With a price tag higher than any of the current gaming consoles the Nokia X6 is sure to be a hit - for that crowd that's currently running around saying "Recession? What recession?" You know, those guys with all of that extra cash right now who aren't feeling the pinch AND have about $900 for a phone. I mean, its a cool-looking phone, but I *could* buy about 900 double cheese burgers off of the McD's value menu, or 300 meals off of their value menu. Or maybe I want Xbox 360, a Playsation 3 AND a Nintendo Wii!
NOKIA X6 on YOUTUBE
Today Wired.com wrote about the OpenOffice Mouse. Not to be outdone by the Apple's 1-button design, or 2 or 3 button mice for the PC, OpenOffice has created and 18 button OOMouse. OpenOffice users, Photoshop users, and gamers may really be happy about this new 18 button mouse - and gamers especially so if they prefer mouse+keyboard instead of a joystick and play one of the currently supported games.
In the middle of last week, Gmail posted Choose which messages get downloaded for offline use so I guess the theme for the week is CHOICE.
I am a fan of (FREE) OpenOffice, but I don't know if I'll be giving that mouse a shot or not. Of course, it could become the next hot PC accessory, who knows!? And about choosing which messages to download for offline, I may give that one a try.
So you are reading about this stuff, what do YOU think?
November 9th, 2009 in
Internet | tags:
gmail |
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Hunters that you can actually kill from the front. They were unassailable from the front in previous Halo installments, but now can be killed from the front as it should be (IMO).
Previous Halo: Shoot a Hunter with a missile launcher, you just made him mad!
Halo 3 ODST: Shoot a Hunter with a missile launcher, you just made him dead!
Grenades can also kill from the front, but don't bother with ODST grenades (can't control) or flame grenades (just aggravate them). Not necessarily a 1 hit kill, but you don't have to have a Hunter chasing you around all day until you run out of ammo and finally get killed because melee attacks certainly arent' the way to go!
I do seem to recall that you could kill a Hunter from the front with a sniper rifle if you shot in the small openeing that would be their "neck" (between head & shoulders), but this doesn't seem to be the case now.
Side note: Assassin's Creed 2 is coming!
Comments/observations anyone?
November 7th, 2009 in
Video Games | tags:
halo,
xbox 360 |
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Gmail for Mobile has been re-designed with speed, usability and basic offline support for iPhone and Andriod devices. For example, smart links take long URLs and use names instead of the link text. So instead of something like http://www.example.com/2009/10/01/using-artichokes-as-paper-weights/ you could change the link to say Using Atrtichokes as Paper Weights.
Android allows developers to make their own apps for Android devices, but also allows Google to roll out features and improvements more quickly. The screenshot below is taken from the original Google post (What's new with Gmail on iPhone and Android). See also video below.
YouTube Video: Gmail on iPhone and Android
The Gmail blog today posted another security-related article as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Of the 5 security tips in their Gmail account security tips the only one that causes me any pause is tip 3, Enable "Always use HTTPS." Any of my friends would tell you that I'm a "Google Freak" and this blog will backs that up pretty well.
Here's my issue with the Enable "Always use HTTPS" feature, just take a trip to Gmail Help's "Enabling the HTTPS setting" and read the yellow warning box at top. Call me spoiled, but I don't want any problems with Gmail Notifier (patch available here), Gmail for Mobile application (if you have a new enough version a workaround is posted here, at the cost of speed), or my Google Toolbar (a minor issue you can read about here).
With that one exception I heartily recommend the security tips, and in case you missed the link, you should read Gmail account security tips for all 5 tips!
MORE GMAIL RESOURCES
Getting Started
Gmail Support
Known Issues
Suggest a Feature
Even though Darren Hoyt talked about it in his Exploring WordPress Frameworks and Child Themes post, I missed the point that you can override more than the CSS file using Child Themes. According to Wordpresss.com's Theme Development article you can go to your parent theme's folder (at /wp-content/themes/yourparenttheme/) and copy any of those template files into your Child Theme's folder and edit it, and that will override the parent theme's file.
Additionally (as of WordPress 2.7), the child theme may contain template files, which can be selected in the admin panel as normal, and will override the parent's template files where those possess the same name.
For example, if you want to edit the header and you are using Thematic (folder = /thematic) and your Child Theme is called My Theme (folder = /mytheme) you can copy /wp-content/themes/thematic/header.php to /wp-content/themes/mytheme/header.php and any edits you make will show up on your blog because Wordpress (as of v2.7) will check for template files in your Child Theme folder before looking for your Parent Theme's template files.
With Wordpress Child Themes you can...
- build websites more quickly with more flexibility than "traditional" sites
- use Wordpress as a CMS
- gives your clients the capability to edit their own sites
- more easily develop websites that are HTML and CSS compliant with less work than custom "traditional" sites
- re-design, skin or add different functionality to themes you like but are missing "something"
- make your own Wordpress theme without starting from scratch
October 27th, 2009 in
Blogging | tags:
wordpress |
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If you visit tonight or during the next couple of days, you may notice the layout of this blog changing -
radically. I'm writing below about skinning and am practicing with
Thematic. During this process you will see the blog in customized
Thematic one moment and in
devart the next. Have fun, I am!
Skinning WordPress, or using Child Themes is something I've just discovered at work, although its been a hot topic for some time now. I've kept a suspicious eye on using blogs to build websites because I didn't want to have to learn how to make a WordPress theme myself to avoid endlessly re-uploading updates after new WordPress releases. In the past if you made customization to a theme, when you upgrade the theme you would lose your work. Or, you had to make sure to keep local copies and upload them after upgrading the theme so your customization would be in tact. WordPress Child Themes does away with that, and two products I've read about help you Skin your WordPress blog... safely.
The first is called Mimbo Pro which carries a price, although Mimbo is a free version. The second is Ian Stewart's Thematic - a WordPress Theme Framework that makes it easy to implement WordPress Child Themes.
October 24th, 2009 in
Blogging | tags:
wordpress |
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Okay, I probably won't use this feature but this isn't just MY blog, its for readers in the blogosphere and I'm sure some of you will jump on this feature.
If someone sends you an email with a Google Doc link you can preview it in Gmail.
Preview Google Doc, courtesy gmailblog.blogspot.com
Above is the screenshot from the original Gmail Blog post, and as you can see there are 2 Googe Docs links, with pretty cool options for previewing. If you click Show preview it will show the preview in a space right below the link itself, right on your email! If you prefer, just click Open in a new window and you get the same view as if you'd opened the document directly from Google Docs.
