In the past year I have…

• Posted 63 times — an average of 1.2 posts a week, or 5 1/4 posts a month.
• Received 65 comments
• Used two blogging platforms — TextPattern and (for the majority of the time) WordPress
• Been Dugg once
• Gone through three custom redesigns
• Had a hell of a fun time!

Here’s to another great year of Henry’s blog!

Here are the results, snapped with my beloved Nikon D40:

]]> http://henryetc.com/blog/2007/07/23/butterfly/feed/ http://henryetc.com/blog/2007/07/19/thanks-akismet/ http://henryetc.com/blog/2007/07/19/thanks-akismet/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:43:25 +0000 Henry Sidenotes Hide http://www.henryetc.com/blog/2007/07/19/thanks-akismet/ It’s been only six months since installation, and yet Akismet — a plugin that blocks spam comments on blogs — has prevented 1,000 spam comments on this (quite small) site. Thank Akismet!

Being a non-dual-booting Mac user, I hit a snare when working on a website the other week. I knew that it worked fine in both Safari and Firefox, but it was untested in Internet Explorer. For as much as people tend to rag on Internet Explorer, it still dominates the browser market share, and because of this, ensuring a site works in Internet Explorer is critical. Even on this blog — one I would think to be pretty technologically savvy — 62% of my visitors use Internet Explorer.

Now, back to my original dilemma: I had a website untested in Internet Explorer, and had no way of getting Internet Explorer on my computer. After some Googling, I came upon Netrenderer. It allows you to paste a URL you’d like tested, and unlike other services, instantly outputs a screenshot of your site as it would appear in IE 6 or 7, based on your preference. Though it does cut off at the fold, or the bottom of the browser window, this has proven to be an invaluable tool for me in ensuring compatibility in IE for sites I design.

I recently re-discovered a gem of an app for Mac that I believe to have downloaded several months ago called Quinn.

For as much as people tend to rag on Mac OS for its small selection of games, Quinn is, surprisingly, a free, bang-up rendition of Tetris (or the “popular falling-blocks game which, according to the Tetris Company, must not be named here,” according to the site). I can honestly say that its being a game aside, Quinn’s interface ranks as one of the best I’ve encountered on Mac. With its multi-player functionality, and ability to host games, I know that I’ve spent countless hours trying to top others’ scores as well as my own.

If you’re not a serious gamer, but are interested in a largely mindless and simple, classic game to occupy those few spare moments you might have in your day — which may be far too little time once you become as obsessed with it as I! — I highly recommend Quinn.

Entitled “Redux,” this design is the result of my wanting a more minimal, toned-down design. Hopefully its succeeded in doing this. Also: now with at least improved IE compatibility, as I’ve been too lazy to ensure total compatibility, yet. Also, as of this writing I’ve not ensured W3 validity, but will do so shortly.

Any feedback is appreciated, and hopefully you enjoy the new design.

Ocean’s Thirteen ☆☆☆☆☆ (3.5 / 5)

Very fun flick with big-name talent, moments of hilarity, and some very cool heist, and heist preparation, scenes. I’m not sure how it stacks up in comparison to the last two, as I’ve not seen them, but I quite enjoyed this one. Definitely worth seeing in theaters.

Shrek The Third ☆☆☆☆☆ (1 / 5)
Went from a cute series laden with jokes adults and kids could each get, respectively, to trashy, unfunny and low-quality animation at its worst.

Reservoir Dogs ☆☆☆☆☆ (4 / 5)

Though completely violent, at a certain point, the violence in its very excess becomes comical — there sure is nothing like watching someone’s ear get cut off to the tune of the “Sounds of 70’s” on the radio, playing in the background.

Knocked Up ☆☆☆☆☆ (5 / 5)

I laughed from the minute the movie started to the minute it ended. As Judd Appatow — writer and director of the film — mentioned in an article for what I believe was Time, unlike last year’s large production, Talladega Nights, there was less effort put into getting high profile actors for the movie (though these were hilarious, several hailing from the Freaks and Geeks cast) as it was directing efforts towards what ended up a hysterical script.

Enjoy!

I’ve restarted iTunes several time, but to no avail. Perhaps a reboot is in order.

Anyone else had this happen to them? If so, how did you fix it?

Update: Looks like a reboot did the trick — problem resolved. Some other programs were acting kind of wonky, crashing when opened, but it seems as though the reboot fixed this, too. Strange while it lasted.

My initial reaction was disbelief, as never before had I even dreamt of an article I’d written getting on one of my favorite sites (no less, one with over one million registered users and many more unregistered). Then came the excitement as slowly but surely more and more people dugg the article, which, for the record, I don’t even think is that amazing an article. I suppose the fact that the trailing question mark was excluded from the title, “New Google Search Feature?” may have excited people — all it was, in fact, was an error when you searched for the term “review:” on Google and I predicted from there (Digg users sure do love rumors and predictions!). Either way, after about four hours, the article hit the home page, though was quickly buried (modded down and removed from the home page by users) when Google remedied the issue and the bug I encountered couldn’t be replicated. But hey, even though I only got 70 diggs, it was really fun while it lasted; I’ll let these stats speak for themselves:

I think I've stumbled upon a little yet-to-be-released Google search feature: "review:". Similar to "define:" to look up definitions, I predict this will work in conjunction with the recently re-branded Google Products (formerly Froogle) to let you quickly access Google Products' functionality directly from the main search.

The reason this is plausible is due to the fact that as of about 10:15 PM EDT, any Google search that starts with review: returns a persistent "502 Server Error" (example). Perhaps this means Google's about ready to release this. Either that, or I've unintentionally disturbed some delicate balance holding together the very internet as we know it!

Overall: 5/5

Update: Sample shots here

I just recently got something I’ve been interested in for a very long time: a digital SLR camera. After researching and considering the multitude of more consumer-oriented dSLR’s on the market, I ultimately chose the Nikon D40.

In my five days so far with the D40, it has unceasingly proved to be my dream camera. During my research, time and time again comments in reviews suggested that the D40 is a great camera for previous point-and-shoot owners — something I couldn’t agree with more. Like its point-and-shoot 2nd cousins, the D40 is compact, easy to use, and created with consumers in mind. Where Nikon had room to make or break this camera, however, was in whether this was to be an excellent point-and-shoot or, like they fortunately decided, a consumer dSLR somewhere in between. It is in making this decision that Nikon’s D40 shines; for instance, while there are several excellent automatic modes for specific shooting situations, there is also complete manual mode, and while there is quite good autofocus with the great 18-55 kit lens, there is also manual focus. Essentially, the D40 is the camera you, with your specific needs, make it out to be. In my several days of shooting, I’ve tended to lean more towards manual settings, but the D40 suits the vacationers who simply want high quality shots with no fuss, no muss just as well.

As for features, unlike its big brother, the Nikon D50, many of the D40’s settings are accessed via the very easy to use menu system on its large 2.5-inch screen. I can imagine that this would be a hassle for more professional photographers who not only need to change such settings, but are familiar with using tactile means to do so. However, for those whose past cameras were point-and-shoots, if their previous cameras even allowed for the changing of settings like ISO or white balance, it was probably done on the screen as well. With consumers still in mind, one new feature specific to the D40 include various editing capabilities within the camera itself. I’ve yet to try these out, but have heard that certain post-processing effects can actually improve photo quality in some cases. Keep in mind that with a camera so filled to the brim with features and settings to explore, it’s hard to know what all of these are and how to work them within just a few days!

One of the reasons I’ve really enjoyed the D40 so much is because of this exactly: even though I haven’t learned the ins and outs of the camera, I’ve still been able to take great photos. This can also be attributed to the fantastic lens that comes with the kit D40. It has an equivalency of about a 3.5x zoom and provides wonderful depth-of-field and quite good autofocusing (it’s a shame that there are only three points on which to train the lens’ autofocus sensor, though).

On the topic of lenses, it is definitely worth noting that the D40 is not an ideal camera for those with a collection of non AF-S/I lenses from Nikon. One of the reasons the D40 is able to be so compact is due to Nikon deciding to nix an internal motor to drive the autofocus functionality, as found in near all other dSLR’s and all other Nikon dSLR’s. Because of this, a new system of lenses called AF-S/I lenses have been developed with internal autofocus motors. The problem, though, is that these new lenses are few in number. In my opinion, this is probably not an issue for the D40’s target audience of those looking to break into the world of dSLR photography for the first time, versus those already owning lenses. Either way, the collection of AF-S/I lenses is sure to expand over the coming years.

All in all, the D40 has been a joy to use these past few days. What excites me the most about it is that unlike previous point-and-shoot cameras I’ve owned, the D40 gives me room to grow as my knowledge of photography develops. In my experience so far with the D40, taking photos is not a difficult or bothersome task in any way, as it used to be with previous non-SLR cameras. With fast and widely adjustable shutter speed (that’s right, blurriness be gone) and superb photo quality, now photography is fun and very rewarding for me.

Thank you, Nikon, for creating one excellent camera.

Overall: 5/5