Cameron's Thoughts

Just saw this news from a link at 1SRC. The Register has some information on Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 that will be released for some upcoming smartphones. For some reason Cobalt 6.0 still hasn't been released on an actual device yet, but hopefully the Tungsten T5 will come with it. The screenshot is amazing though. Support for TrueType fonts, alpha blending and drop shadows all are built in to the graphics system. That's some pretty modern stuff since those features weren't even seen on a desktop until Windows XP was released, and even then, Windows XP doesn't really use that much. I love the transparent Virtual Graffiti area. Discussion can be found at 1SRC.

Once again I am trying my traditional attempt to switch from Opera to Firefox. Why is this a tradition now? It seems every time there is an update to Firefox, everyone goes on and on about how great it is and I attempt to try it out, only to be disappointed in the end. I think the disappointment isn't all of Firefox's fault. Some of it is that it doesn't quite have the power of Opera at first test, and at the same time it just wasn't what I was familiar with. Some things have changed though. I now use Firefox daily at work. So, I am now pretty familiar with the subtle differences in Firefox. But there are still so many things that I take for granted in Opera that aren't found in the standard default Firefox install. In the past I have tried to supplement this with the many extensions that are available. I think I have now found the right combination. So far, I have installed the following extensions to get Opera-like functionality:

• Tabbrowser Extensions, this was absolutely necessary, provides endless customizations for the tab features, greatly surpassing anything Opera can do. The default tab features are Firefox are way too basic.
• All-in-One Gestures, gestures are one the the great features of Opera. I am a mouse guy, and gestures allow most features of browsing to be done with quick swipes of the mouse. This extension probably outdoes the Opera implementation.
• Translate Page, though not a built-in feature of Opera, Opera is very customizable through INI files, so I was able to add in this feature in myself. It's always nice to be able to translate foreign pages on the fly.
• Paste and Go, allows right-clicking in the address bar and pasting the address and opening it with one click.
• Allow Right-Click, doesn't allow Javascripts to take over the right-click context menu.
• WMLBrowser, to view WML (WAP) pages

I have also installed some other extensions to make my experience more enjoyable. I have the Gmail Notifier, EditCSS and AdBlock. Gmail Notifier is something that is not really needed since I am also using the offical notifier from Google that sits in the system tray, but I figured I would try this one out also since I might like it better. EditCSS is great for editting webpages. I still am pretty novice with CSS and make a lot of mistakes and it takes me a LOT of trial and error to get pages to look the way I want. Since EditCSS always realtime viewing of CSS changes, it speeds that process up a lot faster. On my other computer, this was the only reason I kept Firefox installed was for the EditCSS extension. AdBlock is a pretty interesting extension. Works pretty good too. I normally am not against advertising on webpages. (Well, expect for pop-ups/pop-unders, I have no problem blocking those) It's a necessity and the web wouldn't exist as it is today without ads. Pages have to make money somehow. But, I have always had trouble with Tribalfusion ads at 1SRC. They don't load properly too often and it's real annoying. And, recently they have been using a lot of Flash ads, and at 1SRC, the ads are placed right under the nav menu. But, of course, the menu goes behind the ad, so if there is a Flash ad on the page, you can't use the nav menu very easily. So, if ads are making a page unusable, I will be blocking them. At this point, I think I am pretty happy with how things are going. I figured out how to set it up with the Tabbrowser extensions to save the open tabs when closing Firefox and have them reopen next time. This was one of the things that I didn't want to lose from Opera as I normally have tons of tabs open and I never get to everything at one time, so I need to have the browser come back next time I open it up. Also, the Tabbrowser extensions have the ability to open previously closed tabs. This feature hasn't been in Opera for too long, I think it might have been introduced in version 7, but it's nice to have. Accidentally close a tab, and you can have it back with no trouble. I think this might be the final test and I may actually switch over this time. Opera is a great browser, but I think it's best days are past. Firefox will likely improve at a faster and faster rate, and it is quickly becoming a standard. I don't think Opera will be able to hold on to it's user base for the price that it charges for it's desktop app if there is a free app as good as Firefox.

Look like Wal-Mart is taking pre-orders for the new Nintendo DS game system. Is going to be selling for $199.82 and has a release date of 11/30/04 (my birthday). I'm sure all these details have been out for a while now, but I haven't really been following closly. Some things that impress me:

• "If software developers desire, multiple players can compete in wireless games, even if only one person has a game card inserted. Players could also test-play games for themselves as long as they stayed connected."
• "With the newly developed graphics engine, DS can reproduce impressive 3-D renderings that can surpass images displayed on the Nintendo 64. Games will run at 60 frames per second, and allow details like fog effects and cel shading."
• For its compact cards, the unit uses newly developed semiconductor memory, which allows for lower cost, shorter manufacturing time and memory capacity of more than one gigabit of information.
• Nintendo DS makes a vast library of Game Boy Advance games readily available. Developers could find ways to make new connections between GBA games and DS games.

It's probably smart for Nintendo to do this soon as I imagine the PSP isn't going to be too far off. When I saw the PSP, I figured Nintendo was done for if they didn't have something up their sleave because it totally blows away the GBA.
But with the superior 3D capability than the Nintendo 64, this could hold up quite the competition. Nintendo does have a lot of support from developers for their mobile game platform since they have been the king for the past 15 years. Plus, the system is backward compatible with a 15 year gaming library. PSP vs. Nintendo DS could get very interesting soon.

I was starting to make something like this as a part of learning PHP, but it looks like someone else already has. It's an automatic Gmail inviter. Simply go to http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php and fill in your email address to receive a Gmail invite. And if you have extra invites and don't have anyone to give them out to, you can send them to gmail@isnoop.net to be added to their system.

I think I have worked out the bugs on my WAP version of my page located at wap.cbulock.com. Of course, that page is not designed to be viewed through a standard browser, but instead a WAP enabled cell phone. Seems that most decent phones at least offer this feature. Unfortunatly I am unable to test this page as it seems that either T-Mobile disabled my WAP browsing or GPRS service is currently down right now. But, if you have a WAP enabled phone, point the browser to wap.cbulock.com and tell me what you think. I'm sure there is still much to improve, but at least the pages should all be viewable. If some pages don't load, that means that I didn't catch all the bugs yet.

A common occurrence, you pull into a drive-thru, and all you hear is "mmm-nnmm mmhh." Those speakers are typically very low quality along with the rest of the system they use to communicate. So, what does McDonald's do? They are testing out a system where your orders will be placed by a call center in India.
I mean, I'm not trying to be racist, but companies should start realizing that outsourcing customer service to India is a good way to lose customers fast. Anyone who has ever tried getting support from IBM or Dell will know that it's a communications nightmare. Sure, both ends might be speaking a form of English, but it's just the regional differences such as accents and localized slang that can sometimes make a conversation feel like you are trying to translate Klingon to Vulcan. I know I would personally avoid doing business with any company that would require I had to communicate with an Indian call center. I mean, if I can go across the street and speak with a local person at Burger King, that's where I'll be going to.

I now own four domain names, cbulock.com, bulock.com, cbulock.info, and bulock.info. There is a great deal right now where you can get free .info domain names. Apparently this deal is only good until the 9th, so if you want your own domain name, hurry. They don't seem to have this advertised anywhere on their site either, but if you put a .info domain name into your shopping cart, it will show as being free. This is for one year, and after that the prices are $6.99 a year. Not sure what I will do with the .info names I acquired, so far they just point to this page. Well, in the next 24 hours or so, once the names propagate.

After reading Adam Kalsey's post about why he doesn't recommend Firefox, I can tell he really understands the general computer-using population. After working in ISP tech support at Corecomm, I really have to think like the average computer user to properly do my job. Within the first minute of a support call, not only do you learn what the issue the customer is having, but at the same time you are learning the experience level of the customer. This is important since this is how you know how to explain to these customers how to fix their issue over the phone. There is a large difference in the experience level of computer users, but the average user just knows enough to get to the certain thing they want to do.

Most Web users don't know what a browser is. That blue E they click on the desktop isn't a browser, it's "The Internet." Or maybe it's "Yahoo" if that's what their home page is set to.

This is so true, it's actually very sad. Some calls, it can be a bit tricky to figure out what browser and mail client a customer is using. If you ask how they view webpages, the response is "I click on the Internet", or "I open that thing and Yahoo comes up". But, what does this really have to do with anything? Most people are just so accustomed to doing things a certain way, they don't understand there is another way to do things. Many people have been using the Internet regularly for five years or more, and many of these same people have never changed the way they do things this whole time. For many people, this means Internet Explorer is "The Internet". But, I also deal with a lot of customers who still use Netscape version 4.7x. Why is this? Back in the late '90's, Corecomm and some of the other smaller ISP's it bought up would send out CD's to customers that would install Netscape as the default browser. These people are either still using those same computers, or they just used the same CD to set everything back up on their new computers and have never changed a single thing. For these people, Netscape is "The Internet". So, how are these people going to switch over to a new browser? For these people, that means a 'new Internet'. One might think that those people could just be discounted and ignored, but not only do they make up a good number of people using the Internet, but they are also the ones with the least knowledge about how to stay safe and could use the features offered in alternate browsers such as Firefox. So, would I recommend Firefox? Actually, I have on a couple of occasions. There are a few things to consider. It isn't a finished product. And it isn't quite ready for the nontechnically inclined. But, sometimes customers will call and inquire about alternate browsers. You can tell if they understand the differences and if someone is familiar with computers and software, Firefox is a fairly good piece of software. Of course I prefer to use Opera, Firefox is a good stepping stone away from IE. It's just not quite as polished in some aspects as Internet Explorer when it comes to new users and does quite have everything it takes to become "The Internet".

I downloaded Windows Media Player 10 yesterday to try it out. The final release version is now out. I will have to say, I have been a fan of the Windows Media Player for some time now.
It's never had spyware like it's piece of crap brother, the Real player. It doesn't nag you to purchase it like the Quicktime player. And it plays a number of formats. When codecs are released, there is usually a version that is compatible with the WMP so we can view formats like Divx and Xvid.
WMP 10 ads a new 'media mall' feature. It's nice that they did this. I heard Microsoft was coming out with there own online music store and assumed that the new media player would be set to purchase from there like iTunes does with Apples music store. Instead, Microsoft is allowing easy access to a number of stores including Napster, Wal-Mart, MusicMatch and a few others. While I don't plan to buy any WMA format music, it's a nice setup they have.
Media support is better though. In WMP 9, DVD and MP3 wasn't supported, you have to purchase the codecs for those. I was happy with PowerDVD and already havea copy of that in addition to WinDVD, so I never used WMP for DVD's. But, I love how WMP rips MP3's, so I did purchase Cyberlink's MP3 encoder. I have since ripped most of my CD's using that. But, now with WMP 10, there is built in support for MP3. Also, DVD's are working nicely now too without purchasing any add-ons.
Other improvements, adjustable seek when using the using the taskbar mini-mode. The mini taskbar player is one feature that makes it easy to watch movies and still not have the movies take up the entire screen.Previously, if you wanted to change place in your movie while using this, you have to open up the full window, then adjust the seek. Now, moving your cursor over the window will display a little seek bar. It's still hard to make small adjustments since the window is pretty small, but it's better than nothing.
There is also a radio feature now. I love listening to Internet radio, used to use Winamp for this purpose, now just iTunes, but maybe I can just use WMP now. I haven't really tried this out too much yet, but it's great they finally added this.