It appears to be a good month (or year, for that matter) for internet hypes. I will discuss a few recent ones that specifically caught my attention, here.
�with Google Talk, the new Jabber/xmpp based instant messaging service of Google. You need a Gmail account to use it, though (leave a comment if you care for an invite). [Via decaffeinated.org]
The client seems well designed, smooth, and rather fast, but � I still don�t see a reason to regularly run another im client, especially since it requires another login account (I already have too many, really). The thing is still in BETA, so perhaps it will allow other means of loging in or it will show some substantial advantage over other im clients, but then again � what isn�t BETA these days?
By the way, the client has a little easter-egg: Right-click the Google Talk icon in your system tray, and select About.... You will see (if you try) play 23 21 13 16 21 19 . 7 1 13 5
. The numbers represent the word wumpus.game
. If you add that name as a buddy (wumpus.game@gmail.com), it will allow you to play an old school irc game.
Okay, perhaps not actually walk, but we're getting rediculously close with Google Earth. Not only does it allow you to satellite-view all of our Globe�s structure (Google Maps); it actually lets you wander though 3d representations of the streets � globally! (Well, the 3d option isn�t exactly available everywhere, but still.) To think that computer technology hasn�t exactly been around very long, and not to mention the internet; think of what the no-so-distant future might will bring. Shrug.
Talking about Earth; Download Natural Earth, you know you want to. [Via sidesh0w.com]
href?A problem that has always existed with printed advertisment of online sources is that uri, no matter how friendly they can be, do not provide a means of direct interaction between physical, and digital content (like, say, barcodes do). OP3 has introduced a charming solution for this, called ShotCode.
ShotCodes are barcode-like (in the sense that they consist of sequences of black and white bars) representations of an uri, that can be scanned with a mobile camera phone.
Without furder ado, here is mine (for http://acjs.net/):
Meanwhile, I�ve been working on quite a few exciting projects � some of my own, and some for clients � myself, but I can�t go into much details on those. I can, however, show the two latest additions to this website, being ACJ�s Fonts, and ACJ�s Patterns. More to come!
ACJ1 comments so far.
Yay for Google Talk and Earth. :D I'll test that ShotCode thingy later, it looks really interesting. And that pink pattern just gave me an idea. :evilgrin:
Posted by: Murdoink on August 26, 2005, at 05:57