Archive for June, 2006

The SurroundBar seems to work as advertised

Currently all I have is 2.1 stereo–left, right, subwoofer. My receiver is capable of pumping out 5.1, so I’ve been wanting to upgrade but I didn’t want to have to deal with wiring up rear speakers. Mainly because I need to be able to move my sofa easily, to make room if I […]

GRE is done

Yesterday I took the GRE. The last time I took a standardized test, it was paper-and-pencil where you had to fill in those little bubbles. But these days the test is done on computer. So when you go take the test it’s this room of little mini-cubicles where people might be taking […]

Picasa photos on the Web

I’ve been a fan of Picasa for a while, it’s a free and simple photo management tool. Very similar I think to iPhoto, except of course that Picasa is a PC app (though a Linux version is in beta). I just signed up for Picasaweb, which is a kind of Flickr-type service where […]

Google compared to Lord Voldemort

There’s an article on News.com (reprinted from the old gray lady) about a new Google data center going up in Oregon. Apparently all the local officials involved in helping set the facility up have signed confidentiality agreements. Nobody ever mentions the “G” word in public.
One official in a nearby town likens it to […]

Did okay on my practice GRE

I’m taking the GRE this Saturday so last night I took the first of my practice tests. You can download a couple practice tests off ETS’ Web site, their PowerPrep software. Plus I took a GRE prep class a few months ago and part of that class was to buy a Princeton Review […]

Dan Abrams named to head MSNBC?

Now that’s interesting–Dan Abrams, the legal analyst who hosts “The Abrams Report”, has been tapped to head up MSNBC. A little unusual, to put a news anchor in that kind of management role. It will be interesting to see what he can do with the channel.
It’s a perennial also-ran ever since it launched, […]

“Surprise” hurricane a bad sign

As recently as 6 a.m. this morning when I was watching the morning news, they were saying this storm Alberto in the Gulf was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane. But now apparently that’s changed, and they’ve issued a hurricane warning as it approaches Floriday.
Kindof scary that this thing surprised the forecasters this […]

Mission Impossible III a dud?

It’s too early into the summer blockbuster season to declare a winner, but it’s looking like we can already declare a loser–Tom Cruise. Mission Impossible III was supposed to be one of the big movies this summer, yet there’s already three movies that have grossed more: Da Vinci Code, X-Men III, and in something […]

Personalization a (relative) snap in Oracle Portal

At my previous employer, one of the things we struggled with constantly was personalization. The idea being that we should offer up specific content to users based on profile information we have on them. And maybe even let users pick which types of content appear on their personalized home page.
But in the publishing […]

Using a JSP to write out binary data

I’ve downloaded this Java charting package called jFreeChart, which I want to use to generate some custom charts in Oracle Portal. Yes I know there’s supposed to be some cool Oracle BI charts built right in, but when I went thru the wizard it apparently requires an OLAP data source. We’re not working […]