Technology
Posted inOn The Web
RIP: Netscape Navigator (1994-2008)
I suppose it was inevitable, but it makes me a little sad anyway… Netscape has announced the end of ongoing development and support of the Netscape Navigator browser as of February 1, 2008. (On the other hand, it’s a little surprising this didn’t happen a while ago.)
Although Navigator has been irrelevant for many years now, I still have a soft place in my heart for the browser that took me down many of the early twists and turns on the “Information Superhighway”.
Rest in peace, Mozilla.
Posted inGames / On The Web
I Never Metaplace I Didn’t Like
Raph Koster is a game designer known for his work as the lead designer of Ultima Online and the creative director behind Star Wars Galaxies.
A little more than a year ago, Raph started a new company named Areae, which has been feverishly working on a super-secret MMO-related project. Today was finally the official unveiling of Raph’s project, called Metaplace.
Metaplace allows anyone to build their own virtual spaces and treat them just like any other Web site. You can build chat rooms, store-fronts, online apartments, and all kinds of homebrewed games and attach them easily to your blog or MySpace page. Areae is even building their own full-blown MMO using the Metaplace tools.
From the FAQ…
Can I make my own world?
That’s sort of the whole point. You should be able to stage up a massively multiplayer world with basic chat and a map you can build on in less than five minutes. It’s that easy. Inherit a stylesheet — puzzle game, or shooter, or chat world — and off you go! Building maps and places is as easy as pasting in links from the Web, and dragging and dropping the pictures into your world.
Of course, as with any Web 2.0-ish social experiment where users generate most or all of the content, 90% of the resulting product will be complete crap.
<cough>MySpace<cough> <cough>YouTube<cough>
Uh, sorry about that. Of course, that also means that 10% is pretty good stuff. If Metaplace really is as easy as they make it sound, it should be extremely interesting to see what kind of cool stuff we end up with…
Posted inMovies / On The Web / Television
Ever wonder what Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roeper) thought about Independence Day (2 thumbs down), That Thing You Do (2 thumbs up), or Serenity (2 thumbs up)?
An Archive of Siskel and Ebert (and the other guy)
Ever wonder what Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roeper) thought about Independence Day (2 thumbs down), That Thing You Do (2 thumbs up), or Serenity (2 thumbs up)?
Gene and I knew those old shows would be worth saving, but for a long time nobody agreed with us. In the years before home video, it seemed like a waste of expensive video tape to preserve hundreds of episodes of “Opening Soon at a Theater Near You,” “Sneak Previews” or “At the Movies.”
Fortunately, someone finally agreed with Ebert and started saving the old shows. Now, the past twenty-ish years of movie reviews are indexed and available for our (re)viewing pleasure at the Balcony Archive.
Posted inComics / Humorousness / On The Web
Looking For Group…
I found a terrific Webcomic called Looking For Group a few weeks ago…
The comic, set in an alternate World of Warcraft-ish universe, follows the adventures of an elven archer named Cale’Anon who is out to save the world.
Along the way, Cale gains traveling companions who have a slightly, uh, different set of priorities. In particular is Richard, an undead warlock who provides comic relief, strangely enough, in his absolute delight causing as much death and destruction as inhumanly possible.
If you’re into gaming, fantasy, and humor, LFG is highly recommended!
Posted inTechnology / WTF?
Stormwatch…
According to a recent CNET News Blog report, the Storm worm has infected and taken control of as many as 50 million computers world-wide. In fact, one security expert had this to say…
“In terms of power, the botnet utterly blows the supercomputers away.” He goes on to say that just 2 million of the suspected 50 million Storm worm-infected machines are equivalent to the computing power of the top 500 supercomputers.
Yikes.
Posted inMusic / On The Web
The rendition has since been featured on newspapers, magazines, and television shows.
Work of Art #2: Canon Rock
Canon Rock is a rock arrangement of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D major by the Taiwanese musician and composer Jerry Chang (JerryC). The song became popular on the internet after a video of JerryC’s playing the song was posted online…
The rendition has since been featured on newspapers, magazines, and television shows.
Awesome! 
Posted inHumorousness / On The Web
As you can see, in addition to the hi-res versions on the HISHE website, there also are versions of the videos here on YouTube. Very funny stuff!
How It Should Have Ended…
Found a very fun site today: How It Should Have Ended.com. The tagline of the site pretty much says it all… “Sometimes movies don’t finish the way we’d like.”
As you can see, in addition to the hi-res versions on the HISHE website, there also are versions of the videos here on YouTube. Very funny stuff!