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Links for Nerds (like you)

Quality links for those interested in the nerdier side of life / development:

• CISNKY - if content is king then CISNKY ranks way up there. I spent a good amount of time yesterday browsing through pages and pages of goodness related to Flash player updates, various firmware updates and other amusing goodies. Like this Google Monopoly Board.
• List of 22 Actionscript 3.0 API's - some nice libraries to be found here if you're into that sort of thing.
• PNG Thing: PNG Optimizer - might not shave a ton of filesize off your PNG's but every little bit counts and tends to add up over time. So if bandwidth is a concern, give it a go.

Geographic North

Despite the fact that "Giving Music Away For Free" is the new burgeoning business model for artists there are a few people rolling back to prior methods and implementation. Geographic North is a record label that offers a subscription service; a subscription to receive a limited edition 7" during a 6-month release process. Kevin Byrd describes it better than I could:

As a subscriber, you can expect a multi-colored record each month by mail, wrapped with astute graphic design. Only 300 are produced. Amongst a frenzy of internet hyper-sharing, limited edition runs of physical media give music collectors something in return for their cash: a beautifully-crafted thing you can hold.

I've seen this sort of thing done before and I respected it then as I do now.

Firefox 3 Arrives

So, after many "Server Unavailable" messages, the latest Firefox version is officially released. I can't speak for how it is on a PC but the Mac version certainly opens a lot faster and, on the whole, seems to render pages a lot quicker than before. Deep down, that's really all that matters. I have a few gripes about the newer version (see below) but I am willing to bet that over time they will either get officially fixed with patches or someone will release an Add-On that takes care of the issue. Speaking of...

• "Awesome Toolbar" - their name, not mine. The new address bar functionality is far from awesome. Whatever algorithm they are using to determine predictive results is incredibly awful and, more importantly, looks terrible. I get what they were going for (making the Address Bar more functional for the lowest common denominator web browser user) but it erks me to no end that I can't turn it off and roll back to the previous functionality. Even more aggravating after reading this in which they intentionally removed the option to switch it on and off and it only saved them 6 lines of code! Supposedly there is an Add-On that rolls back to a somewhat similar looking functionality but it doesn't actually work if you attempt to install it. This is, obviously, my biggest gripe.. and I'll stand by it being quite a doozy.
• Default skin is gross. Not that I expect Mozilla to have the design skills to match Apple or anything but the enormous Back button is hideous. Fortunately "Use Small Icons" seems to make things better.
• Hard returns in a rich text editor scroll the entire browser window. This one is hard to explain but I've had it happen a number of times. Very lame.
• Some pages that used to render just fine are now completely illogical. Granted, this may be due to a stricter adherence to standards but c'mon.. don't make the web worse!

That last one sounds pretty huge but it's really only happened once or twice as far as I can tell. I welcome Firefox 3 becoming a new standard (assuming it's javascript support is up to par, haven't tested that yet) but I hope they get some of these kinks worked out quickly.

You've Been Left Behind...

I wanted to write up a hilariously snarky post about You've Been Left Behind but the fact that it even exists and that they may actually be making some money is so depressing that I can't bring myself to find the wit. They offer a "post-Rapture" service that allows you to communicate with your loved ones once the Earth has been annihilated and only the heathens are left behind. Sure it makes for a great movie starring Kirk Cameron but once it turns into a subscription based website it's crossing the line of exploitation.

File Under: Never Thought I'd See The Day

Some things defy description:

• Engineered bacteria become the first living computers
• Denny's 'Adopts' Bands - basically a sponsorship that results in free meals for touring bands in exchange for mentioning Denny's on their blogs. Even stranger - they have 4 high profile acts that will get to create their own menu items.
• Kasparov silenced by unidentified flying penis - you really have to see the video to fully comprehend this one.

Josh Smith Portfolio

I realized recently that I've been seriously remiss about posting worthwhile design sites / portfolios. That's mostly due to the fact that I don't really see that many that grab me enough to share with anyone. However, the site for Josh Smith Portfolio really caught my eye - as it's a Flash-like execution using all HTML / Javascript. Not only does this make it 300x better for SEO compatibility but, from a nerd perspective, it's just that much more impressive. I'd love to see SWFAddress implemented for easy to find permanent URL's on everything but aside from that, no complaints. It's a fun site to browse around on and a pretty good bit of work to look at as well.

Movie Roundup: Sita Sings The Blues

I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of Sita Sings the Blues last week and it's just sinking in now how fantastic it was. Basically it's an animated retelling of the Indian Ramayana (think: The Odyssey) through a multitude of animation styles and 1920's jazz. That description sounds pretentious but it's the farthest thing from it. The narration was hilarious, the quality of animation never faltered no matter what the style and the songs were the most incredible fit - astonishing that a jazz song from the 1920's would match exactly with a story from ~500 BC.

Apparently the film is a bit controversial in India because the powers that be don't like that a white woman is giving her take on one of their sacred tales (understandable) but I'm guessing they haven't actually seen it.

Watch trailer and then check out this clip depicting The Battle of Lanka.

Something about Muxtape

Has the hype over Muxtape turned into backlash yet? I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I ran across a few Muxtape related items that I found amusing / interesting that I think you should all be aware of:

• Muxtape Downloader - first off, I am not condoning using this because it will essentially get the ole Muxtape crew in quite a bit of trouble. Secondly, it doesn't actually work because, as you can see in the comments, Muxtape founder Justin is actively enforcing new tactics to make it inaccessible. I find the back and forth between the developer and the greasemonkey scripters quite amusing.
• Muxtape Coverflow - kind of an neat way to view the homepage mixes in a Coverflow style view but does require a 3rd party app.
• THEKLF Muxtape - I implore you to listen to Track 2 on this mix. Please! It's the most absurd track I've encountered in awhile and I can't imagine a grown adult listening to something so ridiculous.
• 54 Muxtape - Zach sent me this one and recommends using it as a soundtrack to your travels around town. I tend to agree as long as a cape and cane of some sort is involved. The "Layla" cover is pretty great and entirely sincere.

So when does Muxtape get tied into Last.FM scrobbling? I imagine that is on the way...

Indecision 2008

So, the Daily Show did a little piece on Barack Obama's recent comments in Pennsylvania regarding elitism. Honestly, I can see them as functioning as a rather harmful audio snippet against his whole campaign but Jon Stewart and crew shed some light on the larger issue at hand. Are Presidential candidates elitist? Absolutely! I've often thought about the fact that running for President means that you're a total egomaniac who believes their ideas are the best. That isn't to say they are terrible people but certainly a different mindset than the majority of us.

I do find it interesting that Barack will probably have to seriously step up to the plate to defend those comments while Hillary comes out and openly admits that she lied about her recent comments on her experience in Bosnia. Yet she's not catching serious flack for openly lying and saying "oh yea, sorry about that."

Overall, politics are exhausting to keep up with and include a huge amount of ridiculousness - fortunately places like The Daily Show help to expose that absurdity. Via Zea.

Super Mario Javascript

I don't expect anyone but a fellow nerd to appreciate this one but the fact that Super Mario Brothers can now be, mostly, recreated entirely with Javascript is absolutely impressive to me. It actually seems to play smoother than the original - though not quite as fun. Regardless, the code is legit as far as I can tell but once you hit the Sprite Data I'm pretty baffled.

Visual Tricks

Despite never having a subscription to MAD Magazine I can remember plenty of occasions where I picked it up at the grocery store and folded the hell out of the back cover to reveal the secret image contained within. Now the NY Times has gone and digitized every fold-in from the 1960's to the present done by artist Al Jaffee. I could spend all day doing this... This collection of Two-way pictures is comprised of a bunch of 19th century woodblock prints that can be viewed rightside-up or upside-down. Links courtesy of Chad Pugh.