Archive for: July, 2006

Gamestop and EBGames

Jul 31 2006 Published by under Ramblings

I had completely missed this… seems that Gamestop and EBGames have merged!

GameStop Corp. (GME) and Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (ELBO), owner of EB Games, announced that their shareholders have green-lighted the merger of the two companies. The approval was the last step in the deal, which was made public in April.

Shareholders OK GameStop, EB Games merger

Comments are off for this post

Avoiding Spam

Jul 31 2006 Published by under Ramblings

One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to avoid spam is ignoring how the email address is published.

Its amazing how often I see people’s addresses published on web pages – this is a spam-magnet. In fact, there was a study done awhile back, and it was pretty much 100% certain that if you published an email address on a webpage, that address would shortly start receiving spam. I forget where I read it, but when I run across it, I’ll make an update to this entry.

With that said, here are some really great tips on how to avoid posting your address on a web page:

I’ve compiled a list of methods to hide email addresses from the page source, to minimize visibility against the email harvesting spam bots. Each method has its (dis)advantages, therefore I leave it up to the reader to decide which method suits them the most, as there are many factors

Hiding Email Addresses

   

Comments are off for this post

Dilbert

Jul 28 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Sometimes, I feel this way too… 🙂

Comments are off for this post

Lamborghini Gallardo Convertable

Jul 27 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Convertible… 4-wheel drive… made by Audi… hmm…. 🙂

One response so far

Fancy Home Garage

Jul 25 2006 Published by under Ramblings

This guy as built one of the coolest home garages I’ve seen… he’s even installed a Bend-Pak lift so he can cram more cars in it… most impressive. Check it out:

Ed and Sandra’s Garage

Comments are off for this post

ICE: The Forgotten Food

Jul 24 2006 Published by under Ramblings

I saw this on Dateline a few weeks ago. Its really quite scary to think that ice can make you sick.

You can watch the video of the show on the right-hand sidebar of the article:

Are food-handlers taking the same precautions with ice?

Health officials traced a gastrointestinal illness to coolers containing drinking water for the golfers.

Dirty ice can make you sick

One response so far

Radar Detectors

Jul 23 2006 Published by under Ramblings

This has been obvious to me for some time, but lots of people don’t realize this:

A radar detector should be mounted as high on the windshield as possible, preferably flush with the roof of the car. Any other mounting is a waste of time, money and dash space.

World’s Greatest… Radar Detectors

One response so far

Gizmo and Asterisk

Jul 22 2006 Published by under Ramblings

The Gizmo Project now supports Asterisk PBX integration… this is great news!

SIPphone, Inc., developers of the free Internet calling software Gizmo Project, today announced the delivery of Gizmo Project 2.0, highlighted by its support for Asterisk PBX software. Giving Gizmo Project users the ability to log into Asterisk means they can now be universally reachable via their Asterisk PBX or directly through the Gizmo Project network. The option to seamlessly receive calls from their office PBX while anywhere in the world leverages Gizmo Project’s advanced NAT (“network address translation”), firewall and router traversal features and server infrastructure.

Gizmo Project 2.0 Now Asterisk PBX-Compatible

Why am I so excited about Gizmo? Read this:

Why is Gizmo Project better than Skype, Vonage, etc?

And my buddy Chris just sent me this:

SIPphone on Thursday announced that users of Gizmo Project — its Mac-compatible Voice over IP (VoIP) communication service — can now place free calls to landlines and mobile phones in 60 countries. Signing up for Gizmo Project is free.

Gizmo Project VoIP service goes free

Comments are off for this post

Electric Sports Car

Jul 21 2006 Published by under Ramblings

A couple of years ago, I met Elon Musk, who founded PayPal, SpaceX, and the new Tesla Motors… Since I wasn’t allowed to talk about his new project, I’d been secretly awaiting the arrival of his new electric sports car thats just been announced…

Can’t wait to get one! 😀

Martin Eberhard holds the brake down with his left foot and presses on the accelerator with his right. The motor revs, the car strains against the brake. I hear … almost nothing. Just a quiet whine like the sound of a jet preparing for takeoff 5 miles away. We’re belted into a shimmering black sports car on a quiet, tree-lined street in San Carlos, California, 23 miles south of San Francisco. It has taken Eberhard three years to get this prototype ready for mass production, but with the backing of PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and ex-eBay chief Jeff Skoll, he has created Silicon Valley’s first real auto company.

Battery-Fueled Car Will Smoke You

Comments are off for this post

AOL Customer Service

Jul 20 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Its my understanding that you can avoid such things by calling late, late at night… [shrug]

Comments are off for this post

More Housing Doom News

Jul 19 2006 Published by under Ramblings

I wouldn’t have thought that “southern Ohio” woud be hit by the slowdown… but I suppose even the “less hot” areas are feeling it too…

When Keith Gersin saw the perfect four-bedroom house in southern Ohio four years ago, he jumped to buy it before anyone else could snap it up. When he finally sold it last month, it went for $30,000 less than he had hoped — and that after seven months on the market.

Home sellers, builders feel pinch of slowdown

Comments are off for this post

Earth’s Magnetic Pole

Jul 18 2006 Published by under Ramblings

This is a bit alarming:

Earth’s north magnetic pole is drifting away from North America and toward Siberia at such a clip that Alaska might lose its spectacular Northern Lights in the next 50 years, scientists said Thursday.

Earth’s magnetic pole drifting quickly

2 responses so far

RedRoller

Jul 17 2006 Published by under Ramblings

This is pretty slick:

Enter your address, the weight of a package and its destination, and the site displays a grid with the prices various couriers would charge to send the item, depending on the delivery time. With a few clicks, you can print a shipping label and schedule a pickup, or find the nearest drop-off center.

Web site comparing shipping rates launches

You can check it out at – http://www.redroller.com

Comments are off for this post

Virtual PC is Free

Jul 13 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Wow, this is pretty cool… Microsoft’s Virtual PC is now free… which means you try out different OS’s like Ubuntu without much headache…

Whether Microsoft virtualization technology is an important component of your existing infrastructure or you’re just a Virtual PC enthusiast, you can now download Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 absolutely free. Microsoft is also offering the free download of Virtual PC 2007, with support for Windows Vista in 2007.

Virtual PC Is Now Free!

Comments are off for this post

Tethering the Moto Q

Jul 11 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Based on the 24hrs I’ve had it, I have to admit, the Motorola Q is a pretty sweet phone. Its small, its light, it looks cool, it sounds great, and its full featured. But it isn’t perfect… like how it doesn’t have a DUN profile for bluetooth.

But wait!

Someone figured out a hack:

I got it working 😉 I am typing this from my Q’s connection tethered via BT to my MacBookPro.

Motorola Q BT Tethering Working 😉

2 responses so far

Cellular Phone Service

Jul 11 2006 Published by under Ramblings

I had never really been too concerned with cellular coverage in most areas. Most of the time my mobile phone works, and when it doesn’t, I just walk around a bit.

This usually works fine – except that the new place I moved into is some sort of cell phone void zone.

I found this pretty cool web site where you can find out where the towers actually are in your area. Its not clear to me if this information is of any use, but its still interesting to see.

How can an AntennaSearch Report help me?
AntennaSearch is the only way to locate both visible and hidden antennas. Additionally, we are the only online service that alerts you to newly filed (or pending) tower applications.

AntennaSearch.com

Comments are off for this post

Mac Snobs?

Jul 10 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Tired of everyone talking about their Macs?

“If I were Apple, I’d be worried about this. Two lifelong Mac fans are switching away from Macs to PCs running Ubuntu Linux”….

Canaries in the Mac OS X and Red Hat Coal Mines?

And the guys at Best Week Ever are privy to this too! 😀

Comments are off for this post

Foil Boards

Jul 10 2006 Published by under Ramblings

I wonder how many more lessons Chris B needs before he can ride one of these 🙂

Comments are off for this post

Google

Jul 05 2006 Published by under Ramblings

This is interesting…

Anyone who has ever used the internet probably knows about Google’s web search, but did you know that Google does a lot more? We’ve discussed many Google services on TipMonkies before, but there are some which some of you may not be aware of. Read the full article to get the giant list of Google services and what each does. We’ll try to keep this list up-to-date as Google begins rolling out more services (because you know they will).

The Ultimate Guide to Google Services

Comments are off for this post

Ties

Jul 04 2006 Published by under Ramblings

For all you people who can’t tie a tie… 🙂

Instructions on how to tie a tie, different ways of tying tie knots, caring for a necktie and more.

Tie Guide

Comments are off for this post

SED

Jul 03 2006 Published by under Ramblings

Everything you ever wanted to know about SED:

Sed – An Introduction

Comments are off for this post