Ramblings

Christmas Eve

2005-12-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

So this is my post for Christmas Eve:

What I did: So I just got back from Michael's house at his parents dirty santa party thing. It was fun. There were alot of people, most of whom I had met (Julian, David A., of course, Alan etc.). Before that though, I went to church (a rare occurence) for the communion thing and candle-lighting. That was the majority of my day. I was supposed to go with dad and check out recording equipment (something to convert from analog to digital via firewire) but I didn't get up early enough.

The computer side: There always has to be some computer side to the day, and this time there were in fact several.

First, I reinstalled windows XP on my vaio, and had to install several drivers to get it working properly.

Second, Michael apparently experienced a problem with a Sony disc, who's files were securely DRMed. I am still finding a definite fix for this (although I did run a program which was supposed to remove the copy protection from his computer).

And last, but certainly greatest of all: The new website's sever has FINALLY been approved. I'm still working on uploading it, and I think that the transfer is still taking place, but I hope to have it up by the end of the night (or at worst, by the end of tommorow). And I hope to throw in a little goody (you'll have to check it out to see).

http://half-news.com

New Computer

2005-12-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well. The title may be a little bit misleading. It's not quite a new computer, but rather simply that I reinstalled XP on my vaio. It works so much better now.

Unfortunately, Windows didn't recognize all of my devices immediately, so I had to manually download the drivers (which is really no trouble at all). I think my graphics card isn't installed because the scrolling is weird (kinda jumpy).

Flock with Performancing Extension

2005-12-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

I've loved and used Flock for a long time. It's a great browser and has many wonderful features. Unfortunately, it's blogging feature is not one of it's strongest.

I am currently typing this post on a Firefox extension called Performancing. It is a handy and quick tool for posting to your blog. Flock's blog editor is still slow and cumbersome, and although visually pleasing, very stubborn. You can find the extension ported to Flock on the Flockd site.

Unfortunately, performancing does not support adding Technorati tags to your post, a feature which I found most useful on Flock.

Tags: flock, performancing, flockd, and firefox

Bands

2005-12-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

I like these little Javascript site bands. I've only been able to find two so far, but I hope to find many more.

Firefox Band

Make Poverty History Band

New Blogs

2005-12-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

So I should have the new blogs up (at least in part) by tonight. (If the server doesn't take to long). I need to change up the CSS on it. It's going to be in kind of a beta test stage for at least two weeks while I work out kinks in the RSS aggregation and fix up the style sheets.

Something I still haven't taken a look at is the accessibility of the site to engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. I'll probably help this by using Sitemaps and maybe a few other services.

I've been invited to test out a new social link thing called Wink. It claims that it will be compatible with del.icio.us and will have the ability to sync links.

And lastly, I'm downloading a game right now called Warrock. It's basically a complete copy off of Battlefield 2 (an mmorpg) the graphics look totally AMAZING.

technorati tags: wink, warrock, yahoo, msn, google, blogs, half-news, battlefield

Computers and the Media

2005-12-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have been quite interested, recently, in the future of computers in relation to media such as TV, Music, Radio, Books, Magazines, etc. One thing I have found more interesting than anything else on this topic is what Apple is doing with it's iTunes music store, and the video iPod.

Although I am not overly impressed by the video iPod (as the screen is much too small to take advantage of any decent video), I do see a future in their disitrbution of High-Definition content. Many recently released trailers, such as King Kong, the DaVinci Code, etc. have been released in 720p and 1080p formats, foreshadowing the future of computers and the media.

I think that in maybe 5 years (or less), we will start to see the beginnings of Media moving more toward the realm of computers. I think that the Desktop computer, and a media comp. used with you TV will meet and form a wireless network, streaming content from the Internet, rather than Cable lines, to your house.

Unfortunately, this would require very high speed connections (although connections of at least 1gb/s exist) in order to allow you to download massive quantities of data quickly. Also, harddrives would have to grow drastically, possibly to a size of several Terrabytes in order to facilitate the enormous quantities of data that must be stored on them.

Please, check out some of this High-Def content, it is the best stuff out there at the moment (even better than High-Def TV). It is well worth the wait.

Last week of School!

2005-12-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

So it's the last week of school, and I have a few things for you to look out for over the holidays:

First, Google Calendar is expected to come out sometime. Not sure when, but the API has been released. On that same note, check out some of the new widgets for Google Personalized Page.

Second, GAIM 2.0 should be coming out on Friday. It's an instant messenger client which combines AIM, GTalk, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and IRC all into one.

Third, Songbird should be coming out in the next week. It looks fantastic and will hopefully give iTunes a run for it's money. I give it my full support.

That's all I've got. Check out this story this guy wrote on Craigslist. Got it from TWIT (you can also find it by searching "hey crack head" and hitting I Feel Lucky on Google.

Firefox and Flock

2005-11-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

I am now typing this post on Flock, within my Linux(Ubuntu) computer. It took me awhile to actually install these programs (having to find some library called libstdc++). Nonetheless, I did finally get Flock running and installed the new version of Firefox (1.5). It actually looks quite sharp and appears to me to be running faster (it may be an illusion though).

Firefox 1.5 is supposed to be faster (loading etc.) and possibly faster starting up. And of course Flock is cool, especially since it is based off of the Mozilla Engine.

Another great upcoming product is Songbird. Although not yet released, this music player is built on the Mozilla engine (Gecko). It looks much like iTunes, but I hope that it is far more exciting.

The last thing is the newest PSP update. I actually find this update quite useful. The update (I believe it is #2.6 or something), includes an RSS reader. Well, it's actually NOT a reader, but rather a podcast listener. It streams the audio (so you don't have to download it onto that TINY memory card). This has been extremely beneficial to me, since I haven't had a computer (with sound) to listen to my podcasts on.

technorati tags: psp, firefox, firefox 1.5, mozilla, songbird, flock, update

2005-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have found the trailer for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest). It is PIRATED (lol) so I don't take any responsibility for what may happen if you watch it (although I wouldn't be too concerned). The main problem with it bein pirated is the possibility that the site which hosts is may go down either to a flood of traffic or to a problem with Disney. So I am posting two links. The first link is to a .mov file and the second, a .wmv.

POTC2 Trailer .mov
POTC2 Trailer Windows Media 9.1 megs

Secondly, I've got a quick review of a service I've been using called MeasureMap. It is currently in a private alpha test. I got invited fairly quickly and have loved the service ever since. It allows you to see how many visitors you have had each day, what broswer they use, what country they are from, where they came from, and what link they left on.

So far, I have had about 53 visitor in my blog since November 23rd. (A surprisingly high number). And nearly all of these visitors have come by searching for a Xanga Ad Removal tool. I posted awhile back on a Greasemonkey script that allowed the removal of ads from all Xanga Pages. It had some bugs and I never improved upon it. I think that in the upcoming weeks, I will work more on this script and possibly provide a regular extension as well with it (instead of needing Greasemonkey). ALSO I noticed that many of the people (87%) used IE instead of FF. So I probably need to include in the new post a javascript code excerpt that will remove the xanga ad from your page. And I'll look into other ways of removing in the Explorer browser.

Quotes of the Day

2005-11-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

In Thoreau's Walden, the author spends 2 years living alone in the woods. He is contemplating the meaning of life. Below are several quotes which eximplify this work:

"It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which the herd so diligently follow."

"The universe is wider than our views of it."

"Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights."

"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."

"The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

New Flickr Pro Account!

2005-11-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

So I upgraded my Flickr account to a Pro version, you should be seeing alot more pictures from me. I found some interesting Flickr Artists while exploring the site, and came across one that has alot of albums from Rocketown concerts. You can find his page here.

I also found some cool photos, and realized that many of the effects that make the cool pictures so intersting is simply their long exposure times. Many outdoors/night pictures you see that look really weird and funky are simply just taken so that the stationary object is focused on while the camera is on a tripod, and then the exposure time is set for maybe 10 or 15 seconds and the Earth's rotation takes care of the rest (providing interesting streaks across the sky). Of course that can't be all, because light plays quite a key role in these pictures as well. I'm looking in to it, and I think I have improved in my picture taking ability.

Check out my newest set: Last Week of October '05

and also check out these crazy nightshots: http://flickr.com/photos/notraces/sets/270103/

Todays Stuff

2005-10-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

I was going to try to do a podcast displaying the new leak of the Windows Vista sidebar onto XP, but I never really got it to work. So I'll do it later. I'd just like to list some stuff I've dont this weekend.

First, make sure you check out Tv.com, the new site created by the same founders of Gamespot.

Second, check out Google Video and search around for cool videos. Check out "Twit", "Systm", and "CommandN" for some good tech shows.

And third, make sure you update your Firefox browser (if you use it) to at least 1.0.7, as the code to exploit older versions of Firefox is deffinately widespread out on the net. I actually considered putting it as a link on one of my blogs and seing what would happen (but I'm not really sure how it works). The code can be found here (don't worry, it is in text format, so it wont affect your browser).

And finally, the last thing is a site which shows dictionary or thesaurus searches in a visual form. Unfortunately you have to pay for the real thing, but it is there to check out.

The last thing I would like you to consider doing is helping out the EFF which is an organization attempting to influence DRM and the RIAA lawsuit decisions in Congress. You can quickly visit action.eff.org and email or fax your representative about your opinion with the click of a button.

Test Post for new CSS Effect

2005-10-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is a test post for a new CSS effect. If it works we will see it in a particular box below. This is not the box yet. This is not it either. The box will come below.

Note:This is a note see if it works

That note should display.

AIM Triton Beta New Release

2005-10-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

The new AIM Triton Beta has been released. This new version of the popular AOL instant messenger client changes the look of the software completely.

I have been using Triton for months, since it was first released as a beta. The newest client hasn't changed a whole lot from the last version of the Triton Beta, but has been considerably more publicized. The new page created to advertise the beta software is here.

I have saved some screenshots of conversations with the new client and encourage you to check them out below. The new style of the client is surprisingly effective at is relaxing on the eyes, lending to the Windows XP theme.

Webmail Emerging

2005-10-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

For the longest time, webmail has been a dark corner of the internet, only used when people don't have the money to spend on a real email account, or needed an account with which to register with sites sure to send spam.

With the release of Google's beta webmail app, Gmail, all of that changed. Webmail capacity grew to an unprecedented size. But the growth doesn't stop with Gmail. Other sites around the net are doing the same thing, just with less pulicity and diminished flare.

The 30gigs webmail service gives the user an account with 30 gigabytes of space, an extreme amount compared to Google's roughly 2 1/2 gigs.

But it doesn't stop there. Mailnation provides users with a TERABYTE of space! That's nearly one thousand times the amount Google gives.

This story was also featured on Half-News Blog.

Today's Links

2005-09-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

I don't have anything to really talk about today. I'm working on more and more stuff for our new Half-News site. It's coming along pretty well, except that the blog thing I was working on required me using a tutorial which I can no longer use. So ANYWAY. On to today's links:

The first link is an image whose URL you can alter to say anything:

http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/WebObjects/Picasso.woa/wa/service?l=en&c=d&r=ips&i=/Catalog/US/Images/p_ipodshuffle_side.jpg&p=ISO-8859-1&th=This%20STORY%20IS%20FUCKIN%20LAME

All you have to change are the words at the end. You can figure it out if you want.

The second link is a cool search engine which allows you to create groups of mini searches to search about 25 sites. The site is called Rollyo. You can find out the searches I like here.

The third link is just a simple story I found about a guy who has a pet tortoise. I thought it was pretty cool, so check it out:

http://digitaldreammachine.blogspot.com/2005/08/slow-and-steady.html

The last thing I have to talk about is a podcast I listen to. The SETI Institutes podcast is a great podcast talking about current events and topics in astronomy and science. SETI, standing for the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, is the Institution commonly known for using dishes such as the very large one in Arecibo (sp?). I was listening to two podcasts of SETI's and two EXTREMELY prominent authors were being interviewed about some quite strange parts of physics. The two stars of the physics world were, Mishio Kaku and Brian Greene.

That's about all I have for today. Check back later for more.

Trying to Get Odeo to Work

2005-09-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

My Odeo Channel (odeo/c00246fe0e86576d)

New Podcast (sort of)

2005-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

I am starting a different way of podcasting, and by the end of the weekend, my change will be mostly complete. The image will be changed by the end of the weekend to differentiate between this podcast and the upcoming Half-News podcast.

I am now using Odeo Studio to record the podcast instead of Audacity. This takes off server load and bandwidth charges from my hosting plans. I am still trying to find out what the feed for Odeo actually is, but for know you can listen to it by simply clicking the Odeo button at the top and playing the latest Audio (using the play button beneath the logo).

Also, I am adding podsafe music to my podcasts. Podsafe music is just music that little known artists make in hopes of getting attention from record labels. This music can be used in podcasts without breaking any copyright rules.

It's gonna be a very late night. I've gotta finish my outline for English and study ALOT; not to mention the Latin.

So check out my podcast for tonight. And stay tuned for frequent podcasts from my phone.

Opera Registration codes

2005-08-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Operating System Registration Code
Windows w-b6LiV-AzfyM-6TR7T-5REes-zYKfW
Linux Intel u-dwU7T-ehkpN-FpuiV-yLUps-FauKV
Linux PowerPC p-n5Q7S-5UTpP-k4jBT-A3y5t-nExKW
Linux Sparc k-QAfMT-yK8HN-FMXUS-Cknrt-zrtsX
FreeBSD f-z88iV-AiyyM-DfA7T-jLwes-fQAfW
Solaris s-NJutT-ABT4N-JDLhT-AuA5s-BheLX
Mac m-6TcuU-pCH4M-DnxVU-CYEJs-LCDrV

Operating System Registration Code
Windows w-vfQJX-VVVuR-uxLKB-ursFF-kvfCa
Linux Intel u-bki5V-MuwaR-5pF5z-5AsFH-DrNic
Linux PowerPC p-8BPSV-MCPjR-syYeA-KjSQH-F7fuc
Linux Sparc k-46xJV-aszNQ-A5EJz-hPymH-UmvCc
FreeBSD f-bFRJW-7yMuQ-HDYJA-prSmJ-NLaCb
Solaris s-46xJV-aszNQ-A5EJz-hPymH-UmvCc
Mac m-4zerX-aTfvS-EKSrB-X5rmF-URMVa

Operating System Registration Code
Windows w-CiuFi-vCera-S8Bws-m8sFF-8yeCa
Linux Intel u-X5cci-LBWSa-dcQEr-wxQbF-6rKtb
Linux PowerPC p-AjHbh-S7Yzc-QpPmt-C3SQH-vcfuc
Linux Sparc k-jdHEf-tvurc-S4kct-ayzmH-JsuCc
FreeBSD f-sM3Eh-rCF5b-YCEcu-h8SmJ-BQ8Bb
Solaris s-jdHEf-tvurc-S4kct-ayzmH-JsuCc
Mac m-uvLEf-WRMrc-4dact-EUSmH-BNMCc

Episode # 5

2005-08-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Full of world news with a few links. Really a filler episode.

DOWNLOAD - Episode 5

Show Notes - Episode 5

NEWS

TECH NEWS

LINKS

Kitten on keyboard (game) - AOTS
Fake Google Maps TV commercial - DIGG
Blogger toolbar for Microsoft Word

Episode 4 Complete with humor

2005-08-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is deffinately the best episode yet, however, I don't know how legal it is for me to broadcast Family Guy clips and South Park clips over the net. Anyway, you should DEFFINATELY check this one out. It's got a few good links to.

DOWNLOAD

EPISODE 4 Show Notes

NEWS
- Shuttle finally makes it back after 2 delayed landings. - DIGG
- Mars Orbiter Launch Postponed until Thursday. (Check out this animation) - DIGG

TECH NEWS
- Apple's Mighty Mouse.
- Google's Hybrid Map Function.
- Google's RSS News Feed.
- Microsoft's Virtual Earth.
- Google's Acquisiton of Meetro (possible Google IM?) - DIGG

LINKS
- Every South Park Episode available for download in .avi (sorry, no torrents). - DIGG
- SdiDesk reference.
- Troubleshooting your iPod. - DIGG
- TWiT (This Week in Tech) Podcast.

OTHER
- Yahoo! 360 Blog Tool - my blog
- Go Daddy (bought Half-News and Masquerade) (Seemingly good customer service)

Here is the link for odeo:

The podcast should be on iTunes shortly.

Tech News and Other Stuff

2005-07-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

I've got several things to link today:

First is the PSP bypass download which runs the UMD directly from the Memory Stick, bypassing the need to update your PSP. Games like Coded Arms and other new titles require the player to have the current security updates. You can find the download here and also the digg story.

I've been using digg lately, btw, and one of my articles, the tenth birthday of MP3, made it to the homepage!! (I know most of you don't understand this at all)

Secondly, AIM mail was released today with a storage quota of 2GB (sound familiar?).

I expect that the next podcast will be up either by Friday night or by Sunday night. (I'm gone this weekend to a campout).

Digg

2005-07-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

Episode 3

2005-07-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

The 3rd BluSnake podcast has been recorded. You can download the file directly from the link below, or use the automated 'podcast' way and just use the feed on iTunes or another feed reader (iPodder, Odeo, etc.).

Episode 3

Show Notes

WORLD NEWS
Hurricane Dennis
London Bombing

Sheep Suicide
Astrology Suit

MOVIE REVIEW
Mr. and Mrs. Smith

TECH NEWS
Florida wifi lawsuit
Sasser worm creator suspended

SITES
Techdirt
Feedburner

BlueSnake Episode 2

2005-07-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Check out the next episode of BlueSnake below:
http://home.comcast.net/~Ebjt90/Codenamed_BlueSnake_Episode_2.mp3

In this episode, I discuss the tools I use to make the podcast and list discuss a few links. Check out the show notes below to find the links from the podcast. Below is my odeo link:

My Odeo Channel

Show Notes

CastBlaster
SdiDesk
Feed Burner
Odeo
Blogger

Tech News

Google Earth
iTunes 4.9

World News

Deep Impact

Codenamed BlueSnake, First Semi Cast

2005-07-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

The first episode of BlueSnake has finally been published and can be found at the link below. Now you may be asking: How did he get that mp3 file hosted for free? I thought it couldn't be done?

WELL, MY FRIEND! That is where the story has changed. I realized that Comcast had a personal web page service, so I thought, well they must include uploading files in this service. So SURE ENOUGH! they supported all file types. For now, the Episodes will stay in mp3, being directly downloaded through Comcast. But, eventually they will have to be moved to a torrent so as to prevent the overuse of bandwidth.

Codenamed BlueSnake - Episode 1

Google Earth and Maps API

2005-06-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have discovered the two newest Google Releases, Google Earth, and Google Maps API. On the bottom of this page is just the basic map from the API (with direction and zoom controls).

Xanga Ad Removal Script

2005-06-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Xanga AdRemoval v0.1

This script is designed to take off the ads on top of MOST Xanga pages. Unfortunately, due to the many different formats of pages, the space at the top is not always removed. I hope to create more scripts to complete one users request for the removal of the subscription part of the sidepanel and the calendar part.

THIS IS THE FIRST VERSION AND WILL BE A BETA VERSION UNTIL THE RELEASE OF 1.0!!

I hope to have screenshots of the script up soon.

Issues with the script:

Several page layouts do not fully remove the space used by the Xanga logo/ad

Possible additions:

No support for the private page

A seperate script to remove the subscription and calendar sidepanel functions

Add a single "subscribe to this page" link to the top

Add an email to creator button

LAST POST BEFORE I LEAVE

2005-06-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have begun to notice a strange lag time between the publishing speed between a blog site with www in front of it as opposed to one without.

For instance, today I was publishing an article, and it was not publishing very quickly, but when I checked http://www.uthater.blogspot.com, the update was there.

The trick is:

Blog's with a 'www.' in front of the url somehow get the updates faster.

Secondly, I would like to talk about some of the potential javascript that will be used on the new Half-News.

Style Sheet Switcher - This script switches the style sheet used by the browser based off of the type of browser you are using. This can come in very handy when pages look drastically different in IE than in Firefox.
Bookmark (my favorites) - Possibly will be used to create a favorites section of the site so that a user can choose their favorite articles to go back to later.
Send page to friend - Could be used for a "send this page to friend" button

All of these options are not set in stone yet and I would like to have at least one person to watch me on this and tell me, once I get the beta version done, if the site is getting too over crowded. I think that all of these would make great features for the site. For more info on Javascript and it's capabilities, go to:
http://javascript.internet.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

and to see javascript in action, check out Gmail, Google Maps, and especially, Flickr.

Half-News Tech stuff and Microsoft's Virtual Earth

2005-06-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Half-News appears to be loading very fast in my browser. For some reason, Firefox (or perhaps my recent addition of web-accelerator) makes or website look like it is utilizing AJAX. So I thought that this would be a good time to introduce AJAX to you. AJAX is a term used to describe a way of using JavaScript and XHTML to create a page that loads information INSIDE the main page. For example, in Google Maps, when you scroll around the map or zoom in, the image is reloading but the page IS NOT. This is a great tool because of it's time saving capabilites for the user. When I view the Half-News site on Firefox, it appears as if, when I click the links on the menubar, the link, instead of reloading the whole page, reloads the portion just inside of the main box (where the articles are).

Some of the coolest features using AJAX are Google's Map program, Gmail, Yahoo! Maps, and the upcoming MSN Virtual Earth. MSN Virtual Earth is to be entirely within the browser so that no extra application (download) is needed, NOT EVEN ACTIVEX (it's not flash). This is a huge improvement, basically building an entire application for the web. You can check out the video here (you'll need wmp).

Some Links for today

2005-06-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the links for today.

First comes a site which pulls in New York Times headlines and collects info from other websites for an annotated version of them. This site is great for just reading about news stories from many different sources at once: The Annotated New York Times

The second is site, Answers.com, which provides straight answers for search results rather than the normal search engine results. It is much like an encyclopedia but with slightly extended features.

The third link is a humorous one perhaps to fool your friends. It depicts an error page that proceeds to talk about how the user has "spent too much time on the net" and has "overloaded the Internet". Check the page out here.

The final link is a page which I may have mentioned before which combines all of the various types of Google searches into one icon oriented page. This would be a good portal to the web.

BluSnake

2005-06-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first BluSnake, a new service I hope to provide that will evolve with time. The first BluSnake will be what I like to call a simple text cast (although it really isn't a cast at all). Hopefully, BluSnake will evolve into an eventual podcast so that you can upload the feed and be updated with the audio automatically. The BluSnake will hopefully include four segments:

Tech News
Links
Divine Downloads
World News

The eventual purpose of BluSnake is to be integrated into the Half-News site to provide a podcast for that service every week. This first post with the BluSnake logo will be the only BluSnake post to not include the outlined form above. Check back soon for the first episode of "BluSnake".

Links of the day

2005-06-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

I really need to come up with a name for this whole links thing I try to find some cool sounding word like systm does. I want to try to make possibly a podcast and maybe some tutorials or something to host online. I'm not sure if the cast would be sent over xml or if I would just provide a torrent link for it. So, back to the links:

Soople is an automated way to use the many search features within Google. It is a good way to get started with using the more advanced features. You can check out Google's official page on these features here.

Apparently, the new MSN toolbar offers "tabbed browsing". This is an obvious takeoff of Mozilla, Netscape, and Opera's tab functionality. These features will likely be ported into the new version of Internet Explorer, due out later this summer.

I am deciding to call this new link section thing, Beretta.

PSP Docking Station, Podcasts, and a Funny Picture

2005-05-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'd like to start this post off by introducing my new project for the PSP. I found a site which, in detail, describes the production of a homemade PSP docking station. On the left, You can see one of the pictures of the docking station. Later, I will have a full report on it. Also, you can find some screenshots of what claims to be GTA on the PSP. Be sure to check the site from which all of the above links came, PSPhacker.com

Second, I would like to talk about Podcasts, a new technology "sweeping" the internet community (sorry, I had to use the cliche). This new form of news broadcasting allows websites to create mp3's of news or anything recorded and distribute them via RSS syndication. This allows users/subscribers to keep up to date on the casts. The casts can easily by transferred to your mp3 player and listened to on the go. Check out the software I use, iPodder

Last, I would like to bring you this funny picture that I found off of digg.com:

Symantec Beta Testing, Longhorn, and Exalead

2005-05-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Symantec has started a beta testing project of it's new software. They will allow testing on Norton System Works, Internet Security, and AntiVirus for the upcoming year. BetaTesters will get this beta software free and possibly be given the released version for free. In order to apply for the job of Beta Testing, send your email to: EnhancedTesting@Symantec.com

Secondly, WHEN WILL MICROSOFT'S NEW OS COME OUT?!?!? That is the question on the mind of many computer users such as myself. The new Loghorn appears to be pushed back on release further and further. Supposed images of the new operating system have been leaked throughout the internet, however, many skeptics have downplayed the changes. Most likely, the screenshots were made by the use of software such as WindowsBlinds, and such. In the box below are several images of the new system (real or not).

For more, go here

Third, I have found a pretty cool new search engine called Exalead. It allows you to modify your search by document type and other details. It is quite fast and I think also provides screen shots of the page (which I have on Google thanks to a firefox extension). Be sure to check this out, as it is one of the many emerging technologies.

Last, I would like to link to a page of a guy I know from scouts, by the name of Stephen Humble. His webpage (which has been down recently) is a news page that features pretty regular stories. I think it's quite good and has some good political satire every now and then. Check it out:

Avenged Sevenfold

2005-05-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

The new A7X CD, City of Evil, is coming out. You can find some downloads and streamed audio here. Unfortunately, the released songs don't sound all that good but I hope the rest of the cd will be better.

PSP

2005-03-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

I have successfully had my PSP for two days now. So far, I have gotten to "Shocker and Rhino" in Spiderman 2 and succesfully gotten to the "Beta" level of Wipeout Pure. But I think that my greatest accomplishment would have to be the development of Internet Browsing on the PSP. It is truly quite easy to do and requires little effort. View the images:

After Spring Break News

2005-03-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

Gmail seems to be quite troublesome right now, as I have had trouble logging on quite a few times. They are testing out new features, presumably, for the April 1st release. It is said that Yahoo! will challenge Google and increase it's storage space to 1Gb as well.

While searching for articles on this subject, I needed a password for a news site. I got one without regestration by using this site. BugMeNot is a site which provides premade usernames for users to temporarily use.

http://www.moneyplans.net/newsroom/news.php?action=fullnews&id=656

Another thing I found was a program called MusicBrainz that automatically tags mp3 files for you. It identifies your music files with similar tags of it's own. These songs are then classified as Identified or Unidentified. It's a great way to get all of your music correctly identified in iTunes for better use with your iPod.

Also, I found that there is a new updated version of Firefox and HijackThis. Also, I have found a site that allows you to copy and paste the logfile of your HiJack This log and let it automatically tell you what to delete. It is very handy. HiJack This removes any automatically loading programs which most often cause viruses. Use it only after learning about it. (Don't delete anything unless you are POSITIVE that it is Bad)

Nvu

2005-03-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

I have found a new program called Nvu. It is a free program that really does rival the webpage design programs like Dreamweaver and FrontPage. Check it out at:

www.nvu.com

Hopefully this will enable me to rework my main site, Inbound Start and add the two blogs to it's interface. I first have to incorporate some Photoshop design though.

Links of the day

2005-03-06T22:09:00.001-08:00

Some new links from Stumbleupon:

- HILLARIOUS site making fun of religion

http://www.es.jamstec.go.jp/esc/eng/ - I really have no idea what this is, but it sounded cool

http://www.newscientist.com/home.ns - A site with science news for teens

http://www.codearchive.com/ - An archive of odes from any language

http://www.economist.com/science/ - The economists view of technology and science

New Code of the Day

2005-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

So I have a new code for today that i am using on the news site to wrap text around the image. Basically, in your img src area (look below for the html script to add an image) add this:

area="left/right/center/etc."

<img align="left" src="url">

Screensaver links, among others

2005-02-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

So I was watching screensavers, and found a few links I liked. This first link allows you to download a free program that adds gmail to your list of hardrives in Windows Explorer (thats WINDOWS not INTERNET). The link is here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/Mail-Utilities/GMail-Drive-shell-extension.shtml

The second link is a toolbar for any of the browsers (although there is a special version for Firefox). The name is Stumbleupon and it finds good websites that might interest you. It is a GREAT way to surf the web, and even remembers what sights you liked and didnt like so that it can adjust accordingly. It devotes a site entirely to your history of given sites. The link:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/

The final link is a free game. This game is AMAZING. It is like that old game worms, but in real-time. When I first played it, the settings were on fullscreen and the graphics looked like shit. But when played in a smaller size window (uncheck fullscreen in the setup menu) then the graphics are fine. This game comes with different weapons, types of games, and even online multiplayer. The link:
http://soldat.prv.pl/

The following list of links are links I got from stumbleupon which I liked:

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~westside/quantum-intro.html
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/
http://www.scitoys.com/

Check out these links to more links from Google Hacks:
http://douweosinga.com/projects/googlehacks
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks2/
http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-01-29-n34.html

Good Blogs

2005-02-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

GREAT CONTENT
Stopdesign- A site with just as much visual arts as news and useful links, stopdesign is an easily enjoyable site.

GREAT DESIGN
Evan Williams- A worker for Google, Evhead is a well designed blog with little content.
Chris Wetherell- The ubercoder of Google's GMAIL, Chris keeps a very tidy blog.

FRIENDS
Stephen Humble- The webmaster for our troop, and a very computer avid boy, Stephen keeps quite an impressive website.

NEWS

Six Apart- The company responsible for the making of Typepad, Movable type, and LiveJournal

New Internet Explorer- The new version of this supposed security ridden program is due out this summer, perhaps because of the recent surge by Mozilla Firefox.

Cheap PC's- Check out this article on good pc's for a cheap price.

2005-02-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Virtual Browser- Allows the user to view ANY webpage through firewalls and parental controls and prevents cookies from loading on the computer.

Movable Type- The premier software for blogs.

Weblogs- A list of currently updated blogs from across the net.

Code of the Day-
This code can be used in any website, but is especially useful on blogs where you have limited space to post things. It creates a box with a scrolling bar. The background color can be changed as well as the size of the box.

XANGA BOX

1. First put this in between the section of your page that says <style type="text/css"> to </style>:

div.weblogbox { border: solid; border-width: thin;
width: 300px; background-color: black }

2. Next, use this code wherever you want the box used in a post etc. (make sure you are in the edit html section):

<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div class="weblogbox">
<div style="border: 1px solid black; overflow: auto; width: 300px; height: 125px;"><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">

</span></span> </p></div></div>

3. In order to change the color inside of the box you will need to change the color in the first step at the background-color: ?Your Color?

The finished product should look something like this:

Test
est
st
t

test
est
st
t

Email me if you need help on customizing this code or implementing it on your site.

New Stuff

2005-02-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

So this is my first attempt at posting a kind of summary of the days web activities. So here is an explination of where I find all of the things I link or talk about:

I check Slashdot, Wired, Google News, Chris Wetherell's news portal, Meerkat Open Wire news, O'Reilley Network, PC World, G4 Tech TV, Cool Tech Zone, eWeek, and CNET for interesting, useful, and up to date news on computer shit. I post everything I find useful here. Check back weekly for more and more links.

2005-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Poster of Phantom of the Opera

2005-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

A band logo i made

Friday's News

2004-11-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

United States opts out of international anti-pollution plan (Kyoto)

Let the Handheld Games Begin

Chimeras a Step Closer to Reality

That's pretty much all the news I have for today.

Thursday's News

2004-11-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

YOUNG BUCK:the rapper, who stabbed a man at the vibe music awards, now says that he will turn himself in.

SUDAN PEACE:A UN Security Council meeting has begun. Will Sudan have peace? (Jimmy Okot's family is from Sudan)

HUMAN EVOLUTION THROUGH RUNNING?: Man's evolution occurred through the development of running.

Bill Gates gets 4 million emails a day

RIAA sues another 761 file sharers
Melting Glaciers Threaten World Water Supply
Informant attempts suicide at Whit e House

Check out more news at Google News, Wired, Reuters, CNN, and others sites.

School - Thursday

2004-11-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

So, today was okay, I think I've decided to post this blog as an xml subscribable thing on my website. I'll post news from the world, or anything I feel is important.

School - Wednesday

2004-11-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

So, today Behar soloed. It was amazing. And I don't think that he hates me anymore, which is always a good thing. But I think that Scott and I may go to the game on Friday. Which means: We'll get to play!!!!!!!!!!