I found a new search engine that uses an interesting idea. When you first go to the website, msdewey.com, you are greeted by a woman avatar. When you search for terms she will say different things according to what you search for. Janina Gavankar is the model who plays the avatar and really makes this project unique and sexy! The search results come from microsoft live and it seems like it’s a test from microsoft to have some fun. This site isn’t very useful but it shows what can be done in the future. I still search with google. If you want to see some of the funnier stuff that this avatar will do then type in the following for your search terms [Updated 10/26/06]:

halo 2
murder
ho
Janina Gavankar
how to fight a ninja
what is your name
how to do the robot
george bush
storm
How old are you
dick cheney
what are you

Technorati Tags: microsoft, search, internet, Janina Gavankar

Want to try out the new Yahoo Mail Beta? Wasn’t invited to try it out or don’t know how to try it? I found a post on makeyougohmm.com that explains how to do it for anyone outside of the United Kingdom. Just need to change your location to English: United Kingdom and get the invitation. Can always change your location back and still have access. If you don’t like the beta version then you can switch back to the current version. The new beta version is nice. Similar to outlook and can be used with the keyboard easily. Try it out and see what you think!

Technorati Tags: yahoo, mail, beta, yahoo mail, johnramirez

If you ever found yourself trying to make a web page with matching colors then I found something for you. It’s called colorMatch Remix! Sometimes when I am building a web page or doing graphic work I find myself using weird colors together. I don’t have a good eye on what colors go with other colors. I constantly find myself going a bit too crazy with the colors. When I found this site I bookmarked it quickly and figured I should post it here for anyone else who needs this help. You just pick a favorite color and it will give you back 6 other colors that will match the original color. Really nice and I’ll be using it from now on!

These past months I have been playing games in a virtual world called Second Life. It’s not exactly a game because there is no goal. It’s mostly a platform where users can create anything they want with the tools provided. I signed up at the beginning of this year and have been satisfied with it. I am on their free account which allows you to log in as much as you want, use anything in the game except for owning land. If you want land then you must pay for their premium account which is $9.95 per month.

It’s hard to explain how much you can do inside the game unless you try it. Here’s an article from business week about second life. It will explain a lot to the new users. Some of the games I have played inside second life are, Slingo, Tringo, Blackjack, Slot machines, War and Quintzee. All these games have been created from regular users. There are plenty of other games that I haven’t played yet and more are being created all the time. You can also buy cars, planes, clothes, furniture and gadgets for your avatar inside the virtual world. The one thing that makes this world different than others is you can buy Lindens(game money) with real money and you can sell Lindens for real money. This brings in some business minded people. Some ways of making money in the game is creating objects that others would buy, making scripts for games or vehicles, buying lindens at a low price and selling them for a high price, buying land to place games on and making money from them when people play and escorts or stripping. Yes this is a mature platform and can be used for anything that is legal. No one under 18 can sign up and use second life unless they use the teen grid which is not connected to the mature grid at all. In  the mature grid there are PG places also so not all of it is adult.

I’ve been using second life for entertainment. There are some singers and musicians who play live in certain places. These aren’t wannabe singers. They are very professional and give a great entertainment value. I also play the games for fun too. I haven’t found a business plan for myself in the game just yet but still thinking all the time. I use the name, JohnnyRS Hoggard, in the game. Join up and have fun for free or pay for some nice privileges.

Technorati Tags: second life, games, gaming life, virtual world

There have been a couple of times I needed to find stuff on my computer fast! The windows searching capabilities are terrible. Bad Microsoft! I tried Google Desktop a little while ago and I liked it but rarely ever used it. I keep forgetting I have it installed. So When I heard about the new Google Desktop I needed to try it. It now has a docking capability that has plugins that can add other benefits. I have a 19in monitor so I can give up desktop space. I actually have two monitors with two computers on my desk so I can easily give up space on one of my monitors.
I‘ve been happy with Yahoo’s Konfabulator with it’s widgets. Some widgets from there are very useful like website monitor and a timer. One thing it doesn’t have is a way to dock them to the side of the desktop. I don’t like having to resize my windows so I can see the widgets. I don’t want to see a widget over something I am trying to read. Now if google desktop had more plugins like the widgets from yahoo it would be perfect for me. So at this time I can see some benefits to Google desktop but it’s not exactly what I need at this time. I will keep using Konfabulator and google desktop as just a searching capability for now.

Technorati Tags: Konfabulator, google desktop, Google, yahoo, johnramirez

I love Role Playing Games and free games are the best. I remember being on a boy scout camping trip and some of us played dungeons and dragons. That was the first time I ever learned about role playing games. Then I found the Internet where MUDS were the big things. These were text based only. No graphics at all. When I found a local BBS with a very good RPG I knew I was hooked. This one was called Tele-Arena and spent days leveling up my character. The best part of most of these games is the fact you can join others to play. But sometimes I like playing by myself like Diablo.

I recently found a game called runescape. Played it for days also and have a good character now. It’s a fun game with plenty of adventures. Some of these online games have added features by paying. I like that very much. I haven’t bought a Online RPG game or payed monthly for one yet. Everquest would probably be fun but paying monthly to play it will just make me addicted and less willing to stop. I rather play the free games and when I find one that I love then I can pay for added benefits when I can.

Here is a link to some free RPG games. I still haven’t tried all these games but I will try them soon. Maybe I’ll write some reviews of them later.

Check this link out for a funny clip of dungeons and dragons

Technorati Tags: Role Playing Games, dungeons and dragons, MUDS, RPG, Tele-Arena, Diablo, runescape, Everquest, johnramirez

Many years ago I found a TV Program called “Call for Help” on Techtv. This program taught me a lot and was a great show to tell others about. It’s a show that really made the complicated world of technology and computers as easy as possible. Viewers would call in to get help with their computer problems. It was a fun show even if they talked about stuff that I already knew about.
One day G4 and Techtv merged but dropped “Call for help” on their cable network. They also dropped lot of other good shows as well. I stopped watching G4techtv and never came back. Leo Laporte was the host of the show when it was on Techtv. Little after the merge “Call for help” was showing on G4techtv up in Canada but not here in America. I was glad Leo was still doing the show but really wanted to watch the show. Recently I found out the show is coming back to America and going to be shown on G4tv . This is fantastic and I might start watching G4 again but I still have a bad taste in my mouth. This show should have been in the lineup at the beginning of the merge not after all this time. Well maybe some of the better Techtv hosts and shows will be returned also. My guess would be No.

Quote From Leo Laporte himself:

Starting August 29 CFH will be on G4 weekdays at 11a Eastern/8a Pacific and weekends at 6 and 7a Eastern. If enough of you watch I’m sure we’ll be able to move to a better spot in the schedule.

Technorati Tags: techtv, leo laporte, techtv, g4techtv, call for help, television, geek

   Couple of times I’ll go into the yahoo chats and see what is up. Recently the user created chat rooms have been down. This action was probably because of a report on a TV station about chat rooms geared to pedophilia. I feel it is good for them to pay more attention in this area. They let things go for way too long. I remember noticing those chat rooms many years ago when my nieces were looking to chat on the internet. I’m glad the sponsors finally pulled the plug but they should have checked where their ads were in the first place.

   The only sad thing about this is other non sexual chat rooms were shut down also. It’s been over a week now and haven’t seen any changed yet. Hope they will bring the chat rooms back. Was a good place to chat with others instead of going through IRC. IRC has been around for years, ever since the internet was born. It’s a good chat interface but not a lot of every day folks find it. When the MSN chat rooms closed a couple of years ago, everyone went to the yahoo rooms. They are perfect because it’s on the Yahoo messenger. Easy to access. That was the problem because it allowed children easy access and the predators came as well. Yahoo should just have a couple people checking rooms all the time. People who create bad rooms can get banned. It’s easy. I use to help out on a family oriented board and had to be always aware of who is who. I’m sure Yahoo can hire some people to check the room names at least.

Technorati Tags: chat rooms, IRC, yahoo, chat, chatroom, johnramirez