Looks like the rumors from several years ago were pretty accurate; Google just released a new browser named Chrome that they have apparently been working on for several years. This thing has been in the rumor mill for ages but it was kept so closely guarded that no one but a select (very) few even knew the project existed. There's been several dozen reviews/ criticisms written on the browser and it's features, namely Incognito (a.k.a. porno) Mode where no history or cookies will be recorded for that window, the new super-duper awesome V8 Javascript Engine that multiplies the JavaScript performance of websites through this browser, and it's speed both in page and javascript rendering. So many articles that I felt it worthless to write anything like that myself so I decided to link to what I found to be the most interesting ones here so you can check those out.

http://www.uncontrol.com/ - Algorithmic art at it's finest. I found this through a link to "#55 - Clock" but have found any other one I click on is just as fascinating. Best of all they graciously open sourced these projects and provide them for download.

http://www.firerift.com/ - Who knew a CMS could have such a cool commercial? Looks like a promising alternative, it's coming very soon so we'll see if it can live up to that commercial.

http://photosynth.net/ - I'm sure many of you are familiar with this 3D photo offering from Microsoft, I remember being wowed by it a long while ago. But it just got better, they've opened it up to the public so now anyone can register and upload photos that can ultimately be shared with those of someone else. Can't wait to see what monuments are made 'synthy'.

http://fallingsandgame.com/sand/fall1.html - Not much for inspiration but it's an awesome way to get away for a few minutes and clear your head. Deceptively simple game with no real point but still manages to be extremely fun.

Maybe it’s the programmer in me that feels for them but it’s such an impossibly huge task to follow up the (i’m assuming) largest most used program ever with something even better. I don’t care how big the teams are that develop it, there’s bound to be mistakes, it’s how those mistakes are rectified that matters to me. So the next time you talk down Vista because it takes a few seconds longer to boot or something doesn’t run right, try to put yourself in their shoes and be a little more understanding, or switch back to XP or Linux. Either way quit blogging about it, I’m sick of reading about how disappointed/angry/frustrated people are with Vista when there’s no shortage of alternatives.

Getting back on topic, I recently read an article about a relatively new company called 23 and Me. It’s a web based company that provides people with a way to map and understand their DNA. One of the most intriguing ways they do that is through what they call an Odds Calculator, it combines your genetic information, age and ethnicity to determine your risk for certain conditions such as diabetes and certain types of cancer. All in all it’s still a field in it’s infancy but I think this is a huge leap forward for individualized medicine. I can’t help but love their slogan ‘genetics just got personal.’ and their website is fantastic.  It’s well organized and shares a lot of what you’ll get with their service in layman’s terms with some helpful graphics. But for $1000 a pop it’s a luxury that many can’t afford…yet.

.js .asa .css .cs .config .inc .txt .as .asc .asr .vb

and now it’s…

.js .asa .css .cs .config .inc .txt .as .asc .asr .vb .ini .htaccess

That’s it! You can add any other file types you want Dreamweaver to open from here too. No more notepad for htaccess edits!

I’ve been using the Joomla! Content Management System since before it was even called Joomla! back in the day when it was Mambo. It was the first and what ended up being the only Content Management System that I’ve used. So, it should go without saying that I was happy with it as a CMS solution. What I didn’t realize was that the Developer team had some high hopes and wild aspirations for a new release they call Joomla 1.5.  The beta for this release has been around for months now while it was developed and bug-tested but I never used it because I usually need it for client websites and wanted the stability of a more mature release.  So last week when I saw that it was finally released as a stable package I couldn’t wait to install and try it out.

I have to admit that I was amazed at how much it changed (all for the better trust me). I can totally tell that the whole thing was rewritten for ease of use and manageability, I’ve already coded 2 websites with the new version and it was a snap to get up and running. All the pages easily validate to XHTML standards. It’s a wonder to me why they’re calling it 1.5, with the wealth of changes and updates I would have called it at least 2.0. Gone are the days of two WYSIWYG editors per article, gone are the separate classifications of articles and static pages and best of all, gone are the days of needing endless add-ons and modifications to make it work the way you think it should. Two such modifications that come to mind, first is the Search Engine Friendly URLs, it’s completely built in now and better than any add-ons I’ve seen for the 1.0.x release. Second are the WYSIWYG editors I used to have to add, with the improved media manager there’s really no need for it anymore.

All in all I’d have to say that this has been a huge success for the Joomla! team, it’s an amazing achievement made even better. Joomla is definitely one of the best open source  free applications I’ve had the pleasure of using.  Go check it out if you haven’t already!

1. Download this AI and PSD Windows Preview Files zip.
2. Shut down all Adobe programs.
3. Set a “System Restore Point” just in case something goes wrong, it’s an option located in your control panel.
4. Unzip the file to C:/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Shell. You’ll see four files and a readme, you can delete the readme if you want.
5. Double click on ‘aiicon.dll.reg’ and ‘psicon.dll.reg’ to run them. These files will automatically update your registry settings so you don’t have to go about trying it yourself.
6. Restart your computer to let these changes take effect.