Over the holidays, I had the chance to play around and use my brother’s Kindle from Amazon, and I was impressed!  I liked that the Kindle had a bigger screen, and the e-ink was very nice to read, compared to reading the backlit ebooks on my iPhone.  However, I did not like the fact that the display was not touch-sensitive, and I had to use the physical buttons to turn the page.  The Kindle interface wasn’t very intuitive and it took me a while to get used to it and be able to quickly navigate the menus.

Also over the holidays, I was able to check out my Uncle’s Nook from Barnes and Noble. Feature wise, the Nook and Kindle are pretty evenly matched, but due to the fact that the Nook has a 2nd screen, and has built in Wi-Fi, I would probably buy the Nook over the Kindle, if I had to get one or the other.

BUT! (there is always a but)  I just read about the new enTourage eDGe which combines 2 displays, and the google android OS to make a hybrid ebook reader that functions also as a tablet pc/netbook.  Now this is more along the lines of something that I would buy.  I’ve been contemplating getting a netbook, and if I make the plunge into netbook ownership, I’m going to take a hard look at the eDGe.  I’m not that familiar with the droid OS, and if there was a version that would let me run the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, then it would be just right.

It would make me a happy camper, and it would be better for the environment to not have all those extra wrappers filling up my waste basket.

This is a hilarious use of twitter, this guy is his friends Best Man in the wedding, and swears not to prank them until AFTER the wedding.  So while they’re on honeymoon, he installs a pressure sensitive pad in his friends bed which automatically tweets when it detects action on the bed.  It reports back the weight/duration/intensity of the action when they’re “on the job”.

Brilliant!

One of my hobbies and habits is to pick up domain names that match some “big idea” that I’ve had, and I’ll throw up a simple site or something, or just hold onto the domain for one of those “rainy day” projects.

I recently picked up a copy of WP Robot, which is an auto-blogging plugin which will automatically post and update a blog with content from ebay, amazon, articlebase, and other sources.  I think this will help me keep some of my sites updated, and hopefully be able to generate some affiliate commissions as well.  It is SLICK!  I showed it to a couple of my co-workers and they were impressed with how it worked, and how it simply automated a blog.

Now, I understand that SE’s and readers alike prefer to have genuine hand-written content, and so for my blogs, I’ll still post articles that I write myself.  As well as comment on happenings and other things.  But by having an automation tool, I can also have some filler things within my blog.
Who knows! perhaps in a year, I’ll have a nice little blog empire that will pay for a vacation to somewhere tropical.

One of these days when I have $7k lying around burning a hole in my pocket, I’m going to build myself one of these things.  It looks like a really cool way to get some cheap storage.

I do wonder though, why they use 1.5TB drives instead of 2TB drives… and with the drives crammed in that tight, do those fans supply adequate airflow for cooling?

I think it’s great that FINALLY after how many years the iPhone has been out, and for the past year with the 3G with GPS, that they have a turn by turn dirction app.  But I think it is TERRIBLE that AT&T wants to charge me $9.99/mo for the service.

$9.99 to download the App as a one time fee would be perfectly acceptable, but don’t tell me that they need to charge a monthly fee for the service.  I don’t pay extra for the Sprint Navigator on the Instinct, nor do you pay a monthly fee (that I’m aware of) for a TomTom.

Come on AT&T, give us the app for a one-time $9.99 or even $19.99 fee, and then charge per update.  Let me know when the routes in my home area have been updated due to construction, and give me a $1.99 update option to update when I want to.  Don’t nickel and dime me with a $10/mo recurring charge.  Over 1 year, that’s $120 spent on navigation, and how often do roads change?

There is a bill being proposed to grant executive control over the Internet, in a case of “Cyber-Terror” and allow the government to seize control of private sector networks, effectively shutting down the Internet.

It goes on to talk about the terms vaguely, and any threat that deals with computers, the Internet, telecommunications, computer networks, would qualify as Cyber Terrorism, and allow Uncle Sam to cripple private networks.  This includes the possibility of shutting down networks to prevent phone calls and other communications systems.

New licenses would be given to individuals and companies who deal with the major networks, giving them clearance, and basically saying you have to have government approval to run any large private network.  They would also be required to provide additional data and resources to the government.

Frankly, I find this very apalling, and do not want ANYONE in government having judicial control over public networks, allowing them to effectively shut down the system with a flick of a switch.  The government is very lacking in current security operations, and network security is best handled by the private sector.

I understand the need to be able to mitigate threats, but there are cyber attacks every day against corporations and individuals, and the current private networks do a damn good job of keeping the peace, along with keeping the Internet ONLINE.

I don’t know what the story is behind this picture… but I doubt the driver survived.

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it “Barack Obama.”

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.

4. Empty the Recycle Bin.

5. Your PC will ask you: “Do you really want to get rid of “Barack
Obama?”

6. Firmly Click “Yes.”

7. Feel better?

GOOD! – Tomorrow we’ll do Nancy Pelosi.

Because I don’t play constantly, or very regularly, I never really had the time to really learn a lot of the in-depth things about the game, and I found trying to figure stuff out alone was kind of boring, especially in the level 20-40 range where you have to do a lot of grinding.

Well, a while back I bought the Zygor Guide. It’s a simple plugin for WoW that acts as a quest helper, telling you which quests to take, where to go to complete the quests, and it allows you to power level your character quite quickly.  It’s better than the other quest helpers because it specifically tells you to do things in a certain order to optimize your time.  It’ll have you pick up 3-5 quests in one area, go around and do all of them, then turn them all in at once, rather than doing them one by one and running back and forth all the time.

If you’re like me and enjoy playing WoW, but don’t have the time to devote your entire life to it, the Zygor guide is the best way to Power Level your character quickly, efficiently, and it’s fun.

Zygor Guide has allowed me to rapidly level my Blood Elf Shadow Priest, and my Tauren Death Knight in minimal play time.  I’m not level 80 yet, but I soon will be