Apart from having a really cleaver name, Del.icio.us is a super cool web site. Seriously. Let me count the ways.

1. Store all your bookmarks online.

    If you ever use more than one computer this can be very handy. If you've ever been at someone's house and wanted to show them a web page but just couldn't quite remember how to find the site, this is great.

2. Tags not folders.

    Instead of having to sort through long lists of links or remember exactly which folder you put something in, you simply have to remember what the site was about. When you add a new site, you can add as many 'tags' as you would like. So you might tag mlb.com "sports, baseball, mariners, fun". Then when you want to find that site again, you could look in any of those categories to find it.

3. See other people's bookmarks.

    You can look at anyone else's bookmarks. If you find someone else who has similar interests, you can see the sites that they find interesting. You can even save your favorite people, so their bookmarks show up right next to yours.

4. See popular sites on any topic.

    You can also find the most popular sites on any given subject.  For instance, if you wanted to find good recipes you could just go here: http://del.icio.us/popular/recipes
    There are lots and lots of tags and site also. I tried the tag donmiller (Don Miller, author of blue like jazz) and found a number of sites. http://del.icio.us/tag/donmiller

5. It's easy to use.

    There are tools available for every browser so if you are on a site that you might want to keep for later reference, you can click one button, tell it which tags you want and you are done. You don't even have to leave the site that you're on.

Try it out, it's fun and useful. While you're at it check out my bookmarks.
http://del.icio.us/sporkss
If you have a del.icio.us account, post the url in the comments.

As you may have read in Dahlia's blog, she has been crawling now for a week. It's very exciting to see growth happen so quickly in someone. When people are older, change is so gradual it's easy to overlook, but with Dahlia every day there is something new to notice.
    In some ways it's scary that she's gained more mobility. You have to keep an eye on her at all times lest she wander too near the fireplace, speaker wires or any number of other hazards that are bountiful in our living room. As she learns to stand up now, there is danger that she will fall (and she already has) and hurt herself. I am personally aware of this, I cracked my head open when I was three and had to have it stapled shut. So it adds a little extra stress.
    Ultimately it's great for us though. She can keep herself happy and entertained for much longer now. This gives us a little more time to get things done around the house (our dishes are already thanking us). She was already a pretty good girl before, now she's even better. Also, it requires us to baby proof our house. This is just the motivation we need to keep the house that much cleaner. Already today I've found myself about to discard some junk in some forgotten corner of the room only to stop myself, realizing that whatever is left on the floor is sacrificed to Dahlia.
    So, while crawling is scary, it's nice. I'll just have to remember this when she gets her driver's license.

It's been a while since my first post on web browsers and since then, every major browser has released significant new versions.

Opera 9

     The fastest and most secure browser on the market is now even better. If that wasn't enough, it's standard features are the best (mouse gestures, bittorrent, nice tab options). There are some decent add-ons available as well.
    The downside is that it still has some compatibility issues with a few advanced sites, although that list is getting shorter all the time.

Firefox 2

    Some pretty good updates over the previous edition. Some of my favorite changes are... It spell checks everything you type. The default search (the one in the top right) uses Google suggest (try it out, it's nice). The default theme is much nicer. There are lots of other little things which I am still discovering.
    Firefox with no extensions isn't as good as Opera. But, Firefox has a ton of extensions available, which tips the scales in favor of Firefox.

Internet Explorer 7

    For the first time in 6 years, Windows' default browser got a major upgrade. It adds loads of new features and theoretically is a lot more secure, although time will tell. It also fixes many (but not all) of the display issues that make web developers like me want to commit violent crimes. All in all, it's a huge step forward. It's not as good as Firefox or Opera but it's probably 80-90% of the way there. It should be available if you run Microsoft Update, but if not...