This morning saw the release of Firefox 1.0, a grand day for browsers everywhere. While I haven’t installed it yet myself (I’m still running PR1), we have been chatting about it online.
Firefox has as its default homepage “http://www.google.com/firefox” which in fact, brings up a modified Google search page that looks like Firefox’s default theme.
Catching the scent of geekitude, we set about finding other interesting pages:
http://www.google.com/firefox – The first one we found, Firefox themed.
http://www.google.com/mac – Macintosh themed
http://www.google.com/windows – Windows theme
http://www.google.com/palm – Simplified view – which carries through to search results. Very handy
http://www.google.com/itunes – Not sure about this one, it automatically brings you through to Google Adwords.
http://www.google.com/linux – Tux goes Google!
http://www.google.com/ie – For that, other, less well known browser.
I wonder where Google is going with this? It seems incomplete and inconsistent. Unusual for Google.
Update 11/09/2004 12:55pm…
A few more fun bits were located by Tim and others…
http://www.google.com/bsd – Chuck has his own Google logo!
http://www.google.com/unclesam – For the patriots
http://www.google.com/universities.html – This one may not count, it’s an HTML page (doesnt’ work without the HTML), but it is a search interface to college sites.
Should be noted that Google has a webpage that mentions some (but not all) of these sites here.

According to Astraware, a new version of the extremely addictive game “Bejeweled” is due for release in December.

Dubbed Bejeweled 2, the feature set is rumored to include:

• Explosive new pieces: Power Gems, Hyper Cubes and Time Bombs
• Stunning special effects
• Awe-inspiring planetary backdrops
• Four ways to play: Classic, Action, Puzzle and Endless
• Five secret game play modes to unlock
• Explore a galaxy of hand-crafted brain-teasers in Puzzle mode
• Play for eternity and collect jewelry in relaxing Endless mode
• Enhanced sound effects and epic soundtrack

Going by how addictive the original game is, I should simply chalk off December and assume no work will get done at all.

I just got back from running registration at a customers event down in Washington, DC. Jonah generously agreed to be my second, as well as let us use his truck for hauling the equipment to and from the event. One of the nifty toys he has installed in the car is an XM Radio SkyFI receiver.
For the uninitiated, XM Radio is one of 2 satellite radio systems available that provide full time access to hundreds of radio stations from anywhere in the continental US. I had been intrigued by this concept for a while, but the cost of the receivers and the monthly fee (around $10) sort of scared me off.
Since this was a longish (7 hours) road trip each way, I had plenty of time to get a feel for the system.
I’m impressed! On the way south, we chatted a lot, so we left the receiver quietly playing 80s tracks. The unit rebroadcasts the reception via a local FM signal, so it was simply sitting on the dash playing through the cars stereo via the radio. The XM display would show what song by what artist was playing (in that nifty amber LCD display). Unobtrusive, no commercials (other than ones for XM itself), nice!
On the way back I did a lot of driving while Jonah slept, so I noodled around with the receiver, checking out other channels. The unit has a jog-dial on it that shows what station you’re tuning to, and the title and content. Blues, various rock stations, a couple different Jazz stations… then it got interesting.
Various news feeds (MSNBC, CNN, etc), a couple comedy stations and… whoah! NPR!! There is a full NPR feed as part of the lineup. We listened to This American Life as well as some other shows. The signal was strong, clean, and we were able to listen to it from the middle of New Jersey all the way into Massachusetts – something you can’t do with any local radio station, let alone NPR.
Okay, so that’s pretty neat. But it just got better. XM Radio is preparing to release MyFI, a portable XM radio receiver the size and shape of an iPod. It’s somewhat expensive ($349), and not out yet, but it’s mobile, rechargeable, dockable, and pretty durned sexy.
If XM were to ever get Radio Paradise as an active channel, there would be no question, I’d be there in an instant. As it is now, I’m just screamingly tempted. Heck, just for the regular drives we do up to Maine during the summer, having regular, dependable radio reception from door to door would be wonderful. And with something like the MyFI, we could put it in any vehicle we happen to be driving up in.

Stormchasers is da weirdest peoplez, but they do take some damned cool videos.
(thanks to rmd for the link)

A while back I had a hard system shutdown due to a battery failure, which ended up trashing some of the setup in Evolution, my mail client. I got it sort of running again, and restored backups of my calendar and my contact list, but I was having abysmal performance problems. Things were just deathly slow.
I reverted to using Pine for a while, which was fine, but I found myself -seriously- missing my address book and calendar. I guess I’ve been successfully reprogrammed.
Anyway, this morning I sat down to figure out my performance problems. I do everything in Evolution via IMAP (as I believe all mail clients should). No folders or information is stored locally, except instructions to the mail client as to where to go to find the IMAP mailboxes.
One of the settings in Evolution tells it that whenever it does something, it shoudl not only scan the inbox for new messages, but also scan all my subfolders. I had inadvertently set this option ‘on’. So everytime Evolution did something with the IMAP server, it scanned all my folders. And baby, I have a LOT of large mail folders.
Unchecked that option, and Evolution veritably -leaped- back into workable performance realms. I am a happy man.