, it does not have a kerosene turbojet... but it's cheap!)
http://www.horizonhobby.com
¶ 10:16 PM 0 comments
Foul smelling copy
It looks like an extremely cheap Nintendo DS lookalike. And appears to be a real piece of shit. Enjoy the video!
(Warning: my firefox did not seem to like the video plugin thingy on the page and unfortunately crashed. I'm sure it's my installation though)
http://media.putfile.com/NeoDouble2 ¶ 3:55 PM 0 comments
It looks like an extremely cheap Nintendo DS lookalike. And appears to be a real piece of shit. Enjoy the video!
(Warning: my firefox did not seem to like the video plugin thingy on the page and unfortunately crashed. I'm sure it's my installation though)
http://media.putfile.com/NeoDouble2 ¶ 3:55 PM 0 comments
iRock
This comment was too funny to pass. This is about the next great thing rumoured to come out of Apple.
The funny comment is in position 15. ¶ 3:31 PM 0 comments
This comment was too funny to pass. This is about the next great thing rumoured to come out of Apple.
Posted Oct 4, 2005, 4:29 PM ET by lupinstelThe whole thread is here: http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000707061794/
I heard that they are going to bring back the pet rock. Expect instead of some regular piece of basalt they are going to use rose quartz and turquoise, then they will put the letter "i" in front of the word rock, and everyone will buy them to be cool even though it is inferior and more expensive than other rocks. Thats just what I heard though. The information is possibly wrong.
The funny comment is in position 15. ¶ 3:31 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Monday, October 03, 2005
The random list
As we finally approach the end of the year (sure the last three month don't count) we once again have to cope with an usual paper wasting slew of best of whatever in 2005. PCWorld is ahead of the game: 3 days in September and they publish something from the July 2005 print named The 100 Best Products of 2005.
Wait.
July print? So it means this has actually been written in May. Now that's a hell of ahead of the game!
Hurray for PCWorld!
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp ¶ 4:07 PM 0 comments
As we finally approach the end of the year (sure the last three month don't count) we once again have to cope with an usual paper wasting slew of best of whatever in 2005. PCWorld is ahead of the game: 3 days in September and they publish something from the July 2005 print named The 100 Best Products of 2005.
Wait.
July print? So it means this has actually been written in May. Now that's a hell of ahead of the game!
Hurray for PCWorld!
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp ¶ 4:07 PM 0 comments
Speeling is easier than you think
Especially when someone else has already written the code for you. The spell checking code of course. This will go right in the blogger editor I'm writing. Awesome!
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/NetSpell.asp ¶ 3:04 PM 0 comments
Especially when someone else has already written the code for you. The spell checking code of course. This will go right in the blogger editor I'm writing. Awesome!
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/NetSpell.asp ¶ 3:04 PM 0 comments
Remote Dvorak
Hurray for Dvorak when he promotes work from home scheme! I like it! I would like it much better than my currentoffice environment (and I do not even have to work in a cubicle-hutch). His article is an eye opener for D.C.. Government should send Congress home to work from there. Lots of compelling arguments.
¶ 9:30 AM 0 comments
Hurray for Dvorak when he promotes work from home scheme! I like it! I would like it much better than my currentoffice environment (and I do not even have to work in a cubicle-hutch). His article is an eye opener for D.C.. Government should send Congress home to work from there. Lots of compelling arguments.
With the growth of networks and computer technology that has occurred over the past 25 years, I honestly don't even see much of a reason for centralized offices of any sort. I've worked from home/hotel/beach since 1981 without an interruption. It's quite doable, and you get more accomplished. And, yes, you can still have meetings and go to confabs where you can socialize if you have to. Most of the time spent in an office is wasted time, and people who promote it as "team building" and all the rest are nuts. Office work over time does not become team building; it becomes empire building and counterproductive. Government work is the same way.The only issue would be keeping tabs on employees. Maybe they should wear ankle bracelets and have their homes stuffed with Internet enable security cams. Now what was my point again?
¶ 9:30 AM 0 comments
Pseudescopolicious
Those used to be 60's era novelty. And I always wanted one. So one day I'll get off my ass and actually purchase those $10 worth of crafting parts and see for myself (and certainly give myself some nausea and a strong headache)
From here: http://pseudoscope.blogspot.com/
Of course I had to read it from Make: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/10/how_to_make_a_pseudoscope.html
¶ 8:55 AM 0 comments
Those used to be 60's era novelty. And I always wanted one. So one day I'll get off my ass and actually purchase those $10 worth of crafting parts and see for myself (and certainly give myself some nausea and a strong headache)
From here: http://pseudoscope.blogspot.com/
Of course I had to read it from Make: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/10/how_to_make_a_pseudoscope.html
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Scumbag galore
This blog probably has an average of 0.4 reader per day, but I still get comment spam. They come in waves, there were 7 last night. Most don't even bother try be half smart. Still it's pretty painful. The most terrible one was this one:
This blog probably has an average of 0.4 reader per day, but I still get comment spam. They come in waves, there were 7 last night. Most don't even bother try be half smart. Still it's pretty painful. The most terrible one was this one:
I really love your blog!Brush my ego, guilt the reader then send them to the Red Cross. Well, the link was not to the red cross at all. Was to some refinance-now-mortgage-at-the-lowest-rate-shit.com scumbag site. The dumbest thing is that I'm pretty sure I'm the only one to read those comments, and yeah, this won't help your google rank one bit (see point #2 here) Now I'm tired of deleting 94% of all comments here, so I unfortunately had to turn on the type in the wavy words from this image here comment verification. The kind of things I hate to do myself, but hey, it'll make my life easier. ¶ 1:24 PM 0 comments
I've bookmarked it and told my blogger freak friends about it. It's intelligent, sometimes funny and always refreshingly honest. Keep Up The Good Work!
For any of your readers who want to contribute to the Red Cross to aid the many families who have been devastated by Katrina, there is a link to the Red Cross here (link removed).
Ray
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Ionic fart
Remember the Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image? The overpriced air purifier, that not only has no moving parts, no fans, and probably does not move the air around, but was the center of a (really small) turmoil about the fact that not only it's not very good at purifying the air, but it also spews out a good amount of ozone in the air. Chemistry 101: ozone in the high athmosphere: good, in your lungs: bad.
Well, they came back. Same crappy product, still no moving part, but now with ozone guard. And it still $450 bucks. Still made from about $35 of parts. And you still have to suffer through their inane commercials.
At least the company can react to criticism and change their product accordingly. Not that I'll buy one now though... ¶ 1:54 PM 0 comments
Remember the Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image? The overpriced air purifier, that not only has no moving parts, no fans, and probably does not move the air around, but was the center of a (really small) turmoil about the fact that not only it's not very good at purifying the air, but it also spews out a good amount of ozone in the air. Chemistry 101: ozone in the high athmosphere: good, in your lungs: bad.
Well, they came back. Same crappy product, still no moving part, but now with ozone guard. And it still $450 bucks. Still made from about $35 of parts. And you still have to suffer through their inane commercials.
At least the company can react to criticism and change their product accordingly. Not that I'll buy one now though... ¶ 1:54 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 30, 2005
Paper Beamer
This is hilarious! Your cutout glueon Beamer just for you!
http://www.bmw.co.th/specials/downloads/your_dream_car.htm ¶ 4:09 PM 0 comments
This is hilarious! Your cutout glueon Beamer just for you!
http://www.bmw.co.th/specials/downloads/your_dream_car.htm ¶ 4:09 PM 0 comments
Opensource Windows
What?
Nothing.
It's Tom's hardware guide to Open Source dietary supplement for Windows. When the built in Windows version of an app sucks (MSPaint anyone?), there probably a good OpenSource or free replacement. I'll have to check one or two of those.
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050930/index.html ¶ 3:56 PM 0 comments
What?
Nothing.
It's Tom's hardware guide to Open Source dietary supplement for Windows. When the built in Windows version of an app sucks (MSPaint anyone?), there probably a good OpenSource or free replacement. I'll have to check one or two of those.
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050930/index.html ¶ 3:56 PM 0 comments
Darwin's theory of Apples?
I've been told this is a good read.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/09/27/what-is-darwin.html?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550 ¶ 1:53 PM 0 comments
I've been told this is a good read.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/09/27/what-is-darwin.html?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550 ¶ 1:53 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 29, 2005
What you should do or avoid
What you should do or avoid to get a good deal or ripped off when buying a car. My opinion is that you really should hang on to your car as long as you can. It is probably going to cost less than the payments on a new one. But what do I know?
http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/09/20/car-buying-mistakes/ ¶ 10:40 PM 0 comments
What you should do or avoid to get a good deal or ripped off when buying a car. My opinion is that you really should hang on to your car as long as you can. It is probably going to cost less than the payments on a new one. But what do I know?
http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/09/20/car-buying-mistakes/ ¶ 10:40 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Madness? What madness?
In the shouldn't you just be using it? department, it appears that users of Apple iPod Nano (a named easily derided a iPod no no) are more concerned by the eagerness of their device to be scratched than the dire lack of feature of their music player. Just google it. Some actually go to great length to restore the lost shine of their (several) iPod devices. See here. I know, it is not a new phenomenon. It's just worse now as the iPod ownership turn closer into a mainstream religion, soon, everyone will forget that the device can actually be used to listen to music.
I don't have an iPod, I guess I'm kind of an outCast. But I do have an mp3 player. That also doubles as a voice recorder. And an FM radio. And can also record from the radio. Is mass storage device compliant. USB 2.0. Yeah, it's also smaller than a pack of gum, but it has a screen too. I don't really care for WMA support though, because it implies evil MS DRM. Good old mp3 will do. Ok, I admit, my player is all scratched too, but it still plays music, and you can't hear the scratches, I promise!
¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
In the shouldn't you just be using it? department, it appears that users of Apple iPod Nano (a named easily derided a iPod no no) are more concerned by the eagerness of their device to be scratched than the dire lack of feature of their music player. Just google it. Some actually go to great length to restore the lost shine of their (several) iPod devices. See here. I know, it is not a new phenomenon. It's just worse now as the iPod ownership turn closer into a mainstream religion, soon, everyone will forget that the device can actually be used to listen to music.
I don't have an iPod, I guess I'm kind of an outCast. But I do have an mp3 player. That also doubles as a voice recorder. And an FM radio. And can also record from the radio. Is mass storage device compliant. USB 2.0. Yeah, it's also smaller than a pack of gum, but it has a screen too. I don't really care for WMA support though, because it implies evil MS DRM. Good old mp3 will do. Ok, I admit, my player is all scratched too, but it still plays music, and you can't hear the scratches, I promise!
¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
We need more of that kind of thinking
This designer is putting some thought in the interface that control things. She does it with the elderly/handicaped in mind, but I think this can be brought to the people too. There is no reason not to want simple to understand, simple to use things. Blinking time on the VCR anyone?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4272516.stm
Via Make ¶ 3:52 PM 0 comments
This designer is putting some thought in the interface that control things. She does it with the elderly/handicaped in mind, but I think this can be brought to the people too. There is no reason not to want simple to understand, simple to use things. Blinking time on the VCR anyone?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4272516.stm
Via Make ¶ 3:52 PM 0 comments
Wow, this actually could work
A long long long time ago, I started this dumb little posting tool that's just supposed to edit some text (with a rich text control) and hacked up rtf to html code of my own. The posting is just an email to the mail2blogger email.
I did not realize I was actually done, and I had never used it. It's not fancy by any means, but it gets the work done. My next step is gonna be to try it out on Mac and Linux with a recent version of mono.
¶ 11:48 AM 0 comments
A long long long time ago, I started this dumb little posting tool that's just supposed to edit some text (with a rich text control) and hacked up rtf to html code of my own. The posting is just an email to the mail2blogger email.
I did not realize I was actually done, and I had never used it. It's not fancy by any means, but it gets the work done. My next step is gonna be to try it out on Mac and Linux with a recent version of mono.
¶ 11:48 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Cogito ecto sum
Or ergo. This post highlights my test of ecto, available at http://ecto.kung-foo.tv/. So far, I'm not sure I really like it. Sure I like the fact there is a Windows and Mac version. I'm not crazy about the idea of paying for both versions. There's no Linux version either and that's kind of a bummer. No WYSIWYG editor either, what is this, 1995? Frontpage 1.0? Maybe for my needs I should stick to an email client and the auto post interface of Blogger... ¶ 11:39 AM 0 comments
Or ergo. This post highlights my test of ecto, available at http://ecto.kung-foo.tv/. So far, I'm not sure I really like it. Sure I like the fact there is a Windows and Mac version. I'm not crazy about the idea of paying for both versions. There's no Linux version either and that's kind of a bummer. No WYSIWYG editor either, what is this, 1995? Frontpage 1.0? Maybe for my needs I should stick to an email client and the auto post interface of Blogger... ¶ 11:39 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 26, 2005
Icky details
From the icky details of commercial profiling: how the recording industry shamelessly analyzes p2p download to slice and dice the market in ever smaller buckets. Bottom line: more of the same crap on the radio, pushed down your throats. Hurray. I don't listen to music on the radio, thanfully.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/05-08-22-the-chumbawamba-factor.shtml ¶ 4:42 PM 0 comments
From the icky details of commercial profiling: how the recording industry shamelessly analyzes p2p download to slice and dice the market in ever smaller buckets. Bottom line: more of the same crap on the radio, pushed down your throats. Hurray. I don't listen to music on the radio, thanfully.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/05-08-22-the-chumbawamba-factor.shtml ¶ 4:42 PM 0 comments
Now that sounds like a good idea!
Been missing a good DVD ripper for Linux or Mac, so I can rip with my idle Linux box (and not crash my windows machine once in a while, crappy windows!) Hopefully it works better than Drip (And I don't mean Drip does not work well, I mean it is totally impossible to even install)
http://handbrake.m0k.org/index.php ¶ 4:30 PM 0 comments
Been missing a good DVD ripper for Linux or Mac, so I can rip with my idle Linux box (and not crash my windows machine once in a while, crappy windows!) Hopefully it works better than Drip (And I don't mean Drip does not work well, I mean it is totally impossible to even install)
http://handbrake.m0k.org/index.php ¶ 4:30 PM 0 comments
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
How about this?
I'll be talking to you, having a convincing conversation, but I'll be lying to your face. And you will know it. It will be obvious, yet, you won't get upset. I'll make claims that are doubtful, yet you will still want to believe me.
Does not sound like it could happen, right? Ok, I'll be talking to you but I'll have a little pin on my jacket that says: "What I am saying actually does not happen often."
Still not convinced? Try this as a tv commercial. The lose weight in your sleep kind. Unrealasitic claims and testimonial on how easy it is and how it works like magic. Unfortunately: results not typical. That's the little pin on the jacket. ¶ 12:51 PM 0 comments
I'll be talking to you, having a convincing conversation, but I'll be lying to your face. And you will know it. It will be obvious, yet, you won't get upset. I'll make claims that are doubtful, yet you will still want to believe me.
Does not sound like it could happen, right? Ok, I'll be talking to you but I'll have a little pin on my jacket that says: "What I am saying actually does not happen often."
Still not convinced? Try this as a tv commercial. The lose weight in your sleep kind. Unrealasitic claims and testimonial on how easy it is and how it works like magic. Unfortunately: results not typical. That's the little pin on the jacket. ¶ 12:51 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Tired of H2
Darn. Not a day without a stupid post on how hydrogen will save us all. That was on Autoblog. Here:
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000920060001/
Darn. Not a day without a stupid post on how hydrogen will save us all. That was on Autoblog. Here:
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000920060001/
Apparently alot of investors have not taken physics 101. But I'll spare the audience a pedantic lecture about conservation of energy and entropy. But there is a simple somewhat accurate description:Well, yeah, that was a totally pointless exercise. Vain attempt at education. ¶ 11:59 PM 0 comments
Fuel cell create electricity by combining hydrogen (pure hydrogen) from a tank and oxygen from the air (plenty of it for free around us) and it form water. Good old H2O. Or summarized, like this:
Hydrogen + Oxygen => Water + Energy (electric energy here)
It turns out the this is reversible. To get hydrogen from water, just apply energym and miracle, you get Hydrogen and Oxygen (and not for free, you spent some electricity doing that)
Then it is pretty obvious that any scheme proposing to power a car by storing WATER in a tank will obviously NEED ANOTHER SOURCE OF ENERGY to get the hydrogen out of the water to be used. Whatever smoke screen of catalyst and faux scientifistic principle is presented. It's bad science.
It's like claiming you have an internal combustion engine that runs on exhaust fume. Well that's not possible.
There are zillions of chemical reaction that will lead to the production of hydrogen (chemistry 101, metal + acid => salt + hydrogen) but the energy comes from the chemical reaction. HYDROGEN HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE.
Thank you for letting me rant. I've read so many inept comment about how Hydrogen I just had to vent a little.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Portable Linux on my Thumbdrive.
I'm a big fan of Make and an even better fan of their blog (helped by the fact that Philip Torrone maintains it). I recently got my attention grabbed by this post showing this one (furry goat, haha): transport your own Windows CE image and emulator along on your thumbdrive. Wherever you go, just pop in your thumbdrive and you see all your apps, bookmark and whatnot.
Only problem: it's Windows CE. Designed for PDAs and mobile devices, won't run anything but CE apps. Especially won't run Firefox. And also there is the (not even asked) question of licensing. I'm too lazy too dig, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft did not intend their emulator to be used in that fashion.
It's a cool idea though. So I just wanted to roll my own. From what I did, it seems even simpler than the Windows CE version.
Step 1: aquire software.
I mean, download software. You need:
Step 2: configure and install.
Unpack your QEMU somewhere. Use the qemu-img.exe command to create a file for the hard disk image. I successfully fit a DSL install in 150 MB. It's pretty tight though, I have only 10MB left after install. I named my file c.img.
You should also have the DSL iso handy. I suggest that you copy it in the qemu folder for convenience. Mine is named dsl-1.5.iso. You only need it there for installation. Open a command prompt and start the emulation with this:
qemu.exe -L . -m 192 -hda c.img -cdrom dsl-1.5.iso -boot d -enable-audio -localtime
See the qemu doc for the meaning of it. -m 192 is the amount of memory to use for the guest OS. Obviously should be adjusted according the the amount of physical memory you have.
If everything goes well, DSL should boot and you should be looking at some X desktop. Open an xterm there (as root, just spend a minute getting familiar with the shell. Right click on the desktop, that's pretty much all you need to know). You need to create a partition on you virtual hard disk. Use fdisk for that. If you don't know how what or why, google it. star fdisk like this:
fdisk /dev/hda
Then at the prompt, it's probably a similar series of command like this (from memory) n, p, 1,, , w. This should create a new primary partition named hda1, filling the entire space of the virtual disk.
Then run the dsl installer:
dsl-hdinstall
And follow the onscreen instructions. At the end of the installation, you should just close the emulated os. Relaunch qemu without the cd image.
qemu.exe -L . -m 192 -hda c.img -boot c -enable-audio -localtime
And then finish the install. With hat last command, I also created a batch file so I just double click to launch the emulation. You can also remove the dsl-1.5.iso as this time.
There you have it. A fully emulated OS. Portable. Litterally. Copy the qemu folder on your thumb drive and you are good to go.
Inspired/related links:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/pictureframe/ this is where I learned about DSL.
http://www.oszoo.org/download.html good help, eplanation, premade images for qemu
http://ashishpatil.blogspot.com/ where I learned about qemu. Originally, I tried to use bochs (http://bochs.sourceforge.net/) but the emulation is so slow that it is unusable.
http://m2.dad-answers.com/qemu-forum/ the qemu forums. Quite helpful to figure things out.
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/09/how_to_portable_ce_20.html the make post that gave me the idea to roll my own.
http://www.furrygoat.com/2005/09/portable_ce_20.html the one with Windows CE emulator. (furry goat!)
Here's screenshot with my install running:
¶ 7:10 PM 12 comments
I'm a big fan of Make and an even better fan of their blog (helped by the fact that Philip Torrone maintains it). I recently got my attention grabbed by this post showing this one (furry goat, haha): transport your own Windows CE image and emulator along on your thumbdrive. Wherever you go, just pop in your thumbdrive and you see all your apps, bookmark and whatnot.
Only problem: it's Windows CE. Designed for PDAs and mobile devices, won't run anything but CE apps. Especially won't run Firefox. And also there is the (not even asked) question of licensing. I'm too lazy too dig, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft did not intend their emulator to be used in that fashion.
It's a cool idea though. So I just wanted to roll my own. From what I did, it seems even simpler than the Windows CE version.
Step 1: aquire software.
I mean, download software. You need:
- - Qemu but in my case, I really wanted the Windows port. So I grabbed it from here: http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~kazuw/qemu-win/qemu-0.7.1-windows-1.zip
- - Any distribution of linux you like. Obviously, I wanted something that would fit nicely on my USB drive (it's only 2GB). I picked DSL. Stands for Damn Small Linux.
Step 2: configure and install.
Unpack your QEMU somewhere. Use the qemu-img.exe command to create a file for the hard disk image. I successfully fit a DSL install in 150 MB. It's pretty tight though, I have only 10MB left after install. I named my file c.img.
You should also have the DSL iso handy. I suggest that you copy it in the qemu folder for convenience. Mine is named dsl-1.5.iso. You only need it there for installation. Open a command prompt and start the emulation with this:
qemu.exe -L . -m 192 -hda c.img -cdrom dsl-1.5.iso -boot d -enable-audio -localtime
See the qemu doc for the meaning of it. -m 192 is the amount of memory to use for the guest OS. Obviously should be adjusted according the the amount of physical memory you have.
If everything goes well, DSL should boot and you should be looking at some X desktop. Open an xterm there (as root, just spend a minute getting familiar with the shell. Right click on the desktop, that's pretty much all you need to know). You need to create a partition on you virtual hard disk. Use fdisk for that. If you don't know how what or why, google it. star fdisk like this:
fdisk /dev/hda
Then at the prompt, it's probably a similar series of command like this (from memory) n, p, 1,
dsl-hdinstall
And follow the onscreen instructions. At the end of the installation, you should just close the emulated os. Relaunch qemu without the cd image.
qemu.exe -L . -m 192 -hda c.img -boot c -enable-audio -localtime
And then finish the install. With hat last command, I also created a batch file so I just double click to launch the emulation. You can also remove the dsl-1.5.iso as this time.
Inspired/related links:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/pictureframe/ this is where I learned about DSL.
http://www.oszoo.org/download.html good help, eplanation, premade images for qemu
http://ashishpatil.blogspot.com/ where I learned about qemu. Originally, I tried to use bochs (http://bochs.sourceforge.net/) but the emulation is so slow that it is unusable.
http://m2.dad-answers.com/qemu-forum/ the qemu forums. Quite helpful to figure things out.
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/09/how_to_portable_ce_20.html the make post that gave me the idea to roll my own.
http://www.furrygoat.com/2005/09/portable_ce_20.html the one with Windows CE emulator. (furry goat!)
Here's screenshot with my install running:
¶ 7:10 PM 12 comments
Sunday, September 18, 2005
NerdTV
Not its own channel yet, but the name is appealing. Haven't seen it yet, yet it's the second episode out!
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/ ¶ 10:49 PM 0 comments
Not its own channel yet, but the name is appealing. Haven't seen it yet, yet it's the second episode out!
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/ ¶ 10:49 PM 0 comments
We're just one ribbon away
One ribbon short of winning the war on terrorism, bringing peace to Iraq or whatever. These people can help your addiction. Even make your own, so not only can you have a bigger SUV, bigger swimming pool and bigger ass than your neighbors, but you can also have even more meaningless ribbons.
http://supportourribbons.com/index.php ¶ 3:38 PM 0 comments
One ribbon short of winning the war on terrorism, bringing peace to Iraq or whatever. These people can help your addiction. Even make your own, so not only can you have a bigger SUV, bigger swimming pool and bigger ass than your neighbors, but you can also have even more meaningless ribbons.
http://supportourribbons.com/index.php ¶ 3:38 PM 0 comments
You're all a bunch of Slaxer
Live distribution of Linux are a dime a dozen, but this one has a sleek website :) and also it uses the union FS, making readonly filesystem look writeable, with a copy on write scheme, keeping the changes in memory.
http://slax.linux-live.org/ ¶ 12:51 AM 0 comments
Live distribution of Linux are a dime a dozen, but this one has a sleek website :) and also it uses the union FS, making readonly filesystem look writeable, with a copy on write scheme, keeping the changes in memory.
http://slax.linux-live.org/ ¶ 12:51 AM 0 comments
3d for everyone.
Just interesting how on TV (TV!) the show proposes that you hack your way to a device that definitely was not purposed to be used in that fashion. Bet the CVS people aren't exactly happy about this.
http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/features/52286/Modding_the_CVS_Camera_.html ¶ 12:32 AM 0 comments
Just interesting how on TV (TV!) the show proposes that you hack your way to a device that definitely was not purposed to be used in that fashion. Bet the CVS people aren't exactly happy about this.
http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/features/52286/Modding_the_CVS_Camera_.html ¶ 12:32 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 16, 2005
I built it, it does not mean I like it.
Kinda like those Albertson's employee, when asked where insert name of whatever product you never find in the store is hiding and say I can try to help you, but I don't actually shop here, Scott Berkun switched to Firefox. He did shop at Albertson's for a long time though.
Read from : [http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/09/14/scott-berkun-goes-firefox/]
His post: [http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/?p=115] ¶ 3:32 PM 0 comments
Kinda like those Albertson's employee, when asked where insert name of whatever product you never find in the store is hiding and say I can try to help you, but I don't actually shop here, Scott Berkun switched to Firefox. He did shop at Albertson's for a long time though.
Read from : [http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/09/14/scott-berkun-goes-firefox/]
His post: [http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/?p=115] ¶ 3:32 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Double Combo
Good combo of two good things: cameras and hardware hack!
http://www.camerahacker.com/Hacks.html ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
Good combo of two good things: cameras and hardware hack!
http://www.camerahacker.com/Hacks.html ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
RSS Flickr
Now that's a cool use of RSS/Javascript and all those kind of junk. flickr is cool.
http://www.slower.net/slowerlog/2005/09/flickr-rss-widget.php ¶ 11:10 AM 0 comments
Now that's a cool use of RSS/Javascript and all those kind of junk. flickr is cool.
http://www.slower.net/slowerlog/2005/09/flickr-rss-widget.php ¶ 11:10 AM 0 comments
RAD for WEB
Ruby is probably a weird language. Still, I'll take a look at this.
http://www.rubyonrails.org/
http://www.railsplayground.com/ ¶ 11:07 AM 0 comments
Ruby is probably a weird language. Still, I'll take a look at this.
http://www.rubyonrails.org/
http://www.railsplayground.com/ ¶ 11:07 AM 0 comments
"Idle Tofu"
I spent too much time reading band names generated here:
http://www.bandnamemaker.com/
Too much time I'm telling you. ¶ 12:01 AM 0 comments
I spent too much time reading band names generated here:
http://www.bandnamemaker.com/
Tricky Oasis and the Checkered Witch
Sponsored Disgrace of the Backup Fissure
Barbie of the Smell Papaya
Machine Virgin
Too much time I'm telling you. ¶ 12:01 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
For good reference
I just spend 3 hours trying to find this. Well, I just could have used my memory...
youremblem.com
At least now I know I put it there. For your car. A custom sign. Your emblem... ¶ 1:31 AM 0 comments
I just spend 3 hours trying to find this. Well, I just could have used my memory...
youremblem.com
At least now I know I put it there. For your car. A custom sign. Your emblem... ¶ 1:31 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 12, 2005
Somebody told me this was good
So I guess this is to be believed. I'll check it out sometimes. I don't have my hopes up though because usually forums are trolled by fly-by novices who always ask the same variation of the same question without caring to search. We'll see.
http://forums.howwhatwhy.com/ubbthreads.php ¶ 11:47 PM 0 comments
So I guess this is to be believed. I'll check it out sometimes. I don't have my hopes up though because usually forums are trolled by fly-by novices who always ask the same variation of the same question without caring to search. We'll see.
http://forums.howwhatwhy.com/ubbthreads.php ¶ 11:47 PM 0 comments
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Long long rant
And for once it is not mine. Some of it makes sense. Especially the stuff about spacial navigation. Folders, trees and the likes don't just cut it. Not that the Jurassic Park SGI 3D interface like is any better.
http://juicability.blogspot.com/2005/09/top-8-reasons-hci-is-in-its-stone-age.html ¶ 11:30 PM 0 comments
And for once it is not mine. Some of it makes sense. Especially the stuff about spacial navigation. Folders, trees and the likes don't just cut it. Not that the Jurassic Park SGI 3D interface like is any better.
http://juicability.blogspot.com/2005/09/top-8-reasons-hci-is-in-its-stone-age.html ¶ 11:30 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 09, 2005
QEMU
I'll keep an eye on this one. Qemu is a PC (or other) emulator. It looks like it works better than Bochs, which I never could manage to make work on Windows (even though it worked quite well on my iBook, only very slow). This sounds much better, even if it looks French. And it also emulates other architecture. As in a shitload of other CPUs, emulated or hosts. Worth a look.
http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/ ¶ 11:19 PM 0 comments
I'll keep an eye on this one. Qemu is a PC (or other) emulator. It looks like it works better than Bochs, which I never could manage to make work on Windows (even though it worked quite well on my iBook, only very slow). This sounds much better, even if it looks French. And it also emulates other architecture. As in a shitload of other CPUs, emulated or hosts. Worth a look.
http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/ ¶ 11:19 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Cool Project Blog
http://www.terrik.com/wordpress/
The tape cassette recorder became hard drive.
http://www.terrik.com/wordpress/archives/2005/09/05/usb-hd/ ¶ 9:17 AM 0 comments
http://www.terrik.com/wordpress/
The tape cassette recorder became hard drive.
http://www.terrik.com/wordpress/archives/2005/09/05/usb-hd/ ¶ 9:17 AM 0 comments
200 MPH!
http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/C1516441744/E20050830171054/index.html
For some reason it tastes salty. ¶ 12:05 AM 0 comments
http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/C1516441744/E20050830171054/index.html
For some reason it tastes salty. ¶ 12:05 AM 0 comments
A toybrain?
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000530057268/
Nothing related. I'm watching Aquateen Hunger Force. I should be in bed. Me no care. ¶ 12:03 AM 0 comments
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000530057268/
Nothing related. I'm watching Aquateen Hunger Force. I should be in bed. Me no care. ¶ 12:03 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 05, 2005
CG Wow!
I'm pretty sure this forum is used for CG artists to get good ego boosts. For most of them, it is quite well deserved. I'm just windering if all of them own the work they show. Some are obviously commercial and it is quite surprising those individuals post their work there. In any case, most are awesome!
http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=121 ¶ 12:20 AM 0 comments
I'm pretty sure this forum is used for CG artists to get good ego boosts. For most of them, it is quite well deserved. I'm just windering if all of them own the work they show. Some are obviously commercial and it is quite surprising those individuals post their work there. In any case, most are awesome!
http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=121 ¶ 12:20 AM 0 comments
Sunday, September 04, 2005
From the amazing world of the appallingly stupid
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/...
Yet another good reason not to buy a lexmark printer. Sometimes I wish some somanies would sink and die. But for this one I also wished everyone would forget it even existed.
Bottom line: don't buy a lexmark printer. Lexmark sucks. ¶ 7:58 PM 0 comments
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/...
Yet another good reason not to buy a lexmark printer. Sometimes I wish some somanies would sink and die. But for this one I also wished everyone would forget it even existed.
Bottom line: don't buy a lexmark printer. Lexmark sucks. ¶ 7:58 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 02, 2005
Some people.
Some people are just so good at what they do. And they share it with the world.
http://www.mattcioffi.com/cgsamples.htm ¶ 5:36 PM 0 comments
Some people are just so good at what they do. And they share it with the world.
http://www.mattcioffi.com/cgsamples.htm ¶ 5:36 PM 0 comments
Opensource hinders police investigation
Gee, that's a load of whine:
http://news.com.com/2100-7348-5845409.html?tag=tb
So please be kind to those officers that are out to get you, use IE because it's easier for them to gather evidence against you. Using your own computer. Don't get me wrong: criminals deserve to be busted, but the law and their officer really need to be on top of their game. Especially when they whine about Firefox. Last time I checked, Firefox was opensource, available to anyone and I don't see why it is harder to figure out the format for the cache and history.
Hopefully, criminals won't use a Linux box or worse, a Mac.
"Now, how do you turn this thing on?"
"The keyboard is white. Is it normal?" ¶ 10:48 AM 0 comments
Gee, that's a load of whine:
http://news.com.com/2100-7348-5845409.html?tag=tb
So please be kind to those officers that are out to get you, use IE because it's easier for them to gather evidence against you. Using your own computer. Don't get me wrong: criminals deserve to be busted, but the law and their officer really need to be on top of their game. Especially when they whine about Firefox. Last time I checked, Firefox was opensource, available to anyone and I don't see why it is harder to figure out the format for the cache and history.
Hopefully, criminals won't use a Linux box or worse, a Mac.
"Now, how do you turn this thing on?"
"The keyboard is white. Is it normal?" ¶ 10:48 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Late night posts are not the best one.
I'll try to make this a short run. I'm just watching TV again. Gee. What a waste. You'd think that after year 2000, advertisers would have a better way to profile me. Here it is: male, 32, married. System Analyst. Computer geek. With just that information, the mighty ad computer system could just (correctly) guess that I never, ever, ever want to see tv ads in the following categories:
I'll try to make this a short run. I'm just watching TV again. Gee. What a waste. You'd think that after year 2000, advertisers would have a better way to profile me. Here it is: male, 32, married. System Analyst. Computer geek. With just that information, the mighty ad computer system could just (correctly) guess that I never, ever, ever want to see tv ads in the following categories:
- Feminine Hygiene products in general, and especially tampons. Even if they are unbelievable easy to glide in. Guessed from I'm a man
- Kids junk. But especially diapers. I do not care for the fetish of kids'shit. Guessed from computer geek. Man.
- Phone meeting local hot chicks service. Dude, even if I was not married, this has to be the lamest most loser service thing.
- Dialup internet services. Neither Netscape, Netzero, PeoplePC, AOL, MSN and all the other losers. btw, this is the 21st century. Save the dialup for other countries. Yes, I already have broadband.
- Insurance companies. Because, really, claiming that you're the cheapest service around 24/7 on tv doesn't mean you are the cheapest. And people just won't shop for insurance unless they really have to. Give us a break. Take a hike. Save on advertisement and post a slightly higher profit for your shareholders. And fuck the lizard PR as well.
- Ditech.com
Skoopy is not spooky!
Mini cars. A really cool photoshop art!
http://media.skoopy.com/misc/minicars/ ¶ 9:30 AM 0 comments
Mini cars. A really cool photoshop art!
http://media.skoopy.com/misc/minicars/ ¶ 9:30 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Me! Me! Me!
IBM to supply advanced data-mining tool to GM:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/31/ibm-to-supply-advanced-search-tool-to-gm/
Wow! I have one for you: Chevy malibu 2001, failed water pump at 40,000 miles. Failed water pump at 75,000 miles. Failed intake manifold gasket at 75,000 miles. Wait. That's not gonna help. Both failures were past the warranty period. Especially the fucked up gasket, even past any hypothetical extended warranty period (which I fortunately had not paid for) So the fancy schmancy system wouldn't help me after all.
Well, that's putting a lot of hope in the system. And too much credit on the flexibility of engineering/decision maker/factories involved. When the design is set in stone, it is set in stone.
Good effort though. Extra brownie point to IBM to sell something to GM. Good PR coverage too. Not gonna get caught buying GM twice though. ¶ 4:31 PM 0 comments
IBM to supply advanced data-mining tool to GM:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/31/ibm-to-supply-advanced-search-tool-to-gm/
Wow! I have one for you: Chevy malibu 2001, failed water pump at 40,000 miles. Failed water pump at 75,000 miles. Failed intake manifold gasket at 75,000 miles. Wait. That's not gonna help. Both failures were past the warranty period. Especially the fucked up gasket, even past any hypothetical extended warranty period (which I fortunately had not paid for) So the fancy schmancy system wouldn't help me after all.
For example, consistent blog postings about a faulty part could lead GM engineers to address the issue earlier than they otherwise would, fixing the problem for cars still under assembly.
Well, that's putting a lot of hope in the system. And too much credit on the flexibility of engineering/decision maker/factories involved. When the design is set in stone, it is set in stone.
Good effort though. Extra brownie point to IBM to sell something to GM. Good PR coverage too. Not gonna get caught buying GM twice though. ¶ 4:31 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
PCWorld FUD
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122347,00.asp
Nonono. Don't try to get any information besides the heaping scoop of FUD in that article. You can try to find the actual announcement form secunia. It's here, at http://secunia.com/advisories/16560/ and it carries a little green icon. Severity: not critical. In other words, who cares. There's a flaw in regedit.exe. Not the registry. The secunia announcement is a little closer to the facts. The scumware still can't hide from anti-spyware tools.
In any case, be it a underhanded plug for their advertizers (who sell antispyware tools) or completely honest, at least it reminds everyone to use a spyware removing tool dammit! ¶ 2:48 PM 0 comments
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122347,00.asp
Nonono. Don't try to get any information besides the heaping scoop of FUD in that article. You can try to find the actual announcement form secunia. It's here, at http://secunia.com/advisories/16560/ and it carries a little green icon. Severity: not critical. In other words, who cares. There's a flaw in regedit.exe. Not the registry. The secunia announcement is a little closer to the facts. The scumware still can't hide from anti-spyware tools.
In its advisory, Secunia provided several solutions to avoid exploitation of the vulnerability, one of which is to ensure that systems have up-to-date anti-virus and spyware detection software installed.
In any case, be it a underhanded plug for their advertizers (who sell antispyware tools) or completely honest, at least it reminds everyone to use a spyware removing tool dammit! ¶ 2:48 PM 0 comments
Monday, August 29, 2005
Amazing
The question was: Google, good or evil?
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/27/ask-dowload-squad/#comments
The comments are appaling. Google is a company. It is there for a reason:
1. Make money.
2. See #1.
Wether it is perceived as good or evil is irrelevant. Business ventures will be pursued, now opportunity will be discovered and expension will ensue. This is how business live and grow.
Google is sitting on an incredible amount of cash. And cash is good to fuel expansion, which they hope will bring more cash. Profit is good. Growth is better. They also have a good reputation. They attract and retain talent. This is not out of the blue. This is powered by a clear vision. Bwing vilified by the press is kinda weird. What were they thinking was going to happen?
Look at Yahoo. They have 25 times as many web site/services/content as Google. And still growing. Never seen a Yahoo: good or evil question.
Same thing for Walmart vs Target, P&G vs Johnson & Johnson. This is business. The rules are known and they are all experienced players. Some enjoy relatively better reputation (be it from good PR or good luck) but they are all in there for the same thing: (an extra bonus point for who can name the thing) And no, this is not low rate mortgage refinancing, comment spammer scumbag. ¶ 4:37 PM 0 comments
The question was: Google, good or evil?
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/27/ask-dowload-squad/#comments
The comments are appaling. Google is a company. It is there for a reason:
1. Make money.
2. See #1.
Wether it is perceived as good or evil is irrelevant. Business ventures will be pursued, now opportunity will be discovered and expension will ensue. This is how business live and grow.
Google is sitting on an incredible amount of cash. And cash is good to fuel expansion, which they hope will bring more cash. Profit is good. Growth is better. They also have a good reputation. They attract and retain talent. This is not out of the blue. This is powered by a clear vision. Bwing vilified by the press is kinda weird. What were they thinking was going to happen?
Look at Yahoo. They have 25 times as many web site/services/content as Google. And still growing. Never seen a Yahoo: good or evil question.
Same thing for Walmart vs Target, P&G vs Johnson & Johnson. This is business. The rules are known and they are all experienced players. Some enjoy relatively better reputation (be it from good PR or good luck) but they are all in there for the same thing: (an extra bonus point for who can name the thing) And no, this is not low rate mortgage refinancing, comment spammer scumbag. ¶ 4:37 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 26, 2005
Thank you for wasting my time
But it's my fault in the first place. Thanks to miniclip.com (and downloadsquad) I've been playing this funny little flashgame: http://miniclip.com/drcarter.htm
The game is a blast! ¶ 1:50 PM 0 comments
But it's my fault in the first place. Thanks to miniclip.com (and downloadsquad) I've been playing this funny little flashgame: http://miniclip.com/drcarter.htm
The game is a blast! ¶ 1:50 PM 0 comments
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Liked that opinion
Pretty much matches mine. Worth a read:
http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2005/08/just_enough_pir.html ¶ 4:11 PM 0 comments
Pretty much matches mine. Worth a read:
http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2005/08/just_enough_pir.html ¶ 4:11 PM 0 comments
Cleaner web with AJAX
For those who know, AJAX is a household cleaner (at least where I grew up) But it seems it turned into a good new web buzzword. Probably thanks to Google maps and gmail.
http://ajax.schwarz-interactive.de/csharpsample/default.aspx
One day, I'll have to try that Internet thing everyone is talking about, I heard a lot of good things are out there. ¶ 2:35 PM 0 comments
For those who know, AJAX is a household cleaner (at least where I grew up) But it seems it turned into a good new web buzzword. Probably thanks to Google maps and gmail.
http://ajax.schwarz-interactive.de/csharpsample/default.aspx
One day, I'll have to try that Internet thing everyone is talking about, I heard a lot of good things are out there. ¶ 2:35 PM 0 comments
Dvorak again
This one from Dvorak is quite so so. But there is a very funny (and right on) piece about Blackberry users.
They are all pigeon feeders addicted people.
Read the whole article. ¶ 11:38 AM 0 comments
This one from Dvorak is quite so so. But there is a very funny (and right on) piece about Blackberry users.
The BlackBerry incorporates both e-mail and an addictive mechanism. That mechanism is the click-reward system that works with slot machines and pigeon feeders. It's highly addictive to humans. This is exacerbated by its ritualistic nature—and ritualism is often found with addictions. I have never known a BlackBerry user who has not pulled out the device numerous times in my presence, almost like a cigarette smoker fiddling with a pack. When combined with the apparently IQ-sapping e-mail delivery, it begins to sound like something from a creepy science fiction story where an alien device enslaves a population. The magical aspect of this little device cannot be ignored either. IQ is bound to drop when we turn ourselves over to magic.
They are all pigeon feeders addicted people.
Read the whole article. ¶ 11:38 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Better than sniffing paint!
Those brave people produced their own show. Unfortunately it looks like they are victim of their own success and I could not download their last episode at all. Drats!
Well, actually I could, at 2.3 KB!!!/s. No I don't have dialup. Smoke signals would probalby be faster. Albeit with a higher error rate, cuz Indiana is far far away from me :)
http://www.packetsniffers.org/
Update: turns out that cable is better than DSL. I downloaded the whole show at maxed out speed of around 450 KB/s!
The show is awesome. Go download it and watch it. DIYish, hardware hacks, and they are not afraid to pry things open, tinker, solder directly on the back of the truck. The video prod is cool too. Instead of editing out parts, they go through the cutting/fitting/drilling parts in super fast motion. This gives scenes a sense of smoothness and gives the viewer a sense of not missing anything fron the action.
Awesome! ¶ 4:32 PM 1 comments
Those brave people produced their own show. Unfortunately it looks like they are victim of their own success and I could not download their last episode at all. Drats!
Well, actually I could, at 2.3 KB!!!/s. No I don't have dialup. Smoke signals would probalby be faster. Albeit with a higher error rate, cuz Indiana is far far away from me :)
http://www.packetsniffers.org/
Update: turns out that cable is better than DSL. I downloaded the whole show at maxed out speed of around 450 KB/s!
The show is awesome. Go download it and watch it. DIYish, hardware hacks, and they are not afraid to pry things open, tinker, solder directly on the back of the truck. The video prod is cool too. Instead of editing out parts, they go through the cutting/fitting/drilling parts in super fast motion. This gives scenes a sense of smoothness and gives the viewer a sense of not missing anything fron the action.
Awesome! ¶ 4:32 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Better logo
Not Lego, logo, the language. I always thought logo's result could be amazingly cool. Unfortunately the syntax really really sucks in my opinion (and I realized why when I read a blurb about it describing it as a descendant of Lisp, eeeeck).
Well, we're all saved, this is my dream app. I mean, I almost started to write something similar, albeit, mine would have been all crappy, half finished and definitely not fit to made public.
http://www.ozonehouse.com/ContextFree/ ¶ 11:28 PM 0 comments
Not Lego, logo, the language. I always thought logo's result could be amazingly cool. Unfortunately the syntax really really sucks in my opinion (and I realized why when I read a blurb about it describing it as a descendant of Lisp, eeeeck).
Well, we're all saved, this is my dream app. I mean, I almost started to write something similar, albeit, mine would have been all crappy, half finished and definitely not fit to made public.
http://www.ozonehouse.com/ContextFree/ ¶ 11:28 PM 0 comments
Let your head escape
Or so he sez:
http://www.escapemyhead.com/
I heard of those Rhino liner addicted men. Now there's evidence they actually exist! ¶ 11:07 PM 0 comments
Or so he sez:
http://www.escapemyhead.com/
I heard of those Rhino liner addicted men. Now there's evidence they actually exist! ¶ 11:07 PM 0 comments
I screen for a screen
Everybody needs his own screen!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/35437253/in/pool-make/ ¶ 4:52 PM 0 comments
Everybody needs his own screen!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/35437253/in/pool-make/ ¶ 4:52 PM 0 comments
This hard game
Hard for a computer, easy for a human. I'm finally getting my revenge on those stupid reversi games!
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/ ¶ 4:49 PM 0 comments
Hard for a computer, easy for a human. I'm finally getting my revenge on those stupid reversi games!
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/ ¶ 4:49 PM 0 comments
Digital Lomo
Nope, you don't need an overpriced piece of junk lomo camera to obtain the same poor ass result as you would. I know, Lomo is a cult, any attempt at re-creation of the same effects (flaws) of the camera is at best a fraud. But if you want to do it anyway, here's a good how to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/technique/discuss/12082/ ¶ 2:20 PM 0 comments
Nope, you don't need an overpriced piece of junk lomo camera to obtain the same poor ass result as you would. I know, Lomo is a cult, any attempt at re-creation of the same effects (flaws) of the camera is at best a fraud. But if you want to do it anyway, here's a good how to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/technique/discuss/12082/ ¶ 2:20 PM 0 comments
Monday, August 22, 2005
Whole bunch of geeky crap
And Linux crap too. Wait. That's all there is. I just glanced at the page, and thought I'd come back later. Hence this entry.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/pictureframe/ ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
And Linux crap too. Wait. That's all there is. I just glanced at the page, and thought I'd come back later. Hence this entry.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/pictureframe/ ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
More nostalgia
The description is in the name. My very first introduction to digital photography was with a Canon Ion, behind the locked glass doors at the electronic store. Only worked with the (grossly overpriced) Mac (System 6, bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) and sold for an arm and a leg (at least for my teen budget of about $5)
The description on the page mentions the shady Canon practices: $499 will get you the camera. Another $999 will get you the battery, one floppy disk, and the capture card with sucky software that only runs on sucky Mac (68k Mac, double beeeeerk)
Sounds like they were inspired by some NY based business.
http://www.digicamhistory.com/1988.html
The whole collection of history is a gem too. Not just the Canon Ion nostalgia. ¶ 10:32 PM 0 comments
The description is in the name. My very first introduction to digital photography was with a Canon Ion, behind the locked glass doors at the electronic store. Only worked with the (grossly overpriced) Mac (System 6, bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) and sold for an arm and a leg (at least for my teen budget of about $5)
The description on the page mentions the shady Canon practices: $499 will get you the camera. Another $999 will get you the battery, one floppy disk, and the capture card with sucky software that only runs on sucky Mac (68k Mac, double beeeeerk)
Sounds like they were inspired by some NY based business.
http://www.digicamhistory.com/1988.html
The whole collection of history is a gem too. Not just the Canon Ion nostalgia. ¶ 10:32 PM 0 comments
Fear nothing for you are being watched
Same old dilemna: You should not be afraid to be watched since you're honest and have nothing to hide. You did not even know that all those printouts pointed at you. Only lasers, only in colors though.
http://www.bunniestudios.com/wordpress/?p=48
Although the person performing the hack did hack his/her scanner, it should be possible to just scan normally in high-res and filter carefully in Photoshop. Those little dots are just ink, so they should be visible with careful filtering. I think I'll try tonight. ¶ 3:33 PM 0 comments
Same old dilemna: You should not be afraid to be watched since you're honest and have nothing to hide. You did not even know that all those printouts pointed at you. Only lasers, only in colors though.
http://www.bunniestudios.com/wordpress/?p=48
Although the person performing the hack did hack his/her scanner, it should be possible to just scan normally in high-res and filter carefully in Photoshop. Those little dots are just ink, so they should be visible with careful filtering. I think I'll try tonight. ¶ 3:33 PM 0 comments
No wonder they look pretty!
This is retouching raised to an art:
http://glennferon.com.nyud.net:8090/portfolio1/index.html
Or "How to transform a succubus into a hot model". What's telling is the kind of deformed image of women this is projecting. Attaining perfection really is not possible. ¶ 3:18 PM 0 comments
This is retouching raised to an art:
http://glennferon.com.nyud.net:8090/portfolio1/index.html
Or "How to transform a succubus into a hot model". What's telling is the kind of deformed image of women this is projecting. Attaining perfection really is not possible. ¶ 3:18 PM 0 comments
Not your ordinary steak sauce
It has a nice twist. Actual pictures from the street. Cool.
http://maps.a9.com/ ¶ 12:05 AM 0 comments
It has a nice twist. Actual pictures from the street. Cool.
http://maps.a9.com/ ¶ 12:05 AM 0 comments
IE3 for everyone
Those people took the time to repackage every significant version of IE to run in stand alone mode. IE3 looks the best. This has a special nostalgia value for me since I was a die hard IE user (and then I switched to Firefox)
http://browsers.evolt.org/?/ie/32bit/standalone ¶ 12:01 AM 0 comments
Those people took the time to repackage every significant version of IE to run in stand alone mode. IE3 looks the best. This has a special nostalgia value for me since I was a die hard IE user (and then I switched to Firefox)
http://browsers.evolt.org/?/ie/32bit/standalone ¶ 12:01 AM 0 comments
Color a blending
No, I will probably never use it, but I still think it's cool. Now go try it and make your own colors.
http://www.colorblender.com/ ¶ 12:00 AM 0 comments
No, I will probably never use it, but I still think it's cool. Now go try it and make your own colors.
http://www.colorblender.com/ ¶ 12:00 AM 0 comments
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Tired of du?
This is something I thought I needed. I'm pretty fed up with du in a terminal to track which folder is hogging disk space on my iBook. This will make it a little easier.
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
And actually, what I really want is a SequoiaView for MacOSX.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/ ¶ 11:55 PM 0 comments
This is something I thought I needed. I'm pretty fed up with du in a terminal to track which folder is hogging disk space on my iBook. This will make it a little easier.
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
And actually, what I really want is a SequoiaView for MacOSX.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/ ¶ 11:55 PM 0 comments
Blogger for Word
Blogger for Word
Now you can use Blogger right within Microsoft® Word. Just download and install the Blogger for Word add-in and a Blogger toolbar will be added to Word allowing you to:
Blogger for Word
Now you can use Blogger right within Microsoft® Word. Just download and install the Blogger for Word add-in and a Blogger toolbar will be added to Word allowing you to:
- Publish to your blog
- Save drafts
- Edit posts
Authentic
And all photoshop tutorial and all. Cool.
http://www.cameronmoll.com/ ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
And all photoshop tutorial and all. Cool.
http://www.cameronmoll.com/ ¶ 10:43 PM 0 comments
I'm back!
It's long winded but it is entertaining, in a very geeky way.
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Boot_Code_of_the_Xbox
note: the picture is just of where I was. Too bad I had to come back. ¶ 2:40 PM 0 comments
It's long winded but it is entertaining, in a very geeky way.
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Boot_Code_of_the_Xbox
note: the picture is just of where I was. Too bad I had to come back. ¶ 2:40 PM 0 comments
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Friday, August 12, 2005
Wooof!
Black dog project. This sounds kinda cool! Load up your solitaire (KSol?) and off you go!
http://www.projectblackdog.com/site/product.html ¶ 4:35 PM 0 comments
Black dog project. This sounds kinda cool! Load up your solitaire (KSol?) and off you go!
http://www.projectblackdog.com/site/product.html ¶ 4:35 PM 0 comments
Addictively Pointless
Wow, I don't know how long Iwasted enjoyed this website. Mostly little pointless interactive flash apps. Incredibly addictive. And fun. Highly recommended!
http://www.zefrank.com
(Yes, same as this and this) ¶ 2:28 PM 0 comments
Wow, I don't know how long I
http://www.zefrank.com
(Yes, same as this and this) ¶ 2:28 PM 0 comments
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Hard
Nouveau content tous les jours? A revoir peut-etre. (darn accent free clavier)
www.hardmac.com ¶ 4:19 PM 0 comments
Nouveau content tous les jours? A revoir peut-etre. (darn accent free clavier)
www.hardmac.com ¶ 4:19 PM 0 comments
Taking a few notches down hit
I always thought Fedex was cool. Cooler than UPS (brown?) and definitely better than AirornE/DHL whatever. turns out they are a bunch of stuff shirt. Worse, they have money, lawyers and they use them. This poor guy at www.fedexfurniture.com tells the tale how he built furniture with Fedex boxes, not because he's hip, but because he's broke. Then the Fedex lawyers come barking and all hell breaks loose.
Unfortunately for them, the word spread and his story gained momentum. This is a good summary of what happened.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,68492,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
This could have turned to be a cool publicity for Fedex. But no, they sent the lawyers and now they looks like idiots. Simple idiots. ¶ 3:38 PM 0 comments
I always thought Fedex was cool. Cooler than UPS (brown?) and definitely better than AirornE/DHL whatever. turns out they are a bunch of stuff shirt. Worse, they have money, lawyers and they use them. This poor guy at www.fedexfurniture.com tells the tale how he built furniture with Fedex boxes, not because he's hip, but because he's broke. Then the Fedex lawyers come barking and all hell breaks loose.
Unfortunately for them, the word spread and his story gained momentum. This is a good summary of what happened.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,68492,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
This could have turned to be a cool publicity for Fedex. But no, they sent the lawyers and now they looks like idiots. Simple idiots. ¶ 3:38 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Weird flash movies
I like the disclaimer which in itself makes fun of disclaimers. Flash movies are cool too.
http://www.fat-pie.com/flash.htm ¶ 8:49 PM 0 comments
I like the disclaimer which in itself makes fun of disclaimers. Flash movies are cool too.
http://www.fat-pie.com/flash.htm ¶ 8:49 PM 0 comments
My kind of visual thing
the flash tool is amazing. The plotter is cool. I want one.
http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/
http://www.tek-tonic.com/scribpage.php ¶ 3:17 PM 0 comments
the flash tool is amazing. The plotter is cool. I want one.
http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/
http://www.tek-tonic.com/scribpage.php ¶ 3:17 PM 0 comments
In the end, it will look like Win2K
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122145,00.asp
What experts? Nobody asked me!
The funny thing is that Windows has shipped with wsh enabled out of the box forever now. And I did not see any hackers/worms/viruses exploit those. Wait. Yes. It happened. So maybe this is a good thing. Nah. I'm sure it's not gonna make one ounce of difference. Just that it's yet another feature that won't make it in the release. WinFS? Avalon? Indigo?
Vista really is going to be a reskinned version of XP. (Maybe it's being built by the Office team. If you add fancy scrolling menus everywhere and cleaner icons, you can sell the same program under 5 different versions. Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, Office 12 :) ¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments
Microsoft Cuts Windows Vista Feature
Experts had worried that the Monad scripting shell would be an attractive target for hackers.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122145,00.asp
What experts? Nobody asked me!
The funny thing is that Windows has shipped with wsh enabled out of the box forever now. And I did not see any hackers/worms/viruses exploit those. Wait. Yes. It happened. So maybe this is a good thing. Nah. I'm sure it's not gonna make one ounce of difference. Just that it's yet another feature that won't make it in the release. WinFS? Avalon? Indigo?
Vista really is going to be a reskinned version of XP. (Maybe it's being built by the Office team. If you add fancy scrolling menus everywhere and cleaner icons, you can sell the same program under 5 different versions. Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, Office 12 :) ¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments
Windows Vista to keep PCs running like new
Windows Vista will also do the laundry, clean the dishes and walk the dog. It will make the blind see again, make the impotent walk and cure cancer. Eradicate poverty and bring peace to the world.
Or maybe it will suck up even more CPU cycle and memory to optimize those tasks you do onece a day, like loadingInternet Explorer Firefox. Or booting.
Wait, no, it will be great. You have to find reasons to make people want to upgrade though. I personnally believe that Windows 2k + Cleartype font smoothing would be the perfect OS. Vista will be a very hard sell.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/09/windows-vista-to-keep-pcs-running-like-new/
http://news.com.com/Putting+Vista+in+the+fast+lane/2100-1016_3-5820758.html?part=rss&tag=5820758&subj=news ¶ 12:06 PM 0 comments
Windows Vista will also do the laundry, clean the dishes and walk the dog. It will make the blind see again, make the impotent walk and cure cancer. Eradicate poverty and bring peace to the world.
Or maybe it will suck up even more CPU cycle and memory to optimize those tasks you do onece a day, like loading
Wait, no, it will be great. You have to find reasons to make people want to upgrade though. I personnally believe that Windows 2k + Cleartype font smoothing would be the perfect OS. Vista will be a very hard sell.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/08/09/windows-vista-to-keep-pcs-running-like-new/
http://news.com.com/Putting+Vista+in+the+fast+lane/2100-1016_3-5820758.html?part=rss&tag=5820758&subj=news ¶ 12:06 PM 0 comments
Mmmm... spyware!
What do you do when the whole software is designed to track how when what you do when you use it and send the info directly to the advertiser? You call it a spyware program. Does not matter you paid for the whole fucking thing either. Even worse, it's a game, so it enjoys the total immersion / total captive audience feature of the software.
In game spying for you! ¶ 12:01 PM 0 comments
What do you do when the whole software is designed to track how when what you do when you use it and send the info directly to the advertiser? You call it a spyware program. Does not matter you paid for the whole fucking thing either. Even worse, it's a game, so it enjoys the total immersion / total captive audience feature of the software.
In game spying for you! ¶ 12:01 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Studen blogger
Or is it blogger student? Well, a blog written by a student. Foul mouthed and all. Mildly interesting. Sometimes studentish but the youth is refreshing.
http://naturalkinds.blogspot.com/ ¶ 3:34 PM 2 comments
Or is it blogger student? Well, a blog written by a student. Foul mouthed and all. Mildly interesting. Sometimes studentish but the youth is refreshing.
http://naturalkinds.blogspot.com/ ¶ 3:34 PM 2 comments
Free Sounds!
Yup, that's what it is! For what you ask? Flash movies.
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/ ¶ 10:34 AM 0 comments
Yup, that's what it is! For what you ask? Flash movies.
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/ ¶ 10:34 AM 0 comments
Hehehehe
I can only imagine the kind of cryptic and obnoxious messages I could tag my car with this. Would be a riot!
http://youremblem.com ¶ 10:18 AM 0 comments
I can only imagine the kind of cryptic and obnoxious messages I could tag my car with this. Would be a riot!
http://youremblem.com ¶ 10:18 AM 0 comments
Petteri's Pontifications
Not sure how long this IP address will live (I could not find a domain for it) but still the content is good. This article on making a custom B&W is really thorough.
http://194.100.88.243/petteri/... ¶ 9:54 AM 0 comments
Not sure how long this IP address will live (I could not find a domain for it) but still the content is good. This article on making a custom B&W is really thorough.
http://194.100.88.243/petteri/... ¶ 9:54 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 08, 2005
Total Visual Geek Fest
Gee. Looks like they invented that stuff just 4 me.
http://processing.org/
It's both artsy and geeky. And some of the examples are just gorgeous too. ¶ 2:24 PM 0 comments
Gee. Looks like they invented that stuff just 4 me.
http://processing.org/
It's both artsy and geeky. And some of the examples are just gorgeous too. ¶ 2:24 PM 0 comments
Hypnotic
Download. Run. Enjoy. Amazingly good for a pet project. Wish my own were that interesting.
http://drivey.com/ ¶ 2:12 PM 0 comments
Download. Run. Enjoy. Amazingly good for a pet project. Wish my own were that interesting.
http://drivey.com/ ¶ 2:12 PM 0 comments
Even with some kind of flu
I'm still awake enough. This is crazy. Maya for free. Crazy I'm telling you.
http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900003
Well, not that crazy. They make sure you can't use the output for anything but non-commercial use. But considering that it is a several thousand dollars piece of software, the free edition is a great tool for students/aspiring 3d artist, so they can get a taste of the real thing. I really dig this! ¶ 1:53 PM 0 comments
I'm still awake enough. This is crazy. Maya for free. Crazy I'm telling you.
http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900003
Well, not that crazy. They make sure you can't use the output for anything but non-commercial use. But considering that it is a several thousand dollars piece of software, the free edition is a great tool for students/aspiring 3d artist, so they can get a taste of the real thing. I really dig this! ¶ 1:53 PM 0 comments
