Category Archives: Uncategorized

More Twitter Please, How Do You Take Yours?

I almost can’t believe how people are starting to jump on the Twitter pipe, but it’s not the individual users that surprises me.  No, not at all.  People do that sort of thing.  It’s that businesses are not only signing up for accounts but that they are also actively Tweeting.  Sure, anyone can use an automated TweetFeed to share new posts with followers, but it takes a real life person to carry on conversations and respond to fellow Tweeters.  (I can only imagine it’s the daily duty of an intern, but still.  Someone is getting paid to Tweet.)

I’m particularly pleased with @News10_CA and their posting.  We’ll see how long it lasts, though.  I’ve found that a lot of these company accounts don’t last long when it comes to updating regularly.  Time will tell.

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Hello My Name Is

Hello My Name Is (Sticker)

I want more people to wear name tags.  That probably sounds strange if you take into consideration that when I wear one I almost always use some other name, or sometimes a phrase, that sounds nothing like my own.  Tonight I shall be known as "Sir", which I’ve been insisting that people call me if they are younger in age.  It was a gift to myself for turning 30, and I get a kick out of it.

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Wesabe Or Mint, Which To Use

I’ve been using both Wesabe and Mint for a little over a year now and still I’m not ready to give a full review.  Each service manages my money and spending habits a little differently, but mostly the same.  The one very big difference is the Social experience available at Mint, but it’s not a feature I use.  If we were to measure my use in minutes, we’d find that I probably log more hours using Wesabe than I do using Mint , but at the end of the day it’s still the Excel sheets I created some ten years ago that I rely upon to keep track of my money and spending habits.  It’s not nearly as automated as the online servcies, but I have way more control over how the data is manipulated and that’s truly what I’m looking for.

Calm Your Latitude

Someone had to say it, right?  Hahaha…I know.

I want people to calm down over Google’s latest app Latitude .  The privacy advocates specifically.  It’s not like anyone is being forced to install or use the application.  (Although, it does come bundled with Maps for the mobile phones.)  Even if Maps is installed, someone still needs to sign in with a user name and password to allow Latitude access to the phone’s GPS information.  Even still, a user can specify what amount of location based information is available (near exact, city-wide, or not at all.)  So please, dear everyone who is upset, please calm yourselves.

Not that I’m a fan of advertising, but location based advertisements seem like a cool idea.  I can only imagine walking through town, Google knowing exactly where I am and alerting me to a nearby Happy Hour deal.  Stellar move, Google.  And I don’t have to share my actual location with anyone, which I already am willing to do with services such as Brightkite . (Again, only to select people.)

I want all these services to continue improving, so I hope Google doesn’t cave and shut down its Latitude service.  I think Google did a pretty good job preempting the privacy nuts with a lot of privacy-control features already built-in, but we’ll see what happens.  In the meanwhile, you can catch my Brightkite updates through Twitter or Friendfeed.  Feel free to buy me a coffee if you’re in the area.

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California Project Homeowner

What is it and how can I get one?  That’s what I want to know.  I’ve done a small bit of Google searching, but haven’t really found too much information.  I’ll update this post as soon as I know more, because I’m sure this is something that many Californians would be interested in.  I do know that it is sponsored by the Department of Real Estate and they are working closely with Chase.

More warrants as events news.

Update 1: According to an article in the Stockton-based newspaper The Record , the correct name of the program is "Project Homeowners – Protecting California’s Dream".

Update 2: Starting to get a better idea of what this event is about.  Found  the Project Homeowner California event flyer .  Loaded with good information.

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reflect opinions of my employer.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Building

I should have taken a picture while I was inside the building, but I didn’t.  Not sure why.  I took a load of other silly pictures while I was in SF yesterday and today.  But what I want is to know how any average citizen can get into the building if he isn’t supposed to be?  (I should have asked while I was there.)  They have a neat education center, called the Fed Center, where they have on display all the money that has ever been printed by the United States.  (Not each and ever dollar, but one of each style.)  Interesting to see how it’s changed over the years and also to read why it may have changed.  Like the Hawaii dollar during WWII — it would be easier to identify and remove from circulation in case Hawaii was invaded by Japan .

Anyhow, the point being that I’m not sure how it’s made available to the public.  (the education center.)  Security was tighter than trying to smuggle water onto an intercontinental flight.  Wait.  What?  Well you see what I mean.  I even had to ask someone to let me out of the building.  You can’t just walk in and out off the street, you need to have a badge of some sort.

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Video Call Via Mobile Phone, It’s Coming

It was right around the end of October in 2008 when I started telling anyone who would listen that we were roughly a year away from having enough mobile bandwidth and hardware to sustain mobile-to-mobile video calls.  (Actually being able to see the person you’re talking to while you’re walking through town on opposite ends of the US.)  Now rumors are traveling the Internet that Apple could possibly be the first to offer such a thing.  who knows what the other big players have in the works.  It definitely creates a new demand for a full screen mobile phone, like the iPhone or Storm.

It’s not anything I could see myself using, at least not initially, but I definitely want to see this feature/service go mainstream.  Too cool for school, that’s what I say.

Super Bowl XLIII – Steelers vs. Cardinals

Truly, I’m a San Diego Chargers fan, so the game doesn’t carry a lot of weight for me, but it is the Super Bowl and supposedly there will be many funny and entertaining commercials between the dark spaces.  I’m inclined to cheer for the Steelers since they represent the AFC.  So let it be known and here we go: I want the Steelers to win.  Big Ben shall keep his calm and methodically smash those tiny birds.

It’s a great day for a new championship.  Have a blast and party safely.  I’ll see ya tomorrow.  As the NFL would say, "Belive in now."