So What's Going on with Tom?

In the Northwest

2005-07-30T18:04:00.000-04:00

So, I finally made it and have internet again. I've started the new job and have been loving it. I've had a chance to meet alot of cool people so far, and some even work for the enemy ;) So let's have a small discussion if anyone still reads this. Which is better and why, Google Maps and MSN Virtual Earth. I haven't looked into all the facts so I am hoping to learn more from your responses. And if you don't know that you can drag Google Maps around (I still can't believe there are such people), go and try it first, it's been there since the beginning, and then compare.

Google's web accelerator

2005-05-07T03:46:00.000-04:00

Alright, so this is the newest Google invention and I have been trying it out for a couple days and it does speed up the transfer time of a few web pages which is pretty cool, I've already saved 2 minutes. I would also like to applaud the effort of making it compliant with Firefox, hopefully from now on all utilities will have this capability.

However, there is a downside to this beta product at the moment. I have had to block multiple sites due to the caching retrieval from a site based on another users account, such as on forums. This has affected me in forums personally already, as well as with other sites which require non secure logins such as the links to the right (Free iPods and stuff). The biggest disappointment was the utility messing up VTQuest Voice, the research I am working on. I tried to turn off the voice interaction which should just change a session variable and reload the page but the cached copy of the page kept coming up, causing the voice interface to not turn off properly.

All in all I think that Google has the right idea of speeding up the web, however the utility does take some careful moderation of which sites it can work with and which sites it can't. It's easy enough to turn it off for particular sites, but shouldn't it work right outta the box so to speak. I am sure that Google is on top of it and I can't wait to see the finished product, but just be warned if you plan to use it, any pages which use unsecured logins or session variables may need to be disabled from being displayed through the accelerator to work properly.

Updated Google Maps

2005-04-05T01:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, so if you are not busy you really need to try out google maps, for the first time or once again. http://maps.google.com They added a new feature, satellite images which kick some serious ass around major cities. Just put in a search then click the satellite button on the top rightish of the screen. I found that my home city of DC is pretty dang cool, just put in the white house address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington D.C. They blur a few buildings out for obvious reasons but even so it is insane. I find myself looking for baseball diamonds everywhere I go, hahaha. If this thesis wasn't needing doing I'd still be playing around, hope you all enjoy!

Getting really close now

2005-03-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well a working copy of my work has been posted at http://sunfish.cs.vt.edu/VTQuestV/index.jsp
If you would like to check it out, download and install the SALT plugin for voice interaction and poke around. Let me know how it works for you and if you find any errors besides it not understanding you let me know. IE 6 or higher along with a microphone and speakers are required and the plugin is 63mb so be ready. Thanks for helping out.

Gmail accounts

2005-02-21T01:23:00.000-05:00

OK, so I have like 125 more Gmail accounts left to invite people with after google increased their invite limit so if anyone is interested give me your email address and I will send ya an invite.

Couple of cool deals

2005-02-15T00:04:00.000-05:00

Just though I'd share some deals that I just took advantage of:

Free USB Hub and Power Cord after rebates

Free MP3s to download, 50 or 100 depending on your luck...

Hope everyones Valentines was a good one!

and I'm out.

Valentines Day

2005-02-14T12:47:00.000-05:00

Well, it's the day of love and Liz is still all the way up in Mass upon my insistence but we had a nice virtual date last night with movie and dessert. It was pretty fun but I will not be commenting on which movie we ended up watching. Roommate is still on his anti Valentine campaign, wonder if it will work. Programming part of the research is coming together nicely and will be complete in another couple weeks hopefully so I can start concentrating on the actual thesis. Can't wait to get out of here but I'm sure I'll miss it the day after I leave. That's all the random babbling you all get today. PEACE!

www.everyvideogame.com

2005-02-10T18:07:00.000-05:00

This is an amazing concept but how can you have every video game without the best one ever? Yes you better be thinking about Super Tecmo Bowl too! So I guess I'll just have to stick to a normal emulator for now, but if you are stuck in office hours like I am at times, this is a very fun site to kill some time on...

First Post

2005-02-07T17:27:00.000-05:00

OK, so I am this much of a dork. Just wanted to try this out and see how it goes. Might be a good way to keep others updated on how things are going next year when I'm on the west coast. Hope this stuff won't bore you too much, lol.