Speaking of which, seattlewireless has a [pretty good page] on the Senao/EnGenius cards that [Netgate] sells. Their [Hot News] page has links to some good deals on antennas that will work with the EnGenius cards on laptops. And [this post on coderlog] will clear up which port to use on the card.
And if you hadn't heard, there are now [antennas available] to extend the range of internal Titanium Powerbook airport cards.
The new Wired (they seem to have a new one every time I go by a place that sells magazines, dizam) has an article on how the MIT Media Lab is becoming irrelevant (article here: [The Lab that Fell to Earth]). The article is mostly about funding, lack of momentum, etc. My take on it is this: whatever There's work being done there that still amazes and inspires me. Take a look at [EyeBox], a cool volumetric scanner put together from webcams and a microwave turntable. The [aesthetics + computation group] does a lot of cool stuff, and the [sociable media group] does a few interesting things, like [Chat Circles]. SMG's [Loom2] demos and concepts were some of the original inspiration for Evil Toaster, and ACG's [Valence] continue to give me good ideas.
If I went back to school for comp sci, I would definitely like to do grad work there. They're still doing some of the coolest stuff in computer science, and doing a great job of combining different disciplines to do new and interesting things. I often look to their projects and papers for inspiration.
Irrelevant? I certainly don't think so.
[ 4/11/2003 05:00:22 PM ] [ ]
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Try Something New
On Windows there's a relatively new choice in web browsers, [Phoenix]. It's based on Mozilla, but slimmed down so it doesn't have a lot of the bloat that Mozilla has gained over the past few years. There are also Linux, BeOS and MacOS X versions of Phoenix, though on MacOS X the build was more of a one-off (use [Camino/Chimera] instead on MacOS X).
Phoenix is fast, stable, and has a lot of features you won't see in Internet Explorer for a long time, like tabbed browsing and pop up blocking. On Windows (and BeOS, actually) it's been my browser of choice for a few months now. Most of the bookmarklets, etc. that I have for [Camino] and [Mozilla] work perfectly on Phoenix. On MacOS 8.6 on the machine at home, I use Mozilla 1.2 as there doesn't seem to be a newer version for the older operating systems. Phoenix, though, is pretty cool. And it's easy enough to use that I have Chelle using it for about 2 months now and she likes it a lot better than Internet Explorer. On snag we ran into is that plugins like Flash don't always see Phoenix as a valid web browser since when it's installed from a zip archive it doesn't put any registry entries in. There's a very easy fix [here] or [here], just follow the instructions to run the tiny registry patch then run your plugin installer again. Everything works just dandy for Chelle and myself after we did that.
There are some clever tweaks and things out there for Phoenix. If you're using Phoenix, which is far more standards-compliant than IE, you actually get some extra neato nifty features when you're viewing my blog (same goes for Chimera and Safari.... in fact just about everyone but IE users). Bookmarklets for Mozilla work great in Phoenix, and so do things like saved tabs. Here are some links to Phoenix goodies out there that you might otherwise miss: [Rising Phoenix] [Phoenix Forums] [Phoenix Compiled with AntiAliased Font Support]
[ 4/10/2003 10:11:41 PM ] [ ]
Some photos...
So here are some photos taken with the new camera a week ago.....
I am not [religious], but I'm interested in theology. I have serious [hand salsa] embedded in my Titanium, Khyron. Beware. I [hack, I crack,] I slice, I dice. I can write solid code and cook at the same time. I've worked in the [porn industry]. Behind the camera, duh, not in front. Someday I'll write something interesting about it, it was fun. I can write code in more languages than I can usually remember. When people hear I program and ask "What language?" they better have a lot of free time. I know how to love, I know how to hate. I went to a [prep school], but it didn't prepare me for shit. I fly. I've seen strange and unusual things underwater, even as far as [1500 feet down]. I know who the Infectious Grooves are, and found myself quoting Sarsippious with a coworker today. I try not to miss [BiLE] shows, especially now that I'm someplace they only visit once every few years. I'm seeing them soon, and you will envy me if you look at photos from their shows. I live at the [beach]. I can be quiet, I can be very loud. There's no reason behind it. I sometimes come off as superficial, not-too-bright, or just lame. Those aren't me at all. I have a strong personality, people seem to either love or hate me. I am not very diplomatic, but as I get older I'm working on that. I fart like a duck. Often. I have [tan lines from 1994]. I've forgotten most of several languages I could once speak. I try to turn my weaknesses into strengths, and not let my strengths define me. I don't watch much TV. I don't listen to the radio anymore. I'm trying to relearn photography. I'd like to try yoga and [Brazilian martial arts]. I suffocate under my schedule, the weight my commute puts on me, and the frickin idiots that surround me. I take situational awareness seriously. I am better with a rifle than a handgun. I am stereoblind. I spend too much time around computers.
[ 4/09/2003 10:23:19 PM ] [ ]
Monday, April 07, 2003
Mozart in Mirrorshades
I have to say that I agree with [Chris's post] regarding contemporary cyberpunk scifi. I do like Neal Stephenson a lot, and of course William Gibson (though the whole Virtual Light series didn't sit right with me). Bruce Sterling, I could only make it all the way through one of his books. His nonfiction stuff is good, and I have the utmost respect for him, but for some reason I just can't make it all the way through his books. Johnathan Lethem could probably be called cyberpunk, and he's really my favorite author. His style of writing is just very rich with subtlties and nuance, and his use of language is very expressive. Great stuff.
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