Macromedia Central

Today, i finally got around to uninstalling the beta developer release of Macromedia Central, and installing the final release of it for a spin.

I think the idea behind Central is a really good one, and one that holds a lot of potential if it catches on with more and more developers.
The idea of a rich client interface based on Flash running outside the browser mainly offline and partially online (to get data), is a really catchy one, and i for one can think of a load of ideas for applications that can be run inside Central.
I’m already wondering what my first Central app should be 🙂
If you have any suggestions or ideas, let me know in a comment 😉

I didn’t write about this before when i played around with the beta because i wanted to wait for the final release to come out and see some of the applications that will be created for it.

And well, a really interesting application i found with it is BlogReader 😉 It’s all flash of course, and coming from Macromedia, it has to look good.
I’m still exploring it functionality-wise though, but who knows, this might become my default RSS reader soon 😉
My dream of yesterday coming true today ?! I hope 🙂

Paradise

Two people are lost in the desert. They are dying from hunger and thirst. Finally, they come to a high wall. On the other side they can hear the sound of a waterfall and birds singing. Above, they can see the branches of a lush tree extending over the top of the wall. Its fruit look delicious.

One of them manages to climb over the wall and disappears down the other side. The other, instead, returns to the desert to help other lost travelers find their way to the oasis.

Moral of the story: Paradise is nothing without others to share it with.

The Search for the One RSS Reader

A while back, with a growing number of news sites and blogs to keep up with piling up in my favourites and blogroll, i thought it was about time i got myself a good RSS reader.

I started by trying out NewsDesk, which i didn’t like, although i don’t really remember why, i just know it didn’t click for me.

After it i tried FeedDemon by Nick Bradbury, which is pretty good, but still in Beta, so i have to wait for that till it’s done.

Now, i’m actually using SharpReader, which is quite a good program, and does what it’s supposed to do well enough.
I just wish the interface looked a bit better, and had more eye candy 🙂

And, i’m about to try out another one called FeedReader, which looks like the one i’m using right now but with a slightly better interface.

So, basically, i’m still on the search for the one great RSS reader that will blow my mind, and provide me with a slick beautiful interface and all sorts of different functionalities.
So, if you know of anything that fits the above description, please let me know about it by posting a comment to this.

Update: I tried FeedReader, and well it does look better than SharpReader, and for a couple of seconds, it got my hopes high, but then the problems started, and i had to kill the process from task manager. So i chose to uninstall it and stick to my stable SharpReader until i find something better.
Anyway, i’ll be checking FeedReader again, when it’s more stable. I think it holds some promise.

Freezing Cold

It’s unbelievable.
Just this past Sunday, i was wondering how weird it was that winter hadn’t started yet, even though we were well into December.

And KABAAM!, i wake up the following morning and it’s freezing cold.

Ok, it doesn’t snow that often in Tunisia, and the only places it does are in the North-West of the country. So maybe it’s easy to think it’s not as cold as other countries that are always covered in snow, but well i disagree.
Tunisia is a coastal country with the mediterranean sea as most of it’s North and East side borders, which gives the coastal regions a certain level of humidity, that when combined with bitter cold goes straight to the bones and then introduces the ass-freezing syndrome we all suffer from 😛

Good thing is that our new home is kind of warm. And even in this cold weather, we still haven’t needed to use the heaters.
But the problem is when you’re outside, and no matter how much you’re wearing, you’re certainly gonna be feeling the painful bite of the winter.

Anyway, i still prefer winter over summer. In winter at least you can keep throwing on extra clothes until you feel warm. In the summer, you keep on taking off clothes, but then you’re naked and there’s nothing else to take off and you’re still dying from the heat.
So give me a winter anytime of the year, and take away those damned hot days of summer.

Gigli

I got to see “Gigli” a few days ago, a movie the critics slammed and made out to be one of the worst movies this year.

And well, i beg to differ.
It’s no blockbuster by all means, and no overwhelming experience, but it’s not nearly as bad as they pictured it to be.

It’s sort of a light nice movie you should just cruise through and try to enjoy for what it is.

Maybe the fact that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are in it, and that they are the hot topic in Hollywood, made expectations high for the movie, but well it’s not a really strong story so you can’t expect much more than what they gave it.

Computer One-liners

These are some of my favourite computer one-liners:

  • A user friendly computer first requires a friendly user.
  • Bug? That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.
  • Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it.
  • Computer analyst to programmer: “You start coding. I’ll go find out what they want.”
  • Computers can never replace human stupidity.
  • Daddy, what does FORMATTING DRIVE C mean?
  • Every bug you find is the last one.
  • If your computer says, “Printer out of Paper,” this problem cannot be resolved by continuously clicking the “OK” button.
  • It works! Now if only I could remember what I did…
  • My software never has bugs. It just develops random features.
  • Who’s General Failure and why’s he reading my disk?
  • To be, or not to be, those are the parameters.

For more go to: 150 Computer One-liners.

Gore Endorses Dean

Now this is a quite interesting twist in the US 2004 Elections story; Gore Endorses Dean.

This will certainly blow more powerful winds in Howard Dean’s sails, and help influence more democrats to endorse him.

I always thought the strongest candidate and the only one with a winning chance among the democratic candidates currently on the scene is Howard Dean. But the problem was that the democratic party seemed unwilling to back him and endorse him.
Hopefully this Gore endorsement will help.

I think that if democrats rally behind Dean, they have the biggest chance of kicking Bush out of the White House.

So, even though i’m not a US citizen, for the good of the US and the whole world, i say: “Go Dean Go !”
And for all it’s worth, here’s a link to the Dean for America site.