Talkings of a Tyrant

Xbox 360 this! Xbox 360 that! Xbox 360! Xbox 360! Mario Kart DS Xbox 360 shortages? NOOOOO!

This brief summary of the past 2 weeks in video gaming news is brought to you by:
Tyrantmizar: Cranky Pessimist

Seriously, Xbox 360 and its shortages have been the only thing anyone is talking about recently (expect for MattG at Press The Buttons. He actually has been talking about Mario Kart DS about as much.) Guess what? I don’t care about the Xbox 360!

Well… I guess I do care a little. But I’m certainly not going to get one now! It is far too expensive, and I’m patient! I’ll wait until it is at least down to $150 dollars. That sounds reasonable.

The only reason to buy one now is for the holidays, and Microsoft’s carefully planned shortage is just encouraging people to buy! buy! buy!

Yes! I do believe that Microsoft planned this shortage. Who else would benefit from it? It started with small rumors several months ago that never stopped. Then people panicked and pre-ordered all the Xbox 360s, causing real shortages. The thought that the Xbox 360 is soooo popular that it is selling out makes more mainstream people panic even more and buy out the rest.

The result? A “shortage” on Microsoft’s hands, and with it the general feeling that everyone in the US is getting an Xbox 360 so you should buy now.

Excellent work, Microsoft. Flaunt your wealth. Prove that you are willing to go to any extremes to beat Nintendo and Sony. You might actually make a profit from the Xbox line (for the second time ever).

The StumbleUpon extension for Mozilla Firefox is an excellent extension for websurfers who are on the lookout for new sites.

It is a toolbar with (*gasp!*) a bunch of buttons on it! It doesn’t seem all that complex, but you can do a lot with this simple toolbar.

When you hit that tempting button that says “Stumble,” Firefox will automatically be sent to some randomly awesome website on the web. Granted, some of these websites suck. Most of them don’t.

The thing is, whether web sites are good or bad is determined by what people do after they are sent there. Once at the web site (or at any web site you want) you can rate it favorably or not. Simple. The more sites you rate, the more good sites StumbleUpon will bring you to. It learns from you.

Once you get to that site, you can also tag the page. Yes, tag it. Decide what words fit it best and tag it. You can’t bookmark anything directly from StumbleUpon (as far as I can tell), but you can still tag sites.

Or, if tagging and giving a thumbs-up or down isn’t enough for you, you can give a full fledged review of the website.

Granted, there are some inherent security issues from telling StumbleUpon what sites you like to visit. But there are the same issues from searching Google, or using social bookmarking. Face it, it is nearly impossible to be truly anonymous on the web. Might as well get used to it.

While these might seem simple, it is really well done. This is possibly the most Web 2.0 extension out there. Democracy and user-control is almost hardwired into this thing.

The main downside to this extension is the registration process. Registering itself isn’t bad, but doing otherwise simple stuff like changing your password or having two profiles on the same Firefox is annoying.
A word of advice: Do not delete the Firefox profile that you originally created your StumbleUpon account on! If you delete it, or move to a new computer, you will not be able to change your password.

This extension is especially good for those who like to randomly surf the web. With StumbleUpon, you can do it in style! It is difficult to explain, but something about tagging and rating every site you come upon is incredibly appealing. Useful with a “Post to BlinkList/del.icio.us” bookmark on you bookmark toolbar the BlinkList toolbar so you can rate and bookmark what sites you visited.

Download StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon.com
Get Firefox!

There are several tab extensions for Mozilla Firefox. These all add tab functionality in some way, from something as simple as allowing double clicking to close a tab, to the notorious Tabbrowser Extension. My favorite is Tab Mix Plus.

But first, a background:

Warning: Do not install the Tabbrowser Extension! Ever! It is almost officially the most buggy and bloated extension ever. It has a crudload of functionality, but will seriously mess up Firefox’s core system files.

It is, at least in part, due to Tabbrowser Extension that a functional, but bug-free, tab extension was called for. Never again would people want to have to accept major bugs in exchange for functionality (yeah, right)! They called for better tab functionality in a bug-free extension!

Tab Mix answered the call! Tab Mix’s description was:

Tab Mix’s main objectives are to be small, fast, easy to use, logical and without bugs while containing the most natural features related to tab browsing.

Clearly it was a reference to the Tabbrowser Extension.

However, Tab Mix fell out of its updating schedule, and hasn’t been updated since early July (for Firefox 1.0.4). In August, some people apparently decide to take up the project, rename it to Tab Mix Plus, and have been updating it ever since.

Tab Mix Plus, following the description of Tab Mix, is basically everything you’d ever need to do with tabs, sans bugs.

There are possibly a hundred different things you can do with Tab Mix Plus. It is infeasible to list them all here, and don’t ask me to try. Some major ones:

1. Undo Close Tab: Self-explanatory. Never scream in frustration when you accidentally close a tab again!
2. Load last session upon startup: Whatever sites you were viewing when you closed the tabs are there when you start up Firefox! I personally don’t use this. I normally have somewhere between 20-25 tabs up at once, so it takes forever to load up with this option on.
3. Unread tabs are Different: Any tab you haven’t visited is marked with red text. I find it useful, as I always have some article in one of those 20 tabs that I forgot about.
4. Crudload of per-tab functions: Seriously. You can right click on a tab and do just about anything (assuming you’ve enabled this). You can do stuff with these tabs that I’ve never heard of.
5. Bunches upon bunches more. There isn’t even a complete list of features (that I can find) online!

It isn’t until you install Tab Mix Plus that you truly realize how many things you can do with tabs. A hundred different features is probably a good estimate!

Tab Mix Plus is fast, easy, and small. Very small. They managed to fit in into a 100 kilobyte download! Nice work!

Download Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus Website
Tab Mix Plus Forums
Get Firefox!

I’ve previously reviewed BlinkList and I would like to congratulate them on their additions to the service. They’ve added an easy to access comparison between you and your fans and friends. They’ve also added a profile that shows up on your bookmarks, though mine doesn’t seem to show up (do I have to log out?). Good job. Keep up the good work.

One of the few things they lack, though, is a decent search engine.

If I’m going to have 250+ bookmarks, I’m going to have to be able to search their titles, descriptions, and possibly the content of the page. Not just tags.

Update! BlinkList has added full text search! Yes!

Good job on the tag searching engine though. AND, OR, and NOT are replaced by ‘+’ ‘|’ and ‘!’ Excellent.

I got a Nintendo DS and Mario Kart DS today!

Played it for about 4 hours straight…

That should give you a clue as to how fun it is.
I will bet money right now (not over the internet) that this game will become a cult classic. Absolutely fun and addictive.

The control is superb. They managed to create a system where you can have precision control with a d-pad. The button layout is mostly logical (of course, I’m still getting used to a Nintendo DS) and works well.

The character balancing is excellent. No character is really better or worse than any other. You can use anyone and win the match, if you use them correctly.

The level design is superb, with excellent dynamics and layout. Secret passages, floors that move, enemies and obstacles galore - wonderful!

I can’t even put into words how absolutely addictive and fun this game is! It is certainly worth all $35 dollars!