Harv’s World

Hey look! It’s Chrome. By Google.

Google today launched a new open source browser. I first saw this on the Vista x64 forums here. Apparently, the idea is to take the best of the browsers, leave out the worst and make a browser with the intent to run all the rich media apps out there now “and in the future”. Here’s a snippet from that forum post:

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

If you’re curious, check the Chrome features here. Some neat stuff includes the address bar “type as you go” feature, which looks a lot like Firefox’s magic bar… which I LOVE btw… You can see a short youtube clip of each feature in use at that link.

Currently available as a beta for windows users only. I like the fact that its open source. That means you can customize it as you like, or easily find plugins, mods, customizations, etc. I’m not sure how I feel about yet *another* browser out there that I have to code for, but they all (fortunately) seem to be heading more towards compliance with W3C standards.

I also wonder if this is a precursor to Google’s Android OS for cell phones. I admit it would be very handy to code for just one browser (Chrome) and not care whether or not it is a desktop computer or a mini cell phone.

I might try this on one of my computers, but probably not till the weekend at the earliest. If I do, I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes.

UPDATE: I did a little bit more poking around. There’s a link here to the official Google Blog which has (I think) the same info as was in that forum post. Also, there’s a cartoon (!!!) describing in layman’s terms (and pictures) the what, why and how.

Some things I found pretty interesting:

• The tabs each run in their own process (not just multiple threads). Within each process there are multiple threads for rendering HTML, javascript, etc.
• There is a “incognito” window where anything you do in that browser is not recorded.
• A new javascript engine is supposed to be VERY fast. And, since it runs in it’s own thread, your browser doesn’t lock up waiting for the script to finish (very handy).
• There is a list of malware and phishing sites downloaded daily. So if you try and goto a page that is in that list, you get a warning.

You can’t say Michael Bay doesn’t like explosions. Via AICN, here’s a link to a video of a scene from the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. I’d embed it here, but there is a little bit of foul language at the beginning.

First up today is the trailer for the upcoming Max Payne movie on Yahoo! Video. For those that may not remember, Max Payne was a pretty good FPS (with an over the shoulder camera view) game from several years ago. The graphics were top notch for the time with a Frank Miller-esque feel to it, and I remember a mod that you could install that let you dress the character like Neo from the Matrix (you know that trenchcoat/cape thing he wore).

There were several new gimics at the time like wielding dual pistols and “bullet time” which was like an in-game super slo-mo. It looks like there is at least one sequence in the trailer featuring bullet time. I don’t really remember much of the plot, maybe Lil Brother can chime in on that, other than he was (is?) a cop who had his wife (& kids?) murdered so he’s in a really dark and depressed state. Mark Wahlberg plays Max Payne, which will either be great… or awful. Also starring Mila Kunis (with a machine gun no less), Ludacris and… Beau Bridges? Check the trailer, it’s in theathers October 17th.

Next up, how to paint the Mona Lisa in 80milliseconds. All you need is a lot of pipe, a lot of paint, a lot of compressed air, and probably some math skills. The guys from Mythbusters demonstrate the difference between graphics being drawn by a CPU (like intel says is the best way) vs graphics being drawn by a GPU (like Nvidia says is the best way). I think Nvidia wins…

If you want to see the full demo (i recommend it) see the first part here, and the second part here.

David Duchovny enters rehab for sex addiction. I don’t really care, but the photo they used in the article is FUNNY.

Quick, somebody neuter these people. At some point, we must prevent stupid people from breeding, otherwise they’re going to take over the world.

Now, stupid idea #1 is “let’s light a big rock on fire [with gasoline] and skate down it”. Then this was improved upon by “Let’s poor more gas on it”. Then in a rare moment of genius usually reserved for people who like to poke at bears through a fence the idea of “Let’s light YOU on fire while you skate down a rock that’s also on fire!”

Funniest part of the skit was his little fruity buddy (not that theres anything wrong with that) chasing him with a bottle of water. Then when he finally catches up to him, he tries to take off his pants and lay down on his legs.

Skater Catches Fire

I know I’ve posted some really geeky or nerdy or techie stuff in the past… but this takes the cake. It’s LINGUISTIC geek/nerd/tech stuff. Really, it’s a fascinating read if you’re at all interested in the evolution of language. And even if you aren’t just skim it a bit, and see the good stuff near the bottom.

FUTURESE - The American Language in 3000 AD

A few notable tidbits in there that *I* found interesting was the article’s mention of sci-fi and fantasy authors who have invented some form (or another) of speech either in the future or just plain made it up. Tolkien was the first to come to mind since he made up several langauges for his Hobbit and Ring books. Also mentioned are authors like Heinlen and Herbert who used english for the most part and threw in a few words that could be a derivative of words in use today.

The writer guesses what English will sound like in 2100AD, 2400AD, 2700AD and 3000 AD.

Sorry I’ve been away folks. Been working on a big PROJECT. And no it’s not the DC Critic thing, although that is also trying to get established. It’s all hush-hush for now, but as SOON as I can tell ya’ll I will. Needless to say, if it works out, you will say “Harvey, you’re going to do WHAT?!?!?!”

If you wanna skip to the funny stuff, just scroll down a bit…

Let me catch you up on a few things. I’ve been ordering parts for lil brother for a new computer for him. After he’s done, if he overclocks it right, it will be -f a s t e r- than mine *gasp*! I know, I know, shocking. It’s OK though, his lead will be shortlived, maybe lasting six months or so. I’ve been shopping around for the better part of a month buying little bits n pieces and the last few parts got ordered last night. The general specs are an Intel Q6600, 4GB of RAM, Nvidia 9600GT for video, on of the Western Digital 640GB HDDs I <3 so much, a spare 250GB drive I had lying around, a Corsair PSU, all attached to a Gigabyte motherboard and stuffed into an Antec Three Hundred case. The goal was as much performance as possible, for as cheap as possible, as quietly and efficiently as possible. If all goes as planned, he’ll be able to sleep in the same room as the computer (not that he has a choice there) without noticing that its on, yet he’ll be able to edit his videos in record time. Oh, and play a video game too.

In the meantime, I am having to take sedatives in order to prevent myself from ordering new equipment. The new quad cores Q9450 and Q9550 are so VERY tempting. They offer about 10-15% improvement in performance and an equal amount of power savings. The only problem is they aren’t FREE. Also, right around the corner is Intel’s newest lineup of chips based on the Nehalem core. If you haven’t heard about this, they will start out with 4 cores (like the current quad cores), but they are brining sexy, er, HYPER-THREADING back. Which means those 4 cores will act like EIGHT cores. Gawd. My problem is not only do I have to buy this new processor, but I’ll also need a new motherboard, which means new RAM as well. And the price of DDR3 RAM is outrageous compared to DDR2. So that upgrade may have to wait a good while.

Now, as a reward for both of my readers putting up with all the techie talk, here’s a link for the new Fast and Furious trailer. [Note: it's not The Fast and The Furious anymore]

Death Star over San Francisco. Is it real? I wonder…

Here’s what happens when you cry “Wolf” once too many times. I wonder what the current day response to this problem would be?

I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Some guy walks up to his car to find some moron PAINTING it, and understandably get a little, um… upset. Hidden Camera Prank Goes Bad.

Interesting post I found via Reddit today. The Faces Behind the Voices by A little bit of everything

Kinda cool how some of the faces look just like what you’d think they would look like in real life. I mean, Brittany Murphy as Luanne on King of the Hill? How appropriate

The guy that played HAL 9000 was interesting. I’m not sure what I thought he’d look like, but somehow I’m not surprised. He has that kind of American Beauty “normal guy who went kinda nuts” look.

All those stories about the Chinese gymnasts who may be underage just might be true after all. I really haven’t paid much attention to it, because frankly, people are ALWAYS looking for a conspiracy. They’re always looking to say “S/he can’t be that good, s/he must on on steroids/younger/older/shorter/taller/fatter/thinner than they say they are!” I call those people “haters”.

Remember all the brujaja with Freddy Adu’s age? That he was really a 37 yeard old former construction worker “pretending” to be a 14 year old. Yeah. Um, OK. I never understood that one. Pretending to be “younger” than he is meant he had to wait on a huge payday with a european team until he turned 18 years old. Not very advantageous if you ask me.

Anyway, a blogger by the name of Stryde Hax writes about his efforts to find info through Google of all places. Every time he found a lead, it would disappear. His greater point isn’t so much about whether or not a gymnast is or isn’t of age. His point is governements purposely hiding information from the general population. And if you think about it, it’s kinda creepy to think someone could just “erase” you…

Here’s the link to Olympic Hacking Part II - Let’s go for the Gold

I wish the cure for this fever was as simple as more cowbell. Alas, I am plagued by… TECHNOLOGY.

Why? [Ahem...] WHY?!?! Do they have to keep improving technology? Why does it have to be cooler, faster, smaller, and SHINIER!

[Reader Beware! Massive Geekspeak follows after the break...]

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