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Is it faster than a potato?
2010.06.02When measuring the merits of a web browser, what matters more than its speed in contrast to that of a potato? Observe, Chrome 5’s entry.
Very Mythbusters. But what else would you expect from the company that pays it’s employees to spend 20% of their time on personal projects? Clearly, the next James Cameron is hidden somewhere on the Adsense team.
Not to be outdone, Opera pulls no punches. Those Norwegians have a competitive fire nothing short of total domination can quell.
You know, as another shmoe in the web development arena, I’ve given Opera a bad wrap. In the midst of running enterprise websites, the credo I’ve subscribed to has been:
- Does it look good in IE?
- Does it look good in Firefox?
- Does it not absolutely blowup in IE6?
- Does it resemble a webpage in Safari? (Can be verified up to 2 years after deployment)
- Does the page show up in Opera? (Optional)
As for Chrome, well yeah, developers drool over how fast it is. I mean, separate threads per tab! How great is that?
But, settle down for a second Chrome. Version 5, and you still don’t interpret XML? Aren’t you the guys that tell me the closest address to a one legged voodoo chiropractor, show me his home, and give me RSS feeds to all of his online accounts? Couldn’t you figure out a way to parse XML for our sake?
So Chrome has beaten most at loading Facebook, but Opera has sneaked onto mobile devices everywhere and even shows up on my Wii, whether I like it or not. I might be wooed by Chrome’s lean appeal, but frankly, when Firefox chokes on its last plugin and IE14 comes in to do what IE1 through 13 did not, I’m thinking I’ll check out the Norwegian guys.
Opera, you got moxie.
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2010/05/31/opera-faster-than-a-potato/
Pads abound
2010.06.01The iPad. It’s the slap bracelet of q2, 2010.
A great little piece from the Twitter whale lady!
Let’s take a look at it’s specs real quick like:
- Monthly bill (for quality AT&T service)
- No USB port (without adapter sold separately)
- No GPS or camera (two things that make the iPhone awesome)
- No multi-tasking (Windows 95 spoiled us)
- All apps must come through approved iTunes channel
- No Flash
- A few other honorable mentions
Bottom line, the iPad is a slick looking, highly sought after, questionably useful (useless) internet appliance. On the plus side, one has to applaud Apple for pushing the envelope. That’s something the other American tech companies don’t appear to be in the business of (with all of Microsoft’s chips seemingly in on XBox). Apple is good at making slick things. Look past the price tag and don’t examine beyond the surface, it’s a cool looking piece of high tech “stuff”.
Social Media: The Real Pull
2010.05.29
I find it amusing that in the last three years, Facebook has convinced people to divulge every piece of personal information – details like birthdays, spouse names and birth places, thing that we’re told not to share – in hopes of engaging in some fabulous social experiment with our high school friends. A few years into this great social experiment, and it’s finally got people concerned this faceless, multi-billion dollar corporation might be using their innocently volunteered blood types, child photos and family records for advertising purposes.
“When I listed my favorite Acapello groups, sports teams, bank routing and account numbers, the names of all my family members and how to build a dirty bomb from a home pregnancy test, I never though any of it would be used to target me with advertising! How sick!”
So Facebook now has to pump the breaks. Their head guy Mark Zuckerberg does a mea culpa and says they’ll make it easier to share less. But then, he expresses the Facebook anthem once again, that the core of this social media movement is people’s urge to share more info with the world, and that this core drive is what makes social media work, not secrecy.
This is quaint. I’m sure there’s a segment of the internet, fearless next-gener’s that don’t mind telling all their deepest to Google, Twitter and the wayback machine, but let’s be honest about what really makes Facebook work.
I Heart Dad
2010.05.21For most of my childhood, my Dad was just a stubborn, cantankerous, honorable, indesctructible hulk. Built large by 30 years of handling massive, cast iron machinery, George F. Kovats was always larger than most men, the kind you don’t aggrivate in a bar (unless you were an officer, packing a gun, or both). In my early adulthood, he started showing his mortality. It was bound to happen – he was born 1934, I was born 44 years later.
Dad was born a serious man, and by 50 most of his youthful personality traits were shadowed by the tough exterior of career machinist. There wasn’t a lot of running around the park with our Dad; if he didn’t lack the energy, he lacked the disposition. Though he’s had plenty of moments of “kibitzing” around the house, he generally wasn’t playful. We’ve always known him better as the disciplinarian – or as I addressed him during my military life, “The First Sergeant.”
I ran.
2010.05.15Prologue…
(feel free to skip)
I was a husky kid. Didn’t take to sports much, ate big meals, and was sort of over sized kid most my childhood – height and weight. So it wasn’t until I was 11 before I ran more than 1 block without stopping. Several years later, I ran more than a mile for the first time to enter the Marine Corp “poolie” program. Bootcamp is where I discovered that I’m not too bad at running, and my time in Arizona pushed me to the furthest limits I’d ever seen on the trail. 6 miles was a normal day, 4 was short. Our farewell PT with SSgt Pulling was 11 miles – and we had no idea which turn or stretch would be our last the entire way.
After the military, I just used running to balance out my beer drinking. Casual smoking made it tougher for 6 years, but that didn’t hold me back during drill weekends with the Naval Reserve in Ft. Meade. Some days I’d light up a cigarette as soon as I stepped off the track.
These days, as an out of shape father and proud overweight American…
…I don’t take much to running with regularity. My time is precious: morning routine, kids, work, dinner, kids, kids, bedtime routine, XBox / beer / DVR, sleep… repeat. The best efficiency experts in the world couldn’t wedge more into this schedule – it’s airtight! However, my hat is off to anyone that maintains a healthy exercise regimen. It’s downright admirable – moderately, but nevertheless worth admiration. Different strokes for different folks, right?
Environmentalism: the debate
2010.02.15It’s been cold lately, and when it’s cold, people pipe up against Al Gore as though he’d said "it will never be cold again."
But, to start from the beginning, it’s pretty well established those fumes pillowing out of coal stacks and tail pipes aren’t great for the environment. If you’re still not sold on this wild idea, take a look at Mexico City.
A serene look at one of the world's largest collections of vehicles.
So, it’s not a far stretch to consider if thousands of factories and millions of cars could turn the skylines of Mexico City, LA, or Shanghai into a brown haze, that the same pollutants could be bad for our climate. Doesn’t take a crack team of scientists to tell you noxious fumes are bad.
Which they did. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - both large groups of internationally recognized scientists – have both ruled human activities are causing surface temperatures to rise globally, and that an overall “global warming” is very likely.
So, if it strikes a chord with common sense, it’s backed by the scientific community, and it’s prevention helps keep our global home looking its greenest, who could possibly want to argue against the ill-effects of carbon pollution?
I heart Sarah
2010.02.11
Recently, I read SarahPAC raised over $2 million last year. What’s a SarahPAC? It’s basically the piggy bank Sarah Palin set up to fund a future political campaign, not to be confused with the Alaska Fund Trust, which is a piggy bank Sarah set up to pay for the legal fees defending her several scandals as Governor of Alaska.
Long story short, she had a few questionable firings in office, a few ethical complaints, and about half a million in legal debt. But, she showed courage and heart, and braved her way through the onslaught of evil politicians, changed the game, and now builds her fan base with regular spots on Fox News and $100,000 speaking engagements at Tea Party events.
She’s like Tina Turner, and the Liberal Media is Ike Turner. It’s exactly like that.
But, as much as I heart and admire Sarah, I have to say, Sarah, please don’t run for President in 2012. I care for you too much.
A yawn and fist shake at mainstream
2010.02.07Anna and I had a “date night” last night, and we decided to see an IMAX 3D screening of Avatar. This is about a month or so after it came out, so it’s already clear how good the movie is – people can’t stop raving about it, and to date has earned over $600 million dollars (that’s the GDP of a small country – in about 5 weeks).
The experience is phenomenal. The 3D is crisp, colors remain unaltered – it’s just incredible. It’s the closest I’ve ever seen to being in the scene itself. Of course the CG of the film is top caliber as well. There’s tons of moments where you lose track of what’s real and what’s animated. Facial expressions are so life like you often mistake the characters for actors in rubber suits.
In a nutshell, I can’t adequately describe how great the movie experience is. It’s two parts awesome to see a movie in that way, and awesome to see it with a movie like Avatar.
So what gets to me is the comment I’ve heard several times from various sources. “Avatar is just Dances with Wolves in Space.”