On the recommendation of several Twitterati friends I’ve been trying out Flock recently, displacing Firefox to be my primary browser.

It has lots of useful features, but one really annoying one that it shares with its underlying Firefox engine: it doesn’t seem to handle embedded objects very well.

To wit, YouTube videos.

Here’s what a YouTube video looks like in IE:

You’ll hopefully note the “I’d appreciate your comments” line below the video.

Here’s what the same video looks like in both Flock and Firefox browsers:

Not pretty.

It’s the same code, copied directly from YouTube and pasted into my editor.

I really like Flock, as I do Firefox. But they corrupt embedded and JavaScript code.

For an example of JavaScript code, here’s the clock showing Adelaide time as it should appear in your browser:

And here’s what it actually looks like in Flock and Firefox (you’ll have to scroll down!)

I know that the browser wars have been going on for over a decade, but it really doesn’t help when such anomalous behaviour still goes on! Grrrrrr…..

So if my blogposts occasionally appear ‘weird’, you now know why.

I wish it were something as simple as WordPress altering the code, but if so why does it appear fine in one browser and corrupt in another? I welcome the input from the gurus on this.

And don’t get me started on Feedblitz’ way of removing the align=”right” code from images… Double grrrr…..

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UPDATE: CC Chapman reminded me that the videos and clock seem to load fine in FFox and Flock, but once the page has completed loading they shoot down to the bottom of the page.

This is on a pc — I don’t know how it displays on a mac.

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It’s only a test of the software, but I’ve popped a video test run of a possible new-look Better Communication Results Video up on YouTube.

I’d appreciate your comments.

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cross-posted from my Second Life blog

In what can only be described as a refreshing moment of authenticity and honesty, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recently announced it will shortly be setting up an island within Second Life.

The AFP will be setting up a High Tech Crime Operations unit that will have as part of its operational area the virtual world of Second Life.

The AFP will be expanding the unit’s workforce to include “nerdy teenagers” (as the Weekend Australian said) and web consultants, as well as academics, social workers, technical experts and intelligence analysts.

We’re going to work more closely with the generation that’s most able to assist us” said AFP Assistant Commissioner Andrew Colvin, going on to add that it was important for the AFP to move away from traditional policing approaches with hi-tech crime.

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And in this week’s report:

• the election is over — now what will happen about Australia’s atrocious broadband?
• Australian financial institutions not ready for Web2.0, but realise that consumers are demanding it
• Australian Federal Police (AFP) acknowledge their lack of skills within virtual worlds, so will set up island in SL and recruit savvy teens and web consultants to create one of the largest units within the AFP

All in all, six minutes and 39 seconds of audio enlightenment [6.3mb]. Download now, or subscribe to my podcast feed to receive each and every report at around the same time as the report is published over at ForImmediateRelease.

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As reported by the BBC:

A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks.

The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.

The man had not slept properly, and had eaten very little during his marathon session, said police.

Much as I spend time in Second Life and the virtual world (aka mobile phones, landline phones, computers, text books, novels, theoretical treatises, et al.) and as much as I am an insomniac (this post is being written at 3:32am Tuesday), I can’t see me staying up for 50 hours to play computer games.

Then again, in the mid 1980s I *did* stay up and on-air 48 hours as an announcer/disk jockey at an Armed Forces radio station to raise money for the station.

I was a basket case afterwards (there will be no correspondence entered into about whether I remained a basket case).

Currently listening to: After The Fall - ‘Concrete Boots’

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There’s a BBC News post about ’spies’, those James Bond types who protect Her Majesty’s realm.

Goodness, if the interviewees are really half-serious they must surely consider themselves as ‘cannon fodder’ as much as any Private or Corporal ground soldier in the regular army.

Consider this quote from ‘Natalie MI6′:

“It is a family environment here and everyone’s close… so we just talk to each other about it and that’s good.”

Can anyone pronounce ‘groupthink’?

And consider this from ‘Greg MI6′:

Like any job, some of the work involved is boring and Greg wishes he got paid more, after taking a considerable wage cut to join MI6. The entry pay scale depends on experience - Greg started on about £27,000.

“Some of the IT tasks are not always the most exciting and it would be nice if we got paid more, but I don’t think that’s why people are doing the job.”

Hmmm… so he’s not up for a honey trap with more money, then…

One of the nice things about our much maligned Australian Mickey Mouse outfit called ASIO is that they don’t indulge in puerile interviews in a half-baked attempt at recruitment.

In our national newspaper recruitment adverts they always ask for graduates which, despite whatever linguistic, grammatical and intellectual faults they may possess, they at least bring with them the rigour of a half-weight intellectual process which forces them to think about the evidence and to carry out research to confirm or deny their prejudices.

Consider this from Shazad, MI5:

“We discuss it amongst ourselves in this building, amongst our colleagues here. But when you leave the office, you really leave your work behind.”

Tie this in with Jayashree, MI5:

Jayashree says she became an MI5 agent to repay a debt to her country. She says Britain has welcomed her family and is the country in which she was born and raised.

And you wonder why the British Secret Service has a reputation of being one of the most leak-prone in the world… (to be fair, under Blair they have got better, but then again there wasn’t much further down to go…)

No, this is NOT a racial rant (I despise Australia’s inherent racialism) but it IS about national security and picking the low-hanging fruit off the tree. Anyone who’s read LeCarre and Deighton (as quasi-factual critics disguised as novelists) for a few years, or any of the so-called ’serious’ industry writers, cannot help but notice the parallels. I just stupidly prefer someone who can spell, and at the same time pronounce ‘espionage’ as more than a tri-syllabic word.

Does this mean that western security forces should be filled with white Anglo-Saxon handsome sons and gorgeous blonde daughters?

Absolutely NOT. But it does mean that we should be worried when we are presented with (real?) individuals who are so easy prey for turning. I think so.

I would rather not read or listen to interviews about the young graduates who make up my secret service, to be honest.  Like stains on a hotel bedsheet, some things are best kept secret.

Currently listening to: Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen - ‘Theme From Mission Impossible’

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Spend ANY time with ANY software package and you start to learn cool tricks, tips, and shortcuts.

So has happened with SnagIt!

The most prominent blog that I send images to is my LeeHopkins.net blog (but yes, there are other blogs I run).

I just (I know, I’m a slow learner) noticed the ‘Send with FTP…’ link in SnagIt!

Ok, they only have one blog that you can directly send the image to, and that may not be the most appropriate blog for the particular image you are editing and creating a post about.

But it’s a start…

Currently listening to: Adam & The Ants - ‘Antmusic’

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A picture says a thousand words, so here is the picture:

For a measly $49.95 USD (Enterprise Annual License price: $29.95 USD per seat per year) you get a phenomenal tool that is currently saving me nearly $80 USD a month.

You’d be stupid to pass this productivity tool up, really.

No, I have no vested interest; no there is no affiliate link attached to this.

Currently listening to: Ace Of Base - All That She Wants

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