Transformers Teaser Trailer
June 29, 2006 | 7 Comments
The Transformers Exclusive Teaser has been announced! w00t! (I first heard about it at Rated-M) You can head on over to the Official Transformers Movie Site and see it for yourself. Sexy stuff…but its definately a teaser. The sweet new movie is due out July 4, 2007.
(More details to follow when I watch it a bit more)
The Second Amendment
June 29, 2006 | 2 Comments
Check out this sweet T-Shirt design from BustedTees. My friend Nate pointed this out to me and I almost busted a gut laughing. I want it like I want a Yoda Backpack.
UPDATE: I bought it. w00t!
Busted Tees: Get more friends than you have now!
Speeding Up Prototype’s $$ Selector
June 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Prototype, as I've stated in the past, is our Javascript library of choice for Ajax at Plymouth State University and in the current re-writing of MasterWish. As of version 1.5 of Prototype there has been a sweet Selector function $$ which is best used when manipulating more than one dom element of the same type...i.e. updating all buddies in a buddy list at MasterWish with some property.
Here's a simple example that we use at MasterWish:
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mw_b.prototype.checkAll = function()
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{
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$$('.buddy_checkbox').each(function(e){e.checked=true;});
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};
All that example does is iterates over all elements in the DOM that have the class buddy_checkbox and sets their checked value to true. Short and sweet. However, with version 1.5 of Prototype, it could be dog slow at times with more complex selector queries.
I was ecstatic when I found (via Ajaxian) that Sylvain Zimmer has sped up the $$ function quite a bit. I implemented it in the test area of MasterWish and have been very pleased with the results! Here's what Sylvain has to say on his mod:
Prototype’s current code is quite elegant (as always!) but very slow, so I wrote an add-on that makes this function up to 20 times faster in most usual cases (tested on IE6, Firefox 1.5 and Opera).
[...]
Here are the main ideas of this add-on :
- Forwarding the call to the old $$ if the selector expression is too complicated (currently : if it uses attributes)
- Replacing regular expressions with a simple parser
- Minimizing the number of operations done on each iteration.
- Trying to use getDocumentById() instead of getDocumentByTagName() when possible.
- Avoiding recursive functions with return values.
- Not being afraid of some “old-style” code if it speeds up the execution ;-)
All you need do is get his mod and include it in a script tag after the Prototype inclusion. Simple as that!
Sweet Redeemer Background
June 29, 2006 | 9 Comments
Using some Photoshop brushes that I found over at Divine Design GFX and a sweet Redeemer image from Spawn, I created the following background image. I love how the smokey black came out. Resolution: 1280x1024
Superman Returns
June 28, 2006 | 5 Comments
Randy over at OptimalStupidity posted his spoiler free review of the new Superman movie: Superman Returns. He writes:
...To say I was satisfied with the movie would be wrong. I was absolutly blown away. Never has Superman seemed so real on screen. You could completely imagine the stuff you see in the movie happening in real life. I even caught myself this morning looking up into the sky and imagining seeing Superman fly by. It was an odd moment and it helped me solidify in my mind just how good a job they did on the movie.
He goes on to describe the cast members and their respective roles and is happy to report they all did their characters justice...this was one aspect that both he and I were worried about. How could you even match Christopher Reeve as Superman? Well, Randy reports that Brandon Rooth did an excellent job (although he's still no Christopher Reeve):
Brandon Rooth did a better job as Superman than I could have hoped. There are moments in the film when you swear he’s channeling Reeve.
Needless to say, I'm sitting on pins and needles for Friday when I actually get to see the movie...I'm taking that day off to appropriately prepare :D
Geeks, Nerds and Dweebs
June 28, 2006 | 8 Comments
I was looking over a Slashdot article that was beating the Geek Squad into the dirt and stumbled upon one of the best definitions of geeks, nerds and dweebs amongst the comments. After reading it thoroughly, I'm happy to say that I am still a Geek by the terms listed.
There *is* a clear distinction and a value hierarchy among geeks, nerds, and dweebs, but you've got it all wrong.
What follows, I claim, is the one true classification of geekdom. It has stood up to rigorous peer review (loud arguments amongst drunken physics students) for years, and I stand by it.
A dweeb is someone without social skills who either doesn't recognize or is unable to accept that they are unusual. They constantly *try* to fit in, with disastrous results, and dedicate a significant portion of their daily lives to obsessing over how to pass as normal.
A nerd is someone without social skills or popular interests who recognizes that he or she is unlike most people and feels no shame in it.
A geek is a nerd with technical skills and passionate interests; in particular one who has a myopic dedication to a particular specialty. (This is the subspecies *true geek,* distinct from but related to the *common geek,* or nerd who is generally technically savvy and useful to have around.)
To summarize, the dweeb is the guy wearing a slightly out of fashion hipster shirt who generally creates embarrassing silences at parties by saying awkward things about pop stars or sports teams.
The nerd is the guy who skips the party in order to achieve moderately high scores on a popular video game while eating unheated canned peas with a spoon and listening to recordings of experimental music.
The geek is the guy who skips the party in order to code a popular video game, figure out the angle of repose one might expect for a pile of canned peas, or compose and record some experimental music.
On the college campus, geeks make up virtually the entire population of physics and math majors (as well as a majority in classics, many of the less trendy engineering sub-disciplines, linguistics, physical anthropology, and some of the more obscure languages.)
The nerds are the guys who drop out of school after one semester but stay in a college town working in a bookstore, where they get great discounts on whatever genre books they happen to like and talk to their geek friends about writing their own books yet never seem to actually finish any of them.
The dweebs largely end up in engineering or the quantitative business disciplines, in the hopes that they can earn enough money to buy the respect of powerful and attractive people. Those in engineering have a tough time of it, as they are publicly ignored by the normals whom they so admire while simultaneously earning the scorn and contempt of the geeks in their departments. Those in business do rather well, since they have a good chance at fooling their colleagues into thinking that they are geeks. (Normals may not invite geeks to parties, but they do like to hire them.)
I'm proud of my Geekiness. I'll be the first to call myself a geek, but what really irks me is when I proclaim myself as one, my family immediately replies with a "nahhh...you're not a geek," in a comforting tone. I've worked hard to be obsessive over random things (Star Wars, Warcrack, Programming, etc)...let me have my cake and eat it too :)
I'm no Dweeb. I'm not a Nerd. A Geek I will remain.
Marvel: Civil War
June 27, 2006 | 2 Comments
Zach over at NoSheep! recently brought me into the comic book fold with Marvel's Civil War. For weeks his posts have been piquing my interest. It wasn't until his post on Spider-Man's identity being revealed that I broke down and read something.
I used Wikipedia as my source for the immediate chronological order of the comics leading up to and entering in to the Marvel Universe's Civil War. If you haven't been blessed by hearing what Marvel is doing this summer, then I'll enlighten you with the overall plot (compliments of Wikipedia)
The series centers around a newly enacted Super-human Registration Act, which, when passed into law, would require all persons in the United States with superhuman abilities who wish to use those abilities to fight crime to register with the federal government and receive proper training as law enforcement officials. Such persons would not only be subject to U.S. law (including the prohibition of minors from participating in such activities), but would, according to the law, reap the full benefits of civil servants, including pensions, and so forth. Because the forced registration of persons would spark a civil liberties controversy, the Act splits notable superheroes within the Marvel Universe, resulting in two super-powered factions forming, one advocating registration as the responsible obligation of the super-powered living in society, and the other opposed to the law on the grounds that it violates civil rights. This conflict builds into the titular Civil War, into which themes from current events will be woven. Writer Mark Millar has noted "The political allegory is only for those that are politically aware. Kids are going to read it and just see a big superhero fight." Some see this as a reflection of real world views on such things as Gun Control or the Patriot Act.
I'm officially hooked. I now have a pull list at a local comic-book shop.
If you are looking for a reading order, I've posted one here
Spider-Man 3 Teaser
June 27, 2006 | 2 Comments
The Spider-Man 3 trailer has been posted at Apple Trailers! Holy crap. It looks insanely cool. It seems that next May we'll be seeing Tobey Maguire back as Spider-Man...in Black? We'll also be seeing Venom (Topher Grace), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), the Green Goblin (James Franco), and of course, MJ (Kirsten Dunst).
The sports a sweet Sandman scene; a lot of shots of Spidey in black; the much needed and too few shots of MJ; and a little Green Goblin. Lets hope this movie continues the current Spider-Man trend and one-ups the previous!
UPDATE: Zach has put together an excellent detailed look at the Spider-Man 3 Teaser. Check it out.
Synergy
June 26, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Synergy is awesome.
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).
Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all.
After initial prodding from Tim over at Armenian Eagle and a little from Zach at NoSheep!, I have downloaded Synergy and installed it on my work computers, a Dell Latitude and a Mac. The software is sexy as it allows me to use my mouse and keyboard (both wireless) on either machine without swapping out cables. Now, whats sweet about it is the fact that not only am I able to move my mouse and type from computer to computer, but I can also copy-paste from one machine to the other! Hugely useful.
The setup isn't overly intuitive but its not too difficult. Synergy is available for Windows, OSX, and Linux...so if you're sitting with multiple keyboards and mice, its time to make the switch.
Wrong For Seconds, Ridicule for Hours
June 23, 2006 | 2 Comments
I am a failure to society. Don't you hate it when you do something (like a tool) thinking things are right and good in the world, then you find evidence that you have actually been mentally handicapped for an entire conversation? You knew something but your mind crumbled. You know you've been gaming too long when elements of a game invade your brain and call to question everything you had built your life around. Suck.
This was the case today when my life around came crashing down in an IM battle with Cliff Pearson. The little bastard typed "w/" as an abbreviation for with and I claimed it was "/w." Now, I'm not the stupidest person in the world...heck, I've known with is abbreviated with w/ for years and years. Needless to say I barked on how I was right for minutes until everyone around me said I was a tool. Still thinking I was right, I looked it up and oddly found an answer in Lesson 13 of the NLS: Instructional Manual for Braille Transcribing. Weird.
13.4b Slash (oblique stroke) with single letter abbreviations. Where context makes the
meaning clear, single letter abbreviations that are separated by a slash do not require a
letter sign. These expressions should not be divided between braille lines. Examples:
- c/o Sam Jones
- c/o ,s∙m ,j"os
- b/w TV set
- b/w ,,tv set
In situations where a single letter could be misread, as in (w/copy) where the w is an
abbreviation for with, not will, use a letter sign for clarity.[Slashes between numbers will be studied in the next lesson. For diagonal slashes used in
poetry see Lesson 18.]
What could have caused this mix up? Especially when I use w/ so frequently. (Google Borkweb for w/).
Then Zach reminded me that I've been playing World of Warcraft and DotA for too long. My brain-damaged head decided to convince me that the command for whisper (/w) was the abbreviation for with (w/).
Oh God I hate games. I'm a dork.
DotA v6.34 Released!
June 22, 2006 | 20 Comments
An article from Uber-Geeks says:
I am happy to announce that Icefrog over at DotA Allstars has released the next version of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), version 6.34! You can download it at GetDotA.com.
What does this new version bring? Well, firstly it provides the same game modes as its previous version (v6.33b). The rest I grabbed out of the changelog.
You can read the change log at Uber-Geeks. w00t!
Wow. I just won again on Blingo.
June 18, 2006 | 4 Comments
I posted last week about winning a movie ticket through Blingo recently. I was psyched. Well, I just checked my e-mail and lo and behold...I just won another movie ticket. Its awesome. Sign up. Search. Happiness may follow!
The things you can win:
- iPod Nano
- Visa Gift Card $150, $100, $50, or $25
- Blingo Movie Ticket
- iTunes Gift Certificate
Needless to say I'll be going to see Superman for free (sans concessions).
New World of Warcraft Forums
June 18, 2006 | 10 Comments
Blizzard's forum software has always sucked balls. It was about time that they re-code it and give it a face lift. Well, they have released their new forum Beta test for World of Warcraft, check it out! Features:
- New design
- New Avatars
- Most Valuable Poster (MVP) Status*
- A Search that works (their non-working search had always pissed me off)
- Faster
*Most Valuable Poster (MVP) Status
To participate in Blizzard Entertainment's MVP program, one must be a positive influence to the forum community in helping other users, as well as regularly active. If you meet this criteria, and the community team views such actions on a regular basis, there is a possibility you may be asked to participate in the program. Very few people are chosen for this honorary role, which may be revoked by Blizzard at any time. Please do not contact us requesting to be a MVP.
Good work Blizzard! Keep it up!
UPDATE: I guess I'm a tool, MVP status has been around a while. I suppose its just uses SUPER rarely.
Flock
June 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Flock is awesome. For now I've made the switch from Firefox to Flock's Beta v0.7. What is Flock? Well, Flock is the expert on themselves so here's their description:
The web, and the way people engage online, has evolved dramatically over the past decade. We still see a lot of room for the browser to keep pace with everything that's going on on the web. Providing a fast, safe and simple browsing experience is very important, but at Flock we are also trying to look more broadly at how the web browser can enrich users' online experience.
For this release, and for at least the next year or so, we are primarily focused on supporting the social dimension of the web, and on bringing information closer to the user. Right now this includes a heavy emphasis on the photo experience (from upload through discovery to notification), RSS support, dramatic improvements to the search box (including a new take on favorites), and blogging.
Casey over at MaisonBisson posted about Flock back in October when the Flock preview first came out (v0.1 or something). I saw Casey's post and decided to give Flock a whirl. I was mildly impressed and saw that Flock had potential. Its big problems at the time were related to memory leaks and sluggishness. That seems to be resolved and they've done wonders to their 'features.'
Social Bookmarks
Beautiful. Flock lets you use Del.icio.us or Shadows as your bookmarking tool. So anything you bookmark can be accessed from anywhere you go (whether through Flock or at the bookmarking site). Your bookmarks can be tagged right from the browser as well as marked as public or private.
Social Images
Flock integrates with Flickr and Photobucket and a sexy manner. The browser literally becomes an uploading/browsing agent for images. They've a nice drag and drop interface with a photo bar that you can place above your tabs. Check it out:
Its slick, intuitive and has many Flickr features (I can't speak for Photobucket as I do not have an account there).
Text & Misc. Images
Another sexy aspect of Flock is the ability to highlight and drag text and images URLs from anywhere and store them for later. Once you've placed something in that Text and Image bar you can browse, drag and drop the data into the browser or external applications. In addition to the dragging and dropping of the data, you can simply right-click the data and select the blog option.
Blogging
Flock being a Web 2.0 browser (as its being toted), it cannot forget blogging. You can set your browser up to post to your blog (using a WYSIWYG editor). You can post to blogs hosted by: WordPress, TypePad, Moveable Type, LiveJournal, Drupal, and Blogger. The blogging tool supports any blog that uses Moveable Type, Blogger, MetaWebLog, and Atom APIs. Snazzy tool, but I'm happy with the web-based editing of my blogs for now.
News
There's a nice news aggregator as part of Flock. Looks decent...but I'll stick to my own home-grown aggregator.
Searching
If you use the browser search tool, Flock goes a step further and as you type it'll grab items from your history, favorites, and the top five searches from Yahoo!. Pretty sexy stuff. Be sure to add Blingo to your search list!
Extensions
Because Flock is based off of Firefox, many of the extension run for it! So you can still have the must haves. I definately wouldn't be using Flock otherwise.
Summary
I like Flock for now. It looks promising, the features are nice and it looks pretty sexy too. Get it at Flock.com.
Blingo Pays Off
June 15, 2006 | 4 Comments
I started using Blingo back in December and I'm happy to say that I have received my first reward! A week and a half ago, one of my sign-up friends won a movie ticket and because I was a referrer of them, I won one too! Yup. Thats $8 I don't have to pay when I head to the movies (maybe more if I go see Superman in Mass.).
Blingo is a search powered by Google. Its results ARE Google results, so for those of you that swear by Google and its excellent filtering of sites, well, you won't lose anything by using Blingo. So whats the benefit of using the it? To put it simply...they give prizes. As you search through Blingo, you become eligible for prizes (that they give daily!).
