"Cleaning up his online life"

Ahh. I envy him. :)

Flicking the Switch soon

I'll be moving this blog to my own domain soon*. I actually tried it for few minutes but I encountered some missing files (images). This is probably because of how my current template refers to the images. As soon as I find the time to fix them, I'll be at mark.gamis.info (the real thing, using CNAME records in my domain provider's DNS server). Right now i'm just using redirect to point requests to mark.gamis.info to my blogspot address, so everything is still under blogspot. Hopefully that changes soon :)

(You don't have to worry about updating bookmarks / feeds though, may dear (sigh) three readers. Blogspot will be properly redirecting requests to the new domain as soon as I flick the switch)

Quick: without hitting CTRF - F, what's the most abused word in this post? (besides "the" and the likes you smart-a**)

My Feed

Here's the thing. I may hardly find time nowadays to sit down and write for this blog, but I'm mostly active in other things online, specially in del.icio.us. If you have tried "stalking" someone either thru his / her twitter updates, delicious bookmarks, 30boxes calendar, google calendar, or any other service that offers feeds for subscription for that matter (who doesn't, at this point in Internet time?) you'll realize that it actually gives you more idea about what someone is currently up to. :) Believe me when I say that this not just a lame excuse for my blog drought. As I said, I'd really like to give more time for this blog. :) (hopefully sooner than later)

I recently joined friendfeed, the new startup of Paul Bunchheit (creator of gmail, and the google "don't be evil" motto) that basically lets you subscribe to other people's feeds. You add services (e.g. flickr, twitter, google reader, blog) to your own friendfeed feed, and people subscribed to that friendfeed gets updates about your services feeds.

Still with me? Okay, so here's my friendfeed url: http://friendfeed.com/markg, and heres' the atom feed. Technically anyone can do this using readily available tools such as google reader, yahoo pipes, or feedburner, but since i got lucky to snag an invite for friendfeed, i don't have to do the dirty work anymore.

So, at the risk of sounding like an egotistical bastard, if you want to get updates about me or what I do online (hah, no pr0n, since i would never dare share my google web history) or sometimes, even offline, and if you're already subscribe to this blog's feed anyway, Add my friend feed to your favorite reader.

Ubuntu Blog Entry Poster Test

Will It Post? [Edited in blogger]

I've been setting up our new (hand-me-down) pc at home and I'm currently fixing some things in Feisty.

Currently testing the Gnome Blog client. As with most Gnome apps, this is pretty freaking bare. I hope this works; anyway that's what matters most.

[Update]: It did post, but it didn't put on the correct title. Oh well, I'm manually adding one. Minus 10 pogi points (the title should be a pretty minor thing). No posts management either.

Disclaimer:
This application doesn't come with the default Ubuntu installation, so this really shouldn't count against the distro. I hope this app improves over time though. Next: another blogging app: BlogGTK.

"Hello... Is anyone here?"

I know. What's the point of making your blog more readable and usable when there's really nothing to read? I've been really busy with many things preparing for the next thing (more on this soon) so i haven't posted here (and will probably remain that way in the next weeks or so).

I've had my own share of unfulfilled blog post promises, so I'm not about to make another. I'm just dropping a note to let my three readers know that this blog is alive, well sort of. :)

No time to blog, so this only means one thing: bullet points..

• Compiz on Feisty (translation: 3d desktop in Ubuntu) is freaking awesome.
• Why I want an iPhone? One word: software.
• My brother and his family just moved to Australia, so the next time we'll see them is three years from now.
• I'm sure you noticed this before, but the Geek Dash section of my sidebar is actually a feed from my tumblog. (powered by my del.icious, tumblr, this blog (recursive yeah!) and some of the things i stumble upon online)
  
• So many things to blog about, so little time before guilt strikes in (for blogging and not working). Have to go kids...
  

So, till my next update. Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Because I Love My Readers

The Wandering Geek is now easier on your eyes...

I did a quick css hack-a-thon for an hour (I started at around 6 am) to finally fix some of my peeves about this blog's design

1. 1024 x 768 is the new 800 x 600. That's what my Google analytics data tells me. So I took the liberty of increasing the widths of my main content and the sidebar to allow for well, more content. :)
2. Small is out, big is in. I've been wanting to increase the default font size here, because I know, being here can totally hurt your eyes (and the dark background doesn't help that much either). Now we're 1.2 em big. Not as big as how I originally wanted it to be, like this and that, but I think this as big as I could go for now without really changing the rest of the design.
   
3. I've been using Trebuchet because that's what came with the Emire blog template (damn you.. :p ). When all this time I've been really into Georgia. Finally, The Wandering Geek is now Georgia-powered. Yeah. :)
4. Comments. I still can't find a way (read: didn't even bother to google) to change the style for alternate comments. But for now, I hope the little improvements i did in the comments will ease your eyes enough that you wouldn't be turned off to comment. What comment-bait?
   
5. So that's it. I hope you these things help, that is if you still read The Wandering geek outside an RSS reader, and, I have to add, if you're not on a suck-ass, pixel-y OS like Windows 2000.
   

On a (minor) Blogger Design Flaw

I just noticed that if you have a single image (and no words) as a blog post (think post-secret), showing the "original post" in the comment form has no real value. You will just get a text that says "[photo]". What's that?
I think it will give more value to the readers if Blogger uses the alt attribute of the image posted instead of just sticking the word [photo] (which gives almost zero information). That way, bloggers who do this kind of blog posts will be encouraged to make use of the alternate text attribute to give more information for the readers. :)

In the end, commenting readers will be happier (saving a click on the back button to take a peak at the post again).

Until that's fixed, i would suggest the use of the pop-up version of the comment form.

Blogger Draft

Ey kids. Want to upload a video to your blogspot blog? Then go try Blogger in draft, featuring a direct video upload.

Weirdness

Since Cherry nicely tagged me with this meme, i'm politely complying. :)

Each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I used to have second thoughts about going to heaven because i doubted if there are shiny things up there. Just so we're clear, i don't care anymore (if there are none) :p
   
2. What's weird? We sometimes play Chinese garter at the office. What's weirder? It's my idea. I' m probably the most child-like i know at 26.
3. I think i have a distorted image of my body. No i don't think i have a hot body, but somehow I feel good about it That's good, right? right? (the sound of 3 browsers closing) :p
4. I like love to travel at night and during the wee hours of the morning. I observe the people who are traveling with me and wonder what's their excuse for traveling that late.
   
5. I wanted so much to feel what it is to live on the streets. (i think this is an ofshoot of no. 4). I was so envious of Paulo Bediones when he did that in Extra Challenge.
6. ...
7. I have a thing with number 6.

okay, the last 1 was a joke, but it was too good to pass up. (i hope i didn't ruin the meme by doing that). Just to complete it: I love to have a glass of cold water with hot pandesal for my breakfast. (though i seldom get the chance to do that...)

Ohkay, now i'm taggin 6 weird people i know...Hannah, Thea, Nocturne (yes, you), Alekos, Nikki, Kei

Quickie Post

• Welcome back Frank! Here's to a healthier frank "junior" (i know, that got shot down too) and mommy Ria. God Bless to the Guevarra family.
  
• We're that close to losing internet access in the office. Ugh the agony...
• Miss Japan looks hot. (but that's judging on some crappy photos that we could access from the office, since the miss universe site is blocked. tf!)
• Facebook just pulled the most brilliant play i've seen to date in the social web. At last, one of the next big things is (somehow) beginning to shape up. Social Web Operating System? Hmm...
  
• Microsoft is touting that they will reach 1M zune sales by the end of this month. This is not what it seems to be. More on this later...
  
• Tip: Using Firefox on Linux but hates the way the web controls look (they're fugly)? Your suffering ends here. Slicker firefox web controls saves the day.
  

Google Analytics Fun

Sometimes its fun to go sniffing through the tidbits of information that Analytics gives out. Without going too much into the technical (and business) side of things, It's nice to see for example that on some days i have reader(s) using firefox on linux that's using a computer with its (wide) display resolution set to 1280 x 800. Yup, it matters.

Tapuymoments

It's not my business to interfere, but tapuymoments (the blogspot URL, not the actual blog) just got taken over by some pinkgirl1234. That sucks. :(

Email this Post

At long last the Reader team has upgraded Google Reader's Email this feature - my pet peeve. What used to be a non-formatted stream of words (without even line breaks to separate the title from the content) is now sent as an html-formatted email message. So the post you are emailing will appear (almost) exactly the same to how you see it in Google Reader.

The other cool feature is that the email feature is now tightly integrated to the Reader application. No more pop-ups when emailing a post. The email form is now integrated to the post itself, just like in Gmail. Nice... And of course, the "tightly-integrated" feel will not be complete without the address auto-complete. (pun fun. weeeee!)

Labels Update

Heads up to my 3 readers... I will be fixing the labels here so you might see outdated posts shown as new again in your Reader. Sorry for that.

Design plans

I'm planning to make this template more user-customizable using variables for CSS values. That way, anyone on Blogger can easily pick the template and customize it to his own liking. I might also do something about the remaining "bugs" in the design (the still hard-to-read comments section is a pet peeve).

Sorry if I'm talking about more design stuff again and less of the actual substantial content. It's because of two things really: From the start I really wanted to transform this design (emire) into something that "originally" belongs to me (my tastes and preferences). Second, I'm having a hard time writing these past few days. I lost the initial momentum, but I'm sure it'll pick up speed again later. Bad days i guess.

Night folks. Mommy Han is calling me already (and i heard sam cough). I'm too sleepy anyway. Hope everyone's having a good day/night.

I'm doing something with a little more substance for my next post (started to work on it actually in the office)

Post Secret (Sorry Jem)

No One Belongs Here More Than You

Back then when i was preparing myself for an internet-deprived work place (good thing that didn't happen), i thought about maintaining my blog by scanning hand-written blog posts in index cards, then post them every weekend.

Today I came across an even better idea: a dry-erase board as a website. This idea isn't mine, but it's the most creative website I've seen in a while.

By Miranda July:

OK, here I go. I’m going to make this whole website right now on this dry-erase board.

[via Daring Fireball]

Linkify

I've been wanting to toss this idea to the lazy web, but I've been too lazy to even do that. hehe. Now someone finally mashed up a a very cool bookmarklet: Linkify, by Xenomachina. Every link in this post has been created by the bookmarklet.

Here's the problem: creating a blog post or a comment that properly links to relevant resources is really the good way to blog, but the process could be a little cumbersome. If you're lucky and you still have the original page open in your browser,

1. go to that page/window,
   
2. copy the url,
   
3. go back to your blogpost,
   
4. hightlight the word where you want to put the link, press the
   
5. LINK button, and
   
6. paste the URL.

And you have to do that for all the links. If you still have to look for the page, then it involves even more steps.

Enter Linkify: while in a textarea like in Google Blogger's post window (in edit HTML tab) or in comment fields,

1. select the text that you want to create the hyperlink,
   
2. click the linkify bookmarklet,
   
3. then select the appropriate google search result and click Create Link

Ah. quick, effective workflow. Now all you have to do is drag this bookmarklet: [linkify] to your Browser's bookmarks toolbar, then you're all set. :)

Watch Your Step

[update: I just failed the "your / you're" test. My apologies to the grammar police.]

... I moved things around.

First, a few acknowledgments. Blog template originally designed by Phu Ly for Wordpress and converted to Blogger by Gecko&Fly (classic) and BlogCrowd (beta). Now that I have paid my dues, a few notes:

Will probably change a few things here and there (already did a bit) to make this more personalized to my taste. The fonts used for the main posts will definitely be changed, though i'm already satisfied with the one used in the sidebar.

Notice the new sidebar widget? (Currently...) This is powered by twitter, made by the same guys that created Blogger and Odeo. I still have not put the other old widgets like my Google Reader shared items, though they will follow soon. Also, notice that horizontal navigation on top, featuring (at last) a link to Hannah's blog, among other things :) The Photos link points to my Picasaweb Albums (i haven't updated that yet, though) which now comes with 1gig of photo and video storage.

So far, I like how things are shaping up.

Drafts, Part I

I've been wanting to do this...

A collection of unpublished posts. I don't know a similar meme already exists. But here's the idea. Find all your posts never got past the "draft" stage. Take the title, and the date on which it was supposed to be posted. Add the first line (or few words) of the original post, then comment on what the post was about, to add more context to your drafts.
Here we go:

• Neko No Kimochi (May 6, 2004)
• "i am not good at"
• it's supposed to be a post about a favorite japanese song (sang in a very cute way by a little japanese girl) - Neko no Kimochi. The lyrics is actually as cute as the music. :P
• Google's Next Step? (July 16, 2004)
  
• "I was pondering over the possibility of Google eventually delivering an instant messenger client..."
• pre-Google Talk talk. :P
  
• Google Flavored Search (July 26, 2004)
  
• a post about Google's early efforts on personalized search back then, you have to manually "teach" the personalized Google search engine about your preferences and interests. Now it does that for you...
• MSN News Bot (August 3, 2004)
  
• "if you have been watching closely the developments in the technology landscape, it is not new to you then that Microsoft has turned its eyes to Google as its new target."
• a post about MSN News bot, a Google News copycat from Microsoft. Back then, people actually believed that Microsoft can easily topple Google (just like what they did to Netscape, or Apple).
• The REAL deal (August 18, 2004)
• "Here's the thing, as Real wants you to see:"
• a post about Real's pathetic attempt to make the world believe that all they really wanted to do when they cracked Apple's DRM is to make this world a better place by "opening up" the iPod, and not gain market share for their own profit...
• Sound the horns... (again) (September 2, 2004)
• "Microsoft launched the beta version of the MSN Music store today, a day earlier than everyone expected"
• Before the Zune Marketplace, there was MSN Music store (and a couple of other microsoft technology-powered music stores) that tried to stop the store that would eventually become the most popular and most succesful (so far) Digital music download store: Apple Itunes Store

I'm too sleepy, this is shorter than what I originally intended Part I to be, but you get the idea. :). Till next time, for the continuation.... (hint: they're not all tech stuff, so they are actually more interesting than this)