Ebay rip offs: fix it with firefox extension

Ever feel cheated when you bid on an item and realize that shipping is much more than reasonable amount? Here an firefox extension that can help: "ShortShip - sort eBay search results by total cost" It allows you to sort by total bid + ship price and coverted into one currency unit!

Now, if this kind of mod was easily to create by browser users, THAT would be a killer browser. One good enhancement would be: to not being able to make a bid or "buy now" if the seller doesn't accept credit cards or shipping insurance [not even optional insurance].

Or be able to tie ebay purchase against some consumer complaint site. I bought something on ebay 2 weeks ago and got tracking number from USPS but USPS claimed it was delivered last week. I went to the local office 2 days after the delivery date and they said they'll look into it. Earlier this week I finally got the package: something that never happens with UPS -- I just made few phone calls and got my new package few days letter (no need to visit an office and wait in line).

Intelligence: poker and origin

We had some interesting discussion about intelligence yesterday morning with my friends. And then later that day, I read an article about Poker and AI. What really is intelligence?

My friend defined it as making decisions based on a body of knowledge, esp. in solving problems [speaking as an engineer].

I'm not sure myself: intelligence requires language as foundation with both knowledge and experience and then an extra ability to apply these 2 to a current problem (with some ability to plan/predict for the future).

Chess was viewed as end all proof of intelligence but when machines started to beat grand masters, it was questioned what intelligence was afterall. And Poker seems to be the next "target" but I don't think it is that simple. The most fundamental is that language hasn't been replicated in computers yet. Why? Because language "transcends" reality and doesn't exist in any physically measurable way.

Copyright, 2006, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

ScatterChat shows promise

The secure chat software ScatterChat seems to have promise. If VoIP can be done seamlessly, I'm there. Anyway, not a bad start. I hope more software will be security aware and support anonymous internet usage...

JavaScript described as misunderstood language

"JavaScript: The World's Most Misunderstood Programming Language" seems like a good story. I haven't done any JavaScript programming so it's hard to say how accurate it is but made me look and want to give it a shot! [yet another language to learn, though.]

Hi and Lo Languages

I found "Debunking the Myth of High-Level Language" to be very interesting. The past 18+ years, I've been programming mostly C and assembly so I understand the ins and outs of low level coding. I've also worked on a Java Virtual Machine source code so I knew the internals of at least one version of JVM. And have done my share of "high-level" programming.

I personally think a high level programming with low level control is the best way to go. Exactly what that should look like is what I don't know (I'd be working on it if I did).

Virtualization News 3

What a difference a day can make. Microsoft will work with XenSource so that Linux and Xen can work with Microsoft products. Almost did a double take when I first saw the headline.

Microsoft was such an anti-Linux before, but seems to be more "open" to it these days....

Games need something new

"Opinion: The Video Game Business Is Broken" is 2nd of 3 part series on future of gaming and tries to analyze what's wrong today. It seems too much money oriented but I think the play and empowerment are missing in games. The beauty of board games, for example, is that rules can be changed and do something different. Goalless computer games like Sims might be close to this but it isn't the same as rewriting the rules as you (and your friends) see fit.

See also the 1st part: "video games as soccer" which questions the need to appeal to "mainstream" consumers.

Copyright, 2006, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

Free Hypervisor for Everyone!

It seems that companies are giving away their virtualization software:

1. Microsoft's Virtual PC
2. EMC's VMware
3. (not quite "free" but related news) IBM's support for Xen (which is free, open source)

It is slowly getting out into the mainstream...

Copyright 2006, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

Virtualization Roundup

InfoWorld has special report: "Virtualization breaks out"

Nice to see how not so specialized press deals with virtualization / hypervisor. Unfortunately, it is still not easily explained and limited to mostly operating systems and people who write low level code....

Programming News

I found "Free your mind — write some free software" and "Finally! The difference between PHP, ASP and other scripting languages." to be noteworthy on programming languages.

I've recently got in touch with a former classmate who used to discuss a lot about programming languages. I hope to think some more and maybe write up on a thing or two that came together for me....