« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »
Google goes to the movies, sort of
Posted on February 24, 2005 at 07:01 AM
I'm not going to write a long post about Google Movies since just about everyone in the blogosphere has commented on it by now. But I had to tell you about the greatest feature I found which is the ability to find the movie times of all the theatres in your area. In a Google search box, type in "movie:" followed by the name of a U.S. city or zip code.
Now playing in Omaha:
Posted by joeschmidt at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
1-Click answers: just alt-click it.
An extremely powerful tool from answers.com, 1-Click Answers offers a way for you to easily find the information you need quickly. See a polysyllabic word on your screen in which you have no idea what it means? Just hold down the Alt key and click on it. A browser window then opens and presents you with the definition of the word from their huge database, which contains over one million definitions. Result: No more Googling for the definition of a word.
I did a little testing of my own and found that it works on words found just about anywhere on your screen. I tried Alt-clicking words in web browsers, word documents, PDFs, notepad. Hell, I even tried Alt-clicking on the "my network places" icon on my desktop and it took me to this page.
<ed. note> One thing to metion concerning Alt-clicking in a PDF document, you must first highlight the word using the text select tool. Only once it's highlighted can you alt-click it. </ed. note>
Now, I know what your saying, "That's all I need. One more desktop toolbar app to clutter my screen." Fear not though, you can minimize the answer bar to the side of the screen or completely turn it off. The only thing left visible is is a tray icon. Clutter be gone.
Another plus is that they offer a Mac version as well. And for those with an aversion to internet explorer, might I suggest trying the answers.com plugin for your search box in Firefox. If you haven't noticed yet, this company really gets it.
Since answers.com has replaced dictionary.com as the definition resource for Google searches, a scenario I could see is Google buying answer.com's technology and integrating it with their Google Answers service. The result would be a huge database of detailed definitions mixed in with professional paid research. Now add the Alt-click functionality to something like, oh I don't know, Google's desktop search and you would have instant access to a broad spectrum of information. Sprinkle in a Mac version of Google desktop search to appease the OSX faithful and you would have a search app more powerful than any of Google's current competitors.
(Larry and Sergey: feel free to drop me a few shares if you happen read this post and like the idea. Or I could just drop a note to my long lost Uncle Eric. What? You didn't know that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is actually my Uncle? Yeah, me either.)
Last but not least, I would be remiss in not telling you to check out the "How do I..." page for 1-Click answers to learn more about what it can do for you.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:01 AM | Comments (1) | post to del.icio.us
Do you park like an idiot?
Posted on February 22, 2005 at 01:35 AM
We've all been witness to a parking idiot. Whether at your local shopping mall, the megaplex movie theatre chain, or at the grocery store, their before you sits some idiot who has not mastered the ability to correctly park their vehicle between two yellow lines. Perhaps it is a SUV, a tacky yellow humvee, or a bombed out cutlass supreme that looks like it was scraped off the bottom of some farm pond, parking like an idiot knows no economic or social boundaries. Yet, I have found a solution to help the driver realize the error in their ways. iparklikeanidiot.com. I saw this site last week and couldn't resist ordering a few of these bumper stickers. I like to think of it as a therapeutic way to let the driver know everyone's frustration with their parking deficiency while having a little bit of fun in the process.
What's nice about the stickers are that they do not have a sticky backing like your average bumper sticker. So you could place one on someone's vehicle without damaging the paint job. Though I realize it would be nice to vent my frustrations on some idiot who couldn't park correctly by placing one of these stickers on their car and then snapping a picture of my handy work to save for posterity, it would be an unrealistic goal. First, it would require me to have a bumper sticker on hand at all times. Second, I would also have to carry a digital camera with me in order to document the event. Third, it could probably be considered vandalism, and with my luck, I would get caught by some mall security rent-a-cop or threatened by the toothless owner of the badly parked el Camino in which I had just placed a sticker upon. The legal disclaimer on the back of the sticker says it all.
So for now I will keep these stickers on hand, saving them for friends or neighbors that understand my humorous attempt to let them know that they park like an idiot. But if I am out and public and see something like this, I may not be able to resist.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:35 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Gentlemen, start your pintos
If you didn't start your day this past Sunday by rolling out of the rack and cracking a PBR, visiting your local wal-mart, or eating at a waffle house, you may not have realized that Sunday's Daytona 500 marked the official start of the Nascar season. You know, that "sport" where drivers are confined to spaces less than that of a yugo, make about 400 consecutive left turns, and are forced to enter their vehicles "dukes of hazzard" style. I don't know about you, but for some reason whenever I hear the word NASCAR, I immediately have visions of Roscoe P. Coaltrain and Enos hopelessly chasing them darn duke boys or Boss Hogg gnawing on a chicken leg.
The only reason I knew that the Daytona 500 was even held last Sunday was because I overheard my drunk neighbor hootin' and hollerin' about it outside. So if you missed the inaugural event of the Nascar racing season, do not fret. You still have many weeks left to regain the respect of your fellow Nascarian brethren by either re-growing your mullet or visiting wal-mart's garden center to stock up on pink flamingoes for your yard. (Don't let your neighbor out do you again this year)
With it being over 24 hours since the race ended, I still couldn't tell you who won. As it seemed I was too busy today to watch or listen to anything sports related, read the newspaper, or surf the web, though I know I could easily find the results of Sunday's race on some web site within a few clicks. It's not that I'm lazy, the fact is that I don't care. Yes Nascarians, I know it's hard to believe that life can exist without your beloved "sport". I've checked my pulse a few times to make sure, but I am still breathing. Though without knowing, I can somehow safely assume though that someone named Kyle, Ricky, Dale, or Jeff probably won, since those names encompass about one third of the drivers in Nascar.
So, if you were lucky enough to miss the coverage of the race, let me give you a sample of what you might have witnessed had you watched the race on TV or, god forbid, were blessed enough to be apart of the shallowest gene pool ever assembled in person (warning: those with an aversion to extreme back hair should not view this image)
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:05 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Meet Robert Scoble
Posted on February 11, 2005 at 01:38 AM
Robert's web log was one of the first I started reading way back when I first discovered this whole blogging thing. It was through him and his blog roll I discovered other blogs out in the "blogosphere". When I first started this blog I wanted to add a blog roll, but didn't want to put any of the "A-list" bloggers on it because I figured that everyone read/knew about them. You know, the usual suspects: Dave Winer, boing boing, Jason Kottke, John Battelle, endgadget, gizmodo, wonkette, instapundit (I could go on for a while trust me). But I figured why hold back information from someone who could have been like me was when I first started out, new to the whole scene and not knowing where to find other blogs. Because of all of this I include a link to his site on my blog roll.
Robert is an employee of Microsoft, his official title is Technical Evangelist (no I didn't make that up, that is his title) He puts a human face on Microsoft by interviewing internal Microsoft project teams, telling us what they are working on and why it will be cool when they are done. His blog is not endorsed by Microsoft. No one from Microsoft approves his posts for correct content or message. He doesn't even blog on company time. He does all this because he is passionate about the company he works for.
So what's so cool about him?
He and a friend of his, Shel Israel, are writing a book about blogging. It's entitled "The Red Couch". The name comes from the red couch sitting in his office where so many people have stopped by to chat about what's going on at Microsoft and technology in general. What's truly unique about the book they're writing is that they started a blog with the intent of recording in the public eye the process of writing this book and to bounce their ideas off of their readers.
You know a guys got juice when you read about how Mark Jen, the ex-google blogger, getting fired, and a few days later Robert is having dinner with the guy and blogging about the experience.
He also does quite a bit of public speaking about blogs. Whether it's in front of future journalists at his alma mater or at a blog conference imparting upon others his passion for blogs. For example, last month he spoke at the Business Blog Summit. His keynote was about blogging, it's past, it's future, and why it isn't going away anytime soon.
Since I have plenty of bandwidth to burn I thought I would provide a copy of that keynote in mp3 format for you to download here [via Business Blog Summit] If you are interested in blogging or not sure what blogging is actually all about and want to learn more, then I urge you to download the mp3 to your iPod, computer, pda, or whatever and listen to what he has to say.
One more interesting thing, quite daring actually, is that he puts his cell phone number on the front page of his blog so people can call him. I should give him a call some time to see if he answers.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:38 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Reconstructing Frankenstein
Since my attempt at getting a free Mac mini has mostly failed, I have been forced to take matters into my own hands. Back in December a co-worker of mine who is an avid Mac enthusiast (Macs in his house outnumber people at least 2:1. Actual functioning Macs brings that ratio down a tad) purchased a motherboard sled for an iMac G3 off of eBay. He solely bought this sled for the RAM that it contained (about 512MB if I remember correctly). He generously gave me the rest of the sled in the hopes I would "do something with it". So as time went by, he would tell me about more parts he found for my iMac. Then one day out of the blue, an actual iMac shell including the Monitor appeared at my desk. "Great!" I thought, "I'll just take my sled and plug it into the iMac and of we'll go."
Not exactly.
Further inspection of the iMac shell revealed that it was missing some major organs. It didn't have a power supply board or an audio/video board (major components to be missing). Again I turned to eBay and found someone selling a power supply. I buy it, it arrives, I installed it. Cool, now I need an A/V board and I will be set.
Christmas is fast approaching.
My whole intent was to get this thing running before Christmas so I could give it to my son as he loves 'puters (read: computers). He uses them at school and thinks they're great. "This would be perfect for him" I thought. It is compact and everything is built in to it so we wouldn't have to get another monitor to run it. One problem though is I am still missing that damn A/V board. A search of eBay reveals a few sources for A/V boards, but Christmas day is only a few days away. Too much of risk to try and get it here in time, let alone rebuild and troubleshoot it. I left messages with local mac dealers to see if they have any parts they would be willing to sell me, but no one returned my calls.
Christmas comes and goes, iMac still no worky.
With Christmas out of the way I figure I have plenty of time to get this thing running in time for his birthday, which is months away. Plus I'll have time to play around with it and see what all the hubbub is about. No big loss and no hurt feelings because I was wise enough not to even mention the fact that Santa might be bringing a computer for Christmas.
(Ed. note: For those of you who don't know me, I'm not blowing the surprise. I can safely write about this all on my blog because my son cannot read yet.)
Fast forward a month.
Just two days ago, the A/V board arrives. Brad found it on eBay for $5. Quite a steal as I could only find them in $30-$40 range. Now that I have all the parts I need for assembly, I figured I would lay them all out on the desk so they could get acquainted with one another. You know create a vibe and all. I thought since all the parts were from a few different iMacs I wanted to make sure they were in "harmony" before I slapped this thing together. I am willing to try anything to make sure this thing works on the first try.
Now, without further rambling, I give you the frankenstein that is/will be my sons future Mac:
(Click on the links to open the pictures) Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3
Major props and shout-outs to Brad for helping me get all the parts.
P.S.- I will not switch to the dark side.
Posted by joeschmidt at 12:13 AM | Comments (1) | post to del.icio.us
Another blog roll update
Posted on February 09, 2005 at 12:30 AM
Most of you probably haven't heard that Mark Jen, whose site 99zeros caught the attention of those trying to catch a glimpse of life inside Google, is no longer with the company. Details about his exit from the Googleplex will be forthcoming probably never. You can get the gist of what happened here. A link to his site will remain for the time being.
[Update: He's back.]
On to the updates
Seth Godin - An entrepreneur and agent of change, Seth Godin is the author of 6 best selling books and has written two "manifestos" that can be found on changethis.com. I have linked to one of those below:
Note to Mother, Read this:
The Bootstrappers Bible (You can download the pdf here.)
Fast Company - One day I started receiving this magazine out of the blue, free of charge. It's a great read. Their tagline is "How smart people work" They profile businesses of all sizes and illustrate what they are doing to keep growing, staying innovative, and generally shaking things up. It's because of this magazine I started my personal ban against all things wal-mart. I have purchased only one item from a wal-mart in the last year, and that was only because of dire circumstances outside of my control. (I may tell the story at some point in time. Names will be changed to protect the innocent)
Life Hacker - A great site for finding shortcuts in life to save time (a.k.a. life hacks). Posts range from How to tie a tie, cutting vegetables, or picking good passwords.
Maeda's SIMPLICITY - a M.I.T. media guru who is the co-director of a research program called SIMPLICITY, which is aimed at redefining users’ relationships with technology in their daily lives and battling information overload. It's a look inside of a brain at M.I.T. who also happens to be an award winning graphic designer. More examples of his work can be found here.
How to Save the World - Dave Pollard's blog covers many different topics, (science, ecology, business, and blogging just to name a few). Having just recently found this site I haven't had a chance to read too many of his posts (due mainly to their length) but a few things I did read really stood out:
When will business embrace blogs?
The Ten Most Important Ideas of 2004: Business & the Economy
The Ten Most Important Ideas of 2004: Blogs and the Internet
IFTF's Future Now - A think tank based in Palo Alto, their main focus is researching how emerging technologies impact our lives. They are using the informal medium of a blog to share their ideas.
Posted by joeschmidt at 12:30 AM | Comments (1) | post to del.icio.us
Google Maps: How an on-line map SHOULD work
Posted on February 08, 2005 at 01:32 AM
Google Labs just introduced their new Google Maps site. This is far different from any other on-line map programs I have used. Within the first few minutes of using it you will realize it is both easy to use and elegant. No more clicking on directional buttons to pan around a map. No more waiting for the page to refresh while you zoom in or out. With Google Maps you simply click and drag on the map, it moves with you. They also provide keyboard shortcuts if you are inclined to do so. Use the + or - keys on your keyboard to zoom in or out on the fly or the arrow keys to slowly pan across the map.
Maps are generated quickly and use good graphics to illustrate the layout of the streets. Even when zoomed way out on a city map, the streets are still well defined. Also, virtual thumbtacks illustrate the location in which you are searching. By clicking on the thumbtacks an info bubble pops up displaying related info to that location. A nice added touch is the drop shadow effect used to highlight the info bubble, giving it a three dimensional feel.
Google Maps also integrates the Google Local search into the map site. Allowing you to search for local businesses on the map. Here is a sample search I did for Sushi in Omaha. Notice on the right it provides links to all the relevant sushi restaurants in Omaha. The list breaks down around letter G. I suppose fresh seafood could be technically called Sushi, but unless I am missing something, I don't think sushi is on the menu at Old Chicago. And Long John Silver's? Let's not go there.
When you are finished searching for a destination, hit the "Link to this page" link and Google Maps will generate a URL in the address bar you can copy and save for later. Or hit the email button and send the link to a friend.
As you can see, Google Maps does have a few bugs to work out, but remember it bears the moniker "Beta". Here is a list of things I would like to see added in future versions:
Future Google Maps Wish List
- The ability to right click and drag the mouse to zoom in on a certain area.
- Better search results using Google Local. Only show results relevant to a specified area (Example of current behavior here)
- Move or drag the info bubble to a different location when it obscures other information.
- Ability to add more than one info bubble on a map at a time.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:32 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
2005 Superbowl Ads
Posted on February 06, 2005 at 08:44 PM
ifilm.com has a site up where you can view all of tonight's Superbowl ads (even the banned one).
Which ones were your favorite?
So far I am partial to the careerbuilder.com commercials. Everybody loves monkeys.
Posted by joeschmidt at 08:44 PM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Matthew Lesko Blogs
Posted on February 05, 2005 at 01:01 PM
If you're a night owl that can't sleep you know who I am talking about. For others, you may have seen him on TV, adorned in various loud, multi-colored suits, covered with question marks, squawking about how the government will give you free money to pay credit card bills, go back to school, pay your rent, etc... And yes, Matthew Lesko has started a blog.
Currently, he is being investigated by the New York State Consumer Protection Board. He has probably realized, like many, that blogs are an effective form of communication and will use the blog platform to further promote himself and refute the claims that the NYCPB has made against him.
Being a person who has never read one of his books, I can only look to Amazon.com to see what others are saying about his latest free money book. I am always skeptical about reading reviews on Amazon.com. It is hard to tell the intentions of some reviewers, whether they are leaving a glowing review of an obviously bad book or if they have an axe to grind, intentionally bagging a book that has received critical acclaim. One reviewer left a link to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance website that lets you search government grant programs, which I assume is similar to those offered in the Lesko book. (Conspiracy Theorist Note: Look at the CDFA website's URL. Why is it an IP address and not an actual Domain Name? Why are they making the information so hard to find?)
Still can't picture who I am talking about? Maybe this will help:
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:01 PM | Comments (1) | post to del.icio.us
Adding a blog roll
Posted on February 04, 2005 at 01:03 AM
For those of you who aren't familiar with blogs, a blog roll is a list of links to other blogs commonly read by the site's author. The blog roll usually is comprised of blogs the author reads on a regular basis, blogs belonging to friends, or listed on a "you link to me, I link to you" basis. Blog rolls always vary in length, some just listing a few links while others number in the hundreds.
Since I haven't included one yet, I thought I would start by just listing a few of the sites I read, and add more as time goes on. I will try to make a point of posting something about the site I've listed on the blog roll so you have a better understanding of what that site is about.
Here goes:
kadavy.net - David is a friend of mine and I enjoy reading his insights. I would say more but do not feel the need to feed his ego. Read his blog.
gapingvoid.com - Where do I begin with this one. Hugh MacLeod is a marketing an advertising consultant based in the UK. His insights are poignant, bleeding edge (hell, beyond bleeding edge), and insightful. A must read for anyone who works in an industry that deals with client/customer relations (basically everyone).
He illustrates a lot of his ideas through "blog cards", cartoons drawn on the back of business cards. A warning though, some of the content on the blog cards may be deemed offensive to some and may not be work safe. There is a bit of shock value to some of his illustrations. Look beyond it. His blog cards will either make you think, make you laugh, or both.
He is well known for his manifesto The Hughtrain which is his unique vision based off of the popular Cluetrain Manifesto.
If you get a chance, read his pdf on How To Be Creative A very good read.
Ninety Nine Zeros - A blog by a noogler blogging from the googleplex. (Read: A weblog authored by a new google employee) Mark Jen just started working at Google back in mid January and gained notoriety for his very open discussions about life inside the googleplex. He became famous when the posts on his blog mysteriously vanished, leaving everyone pondering about his fate and wondering if he might have been a bit too open about the internal workings at Google. Turns out all is well and he is back posting.
eightypercent.net - Joe Beda is another Google employee who used to work for Microsoft on projects like longhorn, IE, et al. He generally discusses technology, life at Google, and photography.
kevinrose.com - Kevin Rose hosts the popular tv show "The Screen Savers" on G4TechTV (contact your local cable provider for availability) He provides his readers with a lot of new technology info and how to's. I especially enjoyed how he "switched" a Mac mini into a pc. Maybe someday I will get the chance.
woot! - An on-line store that offers only one product a day. Each night at midnight a new item is posted to their site. What they offer is generally techonology/gadget related merchandise which are close-outs, so they can offer the items to you at low prices. Items remain for sale until they are sold out or until 11:59pm central time which at that time a new item is featured. I haven't purchased anything from them yet but enjoy their satirical product descriptions. They are unique in the fact that they are an online store with a RSS feed.
That's it for now, I will post more in the coming days. At some point in the future I will get all my feeds up on Bloglines and provide a link to my Blogline feed so you could see exactly what I am reading.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Every Apple commercial ever made
Posted on February 03, 2005 at 01:08 AM
Over the weekend I came across a bitTorrent link to every Apple commercial ever made. (via beyondtheobvious.org)
The file is a whopping 778MB zip file comprised of 165 mov files.
It's amazing to see how Apple has evolved over the last 20+ years. From 1984 to Will Ferrell as S. Claus (Hilarity will ensue).
If you have bitTorrent, click on the link here. Save the file to your desktop, then open it with bitTorrent. My advice to you would be to start this at night and let it run. The weird thing I found is that it took about 30 minutes for my bitTorrent to find a peer to begin downloading, but once it did the download took about 30 minutes (Your experience may vary, I have a broadband cable connection, do not attempt with dialup).
For those of you wondering what bitTorrent is I give you this, a link to everything you wanted to know about bitTorrent but were afraid to ask. You gotta love the wiki.
Enjoy.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:08 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
Tabbed browsing trick in Firefox
Posted on February 01, 2005 at 02:31 AM
While half falling asleep, laden with lazy digits, I found that by middle clicking a link in Firefox opens said link in a new background tab. (Alternatively, you can close tabs by middle clicking on them.)
I for one am definitely all for mouse and keyboard shortcuts, especially in Firefox, but why I hadn't realized this before is beyond me.
Note to those of you who have no idea what I am talking about: get firefox and make the switch today.
Posted by joeschmidt at 02:31 AM | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
