Just absolutely, positively, definitely have to see The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

The movie is scheduled for release late April in the US.

[Via Pers Blog]

Inventing Shotgun golf was the last project of brilliant Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

Sunday night he used a gun to end his own life.

Doc Searls writes:

It may take awhile for the distractions to evaporate, and for the good doctor's constructive contributions to achieve the recognition they deserve. So here's a head start:

He opened journalism to the rest of us:

I have a theory that the truth is ever told during the nine-to-five hours.

If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

A word to the wise is infuriating.

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.

This is a real loss. Hunter S. Thompson has done more for creative writing than most other authors I know of.

Google Toolbar 3 beta has been released.

New features:

• SpellCheck: Whenever users type into a web form (including web-based email, discussion forums, and intranet web applications), SpellCheck instantly reviews and suggests corrections. The AutoFix option enables users to automatically check and correct all the text they're entering with one click.
• AutoLink: Whenever users see a U.S. address on a web page, one click on AutoLink automatically links the address to an online map. For example, if users are reading a review of a new restaurant, clicking on AutoLink will turn its address into a link to a map, complete with directions. AutoLink also links package tracking numbers to pages displaying that package's delivery status and other useful information, such as Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) and Publication ISBN numbers.
• WordTranslator: This feature translates words from English web pages into one of 8 other languages. Hover the cursor over a word and Google Toolbar's WordTranslator feature displays the word in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, or Korean.

Google Toolbar still requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP AND Internet Explorer 5.5+. No toolbar for those of us chosing to use a safe browser. They really should make a toolbar for Firefox and Opera.

[Via Google weblog]

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show covers blogs and how they are smoking out the bandits of the media in "Blog Cabin Republican". This is funny on so many levels.

Jon Stewart: Analysts revealed how CNN broke the breaking of the story.

CNN: Well, we found it... actually one of the bloggers found it. We found it through a blog...

Stewart: That's the The Washington Post, their new motto... you heard it here, twelfth.

Stephen Cobart: Where I draw the line is with these attack bloggers... just someone with a computer who gathers, collates, and publishes accurate information that is then read by the general public. They have no credibility. All they have is facts.

Stewart: The medium of the internet may be new, but what bloggers do in many respects is what journalists do.

Cobart: What journalists do? As a journalist I think I know what I do... I'm not sitting at home in front of my computer, I'm out there busting my hump everyday at the Whitehouse.... transcribing their press releases... repeating their talking points.... that's how you earn your nickname from President Bush...

Stewart: As long as these bloggers check their facts, why would you object to this type of political reporting?

Cobart: This isn't political reporting Jon... their reporting on the reporters.

You can watch the story here:
Comedy Central - Blog Cabin Republican
Alternative link (for those of you without Windows Media Player)

[Via Sidewalk Theory]

Today is the 3 year anniversary of my English blog. In three years I have been able to post 668 entries. Thats a little more than 1/2 an entry every day. In other words, all in all it hasn't been the most active blog in the blogsphere.

But it still has been able to function in many ways. Both as a voice in the Flash community while I was working in that field, as a voice for my own very strong opinions in politics as well as place for me to just rant and rave.

There has been active months with many entries (I am too lazy to sit down and make statistics, sorry) - and there have been slow months, but I have been posting every month since I started 3 years ago.

At the moment this blog has slowed down a bit, although I have been posting more frequently lately. What the future will bring for this blog is hard to say. At the moment its shifting towards more focus on gadgets and internet technology. But I am also brewing the urge to write about other topics that it close to my heart - such as marketing. (Not the old kind, the new - that involves conversations and keeping it real).

If you are just joining or have joined in on the way, feel free to check out the archives. There might be some gems there ;)

Just thought I would let you know about a cool blog (if you are a sysadmin or webhead, such as myself)

Ann Elisabeth's blog contains a lot of information about various referrer, trackback and comment spammers. She has gotten really good at digging them out from their hiding places and finding all the sneaky ways they go about their business.

If you are a sysadmin you will really love her blog. Go read it now.

Either the figure of 1.5 million invites was exaggerated or isnoop has parted with almost 1.4 million invites in 24 hours! Because now the available Gmail spool is down to about 160.000.

isnoop.net gmail invite spooler

[Update 7th of june 2005] - Googles Gmail product manager did not like the Gmail invite spooler and pressed to shut the service down. As of yesterday it no longer exists. Way to go Google :(

Looking to get yourself a Gmail account? The easiest way is to use the isnoop.net gmail invite spooler. At present time it has over 1.5 million(!) invitations to give away.

[Via Google Weblog]

This is creative. Probably not the most effective and fast RAID ever created but its probably one of the smallest.

Wright This Way: iPod Shuffle RAID

iPod Shuffle RAID

So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course!

Google Mail changed their interface for invitations some time ago, and now its apparent why: Most, if not every, Google Mail user now has 50 invites to give away!

The question now is if this is a prelude to opening Google Mail up for anyone to register. It might be that Google will continue only allowing new users by invite, there are some obvious advantages to being able to control just how many new users enter the system, and the trail back to who invited them. The trail could possibly make it easier for Google to close spammer accounts.

Oh, and while I remember: If you need an invite, leave your name and e-mail address in the comments section.

This is cool news. Google is testing a new ad format that allows the user to spesify what kind of ads he/she wants to see.

I bet this will give the Google Adwords advertisers better click-throughs, more exposure and even better targeting. And the benifits for the user is also self evident. This is one of those kind of ideas that when you see it happen, you say "oh, of course - thats obivous".

You can see it in action right now over here.

[Via InsideGoogle]

This is a nice little program: Wink

Wink is a freeware tool for Windows for creating tutorials on how to use software, websites etc.

Using Wink you can capture screenshots of your software, use images that you already have, type-in explanations for each step, create a navigation sequence complete with buttons, delays, titles etc and create a highly effective tutorial for your users.

This is an entertaining story. The english tablois have been covering the story of the doodles left behind after a press meeting with Bill Gates, Bono and Tony Blair. Trust the english "newspapers" to analyze the doodles and come up with a psyche-profile.

Descriptions such as "megalomaniac" has been used. Times Online wrote:

From a few idle doodles, the experts were able to offer a thorough assessment of Mr Blair as an aggressive, unstable man under enormous pressure, struggling to keep his irritability under control

Funny thing is: Turns out it wasn't the english prime minister, but the american multi-billionaire Bill Gates that left his scribles behind.