Month: June 2004

Testing GMail

Posted on by Stian

I was recently given an invite from a friend to test the new web-based email service from Google; GMail . Among its main features are 1 Gigabyte (1000 Megabyte) storage space with advanced searching and indexing of all your email, so naturally I jumped at the opportunity. The new service has also received a bit of criticism over accessibility and privacy concerns, so I was keen on finding out what all the fuzz was about.

Trouble is, the excellent Opera is my main browser of choice, which is not supported by Gmail. I soon found out that logging in using Opera was a no-no; I just get a blank screen after typing in my username and password. However, I had no trouble using it in Mozilla or Internet Explorer though, and it looks very nice and fast. On the other hand, having to open another browser just to check email is too much of a hassle, so I doubt my account will be used much until this is fixed.

Before GMail goes public, which is probably soon, I hope they are able to get their act together and start supporting common web standards so it can work with other browsers as well. Apparently they have plans of making a plain HTML version, so I keep my fingers crossed …

One Missed Call…

Posted on by Stian

One Missed Call posterLast night I went to a late-night preview of the Japanese horror Chakushin Ari/One Missed Call by director Takashi Miike. This is a really creepy movie, with much use of the supernatural, demons and creepy little children, along with all the regular horror effects to make you squirm in your seat.

It will come on in the Oslo cinemas in middle July, and is highly recommended for anyone who wants a good, heart-stopping scare movie! Also, the main actress is a real beauty, which helps a lot in the calmer scenes … 🙂

Windows Security

Posted on by Stian

I recently had to do a complete reinstall after my Windows 2000 installation started to seriously misbehave, and subsequently lost two partitions and some files in the process (grrr…). Luckily I managed to save most of my files from one of the partitions, which Windows thought was un-formatted and had no data.

The interesting part of the experience, however, is that this was the first time I’d done a reinstall with a computer connected to the Internet, so while during the install I unplugged the network connection, but afterwards I needed to connect to the Internet to download a service pack and do a windows update. This is where the problems started…

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Google goes RSS?

Posted on by Stian

Here’s an interesting article from New Scientist about RSS; Google considers instant delivery service:

Internet search giant Google may be considering a popular web publishing format called RSS for some of its services, a leaked internal email has revealed.

This could be very good news – I imagine having access to Google News or a customized search as an RSS or Atom feed, which would be a great resource! And no matter which standard they eventually settle on, my favourite reader FeedDemon will still be able to read it, as it has support for both.

By the way, there’s also a new free RSS aggregator available from Norwegian firm Intellicom. While not as advanced as FeedDemon, it comes with the most common Norwegian news sites already configured, and is a good introduction to the world of RSS.

Come Together

Posted on by Stian

Here’s a great animation from the French designer team Melon Dezign; this time they’ve taken on The Beatles’ “Come Together” in a wonderfully psychedelic flash version. Warning; a huge download, it clocks in at a little over 8MB … but still highly recommended if you wait it out!

These guys have been making demos and animations for a long time, I remember them from the Commodore Amiga demo scene in the 90s, where they made some excellent stuff. They’ve also made a similar animation for another Beatles song; I Feel Fine, from a couple of years back.