Category: Web, Tech & Design

So the code to Microsoft’s Windows 2000 and Windows NT was leaked to the net, and among the discoveries within the code are chunks of code riddled with profanities and hidden notes.

Here’s an example:

Looks ok to me 😛

[via MemeFirst]

So the Phoenix that changed it’s name to Firebird has now changed it’s name again to Firefox.

I know everyone must have talked about the new version of Mozilla’s Firefox browser, but I thought I’d mention it too because I just finished downloading and installing it.
I still don’t have much to say, and still haven’t found much difference between this version and the older one, apart from the installer and the name.

Up to now, I still prefer Opera which has basically become my default browser. Fast and effective. There are only a small number of things I actually need IE for.

To check out Firefox, go here.
To check out Opera, go here.

Here are some of the dumbest tech moments in 2003 as compiled from the Business 2 dumbest moments in business list.

• The PC in the WC.
  On April 30, Microsoft U.K. issues a press release touting a new product called the iLoo, an Internet-enabled toilet equipped with a Wi-Fi broadband connection, a plasma flat screen, a waterproof keyboard, and sponsored toilet paper festooned with Web addresses.
  
   
• Network Problems
  In October, three and a half years after buying Network Solutions for $21 billion, VeriSign sells its dotcom-registration business for $100 million.
  
   
• Please don’t press shift
  After SunnComm Technologies rolls out new CD copy-protection software in September, a Princeton student figures out how to disable it. The devious hack: holding down the “Shift” key.
  
   
• Rejected but welcome
  In February, Cornell University sends out an e-mail to incoming freshmen that begins, “Greetings from Cornell, your future alma mater!” The message is sent to all 1,700 students who applied for early decision, including the 550 who’ve been rejected.
  
   
• Party like it’s Yom Kippur
  In August, online “social planning destination” Evite sends an apology to its users for having cited Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, as a “reason to party” in an earlier e-mail newsletter.
  
   
• Tiny, tinier, gone
  After years of bombarding Web surfers with annoying pop-up ads, wireless camera maker X10 files for bankruptcy in October, listing debts of more than $10 million. Among the parties stiffed: AOL, Google, Yahoo, and AdvertisementBanners.com, which won $4 million in a lawsuit against X10 shortly before the bankruptcy filing.
  
   
• America Offline
  In September, less than three years after AOL “acquired” Time Warner, the board of AOL Time Warner decides to drop AOL from the company’s name and change its ticker symbol from AOL back to the original TWX.
  
   
• Make way
  Despite claims that it “allows people to go farther and move more quickly anywhere they currently walk,” Segway finds few buyers for the $4,000 Human Transporter scooter in its first year on sale after it’s banned for use on sidewalks by local governments from San Francisco to Key West. In June, its “self-balancing” claims are also put to the test when photos of George W. Bush “riding” a Segway begin circulating on the Internet.
  
   
• Just peeking
  “We looked at a document in the public domain. It’s not some protected preserve with lots of protected content.” Larry Lunetta, an executive at security startup ArcSight, claiming that his firm did nothing wrong after an employee was caught red-handed poking around in password-protected files on a competitor’s Web site.
  
   

Well, i’m no Apple fan, and i’d most probably get lumps all over my body if i were forced to work with an Apple machine for a long time, but still i believe that nobody should mingle with one and screw it up the way this guy did.
Once a machine is sealed, it’s sacred, and you only open it up to either fix it or make it more powerful, but you don’t do this:

I got a shiny new Apple G5 for Christmas. I loved the case, but I’m no Mac user. So I….

• Get a brand new dual processor G5, then
• Rip out everything,
• Cut out the back of the case so I can use a PC motherboard, and
• Install an Athlon motherboard.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure G5 is a great computer, but I wanted a Dell for Christmas. I don’t have any programs for Apple and didn’t feel like waiting for them. I thought about selling it, but my parents would be upset with me. After all, this was a very expensive gift and it meant a lot to them to give to me.

It’s a good thing my parents don’t know anything about computers, because I’m sure they would be really angry if they knew what I did. I have to say that I’m happy – I can keep on using XP.

This is as bad as genetically screwing up a human being.

Here’s a pic of the before and after:

What a shame !

[via eclecticism.]

Every once in a while i find myself making a switch of email client from Outlook Express to the more sophisticated Outlook, only to jump back to good old Outlook Express after a few days.

Yesterday evening i decided to make the switch again.

Usually, what pushed me to switch in the past are the task-planning, note-taking and calendar features of Outlook. But after a while, i’d take those features for granted and i’d get pissed off because i can’t see a preview of attached pictures in an email, so i switch back to Outlook telling myself i don’t need something so sophisticated for a task as easy as reading emails.

Anyway, what triggered yesterday’s switch is the fact that i found a plugin for Outlook that enables me to read my RSS feeds in it too.
So, now Outlook is an email client, a RSS reader, a calendar and a task planner, which sounds great.
So, i’ve imported my emails into Outlook for the zillionth time and am currently getting used to it again.
Who knows, maybe this time my emails will stay in it longer than usual 😛

People who are interested in getting this cool RSS reading plugin for Outlook, here’s the site: intraVnews.

PS: Other than switching to Outlook and jumping back to Outlook Express, i’ve also made some other sprints through Mozilla’s email client, Eudora, Opera’s email client, …etc. But Outlook Express always suited me better.

I just read an interesting post by Zeldman about why not to design on spec or in other simpler words why not to submit design proposals for RFPs (Requests for Proposals).

You can read his full post here: Don’t design on spec.

The main reasons he gives are:
– It’s a lot of unpaid work.
– Design is only partly decoration. Mainly it is problem solving. You can’t create an appropriate design because you don’t yet know what problems need to be solved.
– It’s unsafe for agency and potential client alike.

I have to agree with Zeldman on the principle, but sometimes the project is big and juicy enough to take the risk.
Of course, not any company should allow itself to take that risk and spend money on an unsure project, and even the companies that can shouldn’t always take the risk.
I think there should be a certain balance, and that these efforts and costs should be factored into the companies’ commercial efforts where a limit is set on how far they should go and how much should be spent on them.

This is one of the two new audio jukeboxes (MP3 players in our words) that Philips Electronics announced at CES a couple of weeks ago.

The baby in this pic is the hdd120, which they claim is the lightest recording jukebox. It comes with 20 GB storage space, extended battery life, USB 2.0 and Direct MP3 recording.
Now that is something.

Cost, i hear you ask. They say it should cost $349.
Hmmm. By the time it gets here, that price would be multiplied by nearly 3, giving me a price tag of about 900 TDs if i’m optimistic 😛
Thank you, i’ll pass.
But still, this MP3 player is sexy and hot…

[via MobileMag.]

AAAARRRGGGHHHH !!!
I just had to go through deleting some 30+ blog comment spams right now, and i tell you, it’s definitely not the best way to start your day !
It’s a really big pain in the ass…

If i had one wish right now it’d be:
I wish that all spammers die and rot in hell where they get their asses fried a billion times for every spam message they sent !

Recently, i’ve gone back to playing around with programming at home and trying out things that are either new or that i’ve always wanted to try but never had time to. And lately i’ve been playing around with Cold Fusion MX 6.1 and it’s Cold Fusion Components as well as it’s xml capabilities.

ColdFusion, i feel, is somehow the Apple of web programming languages, without the problems that come with Apple’s products. It’s great, it’s easy, it’s fast, it gives you the best time-to-market, but still it’s not as widely used as the rest of the web programming languages out there.

Anyway, Cold Fusion Components (CFCs), are simply great. They must be the easiest and fastest way to create a web service / class.
In ASP.NET C#, it’s really easy too, and i really like how it’s done there. But ColdFusion’s syntax which is so web-like makes it more intuitive.

I’m actually playing around with organizing / layering my code and creating different tiers using custom tags, includes, CFCs/WebServices and some xml files. And i’m getting really good stuff out of it. If i get to put more effort into this, i think i’ll be able to turn it into some sort of framework / methodology.
I’m also interested in trying out the same stuff with C# & ASP.NET.

Something else i’m looking forward to trying out is the ability to merge and cross between using ColdFusion & Java/JSP.
Ever since ColdFusion MX, Cold Fusion (CF) has become a layer on top of a Java App. Server, giving it more power and stability, and opening it up to use of Java classes, beans and JSPs.
I haven’t had the chance to test all that out and get something running as a hybrid CF/JSP app yet, but hopefully i will soon.
What’s so cool about the idea is that you could do all the classes and data-crunching using Java, and build the interface that consumes those classes and serves as a fa

I just found this post about the 2003 Web Design Fashion Trends, and i find it quite interesting.
The trends are as follows:

• The continuing spread of CSS layouts.
• The use of alternate fonts within a limited choice.
• Unordered lists are all the rage.
• Fahrner Image Replacement.
• The comeback of old fashioned fonts.
• The comeback of the background image.
• The humongous page banner.
• The decline of web skinning.
• The cluttered front page.
• Restrained, pale color schemes.

For all the details and explanations of each trend, check the full post: 2003 Web Design Fashion Trends.