Facebook

I'm not much of a socialite - being rabidly antisocial is just one of my many charms. But I do understand the value of networking, and so I put sincere effort toward making good use of networking sites.

I have a profile at one of the most popular "online hangouts" (as they call themselves) but I'm afraid to go there anymore because of the viral attacks that have been spread through their site. I'm also rather miffed that when I attempted to contact a human about said attacks, all I got in response were automated messages that had nothing to do with what I'd sent.

So I went to Facebook instead. And, boy howdy, I gotta say I like it lots.

As I mentioned, I'm not much for socializing - but I find it easy to spend time there, and the site has plenty of third-party apps (just mind your Internet safety guidelines) to customize your profile and make it easy to keep your friends up-to-date with your goings-on. And, of course, life-sucking games for when you really should be doing other things but just need to attack one more ninja before calling it a day. :)

So Facebook is a Pick, with 3 out of 4 stars.

Blogger Tweaks

I have a blog at LJ I don't use much any more; the one thing I thought it had over Blogger was the lj-cut tag. But after a bit of looking, I found a couple of offerings that make it all better.

Method One, from Vin at Beta-Blogger for Dummies is good if you do a lot of longer posts. Format of blog itself isn't great, nor is the bright pink background, but the how-to is well laid out and easy to follow. (I suggest copy-n-paste to a document to save your eyes.)

More about this method ...

Vin's method creates a "read more" link that opens the post's individual page in a new window or tab.

It's quick and easy to do; one piece of code goes into the blog template, the other into the post template.

There are additional tweaks and twitters for link color, size, wording, and so on. Definitely worth checking out if you have a lot of long posts.

But since I don't, I quickly found the "read more" link annoying on my short posts where there is nothing more to read than what has appeared on the main page.

Method Two, from Gaby at the Categories Blog, is the one I'm using now: better suited to a blog like mine that has posts of varying length.

More about this method ...

Gaby calls these cuts "expandable post zones," and that's a good term for it: one click to expand the text, and another collapses it back into the Internet aether.

The best part is that it doesn't add an unnecessary link when there is no text to reveal. That is just awesomeage.

To be fair, though, Gaby's post isn't as newbie-friendly as Vin's. For example, my template doesn't include the " < type="text/css"> " tag; so when I followed the instructions as written, the code didn't work. I had to go back into the template and add the tag myself. Not a big deal, but for anyone unfamiliar with hand-coding, this omission might make them pass on this otherwise excellent tweak.

Both blogs offer plenty of other great stuff for bloggers: certainly worth a click or two to peruse.

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Cross-posted from my Main Blog

ASUS = teh awesome!

I learned about the Asus EEE-PC late last year, and set my sights on getting one for myself this spring. Then I learned that the next-gen would be coming out in late spring, and I figured I'd wait until then so that the one I wanted would come down in price. But then when I saw how quickly these little gems fly out of stock, I knew I had to move faster than that.

I purchased a 4G model in basic black, although the unusual white was tempting for the technogeek in me. Ultimately I decided the black was more practical, since it wouldn't show dirt and smudges so well, and I figured since I am a n00b in the EEE-PC's OS I don't rank a geek badge yet.

"EEE" stands for the philosophy that went into producing this amazing little workhorse: "Easy to to learn, easy to work, easy to play." And it is! For a person like myself, who started using a MS-OS PC in the Nineties and suffered through a billion "upgrades" of Windows, the Linux OS is both a dream come true (rapid load time, zero freeze time, excellent abuse tolerance*) and a feisty challenge to learn on one's own.

The solid-state disk helps make this ultra-portable truly portable; the compact size helps too - under 8.5"x6.5" is literally pocket-sized for some of my pull-overs, and easily fits with its protective sleeve into almost any bag or purse. Battery life is leagues beyond what I was dealing with on my old laptop.

I'm a bus commuter, and many has been the time I have a quasi-argument with another rider that can't believe my EEE-PC is a computer rather than a personal DVD player. And when I tell them the price - an unbeatable US$400 - I have to have a pen and paper ready to write down the info for them because they want one of their own.

Granted, the EEE-PC would not be ideal for everyone. The small size is perfect for me, as I have smallish hands, but the reduced key-size would certainly be a challenge to some one with a wider span. Also I cannot replace most of the software I customized my desktop with, as the programs are either not available for Linux or not stable enough for me to want to try them. And third, the little screen can be frustrating when surfing the web or trying to use some of the preloaded software (specifically the misleadingly named "Paint" that is more like the high-end Abode Photoshop software than the MS-app with the same name).

And finally, a note on *abuse: I multitask at the keys, usually having at least three different applications open at a time. On many systems I have used this sort of thing affects performance notably, but the EEE-PC breezes along as if whatever app has focus is the only one running.

The Asus EEE-PC is definitely a pick worth checking out.