Wednesday: March 17, 2010
- The great big red spot over on Jupiter has brand new glow about it.
Turns out that great big red spot is not just a plain old oval after all. It seems to act as a mood ring of sorts to indicate weather and circulation patterns for nearby storms systems. You can see this glow for yourself at home, assuming you have your very own infrared telescope facility.
- Eight common CSS mistakes and how you can fix them.
Yep, this about covers every mistake I've made along the way so far in my learning of CSS. Looking over my source code now it seems there are still a few I've yet to correct. Regardless, if you're just starting out learning the ins and outs of CSS, read this first - it may save you some tim e (and potential headaches). Good luck.
- Gandalf confirms that 'The Hobbit' will indeed start filming this June.
This news comes straight from Ian McKellen's website who will of course be reprising his role as Gandalf the Grey. Casting is already in progress and it's estimated that filming will take about a year or so over in New Zealand.
- Google's Nexus One phone considered a flop due to lagging sales.
Turns out that the Google has only moved about 135,000 of these units. This is staggering when you take into account that Apple had already sold a million iPhones by the same time in that product's life cycle.
- Turns out that more and more employers are using tech to track workers.
This post details just how easy (and cheap) it is in this day and age to monitor exactly what people are doing in the workplace. If you happen to have some sort of job in a tech-related field - it's even easier. If you think Big Brother is watching you - well, he probably is.
Monday: March 15, 2010
- Netflix decides to cancel new contest amidst privacy concerns.
The retreat announced Friday settles a lawsuit alleging Netflix's plans to release millions of movie-rental records that could have illegally exposed sensitive information about its subscribers' tastes and lifestyles.
- The folks at Digg would like you to know that a redesign is coming in the near future.
Wow, I haven't used Digg in a long, long time (reddit ftw) but I'm quite curious to see what new 'radical features' they have in store. One of the key changes according to the source article is an unlimited number of topics (aka subreddits). How original.
- The age-old art of blogging may have peaked thanks to introduction of Twitter.
Blogs are meant for people for whom being a writer, being a creator, is a passion, or perhaps a requirement of life. They're meant for people for whom Facebook's 'What's on your mind?' question can't always be answered in 500 characters or less.
Thursday: March 11, 2010
- LucasArts announces special edition of Monkey Island 2 coming this summer.
This should be a happy day for all fans of the Monkey Island franchise. The previous special edition of Monkey Island for Xbox 360 (and practically all other major platforms) was a joy to play. Guybrush even has a new haircut this time around.
- A list of ten useful website analytics tools for your analytical pleasure.
You may not have known but Google isn't the only game in town for getting some decent web statistics. This post covers some of the non-Google tools you can try out to gauge performance of your beloved web site or web apps.
- New survey shows that 12% of employees knowingly violate IT policies.
With 12 percent of those people actively working outside of stated IT policy (and plenty more who do so out of ignorance), IT admins certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to maintain a tight ship.
Wednesday: March 10, 2010
- Five must-see museum exhibits to give you an added dose of culture this Spring.
Looking for something different to do on those otherwise boring Spring days? Try stopping by a museum or two this Spring to catch up on some of the finer things (as it relates to art) that you may have been missing.
- Three reasons as to why the iPad won't see a quick price drop after it's release.
This should be pretty easy to figure out especially if you happened to be an early iPhone adopter (such as myself) from way back in 2007. One would conclude that Apple y wouldn't repeat the same mistake although it was nice quite nice to get some free Apple money.
- Cities across America continue to duke it out for Google's attention.
Duluth, Minnesota's mayor Don Ness jumped into a 35 degree Lake Superior as a dual-purpose media event for Google Fiber and the Special Olympics; and 1,000 Morgantown, West Virginia residents last week held up signs saying 'We Want a Gig' at the WVU-Georgetown basketball game.
Tuesday: March 9, 2010
- Physicists find brand new way to achieve Superman-like X-ray vision.
In addition to allowing us to peer through paper or paint, and into cells, the technique opens up the possibility that opaque materials might be good optical elements in nano-scale devices, at levels where the construction of transparent lenses is particularly challenging.
- Stride Rite offering up new line of Star Wars sneakers next month (younglings only).
Sorry to build your hopes up with that headline Star Wars fans, but these kicks are for kids only. However, if the comments on the source site are any indication - an adult line of these sneaks would probably sell too.
- Your rechargeable batteries may come with a free Trojan horse virus.
The battery maker said it does not know how the Trojan got into the software. 'Energizer has discontinued sale of this product and has removed the site to download the software,' the statement said.
Monday: March 8, 2010
- Researchers over at MIT have discovered a brand new way to make electricity.
The discovery may one day lead to a myriad of new devices such as sensors the size of dust that can be dispersed in air to monitor the environment or the tech might lead to implantable devices that produce their own power.
- Daily Grind: Fantastic
Name: Vin (aka hat tipper)
Occupation: Webmaster / Procrastinator / Dad
How Vin feels today: Fantastic @ 2:11:12 PM
What Vin really wants today: To continue absorption of certain programming material for a certain mobile platform in a certain amount of uncertain time.Music Stuck in Head: Electrocute / God Street Wine
Mostly in honor of the recent God Street Wine reunion announcement that was just recently posted. Must. Contain. Excitement. Link here for those interested.Stuff to do today:
- Continue containing excitement
- Attempt to purchase tickets to said reunion shows first
- Seems like it's a good week to be a fan of jambands past and present
- And by 'present' meaning this little Phish link that popped up this week
- Attend movie in full-on Avatar costume for giggles (since it will most likely be in 3D and all)
- Ben Stiller FTW - abandon previous to-do item
- Get back to iPhone development
- Ars Technica explains why blocking ads is devastating to the websites you love to visit.
Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us. Just like a restaurant, we have to pay to staff, we have to pay for resources, and we have to pay when people consume those resources.
Thursday: March 4, 2010
- Escaped monkey manages to make time for several Facebook appearances.
Facebook: the only place where you can find photos of an escaped monkey and then read posts by that same monkey as he taunts the authorities. Is there anything social networking can't do?
- Sony looking to give Apple some viable competition in the portable arena.
Sony engineers are toiling away on “a portable device that blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable.” It will also knit in tightly with Sony’s iTunes-like media store, a marketplace for music, video and games set to debut later this month.
- Google would like you to know that they think PageRank is a tad over-hyped.
PageRank has a catchy name and the name recognition. But we've always looked at all the things that are available when ranking search results. We look at where do things come from, what are the words used, how do they interact with each other, how do people interact with them,' he said.
- Steam gaming platform most likely coming to the Mac platform in the very near future.
There are currently over a thousand games on the Steam distribution system that Mac users may get access to sooner than later. Now you just need to find yourself a Mac with a decent enough graphics card to play some of these fine games (sadly, my wimpy MacBook Intel GMA card will most likely not cut it).
- NASA has discovered an abundant amount of water on the moon.
The quantity of water present at the lunar poles is significant,' Spudis writes; 'at the north pole alone, the 600 million metric tons of water there -- turned into rocket fuel -- is enough to launch the equivalent of one Space Shuttle (735 mT of propellant) per day for over 2000 years.'
Tuesday: March 2, 2010
- Hacking popular ticket sites may land you with several unfriendly charges.
What kind of charges you ask? Well there is conspiracy, wire fraud and unauthorized computer access for starters. According to the source article that wire fraud charge carries a twenty year prison sentence.
- Google is now the proud recipient of a location-based advertising patent.
The full description of the patent is available over on the other side of the click. Do all mobile carriers and device makers (oh, hi Apple) have something to worry about now that Google has acquired this patent?
Monday: March 1, 2010
- Rare Nintendo title finds owner on eBay for a mere $43,300.
The video game in question turned out to be 'Family Fun Stadium Events' for Nintendo's original entertainment system way back when. You would have also needed Nintendo's Power Pad to complete the overall gaming experience.
- Facebook's recently awarded news-feed patent could spell trouble for other social sites.
Twitter is effectively one giant news feed, to the extent that it clearly has influenced some of the changes that Facebook made to its own feed technology. That reaction could be alarmist. And yet prominent figures elsewhere in the social-media world don't seem thrilled.
Thursday: February 25, 2010
- Eight of the best unexpected and hilarious cameos from comedy movies.
Of all the cameos on this list the Vonnegut one has to be my favorite. I have trouble reading (correction - starting) any of his novels without first flashing to this scene. '...and another thing, Vonnegut! I'm gonna stop payment on that check! Hey Kurt, can you read lips?'
