The fellas over at Gizmodo posted up some news about some changes in Apple’s iPod lineup that, quite frankly, had me a little nervous.  You see, I’ve had my eye on one of the black, 80GB iPod Videos for awhile now, and I’ve always really liked the way they look.  I currently have a first-generation iPod Nano, courtesy of Jean, and I much prefer the ‘square’ design of the first-gens to the rounded design of the current models.  So when Gizmodo shared the news and a screenshot of the new iPod Classic, I was nervous.  I saw a sleeker, more rounded iPod instead of the sharp-edged look I’ve grown attached to.  I expect to be getting my new iPod sometime in the next couple of months, but I was somewhat afraid that the new iPod Classic would completely replace out its predecessor before I could acquire one.

I took a look at the Apple Store, though, since none of the stores around here seem to have the new iPods in stock yet, in order to get a better look at the new models.  From the front, it almost looks like the iPod Classic is just a larger version of the 3rd-generation iPod Nano – rounded sides, just with a larger hard drive.  But the profile view revealed that it was still pretty boxy looking and just the face had slightly rounded edges, which made me much happier. 

It was then that I noticed something very exciting, at least for a geek like myself.  All of Apple’s iPods now have double the space for the same price as the previous generation.  So now, instead of getting an 80GB iPod Video for $350, I can get a 160GB iPod Classic for the same price!  Very exciting stuff. 

I’m also very pleased with Apple’s new iPod Nano with its video capability.  I’ve always thought the Nano would benefit from being able to play video, so it was very cool to see them chop the legs of the iPod and call it the next generation Nano.

I was fairly intrigued by the iPod Touch, with its WiFi ability and widescreen video, but the storage space isn’t quite right for me yet.  If you can’t tell, I’m all about the big hard drive, and 16GB just isn’t enough space for what I want.  Given time, though, I’m sure the size will grow as the price comes down.

I should probably stop drooling now.  My keyboard’s liable to short out any minute.

Just before we received the news that Halo 3 has gone Gold, we were treated to a delectable little video demonstrating the awesomeness that is the Forge customization module in Halo 3.  For every custom game fan, this is a dream come true.  Forge is quite literally a drag-and-drop utility for customizing multiplayer maps.  If something doesn’t quite meet your satisfaction, Forge will let you change things until everything is just right.  Or it will simply let you monkey around with the settings to create new, interesting, or just plain wacky gametypes.  And once you’re done messing with the settings and you’ve created just the right environment for some crazy, insane carnage, you can save your modified map out to Xbox Live and share it with all your friends.  Bungie will then be able to pick out their favorites and incorporate them into matchmaking.  Halo 3 is going to change the face of the way we play video games on Live.

(Source: Xbox 360 Fanboy”)

I’ve loved Firefox from the first day I started using it several years ago – tabbed browsing, nearly infinite customizability, and less glitchy than IE.  Also, at the time, it was super-lightweight and fast, which was another key point for making the switch away from the Microsoft native browser. 

Unfortunately, with each successive iteration of Firefox, the browser seems to grow into a bigger and larger beast.  I still love Firefox, even though tabbed browsing is now nearly standard across browsers, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s still the most flexible and customizable browser out there right now.  What I’m not loving is the way it seems to inflate its consumption of computer resources with each new version.  I’ve started noticing how quickly Firefox starts to lag and temporarily hang up on itself after launching it, even on a newer computer with plenty of resources.  And when you give your computer the 3-finger salute and check the Processes tab, Firefox is far and away the heaviest consumer.

I’m something of a power-user when it comes to Firefox, too.  On any given day, I run with a minimum of 20 tabs open – and that’s just the way I start.  I usually go upwards of 30-50 tabs throughout the day during my regular browsing sequences.  And I know I’m not even the biggest power user out there – I know of several folks (web designers especially) who run 100-200 tabs and more at any given time.  And for every tab you open, that’s more of your computer’s resources that Firefox sucks away.

One other minor gripe – with the upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.6, I’ve hit upon more fatal browser crashes and unresponsive script errors than I’m used to seeing with Firefox.  If it was just one computer, I’d attribute it to an incompatibility with something on that computer.  But I’ve hit this problem with two or three computers now, so it causes me to think that something within Firefox itself is problematic.  Of course, it could simply be the fact that Windows itself is buggy and always has been.

I still love Firefox, despite these little problems I’ve pointed out.  I’m very loyal to open source software, and Firefox is still far more customizable than just about any other Windows-based browser out there.  I would just like to see the developers of Firefox work toward returning it to the light-weight program that it started it as.  In that respect, it was a much better browser in its younger days.  Of course, maybe light-weight is the trade-off we have to make in order to get more use, functionality, and power out of Firefox.  I don’t really know.  I just know I’d like to have the best of both worlds.

The Subscriber Gadget is an additional gadget for the myDashboard gadget library.  It works in conjuction with two other plugins – the Subscribe to Comments plugin and the complementary WP View Subscriber Info plugins, the latter of which places a module in the default WordPress dashboard that shows you how much subscribers you have to your posts.  myDashboard overwrites your default WordPress dashboard, and so the View Subscriber Info module is lost, as well.  The Subscriber Gadget is a port of the View Subscriber Info module, putting your subscribers’ stats back on your dashboard where you can see them.

Installation:

1. Download, install, and configure the Subscribe to Comments plugin and the complementary WP View Subscriber Info plugins
2. Download the [download#6].
3. Upload subscriber-gadget.php to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory and activate it.
4. The gadget should now appear in your Gadgets Library in your dashboard for you to add and position from there.

Screenshot:

Questions and bug reports should be directed to my support forum.

If you like this plugin, please consider making a donation to my tip jar:

Changelog:

2007.08.01 (v1.0)

• Original release

This iPhone Commercial Spoof demonstrates a fair point.  I’d thought of that quite a while back when I first heard about it.  Heck, just my ear leaves smudges on the little glass display on my wireless phone at home.  I think I’d find having an entire display covered in smudges all the time would drive me batty.  I like the idea of the iPhone, but I have a feeling that if I ever owned one, I’d be endlessly cleaning the silly display.