I am writing this on the new scribe-fire extension for Google Chrome, and since I am king of a dork I am extremely excited about this. I was equally excited about the fact that chrome (my favorite web browser) had decided to allow extensions. These little things were the best part of FireFox when it was once the best browser. But Chrome is lightening fast and full of goodies. Anyway, sadly these kinds of things get me excited.
I finally got my sisters (so graciously) donated laptop working wonderfully. It really was a process of trial and error. I realized that after installing xp the computer worked great, that was until I updated it past service pack 2. and then it came to a grinding halt. So I was up till 2am last night monkeying around. I even downloaded and installed a copy of Linux (Ubunto) which was a great learning experience. I would have stuck with it except I couldn't get the wireless to connect and then went back to the drawing board.
So here I am. This process of getting this old computer to work has been fun. I was realizing that all these people have been going out and buying net-books, which are these super tiny, Atom Processor computers to do web and e-mail, when what they really could do is just take a hold of some of these older laptops and reconfigure them to work like they did when they were bought. This usually involves re-installing a fresh operating system, and then installing nothing else. This is something that can be easily done now a days. In fact this is how I did it on this computer. I installed windows xp, and then had to update to service pack 2 because I needed it to get on the wireless network. Then I got rid of the dot net 3 update, that had been installed and noticed this made a huge difference. The fan stopped running all the time and the computer was like new again. I have a google docs account and copied the link to my desktop for offline support for creating all kinds of docs, and then downloaded panda antivirus which is a cloud based antivirus. This little guy is wonderful because it keeps 80% of all the antivirus program on line, it works based on a cache that is loaded onto your machine, therefore it does not have to update (which drags the computer always down when you start up) and it is using only like 16k of memory, which is awesome on my old machine.
So the rundown: Google Chrome, Google Docs, Panda Cloud Antivirus, XP auto updates off, Xmarks bookmark sync and last past as my two favorite chrome extensions, and an integrated copy of Adobe Digital Editions so that I can read my free downloaded library books on my computer. Essentially this is all I need, and this has become a pretty great portable machine. As this is an alpha version of scribefire I am sure I am going to add this as an extension in my google browser, but the spell-check isn't working just yet, so will give it a little more time.
my top ten minimalist techy stuff I can't live without:
1. Microsoft Zune 120: that is a lot of gigs for a little price tag when compared with apple, I still don't believe in internet in your pocket, or text on phones for that matter, as much as I love tech, I still think that this technology can be like a drug, especially given peoples innate need to be social, and feel connected. But the Zune 120 allows me to use my local library to download a plethora of free audiobooks. And the Zune software is beautifully automated. This way I can listen to tons of great FREE programing, such as NPR, Bill Maher, NY times, Coffee Break Spanish, the Nutrtition Diva, and this American life and a huge catologue of UC Berkely classes. At the gym, I have finished many many a book, as well as in the car, I have even began a UC course on Philosophy, all while pumping metal.
2. Google: What can I say, they make the whole world searchable. Knowledge is power, and can be the great equalizer, The CEO's of Google seems to get this, and they seem to be working on the side of the good guys. Yes they are extremely wealthy, but they make all there software available for free. Whatever they touch is like gold, and that just makes me giddy.Come Google OS Come!!!
3. Adobe: Photoshop and Lightroom enough said. These two programs seem to see with human eyes how the heck do they do that?
4. DVR: I don't really watch much TV, but certaintly would not wath any without On Demand and commercial free? As the TV and internet become one, I am sure DVR will be like making mixed tapes with cassettes, although I can't immagine life without it.
5. Garmin 405: Keeps tracks of all my run's and rides, gives me pace, distance, cadence, heart rate, etc. etc. and then uploads it to a beautiful web app that then integrates with yes you guessd it google earth!! Man all for less than $150 that is some cool tech!
6. Microsoft Windows: I am sick of hearing about Appple. They are overpriced and you only get one button on your mouse. Come on. I know many people think of Apple as the perfect minimialist version of computing and they may be right, but Microsoft is the pioneer of the blue screen of death and that should stand for something. Yes granted they did release Vista and then made everyone pay for windows 7, but we all will, why because the computers it loads on are cheap, infinitely expandable, and fun to tinker with. Apple, you just cost way to much, but you are ohhhh so pretty!
7. Flickr: Ok I am a little hurt you made me pay this year, but oh you wonderful web site, You let me upload all my photos in full resolution to share with the world, you need to be a little more user friendly, but hey, you are so able to integrate, that you are still my number one love for photo sharing.
8. WordPress and Thesis: 30 bucks a year to host and you make blogging oh so easy and oh so customizale that even I can do it. Thesis just rocks, If I had more design props I would make a beautiful site, but hey maybe tha is what is next in the fuure.
9. Mint.com, yahoo mail, the New York Times, igoogle, beachlive (free webcams of all my favorite surf spots), Zen Habits and Get Rich Slowly (my two favorite blogs), Amazon (simply the best), Craigslist (also the best) along with freecycle for donating and acquiring used goods.
10. The worst web sites ever: myspace and facebook. At first they seem just wonderful, and then all of a sudden you realize these are really just a complete waste of good time….
Impressive list of tech goodies. I feel overwhelmed by it all. I have started using Chrome more and in the process realized I didn’ t have yahoo as my homepage so missed some of your posts.