There was a time when I told everyone I knew (who used Windows) that they needed to switch to Firefox. Needed. Those days have been over for a while, though I still tend to include it when helping people set up their windows boxes, it is just no longer such a necessity. Internet Explorer though I may be reluctant to admit it has become a much stronger browser. There were the days, back when Fire*bird* & Mozilla existed as two distinct products, when I would use both and thought the dinosaur was silly, when some days I would switch to Opera just to check it out play with the zooming and switch back, and when IE was simply intolerable.

Then Safari happened. And I was really excited and life was great except Safari wasn’t. I mean, it was alright, tolerable, it had tabs – right? But it needed some time. Safari 2 was better. Safari 3 is pretty amazing. I have used it consistently since the first beta I could get, and haven’t even thought about switching. Which is what I did back in the Safari 1 & 2 days, every few months, Safari, Camino, Opera, Firefox, it was a carousel of browsers that changed like the seasons, except faster.

Well the carousel is still spinning and Firefox 3 came out at 1pm Tuesday. And for the next 24 hours they promoted Download Day — and as part of the new hype published this chart (which can be viewed at firefox.com with safari):

And so this made me mad. Real mad actually so this is where the hate comes on. The thing is though, it made other people mad too, and some of them say it better than I can. The short version here, is that this chart is … well a lie, or huge slant at best. I know that this was probably put together by some marketing people to make the browser look amazing (infact they really only made one chart – the only difference between the v. safari chart with the v. internet explorer chart is “Battle-tested …” is changed to simply “Superior speed and performance”) but could they not have filled the obviously one-sided chart with things that Firefox is actually better at … like sean here did.

And the features I actually care about, such as maybe say web standards, maybe CSS3 functionality. How are they doing with that? Not well. (again said better – and this is really worth the read) (for those of you who aren’t going to read that whole link Safari & Opera both passed the Acid3 test – web standards – almost immediately, racing to finish, while Mozilla complained they were too busy with their product cycle(!) to deal with … web standards).

Well, when I start choosing my browser based on the number of downloads it gets (which PS is not a measure of usage, if I was a cult follower I would dl it fifty times too) and certainly not by if it has an entry in the guinness book of world records (doesn’t that pair it with some sort of deformed child and some extremely obese man) but possibly by the features and support it has. Firefox, I had thought was at one point about making the best web browser (or at least taking on the monopoly … Safari with its no more than five percent marketshare really a glowing target now?) and it just seems like they have left that behind and are now all about the publicity. Then again, maybe if they make the back button a little bigger, I will be won over.

I was just thinking, hey maybe a visualization of data on a hard disk would be nice after learning of a bit of a RAID issue that may have occurred with someone’s disks. So then I wondered what these different disk patterns would look like, different configurations of RAID, different volume formats, drobo likely has some crazy pattern. Though when I pictured them, all I could think of was Disk Defragmenter.

And as I installed Vista on the new desktop, I thought I would get Mr. Defrag up and running. Which is when I found this:

Vista Defragmenter seems to have taken all the fun (and intelligence, and usefulness) out of XP Defragmenter. Not only have they taken away the ability to see actual block use on the disk in a visual way, they have also taken away any sort of user control, including the ability to specify which drives it defrags (it seems to do them all).

Worst of all they even dumbed down the progress meter, which is now (as shown) a spinning circle, and a comment saying “This may take from a few minutes to a few hours.” No sense of progress is shown at all, which is weird because Windows loves progress bars that are horribly inaccurate (the installation progress bar for XP strikes me as the best example of awful) and Disk Defragmenter is a place they can acheive perfect accuracy, at least with percentage complete (if not time), and they give the user … nothing. How Microsoft.

I have always liked Newegg.com, but they have recently provided me with more specific reasons for a sort of logical admiration.

As mentioned earlier in technical diagrams I decided to purchase the components of a new computer (more on that tomorrow once it gets built for reals). I ordered most of these parts from Newegg – though not all, they didn’t have the video card I wanted, and the case was cheaper at ZipZoomFly – and they shipped and all was happy. But then Amy pointed out to me that the Intel E8400 (45nm – Penryn) was much better than the E6850 that I had ordered, and had shipped! And it was also sixty dollars cheaper.

So, I ordered the new-better-cheaper processor as well, and figured when the E6850 got here, I would send it back to Newegg using this magical RMA process that I have never quite understood, but could try out. So last week I sit down to fill out said magical RMA form and Newegg’s website informs me that I cannot because it has been seven days from date of purchase! Oh no. (Seriously guys, if I have one complaint, seven days from date of purchase, that is faster than I eat dinner most days.)

So … I decide I will call Newegg and complain and attempt to explain it just got to my house and I was only twelve hours over (true that) and I ordered another processor from them and I love them — when I realized that they had a live chat with a representative option. I figured I would give it a try even though it was likely one in the morning, and sure enough there was a representative. Ruby.

And within twenty-one lines of chat (most of which were cute littler verbose me — 12/21) and fifteen minutes, she had issued my RMA, had an e-mail with the printing label in my inbox, and waived the restocking fee. Fifteen minutes, no phones, no waiting, and my ideal solution, delivered to my inbox.

Thus, my love.

My laptop is dying a slow, sad death. This is because I normally forget to stop using it ever, and then the left fan died, and then the right fan died, and now everyday it cooks itself a little more. Sometimes programs crash randomly, sometimes really easy things to render like Finder and Safari windows don’t, sometimes I think it is just going to totally stop trying.

The solution to this issue was meant to be presented last week at MWSF 2008 where Mr. Steve Jobs was going to announce a wonderful new MacBook Pro to solve all of my problems and it was going to have more USB ports and maybe come in new and exciting colors and have other magical and secret features. However, this did not occur. That means the current laptop needs to survive another six to twelve months, because I refuse to buy Apple iAnythings when I know a next generation nicer iAnything AirTV 2.0 is right around the metaphorical corner.

However this computer simply is not cutting it (by it – I mean eve, and occasionally raw photographs) so, I need to take money and throw it at my problems. To better understand this process the following Technical Diagram™ provided by my esteemed colleague is presented for your more visual understanding of the situation.

The money will be thrown at a new desktop-like personal computer which I had said I was not going to ever purchase again because I was solely a laptop-kind-of-guy, but maybe I am not quite yet him.

Posting, tomorrow.

(end of the semester, alright?)

Amazon made the internet vomit a little with the announcement of Kindle an e-book reader (seriously are we calling these things e-book readers still? It is more like an ugly little laptop that doesnt have programs). Oh wait, my biases snuck out there in the parenthesis. To be forthcoming: I really like books and am immediately worried that technology is going to usurp some sixteen hundred years of papers and ink.

However, as much as in my heart I will want a massive library in each of my future residences, I am drawn to technologies that make things easier. For instance, it would be very convenient if I could have a device, with a nice, high contrast screen, that worked in sunlight, and I could comfortably read books and academic papers on.

(image: Sarah Tew/CNET Networks)

The Kindle, is not that device. Sure some of the details are unclear (I have no idea if it works in direct sunlight), but it is ugly, expensive, far too integrated with Amazon, and it can’t read PDFs.

Let’s read a line from the Kindle User Guide (chapter 8):

In addition to purchased content, you can read your personal documents on Kindle as well. If you have files formatted as Kindle, text, Microsoft Word, HTML, or image files like GIF or JPEG, you can e-mail the files as attachments to your Kindle e-mail address. Amazon will convert the files if necessary and send them back to your computer for free or wirelessly to your Kindle for a small fee, whichever you prefer. For more information on transferring, converting, and e-mailing your personal documents, see Chapter 8.

So this means Amazon is going to take text and JPG files and convert them into magic Kindle files (because these files supported by every computer for at least ten years aren’t good enough?) over e-mail and will send them directly ot my Kindle if I pay them. Convenient. And they won’t even translate PDFs.

So basically this “service” (that is what Amazon is calling it because of the subscription costs), is likely to soon be replaced by a new better version–this thing reeks prototype to me– with PDFs?, a color screen?, more than one font?, and maybe a real RSS reader, not just allowing me to choose from the blogs Amazon has approved for me, or worse some far better competitor that can then not read any of my Kindle books (DRMed up to heaven), and then I have a four hundred dollar brick.

And really, is a small tablet laptop not going to take the place of all these e-readers. The concept was good when laptops were big and bulky but they are getting smaller and lighter and the screens are improving. My current laptop does most of the things I would want this reader to do, if the screen was good enough to see in daylight, and flipped all the way around, I think this contest would be over. Or maybe this contest is over, and Amazon is just hoping to make some cash until everyone else notices.

Either way, my precious books are still safe.

I started playing EVE online again. Sure this is mostly because I am bored of World of Warcraft, and also because they just released a Mac client, and also because Kevin started and I was able to convince Elliot to play, and because it is in space and because it is really pretty (honestly none of these shots do it justice, I will put up better ones someday).

Though really this is not the best time for me to be playing video games, as I already feel like I have zero time. The good thing is, much of EVE is waiting around and being patient. While this at times can be frustrating ( actually it isn’t at all for me, but I could see how some people expect games to entertain them ) it allows me to get lots of other things done while I am playing EVE. Progress is always, no matter what I am doing.

Another reason that EVE requires lots of waiting is because of they have made their universe really big. And to make things even more realistic they have made travel actually take quite a bit of time (even though you get to travel faster than light, it still takes a while). I personally really appreciate that they did this, travel in WoW is frequently instantaneous or very very quick, with EVE I can leave my computer for an hour and return still not having arrived at my destination (especially if the client has crashed, which currently is frequent, though this may just be because both my computers seem to get bored of maintaining power for more than about three hours). Geography, distance, scale. These things are all coming up because they have been stuck in my head for the better part of a month.

Until then, you can stare at what I am staring at.

Err. yeah.

Gmail has (finally) IMAP for some users (including me). This is really great because now I can switch back (mostly) to Gmail, which I stopped using because I had to check all of my e-mail twice–once on the web, once on the iPhone. Giant hassle. But anyway now I am all full of synched goodness and I am happy. Good Google.

Final Machine Learning Project, on Author Identification from blindly-submitted, un-published papers. (With Aaron Roth and Joseph Bradley)

Overheard conversation of a friend with Dell Tech Support:

Attempt 1 (Sales):

Excuse me sir, do you know if it is possible if I can purchase just the case and the motherboard for the Dell XPS 700?
(Minutes of giving account numbers and personal info)
Yes, now I would like to know if I can get the case and just the motherboard?
Hello?
Are you there? Hello?
...
(Sales Hung Up)

Attempt 2 (Sales):

Excuse me ma’am, do you know if it is possible if I can purchase part of an Dell XPS 700 Do-It-Yourself Kit?
Yes my phone number is 901-785-3433.
The area code is 901.
Do you mean zip code? The area code is the 9 – 0 – 1, the first three numbers.
No the area code is the first three numbers of a phone number…

Attempt 3 (Accessories):

Excuse me I would like to know if it is possible for me to purchase the case to a Dell XPS 700.
No, I do not currently own the computer, it is a part for a computer I do not have.
No, I do not have the computer, I want just a case.
Yes, a case.
Umm, the plastic and the aluminum.
Like a tower, just with no electronics inside.
Sure I will transfer to Tech Support.

Attempt 4 (Tech Support):

I want just a case for the Dell XPS 700…
Yes I will transfer to Sales…

Attempt 5 (Back to Sales):

What I would like to do, is buy an XPS 700 case only.
Yeah… I don’t really know if anyone knows if I can do that, I have been kind of getting a runway.
I would actually like the case and the motherboard, no harddrives, no processors, no memory, nothing else.
Alright, yes I will hold.
(Sales Hung Up)

Attempt 6 (Sales):

Hello Sandra, I was wondering if I could order an XPS 700 case and motherboard only.
Umm, well I would like the blue if you can get that far.
Yes, just the tower and the motherboard, though it makes you order a processor and memory, which are two things I don’t want.
No, I actually have never been able to convey to them that I wanted.
Actually you are the first person that has spoken articulate English today.
Ha ha, well it is better.

(Sandra goes to confirm that it is possible to sell computers without vital components…)

At least a processor and at least some memory.
So I would suppose when someone breaks their case, they have to take out the processor memory and motherboard, and then send it back?
So you don’t think even if I owned one, I could buy a replacement case?
Right…
The whole case?
Gotcha.
Well thanks.

Note: Readers, it is not possible to buy a Dell XPS 700 case. If you think it is, contact me.