Internet Explorer
Tools: Live Labs Thumbtack
Posted By Jeff On January 18, 2009 @ 9:01 am
At first glance, Thumbtack from Live Labs looks pretty interesting (see video below). It’s supposed to allow you to highlight anything on webpage, copy it, then paste it on to (essentially) a virtual cork board. My first thought was “great, I can use it when collecting ideas for content to blog about”. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Video: Thumbtack Introduction
For the purpose of testing Thumbtack, I decided to imagine that I was planning a trip to Egypt. I was able to copy text, so I could get an idea of the terrain and what the weather would be like. I even managed to copy the lyrics to the national anthem. However, when I tried copying a picture, I was told “Your browser security settings have prevented us from accessing your clipboard. Please paste again by pressing ctrl + V”. Doing this doesn’t allow pictures.
Examining further into the issue, it seems you can only copy and paste text using Mozilla Firefox. To be able to do anything further, you must be using Internet Explorer (IE). On top of not being able to copy images, when pasting it doesn’t even keep format of the text copied, it is often unformatted.
Thumbtack does allow users to publish and share their notes, however given that it is simply just text at this time if fails to be of service. If I have to email them a link to text, I might as well just email them the text itself.
A simple conclusion is that this service falls short of being useful, just as Google Notebook was before support was canceled. If you truly need to keep notes, just use notepad.
Google Chrome
Posted By Jeff On September 8, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Finally, Google has released a browser!
“I don’t really need a new browser, I finally have Firefox working exactly as I want it to” is going to be the first thought through many people’s minds and to be truthfully honest, I’m still kind of feeling that way now even after checking out the eye pleasing Google Chrome.
At first glance, this thing is simply beautiful, because it’s so beautifully simple. They removed all the clutter and open space that seems to built up around the buttons, helping to trim it down a lot. They also removed the menu bar up top and replaced it with two buttons beside the address/unified bar. This gives it a clean look.
The address bar has been turned into the unified bar, which allows you to type an address, search and also has suggestions. This is useful I guess, But Firefox does nearly the same thing and to be honest I don’t think I’ll be searching for “www.irbl” anytime soon. This feature may need a bit of tweaking.
One of the nicest parts about Chrome is that they’ve decided to move the tabs to the top of the page (giving it the old ‘At Ease’ look from former macs), which makes it really spiffy looking. You’re able to drag these around to order them how you like, and even drag them out to be open in a new window (though other than being able to see the web page tiny and being dragged around looking like a cool folder, I can’t see myself finding a real use for this). This simple rearranging of the tabs is the largest improvement I can see for most users.
Also, it seems they decided to rework how the browser functions. In simple terms: Each tab is it’s own program, within a program. For example: In the past when 1 tab would screw up and crash in Firefox or IE, the whole browser would crash. What Google claims is that if 1 tabs screws up in Chrome, you’ll be able to continue using the other tabs without any interruption and just the problematic tab will be closed. They’ve developed a task manager (nearly identical to that in Windows) for each tab. In fact, while writing this I got the oppertunity to put this to the test.
While having 3 tabs open (WordPress Dashboard, Google Chrome Website and Worlds in Motion) I started to play one of the demonstration videos on the Chrome site. To my surprise, it decided to lag and freeze while trying to load the video. Thinking this would be of no concern, I tabbed back to the Dashboard and was shocked to see Chrome stop responding to my clicks completely. On top of having no control over my browser at all anymore (something Google claims does not happen) I was unable to pull up the Chrome Task Manager and was left here waiting to see if I was going to have to retype this review. After about 2 minutes of huffing, a pop-up showed saying the Google Chrome tab wasn’t responding, but went away again before I was able to select an option to fix the issue and Chrome fixed itself. Isn’t this what all other browsers do already? Chances are high that if a program stops working, eventually it usually rights itself. I was severely let down by the hopes Chrome would be different and actually hold true to the ‘invincible’ idea it let off.
A nice thing, though minor to say the least, is Chrome’s default start page when you open new tabs. It creates a map of your most visited sites based on your history, recent bookmarks, closed tabs and a search box. It’s simple and I know it’s been done a million times but it might be interesting to keep around for awhile before setting back to about:blank again.
A final note, I do notice that for spell check it seems to underline the words, but right clicking doesn’t give me a dictionary of suggested spellings. I hope this gets fixed because my spelling is atrocious. What will really show the power (or just hype) of chrome will be when developers start releasing plug-ins and perhaps themes. With the lead that Firefox seems to have however on Chrome in this aspect, it’s going to take some time for Google to actually become a competitor to those who already have things set up to meet standards. That said, I think I’ll give this a run at work (simple is good when you’re doing very little but doing it a lot) but until I see some progress made I’m going to stick with my loyal FF.
Mama Mia
Posted By Jeff On July 31, 2005 @ 8:09 am
Here I go again! (Don’t Ask)
Anyway, I was totally pissed off Friday. My paycheck was messed up and I was almost to the point of sending them an email with the words “Knock, Knock”. I didn’t however. I went to bed instead. A good thing too, I know I would have paid out the nose for doing it. I don’t get mad often, but I never get ‘a little mad’. I’m always not mad or pissed off. Not a good thing, but it’s hard to control. But yeah, I realized it sucks, but I’ll live with it. Everybody makes mistakes and things happen for a reason. Oh well.
So yesterday (Saturday) I bought an extra Xbox controller and 007 Nightfire. So now I have something to play with Nathan, and he’s able to play (as I only had one controller previous). I was tempted to buy a 3rd controller, not sure why. I blame my Uncle James for that urge [See extended]. So we played that the whole night. It’s a great game, especially since it has bots. It reminds me so much of Perfect Dark with the bot personalities. I guess that’s why I love it.
So today after my much needed nap, after my shift, we’re going to Melissa (step-cousin I think) ‘s surprise B-day party. I’m pretty sure she is turning 13, but I could be wrong. Cheryl picked up a pink purse with a butterfly on it (I picked it out). I was told Melissa liked pink and bugs, so this just had to be picked up. She also picked up a Rock n Roll for Kids CD. Melissa likes older stuff from what I’ve gathered (I guess just because she can’t listen to much of the newer stuff becase of language and subject matter. 
). Either way, I hope she likes it.
Oh, that’s what I was going to write about. Somehow, someway I got a virus on my laptop earlier today. No clue how. Had to go into Safe Mode with Command Promt to get rid of it (as it kept saying it was in use and wouldn’t delete it), made me feel all geeky and stuff. I have no clue how it got on though. The virus was an IE exploit and I don’t even have IE installed. Stupid Windows. On that, I was talking to Johno about something able to get Windows Updates without IE (at this point, I install it to download the updates, then uninstall it again). His answer: Linux. So I have an install thing for Fedora sitting here now. I’ll partition my drive later this week and install it.
Ok, saw this at Boing Boing and just had to share it. Zombie Mob’ie
Another Boing Boing link: 10k bouncy balls dropped from a building and sent down a street in San Francisco. Do You like balls?
“Ok, where’s the torch?”
“Here, use this glow in the dark condom!”
Freaking Halarious
In a day or twoooooooo
OK, that’s it for now. I’m going to go back to gaining Light Side Points from the newbies. I mean…no wait, that’s exactly what I meant. Have a nice day, That is all.
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