Steve Symington’s Blog

Today I was reading an article on CNN regarding the lending crunch resulting from the current subprime mortgage mess…you know the scenario: A greedy lender offers their customer a toxic ARM without making clear the risks of such a loan. The customer could afford a better (fixed) loan, but jumps out of his/her seat when he/she realizes it’s possible to borrow $300,000 for under $800 per month…at first. What they don’t often realize is the loan will later reset to a much higher rate, easily doubling their monthly payment.

What really made me sick, however, were the content-generated ads that appeared at the bottom of the page…
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A short while ago, some folks at my beloved University of Montana put a neat little Java applet online and dubbed it the “Grizcam”. In short, a camera sits atop the Jesse Dorm [campus map (.pdf)] and allows web visitors to “take control” for a minimum of 20 seconds to pan the University area. If some other web visitor doesn’t steal control after your 20 seconds of fame, you continue to hold the power glove until you’re forced to give it up (it’s basically a nice way to teach college students how to share).

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I love my gmail account. It has effective spam filters, an ever-increasing account size limit, awesome email search capability, Google Chat (like a better MSN or Yahoo Messenger), and…well…it’s Google. As of my birthday (yesterday), it looks like Google opened Gmail to all. The service was previously accessible by invitation only. Now, armed with only a cell phone, you can ask Google for their wondrous email service. (Note: per Google’s privacy policy, your phone number won’t be sold for marketing purposes unless you tell them to use it.) Update, 2-16-07: You no longer need a phone. Just visit Gmail.com, click the “Sign up for Gmail” link, and create your account.
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I rarely use P2P clients anymore for music downloads (no, I’m not concerned with RIAA lawsuits), and I absolutely don’t want unneccessary software on my work machine. Free, streaming online music sites simply make more sense for me right now. If I just want some music to pass the time, and don’t feel like sifting through my collection or can’t install unneccesary software on a given machine, I’ve got a decision to make: Pandora.com or Blogmusik.net? I know I won’t ever come to a definite conclusion, but I think people need to know about these two awesome sites. Here are a few simple observations for informative purposes… Continue Reading »

If you click the w3.org validator link in the sidebar (also here), you will find that this page DOES NOT validate as valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Not that it’s the end of the world, but I was surprised when I clicked the link today for the first time in a few days. I take pride in my nicely formed code, but it seems a phantom </p> tag has found its way into my “New Kitten” entry. Continue Reading »

During the last several days, I’m sure more than a few people have noticed the reduced angst they feel when searching for content on MySpace. Yesterday, for instance, my wife searched for a particular song so she could place it on her profile. I looked over her shoulder, ready to give suggestions for which of the thousand typically vague results she should click to get what she wanted. Shortly after she entered her query, I thought “Wait…why is there just one result?” And even more significant, “Why is that result the correct one?” I didn’t think much of it, and allowed the confusion to settle so I could bask in our seeming luckiness. This morning, however, the puzzle put itself together when I saw that all-too-familiar logo… Continue Reading »