Remember: You don’t your mail on GMail - you are only allowed to access it for free when Google wants you to.

So always keep local copies of your email (by using Outlook or any other normal eMail program to access your Gmail account) - AND get an additional eMail account somewhere else as a backup too.

Never trust just ONE provider.

Firefox is currently the best browser available. I do love Opera, but FF with all it’s extensions and themes simply beats my former favorite.

Recently the first release candidate has been … uh … released and it’s a winner. I had no crashes or annoying bug while using this RC1 candidate. I won’t say it’s safe to install - but if you feel brave or simply want a faster and better browser than FF2 NOW - than go ahead an install it.

As usual RC or Beta software should only be used by developers and people who need it or want to fuck up their system. For the rest: they have to wait a few more weeks before the new version is ready - but in this case waiting is good, because several very popular extensions are not yet for FF version 3.0.

Let’s stomp out these ugly reports comrades …

It is easy to blame only the evil communist in China for all the censorship and blatant disregard for Tibet’s Freedom.

But Chinese Nationalism is as rampant as the state controlled suppression of the Tibetans. One only needs to remember the extreme rage against the Japanese during the last years. Japan has a lot to apologize for to China and Korea - and never has done so - so some of the outrage was “just”. But it was mostly insanely angry and fueled by Nationalism instead by a call for justice.

Chinese people - like the Russians, Iranians and North Koreans - live in a mental vacuum. They have no real news, only glints of reality and they don’t really know what’s going on in the world. Freedom of speech, public discourse and social experiments are absolutely limited and controlled by the state.

That is why many Chinese people defend their countries “actions” in Tibet as “just” and “fair” on the intranets. They are simply blind and ignorant. Patriotism is an ugly political disease, doesn’t matter if you scream “China! China!”, “USA! USA!” or “Heil Hitler!”.

I always love it when I see even spammers having problems with their software as well. May I recommend some medicine or penis extension to fix your problem?

Another excellent documentation from Frontline (which you can view online). This time about the first generation (of Americans) who grew up with the Internet, cell phones and computer games.

It covers all important topics: the ‘Always-on’ generation, ego surfing with MySpace and other sites, the new global ‘we’, web slutism, stalking and cyber bullying.

Highly recommended - even if you don’t have kids - because it gives you a better understanding in the psyche of the coming generation and the impact of technology on our society.

Currently China has about 2100 million Websurfers - and the number is climbing fast. Soon they will have overtaken the US as the #1 of Websurfers.

But too most of us Chinese Internet Users are almost invisible - and not just because of the language barrier (the same applies to many other nations that stay within their language bubble - like Japan or Arabic countries).

China’s Internet is heavily policed and censored - thanks to companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco and Google content is filtered, websites blocked (most famously Wikipedia) and users are hunted down if they dare to protest too much.

The old High-Tech-Hippie argument that the Internet can’t be tamed or regulated has been proven wrong - and not only by the Chinese Government. Places like Cuba or Iran are also black holes in the net infrastructure.

Information wants to be free - people too …

More? The Economist “Alternative Reality”

We are heading for the totally wireless gadget Internet: TV, radio and telephony are slowly making it to the net as well. Skype is already a great tool - I use it on a daily basis. For many business users it has replaced all the other instant messenger like AIM or ICQ.

Many people already got rid of their land line or only own one to have DSL - cell phones are the way to go. But I guess Internet phones will substitute sooner or later, because they offer an open basis and more possibilities for less money.

So cell phone providers will face the same struggle as classic telephone carriers and media companies: new technology will destroy their old and overpriced business model.

The new 3 Skype Phone are only available in a few countries, but the rates are amazingly low.

Can anyone still remember life before email? Most companies and private citizens didn’t use eMail before 1995 - so the revolution is hardly 10 years old for many people. (I got my first email address 1991)

You remember the pain of snail mail? Typing or printing your letter on paper, stuffing it into an envelope, finding the right stamp and post it into a letterbox right on time for next day delivery?

Old school mail sucked - although spam is taking the fun out of instant electronic delivery as well.

In which neighborhood in cyberspace do you hang out?

Blogsville?
Pr0natella?
News-Junction?
Home-Makers-Place?
Single-Square?
EyeCady-Heaven?

So many places, so little bandwidth and even less time.

To RGB or CMYK - that’s the Question!

You are a person with many interests and many skills? You love art, you produce art - but you also live with a huge pile of creative guilt? Welcome to the club! It’s hard to be a digital artist, since your computer enables you to run amazing tools - which have been unthinkable twenty years ago. A creative powerhouse in one small box.

Wanna make a movie? No problem use Adobe Premiere or AfterEffects. Are you a graphics person? Your choice is vast and wide - Photoshop, Illustrator, FreeHand, Painter - to name but a few. Wanna go 3D and do amazing effects or animations. Once again the list boasts absolutely amazing tools like Lightwave, Maya, 3D Max.

Oh my - you are a creative person! Wow!

You make music and love to sample and tweak sounds? A small feat these days - cool software is cheaply available, even Star Wars was remixed on a simple PowerBook using everyday digital tools and even great modern musicians use the same Samplers, Synths and Sequencer like you do.

Not to forget our good old writing tools to produce anything ranging from articles or complete books! You can go from a simple solution like Microsoft Word up to publishing powerhouses like Quark or InDesign. And how about your own web page or weblog? I am sure you want to show the world what you are capable off, let’s buy Flash, Dreamweaver or GoLive?

You had enough? Fine.

More human than human - welcome to the new 3D art universe (image: Miles Estes)

Modern designer are rapped and pushed to be digital renaissance artists - nothing is impossible. Since the DTP revolution in the late 80’s smashed the old lines between technician and artist - we creative types have to be both today a Geek and a Michelangelo in one person.

Once it used to be enough to excel as a writer, painter or photographer - know you have to be you own typesetter, reproduction expert, scanner and editor etc. as well. But since this is the analog2digital (A2D) generation we love to have multiple choice - since we know how limited we felt with our old tools: clunky typewriter, tipex, letraset letters, dirty chemicals to develop slides, dangerous cutters, slow snailmail and mechanical copy processes to name a few. No surprise: we love absolute control and absolute choice.

Welcome to a mad artists world.

But it’s driving us mad. Instead being limited to a certain area of art or projects we suddenly find ourselves doing a thousand creative things all at once: writing articles & weblogs, drawing illustrations, retouching photos, programming web sites, layouting a new CV and looking for background music for our presentations.

Did you really think one huge monitor would be enough?!

So much to do, so little time and energy. And the web as a global showcase doesn’t make things easier. There is a constant stream of competition and inspiration to cope with. Have you seen those cool Japanese animations? This great Danish photographer? These old retro covers of some weird fashion magazine?

All these choices, ideas and doors waiting to be opened drive any creator mad. The total overflow of choice makes it hard to focus on just one project, just one set of skills, just one insanely great idea. A tough decision for anyone who loves to surf in possibilities.

Modern artists still want and need to be kissed by their Muses as well.

And we feel a lot of guilt of not pursuing all those ideas that pop up in our minds. The guilt of not pursuing another great business idea or product the world desperately needs. We get paralyzed by all the doors we could jump through and enjoy another adventure in creativeland. And this guilt sucks big time.

Anything else Sir? But there is an additional problem: business. Today’s clients and employers all want a young super geeks with a Maestro’s thirty years of experience and wide ranging skill set. But just one arty farty person please. We are on a tight budget these days.

Ah, when art was simple and computers limited. (Image: Andres Becerra)

So it’s really hard to say ‘I am just an illustrator’ or ‘I can only write good articles’, since you don’t want to cut yourself out of the market. So we learn and buy many different software packages, try to stay on top of a gazillion technologies, names and gizmos. But most of all, we lose the time, energy and focus to be masters of our trade - to be simply open, productive and creative.

Although art involves knowledge and craftsmanship as well, once again we should start to make distinctions between mastering expressive techniques and mastering production technologies.

There is a difference between animating something and writing a flash script. There is a difference between composing a great stream of words to entice your readers and operating a content management system. There is a difference between taking great pictures and layout an art book. Let artists be artists, technicians be technicians and geek’s … oh well …

*repost 2003-08-19*

More and more people find their favorite websites blocked by corporate firewalls. Also email filters clamp down on stupid attachments like the newest ‘funny’ video or porn.

Actually I can only recommend to anyone working in a big company not to visits websites you like in private, nor use the companies email address for mailing your friends and family. Most admin’s don’t care about your stuff - but looking at your mails and surfing habits is a gold mine for any middle management asshole to find a reason to kick your butt.

So get yourself at least a private webmail account that supports secure transmission and is hopefully not blocked by your corporate admin. Don’t surf any pr0n, funny or dating websites during work - not even during lunch break. It will be recorded - and used against you …

I have been using skype since it’s start. Today it’s the only Instant Messaging program I use. I also do many conference calls and all my text messaging to cell phones with it. It’s cheap (to call land lines and cell phones), free (to download and call other computers) easy to use and works fine most of the time.

Highly recommended for all digital human beings. Delete your ICQ, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN or whatever IMs - this is the future.

One professor called this generation once screenies:

We work all day in front of a screen.
We relax in front of a screen.
We educate ourselves with screens.
We socialize via our screens.
We pick out our next date on a screen.

I think he is right.

Behold the Power of the Princess Salome [make sure to read about her story before continuing]. Her innocence and tempting fertility drives the King and his Court mad. Her display of beauty, untamed sexuality and an almost childish mindset make her an explosive mixture.

While a Queen has to accept the limitations of power and responsibility - the Princess is allowed to play, tease and make mistakes. Since only her fertility mattered in the old days - nobody cared about her character, education or overall potential as a human being.

Be charming! Be fertile! Be tempting! But nothing else …

You find in almost all culture ritualized displays of female fertility (and male shows for courage etc.). It was and still is part of the ‘wedding porn’ of human culture. Picking the best DNA to breed with. The play between the young female and society is nothing else but a cow market at best and simple entertainment at worst.

The Princess shows off her wares for attention and maybe a good marriage deal. She doesn’t need any personality or any skills, just be fertile, healthy and mildly attractive - so society can project it’s desires and dirty thoughts onto you.

Hey, I used to be news …

Amanda Congdon and LonelyGirl belong to the new Cast of WebFems - who like Salome dance before the Kings behind the other side of the monitor. Give them a video stream or a blog - and they immediately attract hungry male eyeballs and curious girlies.

Dance Princess dance, maybe the Audience grants you a wish or some fame for actually doing nothing.

Uhhh, save me Knight of shining Armor … 

It seems like that anything young with breasts is able to create their own cult within minutes these days. Salome’s dance on speed with a million Kings watching.

Although most gurls (to use a web 1.0 expression) have hardly anything interesting to say or are hardly entertaining. It’s like New Orleans: flash your titts to get some simple beads [Mardi Gras].

It is called dicktionary for a reason …

My favorite piece of video mouseturbation is YouTube’s Hot for Words. She actually has something to say about words, but even without sounds she makes any healthy male hump their monitors.

She is Princess Salome with a Dictionary.

So is this the Future of Girl Power? Is this what’s left of Feminism in the Web 2.0 age? Playing Porn Princess Salome on YouTube, MySpace and all the other Mekkas for mouse clicks?

Where are the smart girly role models? An aggressive form of Sluttism seems to be the way to go. Celebs like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton all have ‘leaked’ their Vaginas to the net. Brittney Spears and her entourage of drunken blondes compete almost daily to show their pussies to anyone with a camera.

Is that the formula and message for modern girls: show your cunt and you become a real person?

Dear Salome - you have started a terrible trend.

I hate being left out of the free multimedia frenzy.

I know many people in Europe (and other places) who download American TV episodes, because they can’t wait to see their newest favorite show.

Now many broadcasters like ABC and NBC offer free episodes - only for Americans. Many web sites have reported the free offers - without checking if it’s free for everyone or just a limited deal. The same is true for the iTunes store, that offers all these cool TV shows only for Americans as well. As an European I can’t buy an episode of ‘Lost’ or ‘Galactica’.

But the BBC is also restricting it’s video service to UK citizens or better say IPs.

Hello? Global market? Many of your ‘foreign pirates’ download your stuff, because it either takes several months before these episodes are released in their country or they simply don’t get your stuff at all. Who wants to watch a ‘hot’ V series after the hype is gone and you already know from the intranets the whole story?!

So if you want my money - you better open up your shop for me while I am hot to buy your wares. Otherwise I will look for the ‘warez’ someplace else …

My virtual home, complete with Firewall, a secret VPN tunnel for escapes and a house dragon to keep all the spammers and hackers away.

My good friend Dario sent me this great link: Hackmyfriend.com

If there is paranoia - there is a market: this service offers you to hack into accounts of your boy- or girlfriend to check if they are cheating. Whatever happened to ‘let’s talk about it’?

Since relationships are started and ended with eMail and SMS this actually no surprise to me. The YouTube generation will live, die and mate via keyboard and virtual rituals.

Welcome to the 21st century …

Several months ago Apple released it’s browser Safari also for Windows. All those Apple Fan Boys wet their pants and predict that gazillions of user would switch and ignore Internet Explorer and Firefox forever.

What happened? Nothing. Safari was released for Windows, because Developers needed it for working on software for the iPhone (another world dominating success) and that’s about it.

My verdict: it’s a nice browser, helps me as a web developer to test my work, but still prefer Firefox and it’s flexibility over any other product so far.