As both Jeremy and Darren have pointed out, there’s a fun new distraction game on the web, called POOM. Try to beat my 7500.

Link: POOM

Maximum PC provides a very interesting list of reader tips for XP. A few of these, I hadn’t seen before, like:

Setting priority for DNS lookups to speed up Internet connection

I’ve been able to obtain a very stable and faster cable internet connection on my Win XP computer after experimenting with priority settings in the registry key listed below. When a web URL is typed into a browser window, the browser uses these settings, among others, to find the website’s DNS. The settings below give the highest priority to the DNS Cache lookup, next highest to local, third highest to hosts file, and fourth highest to NetBIOS. The DWORD for “Class� should not be changed. The aim here should be to keep the priority numbers low but different.

If the numbers are higher, the priority for each lookup is lower, often creating longer delays and some instability during the online experience. This tweak can work very well if the user keeps the DNS Resolver Cache up to date (i.e. flushes it occasionally so it can be recreated with working DNS entries) and the host file contains no out of date addresses. Some experimenting with low numbers in these four entries should improve any user’s broadband connection.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]

“Class�=dword:00000001
“DNSPriority�=dword:00000001
“HostsPriority�=dword:00000003
“LocalPriority�=dword:00000002
“ProviderPath�=string:%SystemRoot%\System32\wsock32.dll
“NetbtPriority�=dword:00000004
“Name�=�TCP/IP�

-Harold

Although this one advocating the removal of unused DLLs from memory actually has a negative effect on performance, although a forgivable mistake as it’s an extremely common misconception:

Windows automatically removing unneeded DLL’s from cache memory

Here’s how to improve system performance by having Win XP automatically remove unneeded DLLs from cache memory. Sometimes XP keeps DLLs in cache memory even when the program that required them is no longer running and this cuts down on the memory available to other applications. You can use a simple Registry hack to have XP automatically remove from cache memory DLLs that are no longer needed by programs.

Run the Registry Editor and go to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Create a new DWORD value named AlwaysUnloadDll, and give it a data value of 1. Exit the Registry and reboot for the new setting to take effect. Note that this setting may cause problems with some programs. Some Windows programs—especially older and 16-bit programs—may issue error messages with this setting in effect; so if that starts happening, delete the new key or give it a value of 0.

-Joe Kane

Anyway, definitely a list that is worth your time.

Link: The best reader-submitted WinXP tips

New Scientist has a great article called 11 Steps to a Better Brain that is well worth a read. It’s a bit long, but worth it if you’re interested in putting yourself in the best position to achieve the potential your brain currently possesses.

Link: New Scientist - 11 Steps to a Better Brain

This is simply the best office prank I’ve ever seen. Be sure to download the video.

Link: A Superball Story

Well said, Tom.

I’ve probably posted too many times directly about Robert Scoble, but I was thinking today about why I continue to read him. I have sort of a love / hate relationship with Scoble’s blog, because while at times he posts very interesting stuff before other people do, his incessant enthusiasm for his employer (Microsoft) can at times verge on disgusting, and ridiculous.

But the real reason you should read Scoble transcends all of that. Robert is (most of the time) a very mature, responsible member of society, and he’s someone we all could learn from.

Today was the party for friends and family for my son’s second birthday - as well as being a father’s day celebration - hosted at my in-law’s house. During an engaging conversation about racism with my father and two of my brother -in-laws, we suddenly came to complete agreement on a single point: that we need to create more true conversation (expression and discussion of ideas) in the world, and unfortunately most people are just looking to be heard.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but I recently read about a negative aspect of the Walkman / iPod revolution: that we shut into ourselves and only listen to that which we like, over and over again. Eventually we feel empty, or “undernourished”, as we have not been willing to venture outside our comfort zone to expose ourselves to something new. This idea is true in all of our information and media consumption; if we choose only to expose ourselves to things that we like, we become undernourished.

If you were to take a random sample from Scoble’s blog, you might be inclined to think that he’s someone who is just looking to be heard. But you’d be wrong. Scoble reads as many blogs as he can find time for, and makes a point of not just reading blogs that have similar viewpoints to his; he goes out of his way to read ideas that run contrary to his own. And this is his saving grace. Blogs as a communication medium are revolutionary, but only when we use them thoughtfully and responsibly. Robert teaches us to do that.

Link: The Scobleizer

Ed Bott points to an incredible list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows and other Microsoft software like any version of Office, IE, Media Player and others.

This is brilliant.

ClearContext, a company I’ve written about many times in the past, appears to have very interesting funding. Brad Meador, head of operations, and Deva Hazarika, the chief executive officer, spend their free time playing (and obviously winning at) online poker, and this is how they keep the lights on.

Information, or in this case “the information superhighway” is power.

My brother-in-law invented this concept at least three years ago, maybe more (so he would have been about 15). In his case, it was an alarm clock that would track your sleep cycles by recording your brain waves, and wake you at the most opportune time.

The Sleeptracker watch is #1 on my list of most wanted gadgets that I can’t afford right now. I wish I had a birthday or something coming up; I’d get all of my family to go in on it together. February’s not that far away, is it?

It took me a while to warm to del.ico.us as my link tracking method of choice. My overwhelming Bookmarks library was so huge that I finally decided to try a method that gives more information about the links I saved, where I would be more likely to be able to figure out what I needed at a later date. Plus, although posting a link to del.ico.us is extremely easy, it’s not quite as easy as bookmarking a page, making me think twice about bookmarking anything and everything.

But the one thing that cheeses me about del.ico.us is that it’s too damn popular; sometimes it can take forever for the page to load. Foxylicious is a Firefox extension that fixes that! Simply install Foxylicious, give it your del.ico.us username and password, and tell it where to store your del.ico.us links in your bookmarks hierarchy. (Hint, don’t choose the root folder, unless you don’t mind losing everything, including your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder.) That’s it! Oh, and make sure to set it to sync daily.

I found this little gem through a great AppRocket tutorial linked to by LifeHacker.

AppRocket is a simple yet addictive little utility that can speed up your navigation of your Windows PC. If you are keyboard-centric, and hate to wait, AppRocket is worth a look.