An Air of Geekiness

Google Voice Launch on the Horizon?

2009-06-18T14:03:00.006-04:00

A few blogs out there have been jumping on a rumor that GV will be launching soon, with number porting. I'm hoping this turns out to be true, as I have a few friends that are in the market for a GV account, not to mention I want a second number to set up for my new place (when I eventually get it in the next month or two).

I've been a full-time Google Voice user since it made the switch from the GrandCentral branding in mid March. At first, I was having a few close friends change their number for me, however recently, I've been handing it out exclusively. With the 406 number associations, it's been perfectly transparent to my contacts, and has made my life incredibly easy. I had 4 numbers that I could be reached at: a work and personal cell, a desk phone, and a home landline. But now there's no difference to my friends, and to me, there's the ultimate convenience of answering whichever phone is closest and most convenient for me. I can silence my personal phone at work, while still getting every single call, and every text via a GV iGoogle gadget. It's so nice to text with a real keyboard. I'm totally sold on the GV product, and I'm not looking back, it's THAT good.

Google's offerings keep "wow'ing" me lately, with the announcement of Wave fresh in my mind, and all of their current products that seem to keep getting better and better. It would probably behoove me to get an Android phone next, although those Touch Pro 2's look soooo sweet. But anyway...

Google Wave

2009-05-29T13:59:00.003-04:00

Remember the first time you got an email?

Yeah, using Wave will be like that.

Absolutely stunning demo of Google's newest product that will certainly revolutionize online collaboration. You simply have to watch the preview video from the Google I/O developer conference, but if you don't have an hour to watch the whole thing, then check the sneak peek here.

Most astonishing to me is the fact that it will be OPEN SOURCE! Meaning that a company can create their own Wave system and set of accounts to use as they wish!

I simply cannot wait to try out this amazing new technology. Knowing Google, it will integrate, or probably more along the lines of mesh, with GMail and Google Voice down the road.

Mint.com's Financial Fitness

2009-05-08T14:31:00.004-04:00

Mint.com just added a feature called "Financial Fitness" which gives you a set of goals every month that are designed to help you become or stay financially sound. Goals range from longer-term ones like "Save a 3 month emergency fund" down to simple things like "Spend less than you earn this month", along with things that need to be done once and for all like "Get Health insurance". Points are awarded for each task, and you have a certain points goal that you're intended to try to meet each month.

I'm not sure if I was invited into a beta via my request to Lifehacker.com, or if the feature has gone live for everyone, but it's definitely worth a look. Given the competitive nature of humans, who always want to "win the game", this is a great way to motivate yourself to do the things that you really should be doing, but were either too lazy or too busy to do otherwise.

All in all, Mint is continuously proving to be one of the best financial tools I've ever used.

Windows 7 RC Released

2009-05-05T14:45:00.002-04:00

Well today's the day Microsoft released the RC for Windows 7. I've been playing with beta 7000 and 7077 for a couple months now, and I have to say I'm not planning to go back to XP or Vista for any of my home machines until March next year, or until I get my hands on a full copy of 7, whichever comes first.

Everything is smooth and slick, the interface looks even nicer than Vista, and performance is far and away from the disaster that Vista started off as. As a Deskside Technician for a major engineering firm, I support XP all day, and have a Vista machine on my desk in my company's Vista pilot, so I have my fair share of all three of Microsoft's offerings right now. I don't really have too much bad to say about Vista in it's current stage, but with that said, 7 is an incredible improvement over something that I'm currently satisfied with.

I'm notoriously un-picky when it comes to operating systems, I simply want my OS to do everything I need it to, and be relatively stable. However, I must say that the little things in 7 are what is most impressive. It really seems like the guys in Redmond went to great lengths to make sure they put together their ultimate vision of what a new Microsoft OS should be.

Right now, I have 3 PCs at home, 2 of which are running W7, and the plan is to get my laptop switched over tonight. =)

New SSD

2009-05-02T10:20:00.003-04:00

Recently I purchased an OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD just so that I could play with the new technology and formulate my own opinion on the speed and such.

I've got it in my primary machine right now, which was recently upgraded a tad bit with a new Intel 2.6ghz C2D and a 9800GT. I decided that with the news of the Windows 7 RC sticking around until June of 2010, that I'd have more than enough time to fiddle with the new OS on a speedy new drive. (I'll probably just reformat again in the next month anyway, just to stay cool like all the kids these days)

So first impressions are pretty good, the machine can boot from power button to a fully loaded desktop (No spinny windows circle) in 30 seconds. Apps definitely load faster, and coupled with Windows 7, seems like this is the snappiest and smoothest running machine I've ever owned.

I got my 30GB OCZ Vertex SSD from Newegg when they were running it on sale for $129 with free shipping. The day after I put my order in, it went up to $139 on the site, and UPS put it on my doorstep. 24 hour turnaround on 3-day shipping is what makes Newegg such a beast. Love it.

REALLY Back?

2009-05-02T10:18:00.000-04:00

So...

Don't really have a good excuse for "coming back" then forgetting about this blog for over a year, but I'm just going to continue on, and you can just ignore the "9" in the year.

Back.

2008-03-19T10:50:00.002-04:00

Woo, I'm back. :P After some inactivity here, gonna get back into this blog and try to do a daily post at the least, and start posting more towards highlighting my "geek project" of the day and the ideas that sprout in regard to or as a result of.

Today's project is along the lines of how "The Nerd Handbook" describes how nerds/geeks handle people and ideas, and this particular project is of a secretive nature until it comes to fruition, so I'll just say that I think it will be a resounding success. I'll be pulling together the resources tomorrow, and will put things into motion by tomorrow afternoon, and should know the full results within a few days, hopefully by Tuesday of next week.

In other news, job interview tomorrow for a system administrator position, hoping it will go well so I can start working closer to home. I don't think I'll have any problem commuting to Ijamsville, especially if the money is right, which wouldn't be hard, considering what my current employer is paying. :P

Maybe more after lunch...

More proof that once that phone and contract are sold, Verizon could care less about you.

2007-11-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

In what has to be the most ridiculous customer disservice move yet by the cellular giant, new VZW phones have an audible alarm when dialing 911. GOD FORBID that someone in trouble be able to call for help without fear of their possible attackers knowing they're doing so. Perhaps a Verizon phone designer is planning to go into the kidnapping or house robbing business. Wouldn't be much worse than how they treat their customers anyway.

Catnip sales skyrocket, number of teens getting high plummet

2007-11-26T10:59:00.001-05:00

In a rather amusing article, the news of how some marijuana dealers are filling the gaps in their supply chains is bound to cause an uproar in the feline community. Apparently, kids are going to pet stores to buy insane amounts of catnip, in order to smoke it in marijuana's stead. It's become such a problem that store owners are forcing young people to bring "a note from parents" as a requirement to peddle the stuff.

While most experts say that catnip only works on cats, at least one Marquette University professor is reporting that catnip does have hallucinogenic qualities when smoked, except, much, much less than that of marijuana. Something to the tune of having to smoke a lot more catnip and the effects being considerably less than that of marijuana anyway.

Silly kids these days and their music. Too much hip'n and hop'n and not enough read'n and rite'n if you ask me.

Multiplayer Billboard Phone games?

2007-11-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

Today Springwise brings us an article about the newest gaming genre, MBPGs, as opposed to MMOs. It works like many jumbotrons do at sporting events, except on a grander scale. As opposed to SMS'ing in a message to be potentially scrolled across the big screen at half-time, you call in to the listed number, and use your keypad to control an object on the screen.

I can't wait untill I can play Counter-Strike in between periods at a Washington Capitols game...

How Stuff Works challenges us to imagine life without water

2007-11-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

Water shortage is a serious issue, and with droughts in Georgia, and the problems caused by the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in China, the hypotheticals in this article certainly do hold water. I was expecting HSW to say that people would take up arms and fortify themselves around natural springs, but they decided to take a less extreme outlook. Perhaps I have too many "post apocalyptic" ideas in my head.

Personally, I suggest to everyone to find a natural spring close to you, and to at the very least make note of it, if not make use of it. The National Geophysics Data Center can help you find the nearest hot spring in many states, but natural flowing cool springs may be a lot closer to home than you think.

Who would buy a "throw pillow/computer"?

2007-11-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

Engadget has shown us yet another ridiculous toy that somehow made it past the idea stage of the developmental process. It's called a "Chumby" and it's essentially a small computer, with very basic functions like an alarm clock, a photo viewer, wifi, and some other miscellany, and sports an accelerometer and "squeeze points" that allow you to interact with it by squeezing it.

As silly as it seems, I do like the idea of throwing an alarm clock across the room.

FARK.com News

2007-11-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

Somehow, the coolness of Fark.com has slipped under my radar screens. With my new job has come the need to break the tedium sometimes, which has, in turn, led to my discovery of how awesome a bunch of sites really are. Not least least of which is Fark, which has been around for some time, spinning the headlines of other news articles into entertaining one-liners while categorically sorting things so you can choose to read only the "amusing" headlines or only the "spiffy" headlines from today's very dynamic world.

Fark actually sponsored a category for a Jeopardy show, and the questions were entertaining to say the least. the YouTube video will shed some light on what I mean. Bottom line: Fark.com just made my list of sites to have RSS fed to my iGoogle.

Post Numero Uno

2007-11-14T15:47:00.000-05:00

Welcome to An Air of Geekiness! I'm starting this blog to keep track of the stuff I come across that grabs my attention, to post how-to's for whatever may be my fancy for the week, and to generally keep a web log of stuff in general that interests me, and hopefully any readers I may have.

I'll start off by saying that as a long time blog readers, but first time blogger that this will be interesting to see how this endeavor will pan out and develop.

One post down, may many more follow!