Thursday, February 9, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Google+
What is Google+?
In case you have not heard Google has unveiled a social networking service. This has been done in the past with Orkut but it didn't seem to really take off. But now it seems that Google is taking off the gloves and going all out. I got an invite from a friend to join this early preview and so far I am loving it. One of the things I noticed is that it looks similar to Facebook. If you look at the main page when you log in and you are a facebook user you will already have a feel for Google+.
One of the features that separate Google+ from Facebook are "Circles". Groups of friends that you can specify content for. Facebook has a group feature but to me its pretty cumbersome. While Facebook seems to try to share with everyone it seems that Google+ was built from the ground up with sharing with separate people in mind. For example at the start you have a few circles as well as the ability to make custom ones. Two of them are "Friends" and "Acquaintances". Its obvious what they are used for. You can set friends to see all of your content and people who you just added online for the hell of it can be in the acquaintances circle. And you can set restrictions on what they see. As well as sending posts specificity to each group.
Now Google+ is still pretty barren. There are no games. No groups except the ones you and your friends create. No annoying requests for stupid apps. Nothing. Which is actually pretty refreshing. Its nice to have a clean social networking experience again. Like how Facebook started. Now its so clogged up with garbage its not even fun any more. "NO I DON'T WANT TO GO TO LITTLE TIMMY'S RETARDED FARM!!" I would constantly think to myself every time I got one of those ever so annoying requests. Or having to go though my news feed and have fifty different posts from apps that I don't give a damn about separating me from the stuff I do care about. My friends. Now I hope Google can keep this as clean as it is. Or at least make those apps and requests easier to manage. Or have the ability to ignore all of them and never see one. Head to the link below and sign up for an invite when it opens up. Or if your lucky they will send you one early.
Links:
Google+
EOF
In case you have not heard Google has unveiled a social networking service. This has been done in the past with Orkut but it didn't seem to really take off. But now it seems that Google is taking off the gloves and going all out. I got an invite from a friend to join this early preview and so far I am loving it. One of the things I noticed is that it looks similar to Facebook. If you look at the main page when you log in and you are a facebook user you will already have a feel for Google+.
One of the features that separate Google+ from Facebook are "Circles". Groups of friends that you can specify content for. Facebook has a group feature but to me its pretty cumbersome. While Facebook seems to try to share with everyone it seems that Google+ was built from the ground up with sharing with separate people in mind. For example at the start you have a few circles as well as the ability to make custom ones. Two of them are "Friends" and "Acquaintances". Its obvious what they are used for. You can set friends to see all of your content and people who you just added online for the hell of it can be in the acquaintances circle. And you can set restrictions on what they see. As well as sending posts specificity to each group.
Now Google+ is still pretty barren. There are no games. No groups except the ones you and your friends create. No annoying requests for stupid apps. Nothing. Which is actually pretty refreshing. Its nice to have a clean social networking experience again. Like how Facebook started. Now its so clogged up with garbage its not even fun any more. "NO I DON'T WANT TO GO TO LITTLE TIMMY'S RETARDED FARM!!" I would constantly think to myself every time I got one of those ever so annoying requests. Or having to go though my news feed and have fifty different posts from apps that I don't give a damn about separating me from the stuff I do care about. My friends. Now I hope Google can keep this as clean as it is. Or at least make those apps and requests easier to manage. Or have the ability to ignore all of them and never see one. Head to the link below and sign up for an invite when it opens up. Or if your lucky they will send you one early.
Links:
Google+
EOF
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Browser Popup Blockers
When Did They Stop Working?
I don't know about you. But I remember the browsers of today when they where just barley starting to get awesome. I remember when I first found out about Firefox's and Opera's tabs. And how much more feature packed and stable they where then Internet Explorer. Which at the time was really the only browser Windows users used other than Netscape. Which was quite popular. But not nearly as much as IE.
But one of the biggest features for me was the popup blockers that where built into these third party browsers. They did a great job of blocking popups. Pretty much any popup was blocked. And you had to authorize them one by one. And you could set certain sites to allow all popups. That feature is still in today but they don't seem to work as well. Today they seem to only block around twenty percent of the popups. Which gets annoying. Especially because they used to work so well.
Although there are extensions to most browsers today that are adding this popup blocking awesomeness back this is only in response to the browser failing to do so. And I still have no idea why the quality of built in popup protection has decreased.
I don't know about you. But I remember the browsers of today when they where just barley starting to get awesome. I remember when I first found out about Firefox's and Opera's tabs. And how much more feature packed and stable they where then Internet Explorer. Which at the time was really the only browser Windows users used other than Netscape. Which was quite popular. But not nearly as much as IE.
But one of the biggest features for me was the popup blockers that where built into these third party browsers. They did a great job of blocking popups. Pretty much any popup was blocked. And you had to authorize them one by one. And you could set certain sites to allow all popups. That feature is still in today but they don't seem to work as well. Today they seem to only block around twenty percent of the popups. Which gets annoying. Especially because they used to work so well.
Although there are extensions to most browsers today that are adding this popup blocking awesomeness back this is only in response to the browser failing to do so. And I still have no idea why the quality of built in popup protection has decreased.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Its been a while
Indeed it has.
Whew. I took a nice long break. In case no one noticed or cared, I decided to slow down and learn something. Be productive. So For the last few weeks I have been taking a C# & XNA game design course from 3D Buzz. They do a great job of really drilling information in. And so far I am really enjoying it. I have always wanted to do game design. Not as a full out career though, because its some hard fucking work. But more like a hobby. So that is going well. I'm really busy with that but I really enjoyed doing this. This whole blog thing. Its fun and its a decent outlet. So I am going to do a few posts a week. The frequency may change as time permits. Next topic should be in the next day or so. Maybe sooner if I find time today. Thanks for reading.
Whew. I took a nice long break. In case no one noticed or cared, I decided to slow down and learn something. Be productive. So For the last few weeks I have been taking a C# & XNA game design course from 3D Buzz. They do a great job of really drilling information in. And so far I am really enjoying it. I have always wanted to do game design. Not as a full out career though, because its some hard fucking work. But more like a hobby. So that is going well. I'm really busy with that but I really enjoyed doing this. This whole blog thing. Its fun and its a decent outlet. So I am going to do a few posts a week. The frequency may change as time permits. Next topic should be in the next day or so. Maybe sooner if I find time today. Thanks for reading.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Portal 2
Its Awesome
I have been waiting for Portal 2 since about 20 minutes in to the first one. The writing, puzzles, and the personally of GLaDOS shamelessly pulled me in. I couldn't wait for a sequel. And now it has arrived. This is not a review, however. More of a first impressions type deal. I am about an hour and a half into the game. And its awesome. No BS. Pure awesome. The voice acting is perfect. The graphics are great. Even if it is running on the updated but aging Source engine. They do a wonderful job of presenting the game. The lighting is really good and they use effects such as blur to really spice it up. I HIGHLY recommend Portal 2. Even if you haven't played the first one. I am sure you will love it.
Also tomorrow I will be back to the daily two to three article format with the exception of Sunday. Got more sleep and took some time for Portal 2. So all is well.
I have been waiting for Portal 2 since about 20 minutes in to the first one. The writing, puzzles, and the personally of GLaDOS shamelessly pulled me in. I couldn't wait for a sequel. And now it has arrived. This is not a review, however. More of a first impressions type deal. I am about an hour and a half into the game. And its awesome. No BS. Pure awesome. The voice acting is perfect. The graphics are great. Even if it is running on the updated but aging Source engine. They do a wonderful job of presenting the game. The lighting is really good and they use effects such as blur to really spice it up. I HIGHLY recommend Portal 2. Even if you haven't played the first one. I am sure you will love it.
Also tomorrow I will be back to the daily two to three article format with the exception of Sunday. Got more sleep and took some time for Portal 2. So all is well.
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