Inquisitor. Instant web search for Safari.

Nicely designed plugin that makes searching a whole lot more faster and fun. It’s available for Safari, Firefox, and IE, so there’s no reason not to use it. 

What is a Browser?

A Google representative went to Times Square, New York, and asked people “What is a browser?” The results are a bit shameful, with less than 8% of those asked actually knew what a browser was. Watch it, it’s pretty funny.

 

LESS - Leaner CSS

Quite an interesting concept- a real time-saver when coding large websites. It’s still a bit buggy though, and only works through command line.

 

The new layout is finally here. After weeks upon weeks of work, I’ve finally finished most of it. Enough of it to put up here, anyway. The other pages are a little messed up, so bear with me as I finish them up. There’s a lot more open space in this design, and it aims to be easier on the eyes. All the icons and graphics on this site were made by me as well. I used a dash of CSS3 throughout the site, but the design doesn’t fail without it, so those without CSS3 support aren’t missing out on that much. I’ll be tweaking it for a few more days, but this is pretty much it. 

Today was WWDC, the Apple event where they annually amaze everybody with their innovation/shininess.

Firstly, the Macbook Pro line was updated, with the price of a 15-inch MacBook Pro dropped to $1699, and the 17-incher got a price drop as well. Both models now have sealed, non-removable batteries, which claim to last up to 7 hours, and have a supposed lifespan of 7 years. They also lost the Express Card slot, in favor of an SD card slot. This is a huge plus for me, as I’m a little tired of dragging a full card reader along with me, when 90% of the consumer cameras out there use SD cards. Also, a 13-inch MacBook Pro has been added to the MacBook Pro line, starting at $1199. Thankfully, the anti-glare option was added to all the models in the Pro line. Glossy looks nice, but in the world outside of perfectly lit showrooms, it’s a disaster.

However, the iPhone is what everybody was really anxious to see. Some of the rumors proved true, while others false. I was a little disappointed at Apple’s decision to keep the glossy, fingerprint-magnet iPhone design rather than the rumored matte design. The new iPhone is called the iPhone 3GS, with the “S” standing for speed, as Apple claims the new iPhone to be twice as fast as the the older one. The new iPhone OS finally has copy and paste, video recording, and spotlight. As usual, Apple will probably charge a fee to upgrade iPod Touches. The new iPhone didn’t have the rumored OLED display, though. It will retail at $199 for the 16gb version, and $299 for the 32gb version. The older iPhone 3G will not be discontinued- its price has been dropped to $99, to cater to the lower-end market. Still, for a “low-end” phone, it’s still pretty awesome.

Snow Leopard was announced, and it will ship in September. What appealed to me is the $29 upgrade price for Leopard users- much less than upgrade prices before. No major UI changes have been made, with most of the changes being under the hood, including speed improvements, decreased file size, and more.

Sadly, Steve Jobs did not make an appearance at this WWDC. Apple executives say his health has improved and he is in good condition, but following his absence, I highly doubt these claims. For all we know, he could be dead, and Apple is keeping him “alive” to avoid the inevitable plummeting of Apple shares if the truth got out.

SAT

I took the SAT this past Saturday. I think I did a lot better on the essay, which I actually finished, unlike last time. The essay topic was a bit easier this time, too. It was something along the lines of:

“Can we benefit by learning from the flaws of people that we greatly respect and admire?”

The rest was pretty easy as well. I sure hope I got a 2000, so that I can finally end with this SAT crap. The Regents examinations are next week, but those I could ace in my sleep, so I’m not the slightest bit worried.

Safari 4

Apple has finally released the official, final version of Safari 4. I’ve downloaded it, but I haven’t installed it yet; it requires me to have the latest Leopard update, and I really don’t feel like restarting my Mac right now. From what I’ve seen, it seems like the tabs have been relocated to below the address bar, like in Firefox and Safari 3. 

The new design is coming, I promise. I’m just taking my time with it to make sure I get all the little details and such. Making custom icons has also been a rather interesting experience. I rather enjoyed doing it, and I might even release some icon sets for free when I have more free time this summer. Anyway, onto the semi-daily banter:

Times

A splendid little RSS reader. It takes a slightly different approach from traditional readers in that it displays the multiple feeds at once in a newspaper-like arrangement, complete with pages and customizable sections. The UI is slick, and my only complaint is that the font color is a little too light. It is a wonderful little app to have- it saves me a lot of time every day; instead of opening up each blog/news site individually, I get it all organized in one place. I find it completely worth the reasonable $27 price. Don’t fret though, you can still try it free for 14 days and then decide if it’s worth it. Head on over if you want a fresh, new way to view RSS feeds.

The Summer

Ah finally, the ending of a tyranny school year comes near. I feel especially great, since next year is senior year; I’ll have only 5 classes (out of 9), meaning my school day will be significantly shorter than it is now. I’m planning on taking some summer art courses at FIT in Manhattan, so I won’t have an overabundance of free time.

New iPhone

The 3rd generation iPhone will be announced quite soon, and a load of real-looking pictures of it have appeared all over the web; it’s looking to be quite an awesome device. I’ll probably get it  a few months after the initial rush subsides. I’m neither that crazy or devoted to stand outside the Apple store for several days to get it when it launches.

Job Situation

I can’t stand my current job at McDonald’s anymore! There, I said it- I work at McDonald’s. It’s quite a miserable place to work at, not because it’s challenging- no, a monkey could do the work there. It’s some of the moronic customers that come by, as well as the mind-crushing boredom throughout the work hours. It’s also quite a lenient job, and I’ve gotten away coming late every day, as well as sometimes not coming to work at all. Seeing as it’s the summer season, my second job comes back into effect. I’m a wedding photographer/assistant, which is so much more nicer than McDonald’s. I used to dread working at weddings, but now I see just how fortunate I am to have that opportunity. After all, I get to work in comfortable, high-class caterings as well as getting  free 5-star meals. Not to mention the pay is a lot better, with tips providing additional cash. The only drawback is that it’s mostly a summer thing- most people choose to get married in the summer, when the weather’s nice.

I’m also looking for some paid web design work. So if you guys know anybody that needs a nice site and can pay something, drop me a line. I’m hoping to quit my fast-food job by July, so I really have to get busy with my web design and photography.