It basically takes a standard url like this:
http://www.google.com

And turns it into something ridiculous like this:
http://www.humongousurl.com/r/38b63de0fec25916c5255387df1532319d68098d3e16ef6d5f5b...

See, I couldn’t even show the entire link without throwing off the entire layout of my site.  That’s how HUMONGOUS it is!

If you would like to see what I have developed so far, feel free to check it out.

It is pretty bare bones at this point, but I have some pretty cool features in mind for this project, many of which I would love to implement before releasing this as a full-blown WordPress plug-in.  Here are a few of the ideas I have been tossing around:

• Loading multiple gamer cards with the ability to filter by recently played games, gamerscore, reputation, etc…
• Visual comparisons with other gamers (e.g. who is logged on the most, what games are played most often, who has the highest gamer scores, etc…)
• Avatar images

If you have any additional feature ideas, I would love to hear them.  Please feel free to contact me directly, or leave a comment.

Some analysts predict that Netflix can’t continue to gain value at it’s current rate, but with announcements like the one yesterday, I have a hard time believing their “professional” opinions.

As soon as I receive my disc, I will have the ability to watch Netflix streaming video on every TV in my home. 

We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.

*cough* iTunes on Windows *cough*

How about practicing what you preach.  If it’s good enough for Apple’s efforts on Windows, it should be good enough for Flash and Flex developers who would like to release their software for iPhone.

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• National debt data added for 2009
• National employment data added for 2009
• Re-designed the interface a bit

If you have ideas for potential enhancements to this project, please feel free to leave a comment.  You can also contribute if you have some spare change lying around.  :)

1. GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo 64)
2. Half-Life 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
3. Quake II (PC, Nintendo 64, Mac, PlayStation)
4. Unreal Tournament (Dreamcast, Mac OS, PC, PlayStation 2)
5. Halo (Xbox)
6. BioShock (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
7. Doom (PC)
8. Counter-Strike (PC, Ma OS Xc, Xbox)
9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
10. Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64, XBLA)

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The company remains confident about its growth prospects, expecting net subscriber additions in 2010 of 3.2 – 4 million. We think that this growth, while likely to continue for two to three years, is unsustainable. We believe that 800,000 of the subscribers added in 2009 were from the addition of Netflix to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 dashboard, and think that this figure will subside to around 300,000 – 400,000 per year in 2010 and beyond,” Pachter stated. “In our view, the rapid growth of new subscriber additions from the Xbox Live installed base will ultimately slow, as the installed base becomes saturated. We think that future subscriber gains from Xbox Live will be limited to a small percentage of new Xbox 360 owners, and we estimate that at a 5 – 10% conversion rate of new owners, this will translate to 300,000 – 400,000 annual new subscribers. The addition of the PS3 as an Internet-ready Netflix device likely will drive numbers similar to what were generated by the Xbox 360 installed base. While the PS3 base is smaller, Netflix is available on all PS3s as opposed to being available only on those Xbox 360s that are signed up for the Xbox Live Gold service. The entire PS3 installed base is similar in size to the Xbox Live Gold audience, suggesting that the PS3 will generate approximately 800,000 new subscribers for Netflix in 2010. In 2011 and beyond, we think that the PS3 installed base will also become saturated, and that future subscriber gains from PS3 will come only from new purchasers of the console, at a rate similar to our projection from the Xbox 360.

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Adobe Platform Evangelist Lee Brimelow shares his opposition to this move by Apple:

Now let me put aside my role as an official representative of Adobe for a moment as I would look to make it clear what is going through my mind at the moment. Go screw yourself Apple.

Source