Archive for the 'Tech Rant' Category

GMail SSL Feature

My friend John shot this article: Why You Should Turn Gmail’s SSL Feature On Now over to me this morning about GMail’s new SSL feature. SSL is a level of security that encrypts communication over the internet. It is most easily identified by the https:// in the browser URL as opposed to http://. This SSL feature is important especially on open wireless networks (Starbucks, Random open location, NCSU’s wireless network, etc) where anyone could be sniffing your traffic.

To TURN ON SSL Encryption for the GMail Webapp:

  1. Sign in to Gmail
  2. Click Setting at the top of any Gmail page
  3. Set ‘Browser Connection to ‘Always use https.’
  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Reload Gmail

Firefox 3 Download Day

Download Day 2008

This Tuesday, June 17th, Mozilla is attempting to set a world record by having the most downloads of a piece of software in a single day. What is that software you might ask? Firefox 3. If you are still running Internet Explorer or Netscape, please oh please click the button below on Tuesday and get Firefox!

How Do I know if I’m using Internet Explorer?

If you click a giant “e” on your desktop or in your task bar to get to the internet, then you are using IE. Please stop internet abuse and get a better browser!

IE 8 and the DOCTYPE Switch

Today, an excellent article was published by Aaron Gustafson at A List Apart. His article discusses the ever changing practice of developing in a standards based word for the World Wide Web. Now I know for some of my readers out there this will matter very little - however for those of you interested, I encourage you to take in just a little of the discussions that surround the web.

Camera for Sale

Well, last week I got a wild hair and bought a new digital camera. I purchased the new Canon 30D and absolutely love it! As such, I’m putting my Canon Digital Rebel up for sale.

Canon Digital Rebel 300D
Max resolution 3072 x 2048
Low resolution 2048 x 1360, 1536 x 1024
Image ratio w:h 3:2
Effective pixels 6.3 million
Sensor photo detectors 6.3 million
Sensor size 22.7 x 15.1 mm
Sensor type CMOS
Colour filter array RGB
Sensor manufacturer Canon
ISO rating 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Zoom wide (W) n/a
Zoom tele (T) n/a
Digital zoom No
Image stabilization No
Auto Focus Yes
Manual Focus Yes
Auto focus type Multi-BASIS TTL, 7 focus points (EOS 30 AF)
Normal focus range n/a
Macro focus range n/a
White balance override 6 positions & manual preset
Aperture range n/a
Min shutter 30 sec + Bulb
Max shutter 1/4000 sec
Built-in Flash Yes, pop-up
Flash guide no. 12 m (39.3 ft) @ ISO 100
External flash Yes, hot-shoe, E-TTL
Flash modes Auto, On, Red-eye reduction, Off
Exposure compensation -2 EV to +2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
Metering Auto
Aperture priority Yes
Shutter priority Yes
Focal length multiplier 1.6
Lens thread Canon EOS EF, EF-S mount
Continuous Drive Yes, 2.5 fps max 4 images
Movie Clips No
Remote control E3 connector, InfraRed
Tripod mount Yes
Self-timer 10 sec
Time-lapse recording Yes, by USB cable and PC
Orientation sensor Yes
Storage types Compact Flash (Type I or II)
Storage included None
Uncompressed format RAW
Compressed format JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Quality Levels Fine, Normal, RAW
Viewfinder TTL
LCD 1.8 “
LCD Pixels 118,000
Video out Yes
USB Yes
Firewire (IEEE 1394) No
Battery / Charger Yes
Battery Canon 1100mAh Li-Ion & Charger
Weight (inc. batteries) 645 g (22.8 oz)
Dimensions 142 x 99 x 72 mm (5.6 x 3.9 x 2.8 in)

The camera comes with all original equipment which includes a battery, a Canon 18-55mm lens, strap, software, manuals, etc (all in the original box). I’m also including a 256 MB Compact Flash card. I’m asking $550 for all of this. If you are interested, please send me an email or IM.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics rocks my socks off! A few months ago, Google bought up Urchin, a company known for their sophisticated web site traffic analytics tool. Urchin sold for hundreds of dollars a license and people paid it because it gave you some of the most accurate information as to the visitors on your site.

I have been pining for some time to get my hands on an invitation to try Google Analytics (which is still in official beta testing). Well, I received that invitation early last week and immediatly began to implement the code on my website. In 5 min., data was being collected and within a few days I could begin to see trends on my site.

Google isn’t currently accepting open requests for the service but you can request an invitation as they become available: http://analytics.google.com

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