Recently in General Category
You know it's bad when your entire desktop is covered in icons. Entire. Desktop. I can tell they're even going off the screen. Some magical application needs to come out that takes care of this kind of stuff. I end up with all these links for "later", but I never seem to get back to them. I end up with a billion* tabs and countless** icons on my desktop and no way to sort them. So let's take a look at a few.
All you need for a "Web 2.0" website!
Fileplanet is offering Ground Control for free - a classic RTS.
This looks like a cool class that's part of MIT's OpenCourseWare - free classes for everyone with access. You don't get credits, but it's free education (if you can understand it on your own).
Got a bunch of spare time and car batteries lying around? Make your own UPS!
If you're thinking about switching to VOIP (Voice Over IP), try out this site to check out how well your connection will handle it.
Microsoft's repackaged the idea of Tablet PC in a new form factor that they code-named Origami. It's still running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, but it's smaller. Origami just sounds better than "Ultra-Mobile PC". I think this could be the start of a new PC market, but that's just what Microsoft is hoping for. There will have to be a large move forward with battery life in these devices for them to be feasible at all, though. 2-3 hours will not cut it, especially if we're still going to have to wait for these machines to boot like a regular laptop. People are used to carrying around their cell phones all day and having them work - these machines will have to step up to that level of battery life for them to be accepted. I could see them becoming like the core piece of a system though. Imagine, all my links could move with me in one of these core pc's, and follow me to each workstation.
Here's a huge Lost - related website, with lots of spoilers, screencaps, and rabid theorizing.
Television Without Pity has some pretty hilarious recaps of episodes of 24, along with lots of other shows. Highlights include calling Computer-guy Edgar "Lispy-Skip". Poor Edgar.
*Exaggeration.
**188 as of this writing.
Once again, I find my desktop inundated with links to various corners of the internet.
24: The Show You Should All Be Watching
The Jacktracker Google Maps + 24 = Jacktracker.
You can also read the blog that is connected to the Jacktracker, which has some funny "Geographic Reality Reports" showing how impossible it would be to really travel from place to place in the 24 world:
Jack & Derek: Wayne Palmer’s Westwood Condo to Ontario (California) International Airport via stolen car: 56 miles over 17 minutes = 195 mph. Impossible.
http://blogs4bauer.blogspot.com/ - Can't miss that "Jack Bauer Kill Counter"!
Humorous:
The Ricky Gervais Podcast - It's on iTunes, I've downloaded a few, but haven't listened yet. He was hilariously awkward in The Office though, so it should be good. Except for the British stuff I won't get.
Apple 1984 Commercial Parody - Entitled "Whatever", it shows how far Apple has come.
Someone with too much time on their hands used Garry's Mod and Half-Life 2 to make an impressive Rube Goldberg contraption.
Technology:
NAS in a Snap - article from Tom's Hardware about a Snap! Server, a piece of hardware you connect to your network for more storage. Something we could all use more of. I just worry abot my data going kaput if a hard drive ever melts down.
You can get the look of Windows Media Center on your plain old XP box with the release of the theme from Microsoft.
A crazy deal on a laptop can be had this week at CompUSA. This Acer laptop has it all, along with being one of the first Intel Centrino Duo laptops on the market. It was a great deal last week at $1499, but this week it's a steal at $1299 after rebates. I don't know how they do it. Specs: Intel Core Duo Processor T2300, 1.66GHz, with Centrino Technology, 2GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Home Edition, and a Radeon X1400 video chipset. Impressive.
And yet, after pasting a bunch of links in here, it seems like I've barely skimmed the surface.
Well, over the last few days lots of stuff has happened. Most importantly, I got a job. So, I'm looking around for a car since I'll be starting work on January 2nd, and I have no way to get there. Can't spend too much, but my parents are being great and helping out to pay for it. (Since I'll have some income, I can pay them back.) So, lots of cars out there, and lots of used car salesman dying to dupe the kid. Especially the used car lots that don't even have the prices on the cars. Shady.
So, I have lots of car-related tabs open, and back up to way too many once again. Here's the roundup so I can close a few.
How much caffeine will do you in? For me, 25 cups of Starbucks Tall Coffee.
Interview with Alia Shawkat She plays Maeby Fünke on Arrested Development. Which always gets kicked around by FOX, even though it's won a boatload of awards for being hilarious.
But it looks like Showtime may save Arrested Development. Who knows.
One of the many "Save Arrested Development" sites. These fans are RABID.
Xbox 360 Sketch that was on The Daily Show. Good stuff.
The Tenth Annual MediaWise® Video Game Report Card Which warns parents from buying "Stubbs the Zombie" (citing it'll turn your kids into cannibals, what a great news story that'll be if any cannibalism ever breaks out) but says its fine and dandy to purchase the King Kong game. Which has an ape doing the jawbreaker on a t-rex. Smooth. This explains why the ESRB replied with...
ESRB gives NIMF a bad report card right back. (link is a PDF, you have been warned) Looks like the NIMF was just looking to get some news time, this report card points out the holes in the NIMF's report.
The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection: More than 1000 of the Greatest Classics If you have a lot of spare cash sitting around and really, really like to read. Go ahead and pick this up for just under $8000. Don't actually try to pick it up though, shipping weight is listed as 700 pounds. Good thing it's got free shipping.
Once again, I have way too many tabs open in Firefox, with 42 at the moment. I put my laptop to sleep at night and that lets me leave the browser open for when I come back in the morning. Unfortunately, that allows tab buildup, to the point where I don't even see the new tabs since they can't fit all on one screen. So, here's a few that I have open so I can finally close them.
When the time comes to change the clocks (today at 2am, it becomes 1am again, meaning an extra hour of sleep!), how many clocks do you have to change? It was always fun in the dorm room to see just how many clocks there were in that small space. I had my watch, xbox, clock radio, iPaq, laptop, desktop, microwave...my roommate had his clock radio, watch, tv, computer, and cell phone. That's 12! Sure, the computers and cell phone would update themselves, but it's pretty crazy how many things keep time in that small a space. And I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two. Later on I eventually got a pre-paid cell phone, so there's one more.
At home, in just the kitchen you can look down the line at the clocks on the stove, microwave, and clock radio, all within 10 feet of eachother. People loooove time. Or at the least, people love to add the ability to tell time to just about anything. How many widgets, docklets, gadgets, etc. for operating systems just tell time? It's crazy. And usually, there's already a nice little clock in some corner of the screen!
Ahh, Friday. Not like it's been a busy work week, but Friday does mean it's time for that special music playlist to be queued up and pumped out of iTunes. Ever since some point in college, myself and my roommate began a tradition of playing certain songs on Friday's, knowing that these songs were worthy of ushering in the weekend. A typical Friday Music session started off with War's Low Rider. Classic. These sessions usually started whenever one of us remembered to start playing them, either by screaming "ITS FRIDAAAAAAY" as we got back to the dorm, or remembering once we were both in the room and racing to start the music first. Other typical songs on the playlist:
They get everything! I was in target today, and I see this:
A 1:6 Scale Chrysler 300M. Not only is it a huge remote-controlled car complete with "spinner rims" and "pulsating light-up interior", it also has an auxillary jack in the trunk so you can plug in your MP3 player of choice to play through the speakers that are in the car! When Iwas a kid, my remote controlled cars were the kind that went in a straight line, and then when you went in reverse, they veered to the left at the same time. That's how you turned. How, you have a $119.99 iPod jukebox with wheels!
While looking at video of the alleged new cohost of G4's Attack of the Show, I saw a few other short clips that were also in the playlist, including this one entitled "Spin". It's a great short, very well done and polished, and not what I thought it was going to be when it started. The thing about sites like IFILM is that you get sucked in and keep watching shorts that look cool and then half an hour has gone by. And now, take a look at a composite picture I just created! It explains how hurricanes can hear everything going on, and it's out for justice.
I figure it's about time I create/use one of these blog things. What will it be about? I have no idea. Computers? Obvious choice. I might just use this as a place to post links that I want to keep track of, instead of just littering my desktop with links.
