I came across an interesting article on Wired’s web site. Apparently, MySpace users are choosing more secure passwords for their accounts than most people use in corporate settings. It is a rather stimulating read, citing multiple password phishing experiments, and showing that the majority of MySpace users, while still using rather simplistic passwords, are actually, for the most part, following the rules of good password creation. The majority of the passwords found on this phishing expedition were 7 or 8 characters long (48% of the users), and included a mix of alpha and numeric characters (81% of the users).

To read the entire article, check it out at Wired.

Nintendo is now battling the concerns people have about weak wrist straps on their Wii remotes by issuing new safety warnings. I found the following message in my email inbox this afternoon:

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So I decided to take a look at Beginning CSS Development: From Novice to Professional. I must say that coming into this book, I wasn’t expecting much. I thought it would be all about complete beginner CSS stuff, but boy was I wrong! This book’s title is very misleading. It is perfect for beginners, experts, and everyone in between.

Through all of his experience, from his work, and all of the articles that he has written, Simon Collison does an amazing job on explaining things, and I have yet to see anyone who does a better job. As the book starts, he goes over everything basic. What things are, when you should use them, and how you should use them. Everything is paced so nicely, and it’s extremely easy to follow.

Through part one, of the book, he explains all of the basics. Then, in part two, he addresses layouts. He goes on to explain a lot of things, which many intermediate CSS developers may be a foggy on. He does a great job addressing a lot of issues, and provides examples and uses for everything. If you’ve ever had problems with CSS, I can almost guarantee there is some kind of help, in part two of this book.

Simon really covered a lot in this book. He covered stuff about core concepts, text, color, backgrounds, images, lists, links, tables, forms, and layout. Each one of these things has their own chapter. In each chapter, everything is looked upon, in depth. This is why I really like the book. While everything is covered in depth, it is all really easy to follow, and understand.

So if you’re a beginner, you NEED to get this book! This book explains everything you need to know, about the basics, and expands on everything.

If you’re an intermediate CSS developer, you should definitely get this book, it will elaborate on many things, of which may be confusing you, and will help take you to the next level.

If you’re an absolute pro, and know everything about CSS, you should still get this book, it will probably have a lot of different view points on different elements of CSS, than the you have yourself. Just learning things from a different view, can be very helpful.

My final thoughts on this book, are that it is a “MUST HAVE” regardless of your CSS experience. I really loved this book, and I suggest it to anybody, and everybody who is looking to learn CSS.

  Product Rating:
 
Company:

  Apress

Requirements:

  n/a

Pricing:

  $34.99

Reviewed by:

  Jake Dahn

Competition:

  n/a

Pros:

  Great for beginners, Great for experienced CSS developers, Packed full of easy to follow information.

Cons:

  Only con is Cost, but the book is well worth the price!

Bottom Line:

  A must-have book for your CSS collection

I just took a look at my Analytics Reports for a few of my web sites, and noticed a very interesting trend. Keep in mind that these two sites deal mostly with video games, so we are more likely to have an audience of computer geeks than a lot of other sites, but it is rather interesting to see just how close the race between IE and Firefox is. Just a handful of users make up the difference between the two browsers.

DCEvolution.net browser stats:

DCHelp.net browser stats:

I just recently got an Internet-capable PocketPC, and I was amazed to find how many web sites are truly unfriendly toward those types of devices.

Google, so far, is the only site I’ve browsed that specifically caters to handheld devices. MapQuest is still usable on handhelds, but it’s not very pretty. Yahoo! is almost completely worthless on my handheld, especially when trying to mess around with my Yahoo! mail.

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Being that I just installed Corel Paint Shop Pro XI late last night, I still have yet to write a review of the software. However, I did want to make everyone aware of a fantastic new feature that’s been added to this version of PSP.

Within the new Browser palette (which is now called the “Organizer”), there is a calendar. As you can see in the image, days on which new images were added (based on the “File Creation Date”) will be marked in red. If you click on a red day, it will show all images added on that day in the “Organizer” (formerly known as Browser) window.

I don’t know if this type of feature is available in other programs, yet. I suspect it is probably available in programs like Picasa, but I really haven’t played much with them, nor have I installed any versions of PhotoShop since 7.

However, the fact that this is one of the first features you notice when you install PSP XI is great, in my opinion. The Organizer window is one of the default palettes/toolbars docked on your screen when you first install PSP XI, so it’s very easy to play with the new features they’ve added.

In addition to the Calendar Search, Corel also added a zoom-bar, so that you can easily make the thumbnails in the Organizer window larger or smaller. Supposedly that was a feature that they added in PSP X, but I never found it. In PSP XI, it is one of the first things I noticed.

I will be posting a proper review of PSP XI when I get a chance to write it, but this feature had me so impressed, I simply had to post about it now.

1Up.com has posted a blog entry highlighting the 10 complaints their staff has had about the new Nintendo Wii game console. I have some comments to supplement that article.

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