They’re at it again.

If you’re a Facebook member, you can get some free epsiodes of NBC’s The Line, Saturday Night Live, and additionally 30 Rock and I think one other show. Search for Free iTunes on Facebook.

Oh, and we have a new president. Yay obama! 

I’ll definitely be going as a headcrab zombie this year.

Blame SB, who gifted it to me after he bought the Valve Complete Pack (I know, why buy something when you already have half the games? I guess he likes knowing he has everything… except Left 4 Dead *lols@SB*). It’s fun, but scary as hell, especially in Ravenholm - though, to be fair, I’m scared by everything and I know a lot of people who don’t think it’s that bad.

In any case, updates will now resume, no doubt for a sporadic two weeks or so until they die down again

Have fun!

Additionally, the creative section is suffering some strange bugs in Internet Explorer 6&7 (oddly enough, it displays better in 6 than in 7) and I’ve just realized the BOGG links are down - they’ll be back up soon. Until then, e-mail me if you’d like the install file or a .zip).

Book

Name: Apple Safari

Engine: WebKit

Download Link: http://www.apple.com/safari/

Summary: Safari, now in its third version, is the default browser that comes pre-loaded with Mac OS X, which means that anyone who owns a Mac is bound to use it at least once. It’s also avaliable for Windows now, and is downloaded by defualt if you have iTunes or QuickTime installed (however, you can choose not to download by deslecting Safari on the Apple Updates screen, Apple was lambasted for making the system a mandatory download). It runs on the very (very) fast WebKit, an open-source engine that is comparable (and maybe better) then Gecko in speed, but not in reliability - it displays some webpages incorrectly. Safari is not very feature-rich, and though it is integrated with the operating system in a fairly painless way, it is probably not the best choice of a browser on the Mac.

However, its smooth GUI, easy-to-use interface, and overall quickness makes it a viable alternative on Mac, and it usually starts much more quickly then the regular system apps - Safari v. Firefox: probably about an extra 30 seconds. Safari v. Opera: Maybe, even longer.  If you just need to check your mail, or want to browse a quick website before school or work, this is the place for you. -

Good: Fast, easy, browser is integrated.

Bad: Feature-lite, forced download on Windows, compulsory on every Mac.

Ugly: Doesn’t display all web pages correctly, others are better-featured.

Keep it?: Only because it’s in every Mac.

Rating: 6/10

Name/Version: Opera 9.52

Engine: Presto

Download Link: http://www.opera.com/download/

Summary: Opera is a browser which has been around forever - in fact, its first version was released in 1996. On paper, it has everything: with HTML, it’s wicked fast and looks pretty much like Firefox or IE, only smoother and a little more fluid. Pages load quickly, and downloads all work correctly. Overall, the general experience feels much more fuild then that of IE or Firefox, kind of like the difference between viewing a game at 15 frames per second and 30 frames per second - it’s still playable, but which one is more fun?

The problem with Opera lies in its interface: While very customizeable - it has loads of themes and addons - I have to say that the general layout of Opera hasn’t changed much since the days when gumdrop-iMacs were in and the Web was all about AOL, baby. Its tab interface is cumbersome, and for me is located in a very obnoxious area of the browser - waay at the top. It doesn’t use traditional areas for things like addresses and bookworm bars, but instead has this sidebar with buttons on it, which sticks into your webpage and limits the amount of page you get to see. Finally, the themes are all fairly nice, but the phrase ‘OS Integration’ really hasn’t reached anyone yet, nor has the concept that images should be pretty, or at least make the theme appear as if it is all part of the same thing. Overall, Firefox has better addons and themes, and much better speed.

Good: Very fast and smooth, cross-compatiable with all three major operating systems (Linux, Windows, & mac), many features including built-in downloading and BitTorrent support, etc.

Bad: Nasty interface, web pages are not displayed to their full width/height because of the obnoxious bar at the top, slow JavaScript and some obnoxious GMail issues I have noticed.

Ugly: Evil themes, no OS Integration, does not accept even the basic styles and colors of your Operating System.

Keep It?: Yes

Rating: 7 out of 10

Notes: I currently use Opera as my default browser in Mac OS X, having been disappointed with the new version of Firefox for the X. It’s working out well for me, except for the interface XD

Right now, if you’re using Internet Explorer you are quite simply a ‘Net slacker. Even though IE8 comes with loads of new and improved features over IE 6 and definitely IE 7, it’s still got the classic problems which Internet Explorer faces: slow, bloated, no addons (though this is partially our fault because nobody who can will use it to make any), and quite frankly so closely integrated with the operating system that it makes me want to scream.

At least IE 7 doesn’t bring down Explorer when it crashes like IE 6 used to do for me, but it’s still a real burden to have the two so strangely intertwined (and of course, it means that IE will never be cross-platform, which is a serious problem for someone like me - I use three OSes daily and I like to have the same experience on each and every one). 

Now, obviously, the ‘Fox is the #1 browser for anyone who’s out of the doldrums of Internet Explorer, but lately I’ve started to find that our beloved flaming mammal (it sounds funnier when you say it like that) is not quite up to par with what we need in a Web environment like this. (1) Firefox is a bit of a memory hog, and will gobble up a lot of RAM if it is able. (2) It’s not as fast as many other browsers, such as Safari and Opera (more on that later) though it is obviously better then IE. Finally, while Firefox’s huge plethora of themes and addons make it fun and easy to use, they also make it slow… sloooow as a pancake in the summertime (in the words of Scott Adams, I’d like to see you come up with a better analogy then that one). 

This has led me to try several other browsers, all of which claim to be Just As Good for Half The Price (or something like that). The four I’ve tried so far are Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey, and Chrome - Google’s newcomer to the browser stage. Do they add up..? We’ll see soon. Starting tomorrow, I will post a browser a day for the next four days (skipping Tuesday most likely as I have an all-day event on that day with my family). I’ll use this format: 

Name: (duh)

Engine: (the system used to show each webpage)

Download Link: (duh) 

Summary: 

Good: 

Bad: 

Ugly: 

Keep It?: Yes or No. 

Rating: Out of 10