I recently downloaded and installed Songbird .6. Songbird is the open source music player that is based on Mozilla code. With each release Songbird gets better and better. With this release comes support for larger media libraries, smoother scrolling, improved memory management, faster search, and a bunch of new add-ons. I have a feeling that Songbird will eventually replace Winamp for me. Since AOL took over Winamp it seems to on a steady downhill spiral. The plugins for Winamp are pretty crappy and if you use a skin that isn’t one of the defaults, most of the time the plugins (if they require their own pane) look out of place. This is not so for Songbird. The add-ons are just like the add-ons in Firefox and seamlessly integrate into the program. I have a feeling that there will be a huge community to support Songbird, just as their is with Firefox, that will create great add-ons and themes, or feathers. It’s not going to replace Winamp just yet on my system. While the memory management is better, it still takes up quite a bit of process power. The search often freezes the application as well. The guys behind Songbird are on the right track though. I can’t wait until I’m able to use it full time without any problems.
Firefox 3 will be released later today. There are quite a few improvements in Firefox since version 2 was released. Memory leaks have been fixed, there’s a new download manager, the introduction of the “awesome bar,” a revamped bookmark organizer, and a look and feel that matches your system. You can check out the other changes in the release notes. One of the best things about Firefox 3 is the speed. The speed has been increased dramatically. Especially on sites heavy in javascript, such as Gmail. Do yourself a favor and download it today! (FF3 will be released later today but if you can’t wait, follow these links: Win OS X Linux)
So, the day that the iPhone 3g comes out, July 11th, I will be having my wisdom teeth removed. All four of them. What I need to do is find someone to go stand in line and buy one for me at one of the AT&T stores or the Apple store. That way when I leave the surgeon, in complete agony, I will have something to do while I rest up and float high on Vicodin. So, to my lovely sisters and/or brother-in-law, if you would like to volunteer for this tremendous oppourtunity to help out a person in need, I would appreciate it a great deal. I might even make it worth your while (no, I will not buy you an iPhone).
In celebration of the end of the school year, I went out and purchased Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. I’ve been watching videos of this game for a while and was looking forward to playing it. This game is really fun. It is very easy to play and has great graphics. The story is really good with a bunch of humor added to the original Indiana Jones story lines. All of the original three movies make up this game. The only thing that I wish was different are save points. You can only save once you finish a scene. For someone like me, who only likes to play for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, being able to save mid-level would be a welcome addition. I guess the one good thing about it is since you have to complete the level it increases my chances of finishing the game. So far, I’m only in the first movie, but I can’t wait to get through the next couple. The Last Crusade is my favorite and I’m looking forward to playing that as a game. I think the developers of this game did a great job incorporating all the major aspects of the movies and injecting some humor to the Lego characters. I can’t wait to see what the Lego version of Batman has in store.
I was given an invite to Dropbox. In a nutshell, it’s an online storage service that allows you to sync files across multiple computers. I’m syncing files via my PC running Vista and my MacBook running Leopard.
The service is very easy to use. You download the application and install it. In Windows it creates a folder in My Documents called My Dropbox. You drop any files in there you want to put on the server and it automatically uploads them.
Once you have files uploaded to Dropbox you can log into the Dropbox website and view the files using the web interface.
On the Mac, the Dropbox app adds it’s location to Finder, much like the .Mac iDisk does.
As soon as the files have been uploaded from one computer they will sync to all computers running Dropbox that are linked to your account. This came in handy for me when I downloaded a Habari theme on my PC but wanted to test it out on MAMP on my Mac later in the day. I didn’t want to remember the link or upload the file somewhere else, so I just placed it in the My Dropbox folder on my PC and when I booted up my Mac it automatically downloaded it in the Dropbox folder on my Mac. Very simple.
You can also put files in a public folder that is accessible from a link. Right click the file and go to the Dropbox subfolder and choose “get public link” and you will be able to send that link to anyone you want to view the files. Right now Dropbox is in private testing phase, but I can already tell that this is a great idea and the simplicity of their solution makes it a winner. They give you 2gb of online storage space. I can see them charging for more space in the future, which if you are someone who is on multiple computers a lot and want to keep track of files, say from home to work, this will be an ideal solution for you. I can’t wait to see where they go with this. I also have a few invites if anyone is interested in trying it out. Just leave me your info in the comments.