// Internet Duct Tape

Feeds are like cookies that are good enough for me. Best of Feeds is a weekly collection of the best stuff I saw on the Internet this week. I post them on Twitter as they happen and then collected together on Saturdays. I don’t blog on the weekend so read these links instead.

You can subscribe to //engtech using RSS to see these links each week.

• [CSS/DESIGN] 70 Expert Ideas For Better CSS Coding
  (smashingmagazine.com, 2916 saves)
  • Amazing list of expert CSS design tips. This is not a how-to guide, it is a list of best practices combined with advanced tricks even many competent CSS designers might not know.
  • (css, webdesign, tips, reference)
• [PRODUCTIVITY] 10 Ways to Do More by Focusing on the Essentials
  (lifehack.org, 496 saves)
  • You’re heard them all before, but this was very well written.
  • (productivity, lifehacks, gtd)
• [DELICIOUS] 8 Tips for Better del.icio.us Bookmarking
  (webworkerdaily.com, 408 saves)
  • (delicious, tips, tagging, del.icio.us, bookmarks)
• [CODE] Your Favorite Programming Quote
  (codinghorror.com, 212 saves)
  • (programming, quotes, humor, fun, quotations, quote)
• [CAREER] Aaron Swartz on being Fired from Wired (and Reddit)
  (blog.outer-court.com, 139 saves)
  • Interview with Aaron Swartz, one of the founders of Reddit who was fired from Wired after Reddit was bought out.
  • (interview, reddit, people, technology, geek, aaronswartz)
• [FIREFOX] NoSquint: Firefox Extension
  (urandom.ca, 80 saves)
  • Set the text size for each website individually.
  • (firefox, extension, zoom)
• [LIFEHACKS] Top 10 Ways to Reduce Your Work Week
  (zenhabits.net, 63 saves)
  • I particularly liked outsourcing, reducing commitments and shutting off the computer.
  • (productivity, lifehacks, time, management)
• [RSS] Google launches Google Reader for the Wii
  (blogs.zdnet.com, 53 saves)
  • Another reason to get a Wii.
  • (wii, reader, google)
• [SEARCH] Top 17 Search Innovations outside of Google
  (blog.softwareabstractions.com, 30 saves)
  • From the article: ” Query Pre-processing; Information Sources; Algorithm Improvement; Results Visualization and Post-processing.”
  • (search, semantic, google)
• [FIREFOX] Best of: Greasemonkey Scripts
  (kylescove.com, 29 saves)
  • Selection of the best Greasemonkey scripts for many popular websites
  • (greasemonkey, firefox, scripts, del.icio.us, gmail, useful)
• [ORGANIZE] Cord Management: DIY binder clip cable catcher
  (lifehacker.com, 19 saves)
  • This is the simplest way to organize cables I’ve seen.
  • (diy, hacks, desk, cord, organization)
• [LIFEHACK] How to Quit Caffeine
  (wikihow.com, 17 saves)
  • (health, Caffeine, howto)
• [GREASEMONKEY] The Ly Detector - highlight adverbs
  (lifehacker.com, 16 saves)
  • This is a greasemonkey script for FireFox that will point out adverbs. Abverbial transgression is a sign of weak writing.
  • (writing, firefox, greasemonkey, style, lifehacker)
• [SOFTWARE] Fix your mom’s computer for mother’s day
  (joelonsoftware.com, 15 saves)
  • Fogcreek Copilot is free on mother’s day and father’s day so you can fix your parents computer remotely.
  • (copilot, software, free)
• [CODE] Programming *is* much more than “just writing code”.
  (perlmonks.org, 13 saves)
  • The arguments against commenting, and against putting documentation in the code.
  • (programming, development, code, comments)
• [HUMOUR] U.S. feared Canadian spy coins
  (thestar.com, 12 saves)
  • From the article: ” mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions as the contractors traveled through Canada.”
  • (USA, stupid, Canada, funny)
• [HUMOR] Jason Kottke takes on lolcats - lolkottke.org
  (lolkottke.org, 9 saves)
  • I give this meme six more months.
  • (lolcat, kottke)
• [HIGHTECH] In the IT world, it’s 1984
  (angryaussie.wordpress.com, 9 saves)
  • Information technology compared to Orwell’s 1984. How technology shackles us.
  • (development, it, orwell, 1984)
• [CODE] Languages Only Do So Much
  (gilesbowkett.blogspot.com, 7 saves)
  • Programming languages are tools to express your thoughts. Do not make the mistake of thinking they are more than that.
  • (languages, religion, programming, code)
• [XBOX360] Crackdown Title Update and DLC (with video)
  (majornelson.com, 7 saves)
  • WOW. Huge list of free updates to Crackdown that will greatly improve what was already a very fun game.
  • (games, xbox360, crackdown)
• [TECHNORATI] Get into Technorati Top 100 in 24 Hours
  (jalaj.wordpress.com, 7 saves)
  • It’s a very old hole in Technorati that they never seem to be intent on fixing. They fix the symptom (correcting any blogs that people report) instead of fixing the problem.
  • (hack, technorati)
• [TV] Battlestar Galactica Season 4 will be final season
  (ifmagazine.com, 4 saves)
  • In an interview the director says S04 is the last one.
  • (bsg, tv, battlestargalactica, via:parislemon.com)
• [GADGETS/IPOD] 5 Ways to Trade in Your iPod
  (friedbeef.com, 2 saves)
  • From the article: ” It is a frustrating experience for any early adopter trying to keep up with the latest and greatest MP3 players. Here are 5 ways that can ease the burden on your pocket by trading in your trusty old iPod.”
  • (ipod, resale, gadgets, ebay)
• [LIFEHACKS] Tiger Woods does NOT work on his Weaknesses
  (douglaskarr.com, 2 saves)
  • From the article: ” A wrench will never be good at being a hammer and a hammer will never be good at a wrench. Leaders, figure out what you have in your toolbox and use it the right way. Workers. figure out if you’re a wrench or a hammer.”
  • (lifehacks, productivity, happiness, success)
• [TECH] Some of the best TED talks ever given
  (neomeme.net, 2 saves)
  • Neomeme collects together a list of his favorite TED conference video presentations. I should watch these.
  • (TED, conference, video)
• [LIFEHACKS] 12 Ways to Decompress after High Stress
  (zenhabits.net, 2 saves)
  • (health, stress)
• [HUMOR] 10 Signs That You’re Tipping The Scales Of Parenting Madness
  (hamelife.com)
  • From the article: ” 8. You’re writing away for the last few stickers to complete the Spiderman sticker book - and she hasn’t asked you to. In fact, she lost interest after the third pack of stickers - there were too many duplicates.”
  • (humor, parenting, lists)
• [MOVIES] Where Are All the Back Catalog HD-DVD and Blu-ray Discs?
  (parislemon.com)
  • Will Internet downloads kill the HD-DVD and Bluray star?
  • (movies, hddvd, bluray, download, appletv, xbox360)
• [BLOG] Make Your Link Lists Matter
  (blogherald.com)
  • Link lists are a great way to condense things you find interesting and prevent your blog from turning into a regurgitation of other people’s blogs. Lorelle gives tips.
  • (lorelle, lists, links)
• [MARKETING] don’t Ask, just Tell
  (nbrightside.com)
  • Andy cuts through the BS of the stupid Ask.com “algorithm” marketing campaign and tells them who they should have gone after: casual users. My version: “Ask.com: Answers. On the Internet.”
  • (marketing, asc.com, algorithm)
• [FACEBOOK] Pierce Bush and Facebook. Need We Say More?
  (wonkette.com)
  • What George Bush’s Facebook page would look like.
  • (facebook, president, georgebush)
• [TECH/HISTORY] A chat with the Father of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee
  (mathewingram.com)
  • Mathew Ingram interviews Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who invented the World Wide Web. It’s not often that a new form of media is created.
  • (darpa, timbernerslee, interview, web)
• [BLOG] Top 5 - Group Writing Project
  (problogger.net)
  • New problogger.net group writing project, $1000 cash prize.
  • (blogging, contest, groupwritingproject)
• [MOVIES] RiffTrax - Mystery Science Theater 3000
  (nytimes.com)
  • MST3K is being reborn as RiffTrax — download soundtracks to play in sync with movies to hear the MST3K voice overs mocking the film. Already has LOTR, Matrix. Worth checking out.
  • (movies, mst3k)

New at //engtech this week

• 5 Reasons Blogging Leads to the Unemployment Line (You’re Fired!)

  We wait with excitement for Trump to say “You’re Fired” on TV, but it isn’t nearly as entertaining in real life. Building a blog with a large audience is hard work. It can be like moonlighting with a second career. It takes attention away from other aspects of your life, like your primary…

• Book Review: Programmers at Work by Susan Lammers

  I heard about Programmers at Work in the blog buzz surrounding the release of Founders at Work. Programmers at Work is a 20 year old book (1985) that interviews some of the top programmers of that era about the art of programming. It is not widely in print anymore, but it was easy to find [...]

• Favorite Quotations from Programmers at Work by Susan Lammers

  I’m one of those annoying people who writes in the margins of books, and one of the things I like to do is collect my favorite quotations so that I can remember them down the road. These are my favorite quotes from Programmers at Work: Interviews with 19 Programmers Who Shaped the Computer…

• What I learned in my first year of blogging

  It’s hard to believe, but the blog is already one year old. It started as a lark, a way of reputation management, but it grew into something very different. Milestones are always a good time for reflection, so it is time for some more navel gazing.

Weekly Stats

MyBlogLog Community Members: 121 (+4)
Twitter friends/followers: 84/96 (+2/+8)
FeedBurner RSS Readers: 621 (+74)
Technorati Favorites: 288 (+20)
Technorati Authority: 1185 (+68)
Technorati Rank: 1522 (up 206)
Total page views (this week): 1,231,824 (+53,878)
Hot New Post By Traffic (this week): Cat photoshop contest 16,236, Quotes from Programmers at Work 1,568, Fired for Blogging 348, 1 Year Aniversary 335
Great week for traffic.

Tags: code, del.icio.us, development, firefox, google, greasemonkey, health, humor, interview, lifehacks, lists, movies, productivity, programming, tips, xbox360