WWJD

Engadget is really doing a pretty good job with their content these days - I'm a big fan. I like there stuff because they mix original content with "blogcopy" - "blogcopy" is the xeroxed stuff most bloggers post, the stuff I post ; ) I loved the WWJD (what would steve jobs do) contest - a contest based on photoshopped mockups of gadgets Apple might produce. I'm guessing we'll see Apple produce a few of these mockups over the next couple of years - I'd like to see the look on Jobs face as he browses the contest results.

The Microsoft Origami Video

It's the hot news this week - the Microsoft Origami Video. Coming sooooooooooooon.

Strongbad

Strongbad is off-the-hook funny - check out [Secret Identity]. You've got to see this. - via atariboy and he's got a point in his post about every blogger blogging the same thing - bloggers / sploggers, what's the difference?

Blurb Photo Book

I might just produce a Blurb Photo Book. This is one of the 1st photo book servcies I've seen that looks like it might be worth the effort. You can also publish your 1st novel or cookbook using the Blurb service - pretty cool.

Children's Paper Chair

Flickr Toys

Vista Versions

Too many Vista versions? Hard to say, Microsoft is dealing with a lot of different people and they all have specific needs, so don't jump on the "one is better" wagon without thinking about it 1st. As a home or small business user you might not want everything the Enterprise guy gets. ZDNet put together a good summary of what's going to show up in the Vista box. Microsoft boxes us Vista

Top 10 Reasons Geeks Make Great Fathers

Top 10 Reasons Geeks Make Good (No Great!) Fathers

I got a laugh out of this - it's all too true.

my iPod 5g - Continued

I ordered my 5g iPod back in October and my 1st impressions were great. It wasn't my 1st iPod, I was upgrading from a 4g model. I'm still happy with my black 5g 40G iPod but I've got some gripes.

5g iPod Grips from a Recommender:

• It does scratch too easily. I don't support the idea of suing Apple over scratching (or potential for hearing loss) but they should be working to remedy this. I hope it doesn't come out someday that they engineered scratching into the iPod to support the iPod ecosystem. Cleaning up a scratched iPod
• Watching video on the iPod isn't something you want to do often. My wife and I have been watching the new Battlestar Galactica series on my iPod (we don't get the SciFi channel) and it was fun for a few episodes but it's getting old.
• Battery life, especially if you're watching video, is terrible - you can just barely watch a full-length movie on a full charge and that's with a young battery.
• It takes too long to start up - I like looking at the Apple logo but it's getting old too.
• $400 is too much for a high-tech walkman! Really, MP3 players should cost about $100.

I'd still recommend an iPod to a friend but there's room for improvement in the device. Apple better integrate a phone into the iPod soon or the iPod will eventually go the way of the stand-alone PDA. Still a fan - for now.

iBuzz

iBuzz, the iPod sex toy that has already caused a buzz in The New York Times, Harper's Index and Wired.com, will be launched in the US on 24 February - the birthday of Apple boss Steve Jobs. - Press Release

Wow, they really do make just about every accessory imagineable for the iPod. The iBuzz from Love Labs will put the bounce back into your step. Did Jobs think the iBuzz would be part of his iPod Ecosystem?

Cheney's Got A Gun MP3

My brother forced me to listen to this - Cheney's Got a Gun MP3 - a slightly modified version of Aerosmith's Janie's Got a Gun. Funny Stuff.

Google News: Cheney Shoots Friend

Tech Podcasts that aren't boring

Tech podcasts that aren't boring - via ValleyWag

Diggnation has my vote, I'm a regular watcher.

AirTroductions - Innovation Award!

AirTroductions - one of those great ideas. Sometimes I come across and idea that registers as "different" and I just have to stop and laugh - AirTroductions qualifies. The idea in a nut shell - pick the people you travel with by plane, taxi, etc. Why leave it to chance?

AirTroductions Press

TrueCrypt

Totally Agree: RSS Not the Second Coming

I totally agree with Steve Makofsky's recent comments on RSS.

The only thing RSS has done is provide a content delivery system with a formalized namespace. Let's stop focusing on the buzzword bingo of RSS and start building great software that gives great experiences to users. If it happens to use RSS, great, but lets stop thinking RSS is the greatest thing since the trackwheel mouse. - Steve furrygoat.com

Vista: Windows Flip and Flip 3D

Windows Vista is going to sport a bunch of cool new "User Experience" enhancements and I'm looking forward to the improvements. Flip is just one of the enhancements that I'm excited about. Flip makes it a lot easier to "flip" through your open windows using the Alt+Tab feature. If you use Alt+Tab to jump between your open windows you'll be familiar with the frustration that comes with passing by your window selection - forcing the annoying 2nd pass. Flip makes it a lot easier to identify the window you want to flip to by actually showing you thumbnails of the open windows. Read about more Windows Vista U.I. enhancements.

bunchball.com [beta] - Play with Your Friends

30 Boxes BETA - Big Deal

I registered for the 30 Boxes BETA today - I was anxious to get a look at the ajaxified/flickerized/socialized (Web2 buzzwords) on-line calendaring solution that so many people are talking about - see my last post.

I've got to tell you, I wasn't all that impressed. Yeah, I know, it's a BETA (synonymous with Web2), but I expected to be wowed and what I got was a pretty plain-jane on-line calendaring system. Yes, it's socialized to the max but that isn't all that important to me because I'm not planning on sharing my calendar with the world. On-line calendaring solutions like this are going to struggle with the switching costs problem - people don't jump around from one calendaring solution to another because it's time expensive and potentially dangerous. If you've got a "black book" and it's working for you - why risk the switch.

There is a positive to all of this hype - the software world we all deal with everyday is moving on-line and at a fast pace. Companies like 83 Degrees and Flickr got Microsoft's attention and the big boys are listening. It won't be long before all it takes to access your software life is a login - doesn't matter where you are and that's something I'm looking forward to. Keeping five computers current is an impossible task and a waste of valuable time.

30 Boxes BETA Sunday

On Sunday, 83 Degrees, will launch the highly anticipated 30 Boxes BETA. 30 Boxes is a new on-line calendaring solution that's apparently has the potential to become the Flickr of on-line calendaring - a lot of people are excited about it. There's going to be a lot going on in this space this year - fire up your calendars.

Reading List:
Thomas Hawk's Digital Connections: 30 Boxes
Om Malik: What is 30Boxes?
Scobeleizer: Calendaring heats up
TechCrunch: SpongeCell, an Ajax Calendar (good list of on-line calendaring solutions)

Fix Dead LCD Pixels

wikiHow (the How-To Manual that anyone can write or edit) sports a fix for those annoying dead lcd pixels - that little dot that just doesn't fit-in. Frankly, I didn't think this was legit but I tried it on one of my lcds at home and it actually worked - I just about fell off my chair. So bring that dead pixel back to life.

Mashup Feed

Mashups (Wikipedia definition) are cool, they take advantage of popular APIs (Wikipedia definition) (like Google's and Flickr's) to combine (Mashup) different data / technology into an integrated experience - usually a very targetted one - like HotorNot. Mashup Feed, using data from programmableweb, is a Mashup of Mashups - a good place to play with Mashups and the APIs used to produce them. Most popular Mashups - via programmableweb.

ValleyWag

Gossip rag for the tech industry - Valleywag. Stuff only Geeks will laugh at.

• "Valleywag is a tech gossip rag. You people in Silicon Valley are far too busy changing the world to care about sex, greed and hypocrisy. But if you ever need a break, come visit us at Valleywag. - Valleywag"

Update:

ValleyWag launch party pictures.

-- photos by Jackson West

Baths in Japan

I clicked-into this post (The Electronic Bath Water Cleaner) on Engadget today and it inspired me to write this post for PalmIt.com. The Japanese do a lot of things differently than we do - that's expected, it's an ancient culture. Some of the things they do differently just make sense in a "why didn't I think of that" kind of way. For example, they almost always bathe at night - not in the morning like we do here in the States. Your typical Japanese bathroom features a shower and a tub but the tub isn't used for bathing, it's used for soaking after the shower. The bath water is used by the whole family before it's drained and replaced - the Japanese are very good at recycling just about everything. Modern Japanese bathrooms are very high-tech - TOTO is the dominant brand. The tub water is automatically kept at a specified temperature and sometimes there are even monitoring stations throughout the house that let the occupant know when the tub is ready.

The whole bathing at night thing made a lot of sense to me so I've been bathing at night since I returned from Japan and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. Oh - and the toilet is usually in a totally different room which also makes a lot of sense to me. More at japan-guide.com - the Japanese bath.