Stuff from March, 2000
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on March, 2000.
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on March, 2000.
Why didn’t anybody tell me about this?
At the phrase “United States Mint” we tend to think of the average quarter, dime, nickel, etc. But a golden dollar? Thats right, find out more at their website. Now this sounds like a collector’s item; this isn’t what the U.S. Mint says. They seem to encourage everyday use of this coin. The bill signed into law states that the new dollar shall be:
Woah, this is some outdated computer stuff
So you’re complaining about the speed of your computer? Ha. Well your computer is awesome compared to any of these old clunkers. obsoletecomputermuseum.org was built on the nostalgia that comes to some people when they look at an old Commadore or an Apple IIe. This website has tons of pictures and information about all kinds of old computers. Maybe you used an Apple in school and want to take a look at the old clunker. I know I remember using an Apple; the big thing was to get the ones with the color screens. I never really thought much about the speed of the computers, they were like really expensive toys. I didn’t think about cost when I was a kid, either, I just used them. As I got older, I became more judgemental of the speed of a computer. Imagine snubbing a piece of plastic because it is too old; well some people take the quality and speed of their computer very seriously. Others don’t mind obsolescence, though. I’ve seen people who use computers that are twenty years old for their businesses, these are the selcet few who prefer simplicity and reliablity over the speed of newer computers. If you have any interest at all in these pieces of the electronic revolution; take a look.
A color screen? Amazing.
Palm is the brand name that has set the standard for PDAs (personal digital assistants) and they have come out with another inovation. The Palm IIIc has a 256 color active matrix display. This screen is incredibly sharp; it makes any application look good. Photos are viewable on the screen as well, an amazing innovation. Packaged along with this great screen are applications to view web pages offline, play backgammon, an enhanced color calculator and even create a portable photo album so you can organize your favorite pictures. Overall, I have been impressed with this company, also considering that they recently went public with their stock. In addition to that, some of their little Palm’s have wireless internet access; if they ever couple the internet access with a color screen, they will have a killer Palm. These little units are nice for the rich, but at 449 dollars? That is a lot of money to spend on a little thing to organize your life with. Planners that use paper are cheaper, and in some ways faster although it is hard to beat a computer when it comes to address books. Anyways, as miniaturization continues, prices will decrease on these amazing units and features will increase. I think this little color wonder could be the beginning of a mass movement towards these Palms and PDAs.
Use WebWasher to wash away unwanted content
It’s a fact, nobody likes ads on the internet. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a program that eliminated all of those annoying ads? Yes it would! At webwasher.com you can find this program. The company describes it:
WebWasher is a powerful filter program for Web pages, originally developed by Siemens: it is installed on your PC or server as an add-on to your browser. Unwanted content - such as advertising - is not even loaded via the network. WebWasher also avoids unnecessary reloading of web objects and de-animates images. This saves you up to 45% of the data which are transmitted. Your browser displays Web pages practically free of advertising.
3Com leads the way with its digital camera
3Com has released a stunning device. This digital camera connected via USB has incredible features. First of all, it has a nine foot cord that allows users to move the camera all about; very conveinent. Next, the camera can make video phone calls and easily adapts to taking pictures. These pictures have a 640 by 480 pixel width, which can be increased using software. In addition to this, the camera can take good pictures at low light levels. Now this feature may sound pretty useless, but this is great. An observent surfer will notice that the Quickcam photos are usually dark and undetailed, this is due to lack of light. The 3Com Home Connect camera will take good pictures at low light levels so studio lighting isn’t neccessary to obtain a decent picture. Finally, this camera comes packaged with great software. Features include:
The disapearance of 55 Oscars is a mystery
The Academy Awards are the most prestigous awards in Hollywood, given to only the most memorable movies and people who have had a part in the movies. Earning an Oscar is a great honor. But, what if the Oscars themselves are missing? 55 apparently were stolen from a loading dock. The “statuettes” are made in Chicago and shipped to California. Somewhere along the way, 55 of them have disappeared. The Los Angeles Polic Department and the FBI are helping one another to find these gold plated awards. Because there are just days until Oscar Night, the missing statuettes present a bit of a problem. There will be many famous actors that are receiving awards, but how will awards the Academy doesn’t have be presented?. The possiblity exsists that more can be made, but it isn’t like these things are mass produced. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Most likely, another batch will be made in time for the big night. Or, maybe some Oscars will be sold on E-Bay or on the black market, hopefully they will turn up in time for the big night. If they don’t, the must (and will) still go on!
Looks like he is one of the best golfers of all time
I was reading a few articles at golf.com and it is a fact; Tiger Woods is an astounding golfer. Today he added his 18th major PJA victory to his overall stats, this is an incredible achievement. After his first major victory, I thought he was just an average up-and-coming young golfer with a lot of promise. But, then I saw that Nike had a lot of foresight in making a Tiger Woods line of clothing. This kid is good. Articles discuss people like Davis Love III, one of the longest drivers in golf, consistently losing to Tiger when it comes to driving the golf ball. Tiger was shooting 10 to 20 yards longer than Davis Love III! But, Tiger says he wasn’t shooting at the top of his game. That means he can drive farther. Farther than the longest driver in golf? That might make Tiger the longest driver in golf. That is something to think about. In addition to his drives, this great golfer’s close game is astounding. This skill is what has earned Tiger his 18 big wins. I am eager to see how long this lasts, we could have a Michael Jordan caliber athlete here, you never know.
Let’s just say “Wow”
The Playstation II is an astounding little box. Sony has done an amazing job on this game station. Becuase of the design and features, this box appeals to more people than just gamers. At 375 dollars it is the cheapest product that will play DVD movies right out of the box. This is Playstation II’s ace in the hole. People who want a cheap DVD player can just buy this little wonder. They wouldn’t need to bother with games if they didn’t want to. But, of course, the Playstation II is designed with the gamer in mind. It runs three times faster than a Pentium III processor and is specialized for generating 3D graphics. A simple comparison of bit power makes the newest Playstation superior to anything on the market. Nintendo started out with 8 bit and has worked up to its current 64 bit. The Playstation II has a 128 bit capability; not bad. In addition to all of this, there is room for expansion on the unit itself. In fact, a module that will enable high-speed Internet connection and add a hard drive on to the base unit is coming in about a year. At this rate, why even buy a computer?
This impressive application gives you shopping power
At ichoose.com you can find a simple little program. So what? But this just isn’t anyone of the millions of programs floating around on the internet; this program does something useful. It finds you the best deal on anything you would like to buy on the internet. The user puts items in their shopping cart and then double clicks the iChoose trademark. Then, the icon begins to spin as it looks for a better deal. When a better (or other) deal has been found, the icon flashes telling you the search has been completed and results have been found. Now here is the amazing part. When you go to the checkout line on the site you were originally shopping at, the program pop-ups and gives you the option to transfer your entire shopping cart to the site that offers the better deal! Not only is the concept for this application very innovative, the user interface and program functionality is very good. Not only does this program function well, but it has a user friendly interface which makes anybody comfortable with using it. The only problem here is the company itself. i can’t quite figure how this company would make any money by allowing people to download the product. Will they incorporate ads into the program itself? That is what I am guessing will happen; otherwise there is conceivable way the company could make any money at all. Lets hope iChoose succeeds and gets even better.
InoculateIT supplys free antivirus software and even free updates!
This is what the internet world needs. Well coded free virus detection software. At www.antivirus.cai.com the average surfer is given the software to protect their computer from viruses free. Plus, there are free updates! Because new viruses are created everyday, updates are essential to keeping the anti-virus software current and effective against viruses. Plus, this software is compatible with many platforms:
Today I began work on CGI for this site. CGI stands for “common gateway interface”. So what does that mean? More features for amicek.com. With CGI comes login options, comment boards, a counter, a guestbook and maybe a message board! Problem is, I currently don’t know much about CGI, so I have borrowed a little space on someone’s server to learn and test scripts that will improve the interactivity of this site vastly. If things go well, I should have all of the CGI features mentioned above ready in about two months.