del.icio.us/dossy (RSS) links since December 24, 2007 at 09:24 AM:

• Mozilla Labs > Blog Archive > Prism
  “Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.”
  Tags: blog, mozilla, web, software, browser

So, I finally let the cat out of the bag a few minutes ago and announced Twitter Karma publically.

So, what is it? The other day, @StephAgresta said, “Twitter desperately needs page navigation on followers / following list. Also sort functionality by type (reciprocated or not) is a must.” I suggested a simple mashup that implements this and started hacking on it. Three days later, it has enough functionality that Stephanie said she thinks I should release it publically.

Basically, it’s a Flash application that fetches your friends and followers from Twitter when you click the “Whack!” button, then displays them for you, letting you quickly paginate through them. By default, the list contains all your friends and followers and is sorted by last update, showing those who most recently updated first. You can sort the list alphabetically either ascending or descending by Twitter ID. You can filter the list in several ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends.

It’s not meant to be a full Twitter client–there’s plenty of those already and that’s not a particularly interesting or challenging problem to solve, anyway. I’ll be adding a few more features to Twitter Karma soon, though. If you think you have a must-have feature idea, go ahead and let me know about it in the comments.

Tags: Twitter Karma, Flash

I like to describe myself as an igtheist–one who doesn’t care whether God exists or not.

However, I attend a Lutheran church every week, and I play guitar for the children’s choir and sing in the church choir. I do this because I really like the people in the congregation, as well as the opportunity to share my love for performing music and singing with people.

How do you go about choosing a church? Think about it this way: choosing a church is like choosing a supermarket. Some folks go to the nearest one to their house. Some stick with a particular chain because they prefer it for whatever reason. Some go to the one that sells at the lowest prices. Some go to the ones that offer the highest quality product. Some go to the ones that give away free food samples.

Going to church is not so much about believing in God than it is about liking the community of people that attend church at a specific location. Your criteria for choosing a church will likely differ from someone else’s, but in the end if you go to church, go because it provides you with the value you’re looking for, not as a statement about your belief (or lack thereof) in God.

Tags: religion, Lutheran, church, igtheist

Somehow, Santa managed to score us a Nintendo Wii for Giftmas this year. Hopefully, this will eventually replace our PlayStation 2, once we build up a reasonable collection of games.

I have to admit, the last Nintendo-based gaming product I’ve owned was the Super NES. I passed on the GameBoy family of products, the GameCube, and the DS. But, the Wii … something about it just smelled of old-fashioned Nintendo charm … gameplay that was really fun again, not like these annoying reflex-based twitch games that are so popular today.

The games we’ve tried so far: Super Paper Mario and Wii Play. I was hoping that Super Paper Mario was more like the original Super Mario Bros. game from the NES days, but it’s pace is heavily punctuated by the cute storyline. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get into it.

On the other hand, Wii Play was a hit the moment we started. Both of my girls, ages 7 and 4, study horseback riding, so the “Charge!” game was the natural first choice to try. They quickly figured out the mechanics of how to hold and manipulate their Wii remotes and had a blast! The rest of the Wii Play games were fun, but some were a bit difficult to play given our setup. Let me explain with a picture:

That’s our living room. That’s a 87″x65″ projection screen that they’re playing on. The little sensor bar is sitting on that Little Tykes table, below the screen. The sensor bar is, what, maybe 24″ wide? Perhaps there’s a setting I can adjust more than “above or below the screen” (which I’ve already set to “below”), but pointing at a location on the screen doesn’t work right. Still, playing on the big screen makes for an awesome Wii experience, I have to admit.

I have to say, Nintendo has really done well with the Wii. It’s definitely the kind of gaming console that reminds me of my childhood, growing up with the original NES. I’m glad I can share that experience with my chidlren.

Tags: Nintendo Wii, Giftmas 2007

del.icio.us/dossy (RSS) links since December 17, 2007 at 12:00 AM:

• IEBlog : Internet Explorer 8 and Acid2: A Milestone
  So, this will only matter if and when IE8 is released. Another 5 years? 2012, anyone?
  Tags: blog, microsoft, browser, software, testing
• Penny Arcade! - My Comeuppance
  Photoshop hero, FTW!
  Tags: comic, funny, photoshop, parody