Welcome!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Firefox Crop Circle: the browser for Aliens?


The OSU Linux Users Group embarked on a project to create a firefox crop circle, and they were pretty successful at it. It looks great from the sky. =)

and even greater in google maps



The project's main site: http://lug.oregonstate.edu/events/firefox/crop-circle

from the site:

"Planned in under two weeks and completed in under 24 hours, the crop circle had a final diameter of 220 feet. We constructed the circle in an oat field near Amity, Oregon, where it was completely invisible from the road but unmistakable from the sky. Our team consisted of 12 people, mainly OSU students, and we carefully stomped down oats from 3:30pm Friday afternoon until 2:30am, putting on the finishing touches between 7:30am and 11:00am Saturday"

Without these folks this could not have happened:

  • Terry & Monty Woods (Crop owners)
  • John Imlah (Farmer/adjoining land)
  • Gretchen Brunner (adjoining Land owners )
  • Ron & Mary Lou Polvi (chief cooks)
  • Alex Polvi (Google/OSLUG)
  • Beth Gordon (OSLUG)
  • Jason Siefken (OSLUG)
  • John Carey (Mozilla-film maker)
  • Eric Searcy (OSLUG)
  • Emily Nashif (OSLUG)
  • Ken Yoneda (Mozilla translator)
  • Stuart McKim (OSLUG)
  • Michael Marineau (OSLUG)
  • Matt Shichtman (Mozilla-film maker)
  • Scott Nichols (OSLUG)
  • David "Crash" Mandrell (pilot)
  • Asa Dotzler (Mozilla)
  • Chris Dibona (Google)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Google releases google chrome beta today!


Google Chrome is the new open source browser by the all too famous seach engine Google™.
With the browser wars on going between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari; Google Chrome joins the fray in hopes of gaining most of the online market. It boasts that current browsers try too keep up with new web innovations by upgrading, so why not build one from scratch and design a browser that is based on the current needs of web applications and users

Some key features of Google Chrome that I've noticed:

Multiple Tab bars, placed above the address bar (not below it)

'Incognito' Window, a great option that allows you to browse without logging anything in your computer.

Blacklisting of Phishing and malware sites, warnings would appear if you attempt to go to a potentially harmful site.

The home page. It shows you a mini screenshot of your favorite websites, and allows you easily access any one of them.



We don't know how Chrome would fare against the other browsers, but it makes things more interesting, as well as making it a drive for other browsers to continue improvements.
Try it now! http://www.google.com/chrome





It also released a comic book explaining Google Chrome

PC - week Headline Animator