Tag: geek stuff

Categories
internets uncategorized

Cool and Useful Stuffs

Here’s a list of some cool and useful stuff i’ve compiled for Holly’s brother. I thought i’d share it here.

You never have to worry about spyware, adware, viruses, trojans, worms, or other malware, because i’ve already used this stuff, plus i only use apps and sites that are already well-known to be pretty friggin’ excellent. Every one of these sites and apps come with a solid reputation.

All of this stuff is 100% free, except for a few that you can optionally pay for, like Reaper (audio recording). Naturally, i do not recommend downloading pirated software or media content.

Awesome free stuff you have to have, or at least need to know about:

System utilities and just plain excellent basics

Cool, useful stuff for your desktop

Audio, video, media

  • Audacity (audio)
  • Reaper (audio)
  • foobar2000 (music)
  • VLC (media player)
    • http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
    • Great video player. Looks daunting, but all you have to do is play video or audio files. It’s one of the few that can open almost any file type. Can also convert, stream, save, etc.
  • GIMP (images)
    • http://www.gimp.org/
    • Like Photoshop, but a little scarier-looking. A couple of hours playing with it and you’ll get the hang of it. Powerful.
  • Irfanview (images)
  • DVDFlick (DVD authoring)
    • http://www.dvdflick.net/
    • Put your legally questionable downloaded movies on DVD with menus and everything! Not the best, but really easy to use.
  • uTorrent (downloading)
    • http://www.utorrent.com/
    • Download anything you want with this.
    • Best sites for searching are:
      • Obviously, use at your own risk. Read comments, look at details, and install anti-malware apps first. BTjunkie even has icons for # of ‘good/bad’ reports per torrent, so make sure to check them out.
        • You can use Peer Guardian to hide your IP address while you’re downloading legally questionable content. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
          • http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
  • TVersity (media center)
    • http://tversity.com/
    • Like Windows Media Center, but free and better. Download podcasts and videocasts and share your video across your home network.
    • If you have an Xbox or some other device for your TV, you can even watch your hard-drive movies/music/photos on TV. Super awesome.

Web sites that you will presently become completely, slobber-mouth addicted to, because they are awesome and will make you WIN.

  • Google Calendar
    • http://www.google.com/calendar/
    • You can even remind yourself of appointments via email or SMS to your mobile phone! You can also share calendar events and add other people’s events to yours.
  • Lifehacker
    • http://lifehacker.com/
    • Learn how to make life easier, cooler, better, and awesomer. Comes in many flavors, from real-world DIY projects to digital shortcuts
    • I really cannot say enough good about this site. Some of the best tips, tricks, and suggestions i’ve ever found for all areas of life, both digital and in meatspace.
    • Seriously. Wicked awesome.
  • Facebook
    • http://facebook.com/
    • Find old friends. Avoid others. Lots of dumb widgets, and you can “poke” people until their brains bleed. Annoying, but awesome too.
  • Picasa
  • Flickr
  • Gmail
  • Google Reader
  • Twitter
    • http://twitter.com/
    • Like a micro-sized blog. Send “tweets” from your cell phone or via web.
  • WordPress
  • Indeed
  • LinkedIn
  • Craigslist
  • BoingBoing
    • http://boingboing.net/
    • “A directory of wonderful things” – weird, cool stuff, plus news you might not hear about elsewhere.
  • Digg
    • http://digg.com/
    • Social news site. Most popular submitted stories rise to the top. Addictive, interesting, and easy.
  • last.fm
    • http://last.fm/
    • Social networking, music-style. Also download their desktop player. With that you can play music tagged with descriptive keywords. For fun, try typing in “unlistenable.”

If you’re ever looking for killer software (or a web site) that does ‘X, Y, and/or Z,’ just let me know and i’ll point you to something good, safe, fun, and useful.

My username is “transmothra” on most sites – if you run into me online be sure to say hello!

Find me on: jeremy jarratt.com | FaceBook | MySpace | MySpace music | LiveJournal | Flickr | Last.fm | LinkedIn | Jobster | Digg | Google Reader | Netflix | Twitter | YouTube | FriendFeed
Categories
uncategorized

Cool and Useful Stuffs

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. Please leave any comments there.

Here’s a list of some cool and useful stuff i’ve compiled for Holly’s brother. I thought i’d share it here.

You never have to worry about spyware, adware, viruses, trojans, worms, or other malware, because i’ve already used this stuff, plus i only use apps and sites that are already well-known to be pretty friggin’ excellent. Every one of these sites and apps come with a solid reputation.

All of this stuff is 100% free, except for a few that you can optionally pay for, like Reaper (audio recording). Naturally, i do not recommend downloading pirated software or media content.

Awesome free stuff you have to have, or at least need to know about:

System utilities and just plain excellent basics

Cool, useful stuff for your desktop

Audio, video, media

  • Audacity (audio)

  • Reaper (audio)

  • foobar2000 (music)

  • VLC (media player)

    • http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

    • Great video player. Looks daunting, but all you have to do is play video or audio files. It’s one of the few that can open almost any file type. Can also convert, stream, save, etc.

  • GIMP (images)

    • http://www.gimp.org/

    • Like Photoshop, but a little scarier-looking. A couple of hours playing with it and you’ll get the hang of it. Powerful.

  • Irfanview (images)

  • DVDFlick (DVD authoring)

    • http://www.dvdflick.net/

    • Put your legally questionable downloaded movies on DVD with menus and everything! Not the best, but really easy to use.

  • uTorrent (downloading)

    • http://www.utorrent.com/

    • Download anything you want with this.

    • Best sites for searching are:

      • Obviously, use at your own risk. Read comments, look at details, and install anti-malware apps first. BTjunkie even has icons for # of ‘good/bad’ reports per torrent, so make sure to check them out.

        • You can use Peer Guardian to hide your IP address while you’re downloading legally questionable content. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

  • TVersity (media center)

    • http://tversity.com/

    • Like Windows Media Center, but free and better. Download podcasts and videocasts and share your video across your home network.

    • If you have an Xbox or some other device for your TV, you can even watch your hard-drive movies/music/photos on TV. Super awesome.

Web sites that you will presently become completely, slobber-mouth addicted to, because they are awesome and will make you WIN.

  • Google Calendar

    • http://www.google.com/calendar/

    • You can even remind yourself of appointments via email or SMS to your mobile phone! You can also share calendar events and add other people’s events to yours.

  • Lifehacker

    • http://lifehacker.com/

    • Learn how to make life easier, cooler, better, and awesomer. Comes in many flavors, from real-world DIY projects to digital shortcuts

    • I really cannot say enough good about this site. Some of the best tips, tricks, and suggestions i’ve ever found for all areas of life, both digital and in meatspace.

    • Seriously. Wicked awesome.

  • Facebook

    • http://facebook.com/

    • Find old friends. Avoid others. Lots of dumb widgets, and you can “poke” people until their brains bleed. Annoying, but awesome too.

  • Picasa

  • Flickr

  • Gmail

  • Google Reader

  • Twitter

    • http://twitter.com/

    • Like a micro-sized blog. Send “tweets” from your cell phone or via web.

  • WordPress

  • Indeed

  • LinkedIn

  • Craigslist

  • BoingBoing

    • http://boingboing.net/

    • “A directory of wonderful things” – weird, cool stuff, plus news you might not hear about elsewhere.

  • Digg

    • http://digg.com/

    • Social news site. Most popular submitted stories rise to the top. Addictive, interesting, and easy.

  • last.fm

    • http://last.fm/

    • Social networking, music-style. Also download their desktop player. With that you can play music tagged with descriptive keywords. For fun, try typing in “unlistenable.”

If you’re ever looking for killer software (or a web site) that does ‘X, Y, and/or Z,’ just let me know and i’ll point you to something good, safe, fun, and useful.

My username is “transmothra” on most sites – if you run into me online be sure to say hello!

Find me on: jeremy jarratt.com | FaceBook | MySpace | MySpace music | LiveJournal | Flickr | Last.fm | LinkedIn | Jobster | Digg | Google Reader | Netflix | Twitter | YouTube | FriendFeed
Categories
creative uncategorized

Cincinnati, 2309

Here’s a new desktop wallpaper i made. You can use it.

In the year 2309, Earth's moon has been terraformed; New Cincinnati is depicted here as Earth looms large overhead. Sources: NASA, Wikimedia Commons: Derek Jensen (Tysto)
In the year 2309, Earth's moon has been terraformed; New Cincinnati is depicted here as Earth looms large overhead. Sources: NASA, Wikimedia Commons: Derek Jensen (Tysto)
Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Categories
uncategorized

Cincinnati, 2309

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Here’s a new desktop wallpaper i made. You can use it.

In the year 2309, Earth's moon has been terraformed; New Cincinnati is depicted here as Earth looms large overhead. Sources: NASA, Wikimedia Commons: Derek Jensen (Tysto)

In the year 2309, Earth's moon has been terraformed; New Cincinnati is depicted here as Earth looms large overhead. Sources: NASA, Wikimedia Commons: Derek Jensen (Tysto)

Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Categories
current events internets media memories

Revision3 bites it.

Martin Sargent (from Unscrewed, Infected, Web Drifter and Internet Superstar, also formerly of TechTV’s The Screen Savers) and Sarah Lane (from popSiren, also formerly of The Screen Savers and later on Attack of the Show) have been canned by evil Revision3 execs, along with their respective shows. Several others were also let go. (Here’s Martin’s heartbreaking Tweet.)

Revision3 just went down to Revision2 in my book, and maybe not even that. Those shows had a lot of heart, a lot of soul. I loved Martin’s shows, and popSiren has no doubt influenced a generation of young women to take up careers in technology, geekology, or to otherwise become visionaries like the bold, talented, and fun women on that show. It’s a sad, sad day for Internets.

But hey – Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht still get to giggle hysterically while drunk and looking at Kevin’s ATM.

For my own records, here are some comments/posts i’ve made about this tragic malarky, most of which are just ranting and whining about this crappy, crappy turn. You can skip them, i just want to go back and see if anyone wants to fight me or anything.

http://revision3.com/forum/showpost.php?p=454311&postcount=13

http://revision3.com/blog/2008/10/27/changes-to-revision3/#comment-10623

http://blog.sarahlane.com/2008/10/look-ma-im-a-fr.html#comments (moderated)

http://louderback.com/2008/help-im-infatuated-with-my-fable-2-avatar/#comments

Categories
uncategorized

Revision3 bites it.

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Martin Sargent (from Unscrewed, Infected, Web Drifter and Internet Superstar, also formerly of TechTV’s The Screen Savers) and Sarah Lane (from popSiren, also formerly of The Screen Savers and later on Attack of the Show) have been canned by evil Revision3 execs, along with their respective shows. Several others were also let go. (Here’s Martin’s heartbreaking Tweet.)

Revision3 just went down to Revision2 in my book, and maybe not even that. Those shows had a lot of heart, a lot of soul. I loved Martin’s shows, and popSiren has no doubt influenced a generation of young women to take up careers in technology, geekology, or to otherwise become visionaries like the bold, talented, and fun women on that show. It’s a sad, sad day for Internets.

But hey – Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht still get to giggle hysterically while drunk and looking at Kevin’s ATM.

For my own records, here are some comments/posts i’ve made about this tragic malarky, most of which are just ranting and whining about this crappy, crappy turn. You can skip them, i just want to go back and see if anyone wants to fight me or anything.

http://revision3.com/forum/showpost.php?p=454311&postcount=13

http://revision3.com/blog/2008/10/27/changes-to-revision3/#comment-10623

http://blog.sarahlane.com/2008/10/look-ma-im-a-fr.html#comments (moderated)

http://louderback.com/2008/help-im-infatuated-with-my-fable-2-avatar/#comments

Categories
internets

Accessibility rules!

Want an argument for accessibility?

Here you go! (via Ma.tt)

 

Uber-cool Glenda Watson Hyatt, aka the Left Thumb Blogger, shares her perspective on how WordPress has improved her ability to communicate effectively on the internets.

Whether you are 100% able-bodied or not, accessibility is important. Because no matter who you are, the future is coming. Some day many of us may have devices assisting us, whether we need them or not, and completely removing all barriers between humans and machines will be an important first step in enabling us to proliferate on the digital grid – on a truly level playing field.

I’ve committed to making my upcoming theme be as accessible as possible. You should too, especially if you want to meet the Future head-on. Keeping all variants of humanity and machinery in mind when designing user interfaces of any kind will be important there.

Categories
uncategorized

Accessibility rules!

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Want an argument for accessibility?

Here you go! (via Ma.tt)

Uber-cool Glenda Watson Hyatt, aka the Left Thumb Blogger, shares her perspective on how WordPress has improved her ability to communicate effectively on the internets.

Whether you are 100% able-bodied or not, accessibility is important. Because no matter who you are, the future is coming. Some day many of us may have devices assisting us, whether we need them or not, and completely removing all barriers between humans and machines will be an important first step in enabling us to proliferate on the digital grid – on a truly level playing field.

I’ve committed to making my upcoming theme be as accessible as possible. You should too, especially if you want to meet the Future head-on. Keeping all variants of humanity and machinery in mind when designing user interfaces of any kind will be important there.

Categories
creative internets uncategorized web design

CSS tricks: Styling parent elements with :hover

[EDIT: this site no longer supports the features described in this article. Sorry.]

You may have noticed in my sidebar that there are a few elements which are nested in an obvious hierarchical order. For example, at the time of this writing, i have a list of books which i am either reading, planning to read, or have already read, listed under the “now reading” heading.

You may also have noticed that the heading for each of these menu items is highlighted whenever you hover your cursor (pointer) over it.

What you may not have noticed is that the headings for these items’ parent elements is also highlighted when its descendant is hovered over. In other words, when you hover over the “planned books,” “current books,” or “recent books” list, the parent element, “now reading,” is highlighted as well.

(If you’re still not sure just what the hell i’m talking about, check out the demo first, and then come back.)

This is a cool trick that you rarely ever see on the internets, and it’s remarkably simple to do. You don’t need no fancy JavaScripting to do it, either! No server- or client-side scripts are used at all, just good old CSS, and a properly nested hierarchy of elements.

Continue reading “CSS tricks: Styling parent elements with :hover”
Categories
uncategorized

CSS tricks: Styling parent elements with :hover

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

[EDIT: this site no longer supports the features described in this article. Sorry.]

You may have noticed in my sidebar that there are a few elements which are nested in an obvious hierarchical order. For example, at the time of this writing, i have a list of books which i am either reading, planning to read, or have already read, listed under the “now reading” heading.

You may also have noticed that the heading for each of these menu items is highlighted whenever you hover your cursor (pointer) over it.

What you may not have noticed is that the headings for these items’ parent elements is also highlighted when its descendant is hovered over. In other words, when you hover over the “planned books,” “current books,” or “recent books” list, the parent element, “now reading,” is highlighted as well.

(If you’re still not sure just what the hell i’m talking about, check out the demo first, and then come back.)

This is a cool trick that you rarely ever see on the internets, and it’s remarkably simple to do. You don’t need no fancy JavaScripting to do it, either! No server- or client-side scripts are used at all, just good old CSS, and a properly nested hierarchy of elements.

First, create a nested list, with headings. For example:

<ol>
 <li>
 <h1>text</h1>
 <h2>more text</h2>
 <ol>
 <li>
 <h3>subtext1</h3>
 </li>
 <li>
 <h3>subtext2</h3>
 <ol>
 <li>
 <h4>subtext2.1</h4>
 </li>
 <li>
 <h4>subtext2.2</h4>
 </li>
 </ol>
 </li>
 <li>
 <h3>subtext</h3>
 </li>
 </ol>
 </li>
 <li>
 <h2>text again</h2>
 </li>
 </ol>

Now create the following style rules:

li:hover>h2, /* matches the H2 element when its parent list-item is hovered over */ li:hover>h3, li:hover>h4, li:hover>h5
 {
 background: #000;
 color: #fed;
 }

(Note that the H1 element is not styled and thus does not actually participate in any fancy hover effects.)

Now save your page and test it out. You can adapt this technique to work with just about any set of nested elements. (Just make sure your nest validates!)

See the demo

Categories
current events uncategorized

unholy thing

Oh my god. This creepy, unthinking mechanical thing is the precursor to the terrible things that will replace us. I, for one, welcome them with open arms.

Categories
internets uncategorized

¡¡noʎ dı1ɟ

.pı1 ɹnoʎ dı1ɟ 11ıʍ ʇɐɥʇ ǝbɐd ssɐ-1ooɔ ɐ s,ǝɹǝɥ

Categories
internets uncategorized web design

IE6 users

I am aware of a problem with viewing this site through the narrow and unrefined lens of IE6. I have a fix for it in mind and will implement it as soon as we are done moving and settled in.

For now, why not get the juicy taste of the Twenty First Century in your mouth with a shiny new web browser? They’re Box Modelicious!

Firefox | Opera | IE7 | Safari

Categories
internets uncategorized

Spock rockin’ the Bad Brains

Greatest video ever: mashup of Leonard Nimoy’s infamous “Bilbo Baggins” video with hardcore legends Bad Brains’ awesome song “Pay To Cum”. Grok this:

[youtube]rqQtoMyi2xQ[/youtube]
Categories
media uncategorized

Gaius Baltar = Jesus???

Is it me, or are they deliberately trying to slowly reveal Gaius Baltar as some sort of twisted, ironic Jesus figure on the new Battlestar Galactica?

If true, it’s pure, sick genius.

If false, thank the gods for lifting the crushing weight of that overly hackneyed analogy from our collective shoulders.
Gaius Baltar as "Evil Jesus"

Categories
current events uncategorized

RIP RAW

Farewell, Robert Anton Wilson. You were there when we needed you, and left behind an arsenal of hilarious and unsettling tools with which to battle the enemies of free thought. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hail Eris; all hail Discordia. Praise Dobbs. Ramen.

Categories
creative internets uncategorized web design

Big Urgent Tweak Test

Look out for my B.U.T.T.! I’ve just finished uploading some tweaks to make the Big Urgent Wish theme a little nicer. Please, as always, wear your helmets, and let me know if anything falls on your head. I could always use a good laugh.

I hope to have a sanitized version available soon.

Categories
internets media uncategorized

Spore

Will Wright is an incredible genius! The man behind the “Sim” games, his new game, Spore, is most definitely going to be the most amazing and mind-blowing game ever created. It will be a very, very, very long time before anybody ever tops this one. Watch the entire video to get a sense of the sheer godawful scope of this gargantuan thing. Mere words simply cannot do it justice.

[googlevideo]8372603330420559198[/googlevideo]
Categories
creative internets uncategorized web design

Big Urgent Garbage Hunt

The B.U.G. hunt is on! See if you can find all the problems with my new layout… I’ve already identified the ugly 3rd-tier dropdown menu thing on the navbar at the top, but I haven’t had much time yet to test everything out. fixed Later tonight I’ll tweak it and try to get it to behave itself a little better. Please post your comments here (be sure to include your OS/browser). And thanks!

(Things are bound to be a little on the messy side for a few days while I convert this thing over to the new theme.)

EDIT: Yikes! Single posts & pages are also totally unstyled! fixed

Categories
CDs media memories uncategorized

Grooves

Here’s one thing that I actually miss about vinyl records: you could actually look at the record itself and know instantly* which tracks were the interludes and which were the opuses. When will files on a computer be able to do that?

 

* yes, I know you can see it on CD, but you have to look really hard and close and squint a lot. That’s no fun!