And the eBay continues. For those wondering, the lip balm is getting bids (well, at least one bid). And I’ve added the glory of glories when it comes to Tick items. I’m even going for broke with a Thomas Kinkade. I’ve got 54 auctions going right now. Yikes. I don’t even know what to say to that.

Today Apple announced a 100 million free song giveaway with Pepsi. All the details haven’t been released yet (wait for Sunday’s Super Bowl ad), but they do give the odds — 1 in 3 wins. Not too shabby. Digital music rocks.

But I mainly wanted to mention it because I thought the graphic on Apple’s homepage was freaking cool. It’s hard to be eye-catching on the web today, but I think all those Pepsi bottles does it pretty nicely.

I know my other eBay auctions may not have been your cup of tea, or they simply sold too quickly, but now I have the auction you can’t ignore:

The Tick Lip Balm.

How can you possibly do the two-lipped butterfly with chapped lips! C’mon, man, protect those puckerers! OK, it’s from 1995, so you probably don’t want to use it, but how keen would a tube of Tick balm sitting on your desk be? You’ll be the envy of the office.

Lately I’ve been eBaying my way towards a new computer, and it’s working pretty well. Today I sold the remains of my G.I. Joe collection, as well as the risque adult postcards I found hidden between the joists in my garage. If you’re interested, the collection of ex-Billy Graham library books is still available, including some retro classics.

You know it’s bad when you’re trying to sell lemonade and cola on eBay.

The selling of my childhood on eBay has begun. Well, I suppose it began several years ago when I liquidated my G.I. Joe collection. Now I guess I’m selling my pre-teen and teen collectible phase.

Get ’em while they’re hot, decade-old NASCAR collectibles! Wahoo.
(all proceeds go towards a computer that doesn’t suck)

OK, I’ve got a beef with web designers who use all Flash. Have we ever heard of usability? Apparently not.

A few weeks back I switched to the Firebird browser because IE was being stupid. Seemed like a good idea at the time, though since I’ve noticed that the Flash plug-in doesn’t stay plugged in. Every time I launch Firebird I have to reinstall Flash. Now maybe I’m just an idiot and I’m not doing something right, but it’s a pain. For the most part I don’t bother reinstalling Flash every time. Which means any sites that use Flash can be difficult.

Now a site like Relevant uses Flash, but it’s only for enhancements on the page. I can still check their recent updates without needing Flash. It adds some nice visual elements, but not having Flash doesn’t ruin my experience. On the other hand, some web designers insist that you have Flash to see anything on their site. The bands Jars of Clay and Sanctus Real are two examples. If you don’t have Flash you can’t get anything.

Now let’s think about this for a minute. You’re not just making it difficult for people to surf your site, you’re making it impossible. You’re knowingly shutting out a certain percentage of people from your site (anybody know what that percentage is? UPDATE: OK, I looked it up myself. 98% of Internet users have Flash. Though the numbers are baked. 98% is for Flash 2. We’re currently on Flash 7, which has 7.2% of Internet users. Flash 6 is still at 90%, so they’re doing pretty good. I guess you’re not shutting out that many people [though why would you want to shut anyone out?], but more importantly, they’re still making difficult-to-use sites. Lame.). And what do you gain? Some cool effects. Oooh. Bands are notorious for using Flash exclusively.

The downside is that most all-Flash sites suck. Often they give you a number of little text frames to scroll through (and where are the freakin’ scroll buttons! If you can even find them, they all work differently!) or they pop up windows all over the place. It’s a navigational and usability nightmare. If you want to have all the fancy effects, use them strictly for effects. Let HTML handle the text, which will make your site simpler, easier to use, and compatible with a much larger audience base.

I’ve noticed graphic design houses do this as well. They want that wow-factor so they make this crazy Flash site. Yet the site is terrible to use. Why on earth would I hire you if you can’t make a site I can use?

You can certainly use Flash, it’s a cool effect. Just allow your site to still function without Flash. Or offer an HTML alternative (like U2). Very few sites can justify all-Flash, and when they can it usually involves lots of animation, like Homestar Runner.

I know I sound like Jakob Nielsen, but I just want a site that’s easy to use. Is that too much to ask? It’s like punishing someone for being interested in your business.

In my ever-expanding battle with computer frustration, I switched to Mozilla’s Firebird Browser today. A few people (Jordon Cooper, Josh Lewis, etc.) said good things about it, so I figured I’d give it a shot. And it’s not IE.

For the past week Internet Explorer has decided to not load certain web sites. For no reason they show up as “This page could not be displayed.” It’s possible that google.com went down for an hour, maybe a day, but after a week I figured it was my problem. Pretty soon about 25% of the sites I visit wouldn’t load, and I decided enough is enough.

Every time I’ve tried to upgrade or reinstall IE it’s failed, so I decided it’s not even worth the time to try. I gave Firebird a shot, and I was up and browsing in less than 30 seconds. IE is no longer welcome here. Consider this yet another nail in the coffin of this PC user.