The Pet: An Animated Short by Dennis Rothfuss

My first attempt at Flash Animation. Very short, but [of course] genious!

enjoy!

An Awesome Piece of Flash Animation

Check out this very well done video. I happened upon it at youtube, not sure where it originated though.



Reminds me of Desktop Icon Wars.

Money Saving Tip: Save Money on Printer Ink

Change your setting on your printer so it prints FastDraft and black&white by default. For most of the printing i do, FastDraft is plenty good enough and saves A LOT of ink. Also, unless you tell your printer otherwise, it's probably always using your color ink, even if it's printing black; it just mixes up all of the colors to make black!

Here's how to change those setting:

Start | Control Panel | Printers and Faxes | Right click on your printer and choose Properties | General tab | Printing Preferences | Paper/Quality tab: Choose FastDraft under Print quality | Color tab: Check Print in grayscale - Black print catridge only under Color options

thats it! enjoy!

Google Page Rank

Since Google will be releasing their PageRank updates soon (probably this weekend), there are a ton of link trains out there - just add your site to the list and five others, and (hopefully) your readers will create their own! The more bloggers we get involved, the more these links will be worth. So lets get to it:

** Start Copy Here **

We all know how important getting link backs is and with this chain, you can get the ball rolling! You don’t have to be an established blogger to take part in this chain.

Here are the rules:
1. Copy this post from the point where it says “Start Copy Here” to the point where it says “End Copy Here”
2. Add yourself and 5 of your favorite bloggers to the end of the list.
3. Post this on your blog

desult | Windows Tips, Tricks and Hacks | Enkay Blog | Ms. Danielle | Cash For Comments | BetShopBoy | JohnCow | Mr. Gary Lee | Jon Lee | Dosh Dosh | Some Make Money | The King Kong Blog | RomanDock | Michael Kwan | Ed Lau | Jane May | Sam Breadstone | ProBlogger | The Beef Jerky Blog | The Prize Blog | Online Coupon Codes | digitalnomad | 2Perfect | Derek Semmler dot com | Everyday Weekender | iffect | dvorak.org/blog | Boing Boing | Cool Hunting | 43 folders | Your Name Here

**End Copy Here**

How to: Make a JPG That Contains Hidden Files

Awesome video. Not really sure why I'd actually make use of this tip, but I think it's cool.

I saw this posted on Daily Cup of Tech.

Drew Carey to Host The Price is Right

I saw this over at Big Plans Big Crash. Bob Barker is no longer hosting The Price is Right, Drew Carey is Taking over.

Link to Story

Firefox Hack: Easy Media Search

I commented on this in another post, then later discovered a really easy way to execute this search. Here's a very easy way to use Google to search for audio, video and even ebooks.

Make a new bookmark via "Organize Bookmarks..."

In Location, past this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=-inurl%3A(htm%7Chtml%7Cphp)+intitle%3A%22index+of%22+%2B%22last+modified%22+%2B%22parent+directory%22+%2Bdescription+%2Bsize+%2B(wma%7Cmp3%7Cogg)+%22%s%%22

In Keyword, put:
music

Give it a name.

When you type that keyword into firefox's address bar, it's the same as typing what's in Location.

So, for the search, you would type the following in the address bar:
music devo


For Video (.avi and .wmv), use this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=-inurl%3A(htm%7Chtml%7Cphp)+intitle%3A%22index+of%22+%2B%22last+modified%22+%2B%22parent+directory%22+%2Bdescription+%2Bsize+%2B(avi%7Cwmv)+%22%s%%22

and for ebooks (.pdf and .doc), use this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=-inurl%3A(htm%7Chtml%7Cphp)+intitle%3A%22index+of%22+%2B%22last+modified%22+%2B%22parent+directory%22+%2Bdescription+%2Bsize+%2B(pdf%7Cdoc)+%22%s%%22

I don't really see myself using this for media search, but find it an awesome tip for the use of the keyword feature.

Mimobots: Art Toy USB Flash Drives

Take designer toys and mix them with USB Flash Drives and you have the products that mimoco makes. Awesome idea! They sell the drives in 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB. They also have a great selection of designs.

mimoco.com

Pseudo-Telekineses a Reality

This technology allows you to control things with your mind!




The possibilities! No more TV Remotes. :)

Starry Night Created in Second Life

Van Gogh's Starry Night created in the Second Life world. Not greatly exciting, but it's a cool video.

Nintendo Wii Fit Parody

From the same guy that did the Microsoft Surface parody, here's the Wii Fit!

VNV Nation - Beloved (live) - Judgement Tour

VNV Nation - Beloved (live)

Add to My Profile | More Videos

One of my all-time favorite bands, VNV Nation. This is live at the Masquerade in Atlanta on their Judgement tour.

For anyone that has not had the great pleasure of seeing VNV, just know that this video falls WAY short of capturing the energy and power that is VNV live! One of the greatest things to experience!

Warning: Highly Addicting Productivity Killer

Desktop Tower Defense

A flash game. Check it out, but know, it is likely to kill a lot of time.

enjoy!

Stainless Steel Wallet

It's absolutely the most beautiful wallet I've ever seen! I want one! I'm not a huge fan of wallets mostly because i hate having the bulky things in my pocket, but this thing is incredibly sleek.

The woven stainless steel feels like silk and doubles over as a faraday cage to keep your RFID cards unscannable when in your wallet.

Link

Logitech Introduces Cordless Air Mouse

To be available in August for $149.99. I'm imagining Wii-style functionality. Should be a nice addition for people that are using a PC for their living room media center.

Now, allow me to use two of these at once and incorporate that awesome multi-touch technology that is all the rage right now! Now, that would be PC navigating bliss! :)

or something.. .

"This patented technology is based on a combination of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors, DSP (digital signal processing) technology and RF (radio frequency) wireless technology. These combined technologies allow a user to hold the mouse in any orientation, point in any direction, and enjoy effortless, intuitive cursor control."

Link to Story

Halo Goodness

I didn't keep up with all of the E3 stuff like i usually do, but here are the Halo videos:

Halo 3


Awesome video, but leaves a bit to be desired. The live action approach is pretty cool to change things up, but i still prefer to see trailers made using the game engine. This leaves me to believe that Halo 3 might be lacking some of the jaw dropping visuals that we have come to expect from Bungie. Just a quick thought.


I love the video! But yet again, prerendered. Oh well.

Halo Wars

Yes, you know, but to recap: Halo Wars is a real time strategy game based in the Halo universe. It's being developed by Ensemble Studios, makers of the Age of Empires/Mythology series.


That's not new, but it's awesome! I absolutely do not mind seeing prerendered trailers for RTSs, different genre. Love it!


I believe that's the only game play footage of Halo Wars so far. Not much to see yet, but it looks good based on that short 30 seconds.

Firefox Tip: How to Use More Than One Profile

Want more than one profile for Firefox? Each with it's own set of bookmarks, extensions and customization? Here's what you do.

Right Click on your Firefox shortcut and go to Properties.
find target "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" and add -profilemanager
so it looks like this:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager
Now when you startup Firefox, it will load the profile manager so you can choose which profile you want to use. It's that simple.

Want to have a separate icon for each profile, and not have the profile manager pop up everytime? Add -p "profilename" to the end of the target string, so you can have:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p default and
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p desult


Want to use more than one instance/profile at a time?
Click Start | Run
type in firefox -no-remote -p "profilename"
That should, of course, be the profile name of a profile that you do not already have up.

You can make an icon out of the -no-remote switch, I just find it much easier to use the run command. And likewise, you can load the profile manager via the run command with
firefox -profilemanager.


Awesomeness!

Solar, An Animated Short by Ian Wharton and Edward Shires

Link to Site

$200+ Mont Blanc Pen For ~$15

Mont Blancs are the worlds most awesome writing instruments, at a price point that is way out of reach for the average consumer. With this quick and simple tip, you can have the writing power of a Mont Blanc at the fraction of the cost.

All you have to do is buy a G2 and get a Mont Blanc Refill to go in it. The refill has to be cut to fit, but you save hundreds of dollars!

Jump over to Instructables for the details.

OLPC and Intel Join Forces

One Laptop Per Child was founded to make $100 laptops available to children around the world, including children in developing countries. It's a completely non-profit organization.

Intel not too long ago decided to introduce it's own cheap laptop to compete with this organization. What's that you say? evil? Yeah, I'm not really sure why Intel thought that would be a good move.

Intel has now decided to help out OLPC instead of working against them.

Link to Story

PS3's Temporary $100 Price Cut

Sony has cut the price of the PS3 by $100. This isn't the pricecut the PS3 should get because it's too expensive, this is a pricecut on the discontinued 60gb PS3 to clear out stock. Sony is introducing a new 80gb model that will come packaged with Motorstorm.

I personally think the fact that they are replacing the current PS3 with one that has only 20 more gigs is a joke. Why bother?

This is good for blue-ray though seeing as this will put a blue-ray player in the hands of more consumers. A $499 blue-ray player? Not too bad. And it also plays games as a added bonus!
[insert emoticon here]

viatalkfree: make free phone calls

Just found this. It's a free service that will allow you to call any number for free. It's actually a bit buggy from what I can tell though, and the call time is limited to 10 minutes. The interesting thing to note here is that it can be used as a very easy caller ID spoofing service. Just keep in mind, caller ID spoofing has just recently become illegal, check my post here for details on that.
And just to clarify, I do not condone activities such at caller ID spoofing, I just like to make people aware of such things.

www.viatalkfree.com

Facebook to be Shutdown?

Facebook's C.E.O. Zuckerberg is being sued for stealing the code and business model for facebook. The former classmates that are suing want facebook shut down and want control of site and profits turned over to them

Link to story

Wear Contacts? Here's a Money Saving Tip

World's Biggest Ripoff Exposed! - video powered by Metacafe

It's amazing to see how much they mark stuff up.
The only problem I see with this is keeping the small bottle sterile over the course of refilling it over and over again.

Firefox Hack : Slimming Down Firefox for Maximum Screen Space

Click to enlarge

I like to have as much screen space as possible, so i like to slim my apps down, especially the ones I use most often such as Firefox. Here is what I've done. I'm not suggesting this is what everyone should do, but it might give you some ideas, or at least a tip or two that you like.

1. Right click on one of the toolbars and go to customize. Find "Show" at the bottom and choose "Icons" under the dropdown. Now check "Use small icons." Those options may or may not be Firefox defaults, I don't really remember.

2. Get rid of the Bookmarks Toolbar. It's kind of cool, but it takes up too much screen space for my liking. There's a Bookmarks menu, it's useful!

3. Tiny Menu. It's a Firefox extension that allows you to hide the menu items that you don't use too often such as File, Edit, View and Help. I like to keep Bookmarks and Tools handy because I use those two pretty often, but you can hide them all if you would like.

4. Right click a toolbar and choose customize again. Drag a separator to the right of the tiny menu. Now drag everything from the Navigation Toolbar up to the right of the tiny menu to fill in all of the wasted empty space. Now you can uncheck the Navigation Toolbar to hide it because it's no longer needed! I personally got rid of the Google Search in the toolbar, I never use it.

5. StumbleUpon. I like the extension, I hate that it takes up an entire toolbar in Firefox. I just moved it up next to the address bar where Google Search used to be.

6. MiniFox. It's a Firefox Theme that just makes everything just a bit more compact.

Awesome! I hope that someone gets something from this. At very least maybe someone will discover how customizable Firefox is and explore things on their own.

Oh, and no, that is not the resolution I use, I scaled it down to make it easier to view. And no, I do not use the Firefox Google Startpage.

enjoy!

Onion News : The Internet Crash

Pretty funny. I like the part about ABC playing 24 hour funniest home videos to fill the void that Youtube left.

Sorry Apple, But This Phone Has a Killer Feature That The iPhone Lacks

Yes, that was awesome! [insert emoticon here]

Firefox Hack: Remove Close Button [X] from Tabs

I often find myself with many tabs opened at the same time when using Firefox. I also find myself occasionally accidentally pressing the red X and closing tabs unintentionally. Since I always close tabs by clicking the middle mouse button on them, the only thing the red X is good for is to be a nuisance.

Here's how to get rid of it:

1. Type "about:config" into address bar
2. Scroll down to "browser.tabs.closeButtons" and change the value to "2."

Awesome!


Here are what the other values do:

0 - Display close button on active tab
1 - Display close button on all tabs
2 - Display no close buttons
3 - Display single close button at end of tab bar (Firefox 1.x)

10,000 BC Trailer

Not too much info here, but the trailer looks cool. So, check it out.

Elevator Hacks

Simple Elevator Hacking. - video powered by Metacafe

Supposedly works on 90% of evelators.

iPhone Nano?

Apple is already planning it's next iPhone product. The next installment of the iPhone will be a much smaller nano-like model and will come out later this year. This smaller version will also sport a smaller price tag of $300 or less. This product, I'm sure, will not have as many features as the original iPhone though.

Link to Story

OpenMoko: The First Completely Open Phone Coming

The Neo 1973 will be the first mobile phone completely open for 3rd party apps. This is what the mobile phone industry really needs, I've always found it completely ridiculous how closed phones have always been. Looks like that will soon change.

The Developers version is already available, with the consumers version to be released in October.

www.openmoko.com

The 7 Wonders Have Been Updated

Of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, only one of those structures actually still exist, that is the pyramids of Giza. So, we have a new set announced on July 7th. Here are the new 7 wonders:

The Great Wall, China

Petra, Jordan

Christ Redeemer, Brazil

Machu Picchu, Peru

Chichén Itzá, Mexico

The Roman Colosseum, Italy

The Taj Mahal, India


I don't really know how the pyramids of Giza isn't on the new list. The article says:

"The pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, were assured of retaining their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete."

Sounds to me like the pyramids have been plutoed.

Link to Story

Link to new7wonders.com

Airless Tires in Developement by Michelin

Michelin is developing airless tires. Here's a video.




Link to Story

Dell's Ubuntu Systems are $50 Cheaper Than Their Vista Systems

Dell has dropped the price of their Ubuntu systems to be $50 cheaper than their Vista systems. Maybe this price incentive will get more people to turn over to Ubuntu!

Link

Bill Gates no Longer the Richest Man in the World

Bill Gates has been the richest person in the world for 13 years now, that title is no longer his.

"Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim has taken the crown with a net worth of $67.8 billion, according to estimates by a respected financial news site in Mexico, as reported by multiple news services."

Link to Story

I Lived on the Moon

Here's an amazing animated music video, I Lived on the Moon by Yannick Puig.



www.yanim.net/ilotm/ilotm.htm

First Ever Look at an Electron

Electrons, Those things that are so incredibly small that you could never actually see one. Well, scientists have captured an electron on film for the first time, and here it is. :)



Just over to the post on OhGizmo! for a better explanation of what you are looking at.

Enjoy! :)

Kwick-E-Marts Opening

As part of the campaign to get the word out about the upcoming Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven has turned dozens of it's stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenient store in the Simpsons universe.

Link to Store

Map it - GOOG-411

Google has added a new feature to their 1-800-GOOG-411 service, whenever you call GOOG-411 say "map it" to have google send you a map of what you are looking for.

ScienceHack.com - Video Sharing Site for Science Videos

ScienceHack.com is a video sharing site that specifically caters to science videos. Every video that you find on sciencehack.com is screen and approved by scientists for quality!

New Skins for XP with Visual Styles

I see a lot of people with XP using the Windows XP Style look. That's probably mostly due to the fact that XP defaults to it. I personally think it's ugly as crap, so it was the first thing to go when i switched over to XP; I prefer the Windows Classic look.

For some reason, Microsoft thought it was an awesome idea to only let you choose "Windows XP Style" or "Windows Classic Style." Any option for 3rd parties to make there own themes was locked out.

These options can be found if you right click the desktop, go to Properties | Appearance and look under "Windows and buttons."

I'm going to tell you how to patch XP to allow you to load up 3rd party "Visual Styles," or skins.

It's easy!

1. Download Uxtheme Multi-patcher and patch your uxtheme.dll to open up your system for these changes. In other words, just download it and run it.

2. Download new themes! A good place to start looking is deviantart.com. Look here on the site: Customization / Skins & Themes / Windows Utilities / Visual Styles.

3. Extract the new theme to the following directory: C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes. You'll find one theme already here, Luna. That's the XP theme.

4. Right click the desktop. Go to Preference | Appearance and Choose your new visual theme under "Windows and buttons." That's it! Most themes come with several color schemes to choose from aswell.

That's all!

Here are a couple visual styles i have found that I like:

Pucko - This is the theme that I am currently using, and liking a lot! I found it looking for a theme that was simular to Ubuntu's Glider theme; I actually like this more. It's simple, sleak, and very usable! It also [thankfully!] does not sport the small caps that the screen shots show.

CodeOpus - This is also a very nicely done theme, it's just a little too bubbly for me though. Worth checking out though, thus the reason I mentioned it.

I tried some others, but a lot of them are matched up with horrible fonts, or are just terrible on the eyes. So be warned!


Want to Change your icons to better match your new look?
Use IconTweaker, it's free and automatically comes with some pretty good sets.

One last note: There are, of course, other ways to change the look of Windows. one of which is WindowsBlinds. I like the way I descibed here for two reasons: It's free and you don't have to have another App running in the background.

Enjoy!