Add this one to your wish list. How about a PC keyboard that costs almost $1600? This is the luxury model of keyboards. This is really extreme. Check out the Optimus Maximus Keyboard.
Update: You can get this thing from Amazon.com as well: Optimus Maximus Keyboard.
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a fun project where you can turn a USB cable into a USB thumb drive. This one is funny but useless, which is my kind of project.
Found via iGoogle.
That's right, the Internet will someday die. All it's going to take are one of 10 or more variably possible catastrophes.
We often think of the Internet as a platform for unfettered global communication, where information flows freely, innovators can launch new applications at will, and everyone can have a voice. But it's unlikely that our children's Internet will look anything like what we have now.
My favorite involves zombies (zombie networks). Check out the full list at GigaOM.com.
A large part of web development is research. Learning how one website works or how it was developed can help lead the direction of another project. Also, while curiousity is bad for kittens, it's fun for the average web worker. Here is a nice article with a few more links for your bag-of-tricks.
How do I contact the owner of a website? How popular is my site on Digg or Delicious? What other websites are hosted on my web server? Is my competitor using WordPress or Drupal? Example.com is loading fast, what is the name of their web hosting company? Is my blog accessible from China or Japan?
If you got questions like these in your mind, here are some of the most useful online tools to help you know each and every detail of any website on the planet.
Here are the list of these tools.
I haven't heard of any of these, but I'm certainly going to check them out immediately. There is a much more detailed description of each one at the linked article. Of course, it is not always possible to find out everything you might like to know about how your favorite website works. Inevitably, if this information is freely available, it can leave certain high-profile sites vulnerable to zero day security issues. Most web masters with any sense will take measures to hide or otherwise obfuscate this information. And this is another reason to keep these tools handy so that you know what other people can learn about your site. To find out more read the full article at labnol.org > internet > tools.
Found via del.icio.us {tags: web-developer web-developer/tools community domains internet marketing technology articles blogs}.
Apparently, CompUSA is going out of business forever. This seems weird to me as I thought they'd always be around. I can't say I was the biggest fan of theirs and I shopped at Best Buy more. Check this out.
It's always sad when a store you used to frequent goes out of business, but how about when that store used to mark up its prices like mad? Things become slightly less sad. Nevertheless, this desolate scene at a Portland CompUSA definitely brings a slight tear to our eye.
I almost got a job at the local CompUSA in the distant past. Check out some last pictures of a store closing at gizmodo.com - CompUSA.
The concept of phishing is hard to explain to those that haven't experienced it or seen it up close. It's a very quick innocuous crime with the speed and dexterity of the pick-pocket, but the victim doesn't even know for weeks or months, if they ever realize it at all. Education is the only preventative. Scott does a good job here-
These kinds of email are a dime a dozen but I thought it might be good to have an example I can point to when trying to educate others.
Read the full post about Phishing at TechLifeBlogged.
For Christmas this year, we got a new computer which I've been meaning to post about for awhile. I've used several good references for the software it needed to start being usable, including but not limited to the following:
At one point, my wife asked if "Office" was installed on the computer. Being an anti-Microsoft pinko communist leftist revolutionary nutjob frugal like I am, I was leaning towards having almost nothing but open source software on my new computer. Though I could have semi-easily obtained a decently priced copy of Microsoft Office
I installed the software without testing it and probably would never have noticed anything lacking that would have been a problem. I showed it to my wife and let her use it with the point that she would let me know if anything was out of place. Everything worked fine for over a month.
Then today the hammer fell. Where's the clipart?
she asked. Will all of the clipart available from Microsoft's Office Update site be compatible with StarOffice Writer?
Of course, the answer to this is no. For those who've never used it, MS has a decently integrated web site where you can quickly browse for clipart and use it in any office product. It's slick and simple and has thousands upon thousands of images.
And for this reason alone, Open Source Failed -- at least for today. Sure, I could search for and find a similar site or project of open source clipart and media. Or I could just point my wife at Creative Commons and the initiatives like it, along with search engines that can find images marked for it. But nothing will match the immediate familiarity of the Microsoft source. Until that day comes...
Anyhow, that's my take on it.
