I’m not going to go into any long winded explanations, but I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out lately. So, I’m officially taking a break. I’m going to unplug myself from this computer, as much as I can, through the end of the year.
I wish you all Happy Holidays, and I’ll see you next year.
Oh, and if you like the image above, you might like this one too.
Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista will create 100,000 new jobs in IT, and that for every $1 Microsoft makes from Vista, the IT industry will earn $18.
Strangely, they actually seem to be bragging about this. But, as Julian of The Apple Blog points out, it’s kind of like Ford announcing that their new car will create 100,000 new jobs in the auto-repair industry. Is that something you really want to brag about?
Here’s an interesting video of the introduction of the first iMac, in 1998. It wasn’t that long ago, but oh how the specs have changed from todays Macs. I also think it’s funny how Steve Jobs refers to the mouse as “the coolest mouse on the planet”. Anyone who’s ever used one of those knows that making the mouse round was one of the worst mistakes Apple ever made. When your hand rested on it, there was no way to tell front from back, by touch. The thing constantly got turned, and the cursor would go in the wrong direction when you moved your hand. In the next revision they added a little dimple to the front so when you felt that you knew you were holding it the right way, but it was still a pain in the ass to use. I always just threw mine in a drawer.
YouTube Link | found via macsupport
Season Two of Battlestar Galactica has some really awesome music. I have been waiting and waiting for it to become available on iTunes, but it just hasn’t (yet).
During a random web search for the CD, I happened to come across this album, produced by Giorgio Moroder, in 1978.
I totally don’t remember her from the original show.
I’ve been having some trouble with my sites since I migrated to Media Temple’s new Grid Server system. In an effort to keep track of the status of my sites, I had a look at a software tool called, Server Siren.
Server Siren runs as a menubar item, and it pings your sites at specified intervals. If your site is down, Server Siren lets you know, either via SMS, email, or an on-screen alert (your choice). This makes monitoring your sites status much easier, since you don’t have to continually go to your site to see if it’s running.
I would say Server Siren is a handy tool for keeping track of your sites, but it does have it’s limitations. The server needs to be completely down in order for Server Siren to register a problem. There are situations where your site is down, but the server isn’t, and Server Siren doesn’t know the difference.
For example, this site (one digital life) runs on WordPress, so it needs to connect to a database in order to function properly. Part of the problem I’ve been having with Media Temple is my sites keep losing contact with their databases, so the sites go down. When this happens, Server Siren does NOT register a problem, because technically your URL and web server are functioning, even though your site is not.
Although Server Siren doesn’t catch all problems, I would say it is still a good tool to have. It runs $15 (USD). You can try it for free for 10 days.
QT Movie NoteTaker is a new application for taking notes about movies. Being in video production, this is going to be especially useful to me.
Basically, you open and play a QuickTime compatible movie file in QT Movie NoteTaker. Whenever you stop the movie, a timestamp automatically appears in the notes field. Whatever notes you type in appear next to that timestamp. When you’re done, you can email the notes, or export them as a plain text file.
This app is definitely an early release, it’s only on version 0.5. It is lacking a lot of useful functionality, but it still has a lot of potential. I would say it’s still useful, but I look forward to future releases.
QT Movie NoteTaker is Free, and is available for Mac and PC.
found via The Apple Blog
Kevin Rose, co-founder of digg.com and co-host of diggnation, claims to have some first hand information about the long rumored Apple iPhone. Does he know what he’s talking about? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
YouTube Link
YouTube Link | found via The MacCast
Photo by Donna Barnett.
We’ve all heard the stories and predictions about the loss of sea food due to overfishing, pollution, and global warming, but apparently the sea still has something to offer… snack foods.
An unknown cargo ship dropped one of its large cargo containers while out to sea. At some point, the container broke open, and bags of Doritos washed up all over the Outer Banks of North Carolina. People on the beach were quick to grab a free snack, as the bags are air-tight.
I’m not quite sure how to classify this. Is it pollution… hazardous waste… reckless driving? Or, is it just an unfortunate (yet funny) accident?
My only real question is, where’s the beer boat?
more pictures | found via Neatorama
