Departing ...
Thursday, 8. March 2007, 18:26:15
Intrigue and Suspense
Saturday, 17. February 2007, 12:41:32
Who can resist this?
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/759403
The new feature is close to completion and will be unveiled here later this month. You have not seen it in a desktop browser before...
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/759403
Getting With the Times
Thursday, 1. February 2007, 18:02:39
For an old guy, I’ve been getting into a surprising amount of Web 2.0 stuff lately. Bookmarks on del.icio.us. Bloglines and Google Reader accounts. Even a myspace page, set up in a moment of weakness last year, when I was struck with a sudden fear that the whole world would be using myspace some day and I’d better reserve my username in a hurry. (For the record, I set up my page and haven’t been back since; just visiting myspace for a few seconds at a time makes my head ache.)
Why am I doing all these things? Beats me. It’s nothing more than curiosity, I suppose. If you hear enough people talking about the same things long enough, you’ll eventually cave in and check them out for yourself.
Myspace aside, I’m enjoying my Web 2.0 experiments.
After years of using many different RSS aggregators – various Outlook plug-ins, Firefox Live Bookmarks and Sage, and of course, Opera’s built in reader – I didn’t quite understand the benefit of having a third party gather my news and store it online. I’m still not sure I get it completely, but I will admit it’s handy to have access to all the same feeds on all the different computers that I use, no matter where or when I use them. Of the two services I use, I like Bloglines a little better than Google Reader. It seems a bit more casual and homespun, while also performing a little smoother and swifter, at least on my machines. Both are pretty nifty, however, and if you’re thinking of trying a Web-based service, I could enthusiastically recommend either.
Del.icio.us was another one that initially baffled me, a philosophy I just couldn’t comprehend for a very long time. You use a Web browser to surf, right? And every Web browser saves your bookmarks or favorites, right? So why do you have to keep those same bookmarks online? Then I tried del.icio.us and pretty much fell in love with it right away. As with newsfeeds, it’s very handy to have all your bookmarks in sync at all times, no matter where you are. I like the tagging system, too -- it makes so much more sense than endless folder hierarchies. And I absolutely love the ability to search through the millions of bookmarked sites that other users have shared. Sometimes those are the most interesting, enlightening, entertaining and helpful searches you can do – and they are available to everyone, even if they don’t have a del.icio.us account.
I doubt I’ll ever take the leap and abandon my “Web 1.0” life completely. As an example, I still use Opera’s built-in feed reader to keep me abreast of the four or five sites I need to follow on a timely basis, since it dumps the stories right into my e-mail as soon as they arrive; I don’t need to go to Bloglines or Goggle and read through a long list of 150 stories from 35 different feeds to find them. And I imagine I’ll still bookmark most critical sites on my various computers, just so they’re always right there at my fingertips. But I’ve still delved farther into the social Internet than I ever thought I would, and so far, it’s been a pretty interesting trip.
Why am I doing all these things? Beats me. It’s nothing more than curiosity, I suppose. If you hear enough people talking about the same things long enough, you’ll eventually cave in and check them out for yourself.
Myspace aside, I’m enjoying my Web 2.0 experiments.
After years of using many different RSS aggregators – various Outlook plug-ins, Firefox Live Bookmarks and Sage, and of course, Opera’s built in reader – I didn’t quite understand the benefit of having a third party gather my news and store it online. I’m still not sure I get it completely, but I will admit it’s handy to have access to all the same feeds on all the different computers that I use, no matter where or when I use them. Of the two services I use, I like Bloglines a little better than Google Reader. It seems a bit more casual and homespun, while also performing a little smoother and swifter, at least on my machines. Both are pretty nifty, however, and if you’re thinking of trying a Web-based service, I could enthusiastically recommend either.
Del.icio.us was another one that initially baffled me, a philosophy I just couldn’t comprehend for a very long time. You use a Web browser to surf, right? And every Web browser saves your bookmarks or favorites, right? So why do you have to keep those same bookmarks online? Then I tried del.icio.us and pretty much fell in love with it right away. As with newsfeeds, it’s very handy to have all your bookmarks in sync at all times, no matter where you are. I like the tagging system, too -- it makes so much more sense than endless folder hierarchies. And I absolutely love the ability to search through the millions of bookmarked sites that other users have shared. Sometimes those are the most interesting, enlightening, entertaining and helpful searches you can do – and they are available to everyone, even if they don’t have a del.icio.us account.
I doubt I’ll ever take the leap and abandon my “Web 1.0” life completely. As an example, I still use Opera’s built-in feed reader to keep me abreast of the four or five sites I need to follow on a timely basis, since it dumps the stories right into my e-mail as soon as they arrive; I don’t need to go to Bloglines or Goggle and read through a long list of 150 stories from 35 different feeds to find them. And I imagine I’ll still bookmark most critical sites on my various computers, just so they’re always right there at my fingertips. But I’ve still delved farther into the social Internet than I ever thought I would, and so far, it’s been a pretty interesting trip.
Wrestling the Octopus
Saturday, 27. January 2007, 13:38:43
I've now been taking bagpipe lessons for about nine months, a good long time to be pursuing most activities and long enough to become quite accomplished in some. But, of course, piping is not just any old activity, as this fairly well-known quote from writer Neil Munro makes clear:
To the make of a piper go seven years of his own learning, and seven genererations before. At the end of his seven years one born to it will stand at the start of knowledge, and leaning a fond ear to the drone he may have parley with old folks of old affairs.
That quote is one of my favorites. In fact, it's currently the wallpaper on my laptop.
The two sentences above are just the beginning of a very evocative little section that goes on to talk about pipers being able to hear their forefolk "plaided in skins, towsy-headed and terrible, grunting at the oars and snoring in the caves" and standing on "the cairn of kings" and seeing "the moon-glint on the hook of the druid" and other neat stuff like that. All of it appeals to the fantasy writer in me, the born-in-the-wrong-century side of me. But it's those first sentences that remind me to keep the struggle of piping instruction in perspective. After all, I'm only 47, and based on Munro's reckoning, I'll be well into my fifties before I even glimpse "the start of knowledge."
There are days when I think I actually have come a long way. I'm starting to get a nice collection of tunes down on the practice chanter, and I can now wail out a few of them on my Gibson Fireside smallpipes -- which I've owned for years but couldn't get a note out of until last fall. And now, at last, I'm finally starting to "wrestle with the octopus" of the Great Highland pipes, after receiving a gorgeous set of Dunbars from my wonderful wife for Christmas. So, progress ... yeah.
But then there are days like I've been having these last two weeks, days that the fingers just don't want to work, when the simplest embellishments get rushed or crunched or missed altogether, and when my teacher wisely tells me to stop, catch my breath, and go back to the exercises I thought I'd mastered months ago.
It's times like this that re-reading the Neil Munro quote really helps, as does reading many of the posts at my favorite bagpipe forum or looking over the advice of the great Jim McGillivray, who says the only way to learn a tough embellishment is to play it once, then play it a million more times.
This is no ordinary instrument, and you've got to accept that or you'll never get anywhere.
I guess I've got about six years and three months to go before I can start really learning this beast. It sounds like a long time, but I can wait. I know the old folks will still be there, ready to parley by the cairn of kings, when I finally arrive.
To the make of a piper go seven years of his own learning, and seven genererations before. At the end of his seven years one born to it will stand at the start of knowledge, and leaning a fond ear to the drone he may have parley with old folks of old affairs.
That quote is one of my favorites. In fact, it's currently the wallpaper on my laptop.
The two sentences above are just the beginning of a very evocative little section that goes on to talk about pipers being able to hear their forefolk "plaided in skins, towsy-headed and terrible, grunting at the oars and snoring in the caves" and standing on "the cairn of kings" and seeing "the moon-glint on the hook of the druid" and other neat stuff like that. All of it appeals to the fantasy writer in me, the born-in-the-wrong-century side of me. But it's those first sentences that remind me to keep the struggle of piping instruction in perspective. After all, I'm only 47, and based on Munro's reckoning, I'll be well into my fifties before I even glimpse "the start of knowledge."
There are days when I think I actually have come a long way. I'm starting to get a nice collection of tunes down on the practice chanter, and I can now wail out a few of them on my Gibson Fireside smallpipes -- which I've owned for years but couldn't get a note out of until last fall. And now, at last, I'm finally starting to "wrestle with the octopus" of the Great Highland pipes, after receiving a gorgeous set of Dunbars from my wonderful wife for Christmas. So, progress ... yeah.
But then there are days like I've been having these last two weeks, days that the fingers just don't want to work, when the simplest embellishments get rushed or crunched or missed altogether, and when my teacher wisely tells me to stop, catch my breath, and go back to the exercises I thought I'd mastered months ago.
It's times like this that re-reading the Neil Munro quote really helps, as does reading many of the posts at my favorite bagpipe forum or looking over the advice of the great Jim McGillivray, who says the only way to learn a tough embellishment is to play it once, then play it a million more times.
This is no ordinary instrument, and you've got to accept that or you'll never get anywhere.
I guess I've got about six years and three months to go before I can start really learning this beast. It sounds like a long time, but I can wait. I know the old folks will still be there, ready to parley by the cairn of kings, when I finally arrive.
Check it Out
Saturday, 27. January 2007, 00:40:49
I'm back, at least long enough to point to a very interesting thread:
Help Opera help you
I've been using the special reporting version for the past week and recommend that everyone grab a copy and do their part to help -- help the developers understand Opera users a little better and help them make an even better Opera in the future.
And here are some of the latest stats. Fun reading for all of us geeks and nerds!
Help Opera help you
I've been using the special reporting version for the past week and recommend that everyone grab a copy and do their part to help -- help the developers understand Opera users a little better and help them make an even better Opera in the future.
And here are some of the latest stats. Fun reading for all of us geeks and nerds!
What can I say?
Thursday, 22. June 2006, 12:01:09
What can I say about an absence of more than two months other than, yes, I'm still here.
I could explain a little bit, I suppose. I could tell you how mid-April to mid-June is traditionally my busiest time of the year -- and this year was certainly no exception. There's no one big reason why late spring is so hectic in my life as a small-town newspaper editor. Lots of little reasons, though. Lots of extra events to cover: end of the school-year activities; organizations coming out of hibernation after a long, cold winter; new construction starting up everywhere; local governments hammering out their budgets; other seasonal factors that I can't even really put my finger on, but which all add up in a hurry.
I must also admit that some of this year's craziness has been self-inflicted, since I've finally been able to fulfill my long-time dream of taking bagpipe lessons. Who would have ever thought I'd find a real teacher here in the backwoods? Certainly, I'd given up all hope years ago. But that's all changed now. No more floundering helplessly on the practice chanter for me! Now I can flounder under the watchful eye of a skilled instructor who doesn't hesitate to point out everything I'm doing wrong ... and yes, helps me find the right way to do it, too.
More on the bagpipes soon, I promise. And now that it's "final," I'll also be posting some of my thoughts about Opera 9!
I could explain a little bit, I suppose. I could tell you how mid-April to mid-June is traditionally my busiest time of the year -- and this year was certainly no exception. There's no one big reason why late spring is so hectic in my life as a small-town newspaper editor. Lots of little reasons, though. Lots of extra events to cover: end of the school-year activities; organizations coming out of hibernation after a long, cold winter; new construction starting up everywhere; local governments hammering out their budgets; other seasonal factors that I can't even really put my finger on, but which all add up in a hurry.
I must also admit that some of this year's craziness has been self-inflicted, since I've finally been able to fulfill my long-time dream of taking bagpipe lessons. Who would have ever thought I'd find a real teacher here in the backwoods? Certainly, I'd given up all hope years ago. But that's all changed now. No more floundering helplessly on the practice chanter for me! Now I can flounder under the watchful eye of a skilled instructor who doesn't hesitate to point out everything I'm doing wrong ... and yes, helps me find the right way to do it, too.
More on the bagpipes soon, I promise. And now that it's "final," I'll also be posting some of my thoughts about Opera 9!
I'm Stylin'
Saturday, 8. April 2006, 00:07:38
I finally had a chance to play around a bit with the stylesheet for these pages, something I'd been meaning to do for ... oh, about two months now. I didn't accomplish too much, but at least I got rid of those awful default colors and created a new image for the header.
(Side note: stare at that header for a while and tell me if it doesn't look just the slightest bit, er, creepy. I didn't see it at first, but after a while I got the distinct impression that something otherworldly was approaching out of the fog. Or maybe that's just me.
)
I may try something more ambitious, style wise, in the future. At the very least, I'm sure I'll tinker with the colors some more. So don't be surprised if the next time you stop by, this page looks completely different than it does right now.
By the way, I must send belated congratulations to my buddy, Dan, for being named last week's Opera Community Member of the Week. While we all appreciate blogs that are silly/artistic/fun/eclectic/humorous/poetic/bizarre, it's nice to see someone acknowledged for doing serious, thoughtful work.
Dan's blog is deceptively simple. At first you think he's just collecting news about Opera and offering some off-the-cuff comments. Eventually, you realize that he's doing some really heavy lifting. He puts a lot of thought and effort into his essays.
Back in the days when we were both active members of Opera's USA Ambassadors, I always looked forward to a post from Dan. Even when I disagreed with what he said, I always learned something.
It's the same way now that he's blogging. Whether they're meant to simply remark upon the news, clarify some confusion, cut through the fog of press release BS, shake up the status quo or even challenge the Opera establishment, Dan's remarks are always illuminating and a lot of fun to read.
If you don't already subscribe to his feed, I advise you to click the link above and subscribe now. You won't be sorry.
(Side note: stare at that header for a while and tell me if it doesn't look just the slightest bit, er, creepy. I didn't see it at first, but after a while I got the distinct impression that something otherworldly was approaching out of the fog. Or maybe that's just me.
) I may try something more ambitious, style wise, in the future. At the very least, I'm sure I'll tinker with the colors some more. So don't be surprised if the next time you stop by, this page looks completely different than it does right now.
By the way, I must send belated congratulations to my buddy, Dan, for being named last week's Opera Community Member of the Week. While we all appreciate blogs that are silly/artistic/fun/eclectic/humorous/poetic/bizarre, it's nice to see someone acknowledged for doing serious, thoughtful work.
Dan's blog is deceptively simple. At first you think he's just collecting news about Opera and offering some off-the-cuff comments. Eventually, you realize that he's doing some really heavy lifting. He puts a lot of thought and effort into his essays.
Back in the days when we were both active members of Opera's USA Ambassadors, I always looked forward to a post from Dan. Even when I disagreed with what he said, I always learned something.
It's the same way now that he's blogging. Whether they're meant to simply remark upon the news, clarify some confusion, cut through the fog of press release BS, shake up the status quo or even challenge the Opera establishment, Dan's remarks are always illuminating and a lot of fun to read.
If you don't already subscribe to his feed, I advise you to click the link above and subscribe now. You won't be sorry.
Wondering About Widgets
Saturday, 1. April 2006, 14:40:36
I'm still trying to decide how I feel about widgets.
I know the whole thing is still in the development stage. I know the widget UI is changing with each new weekly (and occasional mid-weekly) build. And I know that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cool widgets yet to be created. So I'm trying to keep an open mind. After all, I never used any other widget engine before, which means I'm still pretty new to the whole concept. I've only seen a fraction of what widgets can do, and I can scarcely imagine what other nifty creations might be in store. It's entirely possible that, some day, the perfect widget will come along and blow me away with its sheer genius and wonderful practicality. At that point, I'll finally realize why it was so important to have widget support in Opera, and I'll say to myself, "Ah, those crafty Opera developers knew what they were doing all along."
But that day is not here yet, so I'm still trying to figure out if widgets are really a wise use of development resources.
I know I can think of many other things I'd rather be testing right now. An Opera PIM, for example. Or long-overdue enhancement of the e-mail client, so that it finally lives up to its potential. (Note to MS Outlook users. Check out NEO if you want to see what Opera e-mail could truly be some day, what it should be right now).
Not long ago, someone posted a comment in the Weekly Build blog, saying, "Widgets are the answer to a question nobody was asking." I read that, and thought, "Yes! That's it exactly."
I hope I'm wrong, but I can't get past the feeling that widgets are just a marketing ploy, that they're being added so, when Firefox fans say, "Firefox is better because Firefox has extensions," Opera fans can respond, "Oh, yeah? Well, Opera has widgets."
I guess I'll have to wait a little longer before I know how this all shakes out, before I know if my fears are justified or if the developers will make me look like a fool.
In the meantime, things could be worse. At least widgets are fun to play with, and for folks like me, to whom testing is more of a game than a calling, that's not a bad thing at all.
I know the whole thing is still in the development stage. I know the widget UI is changing with each new weekly (and occasional mid-weekly) build. And I know that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cool widgets yet to be created. So I'm trying to keep an open mind. After all, I never used any other widget engine before, which means I'm still pretty new to the whole concept. I've only seen a fraction of what widgets can do, and I can scarcely imagine what other nifty creations might be in store. It's entirely possible that, some day, the perfect widget will come along and blow me away with its sheer genius and wonderful practicality. At that point, I'll finally realize why it was so important to have widget support in Opera, and I'll say to myself, "Ah, those crafty Opera developers knew what they were doing all along."
But that day is not here yet, so I'm still trying to figure out if widgets are really a wise use of development resources.
I know I can think of many other things I'd rather be testing right now. An Opera PIM, for example. Or long-overdue enhancement of the e-mail client, so that it finally lives up to its potential. (Note to MS Outlook users. Check out NEO if you want to see what Opera e-mail could truly be some day, what it should be right now).
Not long ago, someone posted a comment in the Weekly Build blog, saying, "Widgets are the answer to a question nobody was asking." I read that, and thought, "Yes! That's it exactly."
I hope I'm wrong, but I can't get past the feeling that widgets are just a marketing ploy, that they're being added so, when Firefox fans say, "Firefox is better because Firefox has extensions," Opera fans can respond, "Oh, yeah? Well, Opera has widgets."
I guess I'll have to wait a little longer before I know how this all shakes out, before I know if my fears are justified or if the developers will make me look like a fool.
In the meantime, things could be worse. At least widgets are fun to play with, and for folks like me, to whom testing is more of a game than a calling, that's not a bad thing at all.
Lesson Learned
Saturday, 4. March 2006, 13:22:38
I am sooooo happy to have my e-mail back.
The newest weekly build fixes that nasty little bug that prevented e-mails from being displayed until the window was resized, either by minimizing and maximizing, hitting F4 a couple of times, hitting + and - or some other method. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I got caught flat-footed by that one (repeat after me: "always read the known issues, always read the known issues"), but I was in a hurry that day, grabbed the new build, and bam! I paid the price for my negligence and learned a valuable lesson. Don't download and install weeklies when you're too busy to pay attention to what you're doing. On the bright side, I never had an inkling of any other problems with that build. It worked like a charm all week long.
Things are progressing well with my other Web project. We're having fun building the site bit by bit. The official launch announcements went out this week and we're starting to get some visitors. If you haven't checked it out yet, please take a moment to stop by, maybe read and comment a bit. We'd love to see you over there.
Another nice thing: I see the USA Ambassadors recently updated the Choose Opera Web site. Having played such an active role in developing that site, I'm very happy to see it's moving forward again!
The newest weekly build fixes that nasty little bug that prevented e-mails from being displayed until the window was resized, either by minimizing and maximizing, hitting F4 a couple of times, hitting + and - or some other method. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I got caught flat-footed by that one (repeat after me: "always read the known issues, always read the known issues"), but I was in a hurry that day, grabbed the new build, and bam! I paid the price for my negligence and learned a valuable lesson. Don't download and install weeklies when you're too busy to pay attention to what you're doing. On the bright side, I never had an inkling of any other problems with that build. It worked like a charm all week long.
Things are progressing well with my other Web project. We're having fun building the site bit by bit. The official launch announcements went out this week and we're starting to get some visitors. If you haven't checked it out yet, please take a moment to stop by, maybe read and comment a bit. We'd love to see you over there.
Another nice thing: I see the USA Ambassadors recently updated the Choose Opera Web site. Having played such an active role in developing that site, I'm very happy to see it's moving forward again!
Weeklies
Saturday, 18. February 2006, 15:16:11
Yes, once again I've been remiss about posting here. There are a few good reasons for that, a few that probably aren't so good, and then the real reason: I've been extremely busy playing around in another corner of the Internet, where I've been working with my old writing and editing partner to create a new site. Check it out, if you have a chance. It's still in the early stages, but we think it's shaping up to be an interesting destination. Soon you'll be able to get free copies of two "classic" short stories, just by signing up for our mailing list. Eventually we expect to load up the site with lots and lots of fiction, podcasts, and other goodies. Stay tuned.
So that's my big news.
The big news around here, of course, was the recent announcement that Opera has started to release weekly builds, allowing everyone to experience the highs, lows and all around fun of testing. What? You missed that announcement? Then don't waste another minute. Go here and read all about it, download this week's build and get busy testing!
So that's my big news.
The big news around here, of course, was the recent announcement that Opera has started to release weekly builds, allowing everyone to experience the highs, lows and all around fun of testing. What? You missed that announcement? Then don't waste another minute. Go here and read all about it, download this week's build and get busy testing!
Showing posts 1 - 10 of 18.
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