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Technology’s Infestation of my Life

Examples of how technology has permeated every single bit of my life.

Cool New Facebook Fatures (aka More Reasons to Spend Time on Facebook)

Quinn McGinnis alerted me to some interesting new changes going on at Facebook. You can now select how you know someone (went to school with them, through someone else, family, etc). Facebook also has Pulse, which tracks trends at Mines and compares them to trends Facebook wide, a very interesting metrics feature.

Interesting stats: 40% of female students are in a relationship. The top 10 movies are Boondock Saints, Fight Club, Lord of the Rings, Anchorman, Gladiator, Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, Old School, The Matrix, and Braveheart…all guy movies. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy makes the top ten books at Mines.

[tags]Facebook, metrics[/tags]

Going Back to Thunderbird

I switched back to using Outlook (although this time I was using the Beta 12) a few weeks ago. I don’t like it. Outlook still hangs and clunks up everything. It’s really just to bulky for what I would ever need. I want my email client to be small and fast, like a cheetah or the famed Thunderbird.

I just downloaded and am about to install Thunderbird 1.5 RC. Why I ever switched will remain a myster to me 😉

[tags]outlook, outlook 12, beta, thunderbird, thunderbird 1.5, RC2[/tags]

BugMeNot

BugMeNot.com has a new version of their site out. The new site includes a brand new color scheme and incorporates some AJAX.

The site has been, and is still, very sparse, so I’m not exactly sure when the change happened. I didn’t see anything on Slashdot or anywhere else. Did I miss it?

In any event, BugMeNot does what it does very well and I can’t complain about that.

del.icio.us

Based on the lack of capitalization, I imagine something interesting/weird happened:

del.icio.us is down for emergency maintenance. we’ll be back as soon possible.

[tags]del.icio.us, maintenance[/tags]

Radio Free Burrito Podcast

Wil Wheaton recently started a podcast which he calls Radio Free Burrito (sister station of Radio Free Europe?). Unfortunately, Wil hasn’t had time to get an RSS feed together for his show. So I’ve helped him out by syndicating his show on my site via RSS.

Just add http://www.andrewferguson.net/wilwheaton/rfb.xml to your list of podcast’s in iTunes. iTunes will automatically check the feed and download new episodes as the appear. Even better, my iTunes recognizing it as a podcast, it will automatically bookmark your spot in case you need to stop listening.

By the way, this is the only podcast I listen to (thus far) will any kind of regularity, granted there are only two episodes; but still, you should check it out. Wil is frickin’ hilarious.

As a note, unlike the UPC feed which is automatically updated, the RFB feed is manually updated (for now). Comments and suggestions are welcome. Wil, you are awesome, yadda yadda yadda, please don’t sue me, yadda yadda yadda.

That link again: http://www.andrewferguson.net/wilwheaton/rfb.xml

[tags]Wil Wheaton, podcast, Radio Free Burrito, RSS, iTunes[/tags]

Entry Pages

Jeff Staples sent out an email to our Bible study about using Google as his personalized start pages (or home pages or entry pages or whatever-you-really-want-to-call-it pages).

But there are many more personalizable entry pages.
Microsoft has been working on Microsoft Live.com (which now boasts Firefox support).
Download Squad, TechCrunch (Ajax Desktops Won’t Stop, Protopage v 2.0, Zoozio – Hey, Another AJAX Desktop! ), and Lifehacker (Create a personalized homepage with Protopage) have all mentioned the following:

  • Protopage
  • Zoozio is still doing invite-only beta testing, but looks promising
  • NetVibes is the current favorite of TechCrunch
  • Goowy is more of a desktop then an entry page, but it’s still cool. It uses Flash, not AJAX though.
  • Eskobo is the latest contender. TechCrunch just reported about it today. Worth a look.

[tags]Google, Microsoft Live, Eskobo, Goowy, NetVibes, Protopage, Zoozio, Download Squad, TechCrunch, Lifehacker, entry page, start page, homepage, ajax[/tags]

I’m at the Apple Store and Blogging

Heh. Just like Scoble (mini, not regular), I’m at the Apple Store in Littleton, waiting for Goodwin to get his iBook. I guess there is some sort of Credit Card issue.

Of things to note:

  • The mighty mouse is pretty frickin’ awesome. I wonder if they have a Bluetooth version?
  • The WordPress tools don’t show up in Safari.
  • I’m wearing pants

Goodwin just came over and reports that the credit card issue has been fixed. So long story short, Cass (who I just met tonight) drove Goodwin and myself down to the Apple store. She, for some reason, is also buying the laptop. Go figure. Anyway, she has a $1000/day spending limit on her card and she bought groceries this morning. That put the laptop over the $1000/day limit. So she had to use her debit card and credit card to purchase the iBook, even though they are linked to the same account.

[tags]Apple Store, iBook, WordPress, Safari, Patrick Scoble, Goodwin[/tags]

Jabra BT 130 Headset

Last Saturday, I helped dad get some new components from Magnolia Hi-Fi Audio/Video. As a reward of sorts, he got me a Jabra BT130 headset that was deeply discounted. I don’t have a Bluetooth enabled phone, just yet, but I knew that I could use it with my computer.

Well, I finally got around to setting my computer up and it’s pretty cool. I had to download the updated Toshiba Bluetooth Stack (why didn’t the Toshiba Software Update program take care of this?), but after that it was a quick and painless. I just paired my computer with the headset and then connected my headset to the computer. Audio In and Out are automatically switched to the headset so I can talk using Skype or other program of choice.

Sweet.

[tags]Bluetooth, Jabra BT130, Toshiba, Magnolia Audio/Video, Skype[/tags]