Chrome
Wednesday, September 03, 2008 - 04:31 PM
I’m sure most of you have heard of Google’s new web browser Chrome by now. When I first hear the news, I thought “Does the world really need another web browser?” Then I checked out their introductory comic (which actually gets fairly technical, but is still readable to non-geeks), and I was intrigued by much of the ideas and technology behind it. So, I went and downloaded it.
So far, so good. I’ve been using it all day and haven’t needed to switch to Firefox yet. I think this may quickly become my default browser. It’s fast. It renders pages better looking than either IE or Firefox (like Safari it’s based on Webkit - but sadly no support for CSS text shadows).
One of my favorite things is that it has built-in site specific browser functionality. (Only they call it “application shortcut”.) I’ve been looking for a decent Windows SSB for a while to use for the web based help desk system we have at work. Nothing that I found really lived up to the challenge. Until now. A decent Windows SSB, who would have thought? (It makes perfect sense though, given Google’s focus on web apps.)
If you’re on a Windows machine, it’s definitely worth checking out. I can’t wait to see how it matures in the coming months (it’s only beta right now, but aren’t most of Google’s offerings still “beta”?). I also can’t wait to try the Mac version.
Ubiquity
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 09:50 AM
If you haven’t seen Ubiquity yet, go check it out. It’s only version 0.1 Alpha and it’s already one of the coolest things out there. It’ll be really great once they move it past being a browser extension to being a system-wide utility. But, with more and more of people’s workflows being browser-based, it’s extremely useful as it is.
It’ll be an interesting thing to keep an eye on.
Recognition, at Last
Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 03:07 PM
Schmap is an on-line travel guide that features restaurants, museums, places of interest, etc., for various travel destinations. They use a Google map style interface to present the data.
Why do I bring this up? Well the points on the map area highlighted with photos by ordinary people found on Flickr. They chose one of my photos for their section on Nice.
Well, it’s about time someone recognized my talents!
Update and Vanity
Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 02:03 PM
If you’re viewing the site (not the RSS feed) in Safari or Firefox you probably noticed a minor design modification. I think it’s for the better. If you’re here using Internet Explorer you won’t notice any changes. The CSS code used is, of course, not yet supported in IE.
As always, the site looks best in Safari.
Also, my “vanity” domain name - georgekrueger.com - is finally available. I should say it was finally available. Right now it’s a mirror for callitkarma.com, but eventually I plan on dedicating it to highlighting my own musical projects. Since I’m not currently working with a band I’ll probably record and post instrumental pieces and demos there. This site will likely be mirrored at george.georgekrueger.com (or something that doesn’t look weird and redundant - maybe blog.georgekrueger.com, but that seems so 2006).
Bike Racks
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 08:42 AM
Well, David Byrne has been busy indeed. After downloading his new collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, I stopped by his web site looking for info on the Chicago appearance of his upcoming tour (which for some strange reason is the only one you can’t buy tickets for - not listed on Ticketmaster, no info available anywhere). One of the things I saw there was this:
David Byrne is an avid biker, and bikes all over New York. It seems he’s designed a series of bike racks that have been placed throughout the city. There’s a map on the page with locations of each one. However, they’re only going to be displayed for one year. That seems odd to me, you would think something that’s functional and artistic is something the city would want to keep around. I’m pretty sure if it was Chicago they’d be permanent fixtures.