Blog Archive
Firefox 3 + Muxtape
I am big fan of the Firefox web browser. I think I've been using it for over 3 years as my default browser. It's fast, it works, and if something does go awry it remembers all the tabs and locations you were browsing before it crashed.
Good news today as Mozilla just released Firefox 3 Final Beta 5. The newest version has been completely rebuilt to be faster and have a smaller memory foot print. Browsers like IE and Firefox 2 have a habit after loading a number of web pages to become bloated in memory usage over time. Even when they're not doing anything.
I downloaded the browser this afternoon and was thoroughly pleased with the performance. I can't pinpoint to exactly why I thought it was faster, but the transition from tabs seemed a little quicker, and large websites seem to load just a tad faster. I guess it's something that wouldn't be obvious unless you were navigating the web on a dinosaur of a computer.
The final version is scheduled to come out in June.
If you want to get completely geeky, here's a whole article about the new improvements.
http://blog.pavlov.net/2008/03/11/firefox-3-memory-usage/
MUXTAPE
Audio Cassette tapes are way out of style. I remember making custom mix tapes for friends, specifically girlfriends. One was for a homecoming date. I queued it just right so when she got in the car my voice would come on, "Welcome date, Shoo will be escorting you tonight. Hope you have a lovely time and remember to buckle up and enjoy the music." And of course the tapes were hand crafted because it's not like today where you can drag and drop a mix in no time. They've gone the way of the steam engine, elegant and revered but useless compared to new technology.
I came across the next best thing on the web today. It's called Muxtape. It's very basic, but you upload mp3's, create a list, and then send your friends to a URL and they can listen to your mix. It's elegant in that it's basic and sketchy if it's entirely legal. The creators could have done it ten different ways to make it complicated, but does what it's suppose to and that's create a listing of audio files for your friends to listen to.
No exactly the same thing as a hand crafted mix tape, but it's cool in that with the Internet you can immediately share music with your friends.
Some favs:
http://westerndave.muxtape.com/
Hey... my husband told me about muxtape last week. it is freakin' addictive. I am afraid to visit it again for fear of losing another few hours!! But I'll have to check out your faves.
We were talking, though, and I think the era of mixed tapes hit a certain generation. And, from my limited browsing of muxtape, it seems to have a lot of that 'generation'. I mean, there is a wide variety of music styles, but at the same time, there is some connection. Hard to explain. But interesting. LOVE the site!
Dude, I just came across a Christmas mix CD you made for me eons ago. It was like, "Phat Sled Riding Beats" or something like that.
Pretty awesome.
I am sure there was some Beastie Boys and FatBoy Slim on there.
I remember that one! Crapply Photoshopped sled with 'dubs' for the cover.
I should blog about it.
Wow Muxtape is awesome. I never heard of it before. Has it been available for a while?