sugarenia.com

I regularly check my blog stats, using the integrated AWStats that my hosting package provides (I also have a Google Analytics account, but this thing looks so professional and has so many parameters it isn’t fun - in addition, I still don’t have a Mint account).

I don’t know about you, but I laugh to tears with some of the search keywords with which users supposedly find me through a search engine. Here’s a brief sample (all phrases below are copied exactly as shown in my stats):

• what to talk to girly at msn
  Dude, look, I can’t help you there. Just use your imagination, man! I hear that “girlies” love that stuff.
• microsoft gasp
  I know, friend, Microsoft has made me go “gasp” more than once in my computing career since 5th grade (really, that’s when I got my first computer).
• websites of watching naruto episodes on the internet
  Erm…are there any? I don’t know. What did the results tell you?
• amateur girlfriends submit
  Aaaa…ehhh…Yeah. Well, you cannot submit any amateur girlfriend stuff here, but whatever suits your fancy.
• husbands
  I hear you, girlfriend, all of them pigs, I tell you. If you’re looking for husbands advice, you’ve come to the right place. For sure.
• glove compartment attachments
  I just bow at the WTFness of it.
• olive harvesters
  Just to prove I run a multi-purpose, Swiss army knife blog.
• (just arrived) merry christmas
  Em. To you too?

That was fun.

search, search engine, search terms, statistics

CLICK ME! CLICK ME! CLICK ME!

…I’m SO gonna quit web design and become a waitress or something after this.

Have a fine weekend, lads and ladies.

Google launched the new Picasa today, pairing it with Web Albums, creating a fusion that’s named Picasa Web Albums. Think Flickr, but Googlr.

Google people also announced folder display fixes, ability to save your edited photo and to undo your edits, search by colour (a personal favourite), screensaver, application UI customization and lots more. And of course, they linked Picasa with Google Earth.

Is anyone else bothered about the fact that Google Earth represents the current situation at the globe so accurately? Somewhere, in the back of my mind, this thing rings bells.

All in all, try the new Picasa, if you haven’t already. It’s a sweet piece of software, free, beautiful, and damn fast too. It recently became my standard photo viewer.

I’m uploading some photos later, to see how it comes. Stand by.

EDIT: Fidgeted with the program, I have to say it’s really smooth. Uploaded my first album, check it. It’s not Flickr, and its limit is 250MB, but it’s a good try. I’ll upload the same photos to Flickr, sometime tomorrow.

google, picasa, google web albums, picasa web albums, google earth

After a heated conversation over at Wiggler (alas, in greek), I decided to give iTunes 7 a go. The fact that my iPod library needed some updating as well as its software itself was out-of-date helped a lot.

I have not used it extensively, but I can jump into some conclusions already.

• The installation was not as lengthy as stelabouras warned me about, plus it didn’t require a reboot from me (yay, you know how much I hate reboots).
• The program itself runs significantly slower in my poor 1.9Ghz Intel than its predecessor. And when I say significantly, I mean it. I guess it’ll run smoother in Macs.
• The sexiness! I adored the dark two-tone blueishness from the site, so I was thrilled to say that the same colour palette is used in the application as well. At last, Apple gets rid of the outdated brush metal textures. iTunes new palette is dark and gloomy and “let’s get serious but fun at the same time”. It makes me wanna stay in and do stuff. That’s a key point for me.
• The new all-informative iPod screen. I love it. The program instantly warned my that my iPod is out of date, and then on my call, proceeded into downloading the latest update and updating my iPod. This screen provides a ton of information about your iPod at a glance, I find it one of the most useful features that the new iTunes offers.
• Didn’t check it with videos, but music sounded fine. I’m not an expert in this, though, all I want to make me happy is some nice musical ambience.
• I love the fact that it runs in full-window mode now (was it always like that? I don’t remember).
• Last but not least, did I say sexiness? Look at this bar:

Now, to reset my library because I’m not really happy with its current state, hmm…Let’s get organized!

P.S. I love the new iPod shuffle, don’t you? And it’s dirt cheap too.

mac, apple, itunes, iTunes 7

Erm, excuse my ranting, but what in God’s name happened to YouTube interface for embedded videos? I’ll embed one of my favs just for the sake of example.

Am I the only one seeing this horrendous stuff? Is it 1999 all over again? Am I missing something?

Moreover, goodbye e-donkey. You’ll be missed. Damn you, companies! *shakes fist*