JediMoose

So I’ve changed browser from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome. This is a big deal for me – I’ve been a Mozilla user for years now, and I still think they do great work. However, there are a few big advantages in Chrome for me:

1. It’s quicker.
2. It’s Webkit based, so it helps when working a lot with mobile Webkit stuff
3. My phone runs Webkit
4. The release of 2.2 includes some cool stuff for “cloud-to-device” work, and I suspect a chunk of that will be in Chrome in the near future.
5. The developer stuff is just a bit smoother and neater than firebug

I’m now pretty much a Google boy – I use Google Mail and Calendar, and I have a Google phone, which integrates everything nicely together. Talking of the Desire, I picked up a nasty bug (not sure of the source) which caused the HTC Sense Launcher to repeatedly die, which required a complete wipe of the phone. Luckily, all the magic backup stuff kicked in, and the only stuff I really lost was the connections between my phone, google and facebook contacts, which only took about 30 minutes to restore. (I do really need to sort through my contacts and cut them down – a lot of them are horribly duplicated, and my first phone couldn’t store multiple numbers for a single person, so I have loads of entries for all the different numbers and stuff).

Other than that problem, the Desire is a fantastic phone. I’m enjoying having a “smart phone”, and I suspect that by not having previously had an iPhone is a bit of an advantage. I don’t particularly feel any iPhone envy, and while I appreciate the appeal of an iPhone and the way that Apple handles it, I’m still a big fan of the open nature of Android. While it leads to a proliferation of crap available for the phone, I do believe in the long run it will increase the potential and quality. (Much like the internet). And the price was right.

Oh, and I can’t wait for 2.2 to arrive for my phone – latest news slates it for June 23rd.

mrBen

Those of you with geek leanings, and possibly some of you who aren’t, will have experienced the problem – you have a great idea for a new project/product/business/etc and you’ve come up with a name for it and it’s beginning to come together, and then you go to buy the domain, only to discover that .com, .net and .org are all taken. And suddenly you have to decide – do you go for a marginally more obscure ending – .co.uk, org.uk, .info, .me – or do you change the name of the project?

The happened for me with both linkpot.net and fosstr.org (both of which I handed over to a friend when I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain them). In both of those, I took the option to choose a new name and get a ‘decent’ domain. However, it’s happened to me again, and, in light of the recent hubbub from ReadWriteWeb which seems to indicate that a significant proportion of the web use Google rather than actually type in addresses, am I better off keeping the name I like and having a longer TLD, or is there still value in having a short TLD?

Thoughts welcome (although let’s not have a discussion about whether someone in the UK should be using .***.uk rather than a US TLD )

mrBen

Got this in my inbox recently, but it’s so full of basic errors that it’s just not funny anymore. Hints in bold:

from London Metropolitan Police Dept.
OK – it’s a good start, but you should’ve checked that metropolice.gov.uk actually existed first…..
reply-to boc1473@gmail.com
And give a convincing reply-to address….
to undisclosed-recipients
Write to _me_ otherwise it sounds like you’re sending it to loads of people.
date Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 7:34 AM
subject Special Investigation Bureau (SIB)

At least host your fake image somewhere impressive. A url of http://onin.com/fp/fmiru/london_met_police_crest.jpg isn’t exactly convincing
Working together for a safer London

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING UNIT
Wellington House 67-73 Buckingham Gate
London SW1E 6BE

Attention: Sir/Madam,
Dated: 05/07/08

RE: AN IN-DEPT INVESTIGATION INTO YOUR DELAYED PAYMENT

We wish to inform you that it has come to our notice through our online security service that a huge amount of United States Dollars was scheduled to be remitted into your bank account a few months ago.

According to the report we received from the paying bank here in London, it states expressly that you have been dealing with the wrong people who have used several fake documents to obtain money from you for payment of charges/fees which we consider to be obnoxious.

We have been mandated to step into your transaction and put a STOP ORDER pending until you revert to us for clarification why your money is been delayed more than is necessary. You are hereby advised to stop further communications with your partners in Africa and Europe and co-operate with us to assist you get your payment in record time.
Since when did the Police assist me in getting money?

The government of the United Kingdom will not hesitate to bring you to book if you ignore this notice as your payment is causing so much embarassment to our government and global financial Institutions who repose so much trust in the British banking sector for competence and accountability.
Hahahahahahaha

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

My direct telephone number is:+44 70457 17275
Direct fax:+44 8709 743597

We are glad to be of services to you.

Yours faithfully,
Inspector Donald Boldman
Metropolitan Police Department
London, England

CC: British Home Office Logistics Department
CC: United States Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
if you’re going to include CCs on the bottom, you should probably CC someone in the email….

mrBen