I’m not sure how many of you will have heard of Gnome-DO — let alone the number that actually use it — but for those in the dark, let me illuminate. Gnome-DO is a program for GNU/Linux operating systems. It provides a close-at-hand interface that will attempt to match what you type to a command, then let you activate that command.

By default DO works as a handy launcher, but like many other FOSS programs, it uses a plugin system to add new functionality to the core program. There’s a whole whack of neat stuff in the plugins list, but we’re going to focus on the Rhythmbox plugin for now.

Rhythmbox is an iTunes-like music player and library manager, and it’s part of the GNOME project. It’s not the most featureful of its type, but it’s fairly light-weight, which is something I like since I tend to keep an instance of it open at all times.

The Rhythmbox plugin for DO gives you access to your library through DO and also gives a quick way to control what’s already playing. What it doesn’t do — and this is what I’ll focus on today, is provide a way to access the other handy features that Rhythmbox provides, like song ratings, library manipulation, and moving files to the trash without having to track them down. Well I wanted one of those; and impatient man that I am, I didn’t want to wait for someone else to add it, nor did I feel like figuring out how the Rhythmbox plugin worked to add the functionality myself.

Notification that a song was deleted.

Notification that a song was deleted.

With that in mind, I came up with this little hack to add the functionality I wanted.
(more…)

Welcome to Innanetiquette, folks! I’m gonna take the time out of my busy schedule to feed you fine specimens of humanity a spoonful of sugar to help the Innanets go down smooth.

Without further ado, here’s the first lesson: Hyperlinking Hyper-onus!

(more…)

I picked up a copy of Left 4 Dead. Anyone looking for a review will find plenty all over the Interblags. Here, instead, I’m posting a gripe: pay attention to the Director!

For those not in the know, the AI Director is responsible for nearly everything in the game: mob placement, pacing, resources, the works. Its job is to make the game interesting and a little scary, but not so much that you want to put it down. It looks for queues and uses them to determine where and when best to place things, and it doesn’t like it when you just sit around. I have a theory that it hurts the Directors feelings, since you don’t want to move on and see what new surprises it’s left for you. Its response is to bring the surprises to you.

I played an online campaign recently with a group of players that were too new or too stupid to have figured out the Director. They found a door which politely warned them that opening it would trigger a horde of ravenous undead so hungry that they wouldn’t even wait for your flesh to be decently cooked. How rude! So my compatriots wandered around — ambled, even! — stocking up on everything they could, only to get mauled by the following horde each time.

On about the fifth or sixth time through, I decided to take action. Once the door was reached, I took just enough time to restock my ammo, and then opened the door. The Director, naturally sensing my eagerness to continue, sent in a quick horde to fulfill its promise, then let us continue on our merry way. Not one casualty.

So folks, please remember: heed the Director.

Generation gaps are fun. That’s something that, at some point, I managed to figure out — I’m pretty sure it took all of my cunning. Here’s one of my world famous stories which will unequivocably provicate my stateminiums.

Riding in the car with my parents. They’ve been divorced nearly 20 years, but they’re great at not letting that make things awkward. My dad’s famous for locating and deciphering customized license plates, and he’s managed to rope my mom in this time on a particularly challenging plate. What can this be? Lottery forever, Lot R forever; maybe he really likes parking lots?

They’ve been discussing it for nearly 5 minutes straight while I happily mine for fish in Animal Crossing. Curious at what’s going on, I surface briefly to take a look at their subject of choice: “LOTR4EVER.” Nerd that I am, I pop in a quick, “Lord of the Rings forever, guys,” and go back to my fishmongering. They mused over it for another solid 5 minutes after that.

I know they plan to steal my soul someday, somehow, but sometimes I just can’t help but love Google.

Package Tracking Identification

Package Tracking Identification

Next Page »