Kris Carlson's Weblog

Free DHTML Scripts

I came across a site that I thought was using some pretty cool and powerful marketing techniques, so I checked out the source code page. There was a little copyright box in the code that had a link to the website from which the code was received. Here it is:

Dynamic Drive DHTML code library

Visit Dynamic Drive for free, original DHTML scripts
and components, all of which utilize the latest in DHTML and JavaScript technology!

Also,

StockPickr.com

I just watched a video (from 1/9/2007) of Jim Cramer and James Altucher discuss the website StockPickr.com. This video kind of confused me with the terminology they used as they talked. But I really liked their enthusiasm about the site. They compared it to Wikipedia, which gives some initial insight into how the site is structured. I did look at this site a couple weeks ago and thought it was pretty good.

Ahh, Cramer: Annotated Portfolio Guide, The Canon, Annotated Guide to the Stock Market. I was listening to it again as I typed. Botom line is that the site deserves some more investigation.

Some ASCII character codes

I just wanted to test out some ASCII character codes.

My brother's name is Kaj. It is pronounces as though it were spelled Ki, like eye with a K in front. When he passed away in 1990 my mom gave information to the local newspaper about him for an obituary. When she was speaking to the person about his name she said that people nad always thought his name was Kyle or they would spell it Ki because that was the way it sounded. When the paper came out the article had my brother's name spelled Kaj with 2 dots above the j instead of 1. I just realized that it was over the j and not the a. I saw the charcter code for the   but not for the j. Now I'm starting to think the girl at the newspaper got it wrong, so I'm doing some websearching.

I found this stuff about Esperanto Orthography at Wikipedia. Which actually mentions the word kaj, but not the double dot over the j. Instead, it discusses the j with a carat above it instead of a dot and call it j-circumflex, in relation to the Swedish and Finnish extended layout for Mac OS X keyboard.

Now my curiosity is piqued. More to come on this one...

Symatec Sucks

It looks like Symantec will be sucking Microsoft.  The latest news is that Symantec has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft.  Shit, I just looked on cnet to find out why Symantec is sueing and discovered Symantec bought Veritas!  Damn, the software world is turning to shit.  I see Symantec getting some good practice sucking while they work on Microsoft.  Since nobody sucks like Microsoft, Symantec will learn a lot from this maneuver.

LMAO!

Darwin-x86

I tried to install Darwin-x86 on my AOpen PIII machine today. The boot CD won't detect my Western Digital hard drive. I have 2 hard drives in the machine, and neither are detected. WD is a common hard drive. I guess Apple doesn't intend to have Darwin-x86 running on just any x86 computer. That's too bad. I think they could get a lot more mileage on the road to desktop dominance if they would build their OS to run on a wide variety of x86 based machines. They don't have to build all the drivers, the open source community will do that. Just get it out there. Besides, I'm tired of buying Apple products (made in China) and dealing with Applecare. I would rather build my own machine so I don't have to send my entire machine in for service. I don't like that. Apple has cool stuff, but they are not _that_ good.

Tired of Verizon Wireless

We just got a bill from Verizon Wireless that had some overage charges on it. The only time we hear from Verizon is when our bill is due. The service is CDMA and we cannot buy a phone outside of what Verizon offers. That is enough BS in itself to switch. I will never return to Sprint. Both are CDMA and you cannot use SIM cards in their phones. I am currently considering Cingular because they have rollover and they just expanded their network with the AT&T acquisition. I bought a prepaid phone to test their network to see what kind of coverage they have. If all is well with Cingular, it's by by Verizon. I'm sick of not having a choice of phones and service providers for that matter. Once I get a GSM phone I can use SIM cards from other providers, if I chose. And that's the whole point, where's my choice with Verizon? And where is their customer retention, before I've already gotten fed-up and decide to leave? Will they make me a "Golden Offer" to stay once I've decided to leave?

Hey Verizon: Can you hear me now?

Update: Sub $500 laptop from Walmart with Linspire

Update: I was curious today about the $499 laptops Walmart was selling with Linspire OS loaded. These were online-only deals through Walmart. I appears the deal is not offered anymore. The cheapest laptop I cold find at Walmart with Linspire loaded was Balance 14.1" Laptop, 1.2 GHz VIA C3 Processor, w/ Linspire. At $598, that is 120% (or 20% increase) over the original offer. There's probably more computing power, I can't remember. Either way, no more sub-500 deals on laptops at Walmart.

Technorati Tags: walmart, linspire, debian, Operating Systems
Wikipedia: Walmart, Linspire

Computer Crime

I have had some very interesting comments to a post I made as a trackback to a post from Philip Greenspun's weblog regarding RentACoder.com. I checked a couple links in the comments, just out of curiosity, and came across http://www.crime-research.org/. The links I am referring to are http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/fraudbyrentacoder/message/2 and http://www.crime-research.org/news/01.30.2005/933.

I'm really excited about the comment feedback. Thank you to Amir Ali Tayyab and Ali Raza for taking the time to write comments in my weblog. This is the first time I have received a comment (or a trackback) that has led to information of a vital nature. That is, information you can use to protect yourself and others.

RentACoder.com

Upon first glance it seemed like a really good idea. Then I started having second thoughts. I'm referring to RentACoder.com. While reading Philip Greenspun's weblog entry about the site, he mentions getting 5 bids "from programmers in Bangalore, Romania, and Canada." Then it dawned on me that RentACoder.com is just like eBay. At that point I thouhgt about the problems I recently encountered with a seller on eBay. Where will the accountablity come from? Also, what occurred to me was the fact that these programmers are bidding on jobs based on their home country's economy and currency value. So, overseas programmers can make a relative fortune in their own currency by doing business in the U.S.. Worse yet, undercut programmers in the U.S. and add to the already serious economic problem of cheap foreign labor.

I do see a handful of benefits to this kind of website. For example, increased competition, long term economic trade balance (not short term). But I think the problems associated with RentACoder.com outweigh the benefits. Time will tell.

My opinion on the use of .xxx domain

In an article I found this morning at Earthtimes.org titled ICANN moves towards .xxx domain name for porn sites, The Internet Corporation for Assignment Names and Numbers (ICANN) is pushing for the top level .xxx domain for pornographic sites. But the move to the .xxx domain is purely voluntary, states the article. Now that's where I get my 2 cents on this one.

Like Jonathan Robinson of NetNames says, "A lot of people objected because they said the domain naming system shouldn't be used as a content filter. To my mind though it's quite an elegant solution." And that's exactly why it should not be voluntary. The solution is elegant and simple and could be used effectively to filter porn sites. First of all, porn/adult content is for adults only, anyone over the age of 18. Currently that is not the case on the net. There are many site one can travel to anonymously and view explicity adult content. Secondly, there is the annoying, and in some cases malicious, websites that appear out of nowhere when you are surfing the web. Sites that will plant adware and spyware and browser hijackers on you computer without your knowledge or your permission. That has to be stopped, and the .xxx domain is "an elegant solution" to the problem.

Technorati Tag: icann
Wikipedia: ICANN