DavidBreyer.Com

A friend of mine, Derek Reynolds, was recently lamenting the non-existent spell checker for Wordpress. Due to a missing php library from his host, no spell check plugin would work. Well here’s the solution to his problem and possibly yours.

Google has released a toolbar for Firefox. Embedded in the toolbar is a spell checker that will check all the form fields on the current page. If it finds something it thinks is misspelled, it will highlight it in red. But that’s not all. You can click on the word and it will offer suggestions. Now how cool is that?

It’s not just for English either, it does German, Spanish, French, and more.

Other than that it’s just like the toolbar for I.E. excepts it’s missing the popup blocker. Since Firefox already has a excellent popup blocker, there was no need to add one. Also the spell check feature maybe in the Google toolbar for I.E. But I wouldn’t know, I use Firefox.

So I hope you are happy now Derek.

Google has released Google Earth into beta. This amazing, and free, program let’s you zoom down to anywhere on Earth. It has numerous layers, such as Crime Stats, Census, 3-D buildings, roads, schools, parks, etc.

From the web site:

Google Earth puts a planet’s worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop. View exotic locales like Maui and Paris as well as points of interest such as local restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more.

Here you can see a view of the Cincinnati riverfront, with 3-D buildings and highlighted roads.

There are several levels to Google Earth, ranging from free (for home use), Google Earth Plus, and Google Earth Pro. Each level increases the number of features, but also increases the price.

Google Earth gives the user some features not found in online mapping tools. Google Earth will let the user mark and store custom locations on the map. The software even includes the ability to email a screen shot through Gmail or another email program.

It appears that this product replaces Keyhole, which Google purchased last year. Keyhole was a subscription only service. It’s good to see Google give us a free version of the software.

All images are said to be taken in the last 3 years. And images are updated on a rolling basis. Based on the look of it, my neighborhood pictures are around 1 year old.

On a side note you will need a fairly powerful machine. Google recommends the following:

More specifics about what you need to run Google Earth…

Minimum configuration:

* Operating system: Windows 2000, Windows XP
* CPU speed: Intel® Pentium® PIII 500 MHz
* System memory (RAM): 128MB
* 200MB hard-disk space
* 3D graphics card: 3D-capable video card with 16MB VRAM
* 1024×768, 32-bit true color screen
* Network speed: 128 kbps (”Broadband/Cable Internet”)

Recommended configuration:

* Operating system: Windows XP
* CPU speed: Intel® Pentium® P4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
* System memory (RAM): 512MB
* 2GB hard-disk space
* 3D graphics card: 3D-capable video card with 32MB VRAM or greater
* 1280×1024, 32-bit true color screen
* Network speed: 128 kbps (”Broadband/Cable Internet”)

This is a general social survey of the greater weblog community being conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our goal is to help understand the way that weblogs are affecting the way we communicate with each other. Specifically we are interested in issues of demographics, communication behaviors, experience with weblogs and other technology, and the meaning of various types of social links within the blogosphere.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and we are asking anyone with a weblog to participate. The larger the sample of individuals we can get, the better our picture of the community will be.

Help the blogging community and take the survey. Once you are done you can check the results.

Sure G4 is the new MTV, full of mindless garbage. The Whip Set anyone? But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. With these links YOU TOO CAN recreate the experience of having actual INTELLIGENT content to watch (or listen to.)

These are placed in order of how I rank them.

1. This Week In Tech - The end all be all of tech podcasts. No more needs to be said. You know what this is, everyone knows one this is.
2. Open Source - Open Source will not be a show about blogs. It will use blogs to be a show about the world. Deep stuff. This NPR show features a mix of technology, politics, and society in general. [Updated!]
3. Call For Help - This show is only available in Canada (for some odd reason.) So we are lucky some kind soul records and seeds each one. (BitTorrent required.)
4. CommandN - A show by Amber MacArthur (from the new Call For Help) that showcases latest web sites and technology. Very well done, and released on a regular basis. Keep it up! (P.S. Please setup an RSS feed so iPodder can automatically get these. Ask and you shall receive. Let’s thank Brian for the RSS Feed to CommandN. BitTorrent required.) [Updated!]
5. MacCast - Mac only podcast full of great information. I routinely listen to this podcast, and I don’t even have a Mac (yet.)
6. Systm - A Kevin Rose original, only two episodes have been released. Let’s hope they get more out soon.
7. From the Shadows - I haven’t actually watched these, but they are by Yoshi (of TSS fame), so they must be good.
8. The Broken - Another Kevin Rose show, which went defunct after 3 episodes. He says more will be released, but only time will tell. And I actually have problems getting to this site today.

Let’s hope more content like this springs up. With the current success TWIT, I would say people are clamoring for this stuff.

Not sure how accurate a 16 question test can be, but who am I to argue. But I am still not as smart as this guy.

Your IQ Is 125

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Above Average