~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
A giant clock screensaver: 
You can get it from this awsome website ....
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
December 10, 2007
Gee, I wonder what time it is?
November 30, 2007
Why Nero application is called Nero
You know what I only recently figured out?
I've been using the software called "Nero" for about a decade now, but I never got the joke about the name, beyond a vague idea that the pun was clearly about "Nero" and "burning" ....
See, the main program in Nero's "suite" of applications is (and always has been) "Nero Buring ROM". The app was originally used for "burning" CD-ROM disks.
And, of course, the old cliche is "Nero fiddled while Rome burnt" (see "The Great Fire of Rome").
But it turns out that the German name/pronunciation of "Rome" is "Rom" ...
So the program name should actually be read as "Nero Burning Rome"! (where "ROM" is pronounced "rome").
So maybe it's not hilarious, but still amusing enough if you've been using the thing for years ;-)
November 25, 2007
Tip d'jour: Add Your Own Help Pages to Photoshop CS2
[from C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Help\additional how to content\HowToInstructions.html ]
Create your own How-To tips
- Using the HTML editor of your choice, create an HTML file containing your How To content. Or you can place your content in a copy of the supplied HTML template file, Add_001.html.
- Save your HTML file and place it in the Additional How To Content folder.
Note: Your How To HTML files must be stored in the [ additional how to content] folder to be accessed from the Photoshop Help menu.
- Using the text editor of your choice, open the index file Add_001.howto, also located in the[additional how to content] folder.
This file contains entries that appear in the Photoshop Help menu.
- Add an entry to the file for each choice you want to appear in the Help menu, following the format of the existing line in the file:
"How to Create How Tos" "Create your Own How To tips" HowToInstructions.html"This is my Category" "This is my topic" TipFilename.html"This is my Category" appears as the top level menu item in the Photoshop Help menu, "This is my topic" appears on the cascading sub-menu. For "TipFilename.html", substitute the name of the HTML file you created (e.g. MyTip.html).
- Add additional entries to the Add_001.howto file for other Help menu items. Make sure that each category and topic points to a valid html file.
Note: You can also point to a page on the Web if you provide the full path (e.g. http://www.adobe.com).
- Save the Add_001.howto file.
Note: The Add_001.howto file must be stored in the Additional How To Content folder, along with your HTML content files.
- Restart Photoshop to activate the new How To choices in the Help menu.
You can create your own How To tips and add them to the Photoshop and ImageReady Help menus. The template files you need are located in the folder:
Adobe Photoshop CS2\Help\Additional How To Content.
Tip: 
You can place multiple index files in the Additional How To Content folder. An index file must contain ".howto" in the filename. For example, if you receive a custom set of HTML How To tips from another user (e.g. Tip1.html, Tip2.html), with an accompanying index file (Mytips.howto), you can place the HTML files and the index file in the Additional How To Content folder. Make sure the index files are saved as unicode text files. When you restart Photoshop, the Help menu will contain entries from all index files stored in this folder.
November 19, 2007
2004's Cisco Hacker Convicted this week in Sweden
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
A 19 year old man was convicted for hacking activity in Sweden, and "Swedish Radio News ... reports that following the reversal, the American FBI wants the Swedish police to investigate if the 19 year old was responsible for a hacker attack at Cisco." (source: Notes from Sweden /radiowood.com )
[UPDATE, 20 NOV 2007 00:05 UTC : I admit implying that this young man is positively 2004's "Cisco Hacker" in the blog title is misleading :-) ~The Liberty Miller]
~~~~~~
from the ' International Herald ', Monday 19 November 2007:
'Cisco hacking suspect convicted in Sweden'
2007-11-19, STOCKHOLM, Sweden:
A Swedish teenager who is suspected of hacking into the computer network of Cisco Systems Inc. in the U.S. was convicted Monday of 'intruding on the networks of three Swedish universities'.
Overturning an acquittal by a lower court, the Svea Court of Appeal gave the [now] 19-year-old man a conditional sentence and ordered him to pay 160,000 kronor (US$ 25,000; € 17,000) in damages to the universities...
>> iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/19/technology/EU-TEC-Sweden-Hacker
Background:
- MAY 2004 (3 years, 6 months ago):
"Cisco investigates source code leak"
The technology giant confirms that some of the proprietary source code that drives its networking hardware has appeared on the Internet...
" An unspecified amount of the proprietary source code that drives Cisco Systems' networking hardware has appeared on the Internet, the technology giant acknowledged early Monday.
A representative could not confirm, however, that network intruders made off with 800MB of code, as reported by a Russian security group over the weekend..."
~ CNET News.com; May 17, 2004 - MAY 2005:
"Cisco Says Swede Detained for 2004 Hacking Incident"
" Cisco Systems Inc. said on Tuesday authorities in Sweden had detained a person for stealing its [Cisco IOS software] source code [last year; Cisco IOS constitutes] the basic instructions for the machines that direct Internet traffic around the globe... "
~ Reuters; May 2005 - May 2005:
"Investigators link Cisco hack to other activities"
" In e-mail messages sent to a University of California, Berkeley, researcher last year, a computer hacker claimed to have breached the computer networks of several U.S. government sites, including military installations, according to a New York Times story published Tuesday.
After the Cisco source code theft was announced in May 2004, security experts expressed concern that hackers could use the code to look for security holes in Cisco products. Companies using Cisco's networking products often connect them directly to the Internet without firewalls or other security products.
Cisco applauded the Swedish arrest. "We are very encouraged that an arrest has been made in Sweden and will continue to work with the appropriate law ... "
www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/10/HNciscohack_1.html?NETWORK%20STANDARDS - May 2005:
Cisco source code theft part of 'mega-hack' [?]
" Hackers made off [with] the secret blueprint for [Cisco IOS software, the] software that controls the flow of traffic on the internet when they broke into Cisco'snetwork in May 2004 and ... "
~ The Register, 05/10/2005; cisco_hack_investigation
more:
- current: "FBI investigates Swedish hacker"; 2007-11-17, 'The Local ; Sweden's News In English'
- historical: > google search 'cisco hacker sweden
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
What are "Advanced Features" in Google Desktop?
link to plain view copy of this article (alternate / mirror; provided by Saoradh)
File Under:
• [ truth in advertising ]
• [ the Google virutal PC ]
• [ do no evil ]
• [ lying by omission ]
Google Desktop is primarily a PC search utility.
To use it, you must install it on your PC (this point is clarified because to many people, Google implies online functionality, not PC-based programs).
I. "Advanced Features" = (only) "Personalized News" ?
"Advanced Features" is not, apparently, described in any detail anywhere.
IF the optional function is ONLY what is described by Google, than "Advanced Features" should be renamed as "Customized News Results" -- Because the only function described in "Personalized News Results". But it's not called that, because they don't want to explicitly tell you (hypothetically) that the other "features" are targeted advertising, and tracking for Google Ad service improvements.
Reference #1 : The description provided within the Google Desktop application.
""
Advanced Features Enable Advanced Features
Information about web pages you visit may be sent to Google to personalize features such as the news shown in Sidebar. Other non-personal usage data and crash reports may be sent to Google to improve Desktop. To learn more about our privacy protections, read our Privacy Policy.
Reference #2 : The Help page (the linked to page from "Advanced Features" link, above)
"
By using advanced features, you may be sending information about web sites you visit and non-personal usage information to Google.The web sites you visit are used to make some features of Google Desktop available to you. For example, in order to personalize the news shown in the Sidebar, Google Desktop sends information on the news pages you're visiting. This does NOT tell us who YOU are. Non-personal usage data, including crash reports, is used to help improve Google Desktop.
Google will not sell or provide personally identifiable information to any third parties, except as otherwise indicated in our privacy policy. To learn more about the privacy protections we have built into this system, read our Privacy Policy.
"
Note that they say "some features" and "for example" : this clearly implies that there are some other functions _besides_ just "personalizing the news shown in the Sidebar. These other functions are not defined or explained beyond the fact that you are sending your search history to Google for analysis.
Reference #3 : Using the Sidebar: Personalization
http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=24819&query=Advanced+Features&topic=&type=
"
As you may know, when you install Google Desktop, it indexes the contents of your hard drive. Google Desktop uses the information it finds on your hard drive to show you personalized weather, stock quotes you might be interested in, or RSS feeds you might like to add to your Web Clips and Photos gadgets. All of this information is stored only on your computer and is never sent to Google.
If you enabled Advanced Features, articles read on the web or the sidebar will be used to provide other relevant news in your News gadget. To do this personalization, information about the websites you visit is sent to Google. Please be assured that information that personally identifies you, such as your name or email address is never sent to Google. If you'd rather not send this non-personal information, you can disable Advanced Features at any time by following these steps:
1. From your Google Desktop homepage, select the "Desktop Preferences" link.
2. Select the "Other" tab in the blue box near the top of the window.
3. In the "Advanced Features" section, un-check the box next to "Enable Advanced Features"
4. Click the "Save Preferences" button.
"
Hypothesis: "Advanced Features" has three primary functions:
1. To show you "targeted advertising" ; that is 'Ads by Google' will be displayed based on the content you have viewed or searched for on any website (this is done automatically and is not intended to be analysied on a per-user basis).
2. To track how users actually use "targeted advertising", so that the data can be used, in aggregate, to refine how ads are displayed so as to produce better "click-through"
3. To provide to you news (RSS and Atom Feeds) and similar 'search' results that are anticipated (by algorith) to be results that you are interested in (in the same way that the Ads are returned; that is, Ads that are anticipated (by algorithym) to be Ads that you will be interested in).
Now, quite frankly, you should probably consider that the fact that Google wants to
• provide targeted advertising and
• track how users, in aggregate, respond to targeted advertising,
to be a relatively small price to pay in exchange for the services provided.
It is NOT that they want to track how YOU use the web, individually; it is more that they just want to be able to track how user X at uses the web so that Ads can be displayed that user X will be MORE LIKELY to click on.
But having said that, if Google really wants to 'do no evil', then they should stop trying to hide the fact that this is really what "Advanced Features" means! Come on Google, just be up-front about it!
II . Using Google Desktop with Different Windows User Accounts
"
Google Desktop can now ['now' as of when? As of which release?? - Editor] work on multiple Windows user accounts [on a single PC]. You must be logged in as an administrator to install Google Desktop, but once Google Desktop is installed, it can be enabled on any user account. Google Desktop will create separate indexes for each username, and each index can be accessed only by someone logged in with that username.
Please note that Google Desktop doesn't support fast user switching. You must completely log off one user profile (or exit Google Desktop), before using Google Desktop in another user profile.
If, however, you share your computer and all users log in with the same Windows username and password, Google Desktop will make all users' documents searchable. Google Desktop is a very powerful search application. If you install Google Desktop on a shared computer where all users log in with one username and password, please be aware that one user may accidentally find another's web-based email, AIM chats, files, etc.
If you share your computer and Windows login, you may want to disable search over some types of documents, such as chats, or prevent Google Desktop from searching a particular folder on your hard drive. You can change any of these settings by visiting the Google Desktop Preferences page. Be sure to click "Save Preferences" when you're done.
"
> http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=10110
Miro (official/ non-beta) version 1.0 Launches!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(( November , 2007 ))
(quoted email)
*I am incredibly excited to announce the launch of Miro 1.0.*
Download Miro here: http://getmiro.com/download
Read the full blog post: http://tinyurl.com/2p47g3
If you're getting this email, it means at some point you signed up for updates about Miro. That means you probably care about Miro, open media, and you can help us grow by sharing Miro with your friends.
With this launch, we are ready to build a movement for truly open video. We’re on a mission, we have a world-class product, we have an amazing community, and more and more open channels are being published every day. It’s the right time.
*Comprehensive Feature Guide*
We've just posted a comprehensive guide to all the features in Miro 1.0. Even power users might want to take a look, there's a lot of stuff in there: http://www.getmiro.com/feature
*Press Release*
This press release announces the launch:
http://www.getmiro.com/about
We've already had some great coverage today in the Fortune Magazine blog:
http://techland.blogs.fortune
*Thanks!*
Thanks to everyone who's helped us get this far, and a special thanks to our dedicated volunteers! Today is a very exciting day for all of us at PCF.
Sincerely,
nicholas, dean, nick, ben, janet, luc, paul, will, chris, jesse, holmes, tiffiniy, matt, andrew, and sheryl-ann
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 16, 2007
About Vista's "Windows Experience Index"
Title: About Vista's Windows Experience Index (Nov. 2007)
File Under: Microsoft (MS) Windows, Vista, tech
As I explore Vista (recently upgraded), I came across this little tidbit about MS Vista's "Performance Index and Tools" dialog page:
(adapted from mshelp://Windows/?id=60d9b045-e2fe-4f7a-9111-e2f2222851991033", by John Swenson, undated.)
System Specs and Bragging Rights
It’s always been difficult to measure exactly how fast a PC is and to compare its speed to other computers. Sure, you can examine all its hardware components, but that gets complicated, and it’s difficult to compare different brands of hardware. There are various speed benchmarks, but it’s not always clear what those mean or how to measure your computer against them.
It’s a tough situation for any self-respecting power user. How are you supposed to brag to your friends that your PC is faster than theirs? Well, Windows Vista introduces a new way. You can just check your Windows Experience Index score. Your computer’s performance is distilled down to a single number."
In the quest for PC bragging rights, some power users are striving to achieve a perfect Windows Experience Index score. Many are gamers or PC enthusiasts willing to plunk down $500 or more for the latest 3-D video card—or two cards running in tandem ... [et cetera]... All for the elusive goal of achieving a Windows Experience Index score of 5.9.
Wait a minute—5.9 ??
As one person on a Gizmodo.com forum wrote, “What marketing genius decided to make it a 5.9 scale?”
The technical wizards on the Windows team who designed this new tool for measuring the speed of a PC settled on a scale of 1 to 5.9 -- not 1 to 10, as you might expect -- because "The index is designed to expand and evolve over time."
At some point in the next 12 to 18 months [as of when? - Editor], the Windows team expects to push the maximum score to 6.9, and eventually to 7.9 and beyond. Maybe someday the index will actually reach 10 (or 9.9).
(This will not change any scores on the low end. A PC rated 2.8 will still stay at 2.8 unless it is upgraded with new hardware components.)
[Blah Blah Blah (like Microsoft would know what makes a good tweaked computer)]
As more people post their index scores on ShareYourScore.com, the percentage of people achieving 5.9 is going down, not up, showing just how hard it is get a perfect score. For more information about what your own score means (assuming it’s not perfect), see Understand and improve your computer's performance in Windows Vista.
Well, okay then: here's mine!
(click to view)
~
November 14, 2007
Marvel launches online comic service w/ 250 free sample comics!
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Marvel launches online comic service w/ 250 free sample comics:
{ http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1495577/1-Digital_Comics_Free_Iron_Man_728x90.jpg }
> Link: Marvel.com Digital Comics HeadQuarters
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November 12, 2007
Blade Runner Final Cut - NOW PLAYING at a theater near you!
~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~
Here's an update on my earlier Blade Runner Final Cut blog (click on the 'movies and television' label link to read it) ...
Warner Bros. has expanded the Theatrical Run of the 35mm showing of Blade Runner to the following cities:
note/disclaimer:
This list subject to change. See the official website at http://bladerunnerthemovie.warnerbros.com/ for updates!
October
10/26 -November
Seattle (Cinerama, Seattle - 35mm),
Washington D.C. (Uptown, D.C. - 35mm),
Portland (Cinema 21, Portland - 35mm),
Salt Lake (Gateway Megaplex, SLC - Digital)
11/2 -
Atlanta (check the local papers)
Chicago (Music Box, Chicago - 35mm),
Santa Barbara (Arlington, Santa Barbara - Digital),
Baltimore (Landmark Harbor East, Baltimore - Digital)
11/9 -
Boston (Coolidge Corner, Brookline - 35mm)
11/16 -
Detroit (Main Art, Detroit - 35mm)
11/18 -
Austin (Paramount, Austin - 35mm)
11/30 -
San Francisco (Embarcadero, San Francisco - 35mm),
Dallas (The Inwood, Dallas - 35mm),
San Diego (Ken, San Diego - 35mm),
Minneapolis (The Uptown, Minneapolis - 35mm)
December
12/7 -
Denver (The Landmark @ Greenwood Village - Digital),
Philadelphia (The Ritz 5, Philadelphia - 35mm)
12/25 -
Boston (The Brattle, Cambridge - 35mm)
2008
1/2/08 - Austin (The Paramount, Austin - 35mm)
1/4/08 - Nashville (The Belcourt, Nashville - 35mm)
1/18/08 - Durham (Carolina, Durham - 35mm)
2/1/08 - Columbus (Drexel Gateway, Columbus - 35mm)
2/15/08 - San Francisco (Castro, San Francisco - 35mm)
2/29/08 - Sacramento (Crest, Sacramento - 35mm)
-:-:-:-
here's a post from the movie forums:
"Do go and see the movie at the theater. It is worth the 40 minute drive. This movie is INCOMPARABLE when seen on the big screen. Anyone who loves Blade Runner and has the chance should see it BIG at least once. Oh....the restoration and transfer were awesome. It looked like a movie that was just made yesterday......beautiful. "
- Benji-The_Dog , Sat , Nov 10 , 2007
~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~
November 7, 2007
(stocks) Cisco profits up 29%, stock drops 9%
From the after-hours 1st quarter (Aug-Sept-Oct) financial results 'conference call' on Wednesday, November 07, 2007:
Cisco's [CSCO] 1st quarter [Q1] profit rose 29% ;
to 40 cents a share, or 19% ex a 3-cent tax gain.
Wall St. expected 36 cents.
Revenue rose 17% to $9.55 billion "just ahead of views".
Cisco sees Q2 sales growth of about 16%, just a hair under estimates. U.S. orders were relatively weak.
So how does the stock market react to a profit increase of 19% in 3 months, a revenue increase of 17%, and a company bringing in 9.5 billion dollars of revenue per quarter?
"Shares sank 9% in late trading after falling [an additional] 4% ahead of results from Tuesday's [Nov 6th's] 6 1/2-year high." [$ 34.24]
Talking-heads' explanation "Steady growth was disappointing.",
According to Reuters "Network equipment maker Cisco Systems posted a 37 percent rise in quarterly profit on solid demand from telecoms carriers, but its shares fell 9 percent on concerns about its outlook amid U.S. economic weakness."*
* "Cisco, which makes routers, switches and other equipment, said its fiscal first-quarter profit rose to $2.2 billion, or 35 cents per share, from $1.6 billion, or 26 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue, helped by Cisco's expansion into new products as well as emerging markets, rose 16.7 percent to $9.6 billion for the quarter ended Oct. 27. The company's August forecast was for revenue of $9.45 billion to $9.55 billion.
Analysts on average had forecast revenue of $9.5 billion, according to Reuters Estimates."
"Lives up to expectations,... but delivers a failure to RAISE guidance for growth."
Note: not a failure to raise estimates for profit or revenue, not a estimate of negative growth or loss, not even a lowering of guidance: the stock takes a hit because John Chambers did not raise estimates of 'growth' beyond the current estimate of 16 to 17 % per quarter -- as if you can earn billions AND increase earnings by 64% a year, year after year, forever... how crazy are we?
----
other: Banking index posts worst loss in 5 years as Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill hit new lows ... The 'Financials' exchange-traded fund (ETF) 'XLF' is down 5.35% ...
October 30, 2007
OMG! I bought the wrong video card!
[ posted by Liberty, Monday October 29 2007 ]
According to the folks over at Gamespot.com, today's retail release of the nVidia 8800 GT video card comes with some surprises...
...
(article removed; you snooze, you loose.)
...
October 28, 2007
your computer might be showing the wrong time today
[submitted by John S., October 28 2007]
A note for our United States readers:
In 2007, Daylight Saving Time (DST) doesn't take effect in the US until the first Sunday in November... this is a change from previous years, in which DST ended the last Sunday in October.
You can double-check the current time at TimeAndDate.com.
"DST ends on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 2:00 AM local daylight time"
October 24, 2007
Easily Add A Storage Hard Drive to Your Home Network
[posted by Liberty on 23 October 2007]
The 'NetDisk Enclosure' from xiMeta appears to be an easy and cheap way to add a Hard Drive for network-connected storage. The difference between this product and most 'USB HDD Enclosures' you can buy is that you can plug this one into your network using an Ethernet cable instead of having to have it connected directly to a computer using a USB cable. And unlike some other networked drives, this one provides a device that's (supposedly) 'plug-and-play' (no IP config). And it even supports RAID!
Here's the marketing description (slightly modified by me):
NetDisk Enclosure is a single drive Ethernet/USB 2.0 combination enclosure that allows you to use the internal (3.5" IDE) hard drive of your choice. Each model includes advanced 'NDAS' technology for central, simple and secure network storage -- with no IP configuration or server required!
• 3.5" IDE HD Drive Enclosure
• External network storage for home and office
• Fast Ethernet (100-BaseT \ 802.3u 100Base-TX) and USB 2.0 interface
• RAID 0,1, and JBOD
• Use for backup and/or media storage
http://www.ximeta.com/products/ndenclosure1_en.php
http://www.ximeta.com/products/ndenclosure4_en.php
Buy direct: ($80): https://www.ximeta.com/ecommerce2/
You might be interested in the Linksys "NAS" (Network Attached Storage) product instead... The "Linksys Network Storage System with 2 Bays (NAS200)" will let you put in two drives, supports 802.3u 100Base-TX, and sells for $130 -- but be sure to check out the user reviews at amazon.com before you decide.
October 23, 2007
Dear Epic Games (Re: Unreal tournament 3)
Too Much Free Time - playing every game because it needs to be done
Dennou Kyuusei Uranai
[by Liberty, October 2007 [2007-10-23_05:09pm]
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
UT3's release date is November 19, 2007
You can preorder the standard
or Collector's Edition
now!(This post is specific to the PC version; but you might want to check out the PS3 version
and the XBOX 360 version
too.)
If you're wondering if your system is up to it, here's a tip: Bioshock uses the same game engine. So all you have to do is search online for FPS ratings (performance ratings/tests) for Bioshock to get the info you need...
There's a demo available as well, so if you have the time, you could install that and see how it does...
Dear Epic -
According to sources online (why the Press Release or your website doesn't come up in searches is something you might want to look into), the "minimum system requirements" for Unreal Tournament 3 list the following video cards:[NVIDIA 6200+] or [ATI Radeon 9600+] Video Card
Given the amount of marketing spin and varying degrees of misinformation on the internet, how are most of your potential customers supposed to know what video cards rank _above_ and _below_ these models? It's not like Nvidia and ATI necessarily number their models sequentially. (To add to that, the addition of a single letter or number or symbol to a model number apparently implies large differences in performance -- e.g. [6500 GT] vs [6500 GTS], or e.g. the plus [+] symbol.... )
And what about dual card hardware configurations ("SLI" and "CrossFire")?
Please provide a table of video cards that ranks video cards that meet or exceed this "minimum required" benchmark.
Your customers need to know what components in their price range can reasonably be expected to run your product. And the old days of clear "this card is better than that card" days are long gone...
Links and References
1. > Epic Games guy gives some details
http://www.evga.com/gaming/gaming_news/gn_100.asp
Q. Does Unreal Tournament 3 support EAX? Does it use OpenAL like UT2004?
A. On PC , Unreal Engine 3 uses OpenAL for sound, and takes advantage of the
major 3D sound features available in hardware, or in the OpenAL software driver.
Q. Does Unreal Tournament 3 support HDR rendering with Anti-aliasing?
A. Yes, on Windows Vista. On all PC platforms, we support running with 16-bit-per-component frame buffer (64 bits total).
[But] MSAA anti-aliasing support is only enabled on DirectX 10, because the deferred rendering techniques used by the engine require some capabilities not included in DirectX 9.
2. - UT3 System Score Calculator (only provides a _very_ rough idea, and has no info on how it determines scores):
http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=577457
(laptop = 13.83 ? ; big blue = 6.001 ?)
Recommended System Requirements*:
2.4+ GHZ Dual Core Processor
1 GBytes of System RAM
NVIDIA 7800GTX+ or ATI x1300+ Video Card
8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space
Tim Sweeney of Epic Games has confirmed [30] that the best quality of graphics in UT3 (i.e.: MSAA anti-aliasing) will only be available to players of Unreal Tournament 3 if they are Windows Vista users who also have a DirectX 10 graphics card.
*(src=wiki)
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October 19, 2007
Time for a Flash-based ("Solid State") Hard Drive?
from "Solid State Disk Drives Are Here" (SanDisk) by Patrick Schmid & Achim Roos; August 13, 2007 at TomsHardware.com
"The time saved when launching applications such as Windows is reason enough for me to purchase one of these drives for my notebook soon. Indeed, real enthusiasts have no option but to invest in a SSD, because the performance is noticeably better than with any other hardware upgrade. For everyone else, I recommend waiting until these products become more affordable, because $400 for a 32 GB SDD is pretty much the cost of a 1 TB hard drive."> read more (12 pages)
Recommended site: www.SamsungSSD.com
"
64 MB Solid State Drive -- Learn More About Samsung's New SSD W/No Moving Parts! Official Site."
"Leading PC manufacturers are introducing Samsung SSD-based notebooks in the 4th quarter of 2007.
Check back to see where you can buy models driven by the all-Flash SSD. "
(see also http://www.samsung.com/us/business/semiconductor/ )
One thing I noticed was that Dell started offering some thing they referred to obliquely as "Intel Accelerator" or something like that... as it turns out:
"Samsung's 2.5" SATA, 64 GB solid state drive (SSD) is now available with Dell and Alienware notebooks. Alienware has a 128GB SSD configuration with dual 64GB SSD drives, as well as a 64GB SSD combined with a 200GB drive. Dell is offering the Samsung SSD on its XPS™ M1330 ultra-portable, and expects to use it on additional XPS, as well as Latitude™ corporate notebooks and Dell Precision™ mobile workstations soon. "
A quick check on the Alienware site (now owned by Dell) shows the m5550 laptop is now being offered with new drive choices:
You can get a 120 "GB" SATA "1.5 Gb/s" 7,200 RPM drive with 8MB Cache OR, for
$400 more (!) you can get a 32 "GB" SATA Solid State Drive. 32 GB not enough for you? No worries; for a measly $1,000 more than the 320 BillionByte 7200 rpm drive, you can get the 64 "GB" Solid State Drive. ;-)
Footnotes: "GB" means sizes are actually BB (Billion Bytes). The term "1.5 Gb/s" is way to distinguish SATA types and is not an actual reflection of access speed.
[posted by Liberty Miller, Oct 19 2007]
stocks for week of oct 15 to 19, 2007
October 19th marks the 20 year anniversary of 1987's "Black Monday".
- S&P has lost 3.7% since record close on October 9
- Dow has lost 4.2% since record close on October 9
- S&P 500 down for fourth time in 5 sessions (trading days)
- Dow's current losing streak is longest in over two months
- Stocks for today have worst weekly performance (overall drop) since late July
- QID (an EFT that trades at the inverse of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 index) is up 4.90% for the day.
My Watchlist:
- SanDisk got hit hard today: Close= $42.71 Loss= -$7.60 Percentage Loss= -15.11%
Shares of Sandisk Corp. dropped Friday after the flash memory drive maker said third-quarter profit fell 18 percent as a result of acquisition charges. - CSCO : down -3.61 %
- ORCL
- QQQQ
- MRVL
- NVDA : down -5.37 % , but still UP for the week (+5% since Monday, was up almost 10% yesterday)
- SPY : down -2.62 %
- EMC :
- AAPL
mover notes (from business week.com)
3M Co. (MMM) posts third quarter EPS of $1.32, vs. $1.18 a year ago, on 5.4% sales rise. It raises $5.40-$5.60 2007 EPS guidance to $5.54-$5.62, which includes estimated full year 2007 net gain of $0.60-$0.65 per share, due to special items.
Honeywell International (HON) posts third quarter EPS of $0.81, vs. $0.66 a year ago, on 9.8% sales rise. It raises 2007 sales guidance by $300 million to $34.2 billion, EPS guidance to $3.14-$3.16, free cash flow to $3.0 billion.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posts $0.71 third quarter loss per share, vs. $0.27 EPS a year ago, as narrowed year-over-year gross margin, higher R&D and acquisitions costs offset 23% revenue rise. S&P reiterates hold.
Google (GOOG) reports third quarter EPS (GAAP basis) of $3.38, vs. $2.36 a year ago. Excluding one-time items, EPS was $3.91. Revenue rose 57% to $4.23 billion. The report was better than analysts expected.
SanDisk (SNDK) posts third quarter EPS (non-GAAP) of $0.54, vs. $0.61 a year ago, despite a 38% revenue. rise. It says prices will likely decline "moderately more" in the fourth quarter than in third quarter. It says it may not be able to meet 100% of the strong demand it sees through the fourth quarter holiday season. S&P says while third quarter EPS was below its estimate, upgrades to buy from hold.NEW YORK, October 19 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Robert W Baird maintain their "neutral" rating on SanDisk Corporation (SNDK.NAS), while raising their estimates for the company. The target price has been reduced from $58 to $52. [Price close for 10/19: $42.71 ; 52-week high: $62.05 ] Likely range: $47 (+10%) to $52.97 (+23.8%)
...
Continue to hold EMC? Purchased @ $19.41; currently $22.38; gain of 15.3% (+$920) ...
Windows tip of the day: You may know that [Ctrl]+[Z] is "Undo" ... but did you know that [Ctrl]+[Y] is "Redo" (un-do your last un-do)?
- for most Macs: Undo = CMD+[Z]
- for Windows [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Z] also does redo, because it is the alternate (Shift key) form of [Ctrl]+[Z].
- likewise, for Macs the Redo key combination is CMD+[Shift]+[Z].
rfe: Microsoft Windows Xp > System Restore Utility
Request for Enhancement: Microsoft Windows XP > System Restore utility > Renamed folder list
For some reason, the System Restore utility, when displaying the list of renamed files and folders, does not let the user save the data. You cannot select the text for copying (Ctrl-C), and the list appears in a small box that can not be resized. Any log that may be available is hidden (not indicated) from the user.
Request: Add a button on the System Restore "Renamed Files/Folders" window for [Save ] with the following help text displayed:
"A copy of this list will be saved to your desktop as 'System Restore Renamed Files Log.txt'"
----
Help for System Restore Renamed Folders
"Renamed folders list
In some rare instances, System Restore retores a folder during the restoration process that has the same name as an existing folder. To avoid writing over the existing folder, System Restore renames the folder by adding a numeric suffix to the name.
This screen lists the folders that have been renamed in the process of restoration and their locations on your hard disk. If you would like to record this information, you better grab a pencil and a piece of paper and get writing..."
October 17, 2007
unfortunate display of incompetence
General Ricardo Sanchez (retired) states "There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetence in strategic leadership among our national leaders."
more >> Sanchez Says Iraq Is A 'Nightmare'
---
from 'opinion by Jack Kelly' (news.yahoo.com):
The Bush administration began the Iraq war with a "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic" war plan, and never has devised a comprehensive national strategy to fight the war, retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said in a speech to military journalists last week.
The result is that Iraq is a "nightmare" where the best we can do is stave off defeat, LtGen. Sanchez said. The troop surge, he said, "is a desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war."
LtGen. Sanchez, who commanded U.S. troops in Iraq from June, 2003 to June, 2004, is the highest ranking Iraq war veteran to publicly criticize the war, so his comments were newsworthy, despite being long on adjectives and short on specifics.
September 21, 2007
only the first 60k hybrids qualify for tax credit (ClipMark)
[posted by Lyberty, September 2007; clipped from automobiles.honda.com ]
September 18, 2007
[NOTE] website style - a page (with tabs) detailing one media item
[ posted by LibertyMill on Sept. 18 2007 ]
{how do you apply a tag to GMail? Is it just Folders?}
( bookmark for Tuesday, 2007 Sept 18) : website style: media page
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/feast_of_love/
Nice style for a summary page of a media item (e.g. Movie, Game, DVD Disk, Album, etc.
{ what is the derivation of the word "ALBUM"? }
Answer: "albus" meaning "white (tablet)" also meaning "a blank", "a collection"
Latin , neut. of albus "white" : cf. F. album. Cf. Alb.]
Album \Al"bum\, n. [L., neut. of albus white: cf. F. album. Cf. Alb.]
1. (Rom. Antiq.) A white tablet on which anything was inscribed, as a list of names, etc. [1913 Webster]
2. A register for visitors' names; a visitors' book. [1913 Webster]
3. A blank book, in which to insert autographs, sketches, memorial writing of friends, photographs, etc. [1913 Webster]
---------------------------
{bookmark} interesting HTML: a fake dialog window that is actually a floating window on the webpage:
August 17, 2007
not "second life" - it's "surreal life"
[posted by Liberty]
Recent news from the land of the entirely unreal where corporations are duped into spending real money thinking they are reaching "the youth market":
"Second Life 'virtual ATM' hacked; $ 3.2 million "virtual dollars" withdrawn
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/07/25/world-stock-exchange-hit-by-l32-million-theft
Note: the imaginary money is valued by the parent company as being worth $12,300 in real-world money (US Dollars).
[posted by belovedconsole]
I just downloaded the demo of Codemasters' "Dirt" for ps3.
F***ing amazing.
Here's what they said about JUST the audio (never mind the other amazingness):
" On the PLAYSTATION 3 system, one 3.2 GHz SPU vector
co-processor is dedicated to audio and delivers 7.1 and 5.1 surround
sound, using third-order
Ambisonic soundfields for the most realistic positioning."
August 11, 2007
Exploring Beyond 'Guitar Hero' - Add your own music!
Beyond Guitar Hero - A Multi-part Posting
[posted by Liberty Miller]
There are a couple of different interesting options for moving beyond the limitations of the Video Game "Guitar Hero"...
Part 1: Keyboard Hero (PC)
Part 2: (this article)
Turning your G.H. Guitar into a musical instrument
[posted by Grim* ]
If you're looking to make better use of your Guitar Hero controller or are in serious need of a time wasting project, The Guitar Zeros have a solution. You've probably heard about the controller-wielding band before, but if not, a video showcasing one of their performances can be found here.
The band was nice enough to put up a guide showing exactly how they went about making their Guitar Hero controllers behave like musical instruments.
While the guide has been out for a while, The Guitar Zeros just recently released their custom "FRETBUZZ" software. So, if you have a PC (or a Mac if you feel particularly lucky), an X-Plorer or a PS2 Guitar Hero controller (requires USB adapter), and some free time, you too can earn extra geek points by pimping out your controller. The best part? No modding is required -- it's all done using software.
(from http://www.destructoid.com/turning-your-guitar-hero-controller-into-a-musical-instrument-32471.phtml )
Make a Guitar Hero Kit for your PC (Jan 2007)
http://www.instructables.com /id/EBWOWVK2PPEXCFG5WI/?ALLSTEPS
- How to make a PS2 Guitar Hero controller out of scratch
{ at instructables.com }
See also:
Related links:
• official guitar hero red octane store: { http://www.redoctane.com/gh-ps2.html }
• red octane store at amazon.com
August 9, 2007
Cisco Makes Unimaginable Sums of Money, Single Handedly Turns Around Stock Market
Why is this man smiling?
Well, let's look at what John Chambers, CEO and Chairman of Cisco [http://www.cisco.com/], had to say:
Financial Overview
[Our 4th quarter] achieved record revenue of approximately $9.4B [that's $9.4 Billion US Dollars - Editor], an 18% year over year increase, comfortably above our guidance of 15-16% provided in the [3rd Quarter] conference call. This was once again one of the fastest Cisco standalone year over year revenue growth rates we have seen in several years. Order growth was even stronger than revenue growth with product book to bill comfortably above 1.
Non-GAAP net income was $2.3B, an increase year over year of approximately 21%. GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles] net income was $1.9 [Billion], representing a 25% increase year over year.
That's USD $2,300,000,000. In "cash from operations". In three months.
Non-GAAP earnings per share were a record $0.36 and GAAP earnings per share were $0.31, which were increases of 20% and 24% respectively year over year. Cash generated from operations was $2.7B, and we repurchased $1.5B of common stock. We exited the quarter with $22.3B in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
Or, to paraphrase John, "We are a cash machine. Think about this number: two-point-seven billion dollars. Now multiple that by 4. That's 10 billion a year in cash from operations. That's more than some countries generate."
August 7, 2007
Beyond Guitar Hero - Be a Keyboard Hero !
Be a Keyboard Hero with "Frets on Fire"! -- an Opensource Freeware application for PC or Mac.
Check out this demo! (google video) 
You can get the program 'Frets on Fire' from the project's main website at http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/.
Features:
- Unique inverted keyboard gameplay style (computer keyboard, not musical keyboard).
- Support for guitar controllers and generic joysticks.
- Includes a song editor for making your own tunes.
- Submit your scores to 'the World Charts'.
- Hundreds of songs composed by the community.
- Supports importing Guitar Hero™ I and Guitar Hero™ II songs.
- Multiplatform (runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD).
- Open source, full Python source code available.
links:
- Frets on Fire (FoF) > download current release from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fretsonfire/
- > Archived Website
Now see:
- Make a Guitar Hero Kit for your PC (Jan 2007) { http://www.instructables.com/id/EBWOWVK2PPEXCFG5WI/?ALLSTEPS }
- Extra credit:
How to make a PS2 Guitar Hero controller out of scratch { http://www.instructables.com/id/EWO41A9F4MSZZS9/ }
See also:
Related links:
- official guitar hero red octane store: { http://www.redoctane.com/gh-ps2.html }
- red octane store at amazon.com
August 5, 2007
Meat Production's Environmental Impact
[ posted by Lauren Kinsey on 2007, August 5 (Sunday), 11 am EDT) ]
Here's what's on my mind this morning...
A major 2006 report by the United Nations summarized the devastation
caused by the meat industry. Raising animals for food, the report
said, is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to
the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to
global. The findings of this report suggest that it should be a major
policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate
change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution and loss
of biodiversity. Livestock's contribution to environmental problems is
on a massive scale …."
Growing all the crops to feed farmed animals requires massive amounts
of water and land—in fact, nearly half of the water and 80 percent of
the agricultural land in the United States are used to raise animals
for food.6,7 Our taste for meat is also taking a toll on our supply of
fuel and other nonrenewable resources—about one-third of the raw
materials used in America each year is consumed by the farmed animal
industry.
Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire
human population of the United States, and since factory farms don't
have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this
concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil,
and contaminating our air.9 And meat-eaters are responsible for the
production of 100 percent of this waste—about 86,000 pounds per
second!10 Give up animal products, and you'll be responsible for none
of it.
Many leading environmental organizations, including the National
Audubon Society, the WorldWatch Institute, the Sierra Club, and the
Union of Concerned Scientists, have recognized that raising animals
for food damages the environment more than just about anything else
that we do. Whether it's the overuse of resources, unchecked water or
air pollution, or soil erosion, raising animals for food is wreaking
havoc on the Earth. The most important step you can take to save the
planet is to go vegetarian.
August 3, 2007
Blade Runner 'Final Cut' DVD will be available for Christmas 2007
Warner Home Video announced that it will release yet another cut of Ridley Scott's classic SciFi movie Blade Runner on DVD on December 18 2007, preceded by a brief theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York on Oct. 5. The announcement came at the beginning of Comic-Con International in San Diego, where Scott and some of the cast were scheduled to appear.
Scott did some post-production on the 1982 movie to create Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which has also been restored and remastered from original elements. The new version will feature never-before-seen added or extended scenes, added lines, new and improved special effects, director and filmmaker commentary, an all-new 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track and more, the studio said.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut will be sold in three DVD editions, along with 3 other versions of the film ...
>> read the rest of this article (with pictures!)
August 1, 2007
Add Vista Premium/Enterprise features to XP (or Vista)
(filed under 'send to blog')
[posted by Liberty Miller, July 31 2007]
[posted by Liberty Miller, July 31 2007]
You can add features that are unique to Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate if you have Windows XP or Vista Business. For example:
Virtual computing
Vista Enterprise and Ultimate include Virtual PC, which lets you run multiple PC-based operating systems ( e.g. Linux, Windows XP on Vista, other Windows versions...) from within Windows. This can give you backward compatibility with older software, a second environment in which to surf the Web more safely, and more.
XP users can download this feature for free directly from Microsoft {link}. Users of other Vista editions other than Enterprise and Ultimate may want to try out the free VMware Player {http://www.vmware.com/products/player/} ...
Taskbar Thumbnail Previews for XP (free)
"Visual Task Tips {link} is a lightweight shell enhancement utility. It provides thumbnail preview image for each task in the Windows Taskbar, as seen in the upcoming Microsoft Windows Vista."
continue: read more at windows secrets >>
Cisco Makes Strategic Investment in VMware
[ Cisco.com Posting Date: 2007-July-27 ]
Abstract: Cisco Systems Inc., the biggest maker of computer-networking equipment, will buy $150 million worth of shares in the initial public offering of VMware Inc. This represents an "equity stake" in the company.
Quoted from PR Newswire:
Cisco today announced that it has made a strategic investment of $150 million in VMware, Inc. [Editor - makers of VMware Player, see above], the global leader in virtual infrastructure software.
Cisco’s purchase will give the company about a 1.6 percent ownership stake in VMware and is intended to strengthen intercompany collaboration toward accelerating customer adoption of VMware virtualization products with Cisco’s networking infrastructure. In addition, the investment is intended to accelerate the development of customer solutions that address the intersection of virtualization and networking technologies."We see the network becoming an increasingly important component in how customers deploy, manage, and secure their data center resources in a more virtualized manner," said Ned Hooper, Senior Vice President, Corporate Business Development. "By collaborating with VMware and others, Cisco can help ensure that the network and the server virtualization are more tightly coupled to allow customers to more easily scale these environments."
This investment continues Cisco’s long-standing strategy of investing in companies primarily with strategic intent and with the interest to stay close to market transitions.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
July 22, 2007
Web Developer Toolbar for Internet Explorer
:: Permanent Link (read more at forum) ::
(PreScript note: I was going to add this to my "windows live space" but the Advertising server makes each page load amazingly slow, or not at all. On top of that, the MS live search couldn't even tell I wanted to get there when I entered livespaces.msn.com and live.spaces.com : silly microsoft search can't even find itself, apparently...)
(Bumping thread) I downloaded the more recent version of the
'Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar'
[
IEDevToolBarSetup.msi ;
1.00.2188.0 ;
Date Published: 5/9/2007
]
for Internet Explorer 6 (on Windows XP Home),
only to find that it wouldn't work...
This even after restarts, adding the button to the 'Standard Buttons bar',
and going to Internet Options > Programs > Manage Add-ons
to make sure that
* [ blank file called "IE Developer Toolbar"] and
* [IEDevToolbar.dll (Browser Helper Object/ BHO)
were enabled.
The solution in post "11 May 2007, 8:33 PM UTC" also worked for me.
Please consider adding this solution to the (quote-unquote) Release Notes.
(Does anyone know where we can get some more detailed Release Notes for this?)
We really need to get the word out that the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar beats the pants off the default "DOM Explorer" in Firefox, and good documentation is the best way to do it...
How to implement abbreviation definitions correctly in HTML
This page serves as a simple test of formatting ABBR and ACRONYM so that these HTML tags appear properly in Internet Explorer 6.
Code sample (1):
<abbr title="Getting Things Done">GTD</abbr> Here's an example: GTD followed by more text.
If you're viewing this page in Internet Explorer 6, you won't see the intended result, which is a dotted line under "GTD".
Here's another example, but with a fix: GTD followed by more text.
In the previous line, you should now see the dotted-underline. This is supposed to prompt the user to point at the abbreviation with their mouse and pause,at which point (after a short pause) they should see a "mouse-over window" (a.k.a. "tool tip" or "pop up") displaying what the abbreviation is short for.
Here's the same sample, but with just the ACRONYM tag: GTD followed by more text.
Here's a simple block of STYLE you can use in your HTML HEAD:
acronym, abbr, span.caps
{
font-size: 0.9em;
letter-spacing: .07em;
}
acronym, abbr, span.caps {
cursor: help;
}
acronym, abbr {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;
}
Conclusion
Since abbr doesn't work in IE, but acronym works in IE, Opera, and Firefox, that means "acronym" wins (even if the word isn't being used correctly).
Therefore, despite the backflips proposed by http://www.sovavsiti.cz/css/abbr.html, all you have to do is:
acronym {
padding-bottom: 2px;
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;
cursor: help;
}
...
<acronym title="Getting Things Done"">GTD</acronym>
padding-bottom: 2px;
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;
cursor: help;
}
...
<acronym title="Getting Things Done"">GTD</acronym>
See also
- abbreviation vs. acronym vs. initialism (lyberty.com)
Posting to your Blog using Blogger: Post an entry using an email address
[Posted by Liberty Miller, July 22 2007, 5:15 pm (gmt-7)]
Blogger has a feature that allows you to post to your blog by writing your blog entry as an email, then sending that email to blogger.
Blogger will then either post it immediately, or will just save it in your account as a draft (so that it won't appear on your blog until you log in to Blogger.com and publish it yourself).
To use this feature, you have to go to the blogger dashboard and look for the 'email' tab.
Then what you do is you make up a "secret word" extension for your email address. This functions as a kind of password. The format of the email address is username.secretword@blogger.com . Note that this email address must be kept secret; anyone who gets it will be able to post to your blog.
(TIP: This means don't Cc: anyone on the blog post email you send.)
(.. Dear google, ...)
The option that decides whether you want the email to post right away, or just remain in your account is NOT clear for new users. If you want the email to post right away, check the box next to [] Publish.
More info
Structured Procrastination
[posted by Liberty Miller, 2007-July-22 at 1:56am gmt-7]
John Perry's essay on Structured Procrastination
(...there are still big opportunities ahead in search, collaborative filtering, and recommendation systems ...)
... how to turn a "bad habit" into an effective strategy:
It's short and concise -- definitely worth a read if you're not 100% satisfied with your ability to get things done."This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings... The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing...the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important. Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact."
bloggercred: Scott McMullan
July 21, 2007
How I Hacked Your LinkSys Router (Which You Probably Bought at Best Buy)
An instant classic. How to feel like a hacker without trying.
Link: Read "How I Hacked Your LinkSys Router Which You Probably Bought at Best Buy" (February 2007)
Liberty writes:
I had a similar experience, in that I was using my neighbor's wireless access point for a while without realizing it.
Maybe we should all just open up all our routers for sharing, and just use whichever has the strongest signal of the moment. Instant community-based Wide Area Network (WAN)!
odd relationships : 'blogger.com' to 'blogspot.com' to 'google.com'
Illustration: relational links for 'blogger' and 'blogspot':
I had a theory at one point that, before being acquired by Google, 'blogspot' was part of (or had a relationship with) jotspot.com, but this assumption appears to be incorrect, per the history described at http://www.blogger.com/about.
From the archives; a self-description from blog*spot, circa 2000:
BlogSpot is a free hosting service for Blogger™-powered blogs ...
BlogSpot is a service of Pyra Labs.
So, in a nutshell:
"Blog*Spot" is a HOST (where you can choose to publish your blog to), while "blogger" is a USER INTERFACE, which is used to set up and manage your blog.
The original Blog*Spot clearly explained the relationship of these two sites as they walked you through the process; see http://web.archive.org/web/20010405072515/blogspot.com/tutorial.asp
This clarified what you could expect from the process before you started. Google, on the other hand, doesn't tend to give you too many details on their services ahead of time (or effectively hides this information). The problem seems to be that there is an underlying assumption by the people who organize
the Google service entry points that users already know what each service is for, how
to use it, etc., or, if they don't, that the potential users are willing to sign up for the service in order to figure out what it's for and how to use it.
(Note that Google isn't the only one guilty of this; I see it a lot on the web for web sites, services, and applications. Sort of an accidental 'if you have to ask you don't deserve to use it' philosophy...)
July 20, 2007
A Message for the CSS and XML Cultists
A message for the neigh-fanatical XML and CSS cultists.
(And you can quote me on this...)
1. Formatting communicates.
2. When you separate 'presentation' from 'content', you lose part of the message.*
3. Presentation is part of content.
*footnote: do a search on CSS and you'll read what is essentially the same message over and over: that CSS (et al.) is "superior to HTML because it separates presentation from content".
Case in point; you should be able to see how the MEANING of the following statements changes because of the way it is formatted:
"Presentation is part of communication."
"Presentation is part of communication."
"Presentation is part of communication."
- Liberty Miller, July 20 2007
July 19, 2007
The Department
What they did was, they delivered me to the Department of Redundancy Department. So many links were cross linked with links that by the time we'd unlinked them they were only single bits of information we'd already seen before: lolcatz, diylife, The Algorithm. They looked different lumped together in a social network. I felt lost in the swarm of information, unable to contribute. I mean, after all, what was new here? Certainly nothing worth mentioning. Did you hear the one about the pirate who wore a ships wheel as a belt buckle? It was driving 'im nuts! Or, maybe you've seen
If, however, you were DEAD SET interested on hot new shit (tm), I suppose you could check out
July 18, 2007
Placeholder for future entries
The beginning.
So, okay, this is blogger on blogspot; (http://libertymiller.blogspot.com); but what the heck did they mean by "host your blog on another provider" in "Advanced Setup?
If you already have an external host, why in the world would you signup for a blogger/blogspot account?
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