Adblock is an extension to Firefox which, well, blocks ads. Add to the mix a filterset updater and your list of ads-to-block will be automatically and continously updated. It’s like Tivo for the web; you get the content without the ads. Only instantly.
At this point, I have to come clean. I love Adblock, and it’s one of the thing that’s kept me from ever considering using Chrome as my primary browser. Friends have pointed out to me that the very web services I use on a daily are free only because ads pay for their existance. In the words of Homer Simpson: if we don’t watch the ads, it’s like we’re stealing TV The Internet! That brings me to my point.
Chrome, despite being open source under the Chromium name, is a very Google product. Google builds Chrome to advance the web so that Googles webservices run better1. Those web services are Google Search, Google Calendar, Gmail and and so on (google the rest). Most of those services are ad-supported, notably Search and Gmail. With that in mind, why would Google ever willingly allow ad-blocking features to be added to Chrome, let alone encourage the development of such? What does Google know that we doesn’t?
Let’s speculate. Google knows that Adblock will never be able to consistently block ads in Search and Gmail because those ads are implemented in a non-distinct way. Even so, Adsense ads will have a problem, since they’re always served in easily blocked iframes. Unless Google goes the Text-Link-Ads route, and allows advertisers to stealthily inserts ads via PHP/ASP, Google will be actively encouraging filters of their own bread and butter. This would, however, be highly surprising, as Google is known to punish Text-Link-Ads advertisers for polluting search results with ad-ridden content.
It’s evident that Google doesn’t consider their ads to be ads, but rather a form of “product placement”. Certainly Google is trying hard to give you context relevant ads; Wanna split a Toblerone, you ask? Buy one here, Google will answer. It’s an ad, but it’s not a blinking Bonzi buddy ad. Blockworthy? Maybe, but certainly blockable, which is why there’s a problem here.
What they’ll do beats me, but I’ll bet we’ll see one or more of the following initiatives from Google, given time:
Or, none of the above. Perhaps Google simply acknowledges that if they are to ever gain significant marketshare with Chrome, they have woo the application ambassadors — that’s me — by adding features that rival those of Firefox (whose only remaining raison d’aitre is its extension architecture). Once Google woos me (and, Google Analytics tells me, you), we’ll start our ambassador duties; first our moms get Chrome because it protects them from themselves, then we’ll recommend it to our friends. Heck, we’ll even blog about it. Fortunately for Google, we’ll forget to recommend that you add Adblock to Chrome once you’ve installed it.
Freelance hacker “Neo” discovers that the world is not what it seems but, in fact, an illusion; a virtual reality that keeps people in the real world asleep while they’re generating energy for their robot overlords.
This is definitely the best of the bunch and not only for its original story and mindblowing effects, but also for the fact that it’s well acted and not overly long. Quite simply, everything works.
On a philosophical level, the dilemmas presented translate well across the gulf of screen, and are elegantly woven into the story; is ignorance bliss? Or would you take the red pill?
After having discovered that he is “The One”, Neo helps free thousands of minds from The Matrix. The machines have noticed and are preparing a counter-attack against Zion, the last human city. As Neo encounters Agent Smith — now a reborn “rogue program” — Neo must confront other rogue programs such as The Oracle and The Merovingian in order to find out how he can stop the machines from destroying Zion.
Where the first one was a “deep” action-romp, this one is just an action-romp. Fortunately it does deliver on the action. Story-wise, it feels like there’s a lot going on, yet we still have no clue why the protagonists are doing what they’re doing.
On a philosophical level, it seems like the Wachowskis have actually upped the ante even if it doesn’t communicate. “Reloaded” refers to the fact that The Matrix is not the only level of control the machines use to subdue the humans, but to the fact that Zion has already been destroyed five times before. Each time by Neos choice; he gets to choose whether Zion is reloaded or humanity is destroyed. Then, he gets to pick a number of people who gets to re-build Zion, thus repeating the cycle that is man vs. machine. This fact deepens the whole “are you really awake” metaphor from the first one, and adds to it the balances of power: we need the machines to survive and the machines need us. Unfortunately, the balance of action and talk is oddly skewed, only really delivering on the former.
The machines are digging towards Zion and preparations for war are underway. Meanwhile, Neo is caught in a place in between The Matrix and the real world; a waking dream-state induced by discovering previously hidden powers that range beyond the virtual world. As the war between man and machine nears, Neo struggles to end the war, acknowledging that the rogue program, Agent Smith has grown out of even machine control.
Perhaps the deepest of the three, Revolutions is also the weakest in communicating any of that depth. It wasn’t until I saw it the third time, with philosopher commentary, that I got an idea of what the Wachowskis were trying to say. As it turns out, they’re trying to boldly state that man vs. machine is not always a victory to one or the other. We need the machines, just as they need us. Furthermore, I read into the over-arching Reloaded/Revolutions story arch, the most iconoclastic statement that religion is a product of human misery and that all religious symbolism and stories stem from very real human weaknesses; weaknesses that are bound to repeat themselves forever and ever. Start over, revolution, start over, revolution. And so on.
I’ve thought long and hard about why 2 and 3 are so much worse than the first one. Certainly good philosophy is there, then again perhaps that’s the problem. For a while I thought, if you removed all Zion scenes and cut both movies down to a single 90 minute feature, the result would be better for it. Now I’m not so sure. Perhaps they should have taken a page from the book of Lucas and added a single, fatal weakness to the Machines; a weakness which if assaulted by a torpedo at just the right angle, would destroy all robots and end the movie. Sometimes the clichés work better than the bold alternatives. In this case, I think they might have.
]]>One for Googles to-do list: allow me to direct-link the high-quality versions that come with some videos. That, and episodes of Lost in even higher quality. I can see it happen.
]]>I’ll be here all week, try the veal. And for goodness sakes, join in the fray and vent.
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/* Show only to IE7 */
*:first-child+html <selector> {
background: red;
}
/* Show only to IE6 */
* html <selector> {
background: red;
}
Replace <selector> in the above two examples, to color that elements background red. Example selectors could be body, #my_id or .my_class.
Thanks to GUIdebook and John Nack, I’ve managed to collect a nice little gallery of Photoshop icons since v. 0.87. To be quite honest, I’m not sure I like any of them enough to pick a favourite. Points to Thomas Knoll for the very first icon, which is actually a photo shop.
]]>One of my areas of focus, has been Wordpress. I use it as a quickly deployed, free and open source CMS, which has a lot of community support and plugins. Sure, I’ve seen nicer interfaces and yes, some aspects of Wordpress are awful. But Wordpress is like democracy; it’s the worst form of government, ever, it’s just better than all the alternatives.
Wordpress is branded like blogging software, however, and especially Wordpress.com has done its share to pollute the brand. The result is that customers think every Wordpress powered website will look like a blog, that is, an inversely chronological sequence of posts, and a long list of categories in the sidebar.
That’s totally wrong, of course, and should I need to convince anyone otherwise, I’ve started a list of noteworthy high-profile and un-blog-like websites which showcase that Wordpress is more than a list of reasons why kittens are cute.
Please, contribute to this very incomplete list.
Updated: Wordpress has an official showcase now.
]]>I’ll be posting somewhat thought-out comments right here, at least every hour, and I’ll be chatting on Twitter. Join me in the discussion.
10:00: Just arrived at work the election headquarters. Very sad to hear that Barack Obama’s grandmother has died of cancer, just one day before the great day. I’m wondering whether this will have a positive, or negative effect on Obamas chances. I’m leaning towards thinking it’ll make him look more human, as if that was even needed.
10:16: I honestly think Obama can win, which is why this is exciting, but two things worry me. On one hand, there’s a minority of idiots, who think the country is “not ready for a black candidate”, idiots that say one in polls but vote for the other guy in the privacy of the booth (the Bradley effect). The other thing is teenagers staying at home and playing Fallout 3, thinking Obama has a huge lead in the polls anyway. Get off your ass!
11:01: The first results are in. Obama wins Dixville Notch in New Hampshire by a landslide. 15 votes for Obama, 6 for McCain.
11:46: 270towin.com has been thrown around in the media, favoring Obama in most configurations. What the site fails to depict, is the fact that for Obama to win, you have to actually vote for him.
12:20: I’m told it’s raining in the swing state of Virginia, and how rain may keep undecideds home.
13:44: The danish media has been covering the US election as much as, or even more, than danish elections. While the bias is less evident than it is on, oh say, Fox News, most danish media leans strongly towards Obama.
14:33: “Joel” gets interviewed by CNN. He voted McCain because he’s worried about Obama’s “liberal agenda” and thinks Obama will appoint liberal judges, thereby hurting America.
14:37: Obama votes in Chicago. He doesn’t seem to be standing in line, though. As much as I adore seeing a black man voting for — I would guess — himself, in a country that used to enslave his kind, I don’t think presidential candidates should be allowed to jump ahead in the polling queue.
14:47: The journalists at CNN discuss whether Obama shows signs of sadness at the passing of his grandma. To their credit, however, they show some taste and notes that Obama is a man in control of his emotions, referring to his steady handling of the financial crisis so far.
14:56: Joe Biden just voted. Those teeth! They blind me!
16:16: Richard Quest, the meth guy, tells me that we’ll see a record voter turnout tonight.
16:23: An odd piece of reporting. Obama, the city in Japan, is holding a Obama for Obama party, featuring hoola dancers.
16:30: “If you never vote, you’ll never know what difference you could have made”. Said by a blogger and mailed to CNN. Very apt, especially considering how close Florida has been these last two elections. So GO VOTE!
16:38: Bill Ayers, the infamous terrorist Obama “palled around with” was apparently in line to vote right before Obama. What are the odds.
16:47: McCain, about to vote in Phoenix Arizona, has a busy schedule today, speaking in several battleground states. As much as he’s had his age of 72 against him, you’ve got to admire such a travel schedule. He must have his stash of high-caffeine soda pops packed.
16:56: A danish newspaper has collected links to the most embarrasing events in US election history: Bush Sr.’s freudian slip, Joe Biden asks a wheelchair-bound man to stand up, Bush tries to escape press conference through a locked door, McCain tells Western Pennsylvania what he thinks about them and finally, Sarah Palin talking about the 700bn bailout.
17:10: Sarah Palin votes in Wasilla Alaska. Today she’s not wearing Jackie O outfits, rather something decidedly different. The wardrobe budget run out?
17:19: Sarah Palin thinks it’s very cool about America that she can exercise her right to privacy, and not tell anyone who she voted for (as quoted outside of her voting booth).
17:26: Sarah Palin has gone rogue! She keeps talking, and all the while I hear circus music playing. As my old grandfather said: silence is golden.
17:28: In the US, Google is showing a special election logo today. Lovely!
18:03: Long queues in Pennsylvania, CNN is reporting a record turnout. Very awesome. Very awesome to the max.
18:14: Was sent this image by a good friend of mine. I’m pretty sure it speaks to the undecideds.
18:34: CNN now reporting that Obama has an 8 point lead over McCain in the latest poll of polls. That’s 1 point of the undecideds that went to Obama.
19:02: UserFriendly chimes in with some perspective.
19:30: The danish news coverage of the US election starts now, and results won’t even trickle in until 23:00 GMT.
19:36: Danish news touts that McCains favourite band is Swedish ABBA. Go figure.
19:53: Danish “pundits” are discussing the intricacies of Obama’s ideologies and comparing them to danish political parties. On the topic of capital punishment (which has long since been abolished in Denmark), they note that no US candidate could be elected without being for the death penalty.
20:08: The financial crisis defined/will define the outcome of the election. Or so the pundits argue.
20:41: McCain holding his umpteenth speech right now, his voice sounding hoarse. I don’t blame him, considering his schedule.
20:43: Man, Joe Lieberman is a dick. Remember him on the Gore ticket in 2000? Now he’s standing right behind McCain. Now there’s a flip-flop for you.
20:58: Discussed with some friends, the possibility of gaining a 60 seat mandate in the senate to prevent any republicans filibustering bills. One guess is 58 with 2 or three moderate republicans supporting, but a 60 seat mandate would really shake things up.
21:00: Danish television shows the Barack-roll YouTube video. Well done!
21:43: CNN Europe is about to make the switch to CNN USA. The difference is more interface, more animated gradients, and more action. Coming up next: Wolf Blitzer, Unscripted! Now that’s an action name — Wolf Blitzer and his sidekick, Max Power.
22:05: What is it with CNNs new-found fascination with large touch-screens? You’ve had access to weather bluescreens for decades. They’re much more fun.
22:20: Wolf Ad-lib Blitzer and the US CNN has taken over the European TV screens. Whenever I see Wolf, I’m reminded by a computer virus scourge a while back when Blitzer, asking one of his experts, asked if the virus was so bad that people should turn off their computers and move away from their keyboards until a solution was found. No Blitzer. No.
22:33: CNN are about to show the first exit polls, following new laws to postpone them until … well, at this point in the US day. Danish television predicts a president elect can be decided already at 02:00 danish time. That’s less than 4 hours from now.
22:38: Framed pictures of Obama and McCain in the background of a danish television debate reminds me of a fun difference between Danish and American party colors. In Denmark, the conservatives are blue, and the liberals are red.
23:07: CNNs first exit poll places “The Economy” as the number one topic of this election, mattering to 62% of pollsters.
23:17: Discussed with my sister the meaning of the word Liberal, and how McCain is really the liberal of the two candidates; liberal meaning less government and focusing on individual liberties, exemplified for instance with McCains promise of 5000 bucks so you can choose your own healthcare.
23:31: Another CNN exit poll states that terrorism was the most important topic of the election for only 9% of Americans, to which Rudy Giuliani responds: “we’ve lost our brand”. That’s good! All we have to fear is fear itself.
23:45: Pundits discuss the historical significance of electing a black president and hope it “closes a chapter, a stain in American history”. Certainly I hope the inauguration will be not only for the president, but for an era of colour-blind can-do attitude.
23:59: Only a few minutes until the first polls close. Danish television discusses how McCain has changed from a moderate conservative to what he is today, someone who tried to unite what he thought was his republican base by appealing to the Bush supporters, the religious right with Palin and so on. It’s so sad. I really used to like him.
00:34: Results from Indiana and Kentucky are trickling in. Right now Indiana looks slightly democratic, which, if Obama carries it, will be a first in decades. Indiana has been red in the last ten elections.
00:43: The girlfriend asks why the election is on a Tuesday. Well thanks for asking! That’s because all the farmers have to get all the way to the county seat, by horse, spend an entire day voting, and then spend a day traveling back to their farms in time for the sabbath.
01:02: CNN projects that Obama takes Vermont, McCain takes Kentucky. Both Virginia and Indiana, previous redstates are now battleground states and could potentially be grabbed by Obama. Good stuff!
01:16: Wow, this is stupid! CNN is showing a fake hologram projection with asteroid field interference flicker and everything.
01:33: This is nervewracking. 1% of Florida counted gives McCain a lead. 2% counted up, and now Obama is in the lead.
02:02: Wow, the exit polls! With the polls closed, CNN is apparently allowed to reveal their exit poll results. If the margin of those results is large enough, they project a win for either candidate. Right now that gives Obama a favorable 77 electorals vs. McCains 34.
02:10: CNN points out that McCain is under performing Bush in rural areas, something which could carry states like Virginia for Obama which is performing very well in the suburbs. Put simply, McCain still has a farmer majority, but the margin is far narrower than it was in 2004.
02:42: Finally, CNN projects that Pennsylvania goes to Obama. This has been touted as a “must-win” state for McCain if he wants the magic 270 electorals. That means it bodes very, very well for Obama. So well, in fact, that I’m going to give in to my waning strenght and hit the hay. See you in 6 hours or so.
08:26: Woke up after an erratic nights sleep, only to find that Barack Obama is, in fact, president elect. Not only did he win, he won Ohio, Florida, Virginia. 338 electorals over McCains 160. A huge victory. It’s going to be such a historic moment to see the Obamas move into the White House January 20th. The real bad guy here is George Bush, and I can think of no-one better to kick him out.
08:36: Trying to find out whether the Senate has been decided yet. CNN shows it as 40/54 in favor of the democrats. It would be nice for Obama to move in with a 60 seat filibuster-proof senate.
08:52: It’s such a pleasure to be able to call this the next president:
09:00: That ends my live blogging. It’s been a pleasure to follow this election with you. Good job America.
]]>Join me in the discussion, both here in my journal, on Twitter, and on your own blog. Bring coffee, energy-bars, Valium and wits. It’ll be great, even if the wrong guy wins.
I’ll be starting at 10:00 in the morning, danish time (Find out what time that is in your timezone).
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As it turns out, Italians are passionate and their driving skills are insane. Combine the two and you have an intra-city traffic ballet the likes of which will either propel your driving skills to eleven, or (statistically almost as likely) kill you. As of this writing, I have not yet been killed in Italian traffic. Barely.
As seen from above it might seem beautifully orchestrated; cars switching lanes without signaling as such, merging impossibly and never, ever stopping to enjoy the view that is a red light. Three times I tried stopping at the red lights, three times angry sounds of car horns urged me to ignore it. Apparently both red and green means “Go” in Italian.
Remember Lando Calrissians narrow trip through the Death Star in Jedi? That’s what Italians do in cars. Every day. (Through cities, not Death Stars).
Even so, driving up the side of Etna, all alone, was worth it.
Aside from being really lousy (or great?) drivers, I can confirm the rumour that Italians make excellent pizzas. We found a really great simple pizzeria at the side of the road towards the hotel and their Diavola, also known as pepperoni pizza, is out of this world excellent. From this day forth I shall only eat that type of pizza.
They also make great ice-cream.
I was very careful not to try the poison.
Overall the trip left us satiated with Italy. Which is a good thing. Visiting off-season, I’m sure, made for a very different experience; there were far less tourists than I imagine visit Catania during the summer. Two recommendations for those of you who ponder a trip to Sicily: get a great hotel and rent a car from day one — pick up and deliver at the airport.
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