Technology Bits
366 words.
Updating the status of technology in my life, in no particular order.
Browser Wars. I’ve more-or-less fully switched to Firefox 3.5 as my default browser. For web development it’s hard to beat the Firebug and HTML Validator plugins. And for web browsing in peace, the NoScript plugin is pretty awesome.
I tried Chrome again recently for general web browsing, and, while it is noticeably faster than Firefox, I found that I just couldn’t live without NoScript — there are soooo many scripts out there that really need to be blocked. But for sites that I trust, I’d have no trouble using Chrome.
I still occasionally use Internet Explorer 8, mainly for bank sites that are horribly coded and don’t work with anything else.
Media Center. I now have an older Windows XP box hooked up to the television in the living room to serve as an Internet media center, for watching YouTube, Hulu and Netflix on the TV. I use Miro for watching Revision3 and Mevio video podcasts, and I also use XBMC to stream music and picture collections to the living room, which I’ve shared on the network with TVersity.
I tried Ubuntu on the media center, but it was just too much of a hassle. Maybe it would work better with a newer PC. Linux on the desktop isn’t quite ready for non-tinkerers yet.
My favorite Internet shows, by the way, are Cranky Geeks, Tekzilla and Film Riot. Systm was also a favorite but they’ve discontinued it.
Zune. I’ve enjoyed my Zune 8 a lot more than I expected I would. I use it mainly for listening to podcasts in the car on the way to and from work, and occasionally for listening to music at work. The Zune desktop software could be better, but it covers the basics. I don’t use the Zune marketplace — I get my music from Amazon right now.
I’m really looking forward to the Zune HD… if it works like they say, it could entirely replace the aforementioned Windows XP media box. A portable web browser in the palm of your hand — and it’s not an evil Apple product, or chained to an evil cell phone company!
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