MousePotatoPower

I recently found OpenCube.com and their fantastic CSS menu system called QuickMenu6.  The options that can be selected, the configuration interface, and it’s compatibility with different web browsers is fantastic.  It is composed of unordered lists and in my book is SEO-friendly, it can even provide a working multi-level menu with javascript disabled!

Well, OpenCube offers the menu system for free and it is available for download directly from their website.  QuickMenu6 may even be worth the $149 price tag.  OpenCube has a “piracy prevention counter-measure” embedded in the javascript.  The unfortunate part about this is that their security involves spitting out a pop-up window in Internet Explorer that says “This copy of QuickMenu has not been purchased“.  The funny thing is that the pop-up doesn’t work in Firefox.  This brings back memories of monkeys who think that using javascript to disable right-clicking on a webpage will really protect their stuff.

Javascript is plain-text and isn’t very complicated when it comes to copyright protection.  Although I have not been able to find a published solution on the web for getting rid of the copy-protection code, my feeble programming skills include the ability to recognize obfuscated javascript and I was able to find a few hints online about QuickMenu’s code.

The end result is that found what I was looking for and have been able to successfully remove the copy-protection code from QuickMenu’s javascript.  I was worried that I didn’t remove enough semi-colons, but the script continues to work and there are no more pop-ups on my website.

Hopefully you have heard of the official M&Ms website and know that you can order M&Ms in 22 different colors.

But did you know that you can get custom messages printed on your M&Ms?

How about getting a custom PICTURE printed on the back of your M&Ms?

Do you know a business that wants to do some sweet advertising?  M&Ms even has the option to imprint logos and messages for you.

I wonder how long before they offer custom flavors?  Or mix your own colors?

There are times when I absolutely HATE advertising.  Commercials, ads in magazines and newspapers, online ads, it doesn’t matter, there are always examples of supernatural idiocy.

I followed a reputable link to an article about cooking tips today.  When I arrived at the target website, I was a little disappointed that the article was so “short”.  By the time I got to the 2nd page, I was getting frustrated that I could only read for 30 seconds before having to click to the next page.  On the 3rd page, I gave up reading the article and decided to write a rant on the dumb design of the website.

The layout at RealSimple.com is pleasing.  I like the colors and the navigation.  The only gripe I really have is the amount of content vs. the amount of ads (but it’s a big gripe).

Example of bad layout

RealSimple limits their page to 885 pixels wide, no problem there.   This particular page is 1800 pixels tall.  The size of the article?  400 x 800 pixels.  After squeezing in the article title, an article summary/tagline, a picture, a set of links to print or e-mail the article, and a set of small navigation arrows to move the next/previous page, there’s only enough space for 4 paragraphs of reading material.

So now, we have a 5 page article.  If a visitor has the patience to read through the whole thing, you’re going to give them 20 ad impressions from this one article.

Stretching out 1 article to multiple pages is a great way to keep visitors from getting bored at overly long content and it is an excellent way to squeeze out more ad impressions, but this is ridiculous for a couple of reasons.

the screen space for navigation on each page (including the site search, is ALMOST the same size as the article)
for me (your mileage may vary), the article wasn’t even worth reading all the way through.
the ads take up more screen space than the article.
the ads slow down the page loadtime, frustrating vistors even more.

Bring value to a customer (good content, usable website) before you try to take value from them (ad revenue).

I was wandering around the Apple website the other day and I couldn’t help but feel amazed at the option to put two quad-core CPUs into one desktop computer…that’s 8 processors.  That’s an insane amount of computing power.  My first computer ran at 4 hertz.

I decided to go all the way and see how much cash a fully-loaded Mac Pro desktop would cost.

Apple does not disappoint.  Two quad-core CPUs, 32GB of RAM, 1.2 terabytes of 15k RPM hard drive space, and two 30″ HD displays are the highlight of the build.  The USB modem and iWorks ‘08 were thrown in just because there were available.

Over $28,000 of computer hardware in a single box that fits under a desk…that’s almost enough to pay for a brand new Infiniti G35!!

I am a product of the public school system. Most of my friends are the same. Naturally, I also have friends that graduated from private schools. On the average, it seems like my private school friends are in better shape intellectually and in life in general.

I have seen it many times, teachers in the public school system sending their kids to private schools. Frankly, it bugs the heck out of me. With a background in sales, I do not understand why a salesman would not use their own product. Likewise, I simply cannot comprehend why a teacher in the public school system would send their own child through a different school system. Obviously, I agree that private schools are in general (but not always) a better place to receive an education.

In general, though, there are many very important, very vital areas of life that are not covered in the course of a normal 12-year education.

We’ll start off with the Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught in Every School. If I knew these skills by the time I graduated from high school, I would have been a better college student and I would have had a more organized career path.

Next is another list of Skills Your Child Needs to Know. It’s a very similar list with more elaborate bullet points.

The last is from an MIT professor: 10 Lessons of an MIT Education. Gian-Carlo Rota has 10 excellent lessons that can be applied to life in general.

Although private schools provide a better education than public schools, that does NOT guarantee that every private school student will graduate and become smarter, be a better college student, or become more successful.  Surely you can find somebody successful who is near you who came from the public school system.

Become a life-learner, always paying attention for new things that can be learned each day.  Figure out what skills you have benefited from and teach them to your children.

There are lots of password checking websites/utilities that can be found on the internet.  And they all use a different set of rules for determining if your password is strong or weak.

Password Strength Checker uses it’s own set of rules, but it is the most thorough set of rules that I have seen.  Check it out and rate your passwords.  My strongest password only rates 38%.

Tip: you get severely penalized for having a chain of similiar characters (lower-case, upper-case, or numbers). abc, xyz, dnr OR MTV, PNP, JKL OR 123, 1982, 143, etc.

Another tip: if your password can be found in a dictionary, change it immediately.  using a word that is in a dictionary is about as insecure as you can get.

Michio Kaku is a kind of strange Japanese guy with killer English skills. He’s a theoretical physicist. When he appears on the Discovery Channel, he is usually described as a futurist…and he has some pretty weird ideas about the future.

This is a clip from a BBC documentary. Michio Kaku doesn’t appear in this clip, but it’s his voice that is narrating it.

The first part of the clip shows an experiment trying to demonstrate time slowing down (or at least the perception of time slowing down). The second part is another experiment about rats, drugs, and time perception. The rat experiment made me laugh AND be in awe at the same time. I can just imagine a rat on cocaine tweaking out and the rat on marijuana getting stoned. LOL

As of February 19, 2008, Toshiba of Japan issued a statement saying that:

TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.

Direct link to Toshiba Japan website press release.

Looks like Sony’s gamble to equip the PS3 with a Blu-Ray player got lucky.  It is DEFINITELY going to pay off for Sony in the long run.

I guess Sony got lucky with their gamble to integrate the Blu-ray into the PS3.

If you’re thinking about picking up a next-generation player in the next year, don’t be tempted to buy a closeout HD-DVD player, even if it’s cheap.

 For some reason, I’m a big fan of CompUSA.  The sales staff isn’t very helpful, but then again, how many big box stores can actually help you?  My local alternatives are Circuit City: their computer hardware/accessory section is a joke.  Then there’s Best Buy: selection is better, but their prices are never as good as CompUSA.

Kind of makes you think, CompUSA seemed to have the selection that appealed to the more advanced geek and they had cheaper prices.  That’s a smaller niche and that equals less profit.  Circuit City concentrates on TVs and has a nice car audio department and an excellent selection of DVDs.  Best Buy does car audio, home theater, and even appliances.  Much wider appeal…perhaps that was CompUSA’s downfall.

CompUSA is closing

I bring you this article to show you possibilities. This story does not need to be sensationalized, anybody with half a brain should be able to realize that this is not normal and that this situation could have happened even without MySpace. Dangerous things can happen online, dangerous things can happen at your front door, the more you are aware, the more you can take steps to avoid disastrous situations or prepare for them when they become unavoidable.

The original article appears to come from the St. Charles Journal in Missouri. The events took place a little over 1 year ago.

The article is well written and is followed by over 100 pages of comments by readers.

To summarize the story: A 13-year old girl who had a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem commits suicide after being rejected and ridiculed by a boy on MySpace. The boy turns out to be a fictitious character created by one of the 13-year old girl’s ex-friends and the ex-friend’s mother.

Be careful online. Take care of yourself and take care of your kids.