inSpot.org a public service or a bad joke
Catching up on my buddies tweets, I ran into an interesting one.."Web 2.0 hookups gone bad," with a link to http://inspot.org/gateway.aspx. Just when you think everything has hit the web, around the corner comes something new and bold and if your a little twisted, a lot of fun. The gist of the site is that if you've possibly given somebody an STD you can send them a nice little ecard letting them know to get checked out, the best part is you can do it anonymously. The thing that got me going the most about this is that each card in a joking manner, broaches a very serious topic, I wouldn't take this seriously even if was sent with that intention. Ok, this is too much to resist, so if you're one of my 20 friends that received an ecard telling you anonymously to get checked for Chlamydia, you can rest assured, that this was a cruel and unusual prank and I'm sorry..please don't be mad. I can't think of a better use for this, after all the real asshole is the person that sincerely sends this instead of telling the person they just screwed in person. I know I pissed at least one of my friends off, definitely a bad joke....
It's so cold in the office, you'll crap your pants
Got this one this morning and I'm still laughing, I've removed names to protect the innocent. I never knew it could get that cold and something tells me the opposite would occur.
To: IT Department
Subject: Air Conditioning
Hello All,
We have spoken to facilities about the air conditioner. They are hoping we will warm up by this afternoon. The air was left on this weekend, and so that is why it is still so cold in here this morning. Sorry for the incontinence, but they state there is nothing that can be done right now to make it warmer.
Google has done it again, Presentations added to Google Docs
I'm sure the bloggers will be chattering about this one this morning, especially the Ajax-centric blogs. Hats off to Google for another well done Ajax application. Google launched their Powerpoint equivalent in their Docs suite, which is getting closer and closer to providing a viable online replacement, or at least a supplement, to Microsoft Office.
Within a few minutes I was able to create a presentation and view it full screen with no visible difference to running a Powerpoint presentation, other than the nice collaboration feature built into the sidebar. I was then able to publish the presentation to be publicly available on the web - My first Google Presentation Their application seems to have the same type of theme as the rest of their Docs Applications, you're able to upload or email in an existing Powerpoint presentation, you're able to share with other Google docs users and collaborate on the creation of the presentation, you're also able to play the presentation in a collaborative environment. The application seems to be well built and extremely performant.
In addition to the new application, there's word of additional features, the UI for google's docs applications has consistently gotten better and better. I think Google provides a good example to the world of Ajax and Web 2.0 websites, progressive enhancement is definitely the way to go, get a good working and performing application in place first and then move on to enhancing the UI later. I've been very impressed with the quality of the applications Google has developed. I can't wait till Firefox 3 and offline applications, I'd love to see these application converted over to work offline, maybe they'll do something early with Google Gears, watch out Microsoft, it won't take Google 4 years to come out with a new version.
Numbr and Craigslist, making selling easier
On and off I sell a few items here and there on ebay and Craigslist. If you're not familiar ebay typically charges you a listing fee and then they get you again when you sell the item based on what the item sold for, they get you coming and going. Now September is an exception they're waiving some of their initial listing fees this month. We're all still waiting for Craigslist to start charging, but for now it's completely free. You can post stuff at any price including free, just watch out for the crazies out there looking for the free stuff. It's a great alternative to your local newspaper and I've sold a refrigerator and a sectional so far, items that would have been a little difficult logistically to list and sell on ebay, with Craigslist I just put the responsibility on the buyer to pick the item up. This brings me to the service I used in my most recent sale that worked rather well and was of course the right price, free. Numbr.com will give you a temporary phone number, even one close to local if you're near a major city, for a period of time from 1 day up to a month. The phone number forwards to whatever number you specify, numbr also offers other services like blocking calls from 9pm to 8am in your timezone and voicemail via email. I think when listing items a couple of things are really key, good pictures, a good descriptions, and ease of communication. Email doesn't quite do justice when selling a big item, so it helps if the buyer can call and talk to you and ask a few questions to avoid wasting their time and yours. It's nice to be able to screen out the crazies, without giving out your real phone number and personal information, the numbr service is not limited to use with Craigslist, but could be used in any situation where you'd like to give a number out but have it expire after a period of time, I could think of several ways to put it to use.
Ubuntu might give Linux a chance for those willing to try it out
It's no news that Ubuntu has been getting a lot of press lately for it's ease of install, ease of use, and fantastic packaging system, allowing you to install tons of software very easily. I'm writing this post from my newly installed Ubuntu laptop. I've done Linux installs before, many years ago and always ran into a slew of problems with driver incompatibilities and confusing directions, which usually ended up in me saying, "F- this it's just no worth it," and going back to good ole Windows without looking back. This install was nothing like those days, the long and hard part was the download, once the CD was burned I was 45 minutes from being connected and posting, it was a lot easier than installing Windows.
I just recently purchased a new laptop with Vista installed, I had a long internal struggle about whether I should buy a Mac and use it's virtualization features if I ever missed Windows. I don't mind Vista so much, it's pretty, but what's the point, do I really need a big fat OS like Windows (Mac commercial reference) to surf the web, and do what I need to do? I think with the negative publicity about Microsoft's latest demon spawn and the choices available, a lot of people are asking themselves whether or not they need to continue sticking by Windows. The thing that ultimately kept me from the Mac was the price, I would be paying a premium for the Mac's sexy form factor. My old laptop was still kicking around, so I decided to check out Ubuntu to see how easy it really was, and boy it was easy.
If you want to see what it's all about go out to Ubuntu.com and download the Desktop version, we all have DSL right, and burn the iso to a CD. The CD is bootable and will actually run the OS straight off of the CD, this way you can have a good look around, try out the included software and see if you think it'll work for you, without harming your computer. Once you decide you want it you just click the install to disk icon on the desktop and answer the questions and before you know it you'll be done. My install is on a Gateway 600YG2, 2.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM, it found everything, including my wireless card and wireless network and I didn't even have to be involved other than clicking the Forward button. It's taken some getting used to getting around the system so far, but my beloved Firefox 2.0 is here, and my delicious plug-in by Yahoo is installed, so I'm happy.