K-Squared Ramblings

Foolish Links

IE9 to include alternative CSS.2012 standard instead of following anything remotely like the rest of the world.

Social tagging initiative from WaSP to physically tag bad web designers.

Opera hits 106/100 on Acid3 after discovering an Easter egg in the test.

The openSUSE mailing list announced OpenSUSE 4.1, with KDE 4.1, GNOME 4.1, MP41 support, OpenOffice 4.1, XEN 4.1, VirtualBox 4.1, and a 4-in-1 CD install.

Added: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sent out a newsletter detailing its findings on a Congressional Listening program (apparently they monitor citizens for their opinions—who knew?), plans to move the EFF offices to an armored zeppelin, an NSA-sponsored social networking site (to “allow ordinary Americans to instantly share their private data with the government”), and Homeland Security’s conclusion that Wikipedia is a “Larger Threat Than Terrorism, Dixie Chicks Combined.” Sadly, the newsletter does not appear to be archived on the website.

Added: Virgle, a Virgin/Google joint venture to establish a permanent colony on Mars. Now seeking applicants for Martian pioneers. Takes the Google moon base from 2004 to the next level.

Added: A co-worker pointed out that all of YouTube’s featured videos are Rickrolls today. And it looks like Google is going all-out with some 15 hoaxes today. *whew!*

The Internet Storm Center is keeping a list as well.

Firefox too mainstream for Alternative Browser Alliance

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but it’s time to refocus the Alternative Browser Alliance. Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler has referred to Firefox and Internet Explorer as the “mainstream browsers” for more than a year now, and it looks like that’s become true.

The web is no longer an IE monopoly. It’s become an IE/Firefox oligopoly. Firefox is no longer an alternative web browser. It’s sold out, its ads are everywhere, and it even allows people to build Firefox-only code.

So, starting today (April 1, 2007), the Alternative Browser Alliance will no longer promote Firefox.

So what will replace it? I thought about Opera, but most of its install base is on cell phones and PDAs, and we all know the mobile web browser is dead, right? Safari? Well, it turns out that WebKit is shutting down.

So the site will be putting its weight behind iCab. It’s as alternative as they come, and it’s guaranteed to remain that way (since it won’t run on Vista).

Update: Yes, it’s an April Fools joke.

Bogged down by too much information?

The good news is, researchers have discovered The Cure For Information Overload. The bad news is, it sounds tricky to implement.

Thoughts?

April 1 Roundup

Collecting some good April Fools jokes:

• NPR: New England Suffers Maple Woes
• Water on Mars (via the Esoteric Science Research Center)
• Star Wars Holiday Special released on DVD (via Slashdot)
• My own Googolplex Theaters
• Other round-ups at CNET, at Slashdot, at Urgo, and at Wikipedia

Googolplex: a virtual reality movie theater

Here’s an interesting idea: Googolplex Theaters creates a virtual reality movie theater so that, effectively, everyone gets their own screen.

Of course, once you simulate a screen in VR, why stop there? You’ve already got 3-D in the display, and between the backlog of 3D movies and a decade or so of computer animation, there are a lot of possibilities.

April Fools Around the Net

I’m collecting some of the April Fools jokes I’ve seen on the Net today:

• Mezzoblue and Stopdesign have swapped layouts, with Stopdesign claiming originality and Mezzoblue calling foul.
• NetBSD has announced their new logo — and it’s Tux!
• As reported on Slashdot, the first alpha release of IF Quake, a text adventure in the style of Zork.
• DeadJournal has announced selling out to LiveJournal

Updated 11:00pm

• I heard a report on All Things Considered about the post office’s plan for portable ZIP codes, complete with quotes from people who want to keep their trendy Manhattan ZIP code when they move to a new city. It was done very nicely, fully in the style of an actual story.
• Slashdot was full of April Fools stories today, but none were as good as the poll.
• Snopes has posted a similar list of April Fools stories on the web, and they’ve collected a lot more than I have.

And that’s it. I’m going back to bed.