Rumors

Excellent set of links and tips for Google Mail power users.

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The Colts are 6-1 favorites, with the Patriots being 2-1 fav’s. The poor NY Giants get NO respect.

NY Times - 2009 NFL Super Bowl Odds

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This would be a lot of fun!

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While walking the puppy today, I noticed some new signs in the windows of the empty space at the corner of Mass Ave, College Ave and St. Clair. This is the former location of the locally based “Abbey” coffeehouse and cafe. I really miss their wraps and chips. It truly was a staple of downtown living in Indianapolis during the late 1990’s.

However, I’m excited about the new place. From what I have heard, the new place will be called “Forty Five Degrees”, and the sign says “Sushi, Cocktails, Lunch and Dinner”. That may be a real winning combination to add to the mix of Mass Ave.

With the Scholar’s Inn still in the midst of renovation into a new ultra style bar, this end of Mass Ave really seems to be starting to pop.

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So many reasons to hate the Patriots.. Which one are you?

read more | digg story

Nintendo’s Wii Sports leads the nominations for the 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards

read more | digg story

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Sometimes the smallest things end up being the biggest deal.

Steve Jobs of Apple dropped a small bomb at the end of his keynote this week, and it has become perhaps the biggest story of the week. If you were one of the loyal (yet perhaps a bit naive) Apple early adopters, you might be a bit pissed to learn that the 8Gb iPhone has dropped it’s price $200 barely 2 months after it’s much-hyped release. Happy 2-month Anniversary!

I, Cringley weighs in with a rather optimistic view on why this occurred, but I tend to agree with the NY Time’s view…the iPhone isn’t selling like they thought it would. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I am a COMPLETE believer in the iPhone’s leap in technology and the revolution it presents to the woefully behind U.S. Cellular companies. Wake up Guys! However, Apple is attempting to do what even the federal government has failed to do; change the beast that is AT&T. I wish them all the luck in the world. Shift happens, however slowly.

The big winner in this weeks keynote was Starbucks, who has just vaulted to the front of the class of promising 21st century music store concepts. This may really take off in dense urban areas. Generating revenue by selling products with no inventory and/or supply chain costs, and suddenly you give Starbucks a chance to recover the (surely) massive losses incurred by the terrible Pay as you go WiFi access they have been trying to sell for years.

Along with the iPhone price drops, there were new iPod Nanos, iPod Shuffles and the iPod Touch. However, the Apple Hi-Fi was not as lucky.

Wouldn’t it be cool to see a new Wi-Fi enabled Hi-Fi (A Wi-Hi-Fi?) that works within the iTunes framework, maybe with remote control abilities via Apple TV and iTunes! It could integrate into your home Wi-Fi network. Now you’re talking! While the Airport Express with AirTunes (Remember those products, Apple?!?) gather dust on store shelves, perhaps a combined update would be nice medicine for iPod sales come Christmas time. I’m sure Steve will fix this once he reads this article.

Cool new hack will allow you to play NES games on your Apple iPhone. Cool stuff.

Well, at least Apple fared better than Gwen Stafani’s did in this weeks fashion reviews in New York City. Oh well Gwen, we still love you!

02/11/2008 Update: Looks like Starbuck’s is finally getting the free wifi they should have offered since the beginning.

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Greetings! I’ve begin microblogging with Jaiku. If you want to see what it is all about, feel free to add me as a friend. I keep all of my del.icio.us, Flickr and Digg feeds there, so it’s a great way to find some tidbits that I found interesting.

Here are some quickies:

• Do Farmers Markets offer the best deals?
• James McAvoy has been cast as Scotty in the Star Trek prequel.
• They are remaking the 1976 classic Logan’s Run!
• New BitTorrent search engine has just been released.
• Collection of AppleTV Resources. I love my AppleTV!
• And 10 Things that your IT department doesn’t want users to know.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Technorati Tags: apple, bittorrent, food, movies

For those of you living in the Indianapolis area, what a great weekend. The weather simply doesn’t get much better than what we experienced this past weekend, and ends any doubt that summer has finally arrived. Hooray!

I had a blast going to the track on friday, and hanging out at the Patron suite and tent. Thanks to Patron for showing us such a great time! I will post some pictures of the event soon.

For those of us who enjoy price shopping on the internet before going out to make a purchase, here comes Frucall. Frucall allows you to get real-time comparison pricing from the internet by texting or calling in with the UPC code from the product. I have tested the service a couple of times, and it was spot on.

So, before plopping down big bucks at Best Buy or Frye’s for the latest electronics, be sure to give Frucall a shot to find a better deal.

Frucall - Online Comparison Shopping Web site for Mobile Shoppers:

Technorati Tags: deals, gadgets, mobile, indianapolis

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Yesterday, I sit down with Steve Bray of WISH-8 TV and discussed DSL and cable modem download speeds. Naturally, the discussion wandered into net neutrality and Ted Stevens “Tube” territory.

This is an issue that has been around since the old dial-up access days in the early 1990’s. Some ISP’s would over subscribe their solo T1 and/or dial-in lines by a factor of 20 or sometimes much more. This would lead to extremely slow access speeds or even the dreaded busy signal.

Today’s broadband connections offer the convenience of “always-on”, but sometimes fall far short of their advertised download speeds. Contacting the provider can sometimes resolve the issue, by improving the physical build or bumping you into another tier of service. However, are the providers initial advertised speeds misleading?

Here are some interesting links that I used for research on this story.

Speed test

• speedtest.net (Multiple sites and my personal favorite)

Cable company practices

• techbasic.net
• computerworld.com
• technologyevangelist.com
• consumeraffairs.com

Net Neutrality

• pbs.org/cringely/pulpit
• nixguy.com
• blogs.zdnet.com
• savetheinternet.org
• theregister.co.uk
• it.slashdot.org(Interesting user comments below…. SlashDot is good for this)

Ted Stevens and his tubes

• wikipedia.org
• youtube.com
• boingboing.net

Be sure to watch WISH-8 TV in Indianapolis, Thursday May 10 @ 11pm to see the interview. The interview and footage was shot in one of the data centers that my company uses. Be sure to set your Tivo’s!

Technorati Tags: internet, netneutrality, TV, video

Thanks to everyone who came out Wednesday to celebrate my birthday. I had an absolute blast and it was great catching up with everyone.

You can see some pictures of the event in my gallery.

Here’s to another great year!

Technorati Tags: 2007

According to the New York Times, how your dog wags their tail, tells you how they are feeling.

If you are a dog owner, then you probably already can tell if your dog is happy or sad. How they look, act and sound tends to give away their thoughts. My puppy (see picture above of Brody) would be a terrible poker player, but that’s ok.
From the NY Times article:

When the dogs saw their owners, their tails all wagged vigorously with a bias to the right side of their bodies, Dr. Vallortigara said. Their tails wagged moderately, again more to the right, when faced with an unfamiliar human. Looking at the cat, a four-year-old male whose owners volunteered him for the experiment, the dogs’ tails again wagged more to the right but in a lower amplitude.

So, the next time your dog starts whining at the neighbor’s cat, or meets an intimidating cousin while on a walk; see if you can tell how your dog is feeling by the way he wags his tail.

Technorati Tags: behavior, dogs, pets

One of my favorite authors died last night in a New York City hospital. Kurt Vonnegut was born in 1922 in Indianapolis, IN and has produced some of the great icons of American counterculture literature.

So pick up a copy of “Cat’s Cradle“, “Deadeye Dick“, or my personal favorite, “Breakfast of Champions“; sit down and order a beer from the Rathskiller bar in downtown Indianapolis, and enjoy them all over again.

Rest in peace, Mr. Vonnegut.

American voice, Hoosier icon dies | IndyStar.com

Technorati Tags: literature, pop culture, satire

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While I don’t consider myself a huge Dane Cook fan, how could you ignore Jessica Alba…

This movie looks hilarious, and the best line of the trailer is in the last 10 seconds. Worth a quick watch.

Technorati Tags: pop culture, movies, video, comedy, 2007