Get ready for a walk down memory lane...
Neave games let you play 9 classic video games like Pacman, Frogger, Tetris, and even an online version of Simon.
Although these aren't the original versions of the games they are very similar to what we used to play.
And the best part: you don't even need any quarters :)
30 December 2005
28 December 2005
Fax Toy
I was sure that fax machines are pretty much gone from this world (or at least I would like to hope so) but Fax Toy proves me wrong.
The front page of Fax Toy displays about 50 images of pages that people have faxed them. You can fax something interesting to 1-510-545-0990 (your boss will never notice... maybe) and it should appear there within a couple of minutes.
Interesting idea...
The front page of Fax Toy displays about 50 images of pages that people have faxed them. You can fax something interesting to 1-510-545-0990 (your boss will never notice... maybe) and it should appear there within a couple of minutes.
Interesting idea...
25 December 2005
Tunatic
This one is really cool:
You ever hear a song and don't know what song it is?
Tunatic is a small (free) program that you install on your computer (PC and Mac) that can listen to a song and identify what song it is.
Tunatic has a very simple interface and all you need to use it is a microphone and an Internet connection. Tunatic hears some music and quickly identifies what song it is.
Very nice!
You ever hear a song and don't know what song it is?
Tunatic is a small (free) program that you install on your computer (PC and Mac) that can listen to a song and identify what song it is.
Tunatic has a very simple interface and all you need to use it is a microphone and an Internet connection. Tunatic hears some music and quickly identifies what song it is.
Very nice!
23 December 2005
Fake Glass
Let me let you in a little secret: you know how in the movies you see people jumping through a glass window or breaking a glass bottle on somebody's head? Well it turns out that those wusses in Hollywood don't use real glass!
(I also have a feeling that the blood isn't real too but I don't have any proof of that yet...)
This site explains how to make sugar glass that you too can smash on your loved ones (without going to jail afterwards).
If you decide to make your own sugar glass let me know how it comes out...(just don't try to eat it).
BTW: there are a few other useful resources on independent movie making over at stormforcepictures.com.
(I also have a feeling that the blood isn't real too but I don't have any proof of that yet...)
This site explains how to make sugar glass that you too can smash on your loved ones (without going to jail afterwards).
If you decide to make your own sugar glass let me know how it comes out...(just don't try to eat it).
BTW: there are a few other useful resources on independent movie making over at stormforcepictures.com.
22 December 2005
Magazine Cover
This site takes you through the changes that are made to a girl on a magazine cover.
The demo shows you different parts of the girl's photo, how they looked originally, how they look on the final magazine cover, and why they changed them.
The number of changes and their quality is quite amazing.
Nature sucks, ah?
The demo shows you different parts of the girl's photo, how they looked originally, how they look on the final magazine cover, and why they changed them.
The number of changes and their quality is quite amazing.
Nature sucks, ah?
20 December 2005
Moo.fx
Moo.fx is a tiny JavaScript library that weighs only 3KB of code (sorry for totally geeking out here :).
The guy who wrote it describes it as "easy to use, fast, cross-browser, standards compliant, that provides controls to modify height, width and opacity".
Check out the demos page and the tutorial on "how to create a custom effect".
The guy who wrote it describes it as "easy to use, fast, cross-browser, standards compliant, that provides controls to modify height, width and opacity".
Check out the demos page and the tutorial on "how to create a custom effect".
19 December 2005
18 December 2005
Homes Of The Billionaires
Forbes has an article about the homes of the billionaires.
The most interesting are the homes of multi-billionaires like Warren Buffett who is worth $44 billion but for nearly 50 years he's been living in the same Omaha house he bought for $31,500.
Same for Ingvar Kamprad, founder and former chief executive of home furnishings giant IKEA, who drives a second-hand Volvo!
But don't worry, as expected, you can also see the "modest" houses of people like Bill Gates (who's house is worth $140 million, and this year's local tax bill came to $1.1 million), Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and Steven Spielberg.
Eat your heart out...
The most interesting are the homes of multi-billionaires like Warren Buffett who is worth $44 billion but for nearly 50 years he's been living in the same Omaha house he bought for $31,500.
Same for Ingvar Kamprad, founder and former chief executive of home furnishings giant IKEA, who drives a second-hand Volvo!
But don't worry, as expected, you can also see the "modest" houses of people like Bill Gates (who's house is worth $140 million, and this year's local tax bill came to $1.1 million), Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and Steven Spielberg.
Eat your heart out...
16 December 2005
Zuma
I ran across another cool online game that I just had to share with you guys: Zuma is the name and shooting balls out of the frog's mouth is the game.
In this game you shoot colored balls at a winding line of balls. Once you line up 3 balls of the same color they disappear (surprising ah?) and the line shortens.
You need to clear up all the balls before they reach golden skull at the end of the line in order to advance to the next level.
Give it a whirl but I gotta warn you that it's pretty addictive so make some time in your calendar for this one...
In this game you shoot colored balls at a winding line of balls. Once you line up 3 balls of the same color they disappear (surprising ah?) and the line shortens.
You need to clear up all the balls before they reach golden skull at the end of the line in order to advance to the next level.
Give it a whirl but I gotta warn you that it's pretty addictive so make some time in your calendar for this one...
15 December 2005
How to Ship Anything
Joel Spolsky wrote up an[other] great article on his blog.
This time it's about how to ship anything.
The whole thing started when the guys at Fog Creek needed to ship a few thousand copies of their new movie "Aardvark'D: 12 Weeks With Geeks" (excellent flick by the way) and they discovered that packing and shipping so many DVDs is much harder than they had expected (since there are many small manual tasks in order to get the package on its way).
So what does a geek like Joel do when he runs into a manual process that is long and frustrating? He builds a system to do it better, of course (and names it FogShip) .
His article describes how he setup FogShip and the different components that it contains.
This thing really makes me wish that I had lots of things to ship just so I would have an excuse to set one of these babies up (I'm sure the Fog Creekers really love shipping things now).
This time it's about how to ship anything.
The whole thing started when the guys at Fog Creek needed to ship a few thousand copies of their new movie "Aardvark'D: 12 Weeks With Geeks" (excellent flick by the way) and they discovered that packing and shipping so many DVDs is much harder than they had expected (since there are many small manual tasks in order to get the package on its way).
So what does a geek like Joel do when he runs into a manual process that is long and frustrating? He builds a system to do it better, of course (and names it FogShip) .
His article describes how he setup FogShip and the different components that it contains.
This thing really makes me wish that I had lots of things to ship just so I would have an excuse to set one of these babies up (I'm sure the Fog Creekers really love shipping things now).
14 December 2005
Falldown
Time for another online game!
Falldown is a very simple game where you control a ball that is constantly falling and you need to move it so that it doesn't hit obstacles in its way and can continue falling.
Very simple concept but fun nonetheless.
I actually played Falldown one time and my score was 52,920.
If you play it then let me know if that's a good score or if I just plain suck.
Falldown is a very simple game where you control a ball that is constantly falling and you need to move it so that it doesn't hit obstacles in its way and can continue falling.
Very simple concept but fun nonetheless.
I actually played Falldown one time and my score was 52,920.
If you play it then let me know if that's a good score or if I just plain suck.
13 December 2005
Konfabulator 3.0
I've been using Konfabulator since it came out for Windows and now, after Yahoo! bought them a while ago, they have come out with version 3.0.
The big deal about version 3.0 is that the popular widgets like the stock ticker actually work properly (weird "new" feature, ah?).
Another big change is that as of this version it's called Yahoo! Widgets and has Yahoo's brand all over it. But hey at least it's free now and works properly (and still looks very cool).
Currently my favorite widgets are:
I also have Wifi Signal, 8-Ball, and Yahoo! Mail Checker installed but don't really use them so I'll probably get rid of them soon.
The big deal about version 3.0 is that the popular widgets like the stock ticker actually work properly (weird "new" feature, ah?).
Another big change is that as of this version it's called Yahoo! Widgets and has Yahoo's brand all over it. But hey at least it's free now and works properly (and still looks very cool).
Currently my favorite widgets are:
- Stock Ticker
- Picture Frame (for displaying either random Flickr photos or photos from my Flickr account)
- Weather (probably the most useful widget)
- Joy Of Tech Latest Cartoon
I also have Wifi Signal, 8-Ball, and Yahoo! Mail Checker installed but don't really use them so I'll probably get rid of them soon.
12 December 2005
11 December 2005
09 December 2005
Rsstroom Reader
A crazy new product out of Taiwan seems to be aimed at those of us who can't take a break from the real world, not even to go to the bathroom.
The 'rsstroom reader' is a bathroom gadget that prints news feeds onto your TOILET PAPER!
The best part is the "biometrics" toilet seat that'll figure out who you are based on your weight and prints the news you want - not your roommate's tabloid garbage.
Ok ok, this isn't real it's just a concept design, but you can be pretty sure that you'll soon be able to get news while you're on the crapper.
The 'rsstroom reader' is a bathroom gadget that prints news feeds onto your TOILET PAPER!
The best part is the "biometrics" toilet seat that'll figure out who you are based on your weight and prints the news you want - not your roommate's tabloid garbage.
Ok ok, this isn't real it's just a concept design, but you can be pretty sure that you'll soon be able to get news while you're on the crapper.
Stand in line Ballmer
"The Ballmer children do not have their Xbox 360 yet. I'm in the same boat as many of you," said Microsoft Corp.'s Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. "Thanks to the wonders of Sarbanes-Oxley, management does not get a free Xbox 360," he quipped at a meeting of technology industry executives.
Under financial disclosure rules, Microsoft would have to classify a free game console as income for Ballmer.
And who said there's no justice in the world? :)
Under financial disclosure rules, Microsoft would have to classify a free game console as income for Ballmer.
And who said there's no justice in the world? :)
08 December 2005
Pandora
The Music Genome Project have developed technology that can define music by it's traits (similar to how DNA defines traits in humans).
What good does that do you ask?
Well, they recently released Pandora which is an online radio player that lets you rate songs and artists that you like and then recommends songs with similar traits that you will probably also like.
You start off by entering the name of a song or artist that you like and immediately you start hearing a song with similar traits.
You can give a thumbs up or thumbs down for every song that Pandora throws at you so that the system learns what kind of music you like and becomes more and more tailored to your taste.
Pandora is an excellent way to discover new artists since the songs that you get are not necessarily from bands that you already know (although it will give you some songs from bands that you've said that you like).
The interface is pretty sleek and fun to play around with (it's basically a flash website so you don't even need to install anything) and any song that you hear in Pandora you can buy directly on iTunes or by its entire album on Amazon.
What good does that do you ask?
Well, they recently released Pandora which is an online radio player that lets you rate songs and artists that you like and then recommends songs with similar traits that you will probably also like.
You start off by entering the name of a song or artist that you like and immediately you start hearing a song with similar traits.
You can give a thumbs up or thumbs down for every song that Pandora throws at you so that the system learns what kind of music you like and becomes more and more tailored to your taste.
Pandora is an excellent way to discover new artists since the songs that you get are not necessarily from bands that you already know (although it will give you some songs from bands that you've said that you like).
The interface is pretty sleek and fun to play around with (it's basically a flash website so you don't even need to install anything) and any song that you hear in Pandora you can buy directly on iTunes or by its entire album on Amazon.
07 December 2005
Pirate Maps
All the popular online map systems (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) offer ways for software developers (aka geeks) to integrate their map system into other applications (they encourage these kind of uses).
Well, this one guy (or girl?) took Yahoo maps and created a pirate style map of the United States (mainly as an exercise).
The result is quite impressive (especially the telescope for zooming in and out).
Well, this one guy (or girl?) took Yahoo maps and created a pirate style map of the United States (mainly as an exercise).
The result is quite impressive (especially the telescope for zooming in and out).
06 December 2005
10 By 10
If a picture is worth 1000 words then 10 By 10 is worth, um, 100,000?
Anyway, 10 x 10 shows you 100 pictures of things that are going on now.
"Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time."
To see their current 10x10 picture then just click on "This is Now".
You can also choose a date and browse through the history of previous 10 x 10 images.
Anyway, 10 x 10 shows you 100 pictures of things that are going on now.
"Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time."
To see their current 10x10 picture then just click on "This is Now".
You can also choose a date and browse through the history of previous 10 x 10 images.
05 December 2005
New Navigation
Well, I couldn't hold back after my redesign and leave the sidebar navigation the way it was, so I pulled an all-nighter (ok it was just a few hours) and updated the entire left sidebar (navigation, search, random quote...).
The update was not as simple as it seems since the other parts of the site still use the old design and since I didn't want to duplicate any code I had to resort to some PHP tricks.
Eventually I got it working the way I want (for now at least :) so I can go to sleep in peace...
The update was not as simple as it seems since the other parts of the site still use the old design and since I didn't want to duplicate any code I had to resort to some PHP tricks.
Eventually I got it working the way I want (for now at least :) so I can go to sleep in peace...
03 December 2005
Paint.net
I know lots of people who use Windows Paint for many, um, painting tasks (the virtual kind at least).
Although Paint gets the job done it has remained more or less the same since Windows 95 (wow 95 was more than 10 years ago!) and is missing quite a few basic features.
Paint.net is an excellent free replacement for the default MS Paint image editing application.
It gives you the basic features that you are used to from Paint but adds many useful features (like layers and magic wand for example) that are only available in commercial photo editors like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
The interface is pretty cool and it's not nearly as "heavy" as Photoshop.
And since it's free you have nothing to lose by checking it out (it's even open source code so you can be sure that there's nothing bad going on there).
Although Paint gets the job done it has remained more or less the same since Windows 95 (wow 95 was more than 10 years ago!) and is missing quite a few basic features.
Paint.net is an excellent free replacement for the default MS Paint image editing application.
It gives you the basic features that you are used to from Paint but adds many useful features (like layers and magic wand for example) that are only available in commercial photo editors like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
The interface is pretty cool and it's not nearly as "heavy" as Photoshop.
And since it's free you have nothing to lose by checking it out (it's even open source code so you can be sure that there's nothing bad going on there).
01 December 2005
New Blog Design
Hey it's been over a year since my previous redesign of the site (July 2004) so I guess it's time for some change around here.
This time the change is only in Guy's World and I tried to clean up some of the mess here and go for a more minimal look.
The biggest change is the post borders (that you've probably noticed by now unless you're reading this via RSS) that are a simple rounded border instead of the previous bulky frame.
I also reduced some of the colors on the page and tried to stick with the blue/orange theme.
The ads have also changed a bit mainly to match the color theme and the ads at the top are in a new format that seems much more useful.
They are now links to ad categories instead of actual ads so you get more relevant results although it takes two clicks by a user for me to get paid (one click on the ad category and a second click on the ad itself).
Hopefully the increased usefulness of the ads will make up for the extra clicks that it takes.
I'm still not fully satisfied with the way it looks (I never really am :) especially since the old navigation links at the left look like the old design but it may take me a while to update those too.
Enjoy the new look (until next time...).
This time the change is only in Guy's World and I tried to clean up some of the mess here and go for a more minimal look.
The biggest change is the post borders (that you've probably noticed by now unless you're reading this via RSS) that are a simple rounded border instead of the previous bulky frame.
I also reduced some of the colors on the page and tried to stick with the blue/orange theme.
The ads have also changed a bit mainly to match the color theme and the ads at the top are in a new format that seems much more useful.
They are now links to ad categories instead of actual ads so you get more relevant results although it takes two clicks by a user for me to get paid (one click on the ad category and a second click on the ad itself).
Hopefully the increased usefulness of the ads will make up for the extra clicks that it takes.
I'm still not fully satisfied with the way it looks (I never really am :) especially since the old navigation links at the left look like the old design but it may take me a while to update those too.
Enjoy the new look (until next time...).
