Website of the Day!

Today's Website of the Day!

DHTML Version of Rocks

Found this page by David Finch which has really cool coding projects. The game linked to above works using only DHTML (no flash or shockwave)!

Tiger Just Shipped

My order for Tiger has shipped and is now in
Linwood, PA to be delivered today!

UPDATE: It came!! I will be soon installing it!

Apple Lowers Prices on Cinema Displays

Macworld is reporting the price-drop for Apple's Cinema Displays:

The 20-inch model is now US$799; the 23-inch “HD” model costs $1,499 — lower prices of $200 and $300, respectively. The 30-inch Cinema HD Display remains priced at $2,999.

New 2.7 and 2.3GHz Apple G5s

Apple has just release new G5s! The new ones (just like rumored) have 16x SuperDriveS (dual-layer), Tiger installed, and faster processors (2.3 and 2.7GHz).

Overclocking Dual-core Systems

ExtremeTech has an article about overclocking Dell dual-core systems! Looks like overclocking does not void your warranty!

Screenshots of the Longhorn Beta Released at WinHEC

Looking to see how much Xeroxing Microsoft has been doing to get Longhorn done? Get some insider screenshots!

[Thanks, Caleb!]

Amazon Sales Non-existent Apple G5

MacMinute is reporting that Amazon has an order page where you can pre-order a not released G5 with these specs (confirming rumors about such a product):

Mac OS X10.4, code named Tiger, Dual 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5 processors, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, 250GB hard drive, and 16x Dual Layer SuperDrive (CD/DVD+RW). Amazon is selling the machine for US$2,994.99.

Biggest Players of Online Games: Women Over 40

The Washington Post has an article containing some surprising facts. The article says it best:

When it comes to online games, women over 40 play the most often and spend the greatest number of hours doing so, even beating out teenage boys, according to a study conducted by Digital Marketing Services. The study is called the Casual Gaming Report. But there's nothing casual about a 45-year-old mother of two who, day in and day out, logs on to her favorite site -- Yahoo! Games, MSN Zone, Pogo.com, to name a few -- a couple of hours before she goes to bed and a few minutes after she gets out of bed.

McAfee Internet Security Ver. 7.0: $0 AFTER REBATES

Buy.com has McAfee Internet Security Ver. 7.0 for $58.99. There is a $30 rebate and a $40 rebate that make that zero. Click image for product page.

Free HP Glossy Paper

In keeping in the routine of giving away paper HP is now giving away glossy paper samples. I have just ordered some! The last time I ordered free paper from HP I got it in three weeks.

Kingston 1GB CompactFlash Memory Cards: $40.99 Shipped AFTER REBATE

Dell Home has the Kingston 1GB CompactFlash memory cards for $40.99 after a $15 mail in rebate (expires 4/30). With Free shipping, it's the lowest price I have seen. Go here for product page.

New Media Host

Big Fish Hosting has graciously offered to host all of my media files! Check them out!

Website of the Day!

Today's Website of the Day!

Skimper

This site has searchable deals from most of the major deal sites like bensbargains.net, cheap.typepad.com, etc...


[Thanks, James]

Free 128MB Thumb Drive from Insight?

According to this page (currently down for some reason) at Insight.com if you fill-out their three-question survey they will send you a free 128MB thumb drive. Looks good! Just hope that the page goes back online!

UPDATE: Site back up!

Free Music Downloads from Amazon

Amazon has a page where you can download free songs! You can download (legit) new songs from this page, you must have a Amazon account though. The list updates every 6 hours.

[Via digg]

200,000 Ameritrade Client Files: Lost

Yahoo! is reporting that Ameritrade Holding Corp. has lost a backup tape containing personal information on 200,000 of their past and former clients. From the article:

Information on the tape was for people nationwide who may have been Ameritrade customers from 2000-2003, she said. The data was different for each client and may have included their Social Security numbers, among other information, Kush said.

Website of the Day!

Today's Website of the Day!

Google Talk

If Google could talk what would it say?

Go to Prison (for up to three years) for File-sharing

Cnet is running an article about the prison terms for file-swappers. With the new biil that was approved by Congress on Tuesday if you share just one copy of a movie (even if you made a hard duplicate to share with a pal) you are going off to prison with potential fines up to $250,000. Current law gives criminal penalties of up to three years in prison for "the reproduction or distribution of 10 or more copies or phonorecords of one or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of $2,500 or more."

1GB iPod shuffle: $139.99 (Shipped!)

Buy.com has the 1GB iPod Shuffle for $139.99 with Free ground shipping. It's the best current price I have seen on the coolest MP3 player. Click image for product page!

Viking 256MB Secure Digital Card: $13.99 Shipped AFTER REBATE

Buy.com is offering the Viking 256MB Secure Digital (SD) Flash Card for $13.99 after a $13 mail-in rebate. Ground shipping is Free. It's the lowest I have seen. Rebate expires 4/30/05. Click image for product page.

Free Opera License

Dynatech has instructions to get a legit free copy of Opera. Opera is a Firefox alternative web browser.

Power Mac G5 Specs?

Think Secret has nabbed some more Power Mac G5 info:

Expansion slots will remain unchanged from current models. All models will feature one AGP 8X Pro slot; the low-end, the dual-2.0GHz system will feature and three 33MHz, 64-bit PCI slots, while the mid-range dual-2.3GHz and high-end dual-2.7GHz system will feature one 133MHz 64-bit PCI-X slot and two 100MHz PCI-X slot.

My favorite rumor site goes onto say that the G5s will not have PCI-X 2.0 nor PCI Express slots.

Gmail's New Message View

Logging into my Gmail account I see that Google has changed the way email conversations are displayed (look at example picture above). Being able to see all the emails in a conversation on one page is a major feature of Google's Gmail. The change is that instead of having a list of emails now they are tabbed at the top of the conversation.

Comcast Goes Out Three Times in a Week

Over the last week my Comcast internet has gone out three times (gosh!). An article over at InternetWeek explains why:

The outages were related to "issues" with the company's domain name system, which makes it possible for customers' computers to locate websites and send and receive e-mail. Comcast is upgrading its network, but it's not clear whether the recent problems are related.

"We're still working on these issues, so they don't reoccur," Russo said, declining to give further details.

On Thursday, the Comcast network was operating normally, Russo said.

"Right now, to the best of my knowledge, all our customers have full Internet access," she said.

Here are instructions to help me (and you maybe you) get around the internet problem by changing DNS info.

Add a YaGoohoo!gle Search Box to Your Site

Here is the HTML code for adding a YaGoohoo!gle search box to your site:

<form method="get" action="http://yagoohoogle.com/search.php">
<input type="text" name="q"/>
<input type="submit" value="Search YaGoohoo!gle"/>
</form>

Website of the Day!

Here is today's Website of the Day!

New Del.icio.us Popular Sites

This site lists the most popular sites of the last 24 hours but it takes out all of the reoccurring favorites like Slashdot.

Kensington WiFi Detector: Free A/R

TigerDirect is offering the Kensington 33063 WiFi Detector for Free, after a $20.00 mail-in rebate. This rebate expires 4/30/05. There is a one rebate limit per household. Go here for product page.

$750 Off Inspiron Notebooks

Look what I got today in my email from Dell:

Offer Details and Restrictions

Offer Valid: Limited quantities at this price. Limited time offer. ONLINE ONLY

Save $750 on select Inspiron™ notebook purchases of $1499 or more (before tax and shipping)!

Not combinable with Inspiron notebooks containing Celeron Processors, Inspiron 2200s, Deals of the Week, Outrageous Deals, dollars off, percentages off and select other promotions. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Coupon code expires after first 10,000 uses, or when the limited quantities available through this offer are depleted, whichever is earlier. Offers subject to change. View details in My Cart. Enter coupon code at checkout to receive this offer.

Coupon Code: J096TQ8TFFG2VX

I guess you would use that code at Dell.com.

Dell's Dual-Core Computer

eWeek is repoorting that Dell well be releasing the Precision 380 workstation and Dimension XPS. The systems will be powered by Intel's dual-core Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, said Darrel Ward, worldwide marketing manager for Dell's Precision workstation.

"Dual-core technology, at least initially, is going to be broadly deployed and utilized in the high-end, but over time it will be adopted broadly in both the office and consumer worlds," Ward said.

Same thing should be happening to the Mac soon!

OS X Widget Site Opens Doors

My newest Mac-related venture has just opened its doors. Dashboard Lineup is a site where developers can talk about the OS X widgets they are developing/developed and tips and tricks can be exchanged. I have also set-up free hosting for widgets if needed by a developer.

Tiger Released!

Apple has released Tiger! It has all the expected features, including Spotlight and Dashboard. It costs $129.00 and will start shipping April 29th. The required RAM needed to run OS X has moved to 256MB from 128MB. Tech info Blog! has just ordered a copy and will keep you guys updated!

Windows XP Mac Style

This website must have one of the cooolest designs I have ever seen! It works almost exacty like OS X! The web site's project is to create a program that will make Windows look (but not work) like Mac OS X.

[Via digg]

UPDATE: I have just installed FlyakiteOSX! It looks almost exactly like OS X (I am a OS X user too, so I would know)! Even the start-up screen looks good. Here is a screenshot.

Here are some of the problems:

1. The "window close button" is on the wrong side of the window.

2. The "dock" does not work correctly.

3. Some programs do not like getting OS-X-afied.

Yahoo! 360 Invites

I have two more invites than I need for Yahoo!'s 360 blog service. Want one?

UPDATE: All gone, if you have some more invites you can send them to me and I will give them out here.

Week in Review

• The Portable Virtual Privacy Machine (run Linux inside Windows)
• Vanishing Point Tool in Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop 9)
• Firefox Browser Live-demo CD
• Logitech Cordless Freedom 2.4 Joystick: $22.95 Shipped
• Amptron 17" LCD Monitor: $199.99
• PC Mag's Top 101 Web Sites: Fall 2004
• Intel Dual Core Pentium: Benchmarks!
• Doom 3 for Mac: $32.90
• Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 2
• DIY Paper iPod Stand
• Hacking Google: Being Places You Should Not

The Portable Virtual Privacy Machine (run Linux inside Windows)

I have just tried out The Portable Virtual Privacy Machine! The Portable Virtual Privacy Machine is a (free) software program that lets you run a copy of Damn Small Linux inside of Windows. You can install the program on a thumb drive so it's very portable. After trying it out I feel that it is to slow for any actual uses, it's cool though.

Vanishing Point Tool in Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop 9)

Check out this clip showing Adobe Photoshop's new Vanishing Point Tool in action.

Firefox Browser Live-demo CD

I would love to be able to give a CD out with Firefox on it for people to install, but a lot of people don't want to install anything or go through a set-up procedure. Using John Haller's Portable Firefox Live (Run From a CD) program I have created a CD that, when inserted into a Windows machine, will copy a stripped-down version of Firefox to the client computer's hard drive and launch it. When Firefox launches it will display a completely local version of this page that explains to the user that they are running off of a non-installed version of Firefox and that they can download a full version. The Firefox version being copied over is the same Firefox version used with the Portable Firefox program (that means that it does not place any extra files on the client computer's hard drive). After the user is done playing around with Firefox it deletes all Firefox files originally copied over.

You can download the files to make my CD. If you want to download a ZIP archive of the files go here. To make the CD place all of the files from the ZIP archive into the base directory of a CD. If you want to burn an ISO of my CD you can get one here.

Logitech Cordless Freedom 2.4 Joystick: $22.95 Shipped

JustDeals.com once again offers the refurbished Logitech Cordless Freedom 2.4 Joystick for $22.95. Use coupon code "JD963283" during checkout to get the discount. The joystick is factory recertifed with a 30-day warranty and is Mac & PC compatible. Coupon expires 4/08/05. Go here for product page.

Amptron 17" LCD Monitor: $199.99

TigerDirect is offering the Amptron CT-726A 17" LCD Monitor for $199.99. This display features a 1280 x 1024 resolution, a 0.264 pixel pitch, and a 400:1 contrast ratio. Shipping runs around $26.00. Go here for product page.

PC Mag's Top 101 Web Sites: Fall 2004

PC Mag has posted the Top 101 Web Sites: Fall 2004.

Intel Dual Core Pentium: Benchmarks!

ExtremeTech has a "Performance Sneak Preview" of Intel's Dual Core Pentium: the Pentium Extreme Edition Model 840. They compare it to the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz (the previous Extreme Edition) running on the older (yet better becuase it has a faster FSB)Intel D925XECV2 motherboard. The benchmarks show that becuase of some limitations in the new motherboard the new dual core chip does not always beat the single-core chip. From the review:

First up are the results from SYSmark 2004, which simulates real-life workloads for both Internet Content Creation and Office Productivity. The content creation portion uses apps like Photoshop, 3D Studio, Dreamweaver, and others, while the office productivity tests use typical office apps, such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
SYSMark 2004 Results
click on image for full view

What's interesting is the flip-flop between the Office Productivity result and the Internet Content Creation test. The dual-core Pentium 840 trails the 3.73GHz P4 Extreme Edition in the Office Productivity test by a fairly substantial amount. However, it pulls way ahead in the Internet Content Creation test, which uses a number of threaded applications, such as 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, and Premiere. The office applications clearly aren't benefiting from the 840's dual-core design, since they likely aren't threaded. However, the Internet Content Creation apps in this suite clearly have some multi-processor (MP) awareness, as evidenced by the 840's higher score here.

Doom 3 for Mac: $32.90

GoGamer.com has Doom 3 for Mac for $32.90. It's the best price I have seen on the Mac version of this game. Shipping is $5.99. Go here for product page.

Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 2

The rumored Adobe Creative Suite 2 has been released! Macworld has the full scoup. The suite includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive and Version Cue, as well as the recently released Acrobat 7.0 Professional. Here is a big shock: Photoshop users that found File Browser to be a useful tool will notice that it is no longer in the application -- instead Adobe created a new application called Adobe Bridge, which is available across the suite of products.

UPDATE: PC Mag has a full review of this new software suite.

DIY Paper iPod Stand

Piers, over at lists and diagrams, has made the template for a very cool iPod stand. You can make the stand out of paper and cardboard. I just made a rough version of the original and plan to customize it for my shuffle.

Hacking Google: Being Places You Should Not

The Register has a story about Google hacking, the process of using special Google searches to get info that is thought to be behind a firewall. This is the same thing that let people get access to "private" web cams. From the article:

There are numerous ways to exploit vulnerabilities and mount attacks that allow access to the back end of ecommerce websites. "Google can do the same thing but puts it in hands of amateurs," said Long. This dumbing down of cracking opens the way to numerous attacks. Hunting for credit card numbers on insecure servers or network passwords is bad enough but the problem doesn't stop there.

Scary stuff.

Website of the Day!

Today's Website of the Day!

CoolText: Logo Generator and Web Design Tool

Make cool logos!

iWorkout

Helmes Innovations has just released the craziest little "program." It's named iWorkout, a $10 shareware porgram. iWorkout is an iPod-based workout routine that includes illustrations viewable on the iPod photo. You can also listen to the workouts through your iPod. All workouts are made by an ACE Certified Personal Trainer.

Add a List of the Top 10 Songs (according to iTunes) to Your Site

Here are simple instructions to help you add a list of the top 10 selling songs to your site (the list is based on the top 10 songs from iTunes). The list's design is based off this design.

1. Add all of the code that is in this file to the section of your site's HTML between the head tags.

2. Add all of the code that is in this file anywhere on your site where you would like the list of songs to come up (the code has to be between the body tags, though).

Notes/How it works

When you add the list of songs to your site the color of the text will try to pick-up the generic color you already use on your site.

This list works by using a PHP script located on my server that converts the iTunes top 10 RSS feed to something your browser can read. The script requires JavaScript to be enabled on the client computer for the list to display.

Mac OS X on an 'Pod

Happy April Fool's Day!

Gmail's 2GB of Space (sorta)

This post on the official Google Blog says that "to celebrate our [Google's] birthday, we're giving all Gmail users another gigabyte of space, and then some. And yes, we're serious. Sort of." Looking at this page you will see that the space is growing slowly (my Gmail account only has 1597 MBs so far)!

Nice one Google!!

Website of the Day!

Today's Website of the Day!


Netdisaster

Netdisaster adds cool disasters to any web page. Here is a link to my web page getting nuked.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts, I was on a vacation!