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Kodak vs. Samsung

For Father’s Day, the love of my life gave me a Kodak EasyShare C813 – that was on sale, she was sure to note – and I am thrilled. Even though just a few minutes ago I finally took it out of its open-proof packaging and put it to work.

In the meanwhile, I bet she’s either been thinking to herself:

A.) He’s not really thrilled with the gift

B.) He’s secretly planning to return it, get the cash and land himself two adult Frontosas.

C.) He loves it. He just doesn’t wanna let on he expects such great gifts.

D.) I shoulda boughta Coach purse for myself, instead.

Well, no matter what she was thinking, the answer is “C” and here is a test run of the new camera vs. the camera I already have – yet, as she so tenderly noted: “Everytime you use the damn thing, you say how much you hate it.”

Let’s take a look …

s7302834mod.jpg

The first Samsung shot.

100_0001mod.jpg

The first Kodak shot.

Yup. Hands down, the new one’s better. And, it doesn’t take several seconds to try to auto focus and decide if it wants to shoot or not. Hooray!

RSSinclude!

Today, I found RSSinclude, a nifty open-source RSS ap that spits out PHP or java sceript so I can broadcast RSS on my front page. I found RSSinclude through this page, which I found through Wikipedia, I think.

I also use Feed Digest for this as I do on my homepage to broadcast my most recent blog posts, but then Feed Informer bought them out and when I tried to apply it to broadcasting my Plogger gallery – thus giving me an updated photo on my homepage hands free – it wouldn’t work with the desired results.

But RSSinclude works fine, just as the RSSreaders I added to my MySpace and Facebook accounts.

Now, if I can only figure this out without the ads.

Until laters …

May photos are up

I have posted 106 new photos to my Web site’s Plogger photo gallery.

Check them out here.

Here’s a preview:

Corina’s birthday
Corina’s birthday

At Chuck E. Cheese
At Chuck E. Cheese

Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day

Kramer’s new ‘do
Silly Kramer

Leila’s art opening
Leila’s opening

Midnight at Surfside
Midnight at Surfside

David’s party
David’s birthday party

Ben’s party
Ben’s surprise birthday party

Well, that’s all for now. Enjoy until next time – which hopefully will be sooner. Whew.

Linkpost 05.17.08

Been surfing a lot lately. Here’s what I’ve been reading up on.

Web standards | Here’s the rationale behind the push for Web standards, the main reason I need to learn more about CSS.

Wired.com on Google Friend Connect | Betsy Schiffman wrote an article which alerted me to Google Friend Connect, an attempt by the Web giant to offer code to Web folk like me to allow us to integrate social networking Web sites into our own Site. Imagine being on my page and having MySpace or Facebook controls at your fingertips. Not quite sure what it is yet, as it hasn’t been released, but I asked to be notified by Big Brother Google when it happens.

Google Docs | In the meantime, I should probably take a look at Google Docs sometime.

Snap. I just trademarked my face. | Oh, wait, that was Apple. Ha.

RSS on iPod | Now, that looks like an interesting concept.

iPod customization, et. al | More food for thought.

Free audiobooks? | More for the iPod.

Free classic audio books | iPod geek.

I need a new Word Press theme.

Word Press theme # 1 | I have grown tired of my theme, so here’s a bunch more to look at.

Word Press theme # 2

Word Press theme # 3

Word Press theme # 4

Word Press theme # 5

Word Press theme # 6

LifeHacker.com | I need to RSS this.

Braintied.com | Where did it go?

A Web mystery | Pawel Ciszewski: an entrepreneur or a Web site killer?

Schipul.com | A good Houston Web company.

Tendenci content management | Schipul’s content management system.

Creative Leak | An interesting art community, created by a lead designer at Schipul.

Leila Dallal | My friend, Leila, is an artist. Here is some promo material

Black-Eyed Susan | The official drink of the Preakness. It’s good. But two parts sweet and sour, not three – please. It’s good frozen, too.

Sabai Thai Cafe | Kim suggests this place for dinner.

CSS: Rotating header, etc.

I found some CSS links today:

CSS code-writing applications

How to create a CSS-based rollover image effect

And then I found an interesting article about fostering online communities which contains the quote of the day:

“Any time you construct specific rules of engagement, they are instantly open to interpretation and circumvention, and we want our members to negotiate their place with each other, not with The Authority.”

But then I found what I was really looking for. A nifty way to make the main image on my home page change every time it is refreshed in a user’s browser, lending a new feel for when people come back to pay it a visit. I heard about this nifty tool from Nathan Smith. Here’s a look at it in action.

It was made possible by a genius named Dan Benjamin, and was first showcased on his journal A List Apart.

Here’s a direct link to the PHP script that makes it all possible, but really, go ahead and click the “A List Apart” link above to get the full picture of what you’re getting into first.

I can’t wait to get started on this. So, excuse me while I put down some code.  Oh, and Obama has North Carolina but Hillary leads in Indiana. Shudder.

TV taught me …

Elektra is a piss-poor action flick. Yawn.

There are at least 25 memorable swimsuit moments.

Kelsey Grammaer is the producer of Medium, a decent show that involves this woman who dreams the future and who got mad at her husband for knowing something he didn’t want to tell her because he’s a nice guy.

Jay Leno still reads headlines.

Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man.

Niles was instantly attracted to Daphne when they first met on the Lifetime 11 p.m. rerun.