Firefox extension: Greasemonkey - add "user scripts"

Every so often you'll run across something on the web that you just know will be really cool - but probably only if you can get all your friends to "get it" as well. This is one of those things. Imagine having little scripts (javascript) available to you whenever you load a page. They could do things like hide ads, or reparse the page, or add little tooltips to every link, etc. etc. This browser extension allows you to do that. I've only just grabbed it myself, but it looks like this could be extremely powerful!

I'm in love: MyEclipse add-on to Eclipse IDE

Ok, I'm a cheapskate. I try to get everything from free tools to free lunch. I've recently had a need to find a new HTML WYSIWYG editor for my new job, and everyone seems to be crazy about Homesite. I've sorta balked at this because Homesite's a commercial tool and I've wanted to keep my open source roots :)

I searched around and found something that has me dancing with glee, and strangely enough opening up my wallet. You see I use Eclipse for many editing tasks, and its grown on me in the past year. Given that I wanted to find something that could take advantage of Eclipse - for free or otherwise. I tried some of the freebie html tools and plugins, but they are just sorta not all there yet. I found something called MyEclipse in alot of my search results so I downloaded the 30 day trial.

Now here comes the very unusual part for me. Within 10 minutes of downloading the extensions I popped open my wallet and registered the 30 someaught dollars for a "subscription". Why would I fork over 30 bucks for something that will stop working in a year? Well think about it - if in a year I dont use this tool, then it silently stops working (after many nags) and I'm ok with that, since I wasnt using it. If I am actively using it, then $30 bux or whatever is a fairly small price to pay for upgrades and such.

But, if you want to know the real reason why I got a copy is this - it's cooooool. You can do great things like code snippets, wysiwyg editing, etc. etc. with great syntax coloring, css support, javascript support, and tons more stuff.

So, you might say I've been fooled. Instead of buying a one-off copy of homesite that works forever but will never get better, I subscribed to some software that continually improves and uses Eclipse as it's basis and that's cool to me. Folks should be paid for their work, and if this MyEclipse is getting better - thats killer. Look out Dreamweaver....

Laszlo server 3.0 beta 2 out!

This is a major new (beta) release of the Laszlo Presentation Server - with some key features including serverless deployment. If you even have a passing interest in developing RIA's (Rich Internet Applications) you should not hesitate to download this release and try it out.

Remixing Culture: An Interview with Lawrence Lessig

From the article:

What do you get when you mix P2P, inexpensive digital input devices, open source software, easy editing tools, and reasonably affordable bandwidth? Potentially, you get what Lawrence Lessig calls remix culture: a rich, diverse outpouring of creativity based on creativity. This is not a certain future, however. Peer-to-peer is on the verge of being effectively outlawed. Continuation of the current copyright regime would mean that vast quantities of creative content will be forever locked away from remix artists.