Internet

Take The Survey

A List Apart currently has a Web Design Survey online and would like all designers in the field to take the few minutes it takes to complete it. Currently not much is known about what really goes on with webdesigners, including freelancers. So, if you work in a web related field, head over to the survey and take it. It was posted in Issue 236 but they are still wanting people to take it to get a bigger collection of stats.

I Support Starbucks

Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can�t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.

-Joel Stein, columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

I’ve never been to Starbucks. Yes, we do have one, I just don’t drink coffee. However, there is an uproar over that quote which was printed on a Starbucks Cup. People think its anti-Christian/anti-God… I personally find it funny.

Digg and HD-DVD

What is becoming of Digg? Its been one of my favorite places for awhile now on the internet but due to problems and banning of users posting stories and commenting on stories relating to the HD-DVD Processing Key ( 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 ) which unlocks every HD-DVD to date. There seems to be a revolution on Digg right now as the admins haven’t came foward with any news on whats really going on with the censorship around Digg… Maybe somebody will come forward soon.

Searching [Too Much?]

Everybody knows and loves Google Search. Most of us use it daily for one thing or another. I work from my computer so I spend more then enough time on here. I use Google for just about everything. Gmail is the only mail I use (and haved used since closed beta so long ago), Picasa Web Albums have replaced Flickr (for now), Google Talk is the only messenger installed on my system, Google Calendar helps me stay organized on what needs to get done today (without it, I would be lost and clients would be calling me daily), Google Personalized Page allows me to check recent news and Digg articles without having to browse around (I can glance at headlines), and of course Google Reader allows me to see who has updated instead of me visiting their site daily, and Google Docs I have started to use a little more but its starting to grow on me… However, I would honestly be lost without Google Search. How much do you search in a day? a month? I started thinking about how much time I spend a day searching and how many searches I do in a month. So, I went browsing around my Google Search History (another awesome feature some don’t know about, it stores all your searches, so you can find them again later). For the month of April so far (first 12 days) I have searched 275 different times. Thats around 22 searches a day on avg. On weekends when I tend to get away from the computer a little more I normally search 5-10 times and during the week I search between 17-45 times a day. Is that right? I now know why I can’t get all my work done in a day (that and blogging when I should be working). I started browsing backwards in my Search History and found that I haven’t gone one day without searching at least once in the past 14 months.

Why on Earth would somebody search that much? No, its not for porn. Thats what Booble is for. I’m the type of person that can not stand not knowing something. I find almost everything to be interesting so I search. I also search for new web tools, articles, tutorials, etc. And then there is the fact that nobody around me knows how to search correctly. I get asked about 5 times a day to find something for somebody. They say they spent the past 2 hours trying to find something on Google and couldn’t, so I spend 25seconds and there it is. I’m interested in what you guys search for and how much time you spend searching a day. Let me know.

This post was of course nothing but wasted space. I’m basically bored and should really be working, but I felt the need for a long, meaning less post.

Share Icon Project

There is always a need for standards in the world of design/programming. From coding standards from the W3C to icon standards. I honestly believe we need standard icons. It allows us to use just icons to display info without having to type it out and everybody understands it. The best example is of course the RSS Feed Icon which had its own project started by Matt Brett called FeedIcons.com which set out to create a standard feed icon. The orange icon that we have all come to know. The standard was adopted and everybody knows that little icon means a feed is present. Alex King is hoping to do the same with his Share Icon Project. The goal is to create a standard ’share’ icon instead of displaying a line of social bookmarking sites which just looks awful. Personally the icon looks great and fits perfect with the Feed and OPML icons. For more information check out the Share Icon Project website.

Shut Down Day

Tomorrow is Shutdown Day around the world. I will be taking part in this experiment. Mostly because I really need a day off the computer to get other stuff done around the house and I just haven’t taken the time. For anybody else interested check out the website.

It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without computers, maybe even impossible. If they disappeared for just one day, would we be able to cope?

Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!

Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer?

-From the International Shutdown Website

The site has gain alot of press recently including thousands of diggs, articles in newspapers around the world, and even people boycotting the site. For more press and the debate check out the ShutDown Day Blog.