iTunes alternatives

Alternatives to iTunes:

Songbird:  Pretty much looks like iTunes, only it's black. =P

Audion: I haven't tried it, but it gets very good reviews.

Winamp has a plugin to manage the iPod library as well, and foobar has foo_pod.  I haven't checked these either, though.

CD Swapping!

I don't know about you, guys, for me music files are fine but nothing replaces the actual media.  Be it a CD or its analog parents (LP's for example); I really love those and cherish them greatly.

I am not going to even start touching the somewhat itchy topic of "I don't have money to buy CDs! OMG! I have bought a new cellphone/color contacts/etc!" here because that always makes my eye twitch.

I'm simply going to talk to those of you who appreciate CD's (LP's, cassettes, etc.) more than mere streams of intangible bytes.

I think the growing trend in this aspect last year have been sites that facilitate CD-swapping.  Real CD's, not copies.

Among those, perhaps lala.com has taken most of the credit.  I think I blogged about it about six months ago, when it was still in "beta" and you could only join by getting an invitation code.
Right now, the invitation system has been dropped and everyone can join.
Basically, the site works as middle-man, getting people in touch so that they can exchange CD's that they no longer want for CD's they do want.
Lala.com is only available to users in the US ( =/) and it charges you 1.75 per swap, but facilitates the envelopes to send the CD's.

You can go to the site, or you can read a very nice and extensive review here.

Another good option might be SwapaCD, which -again- is only available to users in the US (so, half my flist has stopped reading by now. ._.)  I think this is because of the different laws ruling in every country, and the owners of these sites not wanting to risk being issued a cease & desist order or facing a lawsuit.
You earn SwapaCD credits by sending out CDs, and receive CDs by spending earned credits.

On the other hand you have chancexchange, which allows users from every country to swap CD's.  Where's the catch? You wonder.  Well, you can only exchange CD's with people in your same country.

I am only listing the sites that do not seem to require paying a fee to join, and basically work as a peer-to-peer network where you don't have to "buy" a CD, but rather you simply exchange them for another CD.
There are numerous vendors that "buy" your old CD's and re-sell them; or even allow users to sell their stuff through their interface for a small (or not) fee.  Amazon comes to mind.

=]

Well, I hope this is useful for someone.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I won't be around during the holidays, so I want to quickly, and without taking much of your time, wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I really don't care whether you celebrate this or that, I believe wishing happiness to people shouldn't be such a terrible thing. So, here... take my wish for happiness if you will, and if not, well... you are allowed to not be happy, nobody will blame you for it.

Have fun!

Oh, Debian. How I love thee.

Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.

- Matt Groening

So, yup, it looks like Debian will rename Firefox to Iceweasel in their next release, and it looks it's a final decision.  =/  I'm not sure I like the name, though.


BTW, where's the upgrade promised for December 4th?
http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/


OK, I'm being biased.  It wasn't actually "promised", it was speculative.

The RIAA lies

The RIAA, who claims to defend musicians, is now asking that composers and songwriters are paid less royalties, so that record companies can earn more.

If you needed something else to believe that they are hypocrites, there ya go.

Record industry executives said there was nothing strange about seeking a rate change that would pay less to the people who write the music.

Yup, nothing strange.  I'm not surprised at all.

Phobos

Fear and Terror.  Phobos and Deimos.

That's the name of Mars's two tiny moons.
When I was around 8 years old, my grand-uncle explained this to me as he walked me back home from school.

Today, watching APOD (Astronomy Picture Of the Day) a picture of Phobos caught my attention and reminded me of uncle Jos.

When I was a child, I imagined Mars and its moons to be scary places.

Right now, I think the Earth (and some of its inhabitants) is by far a lot more scary.

Kiwi!

How much are you ready to sacrifice in order to follow your dreams?

Kiwi!

Local wikis

Wikipad. A very interesting wiki-like application that I think is ideal for those of you in college that need to do papers and research. I think it's very helpful when it comes to organizing ideas. I'm linking the windoze version of it, but there are versions of it for linux and mac. Python-coded, which is really nice.
I think it's very nice and helpful if you are acquainted with the wiki way of organizing information. It might also help at work for some of you, and even at story-telling. =]
If you know of other locally-run wikis (that run on linux, hehe) let me know. =]

The robe of a ghost

The ghostly tail of comet swan.  I loved this picture and I want to share it with you.
A comet traveling endlessly through the universe, the ghostly rims of its gossamer gown gently sweeping the dark emptiness among a myriad of twinkling stars.

It evokes thoughts of unreachable and silent beauty. 

The other day I was talking to Mauhaut about gazing at the stars.  I think I've always been a star-gazer.  Although living in a noisy and crowded city sometimes opaques your view of the sky, you always know the stars are there... even if the tumult doesn't let you see them, or the busy life you lead hides them away from you and keeps your gaze pinned to the monotonous ground.

Sooner or later, we raise our heads, and our eyes go to the skies looking for peace, for that overwhelming feeling of immenseness and smallness.

Thanks to all the twinkling stars that wink at me from above when my stare is pinned to the ground, because you guys make me lift my chin and hope for a piece of eternity.

♥



Oh, well. I need to clean stuff here and go home. =]

Viruses, wikipedia and geniuses

Once again, virus authors use wikipedia to spread malware.  Not the first time it happens, but I think it's worth mentioning.

I also found this article today: How to think like a genius.
I don't think I'll ever get to think like a genius, but I'd appreciate getting a little upgrade

Zune not compatible with Microsoft's DRM?

Microsoft's Zune Music Player Incompatible with Microsoft's own DRM Ecosystem.  LOL.  Microsoft never ceases to amaze me (at their craptasticness).

In more interesting and beautiful news, I want to share with you this link to gorgeous wildlife pictures.  ^_^

Size matters

I've found a very interesting article about sharing big-sized files.
There are lots of sites that provide this service, unfortunately the seemingly most popular ones are quite crappy at getting the job done.
For example:
Megaupload is very disappointing, as it won't let you download unless you either pay them (so much for their claim to being "completely free") or you live in a rich country.  YouSendit has moved to a paid service, requiring people to create an account to either upload or download.
Rapidshare can be a pain in the ass, SendFile is becoming a pain in the ass; and I could go on forever.

I know many people don't really care about this, because of psychological quirks that I will not discuss now (I might do so later) and I will be contented with just tagging as the "It looks like I'm sharing but I'm actually just making you covet" syndrome.

For the rest of us, here's a list of big-sized-file upload sites. ^_^

MediaFire:  Allows uploading an unlimited number of files up to 2.5Gig; multiple simultaneous uploads and downloads, supports most download managers (something I personally use a lot and is very useful if you need to resume a large download).  No login or signup required.  Ad-supported.  The Mail feature has its quirks.

GigaSize: You can sign up for a free account and upload files up to 1.5Gig in size for free, they will store it for a minimun of 90 days.  If you choose to not sign up, you can upload up to 300 M large file and they will be stored for 45 days. I don't think it supports resuming of downloads or download managers though.  No ads. 

Other services worth mentioning:

Sharebig: Free uploading and downloading of up to 1.5 Gig.  No sign-up required.
TransferBIGfiles: Reminds me of yousendit.  File size must be less than 1G and it will be stored for 5 days or 20 downloads.

For Windows or MacOS users, there's also pando; an application that lets you send files up to 1 Gig to anyone with an e-mail address.

MediaMax is what streamload used to be.  I have been using their service for years for personal reasons (mostly backups, personal and work-related stuff) and it also allows me to share files with others if I choose to do so.  It's a paid service though.  You can send files to other streamload users and receive files from them almost instantly and without any "cost" to your monthly allotted bandwidth.  Their current price is US$37.95 per year, it gives you up to 1Gig of downloads, and doesn't put a limit to how much you can upload or to file-size.
Sending files between streamload users is unlimited in size.
You can download their upload/download client for free at their site, (even if you don't have an account with them) and you can upload files to any user's account too. (I know, that's a feature that screams "spaaaaam!")

4Shared: Similar to streamload but with limitations, you need to sign up for a free 1Gig account. You can upload files up to 50M in size. Rumored to give free unlimited downloads.


Do you know of any other good XXL-sized file upload/download service?  Please, let me know!  ^-^

I mentioned download managers ut supra and I want to make a special mention to one firefox extension that I really, really enjoy:  It's DownThemAll!  and it's very useful when you are downloading a large number of files (scans, picture galleries, batch of files, etc.)  I used to use it a lot to download scans, otherwise my right-clicking finger would have died in spastic horror. ^_~
It's easy to configure and install (just click on the install link).

Oh, talking about firefox! Firefox 2.0 has been released today. =D  It looks very, very pretty and has some very cool new features.

In images

I've found this:  111 free photoshop plugins.  =]  For Mac and Windows.  I think some of them work with Paint Shop Pro too, and I am still to try them out with the Gimp.

Rumors

There's a rumor about Google wanting to buy youtube.  The article offers some interesting "behind the scenes" points about this "rumored" buyout.

Add-ons and interesting reads

1)  Rikaichan.  An extension for Firefox that draws a tooltip with translations from Japanese to English/French/German/Russian (you choose) as you roll your mouse over Japanese text. 
Very useful for those of us somewhat unable to break free from the tight grip of the Japanese entertainment industry. =P

Quoting from the site:

Japanese to English/German/French/Russian dictionary. Just hover the mouse on top of a word, and a popup appears. Automatically de-inflects verbs and adjectives. Detailed kanji view.

Please go to http://rikaichan.mozdev.org/ or http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/ to download a dictionary file for this extension.

As usual, installing extensions to firefox is very easy:  you just click on the link that reads "install now" =]


An interesting article I found today at lifehacker.com is titled: "What happens to your email when you die?"  It reviews this article from C|Net that elaborates about the problems relatives face when a close one dies and takes the passwords to the grave.
I have always considered this, to be honest (and I doubt it'd surprise anyone, really).  Would the ones left behind be able to cancel my accounts? And how easy would that be for them?

Security update

Another MSIE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) security exploit has surfaced.  It is related to javascript, and it's been found running in the wild.

Once again, and at the risk of sounding extremely repetitive, DO NOT use Internet Explorer.  Use Firefox instead.  Firefox is much better, when it has flaws they are rapidly patched, it's more stable, and more secure.
Opera is also a good option.  (I quite like Opera.  It's my second choice browser)

Firefox plugins and extensions.

I've been asked this question a bunch of times before, and although I know I've written about this before, well... here it goes again in case someone missed it.

How do you check what plugins are installed in your firefox browser?

Open a new tab, and type "about:plugins" in the address bar (minus the quotation marks); hit enter and you will get a list of all plugins installed for Firefox and their status (working or not).  ^_^
You don't need to be online to do this.

Do not confuse "plugins" (for example, Java plugin or flash plugin) with Extensions.  Extensions are meant to extend the functionalities of your browser, giving it the ability to do something extra.  Plugins are meant to let you access information coded into a third-party's format (like macromedia's flash).
A good example of an extension is the "WeatherFox" extension, which adds to your browser the ability to inform you about weather conditions in your area.  ^_^  It's one of my favorite extensions.  Or the del.icio.us plugin, which allows you to save bookmarks to del.icio.us at the click of a button in your toolbar.  ^_^

Blogging about music

Mog.  A Music blOG.  Or at least, that is what I think they intended to go for with the name of the site.

This is some sort of not-so-popular last-fm.  Their submission engine only supports three players on only 2 Operating Systems, which leaves some of us out.  (I signed up anyway, 'cause I simply couldn't resist it)

They have some nice options for musicians (although I don't think it allows you to stream your own music, which is a moot point), and just like last-fm, it tries to build a social network of fellow music junkies.

I think the project would be more interesting if it didn't try to be an hybrid between last-fm and myspace.

So far, it's in beta mode.  I signed up when it was launched (several months ago) and I never received my confirmation e-mail.  I signed up again today with a new account and I did.  I still cannot activate my first account, and several links on the site (forums, for example, where you are told to go if you require further help) do not appear to work.

Potential? Maybe.  I'd definitely watch it, and I'm looking forward to a GNU/Linux plugin so that I can further test it.

Quickie from the workplace

Do you have a youtube account?  Do you use the "recommend to friend" tool?

Read this.

=/

Oh, and windowzers, patch your OS.

On DIY toys and computers

Lately I've been neglecting my nerdy side.  But after taking a look at those DIY mp3 players I know I want to build one. =] 
You probably think "why someone who already owns a 'spiffy' digital music player (the iPod nano that I rarely use) would want to waste time building one herself?" and the answer is very simple:  Because what you build yourself is a lot more valuable and precious than anything you can buy. =]
"Don't you have better things to do? Like trying to become literate, for example? "
Uh... nah.  This is more fun. 
I often joke and/or make fun of my "redneck" origins, but the truth is I think it's been those afternoons that I've spent watching how dad and uncles and cousins worked to fix cars, what's made me love to fix stuff myself and what's made me think that no matter what it is, if another human being did it, then I can also do it.

Oh, well, but I am still delaying the upgrade of KDE on my BELOVED Debian box, 'because... I always ruin something when I upgrade KDE.  >_<

I am considering building myself (in addition to the mp3 player) a second box which will run under either LFS or Gentoo.  Just for the sake of it.  Because I've always wanted to do Linux from scratch, or even build my own distro (which will probably be Debian-based as far as package management is concerned)  (And it still needs a name, so I'm taking suggestions!)
I have some spare parts, but I'd still need a processor, a motherboard and a case.  I have some small~ish HD's (10 Gig), an old crt screen, some ram, some fans, lots of wires... and I've always wanted to do this step by step blog-post "how to build your own computer" with pictures and all.
I think it'd encourage everyone to tweak around with your comps, because when you see it you will all think: "Well, if Michelle, who is stupid, ugly, lame and ignorant; can do it, then of course I can do it too!"
It always makes my eye twitch when I read anyone saying "Oh, vey, I must call the computer repair people to get my RAM upgraded... so expensive!"

I also want to mod my case...
But alas, all these things require money, which is something I do not have right now.