That's what I thought when I first saw this advertisement scattered all over Slashdot. Intentional or unintentional? Hmmmm.

Suddenly my Gmail account has coloured bars - and themes like iGoogle! They look good, I've never much liked the default Gmail theme and I am looking forward to picking something that's more my style.

There's now a themes tab in settings for my account. How new is this? I just noticed it today. Did this just get turned on?

UPDATE: "Shiny" theme for me. And here's the link that explains more.

So... has anyone played it yet? I have read a couple reviews, but I want to hear from someone who was a fan of Fallout 1 and 2, and maybe even Fallout Tactics (which I thought was a fun, well-made game with a few flaws). Personally, I think the move to the Oblivion engine could be great, but I am not interested in watching endless slo-mo gory deaths, nor am I interested in listening to bad voice actors say George Carlin's words just because someone thinks that's "gritty" and "mature." Is there an option to turn these off, or tone them down? Finally, are the quests any good? Are they as deep as the original games? Are the dialog options varied or are they just good cop-bad cop drivel? Is it possible to play characters as varied as the first two games, or is it all about the lolgunz?

Please help me I'm addicted to slashdot. I am currently covering the Canadian federal election for my newspaper's website and am browsing Slashdot at the same time... and I have mod points! I am struggling with temptation. Get thee behind me, /. (after I use my mod points, that is.)

Apple is suing a school - and customer - over its logo.

Apple is claiming that a Victoria, B.C. web design school is infringing on its copyright because the school logo looks similar to Apple's (go to the site and see for yourself.)

The school owners Christopher Boag and Dieter Gerhard "argue that the apple is a 'traditional representation of education' and that the logo in question, which incorporates the mountain logo of a sister company and has the words VSBT in one corner, in no way can be confused with the Apple logo."

The school is an Apple customer. From the article:

In its classrooms, VSBT has 20 large-screen iMac computers and has another 20 on order, Boag said, in addition to nearly a dozen Mac laptops and a handful of iPhones used by staff.

I realize Apple has to actively defend its copyright, or else it could lose bigger suits with even bigger infringers, but they could have settled with the owners in other ways instead of just slapping them with a "cease and desist" letter. Bad form, Apple.

Always late to the party, I finally just finished Portal. Actually I just got it, and then finished it in one night.

What a brilliant little game. Simple mechanics, the physics makes sense, the puzzles are not too daunting, they just require a little bit of thought, and the atmosphere is wonderfully creepy.

There are lots of little details that add up as the game goes on to make it interesting, like how your character has these things on her legs that help her jump higher, and survive falls from great heights (that's my interpretation, it's never explained.)

The story has great pacing. You get hints early on that things are a bit off, but when you find the first secret room it's starkly shocking and strips the veneer right off. The atmosphere changes abruptly, and it's a great example of storytelling in a game without using exposition, and letting the player uncover the story.

And of course, the computer guiding, taunting, threatening and wheedling you along is highly entertaining. The black humour is wonderful. The song at the end had me laughing so hard I was in tears.

It was short, but well worth it. Now I have to play all the bonus maps.

Awesome.

Postings disappearing? Where are they going?

No wait, I'm just borderline retarded and have not been putting subjects on them. Der.

It's sunny for the first time in weeks. I'm going outside.
Right after this post.
Ooh, mod points...
Sunshine is overrated, anyways.

Sigh... once again an article about evolution on /. degrades into a multitude of sneering nerds insulting in straw man attacks anyone who believes in creation of any form.

I believe a creator God brought this universe and all its components - living and otherwise - into existence and set its processes in motion. How he did it is for science to try and explain, and I see no conflict between science and the Bible - which is more concerned with WHY God created the universe, than HOW.

It's a shame that some posters, apparently vehement atheists, feel they need to boost their positions by attacking and belittling anyone who disagrees with them.

And it's a shame that Christians keep trying to engage in a fruitless debate instead of living their lives the way Christ wants them to live. Arguing never brought anyone into the Kingdom of God, and shaping America into a religious nation is definitely not what Jesus was talking about when he talked about the Kingdom of God.

I've been having piles of fun replaying Thief Gold. The graphics were a bit off-putting at first, but the gameplay quickly drew me back in. The story is great and playing it on expert is the only way to go. Thanks to the author of DarkLoader for making it painless and simple to run Thief in Windows XP. I'm still impressed at the mission design. There are moments of sheer terror when you inadvertently attract a guard's attention by a footstep on a tile floor. The conversations between guards you can overhear are hilarious. Even the ugly old graphics have a quaint appeal, particularly the interior carpet and wallpaper textures. Still lots of fun, all these years later.