Posted in Biology by Rick Howington on February 4, 2010.
The tech community shows the power of positive technology by building free open-source tools that help aid relief and recovery in Haiti.
Hours about the disaster in Haiti Crisis Commons organized several nationwide events to work on numerous technology projects. The Haiti OpenStreetMap project was a direct result of this tech collaboration. It provides one of the most complete digital maps of Haiti’s roads, hospitals, triage centers and refugee camps. They also helped construct the We Have, We Need Exchange website; this is a pace where nonprofits working in Haiti can post requests and needs to find donors.
Haiti’s National Palace in Port-au-Prince is shown in this 2004 photo, top, and in a photo taken Jan. 13, 2010, bottom, after the earthquake struck.
Crisis Commons is a volunteer network of technology professionals drawn together by a call to service to create technological tools and resources for responders to use in mitigating disasters and crises around the world. AWESOME!
This spirit demonstrates the Biology of Technology at its best and shows how tech can help make a difference for good. Go Team Geek!
You’ve heard the buzz about Apple’s new iPad. But have you heard the sophomoric snickers about its name? So what is so funny about the iPad’s name? This Mad TV skit came out a few years ago when the iPad was just twinkle in Steve Job’s eye and explains the iTampon gag.
It still remains to be seen if the iPad will be an iDud.
It’s good to see that the e-book industry is doing what the e-music industry learned the hard way – than in the digital age you gottta “give love to get love.” Well, this is probably a timeless universal truth, but in an Internet connected world it’s truer than ever.
Over half of the e-books on the Kindle (Amazon.com’s e-reader) best seller list are available at no charge. This is creating a whole new breed of authors who can build a fan base by giving away e-books. Once the reader is hooked, then the other books by these e-writers are available for a fee (usually $9.99 per download). Drug dealers have been using this “the-first-one-is-free” tactic forever. If reading is your “heroin” then e-books could be your quick fix. By the way, if you are a reading junkie, then I say “read on.” There are worse things you could be addicted to.
This is refreshing change from the early days of Napster when the record companies were prosecuting fans for downloading and sharing music. This was a mixed message from that dark page in Internet history that said, “If you like a song and you share it with your friends then we will sue you.”
One exec in the publishing industry said it best concerning free downloads,
“I guess my attitude right now is that I can be afraid of what’s coming or I can try and aggressively embrace it in some form.”
This goes to the core of the new marketing paradigm in the digital world whether it is music, software, books, or porn. (Once again, porn dealers were ahead of the curve in getting you hooked with free stuff.)
Giving stuff away will probably make the head explode of some the stuffed-shirt businessman entranced in their “greed is good” business model. But to those Mr. Potters’ who can’t see the Jedi ways of “give-to-get” then you should just get out of the way.
While I do not have an e-reader, I confess that I am dripping with Kindle-envy. If you are shopping for an e-reader here’s a link to Wikipedia with a good comparison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers
If you have one sitting on a shelf gathering dust then you can give it to me; I will love you for it. See, give-love-to-get-love does work.
Posted in Deals by Rick Howington on January 21, 2010.
Thumbs-up for Gazelle from my “Got Gadgets, Get Cash” post on 1/3/2010. I promised to follow-up and the verdict is “this is for real.”
After sending in an old phone and laptop, I got several emails from Gazelle keeping me posted on the progress. About a week later a check arrived just as promised. So Gazelle does what it says, and it doesn’t get much better than that.
If you are looking for an easy, non-eBay way to get cash for old electronics, then give gazelle.com a try.
Posted in Deals by Rick Howington on January 7, 2010.
Why should you care about the CES (Consumer Electronics Show, for those who do not speak geek)? You’re probably wondering how a gathering of a bunch of nerds impacts your life. Well, if you use a mobile device, watch TV, read publications, download music, and are reading this blog, there’s a chance you will feel the influence of the CES.
This week over 100,000 of the tech jetsetters converge in Las Vegas to see what’s ahead in tech and to hedge their bets on what will be the next big thing. Here are just a few headlines that may interest you.
Smart Phones
Watch out iPhone, here comes the Nexus One, a Smartphone based on the Google Android platform. It is being slated as the iPhone killer. But I think the real winner will be the consumer (that’s you and me) with great deals springing to life form the increased competition. Here’s a chart comparing the top SmartPhone contenders. Disclaimer – this info will probably change moments after you read it! Other buzz words are tablet computers, e-readers, Internet TV (heard this one before), and 3 dimensional HDTV for your home. Yes, you can watch “Avatar” in the comfort of you home and still get that cool 3D experience. But the first incarnations of 3DTV will probably cost as much as a first-class intergalactic spaceflight to Pandora (the fictitious planet from the “Avatar” movie).
I’m still holding out for my own personal holodeck. For those of you who don’t know what a holodeck is, congratulations as you passed the “I am not a nerd” test. For those like me who are holodeck-aware, why aren’t we in Las Vegas at the CES with the other geeks? (Did that sound bitter?) (Grin)
Deals of the Day
The CES is usually a flag to vendors to clear their shelves to make way for the new stuff. That means some great deals at out there. Here are just a few.
Posted in Deals by Rick Howington on January 3, 2010.
Have you got old gadgets? Need cash? Then try
gazelle.com!
So you can go green by having your devices recycled and get some green in return. Everybody wins
Gazelle pays cash for used electronics such as cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and other stuff (except printers and Fax machines). Here’s how it works:
- Log on to the site (setting up an account is easy)
- Answer a few quick questions like does the device powers on, and if the battery works.
- Gazelle calculates an offer and if you accept, they will email you a shipping label.
I got offered $119 for a couple of old devices lying in the back of a closet. We’ll see what happens as I send this off this week.
Also, Gazelle can setup a website for schools and other groups to organize a gadget drive to raise money. Or you can use Gazelle to turn gadgets into donations for your favorite charity.
Granted, if you are well versed in eBay you may be able to get a few more bucks for your electro-junk. But let’s face it, eBay is not for everyone and as best I can tell, Gazelle makes the trade-in process relatively painless.
So start 2010 by recycling your old stuff and making a few dollars in the process.
As the new decade approaches everyone feels compelled to publish their top 10 lists of the past 10 years. I saw a list for the top 10 best beards of the decade. Seriously!
But I can’t resist jumping on the bandwagon. (I’ve always been a band-wagon jumper.)
However, instead of a top 10 list, I am going to post what I think was the most transformative technology event of the past decade.
Drum roll please…
My vote for the biggest thing in tech over the past 10 years is…
The Numa Numa Guy!
YEAH! CHEER!
Here he is!
Why, you ask? The Numa put the viral video on the virtual map. It came out in 2004 before YouTube. (YouTube came online in 2005.) So even without the power of YouTube, Gary Brolsma (aka The Numa Numa guy) became one of the best known unlikely Internet celebrities, and the envy of drag queens everywhere.
After overcoming some initial camera shyness from the instant fame, Gary has taken his rightful place in the WWW culture. He was voted the Number 1 Internet Icon by 40 Greatest Internet Superstars on VH1, featured on actual music videos (Weezer “Pork and Beans” video to name one), and has over 33 million views on youtube.com.
But most important, we have it on good authority that since uploading his now famous Numa Numa dance, Gary has indeed lost his virginity! And this underscores the real power of the Internet. Go Gary!
Need a break from the Holiday cheer? Checkout the “Everything is Terrible” website. http://www.everythingisterrible.com/
Where their motto is “If Everything is Terrible, then nothing is”.
This is a great collection of quirky and funny offbeat videos clips. What’s even funnier is that much of the EIT collection showcases stuff we use to think was cool!
Here’s one I like where Steve Allen tries to quell what I suppose was a rash of computer-phobia that must have been sweeping the nation.
Now, don’t you feel better about that PC that is staring back at you?
(BTW – who is that drag queen with Steve Allen?)
Haiti’s National Palace in Port-au-Prince is shown in this 2004 photo, top, and in a photo taken Jan. 13, 2010, bottom, after the earthquake struck.
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