Moved to my own domain. http://alanle.net/blog/

I have been using del.icio.us to keep track of my bookmarks for the past few 2 years. I now have over 2,000 links bookmarked! With del.icio.us, having that many bookmarks is still very manageable. The folksonomy system with tags allow me to quickly find the links that I want to look for from my bookmarks.

A few months back, the del.icio.us team released an extension that tightly integrate my bookmarks with Firefox to make accessing my bookmarks and links an even better experience. In fact, tagging links that I like is part of my browsing experience now. Everything is seamless.

I don’t have to deal with browser-based bookmarks or putting links inside of folders. I can view my bookmarks from any computer. The only time I need links is when I’m connected to the Internet, so offline access is a no-issue.

With del.icio.us, my links are always at my fingertips. The are a bunch of other ways that I use del.icio.ussuch as finding new useful links but I’ll save that for another post.

http://blog.del.icio.us/blog/2007/04/making_firefox_.html

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3615

This video shows an informative visualization of the U.S. Civil War. It animates the frontlines, battles, and casualties.

via Reddit

The traffic around the MacArthur Maze is still really bad due to re-construction of the collapsed freeway.  I drove by last night at around 8:30pm and the traffic was still there.

You can see the traffic in the screenshot of the Live Traffic gadget. The MacArthur Maze sits in the center of the map.

I was trying to check out the new synth of Gyeongbok Palace on Photosynth and got the following error message. Hey at least they’re honest.

Multi Meter

I’ve been using Windows Vista for awhile now and the Sidebar is one of my favorite features. I continually want to know the status of my system as well as other information that I find useful. The Gadgets gives me this information at a glance.

Since the Sidebar and gadget is also there on the desktop, I want them to be informative but not distracting. I customized the opacity of all the gadgets in my Sidebar to 40%. If I want to focus on a gadget I just hover my mouse over it.

Here are some of the Sidebar Gadgets that I use.

Multi Meter displays CPU and RAM usage in an aesthetic way with percentages and bar graphs. The bar graphs are color coded for additional information. This gadget, like all the gadgets by SFKilla from the Hobby Lounge, even supports multiple skins. Double-clicking on this gadget will quickly bring up the Task manager. I often check this gadget when Vista is being unresponsive.

CPU Utilization

Like Multi Meter and as it name implies, the CPU Utilization gadget displays CPU usage but presented in typical linegraph form as displayed in the Task Manager.

Ping Gadget

Latency is important is important to me. The Ping gadget will graph the ping query to a specified site. I can also tell if my internet is down or not from this gadget. I use to open a command prompt and leave it open with the “ping -t http://www.google.com”. This gadget replaces doing just that.

Weather and Slide Show Gadgets

The Weather and Slideshow gadgets are the only gadgets that ships with Vista that I use.

The Weather gadget is appealing to look it. I can immediate tell if it’s sunny, cloudy, or raining outside based on the gadgets background while I’m stuck inside the office. Knowing the local temperature is also useful.

The Slide Show gadget is pleasing to look at. I point it to my collection of wallpaper photos. It great for a minor distraction and often times inspiring to look at.

Traffic by Live Search Maps

Traffic by Live Search Maps is useful right before heading home from work. My commute takes me by the MacArthur Maze in Oakland. I use this gadget to gauge how long my commute will be. On days where I see long stretches of red, I stay a little later at work to be more productive so that the traffic can clear up.

Magnetosphere is a new iTunes visualizer that’s very mesmerizing. It’s like watching a great fireworks show. I got back into Electronica recently and this visualizer matches that genre really well. If you’re using iTunes as your music player this visualizer is a must-have.

On the way to the airport, we had to go by the MacArthur Maze past the section of freeway that was melted. I got a chance to take a few quick shots.