Super Ginormous

Category: Technology

Articles on Technology, Gadgets and more.

  • Qurbing Spam

    For the past 12 days, I have been evaluating a free trial of Computer Associates’ Qurb anti-spam, anti-phishing filter for Outlook/Outlook Express. The need for third-party software for handling spam was necessitated by the requirement (by SpamCop) that we disable challenge reponse on our mail server, or face prolonged blacklisting.

    Computer Associates' Qurb Logo
    There are a lot of options out there. I tested some free versions or open-source clients that managed spam locally, but none of them worked quite like I would have expected. Qurb, however, has been easy to use, easy to configure, and makes short work of dealing with spam.

    Qurb works much like a virus scanner. It puts suspected emails in a quarantine folder, and the user gets prompted from time to time to check the quarantine folder to review the messages. If every message is spam, you do nothing. If it catches some false positives, you click a checkbox and Qurb adds that sender to your whitelist, and click okay. That’s it. It works well. Even better than Outlook 2003’s built-in Junk Mail folder (which has to be disabled for Qurb to work most effectively).

    It’s definitely worth checking out imho. Well worth the $30 registration.

  • ColourMod v2.0 Released

    Version 2.0 of the popular ColourMod Konfabulator Widget (I’m sorry, Yahoo! Widget just doesn’t sound right to me yet) is now available. Snag it here.

    This is one of those widgets that comes in handy when you are working with colors. I use it often… in conjunction with several other tools. Definitely worth the install!

  • Adobe Lightroom

    Lightroom Beta 1 Splash Page

    Screenshots of Adobe Lightroom Beta

    Not to be outdone by Apple’s Aperture application for professional photographers, Adobe has just annouced Adobe Lightroom™ Beta. NAPP has created a Learning Center for this new tool on their website, that is immensely useful.

    Lightroom Beta lets you view, zoom in, and compare photographs quickly and easily. Precise, photography-specific adjustments allow you to fine tune your images while maintaining the highest level of image quality from capture through output. And best of all, it runs on most commonly used computers, even notebook computers used on location. Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

    The Lightroom Beta, is available for download from the Adobe Labs website. You’ll need an Adobe ID in order to preview this application.

    I’m glad to see Adobe pushing something like this out. I was just talking to Mercer Harris, an excellent photographer in Washington, GA, about Aperture and how it might fit into their workflow. Lightroom looks to be a viable alternative (if priced right)…

    This is going to be great for consumers. I’d love to see Apple and Adobe go head-to-head even more. It’ll just drive them to innovate even more!

  • Google: Leader of the Pack?

    Forget the Google Video store announcement… people have been clamoring over that rumor (and now, fact) for days… The thing that jumps out most to me is Google Pack. Why hasn’t someone thought of something like it before? With Google Pack, you get an application (trusted, we hope) that can manage safe, useful software for your computer. We’re not just talking Google stuff here, either. We’re talking about Ad-Aware, Adobe Reader 7, Norton Antivirus 2005 SE, Mozilla Firefox, Trillian… PLUS all of the great stuff coming out of Google these days – Google Earth, Picasa, Google Talk, etc. Sounds great, doesn’t it? So far, I’m really digging it.

    There are definite pros to having this sort of application manage “trusted” apps for you. They’re easy to install and uninstall, it’s software given the thumbs up by Google… I like that management of applications could be seperated from my operating system. Microsoft doesn’t always do things right, or well for that matter. The only con I’ve identified is that it’s letting Google a little deeper into your system… by allowing it to see what software you’re installing on your system.

    If you haven’t grabbed the Pack, or parts of it, you might want to check it out.

  • Performancing

    Will wrote about Performancing it on his blog, and I thought I would mention it too… Performancing is a cool Firefox extension that brings a blog editor directly into Firefox. I was able to configure it in moments for use with Blogger. You may want to check it out…

  • Goodbye Mac IE

    Internet Explorer for Mac icon

    Hallelujah, say goodbye to browser that was ahead of its time when it first came out, but suffered when Microsoft end-of-lifed it…. The Unofficial Apple Weblog had this to say:

    All support for the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer will cease on December 31, 2005 and all official distribution of the browser will cease on January 31, 2006. In other words, IE is finally dying. You won’t be able to download it from Microsoft anymore. Instead they will recommend that you use Safari or Firefox.

    On a broader note, this means that fewer sites can justify having IE only versions of their sites. They cannot say, “Well, get IE for Mac and it should work.” No. Start clean-coding your sites for Firefox and Safari compatibility or lose 6 percent (and growing) of your customers.

    Official Microsoft Internet Explore for Mac Page

    This has been a long time coming, if you ask me. I used to love using MacIE, especially because it was so easy to change the color themes… but it ceased being a viable browser several years ago. Trying to support it nowadays is more trouble than it is worth. Yes, some Mac users still use it as their browser, but they are in a shrinking minority. They’re going to need to get used to seeing a web that is broken, because their browser is antiquated.

    Rest in Peace, MacIE.

  • You build it, they’ll buy it.

    Joshua Schachter:

    We’re proud to announce that del.icio.us has joined the Yahoo! family. Together we’ll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community. We’re excited to be working with the Yahoo! Search team – they definitely get social systems and their potential to change the web. (We’re also excited to be joining our fraternal twin Flickr!)

    You build it, they’ll buy it. Sheesh.

  • RSS Feed URL Updated

    I’ve been testing out feedburner for a little while… I’ve updated my RSS feed for my blog posts…
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/cdharrison

    If you use a feed-reader of some sort to subscribe to my feed, please update the address. Gracias.

  • Gmail supports RSS Feeds

    Quick post before I leave for home… Gmail now supports RSS feeds, aka “Web Clips”. It’s nice to see this addition. Read more about it here.

  • Google: Ten Golden Rules

    It’s the 21st century, and with it has come some new ways of doing business. Google is showing that big billion-dollar businesses do not have to be bureaucratic. Google’s setup a sort of mini-democracy, where every employee has a say in how things are done. They are more concerned about the well-being of their engineers, than they are about their bankers or money managers. The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, has put together a summary of the way things at Google are done.

    1. Hire by Committee
    2. Cater to their every need.
    3. Pack them in.
    4. Make coordination easy.
    5. Eat your own dog food.
    6. Encourage creativity.
    7. Strive to reach consensus.
    8. Don’t be evil.
    9. Data drive decisions.
    10. Communicate effectively.

    Hat tip: ForeverGeek.com