There’s been some really good commentary on this article concerning games for the over-30 crowd, so I figured it would be good to actually list off some decent games not only for them but also for everyone else. Vector Tanks For: Apple iPhone/iPod Touch Where?: Search for it in the App Store If you own [...]
How To Use VLC Direct3D Desktop Mode (VIDEO)
March 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
One of the lesser-known features of the VLC media player is the ability to use Direct3D Desktop Mode. What this does is easily allow you to play video as your wallpaper while still being able to use your computer normally. This isn’t something that’s productive at all; it’s just fun. Note that at times it’s [...]
Does The Acid3 Test Really Mean Anything?
March 30, 2011 by 2 Comments
The supposed be-all/end-all for testing a browser’s worth is whether it scores a 100 on the Acid3 test. I don’t pay attention to these tests because compatibility doesn’t really count for much; this is especially true since the vast majority of web sites fail (and fail hard) the W3C Validation Service (Google.com even fails that [...]
Bank Point Reward Programs? Glad To See Them Go
March 30, 2011 by 8 Comments
I received an email yesterday from my bank: As a valued Stupid Bank client, we want you to know about an upcoming change to your Stupid Bank Check Card. The proposed regulations issued by the Federal Reserve will impact the economics of the industry’s check card programs. As a result, Stupid Bank will no longer [...]
Amazon Now Offering Unlimited Movies And TV Shows On-Demand Via Amazon Prime
March 29, 2011 by 2 Comments
Amazon has offered video on demand via a rental system for a while, but now they have stepped up to offering unlimited access to their on-demand library via an Amazon Prime subscription. Prime instant videos provide unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost with a [current price [...]
Calendar Battle: Google vs. Windows Live vs. Yahoo! vs. AOL
March 29, 2011 by 4 Comments
Web calendars are important because they help us better organize the stuff in our lives. A proper web calendar should allow you to do the following: Access it quickly and easily. Allow you to easily set events and the types of notifications you want to receive, if any. Offer easy ways to set custom repeating [...]
Amazon Cloud Player – What Apple Should Have Done
March 29, 2011 by 3 Comments
Nobody can argue with the fact that Amazon remains one of the most innovative companies in existence. That was shown, yet again, with their surprise launch of Amazon Cloud Player. This all comes off the heels of their recent inclusion of streaming movies to their Prime members, and the talk of an Amazon App Store [...]
Do You Like A "2006" Retail Design?
March 29, 2011 by 2 Comments
When it comes to the design of web sites specifically tailored for commerce (meaning not blogs), the clock appears to have stood still for some major retail outlets. Once such example of a really old design is Costco: This design has been used at Costco since 2006 and has barely changed since that point. Here [...]
Hate Deferred Email? Bcc Yourself From A Different Account
March 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
A standard spam deterrent that several major webmail providers utilize is deferred mail. What this means is that your email on send is purposely delayed from 5 minutes up to several hours. For example, you know Yahoo! Mail’s deferment is in effect when you receive an error 451. It’s most likely true you weren’t doing [...]
Convert Windows Media Center Video Recordings To Other Formats
March 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
If you use Windows Media Center to record TV shows and you want to convert your recordings to another format, check out the free utility MC-TVConverter. MC-TVConverter is a FREE (GPL) GUI (Graphical User Interface) for various commandline video converters. It’s mainly targeted to convert recordings from Microsoft Windows MediaCenter, which introduced the new WTV [...]
Community Broadband Is On The Rise
March 28, 2011 by 1 Comment
If you’re currently feeling the pinch of an overpriced privately-owned ISP, watch out because municipality-run, a.k.a. "community broadband" internet is making waves. Currently there are 133 US cities that have community broadband. This map shows you where they are. The red markers on the map are FTTH (Fiber To The Home), and yes that means [...]
The 5 Best iPad Apps for Photographers
March 27, 2011 by 1 Comment
This is a guest post by Neil Jones. The iPad is selling in large numbers simply because it is making work, hobbies and entertainment easier and more accessible for people of all age groups. It is a tablet computer that scores with its sleek and elegant design, small form factor and being lightweight makes it [...]
Why Doesn’t Every Site Use HTTPS?
March 27, 2011 by 3 Comments
You may have seen that a lot of popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Hotmail are moving from using HTTPS only for their login pages to using it for their entire site. For some of these sites, it is a user configurable option right now, but ultimately it will be the default method of [...]
Another Reason To Go Paperless: USPS Cutting 7,500 Jobs
March 25, 2011 by 4 Comments
One of the last bastions of purity concerning job security was the US Postal Service. Working for the USPS was in a way like working for the state govt., federal govt. or the military in the respect that employees stayed there (usually happily) for decades. Well, you can scratch the USPS off the job security [...]
Fonts Look Terrible In IE9? Use Compatibility View
March 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
If the "hardware-accelerated" fonts in IE9 look terrible to your eyes: …and you’d rather see your fonts like this: This is the button you need to click in IE9: (the small blue ‘broken paper’ icon in the address bar) This button is used on a per-site level. For any web site you use where the [...]
