BEACH. FRIDAY. HELL. YES.

Blame my internet back at my living quarters for the lack of updates. For some reason, the internet times out quite frequently and I believe it has something to do with too much stuff trying to get by our router. I really don’t know though. This is a job for Norman probably.

The Nintedo DS Lite has officially launched in the US and Amazon.com is selling the unit for a mere $129! I have a feeling that my PSP will experience doom and boredom very soon!
Engadget’s got some coverage from the Nintendo World store in NYC. And Gadget Madness thinks the DS Lite is Dyno-Mite!

I didn’t forget! New secrets! Lots of email responses this week already.

I’ve been a Firefox user for quite a while now and I’ve always wanted an easy way to carry my bookmarks with me automatically. The Google Browser Sync extension for Firefox is quite awesome. It does exactly what it’s supposed to by syncing your Firefox browser information (as much, or as little as you want) across the network and onto several different computers. The downside for now is that it takes maybe an extra second to start the browser, but for the work that’s being saved on my part, I think the extra second is worth it all. Give it a try.

Read this NYT article, The Bank of Mom and Dad. It’s about how the financial dependence of our generation has gone past the college years and well into adulthood. [via]
Here’s a short excerpt:

At 23, Jason McGuinness lives a postcollege life in Manhattan that is very nearly typical. He works as a media research analyst, making about $30,000 a year. Sharing a two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of a walk-up building with a roommate on the Upper East Side, his portion of the rent is $1,100 monthly.

And like many of his peers — educated, employed, urban-dwelling young adults — he receives monthly assistance from his parents, in the form of a $300 check and the payment of his cellphone bill.

This is not the largesse of wealthy families doled out through trust funds. Nor is the money a couple of $20 bills tucked into a card at the holidays. Mr. McGuinness and others like him are the beneficiaries of an increasingly common subsidy arriving regularly from Mom and Dad, something like a family fellowship.

As an artist by education, I know this situation all too well. I would love to be financially independent from my parents, but unfortunately (for them AND me), my schooling and my options in terms of a career are extremely undecided and unclear. Still, I appreciate the time and effort and money they have put into my experiences and my attempts to find something I enjoy learning and doing. I’ll pay them back someday. :)

This is a pretty fantastic look on how hurricanes are rated and how much damage they can do. Hurricane Andrew, of course, makes the notable list when you reach Category 5. Track some hurricanes with this Google Maps hack.

I got new Puma XS850 LE shoes from work (colors of which are unreleased I believe) and they came somewhat pre-done with two shoe laces on each shoe. I kinda like the two shoe lace colors so I wanted to keep both of them on each shoe. The only problem being that I have no idea how to lace shoes with two laces each. So where did I go? I went to Ian’s Shoelace Site. I’ll pick a lacing style and go with that. I have a feeling my attempts will make people laugh. I have a hard time following online directions.

If I were to BUY shoes however, I might be interested in this Vans Prison Issue #23 in orange or white. I like the feel of velcro on my feet!

Table tennis or ping pong in real life is incredibly fun. I don’t know how much fun it can be when it’s being played on an Xbox 360, but if looks relate anything to the amount of fun you’ll be having, then Rockstar sure has a winner with Table Tennis. My cousin has an Xbox 360, I should tell him to buy this game. The only game I’ve played so far on the Xbox 360 is Ghost Recon, and that game is so awesome.

With all my babbling about the net neutrality rules lately, I’ve managed to get caught up in all the “bad hype” that the media and the whole internet in general is spinning around the net neutrality idea. It turns out that the case behind net neutrality isn’t really about ISPs suspending certain websites and services or making ones go slower than others. In fact, it has nothing to do with either. It has more to do with an ISP willing to accept payment from a service to speed up that portion of their service while leaving the remaining competitors exactly as was before. So basically, your internet won’t be any slower than it is now. It will actually be FASTER depending on who’s side you are on and what ISP you side with. I am still reading more about the whole issue, so forgive me if my understanding is still a bit limited (or even wrong, yikes).
If you want some more information, check out Hands Off The Internet, an organization dedicated to pushing a government-free internet experience. Read up. I sure am.

BEACH. FRIDAY. HELL. YES. :D