Giant Bomb

26 October 2006

FireFox 2.0

Forget IE7, FF2 more than makes up for it. This new version is prettier and has new features coming out of its nose. IE had the upper-hand in certain areas for a little while, but FF 2.0 is the best browser ever.

For example, you will see less spelling errors in this blog from now on, because FF 2.0 has a built-in spell-checker. Result.

Incidentally, I have found out why IE blurs the internet and how to stop it doing it. It's a new rendering something or other which they have enabled by default and you just have to switch it off.

Feel good,
Jens

17 October 2006

Sometimes the world's okay, I guess

Friday was my birthday. I recieved some wonderful edibles, a dartboard, some money, assorted knickknacks like a watch and a booklight and also that gadget I've been raving about most recently.


Yes, iPod Nano Aluminum (AKA iPod Nano 2G, iPod Nano Aluminium)
. Silver, 2GB, prettiest damn MP3 player currently made by anyone anywhere. It's great, I love it. Shame the otherwise brilliant iTunes 7 is having some iPod syncing bugs (It does sync both my iPods, but won't add or remove tracks to the Shuffle and intermittently refuses to allow me to change settings of my iPod Nano or remove songs.

And meanwhile, my dad's Creative Zen 20GB which at the time he was calling the second coming, is so disastrously screwed it's not even funny.

Funny how thing work out, huh?

09 October 2006

Dieing industry

Here is a fact that many of you out there will dispute: Acting is a dieing profession.

I can't blame you for not believing it, it doesn't make sense. Why would the number of people choosing such a cushy, easy, well-paid job be going down? Well, that would be because it is none of those things.

It could be argued that it never was any of those things, however a strong case could be made for cushy and well-paid. But now at least, many actors are finding themselves laying down a lot of money and getting little in return. Far from being well paid, these people are losing money because they act.

And cushy it ain't. Early in one's career, there's no glamour at all. It's a world of late nights in winter, sleeping through the day in the cheapest hotels fit for human habitation and getting seen by very few people.

But why? It's simple. The reason the rest of the world is fucked up stems from lawyers. So the acting world's problems stem from the agencies. Oh sure, there's the odd good one, but the majority of agencies are rackets.

Permit me to explain. In order to get an audition for a role, one must either gain it by open audition (Rare and extremely unlikely) or else be on the books of an agency. Unfortunately, most agencies require training and/or a part to one's name before they let you on their books. Now, if you don't have the money for training and can never make it to an open audition, this makes that impossible. So in an attempt to corner the untapped talent market, some agencies have dropped such requirements.

Unfortunately, these agnecies almost always charge more in terms of fees than agencies for "professional" actors. They also turn up less significant roles and tend mainly to offer roles in adverts for peanuts. But if you can't afford the training necessary for a professional agency, how on earth are you meant to afford a larger representation fee for lesser results?

Acting? Yeah, it's killing itself. And Equity (UK Actors Union) refuse to lift a finger to help their non-memebrs (They have the same requirements as professional agencies).

05 October 2006

MSIE7 Sucks continued
















Oh for the love of Pete. You'll never believe this folks. It's just dumb.


Further to my previous post, I feel it it my duty to reveal that MSIE7 is not only craply designed, but in fact blurs the internet. Graphics, text, everything appears softer in MSIE than in other browsers, including MSIE6. Don't believe me? Try it. Seriously. If you don't want to try it, take a look at this screenshot (e-Mail me for a better version).

Jens out

04 October 2006

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer is a horrific, but nevesary, part of my computing life. I need it as a backup for when sites do not support the ultimate standard, FireFox. However, it does suck a crapload. In an attempt to have a nicer time of it, I downloaded IE7.

Whoops. This sucks in whole new ways. The menu bar does not display by default, and when it is enabled it defaults to below the Navigation Bar. Icons on the Command Bar are too small. The tabs system isn't too hot either, with a tab displayed even with only one open. There is a new Tab button in the Tab bar, but I don't really think that adds too much.

Further, Back/Forward remain on the left of the address bar but Stop and Refresh are now on the right. This is officially stupid. It might not sound like much, but it becomes damn annoying. Also, the buttons all look different, almost like they are from different GUIs. Stop, Refresh and Search are all square with small icons, whilst Back and Forward are just circular widgets with arrows in them. The Command Bar buttons look fairly similar to IE6 equivalents from what I can tell.

What I can't understand is why Microsoft doesn't follow its own human interface guidelines. Office uses a different colour for the menu are and has fully moveable bars. Admittedly, moveable bars have a place in office applications, but Microsoft's inconsistency and shoddy IE7 UI has me wondering, just who the hell designs Microsoft software?

Feel good,
Jens