--- Thursday, March 31, 2005

Oh. My. God.

Permalink: 3/31/2005 01:55:00 AM

I just found out... that there's an Oasis album... that I don't own.

Link

--- Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Me vs. Reuters

Permalink: 3/29/2005 12:50:00 PM

Reuters recently published an article:

"LONDON (Reuters) - The new CD single 'Baby' from rapper Fabolous allows UK consumers to choose which part of the song they want to use as a mobile phone ringtone, a feature that Warner Music said on Thursday was a first for the industry.

Until now, the 30-second ringtone clips packaged with singles have been pre-determined by record companies."

smashTheTONES has been doing this for a while with people's own music. Why'd they get the credit for it?

I casually e-mailed the editor, but haven't gotten a response. It's really a shame that they're taking credit for this "unique idea" of theirs.

Link

--- Sunday, March 27, 2005

PSP PlayStation Portable's OS Background Color Changes Monthly

Permalink: 3/27/2005 10:50:00 PM

I was wondering why everyone's was light green... I originally thought it was based on the Time Zone. However, I was wrong! It actually changes monthly. Here're the colors:

as seen on digg! | digg this story (+1) | view post

January = Grey
February = Dull-Yellow
March = Lime-Green
April = Pink
May = Dark-Green
June = Light-Purple
July = Tealish-Blue
August = Blue
September = Purple
October = Gold
November = Brown
December = Red

I went through and took pictures of every color. The red and the blue are by far the best... but the lime green in March is a runner-up. :)

SEE ALSO: PSP Video: Need for Speed Underground (Rivals)
- My PSP Survival Guide: What You Need to Know... (The Facts, How TOs, etc.)
- PSP Photos: In-Action (Music, Movies, TV)

Bleh

Permalink: 3/27/2005 01:00:00 AM

smashTheTONES is a PAINFUL project. :(

--- Wednesday, March 23, 2005

PSP Photos: In-Action (Music, Movies, TV)

Permalink: 3/23/2005 06:59:00 PM

Yesterday I loaded my PSP up with a few of my favorite Oasis songs, but today I started throwing some TV shows and Movies on. Even a 320x240 16:9 movie squished to 4:3 then stretched back out to the 480x272 screen (16:9) on the PSP looks awesome. I fit the entire Jackass Movie, which is an hour and a half long, into a few files totaling 254MB when converted to the lowest bitrate possible... which is still pretty damn good! If I could lower the bitrate more, I would. I feel spoiled... haha. (I used FFMpegX, since I have a Mac. see my guide here.)

SEE ALSO: PSP Video: Need for Speed Underground (Rivals)
- My PSP Survival Guide: What You Need to Know... (The Facts, How TOs, etc.)
- PSP PlayStation Portable's OS Background Color Changes Monthly

PSP Video: Need for Speed Underground (Rivals)

Permalink: 3/23/2005 04:15:00 PM

Attached is a 5MB Quicktime MPEG-4 Video of actual PSP gameplay. Wewt. Download...

SEE ALSO: My PSP Survival Guide: What You Need to Know... (The Facts, How TOs, etc.)
- PSP PlayStation Portable's OS Background Color Changes Monthly
- PSP Photos: In-Action (Music, Movies, TV)

--- Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Sony PSP Survival Guide (The Facts, Links, How-TOs... What you need to know.)

Permalink: 3/22/2005 08:28:00 PM

The PSP's coming out on Thursday. Here's what you need to know. (props to Greg for sending me a PSP from Japan. Thanks dude!)

This document is a work in progress! Got something that should be added? E-Mail.

SEE ALSO: PSP Video: Need for Speed Underground (Rivals)
- PSP PlayStation Portable's OS Background Color Changes Monthly
- PSP Photos: In-Action (Music, Movies, TV)

AS SEEN ON DIGG:
http://digg.com/gaming/Sony_PSP_Survival_Guide_(The_Facts,_Links,_How-TOs...)

Software Links...
- Windows Users: Engadget tells how to rip movies to your PSP. (Mac Users: I have a blurb about this below.)
- Win/Mac: iPSP syncs your Music/Photos/Video onto your PSP. However, the video feature didn't work for me, and I though the overall program was lousy. It got my music onto my PSP but most of it was corrupted. (that might have been my fault, though) Also, the interface kept glitching out. (Shareware, $20)
- Mac: PSPware is an AWESOME application for PSP-syncing on the Macintosh. It's like iPSP, but half the price and actually works.

- Win/Mac: XLink Kai lets you daisy chain your PSP through your PC or Mac's compatible wireless card and play online with others. Check it out.
- UPDATE: Here's a direct link to how to set this up on your Mac once you have it installed: http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9544

- Windows: Here's an article with information about how to transfer your 'Tivo-To-Go' files to your PSP. Check it out.

- Engadget has some information on Web Browsing on your PSP. It seems the PSP OS (Firmware) has a built-in browser! Slick.

- Lt.Ping alerted me to his detailed WiFi Setup Guide for the PSP on the Playstation Forums. Check it out here.

Battery Life. The Sony PSP is rumored to have terrible battery life. However, Sony has taken steps to remedy this problem in their software. First, Wi-Fi can be toggled on and off, and also has a power-save mode. The screen auto-dims and turns off after a period of inactivity, as well. Also, the PSP can be put to sleep by casually switching the system off and on using the power switch... and you're brought right back to where you were before! (in a game, in the menus, etc.) To power the console off completely, hold the power switch for a second or two and the system should shut-off completely.

NOTE: All PSPs ship from the factory with an AC Adapter and rechargable battery, unless otherwise marked.

Memory Sticks. Since the system is ONLY being sold as a bundle right now, everybody gets a 32MB Memory Stick DUO Pro with their console. This is MORE than enough for Saved Games, and can even handle a few songs or pictures, but if you're hoping to put Movies or a few albums on your portable, you'll have to shop for a larger chip.

There's a base-price you pay for each chip, and the upgrade to a larger chip is usually worth it. 512MB chips are usually $75 to $120, which hold a fair-amount of Music, but probably less than a full movie with a few songs on the side. 1GB chips are hard to find and very expensive, generally costing from $150 (Sandisk) to $220 (Sony). Sandisk.com reports that they're backordered, as does SonyStyle.com. (however, my 1GB DUO Chip just shipped from SonyStyle so they must have gotten a shipment in recently. UPDATE: it just arrived!)

Controls. The buttons on this aren't stiff or anything like that, and easy to press. The "analog-stick" is kind of lame, though. I assumed it was a mini-joystick... but it's actually this little thing that slides around in only 2D. (left, right, up, and down... rather than at any angles as well) It's awkward and difficult to move. I prefer the D-Pad even in racing games.

The Screen. The 16:9 wide-screen (480x272) of the PSP is super-crisp. The PSP OS takes full advantage of it with its weaving animations and bright colors, and the game graphics are very detailed in most cases.

Wi-Fi. (Wireless) The only internet connectivity so-far for Software Updates to the PSP OS and Online Play is via Wi-Fi. I had no issues using this with both my Linksys WAP and Airport Extreme base stations. The PSP also has an AdHoc system built-in for multiplayer without a local-area wireless network. There is a physical switch on the left of the unit to turn Wi-Fi on and off.

Music/Audio. The PSP audio player is excellent. I consider it blend between an iPod Photo and an iPod Shuffle... in that there is album artwork displayed, yet due to size constraints it only holds a portion of your library. It also has a shuffle feature, and supports Playlists. The sound quality is satisfactory. The PSP also has a few different EQ settings that can be activated by pressing the 'Select' button... including Heavy, Unique, and Pops. The EQ can also be turned off using the 'Select' button by cycling through to the 'off' setting.

I'm not sure if this is just me or not, but my PSP shows a "Corrupted Data" file for each MP3 I add to my PSP. However, if I scroll past these, my Music is safely listed below and plays just fine. Very strange. (Hopefully there will be a software update to fix this.) UPDATE: This problem has been fixed as of Version 1.5.0. This software update was offered to Japanese PSPs on the US release date.

The PSP supports both MP3 and 'ATRAC3plus'... whatever that is. I haven't had anything to do with ATRAC3 since I had a MINIDISC Player a few years ago.

USB. While in USB mode, the PSP acts as a Storage Interface to its inserted DUO Pro Memory Stick (if available). This mounts a drive on your Mac, or adds a new drive into 'My Computer' on Windows. Always remember to 'disconnect hardware' (Windows) or 'eject' (Mac) the device before unplugging it or your stored data will be corrupted.

The PSP file structure is like this:
* '/PSP/GAME' -- For games stored on your memory card. (perhaps for downloads in the future? Not sure about this.)
* '/PSP/MUSIC' -- For music.
* '/PSP/PHOTO' -- For your pictures.
* '/PSP/SAVEDATA' -- For your saved games.
* '/MP_ROOT/101MNV01' -- For movies and video. (MPEG-4)

If these folders do not exist on your PSP's memory card, the easiest way to create them is to format the memory stick using the option in System Settings on the PSP itself. (with the card inserted) THIS WILL ERASE any saved games, music, movies, photos, software, etc., on the card (NOT your UMD discs), so if you don't want to do that just create the folders by hand. Even after formatting the card, the MP_ROOT folder for movies, and/or others, may still not exist and need to be created manually.

You can place files directly into these folders, OR create new folders inside these to group content together. However, folders inside folders inside folders, (example: '/PSP/PHOTO/MYVACATION/DAY3') will not be recognized.

The PSP does NOT come with a USB cable. I had an extra kickin' around so I just used that. The PSP has a typical Mini-USB connector on it, and should work with any standard USB to Mini-USB cable that may have come with a digital camera, cellphone, MP3 player, etc. Or, you can buy one from a computer store for less than $20. (estimate) The device DOES support USB2.0 for high-speed transfers with compatible machines.

Photos. Any JPEG images stored in the proper location (see above) can be viewed on the PSP. Unfortunately, it does not seem to support viewing photos fresh from digital cameras' memory chips... which I would have liked. There is also a slideshow option with adjustable speed, and photos can be zoomed.

Video. Although Sony will soon offer various UMD movie titles for purchase and direct use with the PSP... who wants to PAY for UMD movies of DVDs you already own!? Not me... screw that. As I linked above, Engadget has an article for converting your DVDs to PSP-compatible MPEG-4 files, but what about us Mac users? I have the solution for you here.

IMPORTANT: Regardless of whether you use a Mac or PC, you have to remember something: The PSP only seems to support videos in 320x240 dimension, which is NOT widescreen. However, if you squish a 16:9 picture (for example, from a widescreen DVD) to 320x240, there IS an option to stretch the image back out on the PSP. The quality is far from DVD, but it's not THAT bad. Anything that is not 320x240 will be recognized as "incompatible" by the PSP.

TIP: I generally like to sacrifice quality for more content, so setting the bitrate down as far as possible while still being able to see the picture will generally store about two megabytes for every minute of video (audio included). The setting varies from program to program, but with FFMpegX I just set the bitrate to 1kb/s and it seems to find the appropriate level automatically.

All PSP Videos must be named like M4VXXXXX.MP4 (replace the 'X's with random numbers)... and yes it has to be capitalized like that. The PSP will ignore all other files... including lowercase ones like '.mp4', which is stupid... but the way it is.

The PSP uses some strange XviD/MPEG-4/3GP/AAC combination for its video format. On the Mac, there are two different tools we can use to convert DVD's VOB files to these formats:
- FFMpegX
- and, altShiiva.

FFMpegX is harder to install, yet easier to use. altShiiva is very easy to install, yet its videos didn't work on my PSP. However, since altShiiva can produce the thumbnail files (.THM) that show up next to the movies on the PSP... I use FFMpegX for the flicks and altShiiva for the Pics.

Visit FFMpegX's PSP tutorial for more information:
http://homepage.mac.com/major4/psp.html

I'll admit that I had a lot of problems getting FFMpegX to read some of my Movies, and also to produce files that would actually work on the PSP. However, the trick is to convert whatever movie you're trying to use to DivX using Quicktime... THEN use FFMpegX to convert it to a PSP MP4. That worked great for me.

FFMpegX had no issues reading .VOB files I ripped from a DVD (with DVDBackup), and it converted them without issues. Remember, you HAVE to squish *all* video to 320x240 pixels... even if its 16:9. You can later choose to stretch the picture out on the PSP itself. (there's a display option)

Random, Games. Gran Turismo 4 PSP is coming out later this Spring, and Grand Theft Auto PSP in just a few weeks. The current launch titles are okay, but not great... as many are lousy, watered-down copies of PS2 titles like Tony Hawk's Underground 2. Hopefully this won't be the case for long. I'm satisfied with Need for Speed Underground 'Rivals' at the moment. The graphics are *excellent*.

UPDATE: Lumines is my new favorite game, and I don't think that's going to change. :) It's very similar to Tetris, but with DJs doing the music, a new method of clearing blocks (colors), and other cool stuff. Definitely check it out... you might get sick of it if you play it too much, but it'd be pretty hard since every single time you play it's a brand-new experience! Definitely worth buying... it's only like $40. (one of the cheaper PSP games, heh)

That's it for now. More will be added as information comes in. Got something else? E-Mail.

--- Sunday, March 20, 2005

That guy from 'Dude Where's My Car?' was in Viva La Bam!

Permalink: 3/20/2005 02:44:00 PM

When I first saw the 'Snake-Run Driveway' episode of Viva La Bam I thought I recognized the guy in the parking lot as the guy who played Tommy in 'Dude Where's My Car?'... and I was right! It was that guy according to IMDB: (Charlie O'Connell)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0640039/

Wewt.

--- Thursday, March 17, 2005

Best 404-Page Ever. (Page Not Found, Cannot Be Displayed)

Permalink: 3/17/2005 06:07:00 PM

Pretty slick.

Link

--- Tuesday, March 15, 2005

PromoRig Beta Launched: Rate, Discuss, and Watch TV Commercials Online.

Permalink: 3/15/2005 03:32:00 PM

"Nobody likes to sit through commercials when watching their favorite show, but some of them are actually really great! PromoRig is a vBulletin/BitTorrent hybrid where capturers upload and users rate the hottest commercials on TV."
-- as seen on digg

Yes, here it is... my latest project. It's pretty slick, and well integrated with the Smash's World Discussion Forums. :)

Link

--- Sunday, March 13, 2005

Snowstorm

Permalink: 3/13/2005 08:39:00 AM

This morning there was snow EVERYWHERE. Here's a picture.

--- Friday, March 11, 2005

my Mac Mini is here!

Permalink: 3/11/2005 03:50:00 AM

The second of my 'gratis-free-offer' gifts came today: a free Mac Mini to go with my free flat screen. Nice. [my free flat screen post...]

Most people already know a lot about the Mac Mini, as they have quite a history here on my site, however I took a few photos that I thought I'd throw up here anyway!

the box. the mac mini almost feels portable...

slick... and shiny. :)

it's only got a few ports but it seems like enough for most cases.

damn that looks pretty damn paamp with the free flat screen hooked up.

--- Thursday, March 10, 2005

smash's world discussion forums, PacketFour

Permalink: 3/10/2005 10:12:00 AM

In an effort to consolidate a lot of my stray projects into one central location, I've moved PacketFour, my p2p/file-sharing news site to http://pk4.smashsworld.com/... rather than its own domain, and also moved PK4's forums to http://swdf.smashsworld.com/... where they are now the central discussion area for all projects needing discussion. Sharing a forum with smashTheTONES, PacketFour, and others was kind-of a mess, and buying separate vBulletin licenses was certainly a waste.

There's not much going on there right now, but things will be rolling when the new version of smashTheTONES is released to the public! ;)

Link

smash's PHONE THANG

Permalink: 3/10/2005 06:58:00 AM

All those 800/888/877/866 numbers (toll-free) are very cleaver... such as 1-800-4-A-POTTY (don't actually call them unless you want a port-a-potty, though.) "But what does MY number spell??"... you ask? Time to find out!

as seen on digg:
http://www.digg.com/links/smash_s_PHONE_THANG

Yes. I made a page that tells you what your phone number spells, and also tells you what phone number you have to get to spell certain words/phrases. "Don't sign up for a cellphone before visiting smash's PHONE THANG ever again!"

Link

--- Tuesday, March 08, 2005

'CherryOS' Still Sucks! (My Review)

Permalink: 3/08/2005 11:17:00 PM

A CherryOS trial version was released today (at cherryos.com), and the software is still absolute crap. The funny thing is that they'll probably still make a fare amount of money since there's no main-stream alternative... which is disappointing because they stole the core of their code from PearPC! (an open-source project that they've, unfortunately, taken serious advantage of.) Essentially, this software is a crappy Visual Basic application written on-top-of a separate PearPC modification.

As seen on digg:
http://www.digg.com/software/_CherryOS_Still_Sucks_(My_Review)

I immediately was suspicious of the software when I noticed it was installing various OCX files and other Visual Basic dependencies, and upon inspection of the software's installation directory, it functions as follows: There's an EXE file called MainCherryOS.exe, which is the VB App they're using as a 'wrapper' to give their PearPC 'booty', if you will (joke), a Virtual PC-like feel. Normally, PearPC needs to be compiled and run from the command-line. Their wrapper then takes the output from PearPC and displays it as if it were actually being generated by MainCherryOS.exe! A creative solution, but I'm not impressed.

Being a Mac/Unix guy, I ended up trying to install this on a crappy desktop upstairs because my Thinkpad didn't have enough diskspace. (its primarily partitioned for my Linux installation.) However, things went fairly smooth.

Other than the various Visual Basic files, I also noticed the installation of various disk images that had been prepared in advance to simplify the installation process. Generally, when installing PearPC, creating a Mac-supported disk image is an extra step... so this saved a bit of time, but also showed that this is, in-fact, based-on PearPC. (duh)

Okay, so onto the actual software. I started up the Visual Basic wrapper, dubbed 'MainCherryOS.exe'... and began creating a 'Mac OS X' installation. Something I noticed was this poor English in a dialog box... part of which reads: "Need more help please press yes." Hah. Also, they forgot to set the title variable of the box... which defaulted to "MainCherryOS"... the name of the EXE file. The proper code for this is:
If MsgBox("Please insert a valid Mac installation CD in " & strDriveLetter & ": Drive" & vbCrLf & "Need more help on it please press yes", vbYesNo, "CherryOS") Then

Love the clip-art.................. I sure hope this PC is working as hard as that guy wearing the yellow hat is!

I think I recognize this "NO" sign problem from PearPC... however our "CherryOS.exe" backend kept chugging along while our "MainCherryOS.exe" wrapper was doing *nothing*. Eventually the installer loaded.

So I loaded up 'Disk Utility' from the menu and formatted the disk that CherryOS had created. I'm pretty sure that's one of the only pieces of code they wrote. However, my installation failed when I was presented with the '!' stop-sign that I also received while I was 'still messing with PearPC'... how odd!

One thing I noticed that was that the "pinwheel" busy cursor (the color wheel), and also the spinning process bars, moved VERY quickly... almost like their timing was shortened. Being a Mac user, this pissed me off. I think that this is a side effect of a sloppy attempt to raise the speed of emulation of a Mac processor. It had little effect on actual performance.

The configuration file for CherryOS is very similar to that of PearPC. Also, the developer forgot to change the emulated network adapter's MAC address... it's the same as PearPC's. Coincidence? Nope.

Overall this product is a waste of time, and the company behind it is both taking advantage of an open-source project, and using it to promote their company's other products. Honestly, it's PearPC. The company's screen-shots used to show specific portions of debug information that was *written by PearPC developers!!!!* The company defended themselves by says that "their developers had taken some code from PearPC and they had yelled at them... since then the code had been removed." That's just flyin' off the BS meter right there... they simply COVERED IT UP. I'm disgusted. Don't link to this product, don't promote this product, don't buy this product, don't use this product. Keep its PageRank down. DO NOT LINK TO THIS PRODUCT OR THIS COMPANY.

(normally this is where I would say "enough said" or perhaps just " 'nuff said"... but enough hasn't been said. spread information like this like wildfire. the direct link to this post is: http://www.smashsworld.com/2005/03/cherryos-still-sucks-my-review.php )

Review: Sony SDM-S93/B 19-Inch Monitor... free from FreeFlatScreens.com!

Permalink: 3/08/2005 09:55:00 PM

"This black Sony SDM-S93/B 19-Inch Monitor has resolution up to 1280x1024. It's perfect for any office or room with a 600:1 contrast ratio, swivel base, and multiple inputs. In addition it's PC and Mac compatible and offers a 3-year warranty." -- from FreeFlatScreens
see also: This product on Amazon... there's an editorial review and the current retail price! (note: the item title says it has a 500:1 contrast ratio... this a mistake. the description confirms that it does, in-fact have a 600:1 contrast ratio.)

A little while ago I decided I was gonna give all of these 'free' sites by Gratis a try around the launch of FreeMiniMacs. The first of my earned merchandise to arrive was my 19-inch Sony LCD Monitor, which was delivered just this afternoon.

First of all, let me say that this is a fabulous display. The first thing I did was, of course, check it for dead/stuck pixels with PiXelCheck for Mac OS X... which, to my luck, displayed that I had a perfect display! Nice! (probably one of the advantages of choosing the Sony display... quality!)

Being used to 17-inch displays, this display is absolutely massive... and that's 19-inches VIEWABLE. (therefore 21-inches total.) It came with a standard 3-prong AC Power cord (like one that you'd get with a PC or Mac desktop), manuals, software (what for?), and VGA cord, which attached easily to my Powerbook's supplied DVI to VGA adapter. Immediately my Mac detected the display and chose the appropriate resolution... 1280x1024. Regardless, the picture was awesome... very clear.

Because my Powerbook's widescreen display has a resolution of 1440x900 (at a 16:10 ratio), when I chose to mirror the notebook's screen to my new LCD, my Mac chose the resolution of 1280x900. This kept the display's image from being stretched on either panel, but both had some black bars.

In the end, I simply extended my desktop to the second display, but here's a picture of the Sony with my laptop's screen mirrored onto it. (sorry about my camera's flash's reflection!)

Here's a shot of the display extending my Powerbook's desktop. (again, sorry for my camera's flash's reflection)

Overall, the display is amazing. I've never had a better screen... it's even better than the 17-Inch Sony LCD TV / VGA Monitor that I actually paid for!!

Here's my entire setup: (Haha I've collected a lot of nice stuff over the years. Yes, I actually was watching TSS tonight. :P )

If you think you can grab 8 referrals, and want a free flat screen like mine, head over to FreeFlatScreens.com!

Kevin Rose in MacAddict

Permalink: 3/08/2005 09:17:00 PM

K.Rose, the "misguided soul"... as our friend Niko called him, was mentioned in MacAddict Magazine for his 'PC in a Mac Mini' mod. The attached image can be enlarged by clicking on it.

as seen on digg:
http://www.digg.com/apple/Kevin_Rose_in_MacAddict

--- Monday, March 07, 2005

"Uncheck Entire Playlist in iTunes" AppleScript

Permalink: 3/07/2005 11:51:00 PM

Why does iTunes not have a feature like this? For the stuff I don't want on my iPod (for diskspace's sake) I set it so that anything I uncheck isn't loaded onto my player. However, unchecking stuff can be a huge pain in the ass, so I edited a script I found here to 'Uncheck [an] Entire Playlist in iTunes'. It unchecks the currently select playlist... so just dump whatever tracks you want to uncheck in a new playlist, temporarily, then select it, and run the script. Problem solved. :)

Just a note, this is an AppleScript, so it'll only work for the Mac version of iTunes... on a Mac. I've only tried it with v4.7.1, but you're welcome to give it a shot with older or newer editions (depending on when you're reading this) if you want.

Uncheck Entire Playlist in iTunes.scpt

Update: Jussi told me that you can accomplish the same thing by Apple+Clicking any checkbox in a Playlist. Well at least there's a solution either way! :) (I'm guessing if you Ctrl+Click on a PC it should accompish this as well.)

--- Saturday, March 05, 2005

Unreal Tournament 2004 Clone in SHOCKWAVE!

Permalink: 3/05/2005 07:03:00 PM

This is pretty amazing for shockwave!

Link

--- Thursday, March 03, 2005

zug's "caption this photo"

Permalink: 3/03/2005 09:05:00 PM

"i said... billy j. was not my loverrrr!!"
- TraeEL

Link

--- Wednesday, March 02, 2005

version 6.8c...

Permalink: 3/02/2005 11:51:00 PM

...because sometimes white is just too bright.

Is Google buying 'GoGooroa Island'??

Permalink: 3/02/2005 02:06:00 AM

I just stumbled across this... and I'm not sure if I believe it or not. On one hand, this is a really cool idea... an island shaped like a 'G' could be Google's little fortress... and it even has the domain name extension '.go', haha. But honestly, it's not like Google to spend money like that... and I quote:

-- Google can afford a lot of things these days. And so can its employees, many of whom had stock options. About 1,000 of them became millionaires when the stock went public, and Brin and Page, who are 31 and 32 years old respectively, are worth about $6 billion each.

But they're doing everything they can to keep the money from becoming a distraction. Brin treated the day that the company went public as just another workday. "Everybody was focused on their projects," he says. "One of the engineers I talked to, and I asked him what his plans were and he said he was gonna throw out all of his socks and buy new ones so they would all match - they'd all be the same kind. So that was the kind of extravagance we're seeing here.

Brin says he splurged on a new T-shirt. And he still drives a little Japanese car.

"If anybody got a Porsche or a Ferrari right now at Google, they'd probably be drummed out of the company," observes John Battelle, an author and entrepreneur who has been following Silicon Valley companies for 20 years. -- from 'Defining Google'.

According to the site, Google is planning to rename the island to GoogLand, but as interesting as this seems it seems like complete BS. Like, I want to believe it, but c'mon.... the part about the datacenters being submerged in a lagoon... only accessable with scuba gear? Cool idea but seriously... lol.

Anyone know if this is a hoax or not? I think that if it was for real it would have gotten more press than this, but who knows....