Links

If you want to run away from this site, let me suggest some of my preferred exits ... First, the Calvin pictures illustrating this site are linking to a wonderful site maintained by a friend of mine. If you're not a Calvin & Hobbes fan, you'll become one !

News

My day always start with some news reading. You'll stay on the bleeding edge of software business and development with Slashdot or Wired. And when you're a total geek, you never miss an issue of the daily User Friendly comic strip or the not-quite-daily Hackles. Monday is especially a nice day because this is the weekly Kernel Traffic release relating the last adventures of Linus, Alan and friends in the land of the penguins. I also regularly check the OpenGL reference site as a 3D enthusiast and developer.

Software

As a Free Software user & advocate, I'm browsing sites like Gna!, Savannah or SourceForge (where some of my projects are hosted), SGI's open source projects or IBM's one. And of course life would be sad without serious kernel and/or operating systems like the one with the cute little penguin or the one with the cute little daemon.

I'm a long time user of the Gnome Desktop. I've been using XMMS almost since the very beginning ('98). I favor patent-free audio compression schemes like Vorbis Ogg or less free ones like DivX;). Finally, I'm used to unlock DVDs from their stupid encryption and region code scheme, in order to enjoy my right of viewing the DVD I legally purchased. Softwares like VideoLan will do the trick very nicely.

Hardware

If I want good advice on computer tidbits, I'll check the absolute reference, namely Tom's Hardware or the french site Hardware.fr (operated by some Tom's testers). I also check meticulously my newest and oldest RAM (and overall basic hardware stability) with Memtest86, a great and ultra-simple tool. If you trust your OS/drivers and you're encoutering strange hang ups, run it !

I'm very concerned about ergonomy for my every work day. I'm using a soft and indirect halogen lighting, one of the great Diamontron® monitor from Iiyama (best quality ever, and affordable) providing a sharp, square and stable 100Hz image, a comfortable chair and try to hunt all the nasty noises coming from this dumb box on my side.

Miscellaneous

• Les Entreprenautes : the best internet professional yellow pages (France only)
• Olvido Ruiz : cuban singer sponsored by a friend of mine
• Jazz Valley : the best jazz reference, great mail notification service
• Magnatune : good music, free streams, new business model to reward authors
• Sexual averages : where you learn that a coïtus expends 419 Watts
• Sodaplay : play with living bouncy creatures
• The Jacky touch : find a new meaning of the word tuning (french)
• Cat scan contest : cats have a new ennemy besides dogs
• Monty Python Flying Circus : the best tribute for the most hilarious blokes of the 20th century
• Mad Pong : a humorous tribute to the famous vintage video game
• At last, end up with the last page of the Internet