November 30, 2007
Google Reader Updates

The Google Reader blog has notes on some improvements on my favorite RSS reader. Recommendations and drag-and-drop are the two big new features, one interesting, one useful. Looking forward to see how they are all working!

Posted by Arcterex at 10:49 AM
Italian Spiderman

I present to you Italian Spiderman Trailer with no further comment.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:09 AM
10 Reasons Johnny Cash Kicks Ass

Amusing.... 10 Reasons Why Johnny Cash Owns Chuck Norris.


1 - Only one man who has ever lived has been bad enough to be called “The Man In Black” and it wasn’t Chuck Norris

Hit the link for the rest.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:07 AM
November 29, 2007
Movie Verbal Beatdowns

Eight Classic Cinematic Verbal Beatdowns.... fantastic clips to watch, especially if you're in a murderous rage :)

Posted by Arcterex at 05:30 PM
KITT is a Mustang (Pics)

Exclusive First Pictures of KITT From The New Knight Rider TV Series... yup, it's a mustang!

Posted by Arcterex at 05:27 PM
November 28, 2007
Shaking Cell Phones

Now this is just a super-cool use of technology. Cellphone's slosh and rattle reveal its contents is basically using shaking a cell phone of PDA with an accelerometer can produce sounds / images to indicate things like power level, number of emails, email senders, etc. Similar and different to the color based feedback that was proposed and partially implemented under the GNOME desktop (can't seem to find a link to anything specific about it right now, but it was proposing to use things like a green color in a download icon to represent good speed or orange or red for stalled downloads, stuff like that).

Posted by Arcterex at 02:08 PM
Facebook Advertising

Scoble linked to Some Thoughts on the Facebook Beacon by Carnage4Life.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:44 AM
November 27, 2007
Geeky Quickies

Posted by Arcterex at 10:22 PM
Dark Knight Joker Image

More Dark Knight news as Empire Magazine reveals the Joker. Finally! Hope his performance is good, thanks Dave!

Posted by Arcterex at 09:23 AM
More Dark Knight Stuff

Latest website found by JWZ is The Ha Ha Ha Times, a site by the joker it appears.

Posted by Arcterex at 08:21 AM
Dues Ex 3 Trailer

Deus Ex 3 Trailer Released over at Fileshack. I'm not sure about this one.... Dues Ex was not bad, 2 was "meh" for me, and this one the trailer doesn't really have anything "meaty" in it. Very stylistic and what not though :)

Posted by Arcterex at 08:02 AM
November 23, 2007
Tips for Contractors and Freelancers

Some good tips (all of which I'm sure I violated in my contract work) at the Freelance Blog. 10 Absolute "No's!" for Freelancers... something good to keep beside your phone for the next call that comes in :)

Posted by Arcterex at 08:01 AM
November 22, 2007
Mac Buyers Guide

Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone, with info based on trends, how recently things were updated, etc.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:42 AM
Lightroom 1.3 Export Plugins

Jeffrey has published some Lightroom export-to plugins for Flickr, Smugmug and Zenfolio.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:24 AM
November 21, 2007
WOW Ads with Mr. T and William Shatner

New WoW Ads Recruit Mr. T and Shatner. Hilarious, thanks Darren.

Posted by Arcterex at 08:46 AM
November 20, 2007
Ars Looks at Firefox 3.0b1

First look at Firefox 3.0b1 over at Ars.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:28 PM
KDE RC1 Released to the World

KDE-ers, just a note that K KDE 4.0 Release Candidate 1 is ready for the world, please download, test, rinse and repeat.

Posted by Arcterex at 02:25 PM
iPhone vs Plane Pilot

Amusing, what happens when an iPhone Equipped Passenger Takes On Flight Crew Over Weather. Turns out that your iPhone telling you it's sunny when you're delayed on the tarmac isn't the definitive answer that you're smarter than the pilot or air traffic controller :)

Posted by Arcterex at 02:24 PM
November 19, 2007
Getting Around "Playable only on DomPlayer" AVI Files

I downloaded the latest episode of something today only to find it wasn't (apparently) playable without a spyware laden POS software. Luckily I found a blog with good info on a Domplayer 3Wplayer Fix that fixes this. Hopefully others who have been bitten by this will find this (or the linked blog) to get around it. Then send a nuke to the domplayer headquarters, okthanksbai.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:54 PM
New High Quality Cloverfield Trailer

Darren pointed me to a proper quality The New Cloverfield Trailer. Whhohoo!

Posted by Arcterex at 12:53 PM
November 18, 2007
Cloverfield Trailer (Kinda)

Even though it seems to be getting panned a bit, Don't Link This has the Only reason to see Beowulf.... yup, a new trailer for Cloverfield. I presume though this is going to show up on the Apple Trailers page fairly soon.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:41 PM
November 16, 2007
Free Linux Journal Download

Download a Free Issue of Linux Journal. Thanks Tony. Only caveat is that you have to give them your email address (not that that's a huge deal IMHO).

Posted by Arcterex at 10:57 AM
Intel's New Penryn Processor and Linux

LinuxHardware.org has a nice look at the Intel Core 2 "Penryn" and Linux including what projects will see improvements, and which won't.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:14 AM
More Cloverfield Info

'J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield is Back has a new trailer coming soon. Link has some info.

Posted by Arcterex at 08:48 AM
Firefox 3 UI On Linux

Ars has a nice first look at the Firefox 3 visual refresh for Linux. Very nice and clean and looks like it should integrate nicely into the look of the Linux desktop.

Posted by Arcterex at 08:02 AM
November 15, 2007
Encouraging Users to Lock Their Computers

Coding horror reminds you: Don't Forget To Lock Your Computer.

A similar method to what we use at work, which is one of:


  1. Search for disgusting pictures on the internet
  2. Set as wallpaper
  3. Lock computer

Or sending emails to staff email lists confessing to "unnatural" urges, or taking a screenshot of the desktop, setting it as the wallpaper, and then hiding all the users icons :)

Posted by Arcterex at 02:53 PM
November 14, 2007
GNOME Online Tour

Nice early look at Tour of GNOME Online Desktop from Havoc Pennington. Still pre-alpha, but an idea at least about where GNOME is wanting to go with the online desktop metaphor.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:41 PM
Shacknews Crysis Review

Shacknews has a nice full Crysis Review. Benefits: Looks awesome. Downfall: huge system demands to make it look awesome :)

Posted by Arcterex at 01:19 PM
November 13, 2007
BF2142 1.40 Patch Released

Finally! Battlefield 2142 Patch 1.40 Released. Under 400mb (gah... could be worse though) and includes what appear to be a lot of good fixes as well as a new map. Some details below, but hit the full story for download info and full fix/change/additions.

FEATURES

- Added a new map - Highway Tampa.
- Added an autosave to kit customisations. After you customise a kit and spawn in with that kit, the customisation will be automatically saved until you change it and spawn in again. Note that you must spawn in with a particular kit for it to be saved.
- Titans will now spawn up to two gunships per side
- Squad Leaders no longer have to resupply to re-equip destroyed drones


More in the link....

Dangit! I wanted to get to sleep early tonight! :)

Posted by Arcterex at 11:18 PM
Build Your Own Mac Clone

Don't want to pay a boatload for an iMac or Powerbook? Lifehacker show how to Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800.

Posted by Arcterex at 08:35 PM
Android (GPhone) SDK Videos

Darren pointed me to the Engaget early look at the Android SDK. I had originally ignored this story because I figured it was just saying that the SDK was available. However the screenshots and videos look very cool (and somewhat iPhone like for the full screen device). TIght integration with google apps of course, IM, Maps, etc. The second phone demoed looks very iPhone like, though it's a bit confusing if it's a touch screen or button controlled. The demo shows the user touching and moving pages and globes with a finger, but looking at the web browsing almost looks like it's done with button nav.

Course, it's all an SDK demo anyway..... :)

Looks very cool though!

Posted by Arcterex at 02:27 PM
Sylar As Spock (Pics)

Couple of shots of Zachary Quinto as Spock. Zachary is best know (to me anyway) as Sylar from Heroes.

Posted by Arcterex at 07:37 AM
November 12, 2007
Buffy on Maxim Cover

I'm not sure what Sarah Michelle Gellar did to deserve the title "Maxim's Woman of the year", but lets be honest, who really cares? Maxim + Buffy = Hawt!

Posted by Arcterex at 11:31 PM
Smallest and Cutest Car Ever

Top Gear is a british show that I really love, and hardly ever watch. However, Cute Overload posted this clip of the smallest car ever which is hilarious. Not only is the car small, it's tiny. So small you can drive it to your work front door, then pull it into the office with you, up the elevator, and sit it beside your desk. Just watch it.

Posted by Arcterex at 06:44 PM
iPhone/Touch 1.1.2 Jailbreak Released (jailbroke?)

If you're a lucky one with an iPhone or iPod Touch and want to upgrade to the 1.1.2 firmware but don't want to lose your custom apps and setup, conceited software has released a windows/linux solution as TUAW. I've as yet untested by myself on my Touch, so read the comments and research before you put your baby at risk. Apparently the big draw to the 1.1.2 release is a speed boost, but that looks like about it (unless you use non-english characters a lot).

Posted by Arcterex at 06:03 PM
November 09, 2007
UTQW XP Guide

Ifurita's ETQW XP Guide tells you what does and doesn't give you XP (points / upgrades) in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

Posted by Arcterex at 01:45 PM
New Assassin's Creed Trailer

New Assassin's Creed Trailer looks awesome. Wish it was coming out for PC :( Looks like it could make a great movie though... think "Hitman: Rome".

Posted by Arcterex at 01:43 PM
Scottish Star Trek

Scottish star trek. Hilarious (and completely incomprehensible).

Posted by Arcterex at 12:54 PM
November 08, 2007
Firefox 3 Beta Screenshot Tour

Lifehacker has a First Look at Firefox 3.0 beta.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:30 AM
Ballmer on Google vs Microsoft

TechCrunch has some commentary on what Ballmer's comments about how Google is Only Ahead Of Microsoft In Search. Guess everyone will have their own spin (or reality distortion field :)

Posted by Arcterex at 09:06 AM
November 07, 2007
Art of Photoshop

Some amazing photoshop work (check out the 'making of' slideshows) from Christophe Huet. Found via LaughingSquid.

Posted by Arcterex at 05:20 PM
Now That's Acceleration!

Quick video from youtube of a Supra From Hell.... looks very benign and boring till the last few seconds..... those guys definitely didn't expect that :)

Posted by Arcterex at 04:02 PM
Microsoft's Live.com Apps

The Vista blog announces that they have "the next generation in Windows Live apps & services". Basically a suite of software and webapps for online tools. I wouldn't call it "next generation" though, more like "catching up with google". Still, competition is always good. I got my live.ca address.... wish I knew how to change it to live.com though :( Doesn't even seem to work even through a US proxy...

Posted by Arcterex at 02:12 PM
Parkour In Vancouver

Parkour, The Art of Moving From Point A to Point B in Vancouver, BC.

Man I wish I was as fit as those guys! Maybe there's an overweight-computer-geek version I can try....

Posted by Arcterex at 12:03 PM
Firefox 3.0 Beta1

Interesting... forgetfoo points to the first Firefox3 Beta. I'm adventourous so I'll install it and see how it is. I'm looking forward to see if the new "visual refresh" is in there.

Update: No visual refresh, basically first glance is that it's pretty much the same as firefox2. I'll wait until something more drastic happens.

Update: Not an official beta.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:59 AM
November 06, 2007
The Mist Internet Trailer

My coworker PeeJay pointed me to The Mist Internet Trailer.... which I have to say, looks really good and I only hope that this movie stays as faithful to the book as Shackshank did.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:47 PM
UT3 Media

Shacknews has an Unreal Tournament 3 Single-player Campaign Preview along with new screenshots and a nifty looking trailer.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:44 PM
What Makes up a Linux File System

Anatomy of the Linux file system has some good in-depth nerdery of some filesystem internals.

Posted by Arcterex at 12:34 PM

Discover magazine has their list of The 5 Best and Worst Science Based Movies of All Time.

Posted by Arcterex at 11:20 AM
November 05, 2007
Winning At Monopoly

How to Win at Monopoly - some interesting tactics.

Posted by Arcterex at 10:33 PM
Half Life in 60 Seconds

YouTube - HALF LIFE IN 60 SECONDS is pretty much exactly what the title says. Thanks Darren!

Posted by Arcterex at 01:49 PM
November 03, 2007
Simple Halloween Costumes for 2008

Funny costumes for Halloween next year.... almost like a Home Zoo!

Posted by Arcterex at 10:48 PM
Play Starfighter For Real!

Fight The Ko-Dan Armada — For Real! with instructions on how to get the resources to build your own cabinet.

Posted by Arcterex at 09:45 PM
November 02, 2007
Portal Song in Almost-English

Sorry for the more Portal news, but JoCo posted a link to a video of Cute Virtual Idol Sings Portal Song.

Sorry for the lack of news..... been a couple of LONG days here at work.

Posted by Arcterex at 04:53 PM
November 01, 2007
Skinny on Coulton and Portal

Jonathan Coulton comes clean about his involvement with Portal in Portal: The Skinny. Great story!

Also you should check out the song using gmod (where "the song" will ring a bell with anyone who has finished the game) which I've never heard of before, but is a fantastic performance :)

Posted by Arcterex at 08:18 AM