Michael Jackson that is and I just want to say a few words.

On July 25, 2009 an icon so big has passed away that we probably won’t see another of the likes of this every again. Hands down the most iconic person that ever lived.  There is no match when it comes to worldwide fame.  Even after death he controls the airways worldwide and this story will be around for a while.

The King of Pop changed the world in so many ways with his music, dance, humanitarian efforts and so much more. His global reach is almost unfathomable and his influences will continue to live on through many musicians and dancers.

Upon news of his possible death in the age Internet, MJ crippled internet giants Twitter and Facebook.  Some even say the Michael literally slowed down the Internet (not really).

Even through tough personal tribulations in the last decade or so, he was beloved by so many around the world. I can remember the how cool I thought the Beat It and Thriller videos were back in the day and they still rock.

I’ve been privileged enough to have witnessed the era of an icon that was larger than life.  May the King of Pop rest in peace.

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The new prototype of the CrunchPad from TechCrunch is out.  Today was the first time I read about this web tablet and it’s almost exactly what I’m looking for.  I’ve been waiting for an internet tablet device similar to the iPod Touch but bigger and this may be the answer to that, but the rumors of a Apple netbook is still very intriquing to me.

Specifically made for the internet it just runs a browser with associated apps.  All I want is to be able to do is check email, use Google Reader, watch YouTube and Hulu and listen to Rhapsody in portable device as shift my focus to having everything available on the internet.   The CrunchPad could be the device I’m looking for.

Price seems to be reasonable starting at $300, I can’t wait to hear more about the CrunchPad.

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I see all these iPod commercials and I have no idea what song they are featuring in them. They should spell it out in the commercials to promote the artists. Anyways a quick search and all my questions were answered when I found the following list on Wikipedia of all the iPod commercials and the songs that were featured.

See the complete Wikipedia article here.

That’s an impressive list of artist. I had no idea they had that many iPod commercials. No more wondering what songs are in those iPod commercials, mission complete.

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I was deleting spam in my gmail and I noticed the following ad for “Ear Wax Candle” and I was like no freaking way.  Well it was true and my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.  I took the following screenshot.

I couldn’t get over that someone would really be selling a “Ear Wax Candle”, that’s just plain disgusting and you’d need a lot of ear wax were my first thoughts.  Upon further investigation after I took the screen shot of the ad, they are selling “Ear Candles”.  I’m assuming it’s an ear candle made from wax and not candles made from ear wax.

This example shows the importance of reading your ads in different ways or getting a different set of eyes to read it.  It all makes sense to me now but at first it just didn’t set right with me that someone would be selling something like that.  Also, I could be wrong and Ear-Candle.net may have done this on purpose to get peoples attention.

Anyways this ad caught my attention and it’s something to think about when you’re writing ads.

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INTERNET EXPLORER TOTALLY BLOWS

From a web designers perspective, IE really sucks and specifically IE7 and lower. With the recent release of IE 8 it will certainly be better but as of March 2009 there are still 41% (via w3Schools.com/browsers) of people still using IE7 and lower. The sad thing is people are still using IE6 in that percentage too.

Why does Internet Explorer suck? It basically sucks at rendering webpages and isn’t compliant with w3c standards.  Until the release of IE8, Internet Explorer was so far behind in web browsing standards.  This just creates extra work for developers because they not only have to develop for one brower, they have develop for multiple browsers becaues IE wants to be different and be sucky.  This will continue to be problem for while until the old IE browsers are phased out which may not be for a few years.

As we were developing the new Detailed Image site, coming soon, we ran into some wacky problems that can’t be ignored because there is still such a large percentage of people using IE7 and lower.  IE has been such a pain in the ass, so I want to share the problems that I’ve encountered while developing the new Detailed Image for Internet Explorer.

Stupid IE Problems

• PNG image transparency support.  This has been a known problem with Internet Explorer for a long time and even with the release of IE7 it wasn’t fixed.
• In IE7 a repeating transparent PNG image will cripple the browser.  This problem freaked me out because this could’ve meant developing a whole new design for IE7 and lower.
• In IE6 and lower there are major problems rendering css padding and margin.
• When using a css list style image as your default list style, list-style:none will not work.  You must use list-style-image:none.
• CSS list-style-position inside and outside may create funky list layouts.
• No CSS table support in IE7 and lower.  CSS tables are the future of  web design.

Those are some stupid problems that IE creates for web developers.

If you’re developing for Internet Explorer a must have tool for is IE Tester.  IE Tester is a great tool that lets you view websites from IE5.5 – IE8.  You can also add the plugin DebugBar for easier debugging of IE problems but this is in no way comparable to the Firefox plugin Firebug,  where you can make lives changes to a webpage which I highly recommend for web developing.

On the new Detailed Image we’re making a push for people to upgrade their browsers if they are using IE7 or lower with a subtle message at the top of the site and warning sign.

Users of IE7 or lower please upgrade your browser for a safer and better internet browsing experience.

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I’ve been using Dropbox for a little while now and it’s a fantastic application that gets the job done.  Right now I’m using it for storage and back up and I can’t get over how simple it is to use.

The simplicity behind Dropbox is what I really love about it.  It’s just  another folder on my desktop that runs in the background that syncs online and that’s it.  I downloaded, installed it and then I was using it within minutes.

I currently use it on my laptop as storage for personal files and to back up some work files.  That’s only the basics of what Dropbox can do.

Dropbox Features:

• Simple interface that runs in the background
• Syncs files automatically to computers and web
• Multiple computer access
• Tracks changes made to your files
• Online access
• File sharing
• Photo gallery and picture sharing

Everything that Dropbox offers is exactly what I pictured as the perfect online storage application, plus a little more.

Dropbox also gives you 2gb for FREE and if you do need additional storage they do offer additional space for a monthly or annual fee.

I really believe everything will be online one day and this is just another step closer to it.

Like Dropbox says “It Just Works” and that’s why it’s so great about it. Go check out Dropbox at GetDropbox.com, they have a great screen cast and tour.

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