resizeMyBrowser

resizeMyBrowser is a handy little tool for interactive media designers and developers. It allows you to resize your browser to standard sizes. Fantastic. Check it out.

 

New .XXX Domain Approved for Porn Sites

Just up from Mashable. Interesting article. I think it’s a good idea!

Video Project

So, today is the last day of class for me. It is also the day that our video projects are due. (Reminder that this blog started for a class). Well, our video is done! It is up on Youtube. Help a girl out and check it out!

Yay video!

“U.S. Acts to Quiet Blaring TV Ads. Welcome to the 1960s” Part 2

So, Epicenter just posted this article on the CALM Act.  I blogged about this earlier this year, about how I thought it was a bit silly to waste government assets because commercials are too loud.

Well, as it turns out, the US government didn’t really agree with me. The Senate went ahead and passed the act, which will soon be passing over the President’s desk. I still think it is a waste of time…

Since I posted about this last, I did indeed end up getting rid of my cable, and switched completely over to Netflicks, Hulu, and other streaming media websites. To be perfectly honest, I am much happier without cable! I don’t have a huge bill every month for something I hardly ever used, and the fact that commercials are apparently too loud doesn’t really effect me.

My Dad loves to make predictions about technology. He’s been saying for years that cable television will someday be a thing of the past and that everything will be available online. My grandparents have always thought his predictions were silly… of course now we have wireless internet, video chat technology and ebooks. They thought he was nuts when he suggested those!

I recently heard an interesting factoid (factoid meaning I have no idea whether it is really true, and I’ve never seen any real evidence to support this other than observing myself and my peers) that my generation is the largest group ever to opt out of cable television since it’s introduction. I would say kudos to us… but we’re all still being lazy farts anyway, we’re just sitting in front of the computer instead of the television. Plus, we’ve got the added “luxury” (? whether it is a luxury or a hindrance is a topic of great debate) of being able to take our entertainment with us. (Reference to part one of this post where I said I sometimes watch stuff in my studio classes… only in the background though… I promise I’m working…).

Oh what interesting times we live in. What’s next? Teleportation? I hope so.

Don’t Mess With the GEEKS!

Mashable posted an article about how a group of hackers TOOK DOWN VISA.COM! Holy Moly… don’t mess with the geeks. They will f you up.

This whole Wikileaks thing is getting to be a pretty big deal. Anyone else think that it is a bit frightening (and kind of inspiring) that this group of hackers used Twitter and other social media outlets to organize and attack?! What a world we live in.

Happy (belated) Birthday Firefox!

Mashable has written an article that brought it to my attention that yesterday was Firefox’s 6th birthday.

I personally am an avid Firefox user. Some might say I am a Firefox snob. I have been using Firefox for at least the past three years and have never been happier with a browser.

There is rhyme to my reason though, I promise. Firstly, and most importantly, Firefox sticks to the W3C web standards which makes designing for the web so much easier! It’s one less browser that I have to fix bugs in. *cough*IE*cough*. I’m a huge fan of the ability to customize. StumbleUpon is both my hero and my downfall to distraction.

I really do believe that if the world switched to Firefox, it would be a much happier place. Opera can hang out too… and maybe Safari.

Happy freakin Birthday Firefox.

 

Youku

So TechCrunch posted this article about 5 milliseconds ago. It is about how Youku, a Chinese video site, is now worth more than AOL.

Now, I must admit, in the days before I had Netflicks, I would often try to find movies streaming online *hangs head* (leave me alone, I’m a poor art student! I couldn’t afford to rent! Nor did I have access to a car at the time! psh.. shame on you judgmental reader.)

I have to say, I don’t much care for AOL since all I can really remember about them is how big of a pain in the butt they were when I was younger… also all the spam CDs we used to get. With that being said, Youku (in my own experience) is simply awful! The video quality on their site is terrible, and I always had issues with something playing half way through and then just giving up on life.

So basically what I’m saying is…. who cares? Both companies are below par.

Ok, so basically this post just turned into a mini rant about how I don’t like AOL or Youku… I’m okay with this.

Facebook Facelift

Epicenter (I know… reference them all the time… I love Wired!) recently posted and article about the new Facebook redesign.

By now, I feel as though most people I know have switched over.  At the moment, the change is voluntary, going site-wide in early 2011.

My question to all of you (that’s right… the WHOLE INTERNET!) is what do you think? In the past, Facebook’s changes have been controversial. Many people simply don’t like change. Additionally, there have been so many privacy issues in the past that everyone gets their panties in a bunch every time a change is made. This time, thankfully, I have not heard of any privacy issues.

Personally, I kinda like the changes. I like that there are more faces visible on FB when I go to my page. I like the new design, although it took me a minute to find out how to update my status and comment on someone else’s wall. In the past I’ve been on the fence for some, and against other changes. This time, I’m not hating it.

Also- Google is starting a competing social network!? What? This is the first I’ve heard of that. I say good luck Google. You are awesome, and I love you, but I think FB has the market. Not even Myspace’s trendy new vibes could compete.

Google Gives

According to Epicenter, Google is giving free Wifi for certain airlines over the holidays.

They say it is to promote Google Chrome. I say it’s because Google gets the warm fuzzies around the holidays, just like the rest of us!

Check out the article!

Web 2.0 and Plagiarism

Anyone who’s been through high school knows that plagiarism is a big no-no. The fact remains, that people still do it. Additionally, anyone who’s had any experience with web 2.0 knows that plagiarism is easier than ever. Mashable posted this article about a blogger who fought against a magazine (! That’s right, a printed publication!) that plagiarized one of her 5-year-old blog posts. Makes you think…