It will be Easier Being Green
Posted by Radimus on 11/14/08 in GPS, Off topic, Social Apps
All they need to do is tie it to your credit card and Al Gore will be able to tax you directly.
Keeping track of your carbon footprint could become as simple as slipping a mobile phone in your pocket: a London-based start-up company has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning satellites to work out automatically whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.
Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. It can therefore calculate the amount of carbon dioxide that a journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the traveller.
The system’s inventor, Andreas Zachariah, a graduate student of the Royal College of Art in London and chief executive of the Carbon Hero company, said that Carbon Diem is the world’s first automated carbon calculator.
Because it keeps a constantly updated diary of a person’s carbon emissions, Zachariah said that a user can easily track their environmental impact and, if they choose, modify their behaviour to lower-carbon alternatives.
“We’re facilitating people to make little changes and allow those changes to be noted and registered and possibly shared,” he said. “If lots of people realise we’re in this marathon [in tackling climate change] and we’re not running alone, then we actually think people will be motivated to stick to changes.”
Off Topic Again - New Desktop for Chris Incoming
Posted by Chris Leckness on 08/22/08 in Off topic
I am very excited to receive this system, I normally am when I have new toys arriving. Anyhow, I want to thanks iBuyPower.com. When I had it narrowed down to the two companies I mentioned in the last off topic posting, I decided to call each of them and ask what type specials they had. One company offered free ground shipping and the iBuyPower knocked $200 off the top. This covers the rush service and delivery. Thanks guys. I got an email late last night with a Fed-Ex tracking number showing it to be here today. I can’t wait. Read on to see why!
Red Light Camera Protection For You
Posted by Steve Laser on 07/17/08 in Off topic, Opinion
In Chicago and many other big cities red light cameras are set up to capture the license plates of drivers who go through red lights. Fines are often $100 or more and can add up. PhotoBlocker.com has a solution.
According to them, “A majority of red light & speed cameras utilize a strong flash to photograph the license plate on your car. Once sprayed onto your license plate, the PhotoBlockerTM special formula works to create a high gloss that reflects the flash back to the camera. This overexposes the image of your license, rendering the picture unreadable. Ultimately, with PhotoBlockerTM your license becomes invisible to traffic cameras, yet stays completely legible to the naked eye.” [Read more]
Just Say "Yes" to Telemarketers
Posted by Steve Laser on 07/1/08 in Off topic
This hilarious video teaches you how to deal with telemarketers in an unconventional, but simple way.
This video was courtesy of our friends at The Consumerist.
AT&T DSL vs Comcast DSL
I switched my phone service and my DSL Internet from AT&T to Comcast, the cable provider on my area. AT&T Service is the worse you can imagine in all senses in where I live (South Florida). To give you an idea, I called them 40 minutes ago to confirm my service cancellation and I still waiting for anybody to take my call. And it has been on that way every time I call them. But anyway, that’s just part of the reason why I’m leaving AT&T. Comcast has a combined service of DSL and phone over IP that’s a lot cheaper than what I’m paying to AT&T at this moment. The other reason why I’m switching can be seen in the next two screen shots.
Pictures for your Desktop
I have been taking some pictures lately to use it in my Windows Desktop. I have shown them to few friends and they liked it and asked me for the permission to use them in their PCs. So I though that may be that some of you may want to do the same so here they are.
Here is the link to this set.
Cleaning a CD/DVD with a banana?!
I thought that in my more than 15 years working with PCs, 10 of them as IT Manager I would have seen every single trick relative to how to clean a CD or DVD. But Today I discovered how wrong I was. I found this video explaining how to cleaning a CD/DVD with a banana and proving that it works. I have to confess that I have not tested myself because I still have my doubts about it.
Mainstream Media + Online Media = CBS
Posted by Chris Leckness on 05/15/08 in Off topic
This is huge for CBS. There is not much I can really say, but WOW…
CBS has agreed to acquire CNET Networks in a deal valued at $1.8 billion, the companies said Thursday.
The purchase price comes to $11.50 per share, representing a 44 percent premium over Wednesday’s closing price of $7.95.
The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and about 200 million users worldwide, the companies said.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. CNET’s board has unanimously approved the deal, the company said.
I am really in shock at this announcement. I wonder how Matt Miller feels about it? He is a blogger for ZDnet, which I think is owned by Cnet as well.
Edit - I just checked out Matt’s Blog to see if he had chimed in yet and I didn’t see anything, but I did see the best picture ever….
8 mobile tech tools and tips for a tough economy
Posted by Chris Leckness on 05/14/08 in Off topic, Opinion
There is no doubt that the economy is on the skid right now. People are losing jobs, Gas prices are insane (to top it off, my car chokes on 87 octane fuel, she needs 93), and it’s just generally a bad time right now in the US.
Kevin Tofel knows this all to well with his father losing a job. He writes a great bit with 8 tips to help you stay on top…
Having my father get laid off from his state government job a few weeks back has kept me busy. He’s not what I’d call tech-savvy, although he’s learning along the way. So I’ve spent quite a bit of time with him over the last two weeks: setting him up with one of our extra notebook computers, getting fast Internet service, and sorting out plans for the future. It hit me that right now there’s quite a number of folks in the same boat as the economy has been in a slump for the past eight months or so.
This is a great read, I strongly suggest heading over to check it out.
Happy Mother’s Day
Posted by Steve Laser on 05/11/08 in Off topic, Opinion
From all of us to you, may you have a wonderful day!
Yesterday I was driving my daughter home from a soccer game when I realized I had no Mother’s Day card. So I went to Hallmark and found the coolest thing. My wife is a huge Gilmore Girls fan, and I found a talking Gilmore Girls card. You open it up and it says something about Mother’s Day from the series. I knew my wife would love it.
My kids also needed a card. I found them a recordable card. You can record a message up to 10 seconds. You can record as many times as you need. So I brought the $5.99 cards home and had my three kids say something nice. She loved it!
Well, enjoy the day moms, because tomorrow it’s back to the grind. We want our dinner ready, our clothes cleaned, the house in order….
25 Greatest Albums Ever - Of All Time!
Posted by Steve Laser on 05/9/08 in Off topic, Opinion
Yesterday Yahoo! released the 25 best Best Of Albums of all time. It was a great list, but I wanted to put together a list of the 25 best albums. Greatest hits albums are put out by record companies. I wanted to put together studio albums, because they reflect a time and a theme, while a greatest hits album is just meant to sell copies.
You may notice some glaring omissions in my list. You may see some bands you never heard of or some albums that may seem obscure. But, hey, it’s my list, so I chose what I like. Feel free to add your own to the list.
I present them in no particular order. They’re just my 25 favorites.
Read on after the break.
TorrentSpy ordered to pay $111 million
Bad boy.. Bad boy… Bad boy what you gonna do when they come for you? Well, in this case they are not going to do anything or pay anything because they are broke according to news published today at Beta News. The message is clear, the MPAA will keep going and going after anyone posting or allowing to post music or movies online.
A Los Angeles federal judge has delivered a default judgement against the BitTorrent site finding it guilty of copyright infringement and forcing it to compensate studios.
Congrats Cell Phone Junkie - 100th Show
Posted by Chris Leckness on 04/22/08 in Off topic, Opinion
I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts, but I do get a chance to listen to this one here and there. I just wanted to pass on my congrats on hitting 100. I know how difficult that can be to stick with it. I have been part of 2 podcasts that we lost interest in continuing, but one of them might be making a come back soon. We just revived Mobilityguys.com and plan to get back in the saddle. That’s not what we are here to talk about right now though… Congrats Mickey.
“We’re extremely excited to be doing our 100th program,” said Papillon, a longtime cell phone user and an authority on mobile phone technology. “Since our inception in 2006, The Cell Phone Junkie programs have been downloaded by more than 100,000 listeners, so we believe we’re providing a valuable service to many people. Worldwide, there are approximately 3 billion cell phone users and, in some countries, cell phone penetration is actually more than 100 percent.”
If you have never had a chance to listen, head over to the Cell Phone Junkie.
Reader Meet Up @ Gameworks in Seattle
Posted by Chris Leckness on 04/5/08 in Off topic, Site Items
The details are in for the meet up in Seattle next weekend (April 13th, 2008). If you want to attend, just show up. I would appreciate an email or a comment here to show your interest though.
So, it looks like I am going to head to Gameworks to have some good old geek fun Sunday night…
…we then probably move to GameWorks around 6:30-7:00PM ish and do some gaming whether it be shoot ‘em ups, pinball, racing, air hockey, or getting another drink it should be a good time. If the mood strikes us or if people are getting in later we can head back to McCormick and Schmicks for their second Happy Hour at 9PM to closing.
What we are doing is piggybacking a meetup that a lot of us Windows Mobile MVPs do the Sunday prior to the Microsoft MVP Summit. We’re going to grab some dinner and then geek out at Gameworks. I welcome anyone to show up and say hello. This will go down April 13th, 2008. Steven Hughes, Jack Cook, Matt Miller, Jason Dunn, Don Sorcinelli, Mike Temporale, myself and more should be in attendance.
If you can’t make that and you’d like meet up in Seattle still, let me know. We will be pretty tied up from 8am to around 9pm, but it will feel like 7pm to me, so I might stay out all night :)
Happy Aprils Fool’s Day
Posted by Chris Leckness on 04/1/08 in Off topic, Opinion, Site Items
1st of all, what can you believe and what can you not believe?
- Would you believe that I am no longer a Windows Mobile Device MVP as of today?
- Would you believe that Windows Mobile 7 will be announced later today?
- Would you believe that after all the great work that Susan has done here, she just up and quit on us?
- Would you believe I got a $14,000 bill from the IRS last week?
- Would you believe that we are finally closing the Aximsite.com side of the house.
- My 5 year old son just passed testing and is now a Black Belt in Taekwodo?
- Would you believe that I love Twitter?
- Would you believe that there will be a ton of Phone announcements on this day?
- Would you believe that Matt Miller, the Mobile Gadgeteer has a secret obsession for Palm devices.
- Would you believe that I saw a leaked photo of the T-Mobile iPhone last week. (I dont post rumors)
There are a lot of things you “CAN” believe on this day, but unfortunately, some you can’t. Later today, I’ll take a look at the comments and see what you believe from my list above and shed light on them. Believe it or not, some are true.
I have tapered off on my April Fools jokes on the sites over the years, but I used to pull some fairly mean ones. Some better than others, but in 2003 and 2004, I put up notices that the site was being shut down. In 2005 I started with some rumor jokes. One year, Aximsite turned into Palmsite.com for a day. Today, thanks to Zaniax, one of the old announcements of shutting down the site was linked to. The post was 5 years old and still got a couple people.
I love this quote from an old wise man, a long time ago. (ok, a young smart man, two minutes ago on twitter…)
I can be a fool all year long… what’s so special about today? ;).
It’s pretty funny that CTIA starts today, what phone news can we believe? Maybe we can believe it all in a couple day.
