ROADTRIP and Latitude!

So, I'm only going to have the following code active for a few weeks... For obvious reasons. So, here it goes:

*edit* Now I've posted the image as of Monday June 22 -- no longer will it update my status!!



This is my location from my G1 - and this way anyone/everyone can track me as I take my trip across the US from Seattle to Boston. :) I was glad to see that I didn't have to hack anything on the Google Latitude page -- they made it pretty seamless to integrate Latitude into your blog via their badge feature. Cool, huh?

Disable Auto-waste-your-time

In light of the Conficker virus, and because I was sick of my computer looking for something to "run" every time I plugged in my USB drive, I wanted to post this awesome guide on Disabling AutoRun

This shows you the Policy Editor -- which is an extremely powerful tool that all in-depth users should get to know. Be careful with it!

"Live" Social Networking

I'm not sure if "Live Social Networking" is the right term for instant messaging and status updates from Facebook and Twitter, but that's what we're going for.

There was a time where I would startup my PC and load AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and ICQ. Four programs to manage four chat services!

I then switched to gAim, which turned into Pidgin because AOL didn't like the name. I was a fan of Pidgin for a long time, favoring it over Trillian because it was totally free and had no pay-version (like Trillian Pro). With Trillian (free) they just advertise Trillian Pro all the time, and I found the program to be unnecessarily obese.

Within the past year I began having trouble with Pidgin (crashes, slow operations, etc.), so I decided to give it up and move on.

Enter Digsby.

There were many features that I found alluring, but I really liked the Twitter and other Social Networking interfaces.

I also liked how it had the tabbed IM windows like Pidgin.

So while I'm sitting at my desk, I can be connected to my IM clients (several services) and watch my Twitter feeds (even the ones that don't update via mobile). This is a fantastic feature in my opinion, and I only wish they had a version for my Nokia n810!

Keeping Up with Everything

For a long time I used Bloglines to keep up with my RSS feeds.

I attempted to switch to Google Reader, but found it frustrating because I was so used to Bloglines and because of a few "quirks" so I gave up.

After becoming frustrated again a few months ago, I switched to Google Reader and was able to see just how much more superior it is to Bloglines. Here's why:

1. Speeeeeeed! Bloglines updated maybe 1 time in 30 minutes. Which was good and bad, but mostly bad. Google Reader updates very often!
2. Easier to keep track of items of interest. With Bloglines, you would have to keep an item "as new", so it would show up every time you viewed the feed. With Google Reader, you can star items (like in Gmail) and it's much easier!

What do you think?

Don't Forget the Moo Juice!

I've been using Remember the Milk for a while now, and I've got to say, "it's fantastic!"

I have to be honest, I have put "milk" on there more than once, but I mostly use it for other items, especially ones that are recurring.

At first I thought I wouldn't use it because I really don't take advantage of alot of the functionality (like the ability to share my to-do lists with others, or email in items, or have things relate to locations, etc. I also thought I wouldn't like it much because I thought it would basically be a more complicated way of doing things that I could already do with Google Calendar.

As it turns out, it is extremely useful. Having the items on my Google Calendar would work, but there are a few things that I can't do:
1. I can't setup an item to recur based on the last time I did it. For example, if I need to water one of my plants every 3 days, and I miss by a day (sorry Mr. Plant), Google Calendar would have me water it again before 3 days, whereas RTM simply sets the next due date to be 3 days from the day I marked the item as "complete".
2. I have alot of things on my Google Calendar, none of which are items that I actually need to accomplish, they are simply things that I am doing that day, not necessarily items that I need to do.
3. With Google Calendar there is no way to create a to-do item without a due date. Also, RTM allows items to float. For example, if you assign a due date to an item and you miss it, it simply stays on your to-do list (bolded and underlined). With Google Calendar, the item would simply pass by and you would either be forced to move it to another date, or just forget about it.

I highly recommend you give it a go, as it's a fantastic utility, especially when you can utilize the Gmail addon or the mobile interface.

Rootin' the G1

I found the perfect walk-through for getting root access on the T-Mobile G1. You should check it out; and make sure to read all of the warnings before you go through it -- it's very well explained, and the steps are very clear, but you just need to know what you're getting into when you do something like this to your phone.

Especially if you don't want to break your warranty!

Also, I had discussed this with the other 01 Nerd today: the G1 Developer Phones cannot download applications in which a cost is associated with it... Namely because:

"A couple of developers have theories about the issue behind the move. Tim at the Strazzere.com blog discovered that protected applications are automatically downloaded into a private folder on Android phones. Most phone users can't access that file but users of the Developer phone can.

"That means a Developer phone user could buy an application, copy it from the private folder, return the application for a refund and then re-download the application to the phone, the developers say. The Android Market allows anyone to return an application within 24 hours."

You can read the discussion in its entirety here.

Diffie: The Crazy Mathematician!

Here is a quick refresher on how Diffie Hellman works.

Man this stuff is cool.

Meet Lechner

I am amazed by the quality of the pictures that we have on television, and even more amazed at the pictures we get from BlueRay DVDs.

But how many pixels is too many? How many do we really need? How close can two points be before the human eye can't distinguish between them?

Lechner has a theory, and a fancy chart about TV sizes.

It is amazing to me how close you need to be, or how large the TV needs to be, in order to see ALL the details!

Bing kinda-Unveiled

It seems like Bing has been up and running for a while now, but last night I walked up to Kerry Park to get a few photos of the Space Needle -- you see, Microsoft was lighting up the Seattle Center (which includes the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center) with orange lights and a spotlight. It was pretty neat -- but seemed less "severe" of a change than I had expected.

And, half the photos I took have this jankety helicopter in it! Ugh :)

Open Doors with your Blue Tooth

I have no idea why I haven't been doing this for a while, it sure would be nice!