Easily block ads in Safari/Firefox, kill your favorite blogs in the process

While I don't block ads personally, many people do. I personally want to support the sites that I read on a regular basis, and understand that the ad revenue keeps them in business. Without it, your favorite blogs and newspapers will go out of business.

But if you still want to kill the written word as we know it, there's a great new tool for blocking ads on Safari and Firefox on OS X.

Free, open-source application GlimmerBlocker adds a new preference pane to your System Preferences that brings system-wide ad blocking to your Mac.

Just install GlimmerBlocker and let it do its work. You can add custom filters, track your ad-blocking history, and even allow your iPhone or iPod touch to use the GlimmerBlocker filters on your network. Firefox users already have the beloved Adblock Plus extension, but if you ever use a different browser or you'd prefer to manage your ad blocking through a robust preference pane, GlimmerBlocker does the trick.

GlimmerBlocker is a free download, Mac OS X Leopard only. But please, use it responsibly.

Twitter becomes... useful?

It's amazing the ways in which Twitter is being used. What started out as a micro-blogging service for narcissists, is now providing real-time news, organizing people, and insight into the lives of people like Lance Armstrong and Shaq, and people who are next door neighbors but more fascinating that we had imagined.

Over the weekend, a terrifying plane accident in Denver occurred, where a Continental plane slid off the runway at Denver International Airport. How did I hear about it? Was it the local newspaper or television station? No, it was spreading like wildfire on Twitter.

Boulder software engineer Mike Wilson was on the plane, and started twittering what was going on immediately after he escaped the burning wreckage. With the telephone lines overloaded, it provided him contact with friends and family and let them know he was okay. Additionally, it allowed people in Denver to see what was going in a faster and more personal way than the local television stations could offer.

During the attacks in Mumbai, the twitter tag #mumbai providing an amazing real-time look from people on the ground. Everything from the worldwide reaction and sympathy, to the first-hand experiences of those who were experiencing the event first hand. It personalized the news from thousands of miles away, in a way that even TV news couldn't.

I've even used twitter to organize local twitter meetups for networking and meeting other people locally. Some people use it to organize political protests, charity events, news feeds, and more.

Twitter has become a platform without rules, and is therefore a very interesting product development case study.

Since it was never really defined as how to use Twitter, people have used it how they have seen fit to suit their needs. As a result, Twitter has become a popular and useful platform.

The question still remains as to whether Twitter can monitize their business model, but they are on the right track. They have allowed the users to define the product, provided the tools for them to be successful, and then will develop revenue models around the way Twitter is actually being leveraged by users, not on how they think users should utilize Twitter. It's an interesting business case without much precedent.

If you haven't checked out Twitter yet, I encourage you to do so. Because it has no set rules, it can often seem trivial, useless, and difficult to approach for first time users.

I'll be blogging in the coming weeks about successful ways to use twitter depending on your goals. Whether you want to organize friends to do fun stuff, or if you are interested in breaking news, industry knowledge, or a million other avenues, there is a way to use Twitter that is useful for you.

Mac OS X 10.5.6 released with improved MobileMe syncing

Apple has just released Mac OS X 10.5.6 with several fixes and tweaks. Though there are a number of notable improvements included with the update, MobileMe users will rejoice with the improvements to syncing with the service to and from a Mac. "Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com," according to Apple.

A few other fixes caught our eye as well. Graphics enhancements and performance improvements are included, and there's a fix specifically for those having video distortion issues with certain ATI GPUs. Mail has gotten some small fixes, as well as overall performance and reliability improvements. Networking gets several improvements, including improved Airport connections, particularly when roaming a large network. AFP and TCP connections are improved, as well as compatibility with AT&T 3G networking cards.

Printing from Adobe Creative Suite 3 apps is markedly improved (thank you, Apple!) as well as working with certain Brother and Canon printers via USB. Time Machine also gets some love, particularly when working with a Time Capsule as the backup volume. And, the 10.5.6 update adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for notebooks. If that weren't enough, Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update "improves the performance and reliability of Chess." Yes!

In addition to the bug fixes and improvements, the update contains all the security enhancements included with Security Update 2008-008. Mac OS X 10.5.6 can naturally be installed via Software Update, but delta and combo installers are available as a separate download. Mac OS X Server also gets some 10.5.6 updating as well. In all, it looks to be a solid update for Leopard users.

The Auto Bailout - In One Depressing Image

Click it to see the big version. Sad part, is I do drive a Subaru. I also have a 1955 Chevy, does that count? Well, maybe it counts for the last time American's made good steel cars!

The most awesome thing I've seen all day - Thriller - Bollywood Style.

This guy is a hit with the ladies for sure. And is he yelling "Girly Man"?

What's the connection between the Elves and the Nazis?

Can anybody tell me what movie this is from? I must know.

Nokia unveils the N97

Nokia has unveiled the Nokia N97, claiming it to be the world's most advanced mobile computer. The Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5" touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an 'always open' window to social networking sites and Internet destinations.

"From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence," said Jonas Geust, Vice President, heading Nokia Nseries. "Together with the Ovi services announced today, the Nokia N97 mobile computer adjusts to the world around us, helping stay connected to the people and things that matter most. With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet".

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of 'social location'. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos.

The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features friends, social networks and news, available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites.

The Nokia N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The Nokia N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

The new device N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.