Some neat software and games stuff today. Politics are stupid and boring.
Wired has a great article about what really makes GTA IV a great game. I have been staving off my temptations to get the game because of the many freelance jobs I picked up earlier in the year that I must focus on and finish by the summer. Also, I’m planning a wedding, and that always trumps video games. Besides, Bully is still really entertaining to me. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the day that I can play GTA IV uninterrupted and explore the sprawling landscape of Liberty City. …sigh… Though I’m not sure how long sandbox genre games can survive without being MMO in scope. Just a predictive tidbit.
Freeware genius just put out a little ditty on a piece of software I’m planning on trying out called Xneat. I’ll let you, my faithful reader know how it goes. Its supposed to help manage your windows. We’ll see about that.
Finally, a web2.0 grammar checking site called gramlee. I’m gonna put this post through its engine to see what kind of filth it spits out. I’ll get back to you on that as well.
*edit* BUT WHOA! for gramlee it appears that you have to pay per word. Apparently real people are editing these. To that I say:
- That’s not web2.0
- People are so out, computer programs are so in. Get with it.
- Also, pay-for services are lame.
***Here’s what gramlee thinks of my first 100 words***
There’s some news about neat software and games today. Politics are stupid
and boring.
Wired Magazine has a great article about what really makes GTA IV a great
game. I have been staving off my temptations to get the game because of the
many freelance jobs I picked up earlier in the year. My deadline for the
deliverables for these various jobs is this summer. Also, I’m planning a
wedding, and that always trumps video games. Besides, Bully still entertains
me. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the day I can play GTA IV
uninterrupted and explore the sprawling landscape of Liberty City.
***Funny right? I think so***
AppScout posts a little article about a webapp called 71 miles. I haven’t been able to check it out for myself, but it looks promising.
If you’re going to get a new cellphone, you may want to check out exPhone to find good directions on how to donate or recycle your old cellphone.
Also in the cellphone sphere of the webernet, check out cellswaper. You can sign-on and swap around your annoying contract to either get a shorter one or get rid of your old one.
Freak out about oil? Freak out about water? Just freak out because humans will destroy the earth? I dunno, but here’s a couple articles about 1) running out of water and 2) stop drinking bottled water.
A really boring article about yawning.
Hilarious blog entry about Iranian news reporting that 1)the US (implied) is using squirrels to spy on Iran and 2) that
Maybe, Imam will use UFOs to attack his enemies.
Now, I’m not saying this is a valid source (note the massive attack of popup ads), but it is at least entertaining.
I’ve probably blogged about this before but, the open sourced cellphone has begun selling developer editions for 300$ or so. I’ll be keeping my eye on this over the next couple of years. I’m not sure but as far as I know this is the first example of a commercially available opensourced hardware/software object.
while i’m still skeptical about carbon output issues, makemesustainable is a neat take on social webbing that let’s you calculate your carbon footprint and take practical steps to reduce it.
Lifehacker recently posted a handful of really helpful articles on posture and ergonomics in the cube. Also there’s a neat little timer program that reminds you to do various stretches at set intervals. I’ll be trying that out soon, getting my tweezercize on.
And I’ve got a bit of a triple play with lifehacker and desk oriented goodness today, so I’ll submit to you this article on desk organization. Not that I need it. I’m desk OCD.
I’ve been following some really neat articles on one of my “geeky” subscriptions (probably lifehacker again, but i can’t tell) about eliminating wallet size, and came across a great carabeaner (sp?) wallet. As soon as I find out about the local legality of ID hole punching, I’m on my way!
Totally insane! Change the channels and the volume while having a pillowfight! KIYA!
I haven’t tested this yet, but there’s a neat-looking Real-Costs firefox plugin that purports to show carbon offsets when setting up flights online. It seems they also have a google maps driving version in the works as well. Note: I’m not totally convinced about the whole carbon offset stuff, I’m just interested in alternative resources.
Big news in the drugs and miscellaneous abusables department - Absinthe will be available soon in the US. For those of you wondering, it is illegal to sell and import absinthe, but not really illegal to consume it. At one time or another I have considered having some smuggled/air mailed to me, but without much fruit to the idea.
Dell announced this morning that it will begin selling pcs installed with ubuntu. Based on my experience, I just hope it works with the video card and two monitors.
And we’re back after a grueling weekend.
Interesting, common sense blog article on Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS). While this article is probably a little oversimplified, I’m always interested in the benefits/drawback of free software that you can reprogram yourself (if you’ve got the programming resources).
A new virus was discovered in Australia after three patients received transplants and subsequently died. Their organs were from the same donor. Somewhat gruesome, but the doctors seem upbeat simply on the fact that they were able to detect and will be able to test it further.
Mac’s are hack-proof… sort of. I didn’t see any specifics on the rules that were laxed to make this possible. I find it interesting that he spent 9 hours programming the site to exploit the security hole. Intense.
I’m not totally versed in N. Korean culture. But this UK Times article about a man not selling them anymore giant rabbits for consumption is just cool. (That they are using rabbits as food, not that he’s not selling to N. Korea anymore). Because rabbits reproduce so quickly, this seems like a great way to relieve some food shortage issues.
The Twinky vs. the Carrot? A great article on obesity, caloric pricing, the Farm Bill and politics. Via Megnut.
Some phenomenal hand-made electronica instruments. I really need to try my hand at some of this. Sigh. Via Made.
A free and open sourced bass synth modeled after the Roland TB-303. (NOT A CLONE, mind you). Another musical project endeavor. Sigh, sigh.
Article from BBC on sleep and how much you should be getting. 8 hours isn’t really standard, the article says about 7.25 is OK. I think I need like 9, because I’m always tired at work. There’s just not enough time in the day for sleep.
The leader, Boris Yeltsin, is dead. His career seems to be marked with varying highs and lows. He seemingly ushered both democracy and economic decline into Russia.
Japanese like the wii so much they’re making cell phones with motion-based games. I just wish that instead of having their own games, they could connect to the wii and be used to some capacity. A NINE+ BUTTON CONTROLLER WITH MOTION! overkill? nahhh
