Also, I used iTunes XHTML Playlist to upload my iTunes library for your viewing pleasure. It’s on the sidebar underneath the recent tracks. It’s a hefty HTML file — about 2MB — so your browser may take a sec to load it.
I did a cool programming thing.
Now, I’m not completely clueless about programming, but I’m close. Years ago I learned a bit (and I mean a bit) of Visual Basic from one of my friends. I went to computer camp and picked up a bit more. More recently, I taught myself some HTML and I took a semester of C++.
So, that little thing over on the sidebar that shows you the songs I’ve recently listened to? I’m proud of that. That’s some PHP right there. I don’t even know what PHP stands for.
Okay, I’m done now.
Anyway, there’s a really neat script that lets you display RSS feeds on a website, called CaRP. It’s easy to use and seems to be pretty damn powerful. I highly recommend it if you plan on messing around with this stuff. It’s not hard to use, and the on-site documentation is great.
(Incidentally, the feed that’s showing my songs is coming from Audioscrobbler, which I think more of you might want to check out. It’s the sister site of Last.fm, which I wrote about a while back.)
Brian Toth has a plugin for Apple’s Address Book that adds Google Maps support. I’ve been hoping someone would make this, since I’m not a big fan of MapQuest.
I added a couple more programs to the Cool Mac Stuff page: Taco HTML Edit, a website editor, and VLC, a media player. Check them out.
Two tidbits of Apple news today.
First of all, they’ve messed with the iPod line. There’s no more plain ol’ iPod; all of them are now iPod photos. Also, now there’s just 20GB and a 60GB models. (There are still iPod minis and shuffles, of course.) They must have realized things were getting a little hectic with all the different versions. Look at the new lineup here.
Second, iTunes 4.9 is out. The big new feature is podcast support. Podcasts, if you’re too lazy to click on the link I just made, are essentially homemade ameteur radio shows, packaged as MP3s for your downloading pleasure. They’ve been gaining popularity recently, and their integration into iTunes will probably ensure their long-term success. Apple’s info on this new feature can be found here.
Just a quick note to remind you about BBC Radio 3’s Beethoven Experience. If you missed the earlier entry, BBC Radio 3 has been recording all of Beethoven’s symphonies and is making them available for free download ing on its website. Symphonies 1 through 5 have come and gone; No. 6 is up today, and a new one will go up every day until they finish with No. 9 on Friday. Each one is only up for a week, so grab them while you can!
John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a post about how to hack the Weather Dashboard widget so that it displays the time it was last updated. It’s easy and takes about five minutes. Why not?
The Supreme Court has ruled on the MGM v. Grokster case, and MGM won. Read the news articles, and then head to Boing Boing and see Cory Doctorow threaten to fly off the handle with a barrage of P2P-related posts. Don’t worry, he’ll be okay once he makes more miscellaneous Creative Commons torrents.
If you’re reading this and it’s before 10:30 on Sunday, go turn on MTV. (Yes, that might be the only time I ever say that.) Andy Milonakis is getting his own show, and tonight’s the premiere. He’s hilarious (and he’s my cousin). You’ll like it, I promise.
EDIT: I don’t know what the hell that was either. He’s a weird guy.
EDIT 2: USA Today article. Christ.
I heard “A Peak You Reach” by Badly Drawn Boy on the radio the other day — hooray for NPR — and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. Interestingly, I already have the album, and another couple of albums by him (I still think it’s pretentious to come up with a band-style name for one guy. Bright Eyes, that goes for you too). I think Matt gave them to me at some point.
Anyway, I started listening to About a Boy and it’s pretty solid. I’ll have to check out more of his stuff.
Emilie’s Don’t Yawn is seriously one of the most mind-bending things I’ve ever seen. I’ve long suspected that yawning is contagious, but this proves it beyond any shadow of a doubt. Watch the slideshow of yawn-filled images, and you’ll feel your bottom jaw start to gently press downward, completely involuntarily. A vacuum starts in the back of your throat. Suddenly it’s like someone is peeling onions and you haven’t slept in weeks. If you last longer than thirty seconds at this thing, I salute you. Actually, I don’t salute you, because you’re lying.
So PartiallyClips acted as a gateway drug, and I’m now in binge webcomic-reading mode.
I used to check Sinfest or Penny Arcade occasionally when I got bored, and I remember reading some of Diesel Sweeties once, but I never got caught up in the things. In the past week, though, I’ve polished off the entire archives of Ctrl+Alt+Del and PvP, and most of Penny Arcade too. (I love the gaming culture-related ones.)
I’ll write more on this later, but there’s more virtual shoeboxes to dust off. That, and I started playing World of Warcraft again. What video game vortex?
Great concert last night at Carnegie Hall. Continue reading »
I can’t make this shit up.
In a ridiculous publicity stunt, the first two innings of a minor league baseball game between the Kansas City T-Bones and the Schaumburg Flyers will be played “virtually” — two video gamers will play MVP Baseball 2005 on an Xbox while the game is broadcast over the video screen and play-by-play is called by the announcers. When the real teams take the field in the third inning, they’ll start where the virtual game left off.
(via antsmarching.org)
EDIT: Boing Boinged.
I was working on the boat yet again today, but it’s finally done. Today we took it apart and shipped it off to East Hampton, where it will be reassembled and put on display in a brand-new children’s museum.
Here’s a picture of Amy carrying a big boat chunk to the truck, which I find reminiscent of the way cartoons hide behind inanimate objects.
In other news, I’m going to see the appropriately-named Trio! at Carnegie Hall on Thursday. Trio! made up of is Béla Fleck, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Stanley Clarke, a group that deserves an exclamation point if I ever saw one. Word on the street, and by street I mean Flecktones forum, is that Trio! will be releasing a live album from this tour. (Hopefully they’ll call it Album!)
Anyway, there’s a less-punctuated trio sharing the bill at the Carnegie Hall show: Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano. I recognize Motian from my History of Jazz class — which came with a 117-song collection — and I have a couple of Frisell’s CDs, so I’m excited to see how that sounds as well.