Blogroll Dive: 11/21/05

Here are the highlights from today’s Blogroll dive:

  • Owen receives his XBox 360, three days before its official North American release!
  • Bonnie puts Darth Vader to the test.
  • Michael is looking for a few “quality K2 customizations”.
  • Brian briefly discusses the layers of Web 2.0.
  • Khaled dispels a few rumors surrounding InkSmith.
  • Craig learns that Sony’s DRM Rootkit is in violation of their own customer satisfaction philosophy.
  • Orson ruminates on truth in the news.
  • Angsuman learns that Sony’s DRM Rootkit infringes on the copyright of “several open source projects”.
  • And, Tom publicly publishes an MP3 of his interview with Robert Scoble.

Favored Freeware: Cross-Platform Roundup 2

I’m out of new Favored Freeware entries for now, so I have decided to list off all of the cross-platform Favored Freeware applications in this week’s entry. Developing a cross-platform application means a lot. It means that you, the developer(s), are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to please a much broader audience by providing your application(s) for more than one platform. As of now, my cross-platform Favored Freeware applications are: Armagetron, Audacity, Celestia, D2X, Doom Legacy, Firefox, Inkscape, iTunes, Kubuntu, LBreakout2, Mactracker, NVU, OpenOffice.org, QuickTime, RSSOwl, Stellarium, SuperTux, Thunderbird, Tux Paint, VLC Media Player, and Web Developer Extension.

Of Handles and Real Names

Let me just start by saying that I am an incredible hypocrite when it comes to handles vs. real names. I hate handles. Now that you are probably questioning my sanity, let me explain.

Again, I hate handles. I despise them. I desire nothing more than to tear away the shroud of anonymity that has been cast amongst the internet by these so-called digital names. Yet, I realize that some desire that anonymity. In fact, some may require that anonymity.

I do not require the anonymity of my handle (), but I feel as if I cannot survive without it. I began my career as MacManX. MacManX made a name for himself as a support forum volunteer and a contributing editor for MacMerc.com. In fact, I doubt that Chris would have recognized me from our days on the Mac Browser Board if it weren’t for my handle. But, what about “James Huff”?

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Blogroll Dive: 11/14/05

Here are the highlights from today’s Blogroll dive:

  • Bryan discovers a good list of techniques for notemaking.
  • Owen adds a support forum to Red Alt.
  • Michael Heilemann discovers some excellent game maps.
  • Brian discusses a critical feature which he has yet to see in any web-based task management services.
  • Khaled discusses Sony’s spectacular Bravia commercial.
  • Jon announces the premiere of Google Analytics, a new free web statistics service.
  • Rick discusses the power of positive emailing.
  • Michael Hampton celebrates one year of “Homeland Stupidity”.
  • Jim finishes his Orange Apple Computer Club presentation on inexpensive Mac maintenance and publicly publishes a PDF of the presentation.
  • Craig shares his opinion of what the next WordPress theme competition should be about.
  • Orson ruminates on an apparent lack of moderation and rationality in today’s politics.
  • Sarah posts dates for several upcoming concerts.
  • Angsuman discovers a class-action lawsuit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s new and aggressive copy-protection technology. More information on Sony’s latest attempt to cripple the freedom of their music customers and leave them open to a new wave of viruses, adware, and other forms of malware is available in Angsuman’s post.
  • Chris discovers an excellent presentation on Web 2.0.
  • Mark discusses the importance of having a “truck sponsor” during long highway drives.
  • And, Tom discovers that the upcoming Intel-based Macs may be capable of running multiple operating systems.