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I downloaded Firefox 3.1 beta 2 (after trialling other development snapshots over the last few months) to see Ogg Theora video support is coming on really well. Opera, as well as Mozilla has committed to including this royalty-free video codec for web use. This is really good news; as one Opera Developer said: Something however is still not quite there about web video. The video solutions mentioned above are proprietary closed solutions that rely on plugins to display in a web page - what we need to make video a first-class web citizen is an easy, open solution to integrate video into web pages, and native support for video in browsers. ...

My Current Firefox Extensions: A-Z* Adblock Plus; because ads are for people that don’t know how to avoid them! Not only do they stop your banwidth from being wasted; they make a ton of websites more usuable. It takes care of Flash Ads as well as static ones; using a filter that is constantly updated. So even if some of the webs more devious and sneaky advertisers try to circumvent it; AdBlock can have a fix to everyone online within hours. It is definately my favourite extension! I don’t block certain ads like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft (the ones with decent reputations) as that is how the people behind really good websites I frequent make a living. But for all the rest trying to do pop-ups and pop-unders; I am sorry your days are numbered! (Some people higly recommend flashblock but I haven’t had a need to use it with AdBlock Plus yet). CustomizeGoogle adds neat tricks to Google services such as always using a secure connection to Gmail; links to other search engines, page histories, Favicons to search and streaming results pages. Comes in handy once in a while; but I don’t use it daily. ...

I am not a big gamer; I primarily love systems and how they work. I do own a PS3 (amazing hardware I might add) and I prefer FPS and generally devious natured video games (like the GTA franchise). Does that make me a bad person who wants to kill people? Of course not; nothing could be further from the truth. But some people stick their fingers in their ears and shout “LA LA LA Columbine LALALA Terrorists LALALA Violent Video Games!”. They say it is destructive to childrens young precious minds. The “Think of The Children” argument always disgusted me; its like shouting Fire in a packed room when their is no danger: it is false, just to garner attention and a sickening twisted version of the facts. Are violent video games harmful to kids? Probably; I wouldn’t advocate giving them access since they; just like movies are clearly rated for Adults. * ...

**Note: This Guide was written for use by my Computer Science class on Linux (and Mac OS X where noted). I haven’t used SSH on Windows; but hopefully someone can make sure this guide works also on Windows by noting differences). SSH comes with nearly all Linux distros and all Mac OS X releases. ** OS Specific Colours: Linux - Mac OS X - Windows ** ** **Download SSH For Windows ** ...

As part of Computer Science you do a couple of general modules which are general in nature about computing; but I think that just reflects the broad use of IT in every part of society today. As things go digital or are created digitally; understanding of this concept is vital; that is where Web Multimedia comes in. For my first project of this second year; I had to do a movie made of stills with custom sound effects. Restrictions on sources of images and sounds (very high percentage had to be self made). Here it is: ...

I am an avid Gmail user through Google Apps. I use the calender, chat, code, sites, pages, docs the whole lot. One of my friends even jokes “You should just work at Google Marketing”. Yes I like most of Google’s products; but I am a products guy; I use whats good, cheap and fast (pick two). Google has the cheap down due to ad-revenue; for the moment anyways in the current financial turmoil. ...

I usually get both of Ireland’s daily national papers to my email inbox every morning. I think it’s very important to catch up on the latest news; as I think you are more informed and have conversation pieces to talk to people (for those awkward silences where “Ye the weather is terrible” just won’t do). So I was highly informed when I read this piece: DCU head hits out at ‘out-of-date’ O’Keeffe. ...

Seriously: what an awesome song. Every Geek should love it! It’s got the famous line “My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM”. If this is not in every Geeks top ten songs; then I resign! I even listen to it as I type this! Anyways enough sounding like a DJ who just got his Payola check off the RIAA; I’ll just post the free video so y’all can watch…. : ...

One cannot help but be amazed at Kilkenny; true masters of the Irish Gaelic Sport of hurling. I mean as my previous posts mention I have moved to Kilkenny; and rural South Kilkenny at that. They live and breath Hurling down here: it’s literally a way of life. That is why they are so good; no mystery here folks: its is literally bred into children in schools and everyone plays it. More people playing means even though Kilkenny is only around 100,000 people it still has a large amount of people to pick from and they get the best training which equals the best results. ...

I just read one of the most informative and insightful blog posts of my entire life. Half serious a guy takes a look back at when he had to beat up a Girl. Weird stuff! Yes, you read that right, I had to beat up a girl … not a woman. She was asking for it and she deserved it. I Had to Beat Up a Girl