Gmail Offline Returns, Chrome Only

This really isn't a big deal anyway, since Gmail provides both POP3 and IMAP access. If you need offline email, chances are you're already using one of those. Still, it is nice to be able to stick with the web interface in all situations, I suppose.

Firefox appears to finally be dealing with memory holes

The memory holes that Firefox is plagues with are the only thing that makes me consider switching to Chrome, which I have so far been highly reluctant to do (read other posts in the Browser Wars category to see why). Fortunately, that is supposed to change with the next release. Here's hoping it pans out.

Update: Or not. The fairly early beta they have out doesn't appreciably fix the memory problem as far as I can tell and is even slower than Firefox 6. Trying it did have one salutary effect: it made Firefox 6 seem fast instead of sluggish. Hopefully this will change as the development process continues. Hopefully.

Update 2: Fed up with the sluggishness of Firefox, and seeing little reason to hope in the new release, I seriously considered switching to Chrome today. Then I found out that Smooth Gestures, the only mouse gestures extension that really works on Chrome for Linux, has been taken down as spyware. I guess I'll stick with slow old Firefox for the time being. At least until the original author releases his fork of the project, anyway.

Update 3: Apparently the creator of Smooth Gestures intends to make his fork a paid browser extension. Assuming it doesn't have a free basic functionality mode, that does it for me. I am not going to pay for a browser extension, especially not one that produces functionality that should be universally available. I wonder why it isn't simply built in to Chrome and Firefox. An Opera patent issue?

Attention plus5CHA.com, ExeuntMagazine, YakuzaLounge, and other readers (Update: Resolved)

Due to unknown causes plus5CHA.com and at least two other websites are forwarding to my site. This is not my doing nor do I have any control over it. After reading that @geeksdreamgirl had contacted Dreamhost (my webhost and apparently hers as well), I did so as well. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon. If you are a webmaster for one of the forwarding domains, I encourage you to contact Dreamhost and ask them to fix this as I have done. All the domains I have detected forwarding to mine have been Dreamhost hosted judging by their public Whois records.

Update: It appears to be getting sorted out now. I can access plus5CHA.com without getting redirected here.

Update 2: All other sites no longer redirecting. If you're still getting this page when you tried to go to a different site (such as those mentioned here), clear your browser cache (tip via @geeksdreamgirl).

Most (83%) Google+ users are inactive?

That's not really surprising, is it? In addition to being par for the course with just about everything, Google+ is particularly susceptible to inactive users for one reason: the invitation scheme. People's curiosity is naturally accentuated when something has a limited membership. It becomes something elite, and so naturally we want to find out what's so special about it. Then we get an invite, log on, and most of us find that it's nothing special (yet!) and log off.

No one happy with 9/11 anniversary plans

What a shocker. Considering how badly they screwed up the 9/11 memorial, it is little wonder they can't handle the anniversary. If I had my way, I would have had them rebuild the Twin Towers exactly as they were before with a low-key memorial on the ground floor. That would have been the ultimate defiance.

What was that judge thinking?

He struck down the individual mandate but left the rest of Obamacare intact, which presumably means the pre-existing conditions coverage requirement. How on earth is that severable from the individual mandate? No one would have voted for it if the individual mandate didn't solve the problem it created of people freeloading on the insurance system by buying insurance when they get sick and dropping it as soon as they get better.

Mitt's Vanishing Strategy

This New York Times Op-Ed says he's going to have to show up if he plans on winning. That's obviously true, but obviously Romney's keeping a low profile so he doesn't have to either embrace the crazy (poisoning his general election prospects) or call it out (poisoning his primary prospects). The problem for him is that this will only work for so long. If he's hoping that there'll be an upsurge in sanity in the GOP ranks, he's likely to be disappointed.

Syfy cancels Eureka

Damn. The good news is that they haven't decided to kill the upcoming Season 7 5. It's bloody odd not only to order a new season so far ahead, but to cancel the show so far ahead. It's even odder to announce it this soon. In any event, this marks the death of one of the last bits of Syfy's previous Sci-Fi identity (even if it was light humorous scifi).