Archive for December, 2007
Sunday, December 16th, 2007 | Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »
I purchased my Olympus Stylus 790 SW for two reasons: It’s shockproof and it’s waterproof. Since then, however, the camera has impressed me with its intelligence and its ability to create quality shots under almost any circumstances.
The shockproof and waterproof labels come with important disclaimers. It’s shockproof only on falls up to five feet. In reality, almost any digital camera will survive a 5′ fall. The 790 SW’s metal body, floating circuit board and internal shock absorbers should provide significantly more than the stated shockproof performance.
The 790 SW is waterproof up to ten feet. That may not seem like much, but when was the last time you were below 10′ of water?
Both the shockproof and waterproof performance can be enhanced with Olympus accessories. The PT-041 Underwater Housing increases the waterproof guarantee up to 40 meters. The Silicon Clear Skin provides a cozy rubberized cover to protect the camera (and the finish) against the effects of drops.
The 790 SW is also freeze-proof to 14F (-10C). I’m not freeze-proof, so this was not an important feature for me.
Similarly, the camera’s 7.1 megapixel resolution far exceeds my requirements. My photos will be compressed significantly for publication on the web. Most of them will be published at less than one megapixel.
The 3x optical zoom is very nice to have. No digital zoom can ever take the place of a decent optical zoom feature and it’s amazing to have a 3x optical zoom on a camera this tiny.
The 2.5″ HyperCrystal LCD is an amazing performer, especially in sunlight.
SCN mode allows you to configure the camera quickly for the type of photo you intend to take. You can choose from 23 different options with presets to help ensure the best picture possible.
Guide mode is the real genius of this little camera. The shooting guide enables you to set an enormous variety of photographic effects — and preview them on the screen before the photo is taken. It’s like having your own photography instructor in your pocket.
This is an awesome little camera. If I had a complaint, it would be that the camera may be just a little too little for my club-like hands. Other than that, this may me the most perfect pocket camera on the market today. And it’s waterproof. 
Saturday, December 15th, 2007 | Posted in Internet | No Comments »
We’ve recently completed a major upgrade to our proxy list.
This upgrade improves the user interface, makes it easier to find new proxies, and adds support for viewing the proxy database in our fourteen supported languages.
In addition, as this proxy list script is entirely owned by us, we can and will invest in further improvements in the future.
Just when I was beginning to think more highly of the French because they elected such an awesome President, the French government has made another decision which makes them look like fools.
The French government allows two types of auction businesses. One is a traditional auction house, which operate under orders from the sellers to sell their goods to the highest bidder. The second type is an auction brokerage, where the business does not intervene in the business between the buyer and the seller.
The French government claims that eBay France is the first type of business and eBay claims that it is the second type of business. In an attempt to muscle eBay, the French regulatory authority is attempting to shut down eBay France for operating without the proper permit.
The French government needs to sharpen their understanding of eBay and of the Internet in general. They need to understand that they are a small regional government with very little power to change how the Internet works. eBay could easily set up eBay Switzerland and transfer all business from eBay France there — effectively cutting the luddite French government out of the picture entirely.
The French government has the power of legal coercion, but eBay is backed by the forces of free-market economics. Government is powerful, but economics is a tireless process for change. In the long run, no government can withstand the relentless onslaught of market forces.
When Vista was first released late last year Microsoft announced that they were to tighten their Windows Genuine Advantage system by making it so that if a user was found to be using a non-genuine version of Windows, they would slowly have their copy of Windows limited.
Since this system has been setup, Microsoft has had many complaints from their customers that their genuine operating systems have been limited due to this system being put in place.
WGA has been used in Windows since Service Pack 2 was released August 6, 2004 where they made you activate your copy of Windows with Microsoft. This could either be done online or over the phone. Microsoft has no plans of removing this feature, but in the latest build of their service pack (Windows Vista Service Pack 1) they are going to remove the system that limits users without a valid copy of the OS. This could either be a good thing for Windows hackers or it could mean that they are going to replace this with an even tighter system.
Whatever happens to the WGA system, this will all be revealed early next year when the service pack is released via Windows Update.
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 | Posted in Firefox | No Comments »
At the last Firefox 3 Status Meeting, Mozilla planned the release schedule for the second beta of Firefox 3.
The development tree will close for checkins at midnight tonight, then several days will be spent fixing little errors before the QA and build teams start working on it. Code freeze is scheduled for December 7 and the final ship date for beta 2 is currently planned for December 21, but could still be postponed into early January.
I am currently running Firefox 3 beta one as my primary browser, and I’m quite happy with it’s performance, and I look forward to the release of Beta2 , too see if the little bugs have been fixed now.
