Spyware
I've been having a lot of trouble with spyware recently. I bought a new monitor for the desktop which has spurred me on to using it more often and the more powerful 3D card (vs my laptop) is useful for my final year project as well.
It seems trying to keep a couple of desktops from getting infected is a full time job. I swear, I was *this* close to breaking out the Gentoo install CDs on the desktop the other day.
Fucking Windows. Why is drive by installation of software so easy, even with FireFox? You don't even get prompted for any bizarre downloads or for any files to be run, it's insidious. Some of the software is just plain aggressive (I'm looking at you, CoolWebSearch).
What a pain.
The only upshot of all this is that it seem that it can't infect your machine/spread the infection if you are logged in as a limited user rather than an administrator. At which point any readers using Linux/Mac OS/BSD/anything !Windows slap their foreheads and go
Common sense, duh!
Yes, indeed. Although have you tried running Windows without Administrator access on a home machine? It's next to impossible. I always find myself switching accounts to install this or change that. Not exactly good for the work flow.
Apparently Vista will have a feature similar to sudo or gksudo which should ease the pain of working as a non-privileged user on a home desktop, although saying that sort of stuff kind of makes me feel a bit faint. It'll be fixed in the next version, Microsoft will save us, ooh, a novel new feature, etc. Not much use right now, is it? Particularly when the *NIX-a-likes of the world have had this sort of facility for, what - 20 odd years?
Grrrmrmmhmh mutter mutter...
Popularity: 8% [?]
Spiderman joystick
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/690/690449p1.html
Blimey. I nearly spat very mayonnaisey chicken and bacon ciabatta over my monitor (it's at the bottom of the page).
It's something to do with the way he's holding it and that episode of Red Dwarf where Lister says the pleasure gelf that making love to a complete stranger is a very serious business, so she relax while he changes into his Spiderman costume.
*shudders*
Popularity: 8% [?]
Wired Apple keyboard
I never thought it would be so difficult to buy a wired Apple keyboard in South London at short notice.
Really quite incredible.
I keep being met with 'A what keyboard?' or just 'Buuugh, we don't sell them here. Have you looked at the Logitech ones? They've got lots of media buttons!'. Yes, yes they do. If I try really, really hard, I might even press one, one day.
Update
There's an Authorised Apple reseller in Bulwagh. Well I never. Not that they've got any stock of wired keyboards, mind...
Popularity: 7% [?]
Adventure
http://inigopete.livejournal.com/4438.html
Although, having a mobile didn't really help when Dave decided to get intimate with that tree shortly after this photo was taken, as although we were on a man-made trail, we were in woop woop and consequently had no reception...
Popularity: 8% [?]
Do you know how much several Web Designer earns
Got this in my inbox the other day:
Do you know how much several Web Designer earns?
120-170 K bucks per year!Don't believe? Visit http://www.jobsearch.com/ , http://www.JobMonster.com/ or any other famous job site!
Don't you want to change your job now?
Learn the best and the most effective web designer's tools first:
Photoshop 7
It is an integrated design environment that combines the most complete upgrade - featuring full, new versions of the tools you rely on most for image editing, illustration, page layout, and cross-media output - with innovative file-management features, and comprehensive design resources.Dreamweaver MX 2004
It is the professional choice for building web sites and applications. It provides a powerful combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support, enabling developers and designers at every skill level to create visually appealing, standards-based sites and applications quickly. From leading support for CSS-based design to hand-coding features, Dreamweaver provides the tools professionals need in an integrated, streamlined environment. Developers can use Dreamweaver with the server technology of their choice to build powerful Internet applications that connect users to databases, web services, and legacy systems.Macromedia Flash MX 2004
It is the industry standard tool for creating effective rich content across desktops and devices. Designers and developers use Macromedia Flash MX 2004 to accelerate projects while maintaining a high degree of creative control. Take advantage of the vast Macromedia online Resource Library. Speed workflow by directly importing media including digital video, PDF and EPS files. Add interactivity with powerful scripting and enhance content with custom effects from third-party extensions.All these program include full "Help" (F1 key) and can be easily learned by any advanced PC user.
Only on our site you can find all soft with 75% discount!
*link would have been here*
Very odd. I particularly like the F1 key bit.
Popularity: 13% [?]
BBC Bitesize
Verity 'Cruft Force' Stob opens up a can of whupass on the BBC Bitesize revision website covering 'ICT', whatever that is. Genius.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2006/02/06/bitesize_gcse/
I particularly like the programme/program bit. That always irritates me.
Popularity: 29% [?]
I hate bus drivers
See? I don't even have to justify the title. You know you agree with me. Be it because of the jobsworth nazi who wouldn't let you on the nightbus in the middle of nowhere with no one else around because you didn't pre-buy your ticket as it might slow him down, or the sadistic bastard who watched you in his rear view mirror as you run for two hundred meters to get the only bus every hour just to drive off as you reach the door which he has just slammed in your face.
Arseholes.
The problem is, sometimes their behaviour can be downright dangerous. I cycle to work, and like every good cyclist, I think it's great and everyone should do it. The most common reason people seem to have for not cycling is not wanting to be squashed by a bus. Although not on most people's to do list (definitely not mine), this is almost a good reason not to. Almost.
To your average cyclist, a bus represents the classic immovable object. Were you to be hit by a yummy mummy doing the school run through Bulwagh* in her outsized SUV with little Billy on his booster seat in the front all curly ringlets and designer baby clothes, you'd hope that you would possibly catch his attention before becoming a stain on the road just long enough for him to require years of psychotherapy later in life and have a strange aversion to gas guzzling monstrosities until he becomes that which he fears, a shaved roadie with 0% body fat wearing only unwashed lycra and cycling like a bat out of hell, a mad glint in his eye as he tries to pedal away from himself and the army of rat men ever behind him and the darkness they bring. A bus? No chance. If you were hit by a bus, you wouldn't even register. If the driver has more than one brain cell, they might bump together eliciting the though 'Funny. I didn't see that speedbump.' But chances are you wouldn't jolt the bus enough to cause this cranial movement.
Take this example: Yesterday, I was cycling back from the supermarket in broad daylight and a bus overtook me. This is not out of the ordinary. But the bus committed that perennial sin which motorists seem to enjoy so much - they overtake you and then slam on the brakes for the left turn/road island/etc that was right in front of you, blocking the road and causing you to brake unnecessarily.
The bus driver in question overtook me, then swerved in front of me to stop at the bus stop which was, oh, twenty metres or so ahead. Why? Just why? Fine, I thought as I slammed on the brakes and nearly hit the back of him. You're a bit of a plonker. Maybe you didn't see the bus stop, or maybe you're a bit of a plonker. Whatever. So I looked over my shoulder, signaled right and went round him.
This took me to a roundabout, a left turn later and I'm happily cruising along, when I see another bus stop ahead and hear that familiar rumbling sound behind me. Whoosh, the cunt nearly knocks me off my bike as he does the exact same thing. This time, when I look over my shoulder, there is a line of three cars also trying to go round the bus. This puts me in a difficult situation. Obviously I'd like to go round the bus and not stop for reasons above, but chances are pulling out in front of the following cars would be a very bad idea. So I slam on the brakes once more. I wait for the cars to pass and go round the bus, taking time to make gesticulations to the effect that he should spend less time playing with himself and more time watching where he is going. He doesn't look pleased. Fed up with him being behind me, I jump the next red light, but not before he tries to follow me right through it.
It's hard to think how a bus driver could be less considerate, aside from jack-knifing in front of my house. It might not be such a bad idea for drivers in general, but particularly drivers of large vehicles to be forced to cycle for at least a month as part of getting a licence to drive them. This may help them have a little more patience and respect for those who don't have the luxury of crumple zones.
* = Someone called it that in a text message the other day. Classic. If you know where I mean, you'll know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, say it while trying to sound posh and you'll be most of the way there.
Popularity: 17% [?]
IE7 Beta version available
Looks like you can download a beta preview version of Internet Explorer 7.
My first impressions, typed as I'm using it
- Looks good. Has a built in search box like, well, pretty much every other browser.
- Gets the box model right.
- Tabs are controlled by the same keystrokes as in Firefox and Safari.
- Most sites look the same as before, not much should be needed to whip sites into shape.
- Ooh, the File, Edit, View menu has gone. Isn't that bad from a UI familiarity point of view?
- 'This site might required the following add on: 'Microsoft (R) HTML Viewer from 'Microsoft Corporation'. Click here to allow the control to run...'. Huh?
- Where's the reload page button?
- Oh, it's on the other side of the address bar, along with the 'stop loading page' button.
- Those back/forward buttons are pretty ugly. Almost jagged around the edges.
- Hmm. You can only close a tab by first selecting it
- To change the default search engine in the browser, you have to go to Microsoft's site to do it. That's a little creepy.
- Ooh, support for the alpha channel in 24 bit PNG images. About fucking time.
- Coffee and feeds still doesn't work. Must be my shitty code then.
- Pretty neat built in RSS reader. Lets you filter the feed you are currently reading.
- Uses the same RSS icon as Firefox. Good. It's not as intuitive as it could be (looks like a wireless logo), but it's better than the XML one.
- The status bar is on by default.
- A pop up blocker is on by default.
- It doesn't offer to remember your usernames/passwords by default. This, I think, is a good thing.
- Hang on. The reload button turns into the 'Go' button when the contents of the address bar doesn't match the URL of the page we are on, but doesn't change back to reload if you change what's in the address bar back. All this time, the stop button can still be clicked. That's silly. Safari does this much better - when the page is loaded, the stop button turns into the refresh button. Why would you want to stop a page from loading that has already loaded. Considering they seem to have tried to minimise what's outside the web page display area, it doesn't look like they've thought that bit through.
- The quick tabs feature is pretty neat. It will show you selectable thumbnails of all the tabs currently open. Although having said that, I've just uninstalled an extension from Firefox that does the same thing because I never used it...
- Built in reference book search? Wha?
- Still a pain in the arse to disable Javascript
- Really don't think much of the shiny gem type buttons and tab backgrounds. Makes the page titles a little hard to read.
- While we're on the subject of buttons, there's not much to distinguish between the 'Favourites Centre' and 'Add/Subscribe' button. Why not use the new RSS logo for 'Add/Subscribe'.
- The dwarf 'New Tab' tab should always have it's icon visible. Why am I clicking on a tab to open a new tab? I want to be clicking on a button.
Meh, back to work.
Popularity: 7% [?]