A Smartass Education

Google Chrome (Web Browser) and IE8 Beta 2 Review

Today I tested 2 different beta browsers. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, and Google Chrome.

Finally browsers are starting to evolve at a faster rate. Firefox 3’s “awesome bar” has become a must have feature that other browsers are working to clone and CSS support is starting to not suck quite as bad.

So first is Google’s new browser “Google Chrome”. It’s a mashup of Safari and Firefox, and wow is it fast. I mean things that work slowly on my site on a crappy laptop work much faster with this new browser. Google, being smarter than Microsoft, has opted to keep the browser open source and let a community of people develop it just like Firefox. This means, that though there are currently no extensions for the browser, there will be.

Firefox is the best browser because in it’s core it complies to standards, and then it lets people extend the functionality of the browser in a zillion different ways with add-ons. So now that Google has come along with a similar product, and they have sped up page loads and JavaScript execution.

Google Chrome has a coupe of slick new features, like clicking Shift+Esc will open a “task manager” just for the browser. It shows you the memory and cpu usage of each tab and process like flash. You can then end those processes. They extend this further by making each tab it’s own “sandbox” where one tab does not effect the others. So if a tab crashes, none of your other tabs will crash. That alone is worth the prices of admission.

Another plus for me was how right out of the box I didn’t need to install any plugins. Flash worked, the DivX player worked, Java worked. My thought is that they just copied the plugins directly from my Firefox install and are able to use the same files. I also dig the “new tab” thing showing links and screenshots of all your most visited pages.

Web Developer Note: Acid2 Test = Perfect, Acid3 Test = 77% (Firefox only gets 57%).

I haven’t had any crashes with this beta browser yet either, which is very odd. It wasn’t able to load my OGM movies, but then again, on my x64 vista it took me an hour of dicking with Firefox to get those to load, due to the badly made plugin installer that doesn’t understand how to install itself in a “portable browser”. In Firefox when an OGM movie doesn’t load it often crashes the entire browser.

Both Google and Microsoft have added features to their browser that we will refer to as “porn mode” since it lets you browse the internet with out leaving records of where you have been. This is helpful since with the new way address bar’s are working you can almost always find your way back to someplace you have previously been.

So next I was going to give my personal views on Internet Explorer 8 beta 2, however when I tried to install it on vista x64 I was told that this operating system is not supported.

For shame Microsoft. Even if it’s 32 bit you can still make a 32 bit program run just fine. I am amazingly disappointed by this. Especially since this is your second beta. So instead of talking about their new features I will go off of what I have read about it.

Basically Microsoft has taken their “copy a good idea and make it better” to heart, and have taken to copying such features as the awesome bar and improving it by listing the URL next to the site name that it finds.

Now, I love copying and improving. So many people bitch about things getting stolen from one thing and stuck in another, but that’s what allows us to evolve. Why re-invent the wheel? Just make it last longer and not go flat.

What I want is for them to “copy” the CSS support from other browsers to their browser, because though all computer guys and web designers (real designers, who don’t use FrontPage) will use Firefox or another standard compliant browser. End users will still use whatever their computer comes with that has the word internet on it.

I run a website where I would think people would be smart enough to use Firefox, yet 80% of my traffic is from Internet Explorer. Now I will forgive you all for it since a large majority of you are at schools and offices where you cannot install things.

All Microsoft needs to do to stop being hated by web developers is 3 things:

1) Proper CSS3 support. I mean seriously you are talking in your blog and writeups about how you fully support CSS2.1 now, but who cares. I want CSS3 so I can start making vertical lines and have drop shadows under my text.

2) Open Extension format. I realize that Microsoft doesn’t like open source, and I respect that as a developer. However you can just make a SDK for add-ons, since most of the best “features” of Firefox are only there because we have added them of our own accord.

3) Remove Active-X. I don’t care how many websites use it. Those sites have ways for people to view their content in other browsers. This is the main reason people get infected with the old trick: “You are infected with spyware. Click here to remove”. Then it installs a program that adds more spyware while pretending to remove some of it.

Right now IE8 is still a beta, and browser betas are lousy. The Firefox 3 beta was garbage at supporting already existing things like JavaScript and plugins. So all I can do right now is hope that Microsoft will pull their head out of their ass and do the 3 things I listed. Then I will not have to spend an extra 3 hours on every new page I design just trying to make an Internet Explorer workaround for some positioning bug.

For now, Firefox is still king. However I foresee Google adding extensions and other web applications and then becoming the best browser. It’s already faster and doesn’t crash.

Download: Google Chrome | IE8 Beta 2

As Technology Increases, Standards MUST Change

Today I just found the world’s greatest RMA process (Seagate if you are wondering). It took me absolutely no searching around and I was done in 2 minutes online without talking to anybody and it even printed me a label. I have NEVER seen something go so smoothly, so it got me thinking about all the other things that could be done better but typically aren’t. Things that we just accept as being crappy.

Below is a list of some of the things that could be easilly fixed just by a change of standards. Sorry if it gets a bit long. I will color the sections so you can just read about the ones that might annoy you.

“The Scene” and how they release files: Ok, I have been using torrents for years and have found no other viable option for multiple file distribution. However at this point (assuming you are in a country with good internet) speeds on the internet are SOOO fast that if I download a torrent with an avi file in it and I am impatient I can prioritize the order the pieces download in and watch it while it is downloading.

Rars were a fantastic idea back in the late 90’s because it let us download things from websites using our dial-up modems. It WAS a fantastic way to do it. However now, it is totally worthless.

Next, if I download a driver, I want JUST the driver. People who are not computer savvy are not downloading their own drivers anyways, they are just calling their sons and asking them to fix the problem for them.

HP is not the only one at fault here, ATI and several other companies make lousy install files that are required to make a piece of hardware work.

Slow installs that install into multiple directories and register files all over the place and registry: Look, if I install any of the Adobe CS3 apps on a super fast computer it will still take me FOREVER to install the files. The reason being is they are trying to be “helpful” since you might run multiple adobe programs so it is making a “shared files” directory and then registring the components with windows so it knows that they are there.

This however is NOT helpful. I own over 6TB of hard drives, and while this may not (yet) be the standard, hard drive space is increasing and we no longer need to “share files” between programs.

If you were to make an install file and had every single file required to run the program install itself into one directory, then the program will open and run properly. So what if you install another program that needs the same dll file etc…

Most of the apps I use are “portable” and are kept on my keychain, so that when i go to fix a computer I do not have to install a bunch of crap on other people’s computers just to fix their problems. By centralizing every file that is needed in the program directory, installs would only take seconds and if somebody wanted to take the program with them they could. Ok, so it’s a paid for program and you don’t want them stealing it. No big deal, they paid for it if they move to another computer they will have to type in the license key again.

At the very least you should just change the install menu so that instead of having “typical and custom” installs, it should have “portable, typical and custom”. This way if I want to have all the files shoved in one directory I can do so, and the rest of the ignorant people can install it the way you want them to.

RMA process: As I was saying earlier, Seagate has an amazing process. Somewhere along the lines they must of realized that they didn’t have enough customer service reps to talk to every single person who says their hard drive is broken. Sure, some of those drives are not bad but they give you a 5 year warranty so all you have to do is enter your serial number and it then tells you how long it is under warranty. You click next and it asks you if you want to return the product, and offers you expedited shipping for a fee as well as the option to upgrade your return. Declining any of these your return is free and it instantly spits out a label for you to print out with your return address and the RMA mailing info and then gives you a PDF as an optional read for properly packaging and shipping the item back and advises you that you will get a new drive or else it will be low level formatted.

This was rediculous. If my stuff is broken, send me a new one. Don’t even pay somebody to help me troubleshoot it. If it’s not broken, send it back to me. It’s still cheaper and better for your customers than having them sit on hold to talk to somebody who might not know anything beyond the policy manual.

Okay, next since I mentioned being on hold I thought that could change a bit too. No, I am not going to be unrealistic and think I can get away from a long hold. Instead I am going to be MORE realistic and say that if I want to talk to a real person I am willing to wait longer. So all I ask on this is that when I call I am presented with 3 options:

Then since I have taken the effort to wait on hold for 30 minutes, don’t you DARE disconnect me or dump me to voicemail. I don’t care how bad your queue #’s are for the day. I choose to wait, so let me wait.

Video On Demand. You are just doing it wrong. Look at my website as an example. People want video on demand, and they are willing to pay for it. However it just has to be in a really convenient form.

By this I mean that if I pay one on demand service like ps3 or apple tv to download a movie or a tv show, I want to then be able to copy that tv show onto my hard drive and move it to all the other gadgets I have. To do this the download needs to be in a standard format with no DRM garbage. I want a DivX or an H.264 file to download and I want them to be in a standard avi enclosure.

Music should be in an mp3 format. Yes, better compression like aac has come along since mp3, however it never became a standard and it cannot be played on every device I already own, so i want it in mp3 format.

If you are not going to give people content in these formats, then a good number of those people will pirate the media. It’s not because they want to be “bad people”. It’s because you are so paranoid that if you give them a nice easy to use format, then they will use some other service/player. Or they will turn around and distribute the media they purchased since it doesn’t have protection in it.

Well that’s going to happen no matter what format the media is in. However it’s just like somebody breaking into your car. Not everybody is going to do it, but eventually it’s bound to happen.

I’m sure I will think of more things like this, but for now if I write any more you will loose your attention span and stop reading it.

Compares > Religions

How To > Tell People Their Site Sucks

Telling your perspective clients or anyone that their websites sucks
is very hard to do. You don’t want to say the wrong thing and anger
them but you also want them to know that it needs some changes (It
sucks!).

1. Your website needs to be optimized so that it’s picked up by the search engines while still appealing to your visitors.

2. Your website has great information, though it could use a touch up to make the information more accessible.

3. Your website looks great but it is worthwhile to check out your
competitors and see what they are doing different (point them to some
outstanding site).

4. Your website would get a lot higher conversion if you change a
few things…(tell them few suggestions). These changes would also make
the website more search engine friendly.

5. I’m sorry but your website is search engine friendly or does it
appeal to the end-user. It would be best if you did a complete
redesign. Some changes I would make are.(give example of some majors
changes you would make)

There never is a good way tell someone their website sucks, but there are less harsh ways.  Or if you are like The Smartass, you will just have the gift of BS and will be able to just show them their site sucks by showing them some of your own pages.

Asks > Do you think too much?

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone - “to relax,” I told myself - but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly we are doing here?”

Things weren’t going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my
wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, “Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.” This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking…”

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!”

“But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

“It is serious,” she said, lower lip aquiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I’d had enough. “I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors… they didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes fromthe standard Thinker’s Anonymous poster.

Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was “Porky’s.” Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed… easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

Explains > The Great Global Warming Swindle

Man, I am surrounded by this crap. One of my friends downloaded the Al Gore movie awhile ago and references back to it like it’s his own ideas, (If I remember correctly, Gore first gave a speech about Global Warming on the coldest day of the year) well anyways he was trying to feed some bullshit about how our climate is increasing and it won’t be long until it’s too hot…. Then the other day somebody made some comment to me about how global warming was going to eventually doom us all. To which I (can’t help myself) responded: Yeah, I might have to go inside and turn on the AC.

Look, haven’t you learned by now… I’m not opinionated, I’m just always right:

Explains > The 10th Dimension

Wow, so I was going to write an article about the 4th dimension and how a children’s book really explained it well, but instead with one search and discovered something better than my own explaination! The internet is great isn’t it?

Update: This is now the full video, before It was youtube and was in 2 files which is rather annoying… enjoy

Original Source: TenthDimension.com

Speculates > Wether Hell is Exothermic or Endothermic?

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so “profound” that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn’t ceased…

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

“First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, “…that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.”, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.”

This student received the only A.

Interviews > A Shinobi

IVR : Tell me, — , why did you agree to this interview - Doesn’t that go against your image?

SH : Yes. But I do not strive to maintain an image. I agreed to talk to you, because no matter how you portray me in the end, whether as a sage or a madman, someone will finally heed the shadows call because of my words. That is why I speak.

IVR : The shadows call? What does that mean?

SH : The shadows call is a term I use for the realization of a warrior destiny. Some feel it already… your so-called dojos are filled with people seeking a martial way. They can never find it there, for even those places are rooted in following what is considered acceptable. When one comes face to face with their true art, and realizes their destiny, that is the shadows call. To heed the shadows call, however, it takes a true warrior, so those without pure intention will fail.

IVR : You speak as though many have this `warriors destiny’, although the kind of activity someone like you engages in and teaches, is considered dangerous and sometimes unlawful by the rest of society. Why should one choose to defy both society and the law?

SH : Men change their minds, and over time they change their laws. Nothing in government controlled society is ever the same for long. Once this nation banned the drinking of alcohol, and once its law allowed a man to kill another man in the street with “proper cause”. Those laws are now reversed, as are many others. If you think on it, you will know what I say is true. To embark on a true warrior path, one must be willing to be though of as a fool, in order to better himself. It has been the same for many ages… `society’ as you call it, will shun us in time of peace, and run to us in time of chaos and destruction.

IVR : Why do think that is ?

SH : We order are daily lives in chaos and destruction. We are not content to be comfortable. When others are shaken by the loss of normality, we are not affected. They have wasted their time in achieving worthless self goals, while we exist in the harsh reality to come.

IVR : So you believe that all things end in war and destruction ?

SH : Not necessarily war and destruction. But all things do end in chaos. It is written in the very laws of nature. Our lives are ordered by the laws of nature and no other. We change with the seasons, whether winter to summer, or sunshine to storm, but we do not change with the whims of men.

IVR : I see… So what can the average person do to embrace what he feels is a `warrior destiny’ ?

SH : It is very simple… stop being average. Average is what the people around him dictate he should be. When he ceases to care, and seeks out his teacher with a pure heart, he will find his destiny. Many are incapable of this, because they could never leave their normal.

IVR : Do you believe everyone could be like you, if they struck out on this warriors quest?

SH : No. Only a few are capable of living the life of a Shinobi warrior. But one does not need to be a Shinobi , to follow his true path. The path of truth is sometimes dangerous, so some must be the light, and others the shadows. Some are destined to change the way others think, and some are destined to follow. I was destined to follow no one. Some cannot survive that way. The warriors quest is about fulfillment of your purpose and finding truth, for enough men waste their lives on petty things.

IVR : A lot of people consider the life you lead exciting. How would you reply to that.

SH : Those who seek excitement are either children or fools. A thirst for excitement is based in a basic lack of control, and has no place in my life, nor any other warriors. We are born into this life to seek a good place to die. That is all.

IVR : That’s a very dismal outlook… What about all the places you’ve been in your career as an instructor, and all the things you’ve seen?

SH : I have seen many lands, and many people, yet they are all the same. One piece of earth is the same as another. Every person is unique, and everyone is the same. Many will find that there is no purpose, and fear of that is what keeps them from asking the questions about their existence that they must.

IVR : But haven’t you seen some amazing things in your travels, out of all the wonderful sights the world has to offer?

SH : I have seen Spring and Winter, birth and death, cold and heat, darkness and light… And I have come to know it all the same. Spring dawns and fades to winter, the young are born to fade toward death, and the light blinds as deeply as the darkness. That is why I say, we are born to seek a good place to die. The cycle will begin anew, all things moving toward the final end. This is the reality that none wish to speak of. Each needs to believe that somehow he can make or has made a difference. The truth is, all things are transient and fading. I have devoted my life to seeking truth, and to passing on the spirit of the Shinobi in the generations to come. If our way is forgotten, the balance will tip to chaos, for their cannot be light without the darkness. In order to find true purpose, one must follow their destiny, whatever it may be, for that is their chance to fulfill their highest calling.

IVR : Thank you very much, –. I hope you will speak to us again soon.
Article Author: Don’t Know
Source: My Hard Drive