Browser Branding

What does your choice of browser say about you? Realistically, probably about as much as your choice of soft drink or department store. In television land, though, the branding of Internet Explorer and Chrome couldn’t be more different.

The music is the first thing most people notice about the IE9 commercial.
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The Myth of Doing What You Love

Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow.

The title of that 1987 book by Dr. Marsha Sinetar has become mantra among a certain segment of creative people. Follow your bliss, the thought goes, and you can’t help but become successful and happy.

The best of the anecdotes espousing this theory come with a healthy dose of humblebragging, describing just how busy the authors are and how, nevertheless, they found the time and energy to be amazing. Take Jason Halstead, writer friend of a writer friend on Twitter: Read more of this post

Growing up geeky

On March 26, a piece called “Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away” appeared on the Forbes Web site. It excoriates those who adopt the “geek” mantle frivolously or as a positive descriptor to get attention.

Over the next couple days, The Internet at large (and other columnists at Forbes itself) came down hard on the sentiment, proclaiming geek culture to be open, welcoming, and delighted to be moving ever more into the mainstream. We’re the cool kids now! Everyone wants to be like us! How could that be bad? Read more of this post

Laptop fans should be removable

Computers slow down over time. One cause applies much more to Windows than other operating systems; as software is installed and removed, the registry and file system get cluttered up and disorganized, and while there are ways to minimize and reverse some of this effect, the only real solution is a complete hard drive wipe.

The second cause has to do with heat. As advanced and space-agey as they are, computers still rely on airflow to keep their hot ‘n’ spicy chips from melting themselves. That means vents. And fans. And dust. Read more of this post