The Best Freeware Sites

Good old freeware is always a great thing to find. Especially if it's a really good program, like Taskbar Shuffle and the sort.

Here is a list of some great freeware sites. Remember, if you enjoy a program, consider donating some money to the developer. This way, freeware will remain FREE:

• Snapfiles Freeware Section
• NoNags
• Grandfiles
  
• TechSupport - freeware utility list
• eConsultant Freeware list
• Freewarebox
• Best Freeware
• Freeware Guide
• A list of 300 freeware programs

Enjoy!

The 13 Worst Songs EVER

I just created a video channel with 13 of the worst songs ever made. By far. It wasn't an easy list to create, as there are scores of horrible songs out there. Still, I think I managed a pretty comprehensive collection. Enjoy (NOT):

25 Amazing Everyday Do-it-Yourself Inventions

Very cool post on wtfzup.com: 25 Amazing Everyday Do-it-Yourself Inventions.

I especially like this one here. There were so many times I tried to fall asleep on buses, and the dirty, hard windows always prevented me from catching a nap. This is really genius:

Why Digg Is Neither Relevant Nor Useful

I'm pretty sure what I write here won't be pleasant to read for some people. But that's OK - life is never perfect.

To start off my rant about Digg, I'll just point out that I have no argument with its success or popularity. I myself have used it on a regular basis - but no more. Digg is one of the net's most popular sites, it has a lot of users who enjoy it daily, and the idea behind it was pretty good to begin with. It's just that something got rotten along the way.

I'm not even talking about the "blog spam" or payed diggers that users are complaining about. I think they are marginal problems. Digg has bigger fish that smell bad.

So, why do I think Digg is irrelevant? Here are my reasons:

1. Slow: I don't mean the site is loading slowly (although that happens a lot, too). I mean to say that Digg is slow on picking up the hot news. If you want to stay updated in current events - like I do - you can't rely on Digg. It takes hours, usually, for am item to gain enough popularity to reach the homepage, and by the time it does, you've already read about it in your favorite news site or RSS feed.
   
   
2. Politics (External): Debating politics is good. Even excellent. It shows that you care about your country's future. The problem is, if you are not from the US - the debates in Digg are really irrelevant for you. Further more, seems like the top Diggs are very one sided and you don't get to see a myriad of opinions like you would expect in a social news site.
   
   
3. Politics (Internal): Digg has a large variety of users. Still, it seems like there are certain groups of users, banded together to help each other digg stories. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it means that it's a hell of a lot harder for a "regular" user to reach the front page. I have seen it many times - a user posts a great link for a great story and gets no Diggs. Hours later, a "power user" posts the same story, gathers his first 30-40 diggs quickly enough, and gets to the homepage of digg. That doesn't make any sense to me. It means the "friends" you collect around you are more important than the content you present. Which means a lot of shitty, old and duplicate stories can get to the homepage simply because a strong user has posted them. Where is the value in that? Which brings me to my next point:
   
   
4. Utterly uninteresting content: Stupid Top-10 lists, Idiotic New-Age advice, and not-very-funny videos are just a tiny example of the things that get to the front page of digg - and no one even knows who wants to read that. It's basically the same stuff over and over again, which gets to the homepage because of the very efficient cliques that help each other "Digg their stuff". Thus, the homepage of digg doesn't really represent the most interesting news according to the users, but instead it shows the news that the top users think are interesting. Kinda like editors in a regular content site, isn't it?
   
   
5. Bad Apple: Way too many news about Apple. In a way that makes you wonder whether there are other hi-tech company in the world. Yeah, OK, we get it - Apple is very co0l. We are just tired of the hype. Sometimes there are 3-4 Apple items in the front page. It makes digg look like a site for Apple freaks. Well, maybe it is.
   
   
6. Angry Mobs: The general atmosphere is the comments section of digg can get really scary. People are downright violent sometimes, and users are getting viciously attacked just for stating an unpopular opinion. Sure, there are trolls everywhere, but in digg they really reign supreme. Not to mention comment burying: it's not that rating is a bad thing - it's because people just can't help themselves. Put a civilized man behind a keyboard and give him anonymity - and you get an evil, stupid monster.

And that's really the bottom line - the assumption that many "editors" are better than one has been proved wrong. One man can be either smart or an idiot. The mob is always stupid and violent - and that's Digg for you.

The Whole Internet

Yes, the entire net. The whole shebang. All of the IP addresses of the internet - on one, weird, gray map. Why? What do you do with it? Why is it important? Well, I can't tell you. Some things in life are forever left a mystery.

This site is about as useful as Huge URL, which I just discovered as well. Yes, the exact opposite of TinyUrl. Give it a short URL, and it will make it big. Very big. Huge even. Why? Again, it's all about life's little mysteries. It feels good to know that there are people who can spend their time on such nonsense. This is what the internet is for, isn't it? Time wasting?

Or porn, really. Yeah. Probably porn.

Thinking of Buying a Chinese Car? Think Again!

This is a very interesting clip, showing car crash tests. The first car is a Lexus. The crash looks pretty bad, but you might think differently after you see the rest of the crashes.

Next comes the Fiat - an average care with an average test. The last two are Chinese cars - Chery Amulet and Brilliance B6. Not so brilliant. Pretty scary, actually. Think of yourself in a car like that, hitting a wall at 64 Km/h. I wouldn't want to be in a car like that.

I guess the Chinese have a lot to learn before they move on from making toy cars, to manufacturing REAL ones.

Web 2.0 Porn sites - A comprehensive List

It's really very important to stay updated in this day and age. Staying up-to-date with the new sites of the net is nearly impossible. Web 2.0 sites are popping up faster than banners on a porn site.

Speaking of porn, here is a very good list of Web 2.0 Porn Sites - for academic purposes only, of course :)

And always remember - The Internet is for Porn!

What are the Top Blogs of the Net, Really?

Now there's a question for you - what are the top blogs on the net?

TechCrunch published an interesting list - the top blogs and news sites on Google Reader. According to the data there, BBC, Google News and ESPN are the top three sites. I was surprised for a second there, to see Google News so high up. After all, it's not a very efficient news service, and the information there isn't very helpful. Then again, it might be a default choice that a lot of people just didn't bother to remove - exactly the same as the MSN homepage in every IE.

When you look at Technorati's list, there are no "official" news sites - only blogs. According to Technorati, the leading blogs are Engadget, Gizmodo, and Boing Boing.

Bloglines' most popular feeds show a different picture altogether. eBizMBA gives another ranking (for August 2007). You can't trust data from Alexa, naturally, so that leaves us with a lot of nothing.

Popularity contests can be won in many ways. There are different ways to look at data, and many times it's twisted to the favor of the one presenting the data. These lists are interesting gimmicks - but nothing more - and they shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Talk about Low Expectations!

Ok, so this is how the front page of Yahoo News looks right now:



Personally, I don't really expect much of those "peace" talks, but isn't the picture taking it a bit far?

Yes, I know it's a mistake that will probably corrected very soon. Still, I find this ironic and funny.

The Golden Compass - Full Trailer

Fantasy movies are always exciting, mainly because we get to see so very few of them. The Golden Compass looks very promising. The movie is based on Philip Pullman's book, which is the first one in a lovely trilogy.

It looks like a movie for children at first glance, and so did the book, but I think it's a bit misleading. The plot isn't simple and there's a lot of philosophy going around.

Anyway, here is the official, full length trailer for Golden Compass. Looks like a lot of fun:

Jumper: The Trailer

Here's the official trailer for the movie Jumper:

Jumper is a 2008 science fiction film based on the science fiction novel by Steven Gould. The film is directed by Doug Liman and stars Hayden Christensen. The movie is slated for a February 15, 2008 release.

Torrents for Geeks

Just saw this site for the first time - geektorrent.com.

The site features torrents that are for the nerdy crowd - programming related, sci-fi stuff and even math and physics torrents.

The activity in this site seems pretty low-key at the moment, but that could change in a hurry. So, if you are a Geek and enjoy torrents, this might be the place for you.

From the site:

"geektorrent is tracker/indexer for bittorrent files in any way related to "geeks". This is a rather broad term so if you consider your content "geeky" in any way, it is most likely OK. Feel free to upload programming screencasts, science documentaries, physics papers or why not some gaming speed runs"

A Week without a Credit Card

I keep telling mu friends, that I'm very lucky that my head is attached to my neck. Otherwise, someone would have already sold it on eBay. Or Something.

And so, to uphold my glorious reputation as an idiot, I managed to forget my credit card in a restaurant, and subsequently lose it forever.

I realized that I'd lost it when I got to the Supermarket. I wanted to take out my card and put it in my pocket before I go inside the store - but it wasn't there. I got it canceled quickly enough - and tried to get on with my life. They told me it would be about 4 business day till I get a new card. What with the holidays and everything - I figured a week until I get a new credit card.

What do you do without a credit card? It's a very weird feeling of being limited. I do a lot of my shopping on the net, but without a credit card, you can't buy a thing online. I actually had to apologize to an eBay seller - I won an item he sold, but he had to wait a few day until I could pay him with my PayPal account. I couldn't pay him until I get a new card.

I had to rely on some cash that I had around the house (always a good idea) and ask my father if he can spot me some cash for the time being. When I thought about buying something in a store, I didn't just have to think if I can afford it, but I also had to worry about the amount of bills in my purse. Can I pay for this right now? And how much money will I have left for the rest of the week? I need to survive here, after all!

It got more difficult when my friend and I wanted to order pizza to my place. We had to use HER credit card, because I didn't have enough cash.

I couldn't order movie tickets on the net like I always do - I had to use my father's credit card, like a stupid teenager. My independence, at 30 years old, was suddenly very shaky.

And Checks. Yeah, those obsolete pieces of paper. I shook the dust of one of my check-books and stared at it in disbelief. WHO would accept something as flimsy looking as a check? A piece of paper with my name on it, and a sum of money. How can people actually USE these things? I payed with checks in two stores (in which I know the owners), and one of them joked and told me "I ain't taking your checks! They are sure to BOUNCE!". He would never have said that about a credit card (and MY bloody check DON'T bounce, thank you very much).

Oh, and payments? Forget about that. Pay up. Straight up. The whole thing, right now. No more delays. Everything you buy, comes of your account at that same instant.

So, all in all it was a very weird week. I felt half disabled most of the time. I am glad it's over. It's amazing to realize how much I depend on this little piece of plastic. I didn't starve or anything, but managing my financial affairs was a lot more difficult without the credit card.

Finally, I got my new card, payed the guy on eBay and got some cash out of the ATM. All is well - until the next time I misplace an important financial tool.

By the way - the restaurant never called me about the lost credit card. Maybe it fell in the garbage can, or maybe someone thought they can have a party with it. Either way, it's now a useless piece of plastic. Even a personal check has more worth.

The LOLCat Bible

Now it's official - LOLCat has taken over the world.

It's been very hard to surf the net lately, without seeing some sort of a hilarious cat picture with funny captions - a new language altogether. Who said cats can't speak?

It seems that taking over the net isn't enough for LOLCat, and now they are revising the Bible. Yes, that's right - now you can read the bible in a whole different way - translated to kitty pidgin. Isn't life perfect now?

I just started with Genesis and it cracked me right up:

1. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat was invisible, and he maded the skiez and da earths, but he did not eated it.

2. The earths wus witout shapez and wus dark and scary and stuffs, and he rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3. And Ceiling Cat sayz, i can has light, and teh light wuz.

This wonderful creation isn't complete yet, so anyone who might wanna help translating the bible to kitty pidgin, is more than welcome.

"I iz in ur bible, messin wit ur faiths"

The X Rated African Grey Parrot

I just recently came across this witty, rude parrot on YouTube:

Apparently she is a a real hit with a nice crowd of fans and followers. What can I say, it's really amusing to hear an African Grey curse like that, and in an British accent, no less.

I had quite a few African Greys when I was younger. They were all very smart, but one of them really topped the lot. He was a she, we discovered very late in our relationship. But that didn't really matter - we actually continued to refer to it as a male - it was too late to change that.

Jacko (that was his name) was very intelligent. When he imitated someone, he really captured the voice and accent. The most amazing thing, though, was that he knew the CONTEXT of things. For example, when the dog annoyed him, he'd reprimand him like we did. When my mother did the dishes, he uses to make the sound of water running down the drain. He used to sing along with his favorite songs - and much more.

He was friendly to us most of the time, and like to have his head scratched. He also gave kisses, which was very cute.

He was a great pet - too bad we only had him for a limited time, and then we had to give him back to its original owner. I am seriously thinking of getting an African Grey again. The prices are fairly high - but I mainly avoid getting a pet because I am not home most of the day, and I don't think it's good for any pet to stay alone for so long.

Anyway, enjoy the cussing parrot. Seems like she and her owner are having fun - and that's all that matters.

Special Olympics 2007: Mum's The Word

Never have I seen such a big sporting event, going so dismally unnoticed. Did you know that the Special Olympics 2007 was starting today in China? Neither have I.

I am online most of the day, and I keep myself updated in a huge variety of subjects - because this is my job. Usually, before a big sporting event, there's always some media buzz. Commentary, analysis, special stories - stuff like that. In this case, I don't remember seeing one glimpse of coverage of the Special Olympics - and I see a lot of internet sites every day.



Ironically enough, I found out about the Special Olympics while sitting in a restaurant which showed live coverage of the opening ceremony on TV. It took me a while to understand what I'm watching, because the sound was off. When I got back near a computer, I immediately set off to find some info about the event.

I opened up Yahoo News, Reuters, CNN and several Israeli sport sites - not a word. I peaked into my RSS feeds - nothing. I looked at Google News - nothing but football. It's as if the event doesn't even exist. Only a Google search helped me find the official site and some remote reports about the Special Olympics. Nothing on the all-famous Digg, either. ESPN has got some coverage, but the photos from the event mainly show the organizers and donors - and not the athletes themselves.

Yeah, sure. Individuals with intellectual disabilities swimming aren't as fascinating as Barry Bonds. They don't have blond hair and tits to show like Maria Sharapova. The Special Olympics aren't sexy enough. It's even a bit disturbing, isn't it? I mean, who wants to watch hundreds or RETARDS competing in sporting events, huh?!

My rant has no news in it - Special Olympics and Paralympics will never get 10% of the news coverage of a Superbowl or any other huge event. It has always been like that. The claim is that the media give the people "what they want to see". I say - that's the coward's excuse. If the media were brave and caring enough, they would also give the public what they SHOULD see - the OTHER, the DIFFERENT, the things that are not always pleasant to see, but are a part of our lives, whether we like it or not.

I am not naive nor stupid. I know all about Ratings, Unique Visitors, Exposure, Money - and a lot of other fancy words. The thing is, from time to time you need to learn to ignore the words and business rules.

It's not these athletes who are disabled. They are not the ones with the problem. We are - because we refuse to look at anything that might spoil our little bubble of comfort and illusions. We are the problem, because we prefer to watch the seemingly perfect, rather than stare reality in the face. We are the ones that need to jump over a very big hurdle - those guys at the Olympics already have. They are way ahead of us.