:skyecade online

I thought I’d mess around with ustream.tv. I’ll broadcast from our cottage from time to time. Keep checking back. We’ll be up here until Thursday. (August 2nd)

P.S. I’m using the neighbors Wi-Fi. Shh, don’t tell.

     

Filed under: TV / Video, Life
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I had this thought while driving to work today. As a lot of you know, I split my time pretty evenly between Windows XP and OS X, and I’m quite happy doing so. I’ve been a Windows user for as long as I can remember and an OS X user for a little over a year now. Some of you also know how much I loathe Windows Vista. It’s slow, unstable, clunky, and a major resource hog. I understand that my Grandmother may need the added security that Vista offers, or the electronic hand holding that Microsoft forces upon you, but I don’t. I hate jumping through hoops. Vista is a minimalist’s worst nightmare.

If it were up to me, I would go on using XP and OS X forever, but we all know that can’t happen. So what do I do? When the day comes to replace my Dell XPS, what will I buy? Another XPS, but this time with Vista on it? Sure, you can still buy new PCs running Windows XP, but will that be the case a year from now? Would I even want XP a year from now? A year in technology terms is an eternity. Microsoft already said they are going to stop supporting XP in 2008. I’m really getting backed into a corner here. I can’t run XP forever, and I highly doubt Vista will have matured by then, if ever. I’d say there’s a 50 / 50 chance that I may eventually go all Mac. Those chances are pretty high considering I’ve been with Windows since the beginning of time (remember the whole technology/eternity thing). It’s really sad too. The truth is, there are really only three reasons why I haven’t made the switch yet.

The first reason is because I dropped $3500 on an XPS about a year ago. I am going to squeeze every last ounce of life out of that computer before I pull the plug.

The second reason is familiarity. I can fly around XP like it’s nobody’s business. Unfortunately, Microsoft blew that right out of the water when the redesigned Vista. Was there something wrong with “Add or Remove Programs“? Not to mention I’m starting to get pretty damn efficient with OS X. Did anyone else just hear a hammer?

The third reason, though it may seem childish to some, is that I’m a gamer. I love gaming. First person shooters in particular. XP still reigns supreme in this arena, but for how much longer? With Macs sporting their new Intel chips, game development has shifted significantly. I’m sure this also has to do with the fact that Apple’s market share is increasing. Game developers actually like to sell their products. Weird! My point is, Apple seems to be moving in the right direction in terms of gaming, and that’s bad news for Microsoft.

So what’s left? Productivity? Mac! Development? Mac! It’s Unix for god sakes. Internet? Mac! Entertainment? Mac! Creativity? Mac!

Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me the reasons why I should, nay,… need to stay with Microsoft. Believe me, I’ll listen. I feel like I’m breaking up with a long time girlfriend. I keep making excuses to stick around, but they’re starting to sound old and transparent. I know what you’re thinking, “stop your bitchin’ and just switch already“. *sigh I have some time to think about it anyway.

Maybe Vista is a reincarnated version of Windows ME. And maybe a year from now we’ll all be saved by the release of Windows XP Ultra Deluxe 2009 Edition. Then all my problems would be solved.

     

Filed under: Microsoft, Apple, Software
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Finally, something worth watching on Joost. Check it out. I should probably tell you that I haven’t logged into Joost in quite some time, so this might be old news, but it’s great news nonetheless. Now all they need to add is Thundercats, Mask, TMNT, Silverhawks, Star Blazers, G.I. Joe, and Voltron — and I’ll be reliving my cartoon glory days. I also liked the Snorks. Don’t judge me!

On a related note, “Transformers the Movie” still holds the title of most incredible animated movie ever made, followed ever so closely by Titan A.E. and the Secret of Nimh. Oh, and all of Hayao Miyazaki movies. That guy’s pretty impressive.

     

Filed under: Geekculture, TV / Video, Zen Geekery, Movies
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I read quite a few blogs. The vast majority of these blogs are technology based. See for yourself. But if you asked me what my absolute favorite blog was, the one that I look forward to reading the most week after week, it wouldn’t be technology based at all. My answer would be Zen Habits.

Zen Habits is a motivational and, I think, inspirational website dedicated to abolishing bad habits and creating good habits. I think what I like most about this site, is the fact that the author, Leo, is just a regular person like you or me. He writes about the different techniques and philosophies he uses to improve various aspects of his life. Specifically, he writes about productivity, organization, finance, family, simplicity, happiness, and health. His two main philosophies seem to be GTD (get things done) and simplification. I’ve always been a big believer in the latter approach toward life, hence the reason why I think I’m so drawn to his website.

If improving your life is subject that interests you, and it should be, then I would highly, highly recommend checking out Zen Habits. It’s extremely well written and I always leave the site with a renewed sense of confidence.

Since my blogroll is comprised mostly of tech sites, it’s sometimes hard to weed out all the other non-tech blogs that I like to read. Here is a list of some other sites that are also dedicated to improving your life in one way or another.

43 Folders
Lifehack
Lifehacker
Pick The Brain
Get Rich Slowly
Dumb Little Man

I’m happy to see that all of the above websites also made it onto Leo’s blogroll. Of course, Leo has quite a few more self-improvement sites in his list than I do in mine. I’ll have to take a closer look at what he’s reading. If they’re even half as good as Zen Habits, then they would be worth a look.

     

Filed under: Life, Productivity, Mind, Body, Soul, Internet
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The days of microblogging are upon us. Say what you want in 140 characters or less, but which service should you use? Twitter? Jaiku? Pownce? Why not all three? I’ve used (am using) each of these microblogging platforms and have found that each has its own unique set of qualities. Here’s the lowdown…

The original…or at least the site that launched the microblogging craze. Twitter is also the most simplistic of the three sites. Where some people would criticize its simplicity, I would praise it. It’s this exact feature that makes Twitter so outstanding. There’s nothing to think about. You make a post, 140 characters or less, and off it goes for the world to see. You can follow other peoples tweets by adding them as friends, or by going to the public timeline to watch the entire community. It can be surprisingly addicting. You can tweet from your mobile phone or from an IM client too (currently AIM and gTalk). Twitter also offers some nice javascript and flash badges for you to put on your blog, Myspace, or Facebook accounts. I prefer a more minimalistic approach as seen on my sidebar. Just straight HTML and RSS. I call it sidebar blogging. Pretty clever, eh! Think it will stick?

Twitter’s prettier sister. Jaiku has almost all the qualities of Twitter and then some. One of Jaiku’s greatest features is the ability to pull all your feeds from around the net (including those from Twitter) and place them into your Jaiku. For example, I have my flickr photos, my blog entries, my del.icio.us bookmarks, and my tweets all streaming into my Jaiku. It’s like one stop shopping for everything I do on the net. They also have an improved commenting system and the ability to subscribe to different channels (groups). Think of Jaiku as a more robust and complex version of Twitter. For me, I just set it up and let it run on autopilot. My Jaiku is constantly updated by my feeds. I do pop in from time to time and post something in person or check my channels. If you’re looking for something with a little more kick than Twitter, Jaiku is probably right up your alley.

The new kid on the block. So new in fact that’s it’s invite only. Pownce almost doesn’t fit in the microblogging category. There are no outgoing (or incoming) RSS feeds to broadcast your posts. Everything is done on the site and is a very closed atmosphere. While it may not be a full-fledged microblogging platform, it does share some characteristics with the genre. I would describe Pownce as a hybrid service. A cross between microblogging, chat, and file sharing, and this is where it gets its strength. Pownce gives you the ability to choose who to send various entries to, whether in be to the public, a private message to a friend (or friends), or to a predefined group in your contact list. You can also determine what type of post to send them, i.e., a message, a link, a event, or a file — the latter of the four being the most useful. With a standard account you can send up to 10 megabyte files, or upgrade to a pro account for $20.00 a year, and send up to 100 megabyte files. I’m sure how I feel about that yet, I’ll keep you posted. Pownce is still in its infancy as a web app and I’m sure we’ll see some new features rolled out over the next few weeks. They also just gave us 6 more invites, so if anyone would like to check it out for themselves, just say the word and I’ll shoot you an invite.

The last thing I’ll mention is that all three services above have stand-alone programs that allow you to monitor and interact with their respective communities. This is nice if you don’t want to keep your browser open all the time to receive/post new messages.

And that’s it, those are my thoughts. If you leave here with anything today, it should be this:

• Twitter = simplistic / minimalist
• Jaiku = robust / feature rich
• Pownce = hybrid (blog + chat + ftp)

twitter.com/skyecade
skyecade.jaiku.com
pownce.com/skyecade

     

Filed under: Web 2.0, Cyberculture, Technology, Internet
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HAPPY INDEPENDECE DAY!!!

Here is a clip from one of the most obnoxious parades in America. It’s absolutely fantastic.

This goes on for about half an hour and includes fire trucks from dozens of towns. The video really doesn’t do it any justice at all. It could be the loudest single event I’ve ever been a part of — and I go back year after year for more.

Hope every one has a great and safe 4th of July.

     

Filed under: Life, Random Bits
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If anyone out there on the great Interweb would like to shoot me an invite to Pownce, I will be forever in your debt.

For those of you who don’t have the foggiest idea what I’m talking about, allow me to enlighten you. Pownce is sort of like twitter + ftp + instant messaging, all rolled up into one neat little app. Of course, I’m just assuming it’s rolled up into one neat little app, since I haven’t actually tried it yet for myself.

FYI, Pownce is a new “Kevin Rose” start-up — the same guy responsible for digg and revision3, as well as various podcasts and T.V. shows. He has yet to disappoint me, hence the reason why I’d love to try out his new service. I’ll keep checking my inbox.

     

Filed under: Cyberculture, Technology, Design / Development, Internet
3 Comments