YouTube Stats

Besides at work, I only started uploading videos to YouTube after I shot some short clips with my regular camera on the Enchantment cruise. So I looked at the stats today and was surprised by the numbers. All videos are public so they're searchable in YouTube. I had to make it that way otherwise the connections would be limited and some people wouldn't be able to access them off my blog. I thought for sure the rock climbing clip would be the most popular, but it was the guillotine magic trick by far! It has a whopping 79 views whereas the others have 5-7 each... probably just the people I forwarded the URLs to.

Enchantment on Frommer's

I just posted some of my vacation photos up on Frommers.com. We have many different levels of photos now and I have to think about where I want to upload them. For Key West and Cozumel, I placed them into the official Destination Guides. Since we don't have a photo feature for cruises, I upload the Enchantment of the Seas images to my Community account.

- Key West Slideshow

- Cozumel Slideshow

- Enchantment User Gallery

Facebook: Year One

It's been about a year since I started using Facebook actively (I had the account for much longer, but just never used it). I forced myself to get used to the interface because I was studying the environment as we researched widgets for work. In a short period of time, however, I had many of my friends connected and the status updates and notifications really kept everyone in the loop. When I first started using it, Facebook felt awkward to use. Now I'm pretty comfortable with it and made it part of my daily life.

Staying Connected
When I look at my friends list, I think about how I'm a lot more in touch with people I used to not know as well. It's all thanks to the status updates and notifications. They're so inviting and the more my friends use it, the more chance we find things in common and spark conversations. Over the past year, I found myself getting closer to friends and family on Facebook. Those who weren't fell more out of the loop. I also cut down on mass emailing and just posted items and notes instead. I noticed a better response too. I'm still working on getting a few more close friends in!

"Apps" and Widgets
The apps are mostly time-wasters, but still good for interacting with friends and strangers. When I first started using Facebook, I only installed apps based on what I saw in my friends' profiles. I played with many of them for a certain period then uninstalled them after I got bored. The successful ones that got me addicted were the ones that had some sort of reward or challenge each day. They also had to add updates/upgrades every so often to avoid monotony. The ones I stuck with were... (fluff)Friends, Pet Dragons, Greenpatch, Chicago Bulls and Yankees Faithful. (fluff)Friends and Pet Dragons have a lot of interactivity and updates. They're both very much like RPGs. (fluff)Friends also has a great user community. I use Chicago Bulls & Yankees Faithful based on sports season. And Greenpatch is just addicting because of the "earning money" aspect. I am trying to bring myself to uninstall that one though because it takes up a good 10 minutes each day!

Groups & Pages
I also found the groups and pages to be very useful compared to other social networking sites. They had no spam and every post was relevant. There's also a group or page for just about every subject you can think of. I don't visit these a whole lot though... maybe once a month or so, but it's always interesting to post a comment and get feedback from strangers with the same interests.

Holiday Gift Ideas

The holiday shopping season kicked off with Black Friday. So now that the bonus bargains are over, it's time to get into the heart of the gift list. Here are a few original ideas offered by some of my friends:

Yarnyums
Last year, Jene Wallace was selling handmade soaps, but she switched craft hobbies and is now crocheting food items. It sounds odd, but they make original gifts and have a visual appeal to them. All items are original patters. Click here to shop.

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash
Wonderham is a great character that stars in a single panel Online comic created by James Li. He has Cafe Press stores with various products depicting everyone's favorite hamster. Click here to shop.

A Ma$tamind Christmas 3
This is Shawn Noel's 3rd X-mas album. Not only does this make an original gift, but be sure to get one for yourself for background music if you're hosting a party. Click here to shop.

Pinoy Superstore
Have family on the Philippines? Richard Ng's service makes overseas gift giving much easier. His Online store has a wide variety of items. They come at a premium, but the shopping and shipping is done for you. No need to worry about unpredictable shipping delays. Click here to shop.

Google Chrome BETA

Google released Chrome, their new browser today. So I wanted to post my take on it. As usual, they did a lot of research and testing before its release. They must've studied user behaviors in depth because I felt right at home with it even though it has a different look and feel than my default browser, Firefox. I'm not sure if this browser if for everyone though. A power user who knows his/her shortcuts would have an easier time with it because there aren't a lot of menus to navigate with. They concentrated on making a lot of space for the web page itself, only displaying information when needed.

Pros
The look and feel is original and visually appealing. Space for web pages has been maximized and it breaks away from the standard Windows interface. Because of the simplified look, many interface elements perform more than one task. The address bar is also a search bar. The backend is treated as a mini operating system almost, doing an efficient job of dividing processes. If one tab crashes, it doesn't shutdown the entire browser. Tabs can be dragged in and out of windows. Developers need not worry too much about developing for another browser. It uses the same rendering engine as Safari. All of my pages look fine on it and I haven't run across any sites that didn't work yet.

Cons
It still lacks a lot when compared to Firefox, but Google Chrome is still in beta. It can't be customized to the level that Firefox can... no themes or plugins. Nearly all of the "pros" I mentioned can be achieved in Firefox with plugins. Google boasted about performance, but this browser renders images noticeably slower.

Conclusion
Google Chrome is a nice alternative browser and it's better than Internet Explorer, but it has a long way to go before getting me to change my default from Firefox.

Related: About, Comic Book, Download, Video

Recommended Firefox Plugins

Here are my favorite Firefox plugins for developers & designers:

Download Status Bar
This reduces the clutter of popup status windows for downloads and displays just as much information. It's also very configurable... and that's what you like... otherwise you wouldn't be using Firefox in the first place!
- Description
- Developer's Site
- Install Now

Dummy Lipsum
This mini application lets you instantly generate the dummy pseudo-Latin commonly used for mockups and placeholder text.
- Description
- Developer's Site
- Install Now

Tab to Window
I wish this one was built-in to Firefox because I keep wanting to do it! This is like being able to pull a tab out into a new window, almost like the Photoshop palettes.
- Description
- Developer's Site
- Install Now

Link Checker
This is a great way to check page links quickly, especially when you have hundreds of links on the page.
- Description
- Developer's Site
- Install Now

Related: Firefox Add-ons, Robin's Favorites

Life in the Matrix

A Quick Look @ Facebook

I have my own place that I share with two pet dragons. They have completely different personalities, but get a along just fine. The small green dragon just likes to eat junk food and compete in races. He has a group of various small creatures that he hangs out with, but mostly practices with a kangaroo. The large blue dragon likes to practice fighting and hunt for treasure. He befriended another dragon of the same species owned by L.Y. The three of us usually have breakfast together and hang out in the morning. They're more like roommates than pets because they sort of take care of themselves in many ways. I don't really have to worry about them too much.

Many of my close friends and family live in my neighborhood too. They're literally within poking distance, so I never feel lonely. We do spur-of-the-moment things together all the time like a quick snack at Yum Cha Restaurant, watching movies and cheering on the Yankees.

I spend some time each afternoon with a racing team I put together. L.Y. & F.H. Wing have Mustang GTs. D.L. & J.L. are working on Mini Coopers. I'm currently powering up a BMW M3. The bolt-ons are as easy to install as plug-and-play. It just takes some work to raise money for parts.

At night, I usually meet up with W.S. and J.L. for Sith training which consists of a lot of studying in the archives, practicing lightsaber moves and building up force techniques. After that, I often see B.B. and we just share with each other what we've done throughout the day.

I could get used to this. Life in the Matrix is heaven. Thanks to Downtown A.B. for giving me the red pill! Thanks to F.H. Wing, B.B. and Bongie for helping me settle in!

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash

"WONDERHAM is a comic of a rambunctious, cheeky hamster's antics. He survives life in a mundane pet shop with an overactive imagination, rodent acrobatics, gluttony for late night TV and a super hero alter ego."
- James Li

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash is a CafePress store with products featuring James Li's Wonderham. There's a line of products made just for the holiday season, including greeting cards, mouse... err hamster pads, bags and shirts.

Visit Wonderham's Super Secret Stash at www.cafepress.com/wonderham.

Pure Soaps

Pure Soaps is an Online store run by my friend, Jene Wallace. She produces natural soaps, lip balms and scrubs made of vegetable glycerin soap, olive oil soap, shea butter soap, soy soap and goat's milk. They make great holiday gifts. The craftsmanship is neat and each one smell good enough to eat! I just bought a bunch of these myself and am going to arrange them in some custom containers for a couple of special gifts.

Since I'm a follower of natural health, 2 rules I try follow are: 1) If man made it, don't eat it; 2) If you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin! These soaps are good stuff!

Check out Pure Soaps at pure.etsy.com.

Pinoy Superstore

Have family in the Philippines? Now there's an easy way to get X-mas gifts to them. Check out Pinoy Superstore, a service run by my cousin, Richard Ng for people who have friends and family in the Philippines...

www.pinoysuperstore.biz

There are a wide variety of store items that include flowers, gift baskets as well as high-end electronics.