Category Archives for Projects

DuckDuckGo Pro

My favorite search engine just keeps getting better and better. It’s a joy to know that Google doesn’t have every corner of my life in their database—especially the significant corner that is my web search engine.

DuckDuckGo has been around for a few years now, and it’s just about every month now they are getting better and more renown. It’s actively improved—whereas, smaller competitors of Google search can’t keep up, they seem to manage well. DDG is a simple yet powerful search engine alternative for Google[1]. If you don’t want a log kept on all that you do on the web through the assistant that is Google search, and if you don’t appreciate personalized advertisements, then check into DDG. I find DuckDuckGo is satisfactory in about 90% of my web searches. The other 10%: Wikipedia 5% and Google Images 5%.

Click to enlarge

One thing DDG has figured out is a method to customize the results and appearance of users’ search pages to their unique tastes and preferences. Google has a very limited and impersonal search experience. Whereas, DDG makes it your own if you care to customize settings for the appearance, search results per page, etc. What’s really cool is how you can customize the settings of DDG completely anonymously, then sync your customizations across devices. I find it fascinating that I can customize a search engine experience and then use those settings on any or all my computers and they all keep in sync anonymously. Brilliant.

If Google wanted to prove to me they are as transparent as they say, I’d like them to offer a privacy settings. Even Facebook has them (in their own special way), but there really isn’t any for Google. If you want to privately search with Google, be certain you are not logged into any Google web service. This includes YouTube. I find it especially user unfriendly to not offer users the anonymity if it really matters to them. It’s not like it would really hurt Google at this point if the less than 1% that care could privately search via Google. Because they do not offering privacy, I have lost a lot of respect for their company.

I remember when I contacted the developer, Gabriel Weinberg, and he sent DDG stickers. Great guy. I’m glad to support such a formidable startup as a search engine in a world ruled by the big Google empire. All the more power to startups and their noble products.

Footnotes:

  1. Not that I have a strong feeling against Google, but they were not especially friendly when I visited their headquarters. :-) Pixar, Facebook, and especially Apple were—Google and Adobe were not. But in all seriousness, I agree with David Sparks about Google. I know in our times it would be very tough for many productive people to switch to services other than Google’s, and that’s why ”dumping” isn’t for everyone. However, there are several valid concerns. So, check out  the Mac Power Users episode 077 on Google here, and see why Katie and David discuss what is going on with Google and alternative services if you are ready to jump ship.

Do Something that Matters

I couldn’t have said it better. The following is a quote from a great article on Michael Hyatt’s blog:

“Every success story is really a story of community. Without the Medicis, Michelangelo never would have painted the Sistine Chapel. Without his friends at Atari, Steve Jobs wouldn’t have started Apple.

You need patrons — people who will believe in you and help you succeed. How do you get them to notice you? Do something that matters. And then, ask. This is how I got Seth Godin to endorse my eBook.”

What I especially appreciate is this line: “Do something that matters. And then ask.” this is how you get noticed. This is how we will draw the attention of investors and patrons alike.

You can read the article here.

A Fourth of the Way Through Life

Reese and I

I hope that I live to be 100 years old or so, but one never knows what one will get. At this point in life, I turn 25 tomorrow. This is… exciting. I am not who I thought I would be at this age when I was 12. At 12, I once thought being 25 was really mature; that everyone would view me as a responsible adult. Beyond 18, it seems less and less is made of age (thus far) and people simply treat you the way they always would someone out of high school. People who know me well don’t seem to care what my age is. They have already made their mind up about what they think of me and they will treat me the same way they always have without greater or lesser expectations.

25 years is a long time, and I can’t say in that time that any knowledge or wisdom is originally my own. All that I know is one way or the other God-given. I have my immediate family, parents, siblings, extended family, friends, the Bible, church, social groups, the library, the zoo, and the Internet to thank for everything I know. I hope that I will ever learn more from these and other sources to come. I aspire to know and act upon. Continue reading →

The Resurrection of Christ DVD

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While thinking about Easter and what it represent for Christians, I collaborated with Brandon Vallorani, Executive Vice President of American Vision, to release a DVD lecture addressing the historical evidence for the true resurrection of Christ. Brandon has previously give the lecture for several gatherings and churches in past years, as this subject is one of interest to him. We shot the lecture on our new Canon XHA1s at American Vision headquarters in Powder Springs, Georgia. It was a privilege to direct a film that dealt with such a critical aspect to the whole of the Christian worldview.

The Big 10,000 Visitors Announcement

I'm thrilled.

I mentioned in the side column for a month or so that when I reached 10,000 visitors on the blog there would be a significant update to my blog. Well, here it is.

JosephDarnell.com — this blog — is switching gears

Yet again, I am taking things forward with this blog site. This time  for the good of all, I pray.

I’m working on an all-new start up called Artifex Initiative. This small business’s mission is to be America’s best creative culture think tank. Towards this end, I am in the process of recruiting like-minded people to assist in the first major innovative concept of Artifex. More on what that is will come in the future. (At this time, if you know what the groundbreaking project is because I shared it with you, please keep it on the down-low.)

Artifex will carry on much of the content that I aimed for this blog in the past. This being the case, the significant portion of my writings attention is shifting to the works of Artifex. This being the case, my personal blog is practically empty of my standard content in the foreseeable future. So, I’ve been devising a purpose for this blog from scratch again.

JosephDarnell.com is a blog of culture and tech commentary

From this day forth, in narrowing the focus of my blog, this is what the blog is. I’ll do my best to demonstrate what one of the posts will look like in the near future. For now, I’ve got to prepare for the coming home of my little family. So stay tuned!

Worldview Super Conference Promo

Remember the promo for “This is the End of Publishing” that I have in a post from a few weeks back? Well, I know this is a rip-off, but I was pressed to get something done with no time to do it, so in ten hours my wife and I turned this video around. I would like to say a special thanks for Christie Bates of Creation Ministries International for her voice talent, and to my wife’s support and editing of the script.

The video is edited in Final Cut Pro. The graphics were mostly created in Photoshop CS4. The music is by Digital Juice.

The Case for America’s Christian Heritage: Volume 2

I am in production for the last half of The Case for America’s Christian Heritage DVD lecture series. I would say that I am almost half way through the trenches. Since this is a second volume, I am able to take much of what I created for the first and use it in the second as a template. Continue reading →