Hijinks Inc.

Category: News

  • Firefox 3 Beta

    A forum post on another website I run reminded me that not everyone has been enjoying the awesomeness of the Firefox 3 Beta, so if you fancy yourself a tech savvy internet user, go download it!

    New download manager: It now sports a more streamlined look and incorporates a search function.

    OS Specific Themes: Firefox now looks like it’s native to your operating system. Never been a huge issue for me since Firefox is theme-able, but it’s a nice touch.

    New Address Bar: It now searches your browser history as well as your bookmarks as you type a web address. My main complaint is that when searching your bookmarks it only displays the full URL, and not the root domain as well as the full bookmarked URL (does that make sense? Like if you have hulu.com/recent/episodes bookmarked and you type hu into your address bar, you might expect to see hulu.com listed as well as hulu.com/recent/episodes… but it’s not).

    They’ve also added an outline of a star to the address bar, clicking it results in adding the page as a bookmark, the star will now display as solid blue. Clicking it again brings up a prompt with the option of editing bookmark details or removing it.

    Non-intrusive prompts: I really like the way Firefox handles offering to remember a password for you, it displays as a bar along the top of the page and no longer steals focus.

    Improved memory usage: Firefox not only starts faster, it uses up less resources. Yay!

    If you’re at least marginally good with computers, I would recommend at least giving the beta a try. The rendering engine can be a little weird at times, and there are very few compatible add-ons right now, but it’s coming along nicely.

  • Apple Announces SDK – And it doesn’t suck

    Apple just announced the release of the iPhone SDK, and the good news is it isn’t anywhere near as lame as I thought it was going to be.

    Random pieces of info:

    • Major plus, applications will be available from “App Store” right on your iPhone.
    • Free applications will be allowed at no cost to the developers, otherwise Apple will be pocketing a clean 30% of revenue from application sales.
    • Costs $99 to get access to the SDK. Not cool, but certainly could be worse. SDK available today.
    • Software upgrade (2.0) won’t be release until June it looks like. Lame.
    • Update will be iPod touch compatible, only once again there will be a “nominal fee” charged for the upgrade. Lamer.
    • With Microsoft Exchange support the iPhone is actually shaping up to be a decent enterprise level offering.
    • VC Firm KPCB is setting up an “iFund” to the tune of $100m to support “new ventures”.

    Apps that were demoed:

    • EA demoed a toned down version of Spore for the iPhone, looks pretty sweet.
    • AOL is releasing AIM for the iPhone and I could care less, hopefully Google with follow quickly with GoogleTalk.
    • SalesForce.com demoed an application that had no meaning whatsoever to me, looked cool though.
    • Sega (I guess they still make games :P) showed a preview of Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone, looks like a major acid trip.

  • Handheld Gaming Fevor, Part 2

    Last time I diatribed about the DS and it’s awesome (yet limited) library of games. That thought motivated me a few weeks ago to pick up a used PSP from my local used game store. First game I played was Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony. My first impression was, “Holy crap, these are amazing graphics for a handheld!”

    I played the original Dungeon Siege on the PC years ago, and it’s claim to fame was a beautifully rendered 3D environment with no load times. The PSP iteration of the series met the graphical bar and even looked a little better then the PC experience I had back in 2002. Now granted, DS:ToA was released four years later, but lest we forget, it’s a freakin’ hand held game!

    I’m echoing the sentiments of just about every writer that’s played good games on the PSP when I say that this is the closest thing to a console experience I’ve ever seen on a 2×4 inch screen. I’ve since picked up a trio of new and old games to try out on my new toy. Such as… (more…)

  • Dynasty Sleepers: RB

    Before I get going, I’d like to remind you to also check out my opinions on the sleeper QBs for the coming year. Now that I’ve finished that completely selfish advertisement, on to the RBs!

    Running Back is premier position in fantasy football. Very rarely will you find a successful team without at least 1 great RB, and more than likely, that team will have 2 or more top RBs. Because this is such an important position, RBs tend to get picked first and fast, and if you don’t get to them early, you might miss out all together. Here are 5 guys that should fall to at least the 4th round (which is very late by RB standards, most leagues draft RBs for the entire first round) and should help you be competitive in your league next year.

    Find out after the jump

    (more…)

  • Passive Income – February 2008

    This month I added a new category, Surveys! Yay! I signed up with Pinecone Research and MySurvey and so far I’ve made $8 off two surveys, which is great considering I’ve only been a member of both sites for 10 days. Anyhow, last month I set the goal for myself to try and average $100 a month, did I make it? Indeed I did, and my February earnings even make up for being $4 short last month.

    • Interest: $35.37
    • Dividends: $11.86
    • Credit Card Rewards: $23.10
    • AdSense: $4.41
    • Text Ads: $25.00
    • Misc website income: $15
    • Surveys: $8.00

    That’s a grand total of $122.74. Not bad at all, and for the record if you’re lazy like me and want to buy a few extra cups of coffee a month I highly recommend you sign up for MySurvey. (more…)