CHRIS MATTHIAS dot com

Google Wave makes my head hurt

After using Google Wave’s preview with some friends, I am left with mixed feelings and a dull ache in my brain. Google Wave, Google’s new collaborative messaging tool is meant to bridge the gap between email and instant messaging by allowing real-time “waves” to be hosted and contributed to in realtime by participants. Participants can [...]

Thumbs up to Facebook for ad relevance

Facebook added a “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” beneath their advertisement blocks this week. As a user, this is great because I can hit thumbs down on the singles/gay ads I keep seeing (even though I’m listed as interested in Women) and hit thumbs up on technology/advertising ads that I actually dig. Moreover, as a [...]

Time To Drop Designing for IE6?

I’ve been a proponent of steadily phasing out IE6 support but too many of my clients (and their at-home usability testers, hah) have IE6 inadvertently installed on their machines. You don’t know how many times I walk a client or friend through Help > About Internet Explorer and ask them to read me the version [...]

Add A Google Talk chatback badge to your site!

This lesson is geared toward a small business owner who has a web presence and a Google account. You can add a floating, ever-present Google Talk chatback badge to your site to your site in minutes that will let your website visitors ask you any questions they might have while surfing your website. Note: As [...]

WordPress Theme for Designers

I’ve just recently had to convert an existing website into a WordPress site for a client. The good news was that on the whole, they wanted their existing site design to stay as close as possible while giving them the ability to add news, images and videos to their website without destroying the look and [...]

Killer Coincidence?

I was doing a little Googling of myself this afternoon and found this bizarre video. It seems a bit too coincidental, honestly. Watch the video here.

Radiohead Fans Have Collective Mushy Moment

The long awaited release of Radiohead’s follow-up to Hail to the Thief (2003) was on my iPod (and in my ears) 3 minutes after it was released to the world. 3 minutes. I didn’t have to wait in line at a Best Buy in the morning or wait for the UPS guy to deliver my [...]

Start your own web design business

I’m going to assume in this post that you have some experience coding XHTML/CSS and you can implement or hack up Javascript and you desperately want to start your own web marketing business. I’m also assuming that you plan on starting your web business on your own, for the most part. Ideally, you should start [...]

Hijacking your laptop’s wireless connection with XBOX 360

So I got Xbox 360 last weekend on the day that I was supposed to house sit for my lovely friends Nancy and Richard. It was perfect since they have a 60-inch plus HDTV in the entertainment room. Sweet… I could envision hours of punch drunk game playing. It was all set up and working [...]

Top 50 Loose Ends on Lost

Well, you’ve got a few months to actually read this since Lost is on hiatus AGAIN, but the folks over at IGN have brought to light the top 50 loose ends on the show. And to this, I say, “Only 50?” Check it for yourself because I didn’t catch most of these or perhaps I’ve [...]

Website Fit For A King

I just got done developing a very simple website for a local pizza and Italian restaurant. Very simple and affordable for our client. Check out King’s Pizza and let me know what you think. Let me know if it looks funny and what browser/OS you are using.

I’m A Quitter!

Update: I failed to quit smoking after something like 6 days. I quit quitting, so the title of this post still applies. Carry on. It smells, it makes me smell and it turns my lungs crispy and black. That’s right, we’re talking about cigarette smoke. Sure, I love to walk around the city with a [...]

Do it yourself: Lightbox

We recently contracted a website for a restaurant that wants to shoot it’s signature dishes to be published on their online menu so we had to figure out the best solution to take well lit photos in controlled white environment that would allow me to pull it out easily in Photoshop. I found a great [...]

Mets Lose Amazin’ Series

The NLCS this year was amazing. Also amazing, was the fact that the NL’s most potent offense was hog tied for several games (except a 12-5 rout in Game 4). I was at games 2, 6 and 7 and I am completely heartbroken. In 1999 and 2000 we were underdogs and it would have been [...]

MLB: Season in Review

I know the regular season has been over for quite sometime now, but if you’re a baseball fan and you haven’t read Jayson Stark’s 2006 Season in Review for ESPN, get your butt over there. My favorite recap is the foul ball of the year recap where Jay Gibbons of the Orioles actually lined a [...]

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

I was brought into this ground floor company by a restaurant owner in my area. My brother had bartended there for a bit and suggested me when he mentioned he needed someone to do a website. His concept was for a website that could let users find and print restaurant menus. Sounded like a good [...]

Google Maps and Internet Explorer

While working on the Menu Explorer website, I came across an error when using our Google Maps iteration called Cartographer. Every time it would load in IE, I would get an error message saying: “Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site, Operation aborted”. Damn IE. So, of course, the first thing I did was search [...]

Damnit, Janice. I hate you.

Quite seriously, the funniest video of a fat person on an amusement ride. This kid’s got a lisp, too. And Janice, well, she’s not paying attention.

A Case For Jamie Gold’s Bodyguards

Jamie Gold reportedly had bodyguards in the final days of the WSOP. Gold’s camp says there were threats made against him. Gold was making enemies with his unorthodox play and irritating style. Taunting other players, revealing his cards and insisting he will call a re-raise. The kind of table talk that really irritates and insults [...]

The One About The Kidnapping (Part One)

E-mail me if you know me and I can give you the password for this and all posts on the site. Its a one time deal.

Apple: It’s Showtime!

Earlier today, in San Fran, Steve Jobs took the stage for the second time in as many months to announce more Apple iPod products. Again, this hush-hush announcement was covered in explicit detail from the gang at Engadget.