General

General

• Keep your icons out of my system tray!-

  Related topic: System Tray Scan Utility - identify programs that have icons in the tray.

  I don't know about you, but I am saddened whenever I use a non-techie friend's computer and see more than two or three active tray icons in the Windows taskbar "system tray"*. (Usually I see six, seven, eight or even a few dozen!)

  Why does it bother me? Because, most of the time, the computer owner has no idea what those icons are for, or how they got there. It means that third-party installers (or worse, computer integrators or 'manufacturers' like Dell) have hooked more stuff into the auto start chain, which also means: more memory used, longer startup times, another prime opportunity to break the user's system with even more bloated, buggy software.
• Living without antivirus software- Ok, I'll admit it. I've been living dangerously for the last several years. To be blunt: I refuse to install any kind of antivirus or personal firewall software on most of my computers. This includes a Windows XP Home system that was used by my children as a web surfing / email / game system. I've suffered zero infections during this time. (The only time I ever suffered a malware infection was before, when I did rely on Norton Antivirus to protect the kids' computer.) Why do I refuse to use these massively popular products? Simple. I am convinced that they cause more harm than good, and that they foster a false sense of security - leading users to engage in riskier behavior. Further, antivirus software is almost always behind the curve - by definition, the antivirus people are playing catch-up with the malware writers. It's a good living for them, but I choose not to contribute to it. As a software developer, I cannot afford any downtime due to buggy software, and yes - antivirus software has bugs. Not long ago, one major antivirus package ran amok, causing widespread damage by deleting harmless user data and programs.
• Timelines-

  I have been thinking about building timeline-based modules for Drupal, in order to present alternative views of time-based data present in every Drupal system.

  Well, Arto Bendiken beat me to it. First, the timeline module and now, a timeline-based RSS aggregator that displays any RSS feed in a timeline.

  It's based on an existing tool, SIMILE Timeline.

  Great stuff!

• Quality Without a Name- I like to cook. Especially using quality utensils. I was making mashed potatoes and gravy to go with one of our favorite dishes: 40 cloves and a chicken. I was peeling a pile of potatoes, ripping through the pile with my trusty peeler. I started thinking about just how nice it is to use a really good peeler.
• Silver Plastic Is Ugly- Not long ago, every notebook computer, every bit of stereo or A/V equipment I owned was painted black or charcoal (or was made of a black or charcoal plastic). Now, everything is silver. Matte or satin silver. Spray-painted silver. For some reason, silver has become the most popular car color. (Click here if the preceding link is broken.) Silver seems like a nice color for some cars... and I even have one car that color (but that car is a 1970 Pontiac, so it was not so trendy when the color was put on the car). But there is a vast difference between a quality, glossy automotive paint finish and the chintzy look of a dull, matte silver finish painted on my notebook computer, my camcorder, my DirecTV receiver, my television cabinet (I could go on...) I can just imagine the product design meetings held in consumer product companies everywhere: "Silver is most popular! Silver is the way to go! Let's make it SILVER!"
• Apple Spin Cycle- Herb Greenberg's blog at Marketwatch.com has some funny, albeit harsh observations about the recently-announced Mac OS and iPhone delays - doing a little 'spin translation'.
• Microsoft's marketing message is as clear as mud.- What is Microsoft? What position does it occupy in the consumer's mind? When you think of Microsoft, what's the first image that pops into your head? In my mind (as a software developer) Microsoft is a company that provides the Windows OS, and software development tools and APIs for it. My mental image of Microsoft does not include:
• My Favorite Source Code Editing Fonts- Here's my shortlist of fave fonts for editing source code. Some of these are built in to MS Windows, others were supplied with Corel Draw 8 (my favorite illustration tool.) I prefer monospaced, but some times I switch to a proportional font for variety - modern editors do a pretty decent job of dealing with them.
• HD DVD Cracked; firestorm of controversy ensues.- A huge legal battle is forming around the HD-DVD crack posted on numerous websites, including Digg.com. Many sites have pulled the crack (which consists of nothing more than a series of hexadecimal digits making up a decryption key) under legal duress - It appears that Digg.com started to comply but has reversed its position, citing pressure from the Digg.com reader base. So, it appears that a legal battle is brewing, and Digg.com may be the one to challenge the vastly hideous DMCA in court.
• Making a list, checking it twice- If you dig lists and list-making, here are a couple of quick, fun finds I want to share with you all.

  Simple Checklists

  Want to keep a list of things for your private consumption, or to share with others? Need reminders?? Try ZingLists.

  "My Dog is Better than Your Dog" lists

  Want to make a list and share it with the world? Want to rank things by popularity? Want to see how others rank the items on your list? Try UnSpun by Amazon.
• Never Paint Your House With a Flamethrower-

  Blocking Firefox is a Bad Idea

  A friend of mine forwarded me a link to WhyFireFoxIsBlocked.com (no, I won't link to them, because I won't feed this particular bit of link bait.) He asked: what are these people smoking? My initial response probably makes him wonder what I've been smoking!

  AdBlock Plus Is Not The Problem

  In a nutshell, at least one webmaster has (and perhaps others have) decided to try to block site visitors who are using Firefox, because of the existence of a popular extension called AdBlock Plus, which has the ability to allow one to visit web sites and never see any ads. I've been reading up on the issue, and it seems that Firefox-blocking webmasters' position is may be summarized as:
  • Firefox users with AdBlock installed are engaging in "theft" (their words, not mine) because they are visiting sites that depend on commercial advertising revenues to support the site, and
  • AdBlock developers have taken steps to circumvent webmaster attempts to detect and defeat AdBlock use by site visitors.
  (There are other, non-essential and even more inflammatory arguments made about some Firefox users and promoters, but I won't bother with them here because they have nothing to do with the matter at hand.)
• Stop Driving!- I'm hearing a growing chorus of people calling for government intervention to halt the increase in gasoline prices. My response to such calls is this: If you want the price to drop, change your travel habits. Kick the habit. Get off the juice. The price is increasing due to two very real reasons, neither of which are under the control of 'greedy oil barons'.
• The last gasp for pathetic email spammers- I saw this in my inbox today:

  From: dissembler@sevendegreesofbum.com Subject: Ado6e Acro8at 8 79 $, 5ave 599.95 Body: Vlsi+ cheapxp4pc .com ln 1nternet Exp1orer.

  This is so truly pathetic. Yes, it managed to get past gmail's spam filter. So what? It's so blatantly obvious that this is spam that one can just delete it without reading it. Out of the hundreds or thousands of spam messages that end up in my gmail spam box, this is the only kind of message that makes it through of late, and it's only rarely (one or two out of thousands!)
• 2007-2008 Times Square Ball features bright, efficient L.E.D.s-

  Times Square Ball 2008

  Today's announcement of the L.E.D.-lit 100th Anniversary Times Square Ball on Good Morning, America was interesting - from what I've seen, the new ball is a major technological leap forward and will be a real stunner, and more energy efficient too! It's over twice as bright as previous ones, and yet uses half as much power. It can even play videos and animated sequences. You can even buy a Waterford ornament modeled after the real thing. It's built on an aluminum frame, and will be covered with Waterford crystals.
• Ringtone downloads - Ringtones, Ringtones, and More Ringtones...-

  Ringtone Downloads - what's all the fuss about?

  Ringtones. Seems like everybody's searching for them and downloading them. Ringtone download sites are all over the 'net, and ringtone download advertising is pretty big business, if the number of ringtone download site ads visible on the average web site is any indication.

  Ringtones For You, Ringtones For Me, Ringtones As Far As The Eye Can See...

  I've never spent much time paying attention to ringtone download sites. I always figured that they were aimed at a younger audience, and, I have always been satisfied with the ringtones that were built in to my cell phones. Who's visiting the ringtone sites?
• Interesting spammer pattern - how they find sites- Some our our sites that feature free classified ads (amadorable.com, goatseeker.com, and bunnytrade.com) have been hit with a few recurring spammers trying to plant ads for various off-topic products (like cell phones, etc.) I guess this is a good sign; our sites are visible and spammers feel it is worth their time and trouble to post an ad (and no, as far as I can tell, these are not bots - they're human-generated spam.) In reviewing the referrer logs, I've noticed that in nearly every case, spammers use search engines to find sites that have been spammed previously using known keywords - or just sites that offer free classified ads or open posting capability. For example, I find these google searches in my logs, just prior to the spammer creating an account and attempting to deposit the spam content.
• Fun with Alexa- While searching for links to one of my sites today, I found alexastreet.com and alexadex.com - these are simulated stock markets, based on alexa ranking. These are great examples of using alexa data in unique and interesting (if somewhat esoteric) ways.
• Glycemic Index, Syndrome X, Paleo Diet, and Ketogenic Diet resources-

  Years ago, I started researching alternatives to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. I encountered a lot of confusing and conflicting information, but one thing became clear as I continued to sift through the material: not everyone agrees with the orthodox view that "fat bad, carbohydrates good". And since that time, research has reinforced the case for the alternative view.

  I present this page as a resource for anyone who wants to find useful links to online information, avoiding the sites containing little original information. (In other words, these links are for the source sites where the details or original research can be found.)

  As always, feedback is welcome. Any new or updated info is appreciated.

• Must Read List- Here is my must-read list:
• What time is it?-

  Name that offset

  This page shows various time values and conversions to other units. I find this useful when programming in PHP and other languages.

  Often, I want to run a SQL query to update a time value in a Drupal db table, and I need to know the delta to add to an existing unix timestamp value to push a value out by 24 hours, 90 days, etc. and would rather not whip out a calculator or do the math on paper...

  
  

  ---

  %s%u%s', $rowclass, $label, $secs, $secs . '000'); } $time = time(); ?>

  Unit	Seconds	Milliseconds

  Page generated on:
  "; print "GMT Time: $formatted_gmt
  "; print "Unix Time: $time seconds since January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT
  "; print "Local server time: $formatted_time
  "; ?>
• Paypal payment button images cheat sheet-

  Here's a quick list of payment buttons to help save time filling out forms on Paypal's site.

  I find Paypal's site to be cumbersome at best, and if you are not on a high speed connection, browsing through all the "user friendly" pages to find the information you need can take a long time.