Late last year, some people from Opera ASA came to Bucharest. They arranged a meeting for fans.
Naturally, I went. I took me eight hours to get there by train, stayed there for eight hours and then rode the last train back to Timisoara for another eight hours. It was damn worth it.
At that meeting, we got to discussing what features we’d like to see in the next version of Opera. I proposed some, including the inline spell checker, which I’m using right now while writing this post. Another feature I proposed was for users to be able to subscribe to online feed readers(the popular ones, at least) right from the feed preview. When I said that, I remember one of the people putting on a face that just said: ‘You know, that might actually be a good idea.’
Today, Opera announced that they’ll be doing just that in the new snapshot for the Opera 10a and that that’s going to be a feature in the final release. HA!
Read all about it: http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/2975248
Posted on the 13th of February, 2009 |
1 Sexy Comment
We all loved facebook.
Some of us still do, in spite of the news that facebook is going to sell user information to advertisers.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/03/facebook_market_research/
The thing that people liked about facebook was that your privacy always seemed to be valued. You had to approve any sort of access to anything more than your name and picture. You had to approve third party applications` access to your data. All that stuff.
These features gave a lot of users a much needed sense of control. And that`s one of the reasons why facebook has millions of users. So your privacy just went to shit! I never cared much for that kind of privacy. The privacy I do care about losing is the kind that involves anything I strive for. This means money, ideas I think I should keep to myself, stuff like that. Who I’m dating is something I rarely consider ‘private.’
So why is facebook selling info to advertisers bad? Pause and think. This means that when you do visit facebook, you won`t just see internally approved ads. You’ll also see targeted ads. Well that`s great!
If I get ads based on my friends` activity, that`s good. I like my friends and most of them are smart people. So ads targeted at smart people should be good enough for me. Also, ads based on my location — Timisoara, Romania for you freaky people that I don`t know — are great because that means I won`t see offers that I might like, but don`t apply to me because of my location.
If you start seeing a lot of ads you don`t like, that either means you are too eager to make friends with people you don`t really know or your friends are somewhat retarded — which should give you a reason to think about yourself.
Any way you look at it, facebook is doing you a favor.
Now pause and let the goodness sink in.
` is an homage to two of my friends, they know who they are
Posted on the 6th of February, 2009 |
2 Smart Comments
I’m what people call a technical person.
To those that know me in person, this is obvious. I’ve always been good with numbers and then, as I got older, it was clear that I was good with computers. My sister told me it’s so because I can get into the mind of the CPU and understand how it thinks.
Some weeks ago, right after I started this here blog, a co-worker of mine asked me why I don’t post in my native tongue, Romanian. I replied that I’d always written in English. That’s because when I was little, I used to speak much better English than I did Romanian. Heck, my first love poem was written in English.
So, I tend to think in English. And that came in handy when learning about computers. They were all in English. All the programming languages are in English, all the commands are in English. The OS`s were all in English, browsers, most of the internet, most of the music I like, most everything! My first thought of most every workday morning is ‘Crap! What time is it?!’ — in English!
But, apparently, that’s just me. I found out that people tend to like applications more if they’re in their native tongues. Especially Deutsch people. They even keep their cell phones` languages to German.
I.hate.that! It’s just me maybe I know, but I hate getting an email from facebook and seeing it’s in Romanian, because someone likes their websites in Romanian.
I get lost when the application menu is written in Romanian. I also hate the wording. I know because I’ve translated some apps from English to Romanian. After doing so, it became clear I would never do that again.
Right now, I’m going to finish writing my English thoughts to this digital English editable div, hit the button labeled ‘Publish’ and then click a link labeled ‘View post’
What language do you keep your apps in?
Posted on the 1st of February, 2009 |
13 Exquisite Comments