Got FireFox? Need Patch

One of the great things about FireFox is that it isn’t Internet Explorer. Let me clarify. Because it’s not the most popular browser, the malicious people don’t target FireFox for hacks. Well, until now. Never fear, the good people over at FireFox central have made the security patch readily available and free to all. Patch away friends.

Typedrawing

I’ve always been interested in design. Type is useful design. Typedrawing combines the two in an elegant, easy-to-use application. Great stuff. [via Presurfer]

Gizmodo Addiction

While it’s not listed on Dr. Grohol’s Psych Central, psychologists apparently haven’t yet given a name to obsessive gadget fanaticism. This article calls a person’s over-emphasized consumerism a form of neuroticism. But I’m not listening. *nyah nyah nyah* I feed my neurosis daily at Gizmodo. (I wonder if they understand the enabler role they’re playing.)

Just look at this post! Where else but on the Internet could I learn about a coat that uses electro-static energy to raise the coat’s fur stripes signaling to all nearby to “Watch out!”

Crap, it’s still just a prototype.

Zombie Infection Simulation

This zombie infection simulation is simply cool. [via Coudal]

Not So Sweet

In the beginning, there was sugar. And it was sweet.

Then, some scientist invented saccharin. Thus Sweet’N Low came into existence. And for a while, it was good. Then it wasn’t. To health-conscious consumers, one study showing cancer results should be enough for anyone to pass on this sweetner.

Next came aspartame. It is the primary ingredient in NutraSweet. Good luck trying to find a diet product without it. But be aware, groups have found significant problems with this man-made molecule, even as other groups say there are none. Chances are, it’s not the evil that critics claim nor completely harmless. In cases like this, it’s wise to follow the money-trail.

Today, laboratories have given us the latest miracle of science, sucrolose. Giving it the up-beat, catchy name Splenda. It’s made from sugar, so what’s the problem? The Truth About Splenda wants to tell you. This campaign has hidden their identity behind their web agency, but the battle is raging because sucrolose is made by chlorinating sucrose. That’s right, chlorine.

If you’re confused about the maze of artificial sweetners, do what I do. Use sugar and reduce portion size. Tastes pretty good to me.

WordPress: Web App of ’04

Perhaps the geekier among you might have heard of arstechnica.com, but they gave WordPress the award for Web Application of the Year. I really do love WP, although the transition costs me years of posts, because MoveableType had that whole “rebuilding” nonsense. Then MT goes and corrects it! Oi.

Looking for an Excuse to Buy American?

GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, addresses the issue (in his own blog no less) of whether American cars are, in fact, lower quality than the Japanese. Interesting, but I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on initial quality. I want a car that “holds together” after 10 years and 150k. This is something that the auto industry as a whole has made remarkably little progress in the past 40 years.

I’m sure Andrew will have an opinion on the matter. [via Hold the Mayo]

Gartner Says Fear Automation, Not Outsourcing

In this article, Gartner predicts nearly half of IT jobs will be lost to automation by 2015. The brief does a decent job of summarizing potential process changes but neglects to identify which roles are in danger and which might actually improve. You know, there is always an increased need for specialized expertise when humans are taken out-of-the-loop.

FireFox on Speed

My brother came across a hack to increase the speed of browsing for FireFox. They call it pipelining; it’s similar to multi-threading. It rocks!

Sun Selling Cycle-Time

Sun is pushing a new idea in computing, buying cycle-time. By making computer processing a commodity, transactions are simple. It seems there is an interesting marketing challenge but hopefully Sun will put adequate effort into that aspect of this venture, so that potential customers can easily understand the benefits. It’s not hard to imagine an eBay like trading arena for cycle-time. Mr. Cox might soon be getting an offer for his domain.

Today’s KITT

Ok, this may not be as cool as KITT, but we’re getting closer to the day when cars will understand us. Gracenote is working on voice recognition system where your favorite tunes are just a request away. In the voice of Mr. Dynamite, “Sah-weet!”

Ya Bucket of Bolts!

Don’t you hate it when your computer hits you with an error message that doesn’t make sense? Wouldn’t it be better if it were more human? How about this?

This came from Atom Smasher via Presurfer but I didn’t care for the image quality so I made this one. And, “yes.” I do have too much time on my hands.

Vox Blogoli: Gay Marriage

In reference to Hugh Hewitt’s Vox Blogoli Vol. 2, No. 1.

This excerpt is relatively mild but paints left and right equally. I would have to argue that while Conservative opposition to social causes like gay marriage is much more likely to be misrepresented by the MSM as being “extremist” or even “fascist.” In actuality, Conservatives are more likely to be found working within the system for change, rather than circumnavigating established laws. One example is liberal groups dubiously “supporting” activist judges to write new laws when that’s clearly not their responsibility. Another here.

All of this, of course, is merely my perception.

Hyundai No Longer ‘Crap’

Remember when you saw your first Honda? It was a tiny thing. I could have picked it up and put it in my coat pocket. And they were cheap! Two for a hundred bucks or something? Today, Honda means amazing value.

1972 Honda Civic shown above followed by 2005 Hyundai Sonata below.

Well, apparently Hyundai, the car company that we all know produces crap and only crap, has now something to throw back in our collective face.

Last year, the company overtook Honda and Nissan to become the world’s seventh-biggest automaker. Also last year, U.S. consumers rated Hyundai and Honda as tied for second-best in overall quality in an influential J.D. Power and Associates survey — ahead of Mercedes-Benz and behind only Toyota.

Color me bewildered! [via Wizbang]

Insideous & Evil

In case you are one of the 18 people who don’t believe that spammers are made from the purist of evil then consider this. They’re giving away free pr..n to humans who will give the spammerz real-time answers to the CAPTCHA questions.

This is more ammunition against the so-called “free” speech advocates who are fighting the move to quarentine all the pr..n people on a single “adult” domain. It just makes so much sense.