Balancing Life and the Web

Apparently I’m having some issues balancing my life (trying to find a house to buy, a million projects at work, family, friends, etc.) and my “web life”.  I was doing well with the weekly blog post of my favorite posts of the week, I was updating on Twitter several times a day, and I kept up with all of my RSS feeds.  But as some may be able to tell, I haven’t written a blog post in over a month, I just updated Twitter (my last tweet was 4 days ago), and I haven’t even bothered to open NetNewsWire because I know the number of unread items will be overwhelming.  Sigh, I miss the internet and my internet life, but it is so time consuming.  Maybe I can start again, but try to do less.

Favorite Posts of the week – delayed

I’ve been in Seattle all week, or to be more precise, Kent, WA. There is supposed to be high speed internet here, and it worked fine the first day I was here (last Sunday) but ever since then I haven’t been able to get it to work. Word is that the hotel is having issues, so at least it’s not just me! But needless to say I haven’t been able to access any if my feeds and therefore don’t have a list of favorites.
Next Saturday I will have a list for this upcoming week, but the length of the list kind of depends on the Internet situation at the hotel for the three more days I’m here.

Favorite Posts of the Week: Sept. 14 – Sept. 20

Here are my favorite posts (and websites) of the week of September 14th through September 20th:

• Lifehacker – Battle of the Beta Browsers Built-In Features
• Noupe – CSS Typography: Contrast Techniques, Tutorials, and Best Practices 
• Engadget – HP announces the TouchSmart IQ800 Series
• DzineBlog – 10 Websites with huge list of resources for web designers and developers
• TechCrunch – New Microsoft Commercials Are Live
• TechCrunch – Mashed Life Tries to Help You Manage Your Web 2.0 Life
• Micro Persuasion – Make Magic with Metadata in Gmail
• Lifehacker – Carry Your PC on Your iPhone or iPod Touch
• Lifehacker – CrossOver Chromium Ports Chrome to Mac and Linux
• Lifehacker – Google Releases Gears for Safari
• Lifehacker – Customize Windows’ Start Menu Folders (with VB Scripts)
• Smashing Magazine – jQuery and JavaScript Coding: Examples and Best Practices

Websites:

• Oosah – host up to 1TB of Media Online for Free

Favorite Posts of the Week: Sept. 7 – Sept. 13

Here are my favorites posts (and websites) for the week of September 7th through September 13th:

• ReadWriteWeb – The Ultimate List of Custom Ubiquity Verbs
• Noupe – 20 Firefox Add-ons to Enhance your Web Development
• Lifehacker – Top 10 Up-and-Coming Products
• Lifehacker – iTunes 8 First Look
• Smashing Magazine – 75 (Really) Useful JavaScript Techniques
• TechCrunch – SearchMe is Coming To The iPhone (Naturally)
• EliteByDesign – Learn Photoshop in One Week
• Lifehacker – Gmail Labs Adds Three New Reply Features
• Lifehacker – SoftKey Revealer Finds and Saves Software Serial Numbers
• Online Tech Tips – Change Your Mac Address in Windows
• Lifehacker – WebChunks Puts Dynamic Information from Any Web Site in Your Toolbar

Websites:

• Cappuccino – “An open source framework that makes it easy to build desktop-caliber applications that run in a web browser”
• Typechart – Browse, preview and compare web typography and get the corresponding CSS.

Favorite Posts of the Week: Aug. 31 – Sept. 6

Here are my favorite posts for the the week of August 31st through September 6th.

• NETTUTS – How to Create a Mobile Web Site with MoFuse
• Noupe – Websites You Shouldn’t Have Missed in August 2008
• Lifehacker – Enable Chrome’s Best Features in Firefox
• Lifehacker – Set up a Laptop Security System
• Smashing Magazine – 25 Font Management Tools Reviewed
• TechCrunch – No Joke: Google Introduces the Chrome Browser with a Cartoon
• TechCrunch – Is Cuil Killing Websites?
• TechCrunch – Wixi’s Media-Centric Social Webtop Launches To The Public

I wrote a separate post about Google Chrome, but the announcement deserves to be in this list.

Google Chrome – Part 1

The beta version of Google Chrome (Google’s new browser) was released last week. However, it is only available to Windows users.

I would have loved to download it, play around with it, and write up a comprehensive review, but I’m avoiding my windows machine until I finally get around to reformatting it. Or until I finally get around to installing Windows on my Mac.

If you visit the Google Chrome website, you can sign up to get news about the development of the browser for Mac.

So I am calling this post “Google Chrome – Part 1” with the hopes that I will soon be able to get a beta version for Mac and then review it here (“Google Chrome – Part 2”).

However, for those Windows users out there that want to try Google Chrome, I strongly encourage you to. But just remember that this is a beta version, and so functionality can be somewhat limited and there are more than likely some bugs. I’ve also put together a list of links relating to Chrome that you may want to check out:

• First Look
• Create Separate User Profiles
• Full List of Special about: Pages
• Take Back Your Privacy from Google’s Omnibox
• or the complete opposite of the above: Get More Omnibox Suggestions
• Portable Chrome Puts Chrome on Your Thumb Drive 
• Automatic Theme Switcher Skins Google Chrome
• The Power Users Guide to Google Chrome
• How to Block Adds in Google Chrome

Mozilla Labs: Ubiquity

Ubiquity is a Firefox extension that aims to empower users and allow them to tell the browser what they want to do. It allows everyone, from common users to developers, to create their own mashups depending on the need at hand.

Ubiquity isn’t just a fantasy or a concept idea, it is already in the early stages of being developed. The current version is 0.1 and it can already email your GMail contacts, look up things on Wikipedia, show you the weather, define terms, get maps, and so much more.
You can download Ubiquity from the announcement page. This will be an XPI file, which you just open with Firefox. Once installed, you will be taken to the about:ubiquity page. I would suggest from here, taking a look at the User Tutorial. This will help you get to know a few of the commands, but there are so many more things that you can do. To see everything that Ubiquity can currently do, you can visit the command page, which lists and describes all current commands. (This can only be viewed in Firefox.)
Ubiquity is kind of restricted right now. It’s not completely functional using Linux (but Mac and Windows users are good to go.) The email commands only work with GMail right now. And of course there are probably bugs that need to be worked out in some of the commands. But if you are developer, you can write commands for Ubiquity. Read the author tutorial here.
Of course, there is tons of information and links for support and discussion on the announcement page. I may be a nerd, but I think this is really exciting! I’m happy to be part of the early stages and to have the opportunity to shape the future of Ubiquity and see the evolution of it.

Update – 09/13/08: 
Here is “The Ultimate List of Custom Ubiquity Verbs” from ReadWriteWeb

Favorite Posts of the Week: Aug. 24 – Aug. 30

Here are my favorite posts for the week of August 24th through August 30th.

• WebBreakStuff – Ubiquity: This is a Big Deal
  • Official Ubiquity Announcement from Mozilla Labs.
• TechCrunch – The Mysterious Ways of Apple’s Top Apps List
• Lifehacker – Roll Your Own Lightning at Sunset Desktop [How To]
• Lifehacker – Control Your Computer with Shortcuts to Common Windows Tasks
• Lifehacker – Useful Firefox 3 Configuration Tweaks
• Online Tech Tips – How to avoid having to reactivate Windows XP after fresh install
• PCWorld – 12 Sly Web Tricks that Put You in Control
• Lifehacker – Top 10 Wi-Fi Boosts, Tweaks, and Apps

This list isn’t in any particular order.  However, if I had to, I would say that Ubiquity was the most interesting and best link in the list.

Favorite Posts of the Week: Aug. 17-Aug. 23

Here are my favorite posts for the week of August 17 through August 23, 2008. Enjoy!

• PSDTUTS: 7 Steps to Developing Originality in Your Design and Illustration Work
• Debuggable: Hacking a Commercial Airport WLAN
• Smashing Magazine: Screencasting: How to Start, Tools, and Guidelines
• ReadWriteWeb: 10 Promising Web Platforms
• Lifehacker: D-Color Customizes Your [Windows] Desktop Icons
• Lifehacker: Mozilla Crowns Best Firefox 3 Extensions
• Smashing Magazine: 7 Principles of Clean Optimized CSS Code
• Lifehacker: Email Innovations You Want in Your Inbox
• Smashing Magazine: 10 Futuristic User Interfaces
• Digital Inspiration: Bulk Convert Old Documents to the New Office 2007 Format 
• Webmonkey: Set Up a Home Server
• Lifehacker: Quick Media Converter Converts Audio or Video to Any Format [Windows]

Announcing the “Favorite Posts of the Week” Series

I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds, and come across so many great articles. I’m starting this “Favorite Posts of the Week” series to bring to you what I believe to be the best articles written during the week. The list will be made up of posts on different topics – trying not to make a list that is all iPhone related! I’ll post the list on the last day of the week (Saturday). My first list will be up on August 23, 2008.