It helps me to say these things aloud, I think.
all things technology/geek related
I recently found this letter from a high school friend. It was typed in 1994 when we were both in college. I’ve cut out these adorable examples of the emerging use of emoticons to share with you. But I’ve won’t reveal the identity of said friend, to protect the innocent. 🙂
Yay yay yay!
I got me BlackBerry finally. I loves me husband.
P.S. Spelling errors are all mine.
P.P.S. Posted from my BlackBerry!!!
Here’s my tip for the Geeks Are Sexy “How to” Contest.
This tip is for iPod Shuffle users. The problem with the Shuffle is that there is no way to control your music while you are listening to it. The Shuffle has two settings – either shuffle and straight-through. Typically, most people listen to it on shuffle setting. However, if you use a little smarts when importing your music into your Shuffle, you can use the straight-through setting to your advantage.
I have all of my music ripped to FLAC, so it’s not compatible with iTunes. That means I have to convert my music from FLAC to MP3 in order to import it into iTunes. I use this to my advantage.
When I convert the music, I make sure that the file naming convention is Artist Name first, then Song Name second. Then I import the music into iTunes and onto my iPod.
Now, when I am listening to music on my Shuffle, if I decide I want to hear more of a particular artist (say, for instance, David Bowie), I can just set the iPod to the straight-through setting. Because the files all start with the same name, I can hear all of the songs of a particular artist at one time, even though I’m listening to my “You ain’t got no control” Shuffle.
Hope you like it!
The tech blog Geeks Are Sexy is hosting a very cool, geeky “How to” contest.
In short, they want your original (and geeky) how-to article and in return you’ll be eligible for some very cool prizes, including this adorable Mimobot USB Flash Drive.
 Hurry, this contest ends in a few weeks so get your entries in. You even get a chance to win just for posting about the contest on your own blog. Go check out the contest!
MSN/PC World has an article about the 25 worst websites. MySpace made it to Number 1.
Here’s the article – I think it mirrors my feelings about MySpace.
1. MySpace.com
Yes, we know. With more than 90 million users, MySpace is now more popular than Elvis, “American Idol,” and ice cream. But the Web’s most visited destination is also its most poorly designed and counterproductive.The ease with which anyone of any age can create a page, upload photos, share deeply personal details of their lives, and make new “friends” quickly turned MySpace into a one-stop shopping mall for online predators. That in turn has made the site an easy target for politicians who pander for votes by playing on parental fears. In an era when the basic tenets of the Net are under attack by both Ma Bell and Uncle Sam, MySpace is a headache we don’t need.But let’s put all that aside for a moment. Graphically, many MySpace pages look like a teenager’s bedroom after a tornado–a swirl of clashing backgrounds, boxes stacked inside other boxes, massive photos, and sonic disturbance. Try loading a few of those pages at once and watch what happens to your CPU. Watch out for spyware, too, since it turns out that MySpace has become a popular distribution vector for drive-by downloads and other exploits. And in a place where “U are soooooooo hot!!!” passes for wit, MySpace isn’t doing much to elevate the level of social discourse.
In response to a public backlash and some well-publicized lawsuits, MySpace has begun modifying its policies–for example, limiting adults’ ability to contact minors. That’s hardly enough. Requiring some kind of authentication from MySpacers–or their parents–to validate their ages and identities would go a long way toward scaring off the creeps and making the site a kinder, gentler social network. Is MySpace totally bad? Not at all. Are we old farts? Yeah, probably. But the Web’s most popular site needs a serious security reboot. And probably a makeover. Until then, MySpace won’t ever be OurSpace.
This is a really fun video:
http://www.grabbingsand.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2007/06/20/its-not-an-iphone/
apparently based on a real product:
www.microsoft.com/surface
Very interesting, as I’m watching The Island right now and the touch desk in the movie was inspired by a Microsoft ThinkTank that the director worked with.
I love love love these Mac/PC commercials. Love!
Even though I’m PC all the way and I can’t really stand Macs. How do you people live without right-clicking?
I got a free iPod Shuffle from a vendor at work. W00t!
It’s on the teeny ones with a built-in clip. It’s adorably tiny.
I’m still trying to figure out how to use this damn, non-intuitive iTunes software, but I’m delighted. I’ve never had an MP3 player before.
UPDATE: I’m a little disappointed to discover that I can’t import my *.flac files into iTunes. That means I need to convert my flac files to either MP3 or ALAC format, which means duplicate files of all the music I want to put onto my iPod, which is kinda silly, but disk space is cheap, I guess.
Still, I loved being able to listen to my book while waiting in the doctor’s office yesterday!
My SysAdmin at work likes to play pranks on me because he knows I won’t totally flip my lid. I logged into my computer the other day to see this message:
Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent and reboot. Order shall return.
Later, I learned that he had a list of messages he was going to have pop-up, but he ran out of steam when his child got the flu. This is the list: