Jim Barraud

My friend and colleague Jon Sykes recently launched his latest side-project usernamecheck.com. It’s a service for checking a slew of social networks to see if the username you regularly use is taken or not. Actually, you may have heard of it since it’s been getting a ton of press lately. It’s been mentioned by swissmiss, Lifehacker and CNET. Turns out a lot of people like keeping tabs on their brand and identity when it comes to social networks. Companies like Coca-Cola could appreciate something like this.

Mr. Sykes has recruited me to help out with the UI and design of the site. So look for updates to usernamecheck.com in the coming weeks (or days).

I was never one to follow politics. My usual mindset was “my one vote doesn’t mean much” and “everything will be OK no matter what happens”. But all that changed once I was married, became a homeowner, then a father. With each milestone, my awareness of the political landscape and how it affected me and my family grew. With the most recent presidential election I’ve become a bit of a news junkie. Keeping an ear out for who said what and how the candidates are reacting to current affairs.

Everyone is aware that this presidential election is an important one. With issues ranging from the Iraq war to our tanking economy, the next president will be inheriting what could rightly be called a cluster fuck of affairs. And with that in mind, the nation appears to be equally divided on the best person for the job. With all that’s at stake and the closeness of the current election, your vote counts more than ever. That is, as long as you’re registered to vote.

Voter registration deadlines are approaching for all 50 states. In my state of New Jersey, the deadline is October 14th. Now is the time for your voice to be heard, but it will go unheard if you’re not registered to vote. There’s no excuse not to vote. Especially now that finding out how to vote and registering to vote is quick and easy.

A strong line of thunderstorms moved through the area today which consisted of some impressive cloud formations. What really struck me was the rate at which the clouds were traveling. So a whipped out my point and shoot and captured some footage.

With the release of the Ghosts I-IV album a few months ago, Nine Inch Nails has been holding a film festival on YouTube. The idea being to take the tracks from Ghosts and apply imagery you feel fits the tracks best. And since the album was released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, this is a legit use of the music.

I thought my cloud footage fit nicely with one of the Ghosts tracks, so this is my submission.

The family and I took a spontaneous trip down to Cape May County Zoo today and this was one of the more interesting shots I got. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but it was moving rather slowly. The implied speed was a happy accident.

Yesterday Google formally announced it’s long rumored browser, Google Chrome. The rumor that Google has been working on it’s own internet browser has been around for quite a while, but it’s mostly been based on Google’s relationship with Mozilla. It’s been thought that the fabled Google Browser would either be based of the Gecko engine or a retooled and rebranded version Firefox. But it turns out neither was correct.

Google Chrome was built from the ground up to handle the hefty demands of today’s web applications. Some of it was built in-house, other parts based on current open source software. The rendering engine is based on Apple’s Webkit. The same rendering engine that’s used in Apple’s Safari web browser as well as the browser used in Google upcoming mobile Android OS.

One of the biggest selling points of the browser is how it works under the hood. Each tab in Google Chrome runs it’s own process. Meaning if there’s a bug encountered in one tab, it won’t crash your entire browser and all the other tabs you may have open. Which is essential in this day and age with increased usage of web based apps. Other browser manufacturers have gotten around this issue by remembering which tabs were open when your browser crashed, then reloading them all when you relaunched your browser.

Another rumor that’s been around for quite some time is the Google OS. That Google is developing it’s own operating system to compete with Windows and OSX. While they have created their own open source mobile OS with Android, I’ve never pictured them creating their own PC based OS.

My theory is that Google Chrome is the Google OS. With the majority of Google’s applications being internet based, it makes a certain kind of sense that it’s “OS” would be a browser. A browser they can optimize to make the user experience of their applications more enjoyable as well engineer to be more secure and stable then other browsers on the market. And while they’re at it, make it open source. Allowing other browser manufactures to learn from and improve on Google’s advances, making the internet experience as whole more rewarding while integrating standards Google is promoting or has developed. As development progresses I would imagine Google will be tying it’s properties in even more into Google Chrome. Built in Gmail and Google Calendar services, native support for Google Gadgets, and integration with Google Docs.

You can read more about Google Chrome in this online comic Google put together. Google Chrome will be available later today in Beta for Windows only, with OSX and Linux versions coming soon.

Update: The beta (Windows only) of Google Chrome is now available.