How the Rich Get Richer - MotherJones

How the Rich Get Richer - by Clara Jeffery is packed with interesting numbers that do a good job of showing the growing divide between the rich and the poor. Some of the numbers really suprised me. For example.

IN 2005, there were 9 million American millionaires, a 62% increase since 2002.

IN 2005, 25.7 million Americans received food stamps, a 49% increase since 2000.

So why is the divide growing? Are the rich doing a better job of taking care of the rich? Or, are the poor simply not willing to work for it? I tend to think it's a combination of both.

Engadget Fan Boy? Tour Ryan Block's Pad

Tour Gadget Geek’s Home | ScobleShow: Videoblog about geeks, technology, and developers

Are you an Engadget fan boy or fan girl? If you are, you'll enjoy this video tour through Ryan Block's San Francisco apartment.

Quick Tabs in IE 7

Using Quick Tabs in Internet Explorer 7.0 [Microsoft]

Tab through thumbnail images of your opens tabs - helful if you frequently have multiple  tabs open in IE. 

Crazy Frog Bros

Dare Obasanjo Meets BillG

Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life - Meeting Bill Gates

Last week I got an email from someone at Microsoft asking if my dad was the president of Nigeria. I almost deleted the email without responding until I looked at the person's email signature and it said "Executive Assistant to Bill Gates". So I responded and it turned out that Bill Gates was going to be in Nigeria over the weekend to meet with my dad and he wanted to chat before his trip.

I enjoyed reading this blog post by Dare Obasanjo (1st son of Nigerian president and Microsoft employee) that describes his recent meeting with Bill Gates. Why? It shows a different side of BillG - the guy that thinks about diseases, not software. Well written and an interesting perspective.

Sound Sleeping

Relaxing music, sleep-aids, anxiety reduction, relaxation tools

Sound Sleeping is a very cool app. if you're one of those people that love white-noise machines. It's free, it runs in your browser, and you can even mix up the white-noise - bumpin up the gulls and pimpin the song-birds.

Google Reaching Crtical Mass Tipping Point

Google, for me, just reached a critcal mass tipping point. A tipping point - say what? I'm now using enough of Google's kung-fu on a daily basis that I'm more likely to look to Google to fill a need than to say Microsoft or Yahoo! I want to consolidate a lot of what I do on-line and I want to consolidate with somebody I trust or more importantly somebody with a lot to loose if they don't take security and backup seriously.

Take a look at this list Google kung-fu that I currently use. I tried to order the list by frequency of use - I use the kung-fu near the top of the list the most.

• google.com Personalized Home Page (replaced Yahoo! Home page)
  
• calendar.google.com (recently, completely replaced Outlook)
  
• reader.google.com (recently, replaced Bloglines - long-time Bloglines user)
  
• desktop.google.com (recent addition, replaced Yahoo! widgets)
  
• mail.google.com (long-time user, personal use)
  
• checkout.google.com (established, use rarely)
  
• docs.google.com (long-time Writely user)
  

positivesharing.com - brillant workspaces

Youth rethinking communication habbits?

Some youth rethink online communications - Yahoo! News

"The superficial emptiness clouded the excitement I had once felt," Henderson wrote in a column in the student newspaper at Iowa State University, where he studies history. "It seems we have lost, to some degree, that special depth that true friendship entails."

Somebody gets it ... will MySpace, FaceBook and the iPod still be cool next year?

Read: Dot-Com Bubble, Part II?

Read: excellent Knowledge@Wharton article on valuing Social Networks.

Recalling the first dot-com bubble six years ago, Fader notes, "We all look back and laugh and say we will not go through that exercise again, but this could easily be a case of history repeating itself."

Dot-Com Bubble, Part II? Why It's So Hard to Value Social Networking Sites - Knowledge@Wharton

HPI Robot

Sweet! HPI (Japanese Company), popular for their R/C cars, is preparing to release a DIY robot kit. Movie 1, Movie 2

The G-Robots GR-001, like the holy diver himself, stands just 8.9-inches and 1.99-pounds wrapped in a skin of high-impact resin. Assembly takes about 2 hours after which this walker can be programmed from your computer via old-school RS232 and controlled via a 2.4GHz wireless remote. Let's just hope it comes with a USB-to-serial adapter for the required ¥199,980 or about $1,018 of that god fearin' green. Uh, azphinctersezwhat? - Engadget

Highgear Summit Watch

I clicked the "Buy Now" now button next to another Highgear altimeter watch (1st Highgear) a couple of weeks ago on Sierra Trading Post and I just love it. It's a Highgear Summit, last year's model, but I got it for about half of what this year's model would have cost me.

I don't really use the bulk of the more advanced features (altimeter, barometer, compass, thermometer) but having the compass makes it easier for me to back-up the "we're not lost" position with my wife and it's a great starter for conversations about the weather ;)