VIRB

There are a bunch of new and old things I just wanted to share with anyone who decides to peek into my blogs - things I've been finding on the internet.

1st item of order - Tubes! Yes, tubes. A play on the crazy politician thought that the internet runs on "a series of tubes" I believe, Tubes is a way to securely and privately share files with people over the internet. You can choose to share with a group of people or with just one person. It's not the first of its kind, but it does attempt to keep things more simple for the masses.

2nd item - Joost - currently in the beta stages and through invite only. This is an online "TV" service which toots the idea of TV on your own time, then adds a twist of web 2.0 with the ability to chat to people who are also watching. Trying it out for the past week, I found it quite intriguing. The content isn't "cable company"-sized quite yet, nor does it have quite enough major companies onboard. It's more or less a highly organized YouTube with a select choice of full-length episodes, customizable favorite channels, and a few short commercials here and there. The quality of the video isn't quite up to TV quality yet, with some noticeable pixelation from time to time. But, I think it's a step in the right direction. Some great channels to note: Transformers, G.I. Joe, Aardman Animation, National Geographic, Comedy Central, MTV, various indie and international music channels, and Saturday Morning TV (think shows like Rocky and Bullwinkle).

3rd item - Blink, which was developed by the ex-hackers over at eEye Digital Security, is a program that aims to provide an all-in-one computer protection package. Their software is being used by the U.S. government now, ironically enough, which says a lot about these guys. The personal edition of Blink is currently available free for 1 year and includes malware prevention (anit-virus, anti-spyware), intrusion prevention (firewall), ID theft protection (anti-phishing), and application protection (protection of unauthorized usage over your network). You will not be able to find such a complete package for free, or one that is so lightweight on your system for that matter. I first heard about it on security expert Steve Gibson's podcast, Security Now. I'm hoping they'll do a review of it in the near future. In the meantime, I'm trying it out.

4th item - Desktop Earth 2.0. Not sure how many of you are into wallpapers. Show of hands? Anyone? Well, here's one I've been using for a few months now. It has got to be one of my most favorites... of all time. Here's the skinny: it's a wallpaper that shows you the Earth! Not impressed yet? Oh. Okay well, how about that it changes as often as every minute using actual high-res NASA satellite imagery and shows you what the Earth looks like from space at that moment, hmm?

Well, maybe some of you will be able to make use of these things. Feel free to share your own little reviews of any or all of them with me.