Tuesday, January 31, 2006

FHM - Top 100

Entirely for the boys (and maybe a couple girls I know) - after the jump you'll find FHM's Top 100 Women. Some are debatable (Teri Hatcher comes to mind), but its still a nice way to spend 10 minutes...

Start your phun here

Internet Explorer 7: Beta 2

Microsoft has just released the 2nd Beta of the new Internet Explorer 7. I've been waiting for this for a while because I want to check out the RSS features, and its supposed to be more secure and adhere to Internet standards much better.

Jan is rolling his eyes right now. Get over it, bud. ;-)

You can check out its new features and download the Beta here.
Oh! By the way:
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview will only run on Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) systems

Gallery of the Absurd

This picture was so funny I just had to share: Celebrity Endorsement Idea No. 312

Monday, January 30, 2006

Google Toolbar Beta

The Google Toolbar is a key tool for me - I use it all day, every day. It appears to have just gotten better! There's a new Beta to try out and here's a bit of what Google has to say about it:
Now you can make your Toolbar as unique as you are. You can add buttons and bookmarks; get instant search suggestions; share web pages with friends; and enjoy the Toolbar's pop-up blocker, web form filler, and spellchecker.

Google Toolbar Beta

A new way to view London: from a toilet

Sometimes people joke about getting "stage fright" in the bathroom. I think this toilet would bring a whole new meaning to the idea.
a usable public toilet enclosed in one-way mirrored glass situated on a sidewalk near the River Thames

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Parachute Pyramid

Its certainly not every day that you see something like this. Even my sky-diving buddy Brian is likely to be pretty awed by this video.

James Lipton recites Kevin Federline's PopoZao

The moron married to Brittney Spears is releasing (has released? really, who cares?) his own album. Rap I think, but again, who cares?

The point is, his lyrics are hilarious. I've read some and couldn't really make sense of them. That's where James Lipton (of the Actor's Guild) comes in. Thanks to The Superficial for providing us the link.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Adult Diapers All The Rage Among Chinese Travellers

OMG - this is another reason I'm in absolutely no hurry to travel to the orient:
Alongside food and fire crackers, Chinese are adding a new item to their
lunar New Year shopping: Adult diapers. Sales have soared ahead of the holiday as travelers prepare for long trips home aboard trains so crowded that even the toilets are jammed with people, newspapers said Tuesday.

Monday, January 23, 2006

U.S. Supreme Court rejects RIM's appeal

I'm already jonesing a little! What ever will I do without my Blackberry? Oh, I know: get a camera phone.
A U.S. shutdown of Blackberry service looks imminent as an appeal in a patent infringement case from RIM is rejected.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

iPod Alarm Clock

This is it! The next great reason to own one of these great little devices.
Instead of waking up to one of our somewhat lame radio stations in town, I wake up to a podcast instead!
Check it out: http://www.codepoetry.net/archives/2004/08/01/ipod_alarm_clock.php

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The brain is so amazing

Isn't it amazing that we can actually read this?
Can you read this?? Olny srmat poelpe can.? I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!? If you can raed tihs psas it on

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Bash

Speaking of great quotes:
"The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

I found that on http://bash.org

The Quotations Page

I found a great site of quotations. For example:
"In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear.", John C. Dvorak

Shaw Throttling Bit Torrent?

I finally decided to try Bit Torrent and see how it peforms now that my connection to the Internet is so much faster.

I fought with it for about an hour, read some FAQs and then remembered a friend suggesting that Shaw was blocking Bit Torrent packets. I tried a quick search and found this article.

What a freaking shame - but it seems like a necessary evil as Reuters claims Bit Torrent accounts for 35% of all Internet activity!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Castanet.net - B.C. News

This story disgusted me so much I feel compelled to ask anyone seeing this to please sign the petition mentioned at the end of the story.

I'm so ashamed of our justice system right now...

Nick Burns Your Company's Computer Guy!

Somehow my blog dropped a previous posting I made to this website showing some great Nick Burns clips. Hopefully this one will stay.

Dee @ Shaw ROCKS

Nice! I finally had a good experience calling my Internet provider (Shaw Cable Systems). I've been waiting for ages (okay, a couple months but it FEELS like foreever) to find out why I haven't been transferred to a higher speed connection as I requested back in November. After 4 unanswered emails I decided to call and wait for tech support to call me back.

When I hear from Shaw I'm used to "professional", stale, boring, faceless, corporate personalities on the other end.

This time I was lucky enough to speak with Dee. She was unprofessional, easy to speak with, hilarious, personable, a little quirky and SHE TOTALLY MADE A BAD THING GOOD.

As of NOW my Internet connection is almost 3x faster than it was before speaking with Dee. Turns out one of her (less qualified, less personable) co-workers put me on an enhanced telephone service instead of an enhanced Internet service. Easy mistake? I'm guessing not.

Dee. I encourage you to send the link to this blog to your boss to let him/her know how much I appreciate your help tonight. You were one of the most helpful, well spoken and personable tech support people I've ever spoken with. For real. I think that says a lot since I've been in the computer industry for nearly 15 years (like you).

Thanks a bunch, Dee. You made my day.

The Sith Sense

A beautiful piece of programming - care of Burger King?!
The Sith Sense

Vader actually got my first one (an orange) but "a woman" apparently stumped him. Maybe the burn torched his privates a bit too much?

Redwire DLX

This site suggests that Levi's will be making a new line of jeans that

will include an iPod cradle sewn into a pocket on the hip

and more...
Who's going to be the first to get me a pair!?

Einstein's 'spooky action' seen on a chip

Wow. We're living in a science fiction movie.

New Scientist Breaking News - Einstein's 'spooky action' seen on a chip

What ... a ... retard

David Hasslehoff singing Hooked on a feeling.
Has he no shame?

Wild Ride

50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod

Some great ideas! I'm still chuckling about piPod.

50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod (kottke.org)

Monday, January 09, 2006

Quick Laugh

I felt the need to share a quote my Dad just sent me:

When a woman wears leather clothing
A man's heart beats quicker,
his throat gets dry,
he goes weak in the knees,
and he begins to think irrationally.

Ever wonder why?

Because she smells like a new truck.

Want a Cool and Quiet PC?

Dunk it in Oil

(complete with video)

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Let them sing it for you

My buddy Jeff sent me a link to this cool site.
Click here and when you arrive, you can type in some words and the site will play them back for you.
You'll see what I mean...

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Google Pack

Now THIS (Google Pack) could have saved me a lot of time while configuring a new machine.
Its still a bit green, but I LOVE the idea. It'd be great if we could customize the software in the package.
This kind of thing would convince me to blow away and re-install Windows more than once every year or so.
I know my buddy Jan is gasping at that 'cause he apparently does it every couple of WEEKS.

Friday, January 06, 2006

SharpReader RSS Aggregator

My good buddy Jeff asked me a good question tonight: "What do you use for an RSS client?" For what its worth, I'm using SharpReader RSS Aggregator. Does everything I want.

Now that we're on the topic, here are some good feeds:
  • Official Google Blog
    Speaks for itself, so I'm not sure why I'm adding this...
  • IronSpace
    Do you need to ask?
  • Joel on Software
    Smart, smart guy running this site. Sharing his experience working in our industry
  • Twit
    GREAT podcasts
  • PeekJ's Blank Blatherings
    A buddy of mine runs this site - he knows his stuff and finds GREAT stuff out there
  • Snicker
    Something for the boys
  • Bastardly
    Hilarious write-ups about stuff happening in the entertainment world
  • Dvorak
    One of the most well known tech-writers today (and for a while now)
    (also a contributor to the TWIT podcasts I mention above)
  • Wired
    Really interesting science articles from this site
  • CNet News
    See above
  • Slashdot
    More hi-tech, but still great articles to help keep us up to speed with our fast moving industry

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

WMF Vulnerbility

UPDATE:
Microsoft (wisely) released a patch for this vulnerbility 5 days ahead of schedule so don't bother what's below.
Why are you reading this? Didn't you just hear what I said? Eeesh.


If you're running Windows and you're reading this before January 10, your computer is potentially at risk for a creepy new attack on the Internet.

You really should read this article.