Scripting News

New Samsung phone

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:59:14 GMT

I got a new Sprint phone today, a freebie.

I posted a link to a picture earlier, and a whole bunch of comments showed up. Maybe we can start a self-help group for clueless people like me.

I can see it's got a ton of features, but I can't get started, I don't even know what the number of my phone is.

Politically incorrect questions

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:13:32 GMT

1. How long before Bush connects what happened at Virginia Tech with the global war on terror?

2. How long before a Republican presidential contender says the Democrats want to take your guns away?

3. How long before one of the cable networks runs any story other than Virginia Tech?

3a. What's Don Imus doing during all this michegas?

3b. Anna Nicole Smith?

4. Will anyone notice that while we're venting and emoting about Virginia Tech, hundreds of Iraqis have died.

5. Okay, I suppose some people believe American lives are worth more than Iraqis, so what about the 3300 Americans who have died in Iraq. That's about 100 times the number of people who died at Virginia Tech. What are we doing to prevent another 3300 deaths? Who's responsible? Could those deaths have been prevented?

6. If you're glued to your TV hanging on every word, when was the last time they said anything that even remotely qualified as news? (If you get bored, try playing a game, every time they say Virginia Tech, substitute Iraq.)

7. How long before Lou Dobbs raises the killer's immigrant status?

Local image URL syntax??

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:53:17 GMT

I have a folder of images on my local disk.

If I drag one onto the Firefox icon in my toolbar, it displays.

The URL in the address bar is:

file:///flickrPics/pic42688.jpg

However, if I use that URL as the src attribute on an img element, I get a broken image.

<img src="file:///flickrPics/pic42688.jpg">

Question: Is there a way to get the browser to display an image coming from the local file system, and if so, what's the syntax for the URL?

Sam Yates says it might be a Firefox security feature.

Via email, Wendy McCully writes: "As long as the HTML file that references the local images is in the same directory as the images themselves, you don't need to indicate any path at all." I tried it -- and it works, without changing the browser's security settings.

Today's links

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:44:06 GMT

NY Times: Corzine's Speed Put at 91 M.P.H. Near Crash Site.

Scoble says always-on isn't for him. Good move.

Michael Gartenberg has a Mac laptop question.

I got a new Sprint phone today -- a freebie!

Worth another look after three years.

Virginia Tech's phones

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:26:47 GMT

Roanoke Times: "When Virginia Tech wanted to alert students to developments in a recent campus manhunt for an accused double murderer it relied on e-mail, the Web and messages sent to dorm phones."

Google search for "Virginia Tech" and "Rave Wireless."

Andy Carvin: "I spoke with a PR rep at Rave Wireless today and she said that they have no relationship with Virginia Tech."

Scoble's cam

Yesterday at the Web 2.0 Expo, I did a brief interview with Robert Scoble. I wondered what his camera hat looks like.