I thought of an idea for an additional user interface for Safari 5.0′s download progress. As of now the only way to see what is downloading or has been downloaded is to have a Safari window open and click on the Download button in the tool bar. My idea would be to have the Safari icon in the dock to show a progress bar of the download(s) similar to what happens when you download an App from the App Store. In addition to that, when you right-click on the Safari icon there is a sub-menu that shows the downloads. Conceptual pictures after the break: Continue reading Safari Download UI →
NASA posted on Flickr a new image of earth, using data from NASA’s Earth-observing satellite, Suomi NPP. It is focused on North America and has amazing detail. You can view it at at their Flickr page at 8000 x 8000 Pixels, which is almost 18 MB in size when downloaded.
It is a composite image that used multiple passes of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.
[Via NASA]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards. The Oscars are to be televised on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 26.
Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Best Actor
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Continue reading And the nominees are . . . →
Happy Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year; it is the most important and longest traditional festival in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. For the year 2012, Chinese New Year comes earlier than normal, it falls on the 23rd of January to mark the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. In China, it is known as “Spring Festival”.
I put this off for too long, a Coen brothers movie is always approached with a little trepidation. But I shouldn’t have worried, True Grit was outstanding. I found the use of old hymns as the score an interesting way off accenting what was happening. This usage was at its strongest when Cogburn was rushing a snake bit Mattie to help with the last of his strength as “Leaning of the Everlasting Arms” was playing. All the acting was top notch, but Hailee Steinfeld, stole so many scenes with her rapid fire dialog and the surety that she delivered it. With the Coen brothers I never am sure how I am going to receive their movies; there was so much hype and love for it, that I figured I was going to be disappointed like so many of their previous works. But their story telling and vision of the original work had me from the beginning. Too many times of late I drift off during a movie and check Twitter. Or find the trivia at IMDb more interesting. Storytelling is what seems to be lacking in too many of today’s films, but the Coens have revived my hope that the storyteller is not dead.
So enough with politics for now. I finally got around to watching episode three of BBC‘s second season of Sherlock. It has been an outstanding run thus far. Moffat and Gatiss are doing a phenomenal job in re-imagining our favorite sleuth for the 21st Century. It’s the little things; like three episodes a season at an hour and a half apiece instead of conforming to tradition and doing two parters, plus the small seasons do not over tax the writers causing them to produce meaningless filler. Other details like, having the text just out in the air to read instead of some unbelievably huge font seen on a phone screen. And just so it’s clear, some of the best writing out there.
I soaked up every episode this year. Scandal in Belgravia was amazing, followed by a superb Hounds of Baskerville. Both strived to show Sherlock was somewhat human instead of his self labeled “high functioning sociopath”. The first let us into his guarded heart, and we saw he understood love. And the second lighted on his ability to feel fear even if it was chemically induce. This all leading to the last episode The Reichenbach Fall; (There Be Spoilers Ahead) we all knew he was to “die” and that to be faked, but he did show his emotions whilst talking to Watson. The tears were not for the benefit of John, but once again we the viewer saw his human side, and a glimmer of compassion. The only complaint I had was the last seconds of the episode. Season one ended on a hellacious cliffhanger. and we had to wait almost a year and half to see the outcome to that. Anyone who has read Dolye’s tales knew the death at the end was faked, albeit we might not know the details how this modernization will play out; my guess it is a fresh cadaver from Molly and help from Mycroft. But John laid his heart out to the tombstone and that was a fine bit of acting and it should have cut to black instead of cutting to Sherlock. But now that I voice that, maybe once again it was showing his humanity.
This still might be handy for some still:
Back Up Activation Files.
1. Open Windows explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32
2. Copy the files Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak to another media floppy, CD-R or another hard drive (if you have more than one installed)
Now you can reformat your drive and reinstall Windows XP.
At the end of the installation, when Windows asks you to activate your product, decline and do not activate.
Restore your activation files.
1. Restart your system, and as your system boots up press F8 to access the boot options (Windows Advanced Options)
2. From the menu options select to start Windows in safe mode (minimal)
3. After Windows loads in safe mode, open Windows explorer and navigate back to C:\\Windows\System32\
4. If you find the files Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in this folder, rename the files to something like Wpa.dbl.backup and Wps.bak.backup
5. Copy your original Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak from the CD or floppy back to C:\\Windows\\System32
6. Restart Windows
You should now have a clean and activated Windows XP
As I headed off to work this morning, plowing through the snow, I though about the similarities with one of my favorite works of art “The Silver Warrior” by Frank Frazetta. An outstanding artist that will be missed.
Please check out some or even better all of the sites and pledge your support. The internet should not be reigned in. All the sites that have gone dark or are protesting in some way, I commend you and thanks for making your stand.
Click on picture to see bigger image.
Googles results of their Take Action Petition.