Well I'm back from my vacation and I've been trying to write up as many articles as I can while studying for the GRE. I've had two articles published off-site this week. One is at MakeUseOf and one is at GeeksAreSexy, a great blog you should all definitely check out:
It should be noted that the first article is kind of the first of many article on MakeUseOf about iPhone Apps. I'm scaling back my writing about the iPhone, so this is a good way for me to still keep it up and use my knowledge. The "column" is going to be called MakeUseOf Your iPhone. That's all for now!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Who Will Be Batman's Next Foe?
I have now seen The Dark Knight twice in theaters and I was very impressed. I don't usually see movies more than once on the big screen, so this Batman Begins sequel deserves some serious props.
At the end of each showing the same question jumped to mind: Who will the "caped crusader" battle next? I noticed that almost all the chatter from other audience members seemed to be running along the same lines. The Dark Knight just screams to be outdone by an equally awesome sequel. That means a new villain (despite the fact that we all wish the Joker could come back for a second run).
Personally, I can't remember all that many villains that haven't already been done by Hollywood in the past. The Penguin, the Riddler, Cat Woman, Scarecrow, Two Face, and Mr. Freeze have all had their night on the big screen and that pretty much sums up the most notable Batman villains too.
Even so, this article by OMG Lists has a pretty nice set of villains and judges their likelihood of appearing in the new, more realistic series of Batman movies. My money is on the scary guy named Zsasz, pictured above. He was apparently glimpsed in Batman Begins when the criminally insane escaped from Arkham. He might not be a major character though...he'd make a better secondary villain like The Mob was in the latest picture.
Either that or they'll make someone completely new up...they did it with the ninjas, right?
[OMG Lists via Geeks Are Sexy]
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Calvin and Jobs [Comic]
Are You Ready for the LHC?
That's right ladies and gentlemen, the time of particle physics glory (or world destruction through mini-black holes) is rapidly coming upon us. If you're not really familiar with the Large Hadron Collider, check out their website. The long and short of it is that it is the most complex machine ever made by man (maybe the biggest too) and it's designed to find some of the smallest and most elusive particles ever theorized. Right now we don't really understand a lot of things, especially gravity, and the LHC may be able to help with that.
If you already know a bit about it, here's a fun countdown clock to let you know when the first particle stream cuts loose.
Friday, August 1, 2008
I love how the GRE is computer-based....
...in the same way that Velveeta is cheese-based.
I have been using Barron's GRE prep book in getting ready for my GRE on the 11th of this month. It's a pretty decent book and it comes with a CD that lets you take practice tests. About a week after I signed up for the GRE online, ETS, the people who make these wonderful tests, sent me a practice CD. It's nice that they sent me free testing materials, but upon putting the disk in my machine I was a bit surprised.
First of all, Autorun didn't kick in at all. I almost forgot I put it in until I realized no naggy "INSTALL MEEEE" screen popped up over all of my other stuff. Upon further investigation, the CD has an Autorun but for some reason it didn't activate. I manually started the setup file and away it went.
I was surprised at the old-style of installer because I assumed that this being the current year's software, it would run something like Windows Installer or InstallShield at least. It loaded quickly and I looked around for the program. Great! No destop icon.
After hunting it down in the file system (and making my self an ICON), I opened the main testing program and my computer exploded. ...Well, I shouldn't say that, but it resized my screen resolution to something so small that the driver on my LCD screen defaulted to trying to revert it. Apparently this software is really for Win95/95 and has simply been ported forward to allow XP users to use it.
From the monopolistic leader in testing in America, I was pretty surprised at the archaic software. I mean, is it just that they want to make sure all those Win95 users are covered or are they too cheap to upgrade. ETS probably masks the latter with the former.
Anyway, I did really well on my first full test! 1280 on the complete practice. The verbal was tougher than it was in previous practices. This is a very good score for what I'm trying to do (Ph.D. in Microbiology), so I'm reasonably optimistic.
I have been using Barron's GRE prep book in getting ready for my GRE on the 11th of this month. It's a pretty decent book and it comes with a CD that lets you take practice tests. About a week after I signed up for the GRE online, ETS, the people who make these wonderful tests, sent me a practice CD. It's nice that they sent me free testing materials, but upon putting the disk in my machine I was a bit surprised.
First of all, Autorun didn't kick in at all. I almost forgot I put it in until I realized no naggy "INSTALL MEEEE" screen popped up over all of my other stuff. Upon further investigation, the CD has an Autorun but for some reason it didn't activate. I manually started the setup file and away it went.
I was surprised at the old-style of installer because I assumed that this being the current year's software, it would run something like Windows Installer or InstallShield at least. It loaded quickly and I looked around for the program. Great! No destop icon.
After hunting it down in the file system (and making my self an ICON), I opened the main testing program and my computer exploded. ...Well, I shouldn't say that, but it resized my screen resolution to something so small that the driver on my LCD screen defaulted to trying to revert it. Apparently this software is really for Win95/95 and has simply been ported forward to allow XP users to use it.
From the monopolistic leader in testing in America, I was pretty surprised at the archaic software. I mean, is it just that they want to make sure all those Win95 users are covered or are they too cheap to upgrade. ETS probably masks the latter with the former.
Anyway, I did really well on my first full test! 1280 on the complete practice. The verbal was tougher than it was in previous practices. This is a very good score for what I'm trying to do (Ph.D. in Microbiology), so I'm reasonably optimistic.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
TwitterCounter: Finally a Good Way To Display Twitter Glory
For several years now, people have been using Twitter all over the tech community. Some use it to talk to their other 1337 (elite) friends and others simply follow their favorite internet celebrities. Up unto a point, "Twitterers" don't have very many followers of their own because if you're the average Joe, nobody's ever heard of you. The change occurs once you begin to develop a small- to medium-sized following and people actually begin responding to your posts.
Once you move into that level of Twitter, you will begin to think about how to advertise and grow your Twitter account. While you can always post an RSS feed of your account or install a widget, people don't necessarily take the time to read your recent posts. In fact, most posts aren't really attractive or well thought-out, so they won't draw in many of your site's visitors.
The perfect tool for this is TwitterCounter. Similar to other counters such as hit counters and FeedBurner's Feedcounter, TwitterCounter is a chicklet for tracking the number of followers you have on Twitter. Here is what it looks like with my other chicklets on my sidebar:
Once you move into that level of Twitter, you will begin to think about how to advertise and grow your Twitter account. While you can always post an RSS feed of your account or install a widget, people don't necessarily take the time to read your recent posts. In fact, most posts aren't really attractive or well thought-out, so they won't draw in many of your site's visitors.
Once a user clicks on the TwitterCounter chickelet, it takes them to a page that gives the stats about your Twitter feed's growth. Most prominently is a chart detailing the last week's "following" numbers for each day. My chart here is pretty boring, but it does show the day that Twitter accidentally "unfollowed" a bunch of accounts in an attempt to fight spam.
Another nice feature is the overall statistics that TwitterCounter keeps. It's a good way to look at your long-term growth, average rate of growth, and even a prediction for the future of your feed. I'm not sure how it gathers the last one, but I'll be pretty happy if I pick up another 11 users in a month.
While at the moment TwitterCounter doesn't have a lot of features besides what I've pointed out, it's still a nice chicklet for your site and you can even customize it. Give it a try if you've noticed your feed has started to grow. If you already use it, let me know what you think!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Waiter's True Identiy - Revealed!
For at least two years I have been reading Waiter Rant religiously. It was recommended to me by a friend and I am very grateful. In it, "The Waiter," an anonymous blogger, describes the real workings of a nice restaurant's prep and kitchen areas. Some of the things done to unsuspecting yuppies are truly hilarious, but more profound are the things waiters have to put up with on a day to day basis.
Waiter Rant isn't just a "the prank revealed" blog. "The Waiter" has a great writing style that will make you laugh some days and break your heart on others. After four years of both zany and touching stories, he has decided to publish a book and reveal his true identity. That's right, The Waiter is none other than:
...not that you probably know him personally, but it's nice to see his picture.
So go to Waiter Rant, read his posts, and then buy his book. I'm sure it will be worth it. I listened to a sample of the audiobook and it looks great. If I ever can scratch up some money from this blogging thing, I'll probably buy that.
[Image via NY Post]
Waiter Rant isn't just a "the prank revealed" blog. "The Waiter" has a great writing style that will make you laugh some days and break your heart on others. After four years of both zany and touching stories, he has decided to publish a book and reveal his true identity. That's right, The Waiter is none other than:
Steve Dublanica
...not that you probably know him personally, but it's nice to see his picture.
So go to Waiter Rant, read his posts, and then buy his book. I'm sure it will be worth it. I listened to a sample of the audiobook and it looks great. If I ever can scratch up some money from this blogging thing, I'll probably buy that.
[Image via NY Post]
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