A number of other sites that I frequent are using a visitor counter service called Who's Amung Us. The site is easy to start using, just request the url, select a style and add to your site. Bingo, all done.
Going Full Time with Safari
I never thought I’d change browsers again, but I’ve found myself using Safari full time now. I really enjoyed using IE7, but a few of Firefox’s features had me hooked on it. The problem is, I’ve always had memory issues and, lately anyway, frequent hangs and crashes. I tried Firefox 3 beta, but it wasn’t much better and the plugins I used hadn’t been converted yet. IE8 is horrible, more alpha then beta. So, I decided to give Safari a try again. I haven’t regretted it.
Goodbye Arthur C. Clarke
Sad to say, but Arthur C. Clarke died to today. I enjoyed reading Authur's books and following his career, but it was his movie, 2001, that I enjoyed the most. Watching that movie as a kid, in re-runs of course, really got me excited about space, science fiction, and computers.
IE8 Beta Not So Great
So, I actually liked IE7, but ended up going to FireFox because I really liked some of its features and plug-ins. However, I’ve always enjoyed the look and feel of IE7, so when IE8 Beta was announced, I wanted to give it a try to see if IE8 was going to win me back. I have to say, it won’t with this beta. I have to say, I hope beta 2 is better because IE8 isn’t winning me over.
Got My HD Receiver Coupon Today
Woo Hoo! I received my official government $40 coupon to receive HD TV today! Yes, I still own all boring analog 480i TV’s — that’s standard def for those not in on all these HD resolutions. Yeah, I really don’t care about HD, but I do want to get broadcast TV still.
HD DVD is Dead, Long Live DVD
Well, I’m a bit peeved that Toshiba threw in the towel. Good bye HD DVD, I hardly knew ya. It may not have had the density of Blu-ray, but I’m still convinced it had the better technology. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter to me though as I’m still in the Analog 480i age.
20K - Keeping the Streak Alive
Woo, woo! Was finally able to get 20K GS last night. Seems like it took forever.
I Want to Go Fast ... Speed Testing
I’ve been having a lot of stuttering and slowness of late on my Internet connection. I’m thinking it may be my router, but I decided to validate my Internet Speed (1.5MB DSL) and ran into a pretty good speed test site. My Internet looks pretty good (hit 1.2MB to Chicago), so I’m still not sure what is going on. Thought I’d share the one I tried.
Playing around with Ubuntu
I gave Ubuntu Linux a quick run. I grabbed the 7.10 iso, burned it to a CD and rebooted my laptop. Sweet and easy. I’d heard Ubuntu was pretty good with laptops, which is why I wanted to check out this Linux distribution.
Stopped using Xbox Live for Gamer Card
Due to issues Ive been having where Xbox Live!’s gamer card, I've converted my gamer card to one from MyGamerCard.net. Recently, it appears that Xbox Live! has been requiring you to sign into their site before showing someone’s gamer card.
Halo 3 Badge
I thought this was pretty cool, a number of flash or image badges from Battle Record that uses your Halo 3 service record. Check out one of the images below:
Safari - 3.0.4
It appears that a new version of Safari is out: 3.0.4. It is still a public beta, but they did fix a few niggles from the last version. For one, tool tips now work. For another, the inline spell checking is now working. Looks like IE7 is still lagging in that area. Surprising since Microsoft Word started whole trend. However, Safari, not to be one upped by Firefox, has also seen fit to include a grammar checker. Although, it tends to error on mundane things, like titles and numbers with periods.
RSS Fixes - Sort of
I’m trying to get Brief in Firefox to display my site image. For some reason, it won’t display the image and I can’t seem to figure out why. It displays other sites images fine. Sigh.
Yes - 15k
Oh, yeah! 15K—on the nose! Next up 20k!
Daughterly Love
You know your daughter loves you when she says: “Come play Halo. Oh, wait. I got to kill you one more time.” Priceless.
Memories of Daitarn 3
I grew up for some time in Naples in the early 80’s. Surprisingly enough, this was before any English TV was available to us. That didn’t stop me from watching TV, even if shows like Star Trek were dubbed in Italian. I would often spend time watching the cartoons, also in Italian, and a particular favorite of mine was Daitarn 3.
HD What? HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray Wars
Although, to date, I own neither of the latest HD disk formats—heck, I don’t even own an HD TV set yet—I find the whole format war rather interesting. Having lived through the Beta vs. VHS, but not really understanding it, I find it fascinating how two companies complete against each other.
Being Big Brother
I’ve been a fan of the Big Brother (US) series since season 2. This summer, like the last 7 ones, wasn’t an exception. I enjoyed my weekly dose of other people’s reality. Like some previous BB’s, this season included an interesting twist from the outside—a plane banner. It got me thinking, “how hard is it find the Big Brother house?” In particular, I was interested if I could find a satellite image of it.
Hanging Around at Marapets
Okay, it may seem silly, but my daughter had me try one of her favorite game sites called Marapets. Okay, okay. Before you go snickering, I actually found the site pretty interesting. For one, it isn’t just for kids—so don’t put it down yet. It is designed to be kid friendly, while catering to all ages. So, the candy sweet coating aside, it actually has some interesting concepts going on.
iDust? What you get when you blend an iPhone.
I’ve been a big fan of the Blendtec “Will it Blend?” videos on YouTube. The latest installment was unbelievable — he blended an iPhone! What a waste of $600, but it is cool to watch. Take a look below.
Viva Vista?
Well, I traded Viva Piñata this week for Windows Vista. I decided to bite the bullet and give Vista try on my laptop. So far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
MS Home Server
Microsoft has released a public beta of their Microsoft Home Server software. I’ve had various “home servers,” usually older computers, running various version of Windows and Linux. My current one is running Media Center, but it is also a desktop for my daughter.
Apple vs. Microsoft: Typography
So, I’m still hacking around in Safari. If you read earlier article, you might remember my complaint about the fonts being a bit blurry. Well, in my wandering around the Apple discussion boards, someone was nice enough to post an interesting article on the philosophical differences between Apple and Microsoft.
Having fun on Safari
I was looking to try out Safari on Windows the other day, but all the links to get it were down. Now I know why! Apple released Safari for Windows today. Well, not one to wait around, I promptly downloaded it to give it a spin. In fact, I’m writing this article in it right now.
Userbars moved to Flickr
Due to issues I’ve been having with ImageShack, I’ve moved some of my userbars over to Flickr. So far, things appear to be working just fine.