Gentoo: Bitlbee is sweet!

I recently moved from using pidgin to using bitlbee (net-im/bitlbee). Bitlebee is sweet because it allows me to access “traditional IM” via [irssi][4] in a screen session from anywhere that I am via my co-located server. Of course, you can use any irc client that you are familiar with. As more and more of my friends move away from traditional IM, I don’t feel a need to pay as much attention to the various networks.

Gentoo: Xfce-4.6.1 released

The release of Xfce-4.6.1 was announced approximately 36 hours ago on the xfce-announce mailing list. It is my pleasure to say that it is now in the Gentoo tree as well. You can find a shiny 4.6.1 bugfix release upon your next –sync. Due to the number of bugfixes by the Xfce team upstream, the Gentoo Xfce team has decided to remove 4.6.0 related ebuilds and focus on bringing 4.6.1 to the stable tree.

Apple abuses iPhone developer program

The latest series of iPhone TV commercials really bug me. First of all it costs at least $99 to obtain access to the “Developer Program”. Then Apple has the guts to advertise that they have “the most apps evar!” to stimulate more iPhone sales. What is wrong with this picture? If Apple is going to exploit the work of apps developers, many of whom distribute their apps for free, then shouldn’t the cost to join the developer network be free as well?

ING Referral Links

After some searching for a new online savings account, I settled on [ING Direct][1]. A few reasons include a competitive interest rate, good user interface, ability to create sub-accounts (I use these for different savings goals), & most importantly a $25 bonus from using some one else’s referral link. It took me until the 4th page on google to find a working link. So, if you are looking for a new savings account or just a quick and easy $25 dollars, do consider using these below.

Gentoo: Tips to upgrade your <u>really</u> old installation

Let me start out this post by making it clear. You should really upgrade your Gentoo installation on a regular basis. If not, you might run into some problems. This post attempts to help out someone that is trying to bring an unmaintained installation up to date. Under most circumstances it is probably easier to reinstall after a certain point. These instructions have been created by an active contributor to Gentoo, Nick Fortino, to take a 2006.1 installation and update it to a current stable system.