Sometimes I find the coolest apps and plugins just by looking over someone’s shoulder (it’s how I found Adium, for instance). This time, it’s ColorZilla, a Firefox plugin that allows you to take a dropper to anything in the browser and easily get its hex or RGB value.

Thanks to Fragmente for, umm, keeping it a secret.

Oh, one cool thing I discovered from doing this screen capture on mac is the copy to the clipboard command. Try out: Shift-Control-Command-3 (or 4). No more random images on the desktop

I love pixel art, but can’t even claim to be a wannabe pixel artist since I don’t really practice it. That said, if you’re so blessed as to own a Mac and like pixel art, check out Pixen, a free pixel art editor.

Get good enough at it, and who knows, maybe you can create the masterpieces that this guy reassembles!

A few days ago Ford Motor Co. announced that its employees would be required to drive Fords in order to park in a particular parking lot. Drive a competitor’s car? Park across the street. What a disgusting rule!

Obviously, this is an attempt on Ford’s part to show that their employees endorse what they help build and combat the image that Japan has taken the top spots in America’s car market. There’s nothing wrong with wanting factory workers to practice what they preach; one would hope that their employees are proud and passionate of their work. The problem, however, is that it simply isn’t smart or economical to buy a Ford. When you look at reliability, quality, and cost, there’s a reason that Toyota and Honda are on top.

While President Bush declares a need to lower oil consumption and Andy Rooney criticizes automakers valuing unique model names over the car’s actual quality, the American auto industry has failed to innovate in the past few years and it’s showing in their losses. No marketing ploy’s going to make up for that.

Technology is at its best when you can’t remember living without it. For me, technology has once again proven itself worthwhile with NetNewsWire Lite. I investigated RSS readers awhile back, but gave up on it for some reason. Fortunately, I tried again.

While I now use NetNewsWire Lite for all the blogs I read, I must admit that I still visit some of my favorite RSS-enabled sites the old-fashioned way–with that thing called the “browser”; there’s just no way to window shop through headlines with a reader.

The playmakers were quiet for much of the game, the Super Bowl commercials were weak (anyone else notice all the unpurchased space/ABC filler ads?), and I’m already wondering if Pittsburgh will be able to keep the talented Randel El next year.

But hey, WE WON!

My friends over at TorchBearer Sauces have just launched a new online store and you can save 50 percent by using the promotional code “onions” at the checkout. The promotion runs until February 10th.

Help test out the store and send that bottle of Slaughter sauce to the one you love

Web site traffic statistics–it’s a fun thing to watch. I suppose it’s my poor equivalent to watering plants in a garden or surveying a pet ant farm. My site’s traffic has been steadily increasing (as have spammers), though perhaps not directly in relation to this blog–traffic remained steady when I stopped posting (I was in Nevada, and the casinos charged outrageously for WiFi, what can I say?).

What I find amusing is not the quantity of visitors, but just how people get to this site.

On any given day, there’s usually a bunch of PIC microchip code phrases (attracted by my ITP site), Flash bitmap class commands (landing users to my Flash DriveBy), and searches for “interactive telecommunications program” (I show up at #5 on Google, coincidentally). There’s also comments on “kissables commercial” and “borders gift mixer.”

Where does my name rank on total search strings, you ask? Usually around #5 or #7. So what’s the top ranking? It’s usually “Yoda Breakdancing.” Apparently, a post I made prior to the Star Wars DVD release had a link to a DVD Easter egg of the green guy kickin’ it to The Roots. Lucasfilm probably found the video online and had it pulled immediately (it’s still on video.google.com). Now I’m stuck with roughly 20+ users daily who search for that video.

The other surprising find is “Jackie Blue Harrisburg,” which refers to a bar/restaurant I blogged about. I was getting roughly 20 to 30 people daily looking for the Jackie Blue Web site (I was ranked #1 for the phrase by search engines), so I e-mailed the owner and encouraged him to optimize his homepage. It could still use some work, but thankfully Sara Bozich took the ranking away from me.

The moral of the story: If you’re looking for dancing Jedis or Central PA Midtown bars, my site might not be the right place. The visits make for some interesting stats, though

Oscar time is upon us again, and sadly it’s that opportunity for many film fans to complain (me being one of them). For instance: Star Wars gets in for makeup, but not special effects?!

Isuppose that’s not surprising, given the Academy has essentially snubbed every film in the series. I’m rooting for Wallace and Gromit and Clooney, who seemed to deserve the nods this year.

What really surprised me were the nominations for Crash, which was the most awful, cliché movie I’ve ever rented. I was particularly disappointed that Don Cheadle, who was pure gold in Hotel Rwanda, stooped to take this other acting gig in the same year. Don’t let me forget all the movie critics and reviewers who seemed to overlook how ridiculous the characters actions were in this film.

I guess I’m being a little harsh considering it’s director Paul Haggis’s first film. Hey, not every director can be Sam Mendes the first time around. It’s just that Crash pulls the formula stuff for tugging at the heartstrings. The characters are way too preoccupied with their prejudices—the film makes one believe that humanity’s every act is racially driven.

Are relations REALLY that bad in LA, because if so, I’m never visiting there!