Stephen's Untold Stories

I think it’s about time for this.

Ending a longstanding tradition, Microsoft Corp. plans to stop using
the word “my” as the default prefix for such folders as “My Documents,”
“My Music,” “My Pictures” and others along those lines. Starting in the
next Windows version, due out next year, folders will be known simply
as “Documents,” “Music,” and so on.

Link: Microsoft Notebook: The end of ‘my’ is nigh.

The number of great sites for using Google Maps just continues to grow.

Baseball Stadiums Tour

Yes, I ‘m a big astronomy buff. (Nerd alert!)

Nevertheless, this is really fascinating:

We
know less about our nearest galactic neighbor than thought, astronomers
announced today. A map of the outer suburbs of the Andromeda galaxy
finds that its rotating disk of stars is three times bigger than
previously measured.

Link to article

This looks interesting:

Nokia Corp is introducing a handheld tablet for web-browsing over a wireless broadband connection.

It’s the company’s first non-phone mobile device and the latest in a long
line of attempts to create a so-called “internet appliance” for quick
online access around the home.

Priced at $US350, the Internet Tablet is being positioned as
an alternative to buying an extra personal computer or laptop for
different rooms, providing a cheaper, quicker and less-cumbersome way
to connect to the web and email at home.

There’s no hard drive but rather 128 megabytes of onboard flash memory and a memory card
slot. Nokia says the device is not intended as a rival to Apple
Computer Inc’s iPod or other MP3 music players. A software update is
expected early next year to add features such as voice-over-internet
telephony and instant messaging.

Link to article

Here is an interesting article about hoaxes in history. Here is a good example:

Consider, for example, the Gold Rush saga of Charley Parkhurst, a cigar-
chomping stagecoach driver renowned as such a tough guy that robbers never
bothered his stage.

It was only after his death that the locals realized they had been duped:
Charley was actually Charlotte, who had lived in disguised gender since her
childhood years as a runaway orphan.

Link to Article

Here is an interesting article about the Microsoft/Netscape Issue regarding how Netscape 8 is causing problems for Internet Explorer.

According to figures from w3schools.com which is a
site frequented by the Browser elite, Netscape is not even a pimple on
a mole. For them, the real browser battle is between Microsoft IE and Firefox. Microsoft makes up 65% of use while Firefox is now up to 25%.

Link: BayouBuzz.com

Microsoft Says IE 7′s Tabs Just ‘Catch Up’

Microsoft on Thursday divulged a few more details about its upcoming Internet Explorer 7, and admitted that its
implementation of tabs — one of the most-requested new features –
will be just “catch-up” to rivals such as Firefox and Opera.

Users will be able to open links in a new tab by middle-clicking on a
three-button mouse, or Ctrl-clicking links. Keyboard shortcuts will be
available for switching between tabs — Firefox,
for instance, uses Ctrl-Tab — and users will be allowed to open tabs
in the background or foreground, or open them in a new window.

Very interesting!

Link: InfoWorld: Microsoft recommends uninstalling Netscape 8.

Microsoft is calling for Internet Explorer users to uninstall the new Netscape 8 because a bug in AOL’s browser can interfere with the display of XML content in IE.

Who would have thought that something to do with AOL could go wrong??

This site has some good tutorials for Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Photoshop.

WebThang

This keyboard has no characters displayed on the keys.

Intel Corp. unveiled its first mainstream home PC microprocessor with two computing engines on a single chip Thursday and vowed to sell millions of them by the end of the year.

The Pentium D processor and supporting chips will target home computer users, particularly those who run more than one program at once or have software that is designed to take advantage of the extra computing horsepower of the chips’ dual cores.

Link to article

I will attend my first Braves game of 2005 tonight at Turner Field.

I need to get one of these new hats!

Okay, try to keep up here!

“First, the Palm brand name is reverting to PalmOne, the company that
makes Palm hardware–and PalmOne is going to change its name to Palm,
Inc. as soon as possible. PalmOne, which co-owned the brand with
PalmSource, announced in a news release that it has paid PalmSource $30
million for its stake in the company that owns the Palm trademark.”

Got it?

Link to article

Some very cool stuff happened on today’s date in baseball. A few examples:

• 1918 — Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski pitched 19 innings in the Indians’ 3-2 victory over the Yankees.
• 1936 — Tony Lazzeri, batting eighth for the New York Yankees, drove in
  11 runs with a triple and three home runs — two of them grand slams —
  in a 25-2 rout of the Philadelphia A’s.
• 1994 — The St. Louis Cardinals set a major league record by stranding 16 runners without scoring,
  losing to David West and three Philadelphia Phillies relievers 4-0.

Here is the complete list.

Another great use of Google Maps!Cheap Gas

The New York Times has an extensive selection of lesson plans online. The price? Free!! Unlike some lesson plan sites, these were actually written by teachers. You will find objectives, resources, activities, and even assessments for each lesson.

Here is the link.

Here is a site with lots of photos of odd animal combinations.

Link to site.

This is a fascinating account of the 1965 recording session of Bob Dylan’s landmark song.

Here is the link.

This is very interesting. There is also an animated version.

Map of Human Population

I have used this for a while. It’s called the Belarc Advisor, and it compiles a list of all hardware and software on your system. It works on Windows only, and it displays the results in your web browser. No information is sent to any Web Server, however.

Belarc Advisor