Firefox 3

It's finally here, and it's AWESOME.

Yes, Firefox 3 has now been officially released, and you can download it here.

Let's just face it, Firefox pWns IE. And now, Firefox 3 pWns it even harder. Right after installing I could tell it was faster. I've never bought into that whole faster thing. With FF2 and IE7, I couldn't tell the difference. But with FF3... it's discernibly faster, and that is awesome :D

But yeah, aside from that, there are some cosmetic changes, and it's now rendering the "dotted" border attribute as rounded dots, rather than square dots, and that's about all I really notice at the moment.

So go download it!

"When a scammer comes along, you must whip it!"

Ah, thank you Devo.

There's a great post on Deep Jive Interests about a new scam. You might remember the old post on here about scammers and phishers. Well this new scam is aimed at site owners/bloggers. Basically they ask to buy a link on your site, they send too much money via cheque, ask you to send back the amount they overpaid you, and then you find out later that the cheque never clears.
Link (via ProBlogger)

Another Reason Not to Join Facebook

A while back, P-Money made a post about Facebook, and it's privacy agreement. Well, if you were looking for another reason to give Facebook a miss, check this piece by the New York Times about trying to leave Facebook (via Slashdot). It actually gives real stories of people trying to delete their accounts and information from Facebook, but not being able to.

I think it all just serves as a warning to be careful about what you sign up to. Be sure to read those privacy and TOS agreements. You might think you don't care about privacy right now, but if/when you do, you'd hate to find yourself in that situation.

If you want a way to completely remove your account (hopefully), try this guide by Steven Mansour. It'll not only instruct you, but it gives a few insights into why it's so hard.

By the way, I know I'm being fairly hypocritical as someone who has Myspace, Bebo, Flickr and Blogger accounts, but you've got to pick and choose your battles ;)

Trippy

This is some cool as, trippy stuff. I found this through Fosfor Gadgets, it's this site Nikon has that compares the sizes of various things from the size of the universe to the size of sub-atomic particles. The way they do it, it almost gives you a sense of the infinite. Great descriptions about the various size ranges, very poetic. Give it a look, even a quick one, it's definitely interesting.

Knock, Knock

Who's there?
Dinosaur Comics
Dinosaur Comics who?
No, no, that's it. Just Dinosaur Comics.
Oh ok, come on in.
Thanks. I don't suppose I could trouble you for a glass of water?
Oh, of course. Would you like some iced tea instead? I just made a jug.
Oh that'd be delightful.
...
...

Oh, where were we? That's right, I was going to tell you about Dinosaur Comics. It's entirely possible that you've heard of it/them before, as it has/they have been around for a while now. Absolutely hilarious. It's the same art every for every comic, only the dialogue is changed. You may be thinking that it would get old fast, but it doesn't. The writing is so fabulous that it makes up for the lack of change in art. No, it doesn't just make up for it, it makes the lack of change in the art make sense. You just have to read a few of these to get the idea.

So, if you aren't hip to the world of web comics, then Dinosaur Comics is a great entry point.

For some more comedic web comics, check out Xkcd. Also funny, but can be slightly esoteric at times (just slightly).

For a slightly more serious web comic, yet also funny as well, Questionable Content is great. Great art, great writing, and a great story.

So yeah, those are just a few to get you started. I'm sure you'll become as addicted as I am. And if not, then I suppose you have more of a life than I do.

Gone Phishing

If you have an email address, you've probably had a few emails from scammers. If you believe you haven't, then I'm sorry to inform you that you won't be receiving any money from that Nigerian prince who decided to gift you his inheritance because he heard about your philanthropic nature.

And if you have an email address, then it's likely you've received an email or two from phishers. Phishers send you to phishing sites to get you to give them your personal information. They replicate other big sites, such as banks, ebay, paypal etc, ask you to enter your username and password, and do what they want with the information.

Slashdot had a post about an article over at Help Net Security that interviewed two security researchers who infiltrated the "secret underworld" of phishers and scammers. It's a really interesting read, so I suggest you check it out.