überEllis.com

While catching up on my recommended daily allowence of syndicated news, a post on CrunchNotes.com caught my eye; Bidirectional RSS feeds!

RSS was the new black - it is, in fact, the palette from which many new colours will be mixed.

This link was brought to you, courtesy of an RSS feed.

As I dropped my new electric toothbrush into my shopping basket this morning (my old one broke - when bathroom gurgles turn ugly..), I was not completely unaware of history repeating itself.

I was also not unaware of how a new electric toothbrush might not meet the demands of an annual serendipidous moment. The flashy new rechargeable one (also availalble) had a better chance, I confess...but instead I opted for the new toothbrush, and a new razor.

4 blades! I kid you not..

My Recommended Geek Allowance overflows..

I have, to date, installed Apache, PHP and MySQL on no less than 3 different platforms!

Granted, not without copious amounts of help from close friends and colleagues (that's always a tough one to spell..), but I feel extremely accomplished regardless (thanks y'all - you know who you are).

So let's hear it for webserving on MacOS X, Windows XP and last, but not least...Ubuntu Linux!

If you understood all the above acronyms and names without clicking on the links...GO GET SOME SUN!

I can't believe I've not done this earlier! I'm blogging from my phone on my couch!
Eat your hearts out!

Predictive text input (or T9® text input) has forever altered the way I view messaging. Pure genius.

This very pure genius has been the cause of many a cryptic SMS, however, often with very humorous results (why some nerd somewhere decided I would need to type "book" more often than "cool" is beyond me - even nerds use "cool" to describe their books, don't they?).

To my delight, I've recently learnt that these little anomolies have received a name (unfortunately, I've found very little to substantiate this, but if it's on Wikipedia, it must be true).

From Wikipedia:
Adaptonyms: Words that can be typed with the same sequence of keys on a Cell phone that uses predictive text.

For example 2-3-3 can give you the following adaptonyms: bed, add or bee

Also called "Textonyms" or "Cellendromes".

Have fun today by looking up your textonym-name (the default value on your cellphone when you type your name).

PS: This handy tool can help you decipher (what I've lovingly dubbed) "midnight-message encryption".

PPS: * The title translates to "I'm home safely"

From Beta News: Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp

The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned.

Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected.

As one of my top 10 great software titles, this news struck me as dire. Winamp will surely be missed, but honestly doesn't leave much to be desired - minor updates is probably all it will need.

Winamp's authors has made it abundantly clear that they love music as much as I do. Always catering for the larger playlist, always leaving the listener in control - without stopping the music.

Fare thee well Winamp! I will always love you..

I know, I know. Everyone who's ever had an opinion, claimed something similar, but some things just need to be said. The easter eggs of life. Only observed from the corner of an eye in this manic blur of routine.

You know what I mean. Sometimes you notice someone's "extra mile". Someone, somewhere, put in a little effort into something to make your day go smoother. The little things...designed to be unnoticed.

Like the toothpick at the bottom of a Woollies bag of biltong...Or the way a BMW interior light stays on after you've closed all the doors...Or the way the little orange light turns green when your Powerbook is fully charged...or the indicator button on your Powerbook's battery....Or the way your Mac dutifully reads out the time in it's quant robotic voice on the hour, every hour...Or the way your Mac just adapts to the network you just joined...or when your Powerbook...*sigh*...I love my Powerbook!

This post dedicated to Maximus, for making it all possible: Dude, she rocks my world! Thanks :)

As some of y'all know, \\b0rris met an untimely end one foul power failure more than 6 weeks ago. I've diagnosed and re-diagnosed and replaced pieces but to no avail...and it's not without a heavy heart, that I'll have to say goodbye to him..

There will be a small ceremony this weekend.

\\father does not seem too distraught, as he will be getting a huge upgrade from what \\b0rris bequeths - whether or not I'll be able to do all of that on my own, remains to be seen...which brings me to the resounding question; How much of the original box needs to be replaced before it constitutes getting a new name?

All philosophies aside, I want you all to please welcome \\cl4uss, my new pride and joy *hands out cigars* (It's a boy!) :D

\\ce4sar??
Submitted by irrational on Sat, 2004/08/14 - 10:03pm.
As in ceasarion. This was probably the most difficult birth of a new machine EVER!
A small list of things that went wrong - some things twice.

• Wrong PSU and CPU. Outdated BIOS. Missing drives.
• Failed Windows installation. Failed BIOS flash. Memory running at wrong speed.
• And it took roughly 8-9 hours to get the machine to the point of playing a game.

Then a new cpu and PSU later everything seems fine - so far.

Lets hope \\cl4uss grows out of his difficult stage quickly! 8).

Et tu Irrational?
Submitted by MordracK on Mon, 2004/08/16 - 9:43am.
I'm glad to announce that no further anomolies have been recorded. Prince of Persia runs like a dream, The Simpsons, Hit and Run have not even been prepared for running at such a high-res, and Doom continues to scare the begeebies out of me :)

As many a young parent would agree...the time the infant spent in the incubator, only strengthens the bond between father and child (so much so, that my house still resembles something out of a post-apocolypse movie)

Thanks again for all your efforts (oh...and welcome to ÜberEllis).

PS.: If you log in, the comment gets published immediately and requires no moderation. ;)

Don't believe everything you read here at Über Ellis...As nifty as an electric toothbrushes can be, there's nothing quite like the raw power of new hardware...

Yes...\\st3pmom is here, and though we shall all miss \\mother dearly, she's already found a place in my heart.