Feb 25, 2005

REAL Ultimate Power - Now in Book Form

FROM:Real Ultimate Power.net
Hi, this site is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesome. My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Facts:

1. Ninjas are mammals.

2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.

3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

If you don't already know what RealUltimatePower is, you've got to go to http://www.realultimatepower.net and check it out. It's part of web history at this point.

The Big news? THERE'S NOW A BOOK, which is awesome, and by awesome I mean totally sweet.

This link stolen from my cool new lunch buddy Jessie. And by cool, I mean totally sweet. Is the joke dead yet? Have I killed it? I'm a joke killer.

2:06 pm | permalink | /technology/web | 0 writebacks |

Feb 22, 2005

Twenty Questions

My parents introduced me to a crazy website this past weekend. 20q.net is a game server that asks you seemingly random questions in an attempt to guess the object that you're thinking of.

Skeptical, I picked Pyrite (aka Fool's Gold) and gave it a shot.

The thing had me at 13 questions.

The technology behind this (presumably a hash table of answers to questions representing each object) is really quite ingenious, and the game learns as you play, updating the hash value for objects as you answer questions others haven't answered before. It also moves down through a "tree" of relevant questions as you play, so that it narrows in on your chosen object.

It's pretty fun to try to stump the machine - so far I haven't been able to!

Try it yourself. They've got a handheld version as well which is pretty amazing considering the thinking power in this thing.

1:34 pm | permalink | /technology/web | 0 writebacks |

MirrorMask

There's a new movie coming from Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, and The Jim Henson Company.

MirrorMask "grew out of talks of doing a Labyrinth sequel" and the trailer looks extremely creepy and awesome. Although not the traditional Henson puppets, the computer animation is stylized enough to forgive the "Sky Captain" feel.

But don't just take my word for it...

12:53 am | permalink | /technology/film | 0 writebacks |

Feb 16, 2005

IE 7: So Much for Molly Wood.

IE 7: so much for Firefox
By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com

I just read through this, and I think it's honestly a troll article (designed simply to elicit angry comments, which it has in spades). Come on Molly, you can do better as Senior Editor at CNET.

The big reasons IE7 will not "win" completely as Molly Claims it will:

  • Only for Windows XP SP2 - what about all the other legitimate windows 2000 and even 95 98 and ME customers?
  • What about everyone with a pirate version of XP who can't get SP2 (a bigger group than you'd think)
  • What about the Mac users
  • What about the Linux users (This group is growing fast, a year from now when IE7 is out of beta, it may be truly bigger than Mac users)
Aside from that, it's almost guaranteed that MS will not play nice and actually implement web standards properly, making web developers choose between "right" and "works in IE"... once again.

Finally, the big hurdle for M$ is trying to make IE secure - but they won't give up activex controls in IE because it would break a lot of their own sites (like windows update), which are part of what make it so easy to exploit.

They'll also have a default install base of really computer-illiterate users, users who don't know yet not to click on the "Your time is wrong, click here to install TimeKeeper" popups and ads. Add all that to being the biggest target simply because it has around 90% of the market, and they're still going to be fighting the same old problems.

Yes, it means Firefox may not be as clear a choice for users of XP SP2, but SP2's IE updates (popup blocking and security enhancements) already did that. What will keep users on Firefox is the familiarity. Once you can use tabs on your computer at home, to go to work and have to "open new window" for every link you want to click on when you don't want to lose your starting page is torture. Firefox has the distinct advantage of being available and secure for every computer you own.

12:02 pm | permalink | /technology/microsoft | 0 writebacks |

Feb 02, 2005

Mmm... Everything Bagel

Just sat down in front of the giant torus of carbs that I'm shamelessly calling my breakfast (go to hell, Dr. Atkins!) and I figured that I'd jump the shark with the whole wiki thing intentionally rather than just letting it happen.

With that, I give you more than you ever wanted to know about a bagel

10:25 am | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |