Xatal

So recently I unveiled several “beta” designs for Xatal. There, I explained that I was considering modifying the current theme. My main problem with the current design is that it’s just not very flexible — I’m limited to a sidebar and a main box, and my footer isn’t much at all. I’d like more space to be able to shift content around better as needed without having a sidebar that stretches for miles.

So I decided to work on the current theme and come up with a prospective modification, and here’s what I came up with. It, like the others, is not quite finished yet, but there’s enough there to give a basic idea of it.

Currently, the other design in the lead is Design #2, and Design #1 is right behind that.

I’ve asked around on several forums to try to get as many opinions as possible, and mainly it’s been pretty close amongst the three, with #2 slightly in the lead.

But you guys are my readers — not them! I want to hear what you have to say!

What do you want Xatal to look like?

Putting videos on your iPod from YouTube used to be a painful process

One of the best upgrades the iPod ever received was the ability to playback videos. Even though the screen is small, long videos are surprisingly easy to watch on the small screen.

Long movies are great for long trips, but short movies are always fun to have on your iPod as well, whether for showing your friends or just for your own amusement. YouTube (and other video sites) provides a never-ending supply of entertaining short videos.

But downloading videos from YouTube is tough, and iPods are picky about the types of files they’ll play back. These combine to make it a tricky process to bring videos from your Internet browser to your iPod screen. Many programs offer the ability to transfer and convert files simply, but most of them are excessively-complicated, cost money, and/or don’t work very well.

Luckily, there’s a simple two-step solution that’s free, effective, and simple: Keep reading »

Playing guitar is a fun hobby, and nobody wants to give up playing just because they’re leaving for college. It’s very possible (and easy) to take your hobby with you when you leave for school, but you want to be smart about it.

Choosing which guitar to bring, what kind of guitar to bring, and (possibly) what kind of an amplifier to bring can be tough choices. If you want to make sure that you can safely bring your hobby with you, make sure you choose carefully.

Should I bring an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar to college?

First, choose between bringing an electric and an acoustic guitar.

In deciding what kind of guitar to bring with you, you should first consider the type of music you like to play. That should matter first. If you normally only play with heavy distortion, you won’t really get any satisfaction out of bringing just an acoustic. Your choice should come first and foremost down to what kind of music you’re into playing.

Acoustic guitars tend to be more “social” in a college setting… it’s not uncommon to see students outside playing their guitar on a bench. Acoustic guitars are louder and more portable. If you’re interested in playing with people in a casual setting, an acoustic guitar would be wonderful.

Electric guitars are more of a hassle, since you need to bring an amplifier to make them worth taking… an electric guitar that’s unplugged won’t be much use. Electric guitars aren’t quite as social as acoustic guitars since you’re limited to where there is an electric outlet, so for the most part your playing will only be indoors. But you may find other students with electric equipment, and if you’re interested in starting a band, an electric guitar will come in handy.

You could, of course, bring both, but be aware that you’ll now have two guitars to keep an eye out for.

Keep reading »

Recently, one of my friends recommended that I try playing AudioSurf. I’ve heard the name before, but never really looked into just what it was. I finally decided I should give it a go, and I downloaded the demo.

I’m hooked.

Basically, you load a song from your computer and the song is analyzed. The course you run is based on the song — more mellow parts are slower and simple, but the intense parts are faster. Your goal is to collect colored blocks into your grid — trying to get three in a row in some way to eliminate them. It sounds a bit weird, but play it through a couple of times and it will make sense.

Admittedly, it does cost $10 and isn’t freeware, but it’s definitely worth it. I bought it on Steam, and I rarely ever buy games these days. I’ve been playing it almost nonstop.

If you’re looking for a fun game that uses your music, it’s definitely worth looking into. Check it out here.

I thought I had found a new and exciting agame, but after asking a bunch of my firends if they’ve heard of it, I found out it’s old news. I’m usually the one who finds out about weird little Internet games (see: Fantastic Contraption), but somehow I’d overlooked this one.

If you’re into metal, Opeth is a great band to use songs from, since they have so many transitions in their songs. The popular songs that the game lists are also pretty good too.

Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and others are always a ton of fun. Nowadays, they’re used more than ever to communicate with friends online and to meet new people. If you’re reading this blog, chances are pretty good that you have a profile on Facebook or MySpace.

The problem with such social networking sites is that they provide immediate access to your information for someone who only knows your name.

Everyone hears talk about stalkers, pedophiles, and sexual predators online, and by now we’re all used to the warnings about disclosing information to absolute strangers. This is nothing new.

But what about people who are just interested in looking at your profile to learn more about you? People who don’t really know the real you, but want to? Yeah, secret admirers will do this, but can you think of anyone else who might want to learn more about the real you?

How about colleges? How about possible employers?

Keep reading »

So as of today, I’m back in Santa Cruz for another action-packed quarter. Winter break was pretty fun, but it went by far too fast. It feels weird being back.

Classes start tomorrow, but my schedule for this quarter is pretty easy on Tuesdays, so it’s going to be a gradual start for me. Here goes nothing!

Oh God.

You've got mail!

So I have several e-mail accounts for xatal.com, most of which forward e-mails right to my Gmail account, where I handle all of my e-mail.

Recently, I noticed that for some reason my disk space usage for e-mail was incredibly high when compared to everything else. I couldn’t figure out why until I took a look.

I realized that all of the e-mail that’s sent to a nonexistent account is still kept around. I also realized that I had a cron job (basically, a scheduled task) that was designed to run every ten minutes still set to on, and it’s been going for the last couple of years. Whoops.

Cleaning it out took quite a while.

So I’ve finally managed to make a few beta designs for Xatal. I’m definitely not a designer — and the designs definitely reflect this — but I am still semi-proud of them.

Like anything else that a person works on for a long time, I have a hard time seeing fundamental flaws with things, since I’m so accustomed to seeing it. That’s why I’d love to have some opinions from readers and other bloggers about the designs.

All of these are beta designs. I just want a general idea of which one to focus on. For whichever design is chosen, I would definitely spruce it up more than it is — adding better graphics, better logos, and so forth. I just don’t want to pour a lot of time into something that might not even go through. I just want a starting point. The content is all sample content, things would change on a real design of course.

Also worth considering is the option of keeping the current design, or modifying it in some way.

Personally, I don’t have any preference to anything at this point. So without further ado…

Keep reading »