Good Packing
Monday, 14. September 2009, 23:46:24
This was actually a reactionary response mid video. Once I realized what I was doing I thought "oh hey this is good packing." Thanks to Odd & Even for the influence.
Top Ten Things Found in Opera's Dumpster
Tuesday, 15. September 2009, 22:22:59
As part of Opera's Marketing Position Competition, you can favorite this post with the star at the top if you are signed in to MyOpera.
10. Old Recipes for Lutefisk and New Boxes from Frozen Pizza
It's time to put the past behind and look to the future - a technology driven future with new software, new looks, new ideas, and refrigerators.
9. Fan Fiction for Opera Man
Opera has it's fans, and chances are if you're reading this you are one. But Opera's got a a fanbase so strong that they've started writing fan fiction based on a fictional fictional character dubbed Opera Man. Certain fanatical employees are even involved in the movement and translation into multiple languages. Sadly, it's all terribly predictable: Fastest hero ever, saves everyone from bad situations, really good looking, etc.8. Useless Code
Ever wonder why other web browsers have 90+MB install files and take up so much space when Opera packs in more features in a smaller footprint? Even the download and install is faster.
7. Coffee Cups
It's no secret that software companies like caffeine. But when your work day spans 24 time zones, you always have employees awake somewhere - even if they should be sleeping.
6. Doors
Not satisfied with speeding up web browsing and information accessibility on the Internets, Opera Software has thrown away all of the doors within their headquarters to make getting around in the real world faster as well (with the exception of the front doors, because security is important, too). Further, they get around using dirt bikes in the office halls and use jumps liberally from floor to floor.5. Smiley Stat Tracking
Only secretly tested internally and in the MyOpera beta section online, the sad story of Smiley Stats ends here. Originally planned to be the metadata goldmine of the information age, the Smiley Stats program was going to track everyone's usage of Smilies in comments to then sell that data to advertisers - that is, until the exact same usage pattern emerged week after week after week:
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Monday -
was the general feeling
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Tuesday -
-
Wednesday -
-
Thursday -
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Friday -
curiously shows up with not only 70% from the community, but also 99% from Opera employees.
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Saturday - a mix of
from the community and 
from Opera employees
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Sunday -
4. Opera Brand Laxatives
Opera loves to spread the swag thick, but this failed attempt had recipients running. The obvious choice as a medium to convey the 'Fast & Safe' angle of their web browsing platform, the Opera Branded Laxatives worked too fast - leading to the now infamous "Opera, So Fast You'll Crap In Your Pants" stickers. 3. Jon S. von Tetzchner's Speedo
Known for crossing bodies of water to launch new versions of web browsers, Opera's CEO has to toss the old Speedo in lieu of a wet suit in the winter months. Even vikings need protection from Norwegian winter seas.
2. Mail intended for Oprah Winfrey
Like letters to Santa Claus, Opera has the sad job of throwing away millions of letters intended for Oprah, shattering the dreams of household moms all over the world. Tweets, too!
1. Microsoft or Apple Employees
You will often find these curious creatures rummaging around in the Opera dumpster looking for useful bits of information as to what Opera will bestow on the web browser industry next since Opera is always beating them to the punch.
Anyone find anything else in Opera's dumpster?
This was actually a reactionary response mid video. Once I realized what I was doing I thought "oh hey this is good packing." Thanks to Odd & Even for the influence.
How Many Clicks Does it Take?
Monday, 24. August 2009, 04:13:52
How many clicks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of good usability?
Growing parallel to the video game industry, Internet users are aware of the incremental innovations that have become defining characteristics of gaming platforms, most notably in controllers, the interface by which you manipulate the on screen action. Initially more buttons meant more control. Atari gave us one, then we got D-pads, shoulder buttons, auto-fire, triggers, etc.. At some point between Playstation's 16 buttons w/ dual joysticks, and Jaguar's 18-26 buttons (depending on how you Do The Math), people got confused. Parents stopped playing with kids and casual gamers fell off the map; innovation turned into isolation.
Nintendo led a return to basics with Gamecube's large A button and colorful/ergonomic style; but there was another idea lurking on the drawing board. Back in the NES days, it wasn't uncommon to see people swing controllers in a boss fight, tilt their body as they drive, or jerk the pad up when they made Mario jump, particularly parents and casual players long forgotten. It was Nintendo's innovative concept of allowing what came naturally to be a form of control that helped springboard them from third place to first with the introduction of Wii's simple 10 [action] button controller. Removing complexity lowered barriers to entry and the market grew.
Opera has done similar things for browsing. No, I'm not talking about Mouse Gestures. About two years ago Opera introduced a feature that got my parents to switch browsers: Opera 9.2 added support for automatic searching from the address bar when users enter more than one word. How many times in the past have people opened a tab, clicked that address bar and started typing only to get a 404 error?
"Oops, ...error?"
"You gotta search from the Google box, Dad."
"The what?"
By capturing the actions that came naturally to users, Opera decreased confusion and the time it takes to get to the information you seek by a few more clicks. You see, there are more ways to make browsing faster than refining the way pages render. The fewer clicks needed to find what you seek, the better the experience, and if you can minimize confusion along the way, even better. Opera makes browsing as simple as one, two, three.To save a few more clicks and answer the age old question: It's approximately 400.
Eight Hundred Tweets.
Tuesday, 7. April 2009, 16:33:25
This is what eight hundred posts to twitter looks like.
My most used words are ed, new, time, day, twitter.
35.56% of my tweets are replies.
More stats available here.
My most used words are ed, new, time, day, twitter.
35.56% of my tweets are replies.
More stats available here.
twitter stats for 2008
Wednesday, 31. December 2008, 18:10:23
I love statistics and [like] twitter (follow me? twitter.com/doted ). Here are some tweetstats for me in cloud and different graphical forms.
Below is a recap of my most twittered words for 2008. Image link.
Below is a recap of my most twittered words for 2008. Image link.
Map Updat.ed
Sunday, 22. June 2008, 18:43:09
Going to continue to update the 'Where is Ed?' map for the next 2 weeks as interesting things continue to happen.
Grasshopper Manufacture Email
Thursday, 8. November 2007, 17:48:59
Naoko from Grasshopper Manufacture emailed me about my costume.
My Blood Berry Beam Katana and Travis Touchdown Costume
Thursday, 8. November 2007, 17:25:00
It looks like no one else wanted to be Travis Touchdown for Halloween. Despite me saying for nearly a year that that's who I was going to go as, work became so time cosuming that I only had time to even begin working on my costume on November 5th. Why did I even bother? Two reasons: I really wanted to go as Travis Touchdown, and there was still 2 days to enter pictures in the N+ Halloween Costume CoN+est.+ Click here to Digg this sweetness and support tinkering/honest fun.
+ I was just informed this is the Opera Community top news story, here. - Thanks, Espen
+ Naoko from Grasshopper Manufacture sent me a message.
+ Nintendo Wii Fanboy likes it, too.
+ GoNintendo likes it.
+ Well, now when you search Google for Beam Katana or Travis Touchdown, there's a bunch of first page results about this.
+ Kotaku really likes it.
The main character (characters page) in No More Heroes, a game coming out for Wii in Japan in December and the US in February. Travis, an otaku, buys a Beam Katana in an online auction and ends up battling assassins in the town in which he resides, Santa Destroy, CA. (gallery)Wait, who is Travis Touchdown?
I decided to make the Blood Berry Beam Katana because it's far more complicated and looks a lot less like a traditional light saber. I used a Star Wars Force FX Light Saber as the base, among other supplies. The best part is that the prop retains all of it's original durability. That means that just like a normal Force FX light saber, you can swing and smash this thing into anything and the sounds and durablity aren't sacrificed. It still rests on the Force FX base as well, but I think I'm going to make a special wall mount. And if I can figure out how to get it to not turn off after a minute of not being used, I'm going to turn it into a powered lamp by taking out the battery/speaker unit that is politely designed as a single piece and just wiring it up and adding a plug. This way it won't make noise as a lamp and I can always put the battery pack back in for portable fun/death dealing.
The handle-looking things I later realized aren't handles at all, but I had already made them super sturdy, enough that you can swing this thing around by them if you wish. And yes, there are two, it takes a lot of screen shot analysis to say that with conficence.
There's a bright red master switch located within prime thumbing area, and that glows pretty bright thanks to an LED from my box of LEDs I ripped out of stuff.In the video game, Travis needs to re-charge his Beam Katana every now and then by shaking it. So for fun I decided to include a Battery Meter. (larger pictures here) It really is a nice touch, and when you shake the Beam Katana, the needle moves.
There's already a million things I want to do differently, like not to forget putting on the orange piping before I took all these pictures. And I'm not satisfied with the tip, I had no way of making it gold under the time constraints. But for only 2 days worth of off-and-on work, and very little planning, I think it came out pretty sweet.
The total cost was around $150-160, with $120 of that being the original light saber purchased specifically for this task. No, I didn't just use one I had. If that makes you angry, I'm sorry. I spent 2 hours in Home Depot, 1 hour in a craft store, a quick stop at a Radio Shack, and went to 7 stores looking for Travis glasses, and I ended up using glasses I had. Had the jacket, too. Made the shirt from two shirts I got at a thrift store and a lot of sharpie markers and sewing. I think I spent the least ammount of time on my hair, ironically/considerably less than I spend on it before I go out. I haven't sat around and worked on something in a loooong time. This was totally worth the cost and effort.
Capt Seagull (1:46:35 AM): what would be so fitting (but dont do) is to sell it on ebay! hahaha
Battle Happen (1:51:00 AM): haha i know
Battle Happen (1:51:05 AM): i should add that to my post
Check out my Blood Berry Beam Katana gallery and let me know your thoughts.
Digg this.
MyOpera Story.
uncanny and remarkable.
Friday, 17. August 2007, 18:43:17
I'm beginning to like you
So you probably won't get what I'm going to do
I'm walkin' away from you
It probably don't make much sense to you
But I'm trying to save you
From all of the things that I'll probably say or do
I'll probably do
I could stay a while
But sooner or later I'll break your smile
And I can tell a joke
But one of these days I'm bound to choke
And we might share a kiss
But I feel like a can't go through with this
And I bet we could build a home
But I know the right thing for me to do
Is to leave you alone
Leave you alone, now
You'll probably call me a fool
And say I'm doin' exactly what a coward would do
And I'm beginning to like you
What a shame it's a lame way to live
But what can I do?
I hope you appreciate what I do
I'm a martyr for my love for you
A martyr for my love for you, now
A martyr for my love for you
A martyr for my love for you
I've always felt it's better to be friends forever than to risk it all for romance... and i've ...
" ..."
i have some awesome friends, but i've probably missed out on a lot of other things.
it's difficult to make me upset, and i dont often regret things... but when i heard this song it was like watching my life flash before my eyes, and several other people's lives, and a hundred futures, and a thousand moments that never happened, and the thousands that had...
*walks away*
Showing posts 1 - 20 of 93.
Shoutbox
DotEd
2009-08-24 13:15:03Above the blog post there should be a 'favorite this' button - that's what you wan to click.
Poll
Do you use Twitter?
- Yes.
(47%)
- No. (29%)
- I'm bad at it, but I have an account. (6%)
- I don't know what Twitter is. (18%)
Total: 17 votes
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Tags
Project.ed
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2D Castlevania petition
My Petition to Kogi Igarashi and the #1 Google result for 2D Caslevania
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Animal Crossing DS Community
My Promotional group for Animal Crossing: Wild World for Nintendo DS, with 3,300+ members
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N+, The Nintendo Community
A fast growing, very active community for Nintendo enthusiasts and the #1 featured group on Opera!
Extend.ed
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.ed + MySpace
I log in about once a week if that.
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.ed + Old Gallery
Not organized very well at all.
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.ed + Flickr profile
My flickr Profile
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My flickr Photos
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My Digg Profile
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My YouTube Channel
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My CNET Profile
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.ed + Technorati
My Technorati Profile
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.ed + IdleRPG
My IdleRPG profile for #IdleRPG on irc.opera.com
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.ed + VIRB
My VIRB site
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.ed + Blogger Profile
My Profile on Google's Blogger Service - I use this almost entirely for experiments only.
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.ed + Blogger Blog
My experiment-only blog.
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My Wikipedia definition.
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.ed + Wishlist
My Amazon.com Wishlist
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My last.fm profile/page/history etc.
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Follow me on Twitter
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My Tumblog
Import.ed
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Play Asia
Use this link for the best deals on importing all that hard to find stuff - cheap too.
My 15 Minutes of Fame
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Me and Jon as the first DS Browsers
I was invited to Seattle for the Opera 9 Launch where I was one of the 1st people to use the DS Browser.
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Wired top story about my old screen printing company
I helped create an internet based screen printing company years ago that was featured as Wired's top news story for a weekend.
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When I got 1200 Diggs.
The immediate response to this was crazy.
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The N+ Interview
I was interviewed about N+, it's origin, the MyOpera fame achieved, and future plans.
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When Digg loved my Beam Katana
I made a Beam Katana from No More Heroes and got a bazillion views.
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The Beam Katana
I made this. The Internets loved it.
N+
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Capcom Announces 'Dead Rising' For Wii
Everyone loved Capcom's first Wii zombie shooter, Resident Evil 4, so Capcom decided to port another such title over to the Wii: Dead Rising. The 360 game, along with an amazing subtitle (Chop Til You Drop), is being ported to the Wii using the Resident Evil 4 engine. Chop Til You Drop will inclu ...
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VirtuNAL Console Monday
Virtual Console NEW+ Super Fantasy Zone (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone Mild Cartoon Violence, 900 Wii Points): The last entry in the Fantasy Zone series, this side-scrolling shooter puts you in the shoes of main character Opa-Opa, who is on a mission to avenge the death of his fath ...
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Rumor: Pikmin 3 Release Date
This is yet a rumor because there's no official release date (at least not announced yet), BUT Play.com alredady lists Pikmin 3 for Wii with a pre-order link and a release date for March 27th, 2009 (EU release!!). Why might this be the real deal? Well, because it's still a far away date and becaus ...
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Rumor: 'Sonic and the Black Knight' Gives Sonic a ...
I say rumor only because I don't want it to be true. The above image, apparently the cover of the September issue of Nintendo Power, reveals "Sonic and the Black Knight" as a Wii exclusive. No information on the title is available yet, but stay tuned to N+ for developments. On a side note, WHY T ...
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VirtuPAL Console Friday
It's a WiiWare week, with two third party games. One has to do with pirates, the other is tyre racing. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of a pirate with a tyre, so we'll have to do with one on the moon. It's practically the same thing. Virtual Console None this week. :( The updated list ...
.ed + twitter
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doted: 2 weddings on 2 coasts? W/ @JLynnJohnston a ...
doted: 2 weddings on 2 coasts? W/ @JLynnJohnston and @excitebox in tow
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doted: My mom is going to see 'that batman: the bl ...
doted: My mom is going to see 'that batman: the black knight' ...martin lawrence?
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doted: HD video conferencing 1 year later: still a ...
doted: HD video conferencing 1 year later: still a daily part of my life.
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doted: @drewolanoff dude, thank god for unlimmited ...
doted: @drewolanoff dude, thank god for unlimmited texts. drew = tweet factory. o_o
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doted: Had a dream i was a rap superstar w/ a hit ...
doted: Had a dream i was a rap superstar w/ a hit song: McSexay Sexay Chocolate Cha-Chocolate
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