April 4th, 2009
Most people are familiar with the browser Opera, but how many people really use it? In general it is overlooked for more common browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. You may recall that I recently purchased a Dell mini netbook, and of course I was using Firefox. However, it became sluggish and problematic with multiple tabs open, even in Ubuntu. So while searching for an alternative I decided to try to use Opera. Since that day about two weeks ago I have completely converted all of my machines to Opera and it is my main browser. Here’s why. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Browser, Firefox, Internet, Opera
Posted in Computers, Web, Web Design, software | 1 Comment »
March 27th, 2009
Until now, malware has generally been more of a nuissance than a serious issue. Avoidance was generally possible, and those that did slip through security software and cautious surfing practices could easily be removed or dealt with. Now a new breed of malware (I really hate the terminology people use for all the different types of malicious software out there, so malware is what I will use) has been spotted in the wild. Instead of just trying to get you to purchase some kind of scam antivirus software as has been the trend lately, this new malware encrypts your files (files ending in .psd, .doc, etc) and then requires you to pay them for the software to decrypt your own data. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Computers, malware, Security, software
Posted in Computers, Security | No Comments »
March 6th, 2009
This is an assortment of food photos as well as some flowers and a Christmas tree. I was honestly surprised that the blue flowers in the first image were growing in the crack of the road where I found them. Seems like an odd place for a flower to grow. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: christmas, flowers, food, fruit
Posted in photography | No Comments »
February 28th, 2009
So I finally cracked and purchased a netbook. I decided to go with a dell mini 12, which as many other reviews have said ‘blurs the line’ between netbook and notebook. I chose this model because I wanted something to top my three hour battery life of my current laptop, but retain a full (1280×800) resolution screen. So it finally showed up at my doorstep a week ago, and of course I immediately started playing with it.
Dell Mini 12 Netbook. Sharpie in the image for scale. Would have used a pencil but...apparently I don't have one.
Tags: Computers, Dell Mini, Linux, Mini 12, Netbook, Ubuntu
Posted in Computers | No Comments »
February 16th, 2009
So I’ve decided to put together a photo portfolio of photos that I have taken to share on my blog. This is the first in what will be an occasional set of photo galleries and is just a bunch of random photos I have taken of different animals over the last few months or so. Over the next few weeks I will have several of these as I post photos which I have taken previously and add them to the site. If you have any interest in one of my photos(such as wanting one at a higher res or something) just e-mail me or leave a comment and I’ll reply as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Animals, Cats, Dogs, Nature, Photos
Posted in photography | No Comments »
February 9th, 2009
Here’s a quick list of several great free Video applications. The best part about these is that they are cross platform so anyone can use them. I know they are all fairly common but I can’t help but continue to discuss these free products because they are just so very awesome. Check it out after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: applications, free, video
Posted in software | No Comments »
January 11th, 2009
Official Image of the Palm Pre
The Palm Pre is the latest touch screen smart phone. It combines the capacitive touch screen technology with a full QWERTY keyboard to produce possibly one of the best smart phone experiences possible. This phone is definitely what Palm needed to introduce, and from the videos from CES and initial impressions from first-time users, the experience truly is great. So it’s no surprise then that people are calling this the iPhone killer. However, no matter how great this phone is, it will never be an iPhone killer.
Previous phones have tried to take this seemingly impossible title, including the G1, the Blackberry Storm, and many others. Sadly, I don’t think there will ever be a smartphone that is truly an iPhone killer. It’s sad, because there are many phones with innovative new technology which really is truly superior to the iPhone. Unfortunately I fear the new Palm Pre will be added to this list. Clearly there are features that the Pre has that surpass that of the iPhone, especially the nice slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. However, the iPhone has one thing that no other phone on the market can reproduce: iTunes.
There are several reasons that iPhone is as popular as it is, but the one that continues to separate it from the competition is its integration with iTunes. As Apple has been building the iTunes store and platform for many years and has a wide number of users, it should come as no surprise that they have a firm understanding of integrating and synchronizing audio, video, and content between computers and devices. Not only are they good at it, but it is cross platform and just about anyone using a computer has the full functionality of this software. It also allows for simplicity when introducing users to the concept of an app store. Most people are familiar with the iTunes store, and the app store is a simple and intuitive extension of that experience.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CES, iPhone, Mobile, Palm Pre, Smartphones
Posted in Mobile | No Comments »
November 12th, 2008
Adobe Flash is a great web design tool. One of the big benefits of Flash is the ability to produce content that works on any browser, as long as the user has the free Adobe Flash Player. It also allows for a great video streaming platform as well as much more functionality than HTML on its own can provide. As Google and other search engines begin to implement the ability to parse and read these Flash websites, what really are the disadvantages and advantages to them? Many designers pass up Flash for newer Javascript(usually in the form of AJAX) or PHP technologies, typically for the reason that Flash is largely not searchable by search engines. So let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Flash and see if it really is still a technology to avoid. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Adobe Flash, Computers, Web Design
Posted in Computers, Web Design | No Comments »
November 7th, 2008
I really wish someone would make one of these. I can think of many uses for a flash drive which is small, fits on your keychain with no USB connectivity and simply works through Bluetooth(or even Wi-Fi). I think that this would make for an excellent automatic backup device for documents. Imagine always having the ability to automatically backup recently saved documents to a secondary storage device like a Flash Drive. The reason I think this is a great option instead of requiring the device to be plugged in is that I often forget to plug in and backup my files to my flash drive. With a device that connects via Bluetooth or wi-fi I wouldn’t have to worry about plugging in to backup anymore. I do use Windows Live Foldershare, which is a great way to copy files or data to multiple computers, but there are times when I want to backup data and I don’t have internet access. Plus the price of both flash memory and Bluetooth devices have fallen dramatically and it’s not like either takes up much space. The only major downside I see is that it needs to be powered somehow, and having to add space for a battery would at least double the size of the device. Not to mention the transfer speeds over Bluetooth are relatively slow. But for small documents such as word documents (I’m thinking of blog posts I’ve written up or lecture notes or something else of the sort) it would work great. I would really like to see a product like this and would easily invest around $50 for even a relatively small (capacity wise) device. It would just be nice to know that I don’t have to actively backup my data, just in case something goes wrong.
. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Backup, Bluetooth, Computers, Flash Drive, Technology, Thumb Drive
Posted in Computers | No Comments »
October 18th, 2008
With the increased popularity of smart phones that feature wi-fi and 3G network capabilities, it’s becoming more important to design for these devices. Most of them have screen resolutions similar to the iPhone, which is 320×240 pixels. That makes for a lot of pixels crammed into those 3-3.5 inch screens, and the way they handle websites (showing the whole site first and allowing for zoom) can make them difficult to work with. So here are three quick things you can do to make your mobile site more practical and cleaner looking. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Design, Mobile, Smart Phones, Web, Web Design
Posted in Web Design | 1 Comment »