Google and Firefox: Happy Together
As if you needed another reason to use Firefox…
The Google Blog reports that Google now prefetches the first hit from searches to your browser, so that it’s faster to get to it (sort of an embedded “I’m Feeling Lucky,” I suppose) — but only if you’re using Firefox or Mozilla. Supposedly it’s not browser discrimination, but a feature present in Mozilla browsers that’s not in IE. Not sure if this actually slows down the loading of the search page itself, or whether this works on Google-affiliated search sites like A9. More info, including how to disable if desired, at the Google Help page.
You know that if this were something that only IE supported, the M$ bashers would be out yelling about how Microsoft was ruining the web with their non-standard web transport protocols or something. Just a thought.
Austin City Limits
As long as we’re (sort of) talking about music on TV, you guys should check out the show Austin City Limits on PBS. I always thought they had sort of a country bent (and they do), but they play a lot of alternative stuff, too. The format of the show is that they have one or two bands playing live for an hour — read on about the show I’m watching now (on Tivo).
Non-iTunes Motorola Music Phone
Unveiled recently…Looks pretty cool. Some of the feature highlights include:
* ipod-like scroll wheel
* EV-DO support for OTA downloading
* built in stereo (!?) speakers
* standard headset
* Call start and Call End buttons on the correct sides (Motorola traditionally flips these buttons).
Here’s Motorola’s product page and another write-up of the preview
Lyrical Lists
Mike & I have been bouncing this one around for a few days, and I decided that everyone should hear about writing song lyrics in list form. First spotted at BoingBoing, the site is totally out of control with hundreds of entrants! The re-worked lyrics of Istanbul (not Constantinople)…, well let’s just say that They Might make Giants proud! I felt the need to give it a shot with the epic song American Pie, read on if you want to see how it turned out.
Easter Egg Hunt
Time for Montana’s annual easter egg hunt! Here she is discovering one of her prizes.
Madness
After 3 full rounds of basketball, it’s pretty clear that none of the Pyslent founders have a chance winning Lance’s pool. For example, while Jake Wins This Year has both finalists still alive, there are 5(!) people ahead of me that also picked Illinois to beat Kentucky [including the always formidable La Jolla Hoyas (Sara Weis) in 10th place]. On the other hand, Pylent bragging rights are still up for grab. I’ll once again remain internally self-consistent, as Jake Wins This Year is guaranteed to defeat the appropriately named Jake Loses Again, while Mike (Rex Kwon Do) and Derrick (Tree Don’t Choke!) are beating both of my entries. Some other familiar names stuck in the middle of the pack (about 230 paying entries) are Dragon Fire (Al Dimicco) and the appropriately named Dr. Soy (Keith Hermann). Lance seems to be holding his own this year in a tie for 47th.
I like my chances for having my finals matchup come through, which should put me in the top 10 or 20. And more importantly, earn bragging rights as the top Pyslent entry. And I have a crisp $1 bill to back it up.
PSP
So what’s the opinion on the PlayStation Portable? I have been ignoring the hype, and it’s just hit a fever pitch with the release date tomorrow. Sounds pretty cool, but I’m not that psyched about a portable game system — even one that has built-in 802.11, can play music, and play videos both from internal memory cards and from a new type of DVD-type, 1.8 GB disk. And with some additional software, you can even mount it in iTunes and sync playlists, as well as convert and move videos over from your computer. Here’s a quick rundown of the specs and such.
A Gift from the Heavens
I just got this in an email from Mike Peterson,
I have a question that is perfectly suited for the pyslent community:
how should I blow $3000 in computers and gadgets? I’m going to get a
fellowship through my residency that comes with $6000 in book money.
We don’t have enough room in our apt for $6000 in books, but I could
easily spend half of it on cool Apple gadgets.
Let’s find it in our hearts to help him out, OK?
I finally get it
I finally understand — the whole DRM argument, that is. For quite a while, I’ve been pretty non-energized about the whole digital rights management thing on music bought from online music stores like the iTunes Music Store and Napster. I mean, the idea is just to prevent you from distributing the music all over the net, right? Not exactly. Read on for why.
TiVo & Comcast Hook Up
It was bound to happen, TiVo has made a deal with a cable company. Lots of coverage.