Microsoft just released Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 to the public. Its about time! It feels like forever since they’ve released a new version of Internet Explorer. I’m just happy they are finally giving us tabbed browsing. I do a ton of web development for Interenet Explorer users. While I’m excited that they’ve added a bunch of new features I’m afraid of all the caveats (if you want to call them that). Lord knows they’ve had time to fix the bugs! You can download it here.

Before I upgraded to my new iMac and Dell Demension 9150 I had a super slow frankenstein PC that I would try to run iTunes on. Boy was it pig slow. Unless you have a Mac or a super fast PC, iTunes can be a nightmare to work with. iTunes can also be a pain to work with if you have multiple sources with which you are loading your iPod from. Many times I like to take my iPod over to a friend’s house and load it up or load some stuff from work or home. This can cause real headaches if you use iTunes. Well Lifehacker just posted this great tutorial on how to configure your iPod so that it is self sustaining.

Here is a little teaser for the tutorial from Adam Pash at Lifehacker:

“By the end of this little tutorial, you’ll be able to rip a CD, sync the MP3s to your iPod, then play any music off your iPod from any computer without ever having to install anything on that computer - and not once will you have to open iTunes to do it.

That’s right - add MP3s from any computer. For example, if your SO insists on ripping MP3s on her laptop rather than straight to your shared library, you can still easily sync her MP3s to your iPod. Or maybe you’re on a public computer and you’re eager to rip and import the CD you just bought to your iPod. Without installing any software on that computer or ripping any MP3s to its hard drive, you can rip and sync your new CD to your iPod.”

Check it out!

I wrote a couple articles about Garage Band that have been picked up by the hugely popular social bookmarking site Digg! Yay Me!

Check it out and please digg me if you like these articles:

http://digg.com/apple/Recording_Guitar_With_Garage_Band

http://digg.com/apple/Recording_the_Perfect_Song_With_Garage_Band

Now, I know that I’ve only recieved a few diggs, but its very encouraging to know that people like what I’m writing enough to digg it. It motivates me to keep coming up with original content.

For all you Inernet Explorer users out there, Google just released the new Google Toolbar Beta (the fourth one) which has some pretty cool features. IE users have not been able to benefit from the slew of plugins that Firefox users have, which is a void that Google has been able to fill a bit with the new toolbar. The new toolbar has some great new features, the most interesting being user defined buttons. With a little bit of XML knowledge you can build some really cool custom functionality. The new toolbar also has a bookmark manager, an auto complete feature, and the ability to easily share web pages via email. Google guru Matt Cutts has a very insightful review of the new toolbar here.

I spent some time last night playing with Shiira, an OS X native browser built using Cocoa. Shiira feels very fast and has a very slick user interface making it very comfortable to use from the get go. Shiira has a laundry list of great features including:

• RSS support
• Page holder
• New application icon
• New sidebar design
• Sound effects and font smoothing switching, to improve universal access support
• Tab Exposé
• Page transition effect (Tiger only)
• Open All Links in Tabs
• Browse mode in the toolbar
• Private browsing
• Firefox bookmarks

My favorite feature is the tab expose which allows you to iconize your tabs and reorganize them in a very user friendly way. While Shiira is still a baby and does contain some known issues, it is much more useable than Firefox 1.5 (at least on the OS X). I love Firefox, but I’ve been frustrated with a very nasty bug with Firefox 1.5 in OS X where pressing the mouse button causes Firefox’s memory usage to go thru the roof.

If you’ve never heard of Mark Ryden, you are in for a treat if you are a fan of Alice In Wonder Land or you like “not of this world” artwork. His works are hard to describe but they deal with all sorts of themes from the female body to red meat to bunnies to buddhism to christianity. His style is very unique and his ability to paint the subtlest of intricacies in the human form is mind blowing. I wonder what is going on in Ryden’s head to be able to create such out there stuff. You can check out his website here.

I was watching the show Miami Ink on TLC the other day and saw one of the tattoo artists create an amazingly accurate Mark Ryden tattoo.

Here is a great Photoshop contest going on over at Worth1000.com where people have combined old time photos with modern technologies. I’m always amazed at the creative ways that people are using Photoshop.

This is a follow up to a post I wrote a few weeks back about recording guitar with Garage Band. This article is useful no matter what type of instrument you are trying to record. Whether you are using a real instrument or a software instrument, there are many caveats to creating that perfect song without sounding like you recorded it in your bedroom using your computer. Garage Band is a sweet piece of software that allows just about anybody to make a decent recording. If you follow the three guidlines below you can really harness the power of Garage Band and create some great songs:

Have a goal. I’ve wasted hours upon hours because I sat down with Garage Band and instead of focusing my efforts, I just noodled around with all the features and loops untill I got nowhere. I had alot of fun, but I really wanted to lay something down. When learning Garage Band I highly encourage noodling around, but after you’ve gotten up to speed set some goals for yourself before each session so you can focus your creative energy better.

Practice without Garage Band. Before you go to record a song, sit down and practice it untill you have mastered it. Play along with the built in metronome so you can master playing in time. Learn to play it at a faster tempo so that when you slow it down to its intended tempo, you can play it with ease. If you are using a software instrument then it is impossible not to practice using Garage Band, but don’t record it. The point here is to switch back and forth between practicing and recording. This will save time and help you record the perfect track.

Think rhythm and melody. When I am composing music with Garage Band I like to arrange the song around either the melody or the rhythm. I love the blues, so I usually compose the melody on the guitar and then create the rest of the parts around it. I also get good resultw when I come up with a rhythm on the drums or bass and then arrange the song around it. Everybody has a different songwriting style, but these are two very commonly used techniques.

Update:
People are starting to digg me! If you read this article and you like it I would be eternally grateful if you digg it! Click here to do so. Thanks!

I feel a little guilty about the previous post. It promotes eating junk food and one should never try it at home. So in an attempt redeem myself, here is a really useful application that leverages Google Maps API to help you plot courses for walking, jogging and running. You can view the length of any jogging route easily and guage how long it would take you to walk, jog or run it. It allows you to save courses and view courses that others have saved so its a great resource to find new routes. What an incredibly useful application of Google Maps.

If you are a fan of In-N-Out burger you’ve undoubtebly heard of the double double. If not, a double double is a burger made of double meat and double cheese. Well on a weekend party excursion to Las Vegas some kids decided they must try the 100×100. Let me do the math for you, 100 patties and 100 slices of cheese! O yum! Here are the stats:

• Total calories (extrapolating from info provided here): 19490 calories
• Total eaters 8 (2 girls and one guy who already ate dinner and only ate 6 patties)
• Time to finish : less then 2 hours
• Number of people who barfed : 1