You can read through how I made it or you can just download the one I made.

If  you are interested in knowing how to make your own ring tone from a youtube video, here are the steps:

1. The first step is to get the audio from the video. Converters for every format under the sun are a dime a dozen, just search for ‘youtube to mp3′ and you’ll find dozens. Any old online converter will suffice, just type in the url and the end result for this will be an mp3 audio file, easy as pie.

2. Load it into iTunes. In your preferences, go to the import settings and change to the following settings:

Stereo bit rate: 112 kbps
Sample rate: 22 khz
Channel: Mono

3. Right click the track and go to Get Info. Edit the start and end times to the proper length. A ringtone is usually 20-30 seconds so try to cut the track between those two.

4. Right click the track and click Create Mp3 version. This will create another track with the import settings that you had and will only consist of the 20-30 seconds of audio you chose. Send this track to your phone, and you’re good to go!

Note: Phones are pretty stupidly finicky about track length/file size of ring tones so if you didn’t get it right the first time, re edit the track to include less or decrease the bit rate.

Your New Broken Minded, Partially Demented Administrator,

Kevin

Using this password strength analyzer, let’s test this idea by seeing how long it would take to crack a password:

Using the word ‘leetspeak’ as a password: 0 days to crack.

Using the word ’1337sp34k’ as a password: 42 days to crack.

Big difference, with only a little difference in remembering the combination.

Despite the off-kilter name and vaguely homestarrunner-esque logo, Digsby is actually a powerful and feature-packed instant messenger. It reminded me of Adium in its extendability and ability to log onto all the major instant messaging systems. But Digsby one-ups Adium by also keeping track of your e-mail accounts and gives you a Growl-style notification when you get any mail, saving having to use a separate e-mail app. Digsby also keeps track of your social networking profiles, including facebook, myspace, twitter and linkedin, with similar notifications when anything changes.

The ability to track multiple gmail accounts is a godsend because the standard gmail notifier only tracks one at a time and god knows I’m juggling 4 or 5 separate accounts.

The facebook thing is a little much sometimes, because it notifies you the second your newsfeed changes. Which is pretty much every second. But integrated facebook chat is pretty sweet though. While you could do it in Adium, Digsby one ups it again by marking off the idle people. The only thing it doesn’t do are the separation of custom made facebook groups.

Some cons, though are that THERE IS NO MAC VERSION YET. Although they have a tempting mac option on the website, it just sends you to a page where you can have them send an e-mail when it is available. Until then, I’ll have to faithfully watch my e-mail on digsby on the windows side of my computer. Another weird thing are the spyware they try to get you to install on your computer when you install it. Maybe they’re getting paid for it, but still it makes me a little wary.

Anyway, for customizability and integration of instant messenging, email and social networking, I give it four and a half out of five brilliant minds.

Link: Digsby

Anglo Saxon archers pour a devastating rain on the Viking soldiers

1066 is a really cool flash game that was made to accompany the 1066 series from Britain’s Channel4. I originally thought it was going to be a medieval version of Armor Games’ Warfare 1917 but it turned out to have a lot more depth to it.

The graphics are really great, they remind me a lot of the awesome menu background splash videos of the Total War series, which had a similar layered silhouette style. Fully animated cut scenes set the historical stage for the three-battle campaign, starting with the Viking invasions to the Battle of Hastings.

The battles have a tactical depth that rival a full-title game. Your units can charge, fortify, combine in shield wall and boar snout formations, even taunt to reduce the enemy morale. Each action also includes a mini-game that adds just a little bit of randomness to keep you on your toes. without being too tedious. The AI holds its own, although it doesn’t seem to understand the concept of flanking.

As if the campaign and skirmish mode weren’t enough, you can also play multiplayer battles online. Not bad at all for a flash game.

Some things that annoyed me a little were the five-row battle map, which seemed a little cramped to me and the inability for units to fight enemies that weren’t in the same row. Using archers required a little bit of finesse as well, but I suppose that was a balancing feature consider their ability to cause considerable damage at long ranges.

1066

BAM!

One of these days, we’re just going to find out that our universe is just some dude’s Hello world! programming project.