The Big Book of Spam
Hate spam? I don’t. I love spam. I love spam so much that I’m writing a book about it! Yep, my latest book project is The Big Book of Spam, and you can read more about it at the official site, www.thebigbookofspam.com - oh, and you can contribute! Forward any spam you get to bbos@thebigbookofspam.com. Look! I’m not even protecting the address behind a script or anything! It’s wide open! Use that address to fill in web forms that you know to belong to spammers. Spam me, baby!
For more information, please visit the official site. I’d rather not get any porn, thanks, but most other kinds of spam are welcome. Porn spam simply won’t work for the book as I won’t be able to publish it! Well… not in normal bookstores, anyway.
I’m working on the book as we speak, and I expect it to be ready for purhase in early 2008.
Why I’m Glad Google Isn’t Laser-Accurate
Search engines, especially Google, are always striving to give searchers exactly what they want. That’s admirable from one point of view, but from another, it’s not always super-helpful.
As Modest Opinions is still young and I’m always looking for ways to improve the experience for everyone, I used Google to look for a Wordpress plugin that would put a "quote of the day" on the site. Oh, don’t worry, I won’t bore you to death with old Mark Twain witticisms or the latest from Ben Franklin. No, I want a plugin that will allow me to specify what quote will be displayed on each day. I decided I wanted this because I wanted simply to write "I won’t be reviewing that spider movie because they don’t need my help advertising their billion-dollar flick", and I don’t think that one line deserved its own blog entry.
Google didn’t turn up a plugin for me, but it did turn up another - a plugin that will display the full content of each article within my feed. Cutting off the feed contents when a "more tag" is used is a "feature" that Wordpress introduced, and not only is it not helpful, it’s downright unhelpful. I had asked Maria, co-author of the Wordpress 2 Visual Quickstart Guide about it, but she wasn’t sure of the solution. Well, this plugin I found does the trick. It allows me to keep my start page nice and easy to browse while giving my feed subscribers what they want - the full contents without the need to open the full page in an extra step.
If Google was laser-accurate, it would have found the original plugin I was looking for or else it would have displayed a "can’t find it, sorry" message. As it is, the search results return pages that aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, but might just be close enough. I like that.
Review: Apple Mighty Mouse (Bluetooth)
I have always had very few demands of any computer mouse. It has to be two button. It has to have a scrollwheel. It has to have at least one side button, and it has to be on the inside for someone who’s right-handed. That’s all. I’ve never needed anything fancy - and I don’t need to spend $150 on a frickin’ mouse.
Now, though… now, I’m on a Mac. I’m on a MacBook Pro, to be precise. A couple of months ago, I started really looking into getting a wireless mouse. I decided first thing that I didn’t want a wireless laser mouse or any other technology that required a USB port for a receiver. Being much like the PCM/CIA cards of old that I would routinely snap off because I would forget to remove it before travel, I didn’t want a little stubby thing hanging off the side of the machine. That means Bluetooth, and that means a dearth of full-size mice. I’m six feet tall, I’m a big guy. I need a full-size mouse! All those tiny little "notebook mice" aren’t worth the plastic they’re made of.
So, I went and picked up an Apple Mighty Mouse at CompUSA, and this is what I think of it after owning it for about a month.
Responsiveness
It’s not a slow responder, I’ll give it that. I could use it for gaming, but I’m still attached to my wired mouse for that. For everyday work, the Mighty Mouse is just fine. I do have an issue though, with the speed. My wired mouse moves at one consistent speed that I can control. I want to go from corner-to-corner by covering a certain distance with my mouse. The Mighty Mouse is inconsistent - it starts up slow, speeds up, then slows down. Presumably, this is to help users to avoid overrunning their destination and having to back up. Make a short movement, like, say, placing the cursor from one line of text to one below it, and the mouse just crawls. If there is a setting to change this behavior in the Mighty Mouse, I’m not aware of it. If you’re aware of it, please, for the love of all that is good and pure, let me know in the comments below.
Comfort
The Mighty Mouse, despite being "full size" is still rather smaller than I’m used to. I would like to see the next version of the mouse have an arch to it. I’m still not completely comfortable with a flat mouse, and I find myself arching my hand over the device. That means that instead of using the top-palm of my hand to manipulate the mouse, I’m using my thumb and pinky on the sides of the mouse. It’s not… totally… uncomfortable, but it does feel strange.
The side button… is a disaster. You have to actually squeeze the mouse on both sides to activate it, which, for someone who moves the mouse by the sides like I do, is extremely inconvenient. The most comfortable position for me is to hold the mouse at a bit of an angle, with my thumb positioned over the inside button, and my pinky positioned just behind the outside button. I can’t move my pinky "up" without altering the angle that I hold the mouse with, so the squeeze-button function is completely useless to me. Not only that, but the button doesn’t click or give any indication (other than what you expect to happen on-screen) that the function was activated.
Overall
As far as I can tell, the battery consumption is just fine - if you remember to turn the mouse off when you’re not using it. I’ve not been inconvenienced in the least.
I never find myself control-clicking for a context menu (a complaint I’ve heard from many a Mac user), but I believe that’s simply because I’m not a long-time Mac user. I’ve been right-clicking for far too long! At first, I had a little trouble with finger placement, but it didn’t take long before all my left-clicks and right-clicks were correctly recognized.
The scrollwheel, actually, trackball, is amazing. It’s practically worth the price of admission, to be honest. It’s feels very natural and responsive.
Several times (okay, more often than not) I had to set the mouse up manually after shutting it off and turning it back on. I don’t know why this happens, but it’s not often automatically recognized.
So, overall, I’m fairly happy with Apple’s wireless Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. For a star rating… I’ll go with 3 out of 5. Not terrible, not fantastic, just kinda average. For the price though? You should probably shop around and get some other opinions about other mice.
Rush - Snakes and Arrows MVI (DVD-Album) Delay
It’s already been delayed once, but now the Snakes & Arrows "special edition" MVI (DVD-Album) has been delayed again - to June 5th. Like I said in my previous article, I’m a Rush fan going back nearly 20 years, so naturally, I bought the standard CD version and pre-ordered the MVI (DVD-Album) version. Hey, what can I say - the pre-ordered MVI (through Rush.com) will ship with a t-shirt… how could I possibly pass that up?
Well, I recieved an email from MusicToday, who handled the pre-ordering.
Hey Rush Fans,
Thanks so much for all of your support. The charts came out this week and the CD debuted at Number 3!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Atlantic Records has changed the release date for the MVI (formerly DVD-Album) version of "Snakes & Arrows". It will now be released on June 5. Your order will ship to you on or around Friday, June 1. Your original shipping method will still apply. No one will be receiving this special release prior to this date. Any order containing the MVI version will not ship until this date. Please note that the nature of pre-order sales prohibits cancellations or modifications.
For more information on the MVI please visit Rush.com
Well, all I can say is: a big Colbert-style wag of my finger to Atlantic Records. According to Rush.com, the reason given by Atlantic is "production issues". At this late stage? The album was completed months ago. I know that MVI is a new technology (sort of), but to me, that does not excuse this delay or the one prior. Besides, Linkin Park’s MVI is coming out in less than a week (on time by the way). If they weren’t on separate labels, I’d point my finger at pushing Rush’s disc back just so that Linkin Park’s could be first to market.
What is MVI (DVD-ALBUM)?
According to the summary at Amazon.com:
What Is MVI? With a higher storage capacity than a standard CD, the Music Video Interactive Disc (MVI) contains new interactive features including, superior sound quality, a wide range of video features, and interactive digital content. MVI discs play in all standard DVD players, computers, and game consoles with DVD drives but do not play in conventional CD players. Digital music files are compatible with all MP3 devices.
At Barnes & Noble, it’s described thusly:
MVI stands for Music Video Interactive. These DVD albums include a wide range of video and interactive content. The DVD/MVI plays in standard DVD players, computers, and game consoles with DVD drives. It does NOT play in CD players.
Yet another contender for the "I’m gonna replace CD’s!" crown, it’ll play in your various DVD players, computers - anything with a standard DVD drive. What then, do they mean by being compatible with all MP3 devices? Since the high-quality song tracks are protected and can’t be ripped (yet… just wait), the MVI also includes down-mixed versions of all the songs in a standard (what they call "pre-ripped) format. You can copy those tracks to your iPod, yes - but you can’t copy the super-duper 5.1 surround-sound 96kHz/24-bit audio tracks.
So why are the labels calling this MVI instead of DVD-Album now? My opinion is that they felt as if "DVD-Album" would be either confusing to consumers (as there has been a "DVD-Audio" format failing in the marketplace for some years) or that consumers would be confused as to why a hour’s worth of music would need to be on a DVD (not realizing that there would be extras on the disc just like a movie DVD). Best, they probably thought, to make up a new acronym to make it stand out and avoid any confusion. MVI sums it up quite well - Music Video Interactive. Well… I guess "interactive" might be a stretch, but movie makers have called putting web links on a movie DVD "interactive" for years, so I suppose it should be tolerated.
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Torman Maxt - The Problem of Pain, Part IIndie prog rock. If there’s one type of music that’s completely hit-or-miss, it’s got to be independent progressive rock.
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank PlanetIf there’s one thing I both love and hate, it’s discovering that a great band has flown completely under my radar.
Rush - Snakes and ArrowsRush is back with their first album of original material since 2002, Snakes & Arrows. -
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