Every Monday through Friday-ish, we post a new Monkey Bite on our frontdoor for your edification. This could be a little news item, a link to a useful site, a handy coding tip, or just some random piece of information we think might be of interest to Web developers. Expired Monkey Bites are stored right here, growing tastier and more sophisticated with each passing day.

Recent-ish Monkey Bites:

2/10/04


The Mozilla group has released version 0.8 of its Firefox browser, which was previously known as Mozilla Firebird. There's a new installer for Windows, better bookmark management, and overall improvements to stability. And how about that new name, huh? Fierce!

2/9/04


There's no place like home, there's no place like home ... unless you live in a clone home like the up!house or one of the fabprefabs. But who cares if your house is mass-produced when it's so damn awesome? Sign us up!house!

2/5/04


Here's a new tool from Google: Search by Location. Plug in your address and whatever service you want to find — "coffee" for example — and you see how many Starbucks you have to walk past before you arrive at your favorite locally owned coffee shop.

2/4/04


Listen all you kill-your-televisionaries: Why resort to murder when you can so cheap-and-easily transform your TV into a pretty, pretty box with pretty, pretty glowing colors?

2/3/04


The Monkey-laden team at Adaptive Path has poked and prodded the websites of nine major donkey-party candidates and generated some mightily detailed user experience analysis.

2/1/04


Hey, Mac browser geeks! The Omni Group has released the first public beta of OmniWeb 5.0. Since it's beta software, it's still a little rough around the edges. But aren't we all?

1/29/04


Mina Naguib's website mixmaster lets you play Fiddler on the Roof with some of your favorite websites, and see the fruit of their unholy unions. Sometimes it really does feel like there's not enough time in the day. You know?

1/25/04


Friscocity is "a weblog devoted to ins, outs, and whathaveyous of San Francisco, California." They obviously ignored the first rule of our fair city: don't call it Frisco!

1/23/04


The Chinese lunar new year is upon us, and if there wasn't already enough reason to celebrate, 2004 is the Year of the Monkey! So, from all of us here at Webmonkey, "Shi nian kuai le!"

1/21/04


Dude: Webbies (submission deadline is this Friday, January 23)! Bloggies (finalists were announced Monday, voting ends 10Pm EST on Saturday, January 31)!

1/20/04


And for today's incestuous link-knot: Evmonkey favorite 50 Cups links to toy-piano project Twink, the brain child of the magic fingers of the Mike Langlie, husband of Karen Langlie, of Sob Sisters and Wisteriax fame. (Cello there!) And, OK, so, where do the Langlies work? At Tripod, sister-site of ... Webmonkey!

1/17/04


The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing right now! We recommend Jason Calacanis' site for a blog's-eye view of the films that are slam dunks this year.

1/16/04


In these Phildickian times, it's refreshing to see that some science fiction authors are actually excited about the latest White House policy.

1/15/04


Tired of the endless, ceaseless battle to stay on the cutting edge? Screw it. Just aim for the Putting Edge. It's what's glowing on!

1/13/04


If you're stuck in the dumb, old, dull-edged United States like we are, then here's your chance to finally get your mitts on the bleeding-edge technology usually available only in Europe and Asia: Introducing iCube.us, HQ of all the sleekest new gadgets, like USB-powered drink warmers or high-heel multimedia desktop units.

1/12/04


Do you know where your children are? (That can't be! That's inside the house!) Soon secret bounce-back SMS messaging will make it possible for parents to track their kids' whereabouts. Unfortunately, so can pedophiles, stalkers, and tickle fetishists.

1/8/04


Are you a Mac user who's gaga for radio? If so, check out RadioLover, an application that records any Internet radio stream and saves the songs as individual MP3s. It also has a timer that lets you record when you're not around. And a whole bunch of other stuff!

1/7/04


We're a little leery of anything named "iLife" (forever to be confused with the champagne of beers), but the included GarageBand alone is well, well worth the insane US$49 price tag. Webmonkey says: run, don't walk! (To get yourself the software and, you know, just in general.)

1/5/04


Webmonkey wishes you a happy new year! It wouldn't be the first week of January without the annual MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Watch Webmonkey this week for our exclusive coverage, and tune into Wired News every day for Leander Kahney's top-notch reports from the expo floor.

12/22/03


Webmonkey wishes you Peace on Earth and a happy New Year! We will be on a holiday hiatus until the 5th of January, 2004. In the meantime, browse our how-to library, check out the hot scoop over at Wired News, or just give us a great big hug. We love you.

12/19/03


Our musical pals over at Dublab.com are currently touring around with their first art show. Up Our Sleeve features original vinyl record sleeve art created by over 270 artists, DJs, and musicians. Big Up!

12/17/03


Since we're always happy to tell you about websites that let you download really cool music for free, we're tickled paisley about Songfight. They come up with a song title, you record the music, then they post the contributions for all to vote on.

12/15/03


Don't you love it when great minds sic their smarts on something truly meaningful, like Bacon linking or charting Cathy's sweat, sweat ways or Globuloing?

12/11/03


Commencing countdown, engines on, et cetera. Yes, it's Leslie Harpold's annual Advent Calendar! Just eleven days left, and what better way to celebrate than baking and eating a reindeer head?

12/9/03


Freakishly enough, the whole "what is a blog?" debate continues to rage. In early October, lots of smart people mulled over the topic (along with many other topics, but still!) at Dave Winer's BloggerCon. And now the "Top 20 Definitions of Blogging" takes another crack at it. Whatever. Isn't a blog just one of those "know it when you see it" kind of things? And if a site isn't a blog — it's a journal with links or a weblog with journal-length entries, a foamy latte or a wet cappuccino — so what? It doesn't get to compete in the Blog Olympics? We don't get it.

12/8/03


If your mobile features a built-in camera, then maybe mobile blogging is for you. "Moblogs" allow you to post photos from your wireless device, no matter who or where you are.

12/5/03


Trying to decide what to do with all of those MP3s that you've ripped, downloaded or — let's face it — stolen over the past few years? Have you ever considered sending them back?

12/4/03


Here's a bit of magic that makes the ever-important testing phase of Web development a whole lot easier: a trick that lets you run multiple versions of Internet Explorer on the same computer.

12/2/03


It's December already and you haven't even started your holiday shopping? Webmonkey distant relative Wired Magazine's annual Geek Gift Guide offers 77 places to start.

12/1/03


What does the Internet look like? Is it a forest of data trees? A sky filled with blinkenlights? The folks at Opte hope to find out.

11/26/03


And on the "surprise, surprise" front: The House of Representatives has passed the antispam bill but it may not be strong enough to relieve our over-burdened inboxes. Meanwhile, though our cell numbers are now "emancipated," cell companies seem to lack the organization to do much about it just now. Wah, wah, wah, wahhhh!

11/20/03


Web-based image searching on the Macintosh is getting a boost thanks to a new piece of software. It's fast, it's sleek, and it's called Beholder.

11/18/03


Two software giants are squaring off for a rich-media showdown — Microsoft is positioning its new Sparkle application server technology against Macromedia's Flash-based Flex framework. Why all the fussin' and feudin', folks?

11/14/03


What's the lastest news from the digital copyright front? Get caught distributing movies before their release dates and spend five years in the big house.

11/12/03


If you haven't purchased a Segway yet (and really, what are you waiting for?), may we suggest you save a little cash by building your own? And if that project fails, there's always the good old Megway.

11/10/03


Tired of using lorem ipsum while greeking? Try using a Verdi aria instead.

11/6/03


From the "ex-Monkey does good" file, we're proud, excited, and just a little bit caked to announce the debut of PokerSavvy, the bouncing brainchild of Jay Greenspan, former Wired News Radio personality and Webmonkey producer, editor, and writer.

11/3/03


And the award for most acronymphomaniacal chess game simulator goes to ... Cybarber's XML + XSLT to HTML + VML + TIME animator! (PS: You'll need an MSXML4.0-enabled IE 5.5+ browser. An MSXML4.0-enabled IE 5.5+ browser for the PC.)

10/30/03


Finishing up our series of Amazon-related Bites, today we give you some piece of mind. Happy Halloween, all you witches, devils, and gentle bunnies!

10/29/03


If you see strange bursts of color in the sky tonight, don't worry. Nobody spiked your triple-tall! It's just that, thanks to yesterday's major solar event, the entire northern hemisphere is enjoying heightened auroral activity this evening. Look up!

10/28/03


More fun with Amazon's Search Inside the Book feature: Slate's Chatterbox sics the search on Posner's list of Public Intellectuals and comes up with drastically re-ranked results.

10/23/03


Amazon's new Search Inside the Book feature is really awesome for finding books that cover a certain topic without necessarily featuring said topic in their titles. But some of you may find the new feature a wee too exhaustingly exhaustive. Either way, give it a try and maybe win a Segue!

10/21/03


This was making the rounds last week, but just in case you missed it: See what kids today have to say about our beloved Pong, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and Tetris. (Choice quotes: "How can you die from a fall of a whopping three inches?" and "But you can get this game on a cell phone." and "This is sad.")

10/19/03


Thank you for inviting me in to your inflatable privacy igloo. Do you mind if I bring my inflatable sea anemone chair with me? Really? Awesome.

10/16/03


The floatutorial teaches you the CSS way to float images, multi-column layouts, and your boat. In the event of an emergency, it can also be used as a seat cushion.

10/14/03


Hey early adopters — NaDa 0.5 is out. The new version is compatible with all operating systems and installs in a breeze. And it promises to "make you feel good."

10/08/03


Hey, guess what? Napster is back, and it's exactly the same except that you have to pay for it and it won't work with your iPod. Oh well.

10/08/03


These anything-but-ham-fisted warriors are doing what they can to can Spam. Keep fighting the good fight, fellas!

10/07/03


A new portable gaming device is hitting the market, courtesy of those fruitful Finnish folks at Nokia. Maybe we'll see a version of Tapan Kaikki developed for the platform? We should be so lucky.

10/06/03


If you're still out there trading music on the Web — No judgement! — then at least take the necessary steps to protect yourself from the long arm of the law.

10/02/03


Feeling insecure? Maybe you'll be comforted by the idea that there are smart people out there thinking long and hard about the problem. Also, your hair looks really pretty today! Honest!

09/30/03


We've talked about Googlesmacking, right? The art of backwards-engineering bizarre search terms to deliberately titillate referrer log addicts? Well how about diablogger Velcrometer's informal Googlesmack contest?

09/29/03


Should blogs written by journalists really be subject to editing? (NYT reg. req.)

09/25/03


There's a new version of BitTorrent available! Version 3.3 of the (totally legal) file-distribution client irons out some bugs, improves download performance, and is kinder to your CPU.

09/23/03


Evany just got back from Yosemite, and boy are her arms ... tan. One of the hot, hot spots she hiked to was Dewey Point, so beautiful!, and so remote that when she and friend Jill fell asleep out there, they woke to birds circling above, no lie! And speaking of Dewey, apparently the famous Decimal System is protected by trademark (NYT , reg. req.)? Weird.

09/22/03


Blocked! The Internet Software Consortium has released a patch for its DNS protocol software, BIND, to deal with VeriSign's new Site Finder service, which "helpfully" redirects users who mistype a domain to a nice and ad-sponsorable search page.

09/19/03


Intel is ga-ga for radio — the company is researching new radio and wireless technologies. Can we still listen to "Get The Led Out"?

09/18/03


Resfest kicks off in San Francisco this week! The digital film festival hits different venues around the world, so check to see if there's a stop scheduled in your neck of the woods.

09/17/03


What happens when monkeys think they are being treated unfairly? They throw a fit, of course. You have been warned.

09/16/03


Sun's Mad Hatter Linux distro is hitting the market — we first saw a demo of it at JavaOne — and has been renamed the Sun Java Desktop system.

09/10/03


Yet another spam-zapping tool for you all to enjoy! SpamPal uses both rule-based and statistical filtering, and it's free.

09/05/03


Not a huge surprise, but a welcome one — Apple gives the iMacs a speed bump, knocking the 17-inch screen model up to a way-fast 1.25GHz, and announces a 40GB iPod. That's a lot of Dead bootlegs, bro!

09/04/03


Hey, it's the incredible shrinking MP3 player! Creative is racing to make the smallest player in the digital audio world. Great, but does it come with a car?

09/02/03


What's small, cute, and made of Flash? Only the coolest color picker ever!

08/28/03


You don't need money, don't need fame, don't need no credit card (unless, of course, you'd like to make a donation) to send a message back ... to the future! All you need is FutureMe.org (brought to you by our very own Jay Patrikios and friend Matt) which lets you send delayed emails to yourself up to twenty-four years into tomorrow. Just don't change that address! Ever!

08/27/03


Straight outta MIT: the sounds of Eigenradio! The station distills and processes several Internet radio feeds, then restructures the "music" using a statistical model. However it works, it's still rock and roll to us.

08/26/03


Listen up! (Because you may not have much time to do so!) It turns out that some brands of CD-Rs, which are supposed to last, like, ten whole years (or in some cases even a century), are totally losing it after just two. So bad!

08/21/03



Strike the perfect balance of weapons, solar panels, fuel tanks, and engines to create the supreme SpacePod, "but beware, your opponents are never far away, doing all they can to break your ship apart, take your Pods and destroy you." Much like with life.

08/19/03


Processing may still just be in alpha, but it's already powering some amazing purdy-picture software. Not sure if its the right language for you? See how it stacks up against some of the old standards (Java, ActionScript, Lingo, and the like).

08/18/03


Hey, have you ever heard of multiple-input, multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing? Yeah, it's a mouthful, but it makes your WiFi connection faster and more reliable while increasing your signal range. No wonder the idea is gathering steam.

08/14/03


Weird, it turns out the man behind this awesome graphic display tool that plots your degrees of Friendster separation is the very same Ben Discoe that went to high school with Webmonkey Evany. Small world! Big dreams.

08/12/03


OMG! Don't oppress your inner twelve-year-old. Let it run free.

08/07/03


Apple's iChat AV was made for video-conferencing, but that hasn't stopped a few intrepid souls from getting creative with the software. Fire up those USB cameras for some instant video dating!

07/30/03


The latest release of sister Tripod's Blog Tool just hit the dance floor with a cuted-up configuration screen, improved font preview features, and new color swatch picker. Sign up, stat!

07/28/03


Things may be looking ever-so-slightly up on the job front in Silicon Valley, but to lure still-picky potential employers, you're still going to need a little help.

07/24/03


Wired News is making waves yet again, this time for its search-specific RSS feeds. You can subscribe to an actual search query — go to Wired News and search for Webmonkey, for example, then click on the RSS link at the top of the results page. Plug the resulting URL into your news reader, and any time Wired News writes about us, you'll be one of the first to know!

07/22/03


The legwarmer is back with a vengence, and so, apparently, is the blink tag. Yes BLINK, long the favorite punchline of every Internet-related gathering, is now celebrating its own nostalgia-fueled renaissance. No. Yes!

07/21/03


Old-schooler Stephen Wozniak has developed the ultimate system to track all your stuff. wOzNet locator ID tags can be affixed to anything, dutifully keeping an eye on your pets, car, or children at all times. Oh Woz, what's next?

07/16/03


In case you haven't heard, the curtains were drawn on Netscape this week. And from the ashes, a new beast rises: The Mozilla Foundation.

07/14/03


The oh-so-valid XHTML- and CSS-driven Adaptive Path redesign is now alive, kicking, courtesy of Webmonkey's own Doug "Big Rump" Bowman. Nice!

07/10/03


An online radio stream that actually listens to YOU? Last.fm does just that: monitors the way you listen to music and delivers content based on your proven preferences. Now if only we could apply this to live concerts — no more drum solos!

07/8/03


An invisibility cape that keeps you hidden by projecting the scene directly behind you using six stereoscopic pairs of video cameras is cool. But how much freakier would it be if the cape projected everything in front of you, so all people saw was themselves? Or, better yet, it projected Dude, Where's My Car?

07/7/03


New over at AOL: a blogging tool! At this point, we should all point our RSS aggregators to UserLand to get uber-blogger Dave Winer's spin on the story.

06/30/03


Webmonkey's sooo fine friend Pamie just published her first novel, Why Girls Are Weird. (It's about a girl who, much like you all, builds a website and consequently learns about life, and love. And crazy people.) Buy it today, if not for yourself, then maybe for your local library? Come on, it's for the kids! OK fine, it will make Michael Moore want to french you!

06/26/03


The people at SFLan (we say it "sflan" ... like the jiggly delicacy only with a sibilant intro) are building maps of San Francisco's wireless nodes (using Net Stumbler) to help guide you in your pursuit of free connectivity.

06/22/03


Several well-meaning pundits in the RSS game are sick of fighting over divergent standards. Their next move? Reboot the entire RSS format and start over.

06/15/03


April showers bring May flowers, and now Original Monkey June brings us the end-all, be-all Web-dev book, The Unusually Useful Web Book. So exciting! So proud! So yay! Go buy the pants off it today!

06/10/03


Musical jackets and other computerized clothing aren't just for bone-chillingly hilarious comedian Robin Williams anymore! Medical, firefighting, and farming workers may be donning similar futurista fashions in the not so distance. No shazbot!

06/06/03


This week saw the beta release of Eudora Mail 6.0 — the perfect choice for all of you intrepid types who like to express your individuality through your choice of email application. Go 4 it!!!

06/05/03


Apple Computer is throwing a party! Independent record labels are invited to the company's Cupertino, CA, headquarters tonight to ink deals to get their music in Apple's iTunes Music Store. Quick, tell your friend's band!

06/04/03


New, just in time for summer! The Tripod Blog Builder — which, you may recall, actual Webmonkeys helped build (where "build"=write a little copy for) — well, it just got an upgrade! Now you can post pictures! Have more than one author! And display the mood you were in when you penned an entry (the boozy cocktail glass icon sure does take the edge off, especially with those "why, mommy, why?" entries)! And, and, and!

06/03/03


The times they are a changing, boy. First, Cockybastard takes it down about thirteen-million notches to become Lifestudent. (No! Yes.) And, possibly related?, this year's Webby Awards have crumbled from glitterati-ridden E-ticket ride to humble smattering of small, independent gatherings joined via online "party." We don't need five words — that's just "sad."




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