I have had a string of disappointments with cheap electronics maker Memorex. Almost everything I have owned that they have created is just a cheap and lesser imitation of a better product. I bought a walkman CD player made my Memorex several years ago. It touted great features, such as an AM/FM radio and MP3 playback. Yet, every one of its features was quite poor. The CD player had the speed and performance of a first generation player from the 1980s. It was incredibly slow at changing tracks and fast forwarding. Eventually, some buttons got stuck and I destroyed the device violently.

Later, still a couple of years ago, I bought a portable Memorex CD, radio, and tape player. This was the kind that sits on your desk, but has a handle, and is small enough to carry. It has turned out to be pretty awful, too. The sound is okay, actually. That is not the problem. The performance of the CD player is not good. This is especially evident when you try to loop around the end of the CD back to the beginning. It takes forever. When you open and close the CD lid, it has the snap and feel of a 10 cent piece of plastic. Plus, the radio gets horrible reception. Absolutely horrible! And the tape player, while rarely used, ate a book-on-tape that I had borrowed from a friend. Overall, it is a really crappy device.

While I am ususally a stickler for buying top brand electronics, I went with the cheaper Memorex brand while trying to get the cheapest buy I could at the time. I have since learned my lesson. You really do get what you pay for. Memorex sucks. The name is worth no more than the bottom of the barrel companies named things like SimpleTech or CyperPower. I have bought plenty of their writable CDs and DVDs over time, and do not recall having any issues with them, but I doubt I’ll be buying any more.

Am I the only person who has noticed that the once squeaky-clean home page at google.com is being slowly filled with links and whatnot? Once upon a time the basic page displayed only the company logo (changing occasionally for holidays), the search box, and two options: Search, or I’m Feeling Lucky. Later came the Preferences link, which is a very welcomed addition. A lot of people that I know have never bothered to even notice that it exists.

Fast forward to today and you’ll find plugs for Gmail and GoogleDocs, business solutions, advertising programs, and a link to info about Google. In addition, there is a bar across the top of the page with links for other search methods (web, images, news, etc.). In the right corner on that bar is your Gmail account name, a link to account info, and a link to sign out.

I predict that some day Google will adopt a more Yahoo-style home page and move their once basic search page to a subdomain such as search.google.com (that link as of this post takes you to the same page as google.com, in case you were wondering.) Time will tell on my predictions. Google has a lot of services and applications under its belt now. Surely they don’t want the company’s front page to be as extremely basic as it once was. As for the users, we can look back and cherish a time when it was more simple. We can still enjoy the page as it is today, but I’ll bet it will slowly start to get filled in over time.

Below is a screenshot I just made tonight of the current state of google.com:

I have known about Flickr for a long time now, but I’d never really paid that much attention to it. I’ve seen the occasional links to Flickr galleries on Digg, but I hadn’t considered using the site myself. Even when the company was purchased by Yahoo, I didn’t pay much attention. I have my own web space, so I have used Picasa to make web photo gallieres with it. While that has been cool, it doesn’t provide tags, ratings, or user comments on any of your pictures. Flickr does all this, and more, in style.

It has finally caught my attention and I have started using it. I must say that I really like it. The site is snappy, clean, and easy to use. Adding contacts and controlling the sharing of your photos is simple and clearly defined. The slideshows are cool, and viewing multiple sizes of any single picture is easy. Viewing the full-sized version of any large photo is only allowed on Pro accounts ($24 annually). Still, with the free account, my photos can be viewed up to 1024×768, which is just fine by me. One bummer is that free accounts are limited to 100 MB per month for uploads. I can’t find any specific limits on your overall disk use, however. For now, I am sticking with the free version.

I still need to download an uploader to make things easier. At the moment, I am still adding pictures one-by-one. That is been okay for my trials, but to really upload a “roll” of film would be ridiculous doing it this way. Still, I am very impressed with the site. After years of making Photoshop and Picasa web galleries, and using sites like Shutterfly, I am now comfortably using Flickr and my #1 choice. I surely recommend it.

I am back to using Thunderbird again for my email. When I bought my Mac at the end of May, I tried to use the Mail program included with OS X. My main reason for doing so was that it is the only program that seems to work with iPhoto when you email pictures.

Mail is a great mail program, so don’t get me wrong, but I am used to using Thunderbird. I appreciate the “Smart Mailboxes” that Mac Mail offers. That is a great feature. I just got fed up with photos and videos appearing embedded in my outgoing mail. I had to type around a video box that moved on my screen as the text area grew. I could find no way of turning that off. Plus, the Mail program offered little in the way of options. Automatic mail checking intervals were either 5, 15, or 30 minutes. You can’t alter those presets. It is take ‘em or leave ‘em. That is a moot point, but an example of what I mean about options.

Thunderbird on the Mac, just like in Windows and Linux, shows an attachment box in your composition window, listing the files that you are sending. Thunderbird also gives clear indications as to what it is doing when fetching or sending mail, whereas Mail does not seem to offer many details. These aren’t the only reasons that I like Thunderbird more than Mail. Both are great programs, but I like Thunderbird’s wealth of options and its themes and extensions capability. I was, however, quite disappointed to find out that there is no way of importing contacts from the Mac OS Address Book into Thunderbird. This needs to be made possible in future versions.

I’ll continue using Thunderbird for my email on my Mac. I installed the newest version (2.0.0.4), and am very happy with it so far. But I admit that I will miss the Smart Mailboxes and paper airplane sound that I heard when using Mac Mail. Still, it seems as though I’ll have to continue to use Mail for interfacing with iPhoto, at least.

Laura is doing just great now. It has now been over two months since her accident and injury. She is back on her feet now. Yesterday, she bought a cute 2006 Hyundai Accent. It fits her well. It is so great to have things relatively back to normal now after a wild and very unusual two months. Congrats on your new ride, honey!

This past week, Apple released a beta of the new version 3.0 of its Safari web browser. For the first time, the browser is available on Windows! The claim it is twice as fast as Internet Explorer 7. I like that Apple is encroaching in the Windows arena. After all, users are already comfortable with Quicktime and iTunes. Why not?

That said, I still mostly use Firefox on my Mac. Safari is indeed very fast and capable (I have version 2.0.4). It has everything I need, but I still prefer Firefox. I have several Firefox extensions that I rely on. Not to mention the fact that for some reason my visual post editor in Wordpress doesn’t work in Safari. I do use Safari on a few sties, like Pogo, where I have to run Java. Java applets seem more stable going through Safari. When the final version 3.0 of the browser is out, I’ll definitely download it.

I watched the movie Memento with Laura, back when it was released in 2000. I remember loving this movie. I had largely forgotten it until I saw the title while browsing Netflix. I added it to my queue and just tonight, we watched it again, all these years later. It is about a man with no short term memory who follows notes in order to try to find the man who killed his wife. The plot is so tangled, so twisted, and so misleading at times, that you are left questioning your own memory after it is over. Although I’d seen it before, it was like watching it again for the first time tonight.

This movie is absolutely spectacular. So much so that I felt compelled to write this post almost immediately after the credits rolled. It is an incredible piece of cinema. The movie basically starts at the end and then gradually rewinds, bit by bit, until you eventually find yourself at the beginning. Anyone can reach their own conclusions as to what is actually the truth. I know that this movie will be on my mind for days to come.

This movie deserves the highest rating possible, and then some. It is a must-see. It is imperative that you pay attention the entire time to as many details as possible. You’ll need as many memories as you can remember to even begin to piece this one back together after it is over. Outstanding!

In the past I have written a few posts about the 3D online world There.com. It wasn’t until over Easter weekend of this year that I first heard of Second Life. I read about it in a free airline magazine, of all places. Since I liked There, I downloaded Second Life and gave it a try. As with There, you must download software and install it on your system for access. To my delight, Second Life has both a PC and a Mac version (even a beta version for Linux)! I have used it off and on for a couple of months, mainly on Windows, but just recently I installed it on my new Mac. The graphics are of a better quality in Second Life than what I experienced in There. I am impressed with the clarity and detail of this virtual world. When you first sign up, instead of a simple user name, you have to create a username that is used as your avatar’s first name, while selecting a surname from a list. My name is Blitzcraig Loon.

Second Life is more sophisticated than There. Not only are the graphics better, the application itself is a lot more grown up. It loads and responds quickly, despite its very advanced features. A plethora of options are available, detailing every aspect of your Second Life experience. The interface and controls are less cartoonish than There’s offering. The software feels tighter, more responsive, and runs smoother with less system resources. At least that is my experience. Controlling the software’s use of resources, graphics detail, and networking are all easy to change in the preferences. Updates come out regularly, some of which are optional, and some of which are required in order to log in. I have had the application crash once (on my Mac). This was unsettling, but the program generated an error report which was immediately sent to the creators to help identify software bugs.

Second Life uses Linden dollars, which are purchased using real life money. There are ways to earn Linden dollars, but that is beyond the scope of this post. To date, I have not had any need for any currency. In contrast to There, where you have to pay a one-time membership fee to utilize advanced features (such as voice, setting landmarks, etc.), with Second Life, most of this is available at no cost. You can customize your head, body, and clothing in stunning detail. There is no need to purchase anything unless you want to acquire some new items and fabrics beyond your original set. You can buy and sell land, and rent space for online business. Why anyone would need to do any of that is beyond me. For example, I have read you can rent an apartment and things like that. I do not understand what that is for. Why would one need a residence when you can do anywhere you want? Not to mention that a lot of the space in Second Life is deserted.

Flying is incredible in Second Life. There is no need to buy a jetpack or take out a machine. Simply tapping the Home key on your keyboard makes you soar up into the air, where you can then fly around Superman-style. Flying around is my favorite aspect of the entire Second Life experience. Everyone can do this in an instant. I love it! It far surpasses the way you have to get around in There. Your avatar flies around fast, but often travels more quickly than the graphics are able to fill in around you. It is not uncommon to be flying through the air, only to smack into a wall that hasn’t yet loaded. While that can be frustrating, it just comes with the territory.

As with There, this 3D world leans heavily on your Internet connection, as all graphics, sounds, communications, and worldly details must be transferred to your computer as you travel. No matter how powerful your PC or connection, you’ll never experience the same performance as you would playing a 3D game that is installed locally. That is just the way it is. You can help matters by turning off music or video streaming, or limiting their bandwidth.

There are a lot of places to go in Second Life, and many things to see. The landscape is ever expanding and changing. A few major companies are setting up virtual shops in Second Life. Dell is one of these companies. I went to their online store. You can sit down at a workstation and customize a PC to purchase in the real world. While this is really, really cool, I have doubts that I’d purchase a product this way. It simply isn’t as informative or reliable as a traditional two dimensional web page. Still, I applaud the effort by Dell and others.

I think Second Life is the best 3D virtual world available today. If you are interested, try this one out. Chatting, traveling, teleporting, and gesturing are all much easier than what There has to offer, in my opinion. And you can enjoy yourself without spending a single cent. Still, the fun wears off after a while. Besides exploring and occasionally chatting with strangers, I am not sure what you are supposed to do. After the initial trials, it is fun now and again, but unless there are more users logged in and more events, you’ll find yourself bored sooner or later. It will be interesting to see how the new “3D Internet” (as I have heard it called) will pan out in the future. Second Life already has a great foundation for this already in place. People all over the world are scheduling meetings and training classes using it. While this type of thing has a niche market, I doubt that the average computer user will want to interact with the world in this way. Time will tell.

Yesterday, I canceled Showtime on my cable lineup. We used to have HBO at home, but changed over to Showtime after some of their great original series shows were not renewed, like Six Feet Under. But since having Showtime, I realize that the premium movie channels are all the same. These days you get like 10 channels when you sign up for a paid movie network. You think you have so many options, but in reality it is the same two dozen movies playing on repeat. I often scroll ahead in the week and check out the movies that are going to air so I can record them. I see the same titles week after week, with only a few new surprises now and again. So I dropped Showtime and will use Netflix exclusively. For the price, you can’t beat it. I’ll miss seeing some of Showtime’s original series shows, but I’ll wait until they are released on DVD and then rent those from Netflix. Brilliant!

I can’t stand the way the word canceled is supposed to be spelled. I purposely misspell it as cancelled and add it to my computer’s spell check dictionary as a real word. It just feels right. But for correctness in my blog, I’ll spell it the right way on here, reluctantly.