Steampunks At Comic-Con International, 2009 | KPBS.org

Steampunks gather at Comic-Con to show off their finery.

Steampunks waiting to get into the meetup at Comic-Con. You can see the gadgetry featured in their costumes.

EVE Online: The Butterfly Effect

via youtube.com

Wow!

Posted via web from Robert Sanchez's Lifestream

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Firefox 4.0: Early Screenshots Released

via mashable.com

A few years ago, Firefox was kicking ass and taking names. Internet Explorer was looking old and too full of its self (still), while Firefox was new and got way more features. Now, it's their turn as they try to catch up to what Google Chrome's been doing since its beta stage.

Google Chrome Releases: Beta Channel Update

Image via Wikipedia

Google Chrome 3.0.193.2 has been released to the Beta channel. Some principal changes release since 2.0.172.37:

• Updated V8 to 1.2.13.2 to improve stability and performance.
• Printing fixes and print selection for Windows.
• Initial support for the video tag.
• Updated look and feel of the url bar (aka the Omnibox).
• Improved our Developer Tools by adding the scripts and profiles tabs, plus support for docking the inspector into the main window.

Linus: "Microsoft Hatred Is a Disease"

Image via Wikipedia

I'm a big believer in "technology over politics". I don't care who it comes from, as long as there are solid reasons for the code, and as long as we don't have to worry about licensing etc issues.

I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease. I believe in open development, and that very much involves not just making the source open, but also not shutting other people and companies out.

There are 'extremists' in the free software world, but that's one major reason why I don't call what I do 'free software' any more. I don't want to be associated with the people for whom it's about exclusion and hatred."

via osnews.com

The comment above came from Linus Torvalds regarding Microsoft sending 20,000 code lines to the Linux kernel and how he wants to separate himself from Linux "extremists".

I have to say that I'm pretty surprised that he would take the high road on this topic and applaud him for it.

Posted via web from Robert Sanchez's Lifestream

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Bye FF 3.5, I'm going back to Chrome

Image via CrunchBase

Yes, I was one of those geeks who went delirious when I read that Firefox 3.5 was ready for download, previous to that I was using Google Chrome as my main browser. After downloading it, I was pleased that the installing went smoothly except for two Add-ons that won't make it to the new version, one of them was important to me: pingfire.us. However, thinking that those guys will make an inevitable update to FF 3.5--I wasn't too worried.

I worked on FF 3.5 for a few days until I noticed that it seemed to be getting slower for the browser to load: 35 seconds. Then I checked out how much memory it was using: 20k+. Arrrgghh! What's going on? Nevertheless, I expected the new patch could change things. Too bad they didn't.

Perry Sending Rejected Swimmers to Disney World

Black and Latino campers who were kicked out of a private suburban swim club last month will be cooling off in style in August at a pool at Walt Disney World, courtesy of actor/producer/director/playwright Tyler Perry.

The star of the popular Madea movies and creator of television’s “Meet the Browns” told fans in an email letter Monday that he is paying to send campers from Philadelphia’s Creative Steps Inc. to the Orlando theme park from Saturday, Aug. 1 to Monday, Aug. 3.

“This is awful, and for anyone that has grown up in the inner-city, you know that one small act of kindness can change your life,” Perry wrote of the pool incident and his decision to get involved. “One act of kindness, one person telling them they are special, one moment of encouragement can make them move mountains. I know it to be true because I was one of them.”

via blackamericaweb.com

This is nice of Tyler Perry to give the kids who were shunned last month. Hopefully there will be more people like him who is willing to show kindness rather than disdain on that issue.

Posted via web from Robert Sanchez's Lifestream

Why Freelancers are STILL the cheapest solution around

From Freelance Switch

Google Tasks has finally graduated

Image via CrunchBase

I don't use much of Tasks but I place it in my Gmail anyway--thinking that I may have some use for it someday.

Looks like that day has come.

With most of the Google Applications leaving Beta, Tasks have joined the ranks of...non-Beta-ness.

We launched Gmail Labs as a forum for delivering useful (and maybe not so useful) features that might not be quite ready for prime time. The idea was always that the most popular and viable Labs features would graduate and be made more readily available to all users...and that some of the less used, less viable ones would disappear forever.

I'm proud to announce that Tasks is in that first bucket — it's been one of the most popular experimental Gmail features and it's now the first graduate from Labs.

What does this mean to us mere mortals who have been chasing after the GTD Nirvana? I honestly don't know, but with this announcement, I may start playing with this app again.

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MMORPG or Porn?

Are they advertising for an MMORPG or a porn site?



I know that MMORPG developers and marketers have been using the female's curves to entice gaming males to try out their stuff, but this seems to be just too realistic for me.

Living with First-person Shooter Disease

Gene Simpkins is a special person. Although he might have Duke Nuke'Em's Disease, he's still a part of society and must be treated equally. Let's support him and help him to integrate himself in society.

The following video is just an excerpt of his life.

Papa wants his game on but...

From Freelance Switch

Violent video games and kids

Image by bdgamer via Flickr

I'll have to admit, I let my two boys play First Person Shooters: Warrock, Call of Duty, and Wolf Team. Some parents may think of me as too lenient at best, but after my personal experience in playing such games in my childhood, I'll have to say that since it didn't make me and my friends into killing machines then it won't make my kids act the same way too.

Let's be honest here, I would rather have my kid go one on one with another kid/adult/bot online rather than in the real world. Why? Because in the real world, real people get hit, hurt, maimed, or killed. In the online world, everyone knows it's all simulated--everything's fake. Please don't look down at kids and say they can't separate fact from fiction--they're more intelligent than you think (sometimes even more!).

I was inspired to write this after reading the post and viewing the videos about this topic from Amy Tucker of B5Media.

Software I use for posterous

Image via CrunchBase

Although I may have registered for posterous a long time ago, it wasn't until I read Steve Rubel's "gutsy" decision about diving into lifestreaming rather than blogging made me realize that blogging may need another shot in the arm to make it fresh and exciting again. I won't be leaving my blogs or other social networking services anytime soon, but I'll be including my posterous lifestream into the mix to make my online presence even more wholeistic than readers just seeing me as a game/tech blogger.

Here's my way of posting on posterous (and in the process post everywhere else):

The changing face of writing

Image by pellesten via Flickr

The movement has begun.

• *Problogger Darren Rowse has put up a personal blog
  
• Robert Scoble is writing more on Friendfeed than he has in his blog
• Steve Rubel is now on Posterous and has no plans on going back to his blog
• Robert Sanchez is trying out Posterous again (ehem!)

Is blogging dead or dying? There are some quarters saying that it is, however in my opinion writing has just evolved to the next step: lifestreaming. Isn't blogging supposed to be spreading information to the internet about something (usually yourself)? This is what lifestreaming does in spades.

reBlog from whathappenstance.tumblr.com: whathappenstance

I found this fascinating quote today:

People have always been stating that Tumblr is not a blogging platform. Rather that it is the “middleground” between blogging and microblogging. I digress. Even Tumblr themselves say that it’s a nice place to blog in. If the owners themselves see it as a blogging platform why should it not be considered as one?whathappenstance.tumblr.com, whathappenstance, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.