Monthly Archives: August 2003

No More Outlook Express

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Microsoft abandons Outlook Express says ZDNet UK. I find this highly disappointing because I’ve really become attached to OE, mostly because of it’s enhanced IMAP functionality over Outlook 2003. However if you look at that bizarre out-of-context quote in the middle of the article,

“IMAP is just not a very rich protocol,” Steve Conn, Exchange Server product manager, told ZDNet Australia during the company’s Tech Ed conference. “The great majority of people used Outlook Express because they weren’t on a LAN environment, and Outlook was just too fat for them.”

It’s as out of place here as it is in the article. Basically though it sounds like they’re going to be focusing on Exchange functionality over IMAP. I’ve played around with Outlook 2003 and was very impressed but whether I use it or not is very dependent on how it works with IMAP, which I live on. I’ve been browsing the Evolution blog and the screenshots for the next version look really great, if reminiscent of Entourage. That would be fine for my desktop, and even my Mom’s desktop (I’m moving her over to Linux), but on my laptop which is tied to Windows by proprietary drivers and hardware, I’m still out of luck. Why is Microsoft abandoning the things that made them so prevalent on desktops? Hat tip: Leonard.

Refresh

Personal

I love when it rains because I feel like it soothes my soul.

Last night in the space between conciousness and sleep I wrote an entry. It was beautiful, exquisitely thought out and relevant, and I even imagined the markup I would use. My last thought before I drifted off was I should write something down before I forget it in the morning. I forgot it, and I’ve been trying to toggle my memory since then.

I was trying to toggle my memory while driving this morning. However when I drive I don’t think, I just listen. I couldn’t find the two CDs I had planned for the drive but an older album did the job nicely. When I listen to music the bass vibrates all of the mirrors in the car when it hits. Depending on what pants I’m wearing, it sometimes vibrates my pants as well, making me think that my phone is ringing, but not any more because my phone no longer vibrates. Watching the rearview mirror when it vibrates is fascinating, as a picture of the world behind you goes from near-perfect clarity to fuzziness as the music plays. If I even make a movie, the first shot will be of a rearview mirror vibrating with the music.

A replaced faceplate apparently crippled my phone’s ability to vibrate. Now it is a beautiful, vibrant blue. Can I have my blue and vibrate too? We shall see. Maybe it’s just time for new phone.

Netscape Crushes Competition

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Anyone else notice similar trends on their site? Here’s my browser stats for this month to date:

  1. Netscape — 40.23% (Version 6 mostly.)
  2. Internet Explorer — 29.46% (70% version 6.)
  3. SharpReader — 4.99%
  4. Mozilla — 4.81% (Mostly 1.4, but with 1.5 not far behind.)
  5. Googlebot — 3.11%

A Tweak Here

Meta

If you have a sharp eye you may have noticed a few changes to the site. The big change is we now have publicly accessible archives. I had removed all archive links because I didn’t (and still don’t) like the URL structure they currently use, but I was getting enough emails requesting them that they are now back up in all they’re ugly query-based glory. Besides, having a weblog without archives is a little funky.

The other biggie is that all the external links have moved to a portal page, which is currently just the same lists as before but will become brutally optimized and reorganized as I begin to use it as my home page, the most revered status any page can aspire to. Anyway I considered simply hiding the links through some sort of toggle mechanism but upon further consideration that would just give me all the added code and generation time of having the links on every page without the benefit of having the links handy. They are mostly for my personal use anyway, though Joe has mentioned to be he has used the list as a launching point on several occasions. We shall see how this works out.

Finally, the Google ads are no longer quite as ugly. Unfortunately aesthetically consistent ads seem to get less clicks. Either that or the ad’s seeming obsession with TiVo for the home page is less than effective. (Of course I probably didn’t help matters much with that juicy keyword there.)

New Accesibility Forums

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Everyone’s favorite Ian, who is at a new URL and finally blogging again, and friends hvae put together a sister forum to his excellent Accessify resource. The new Accessify Forums look like they could develop into a great resource and I’ve already registered. I might even post as soon as things calm down a bit here. I’m keeping very busy with four different kinds of work and most recently installing the new Gentoo. I’m considering setting up a semi-private Portage server for Houston friends. Would anyone else be interested in this?

Short but Sweet: MSI Mega PC

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I was enamored with a small Shuttle-type device I saw the other day in Fry’s that actually had a handle so you could carry it around. Ingenious! However as I looked I thought that what we really need for the new apartment is just a small box to sit by the TV/etc. and hold all my and Josh’s MP3s, movies, games, and such. Originally I wanted it also to be a gateway, router, proxy, and firewall but for that I wouldn’t use anything other than Linux (Clark Connect is a nice distro for that) and the entertainment box would probably be best served (for now) with Windows, for the most compatibility with emulators, games, and other multimedia functions. (MythTV is coming along but not there yet.)

So while doing my daily browsing of Slick Deals, PriceWatch, and Tech Bargains—three excellent sites you should always consult before buying anything for your computer—I noticed that a MSI MegaPC could be had for as low as $265, a price that when split with Josh is a lot more palatable than the $350 Shuttle I was looking at in Fry’s. The components wouldn’t be too big an issue, as there are plenty of spare parts lying around here, but even if it wound of being a couple of hundred more to get it setup, it is a low price when you consider (if done right) the machine could function as a DVD player, PVR (TiVo), CD/MP3 player, radio tuner, and gaming console.

The more I read about it the more I’m not sure if it’s exactly what I want. The Intel chip requirement is a bit of a downer, and pushes the final cost up quite a bit. It looks like the remote may not be able to interact with the computer itself, just with the multimedia functions when the computer is turned off. Anyway, here are some of the resources I’ve run across so far:

  • Viperlair Review — Laughably bad. Written from the point of view of someone who has a system that could run an entire home theatre and decides to play Quake and Unreal Tournament. Lots of pictures though.
  • Pricing — From TechBargains, shop around.
  • SFF Tech review — Better than Viper’s Liar?
  • Tom’s Hardware review — As with all Tom articles, say hello to excruciating detail that I’m sure interests someone. Compares it to other similar products, which is good.
  • My HTPC — My Home Theatre PC, some slick looking software to put on whatever I eventually get. Runs on Windows. Nice looking forums.

I’ll add to this list as I find more, just for personal reference, and if you know anything about this yourself or have set anything similar up I’d love to hear about it.

Ignorance

Personal

The scene is Wal-Mart, there are boxes everywhere and even though it’s midnight the place is still busy because it’s tax-free weekend. Apparently this weekend people will save about 151 million dollars. In New York I understand they spread it out over two full weeks, which seems like a much better plan to me because you don’t have everyone trying to get in at the same time, you can spread out the chaos.

So I’m standing, I didn’t get a basket because I didn’t want to get too much stuff. My attempt at self-constraint worked halfway; I just ended up with my hands full. I’m standing in line holding a pack of socks, two workout shorts, a fat toothbrush, a CD, and a little CD holder for my car. She hadn’t called back. I had few enough items to make the express lane. However here’s where the story turns sour.

There was a couple behind me, the woman remarked to the man under her breath, complaining about the speed of the line, “Why don’t they give them a seperate line?” The “them” obviously referring to the black people in the line. The man replied, “I don’t know.” You don’t know!? It’s amazing in such relatively enlightened times we can have such ignorant people. I stared dumbfounded at them for an uncomfortable amount of time, then walked to another line.