Airlines cut fuel costs by eliminating life vests

Not to be cynical, but: realistically, aren't the vests used to locate the wreckage after a crash? I think the chances of being in a physical state to actually use a vest are pretty low.

Link -- CNN article

Photo by rk.bala

Tags: life+vest, airlines, cost+savings, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Where is Citrix for the iPhone?

I could seriously ditch my laptop if this would come out.

Tags: iphone, Citrix, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Took the iPhone plunge

Finally got the iPhone 3G. As you may remember, I had the first gen and took it back for a multitude of reasons. Here are my impressions and things I'm doing with it:

• I don't use Visual Voicemail. I'm continuing to use CallWave, which I like because it sends me a text message with a quick gist of the voicemail and forwards the recording as WAV file to my e-mail.
• The Google iPhone application rocks (and, like most Google products, it is free). I don't event use the built-in contact manager as I can search all of my contacts and recent calls through the Google interface.
• I'm using NuevaSync to spoof an Exchange server and push my Google Calendar to my phone over the air; I'll likely enable the over-the-air contact push as well, using Plaxo as my sync point. A few things to note: it's not 2-way, so you need to decide if that's important to you. I use Jott or access Gcal over the web to add appointments -- the free Jott app for the iPhone is pretty click for this provided you set up the relationship between Jott and Gcal. Note that once you set up an over-the-air sync relationship, your phone deletes all of the data in the affected relationship (i.e., calendar data) and disables the ability to manually sync through iTunes.
  
• 3G and wifi stay off unless I absolutely need them for something -- it's a battery life thing.
• I leave the location-based services on because right now it's interesting to see how different applications interact with that data -- I'll probably shift that to an as-needed thing as well.
• Creating ringtones is not that hard. I take a MP3 file into Audactiy, chop it, increase the basis volume, export the chopped version as a MP3, import the MP3 into GarageBand, export the file to disk (exports as a M4A), change the extension to M4R, drag it into iTunes, and sync the iPhone. Sounds a lot harder than it actually is.
• The GrandCentral GranDialer application is pretty cool (and free) -- let's you make outbound calls through your Grand Central number, which makes that number show up on the receiving caller's caller ID.
• I've got links on the home screen to Gmail, Gcal, and my work e-mail through Google Apps. Unfortunately the actual GrandCentral site requires Flash -- hopefully GrandCentral will build a mobile site similar to the one they built for BlackBerrys.
  
• I have the AIM app, but it's actually more effective to simply use AOL's AIM forwarding that uses the text messaging interface.

A few things to note on the purchase:

• AT&T stores are starting to get their direct fulfillment orders in, but do not seem to have any actually in-stock for direct purchase yet.
• Apple Stores (at least the one at Park Meadows in Colorado) are flush with phones -- I just walked in and bought mine.
• Apple Stores have an ok, but not great, selection of cases.
• Very important for existing AT&T customers: you have to be the authorized person on your account, FAN (discount) on your account has to be removed in order for Apple Store personnel to activate -- AT&T customer support can remove this prior to the purchase and add it back when the purchase is complete, you should research your upgrade eligibility on the AT&T site before you go to know what you are spending and speed the process along.

I'm sure I'll have more as time goes on.

Watch the growth of Walmart

Looks like a cellular provider coverage map by the end.

Link

What's wrong with writetomyblog?

Writetomyblog is one of my favorite blog posting services -- create your post on their website, post it to your blog, and our done; hey, and it's free!

So, here's the problem: it hasn't been working for me at all lately. When I publish, I get this:

Post Entry Successfully Published (Post Entry as Draft, has no URL).

What the hell does that mean? It thinks that it's posting to Blogger, but by not getting a URL, there is no unique blog entry and, despite what it says above, the post doesn't go into my drafts folder on Blogger.

I have not idea if this is a Firefox 3 issue, some sort of permission issue with the Google API, some issue with the new version of Blogger, or something I haven't thought of, but I miss using the service and hope they fix it soon.

Do you need your own personal domain?

I don't know, do you have an extra $0.83 per month? It's not really a matter of affording it anymore -- you can probably find offers that will get you domain hosting for free; I reference the cost of registering through Google Apps and using Google Pages.

If you want people to be able to find you, it seems like a good idea. If you want an e-mail address that you'll keep forever, it seems like a better idea.

As the cost approaches zero, I think the better question is: Why wouldn't you have a personal domain?

Link -- here's mine (took about 5 minutes with Google Page Creator)

Kinetic phone cahrgers . . . about time

Ok, it's big and ugly and not built into the phone, but Orange is testing this out:

Named as the "Orange Dance Charge," it's similar to the sort of strap you might use for an iPod when you're working out. A series of magnets and weights very similar to the systems used in kinetic watches is used to generate electricity.

I want to see this built into the phones, but it's a step in the right direction.

Link

Tights are not pants

This kind of stuff cracks me up:



Imagine how hard this would have been just 5 years ago . . . and how expensive it would have been.

Go read the manifesto.

Link

Tags: tights+are+not+pants, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

BlackBerry Flickr App

Not sure what more I can tell you about it as it does exactly what the title suggests: provides you with a native BlackBerry application to upload pictures to your Flickr account.

Download here

Wine

Lots of people that know me think that I know a lot about wine and I guess that spending a lot of time in the Napa Valley while growing up and being acquainted with family and friends that greatly enjoy wine helps a lot. However, I'm going to share my advice about wine with everyone:

• Drink what tastes good to you at the time. Sure, there are all kinds of "rules" about what to drink with what, but if you really want a glass of white wine with your steak, by all means drink a glass of white wine.
• Don't care about what others think. This is especially true if you're ordering bottles based on price -- the only person in a restaurant that is likely to care about how much you spend on a bottle is the waiter that's watching his tip go up geometrically.
• Hold a sip of wine on your tongue and taste the flavors, but don't announce them. If you think your wine is earthy and peaty and has notes of currant, keep that stuff to yourself -- think in terms of it being undrinkable, crap, ok, good, or awesome.
• Don't be intimidated. If you find yourself in situations where you are frequently choosing wines, go spend an afternoon at a good wine bar with a wide selection and make friends with the bartender. Find a couple of mainstream whites and reds that you like that are likely to be on most wine menus and find a couple of lower production whites and reds that are less likely to be on most menus, but will seem impressive if you dig them out of a menu.
• Don't get upsold. If you get the sense that a waiter, sommelier, dude at a liquor store, etc. is trying to upsell you into expensive bottles, go somewhere else or order a beer. Knowledgeable waiters, sommeliers, etc. know that if they find you a solid bottle at a reasonable price, you are likely to drink more than one and you are likely to come back to their establishment.
• High price is not always directly related to good taste. I once was able to view one of the oldest bottles of wine in the world at the Graycliff restaurant in the Bahamas from 1726 that sells for $200K -- I have to imagine that stuff probably tastes like straight vinegar at this point.

Let me share this quote from Richard Betts, Master Somelier of the Little Nell in Aspen (this is from a recently published article in 5280 Magazine):

"My philosophy? Wine should be fun. People get all freaked out about ordering the right wine, but there is not such thing. The right wine is the wine you like. That's it. So find what you like and go for it."

Easy enough.

Picture from glovsky225

Cisco holographic videoconferencing

You've just got to watch the video to believe it.

Link

Tags: video+conferencing, holographics, Cisco, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Do you still have a landline phone?

I haven't had a traditional landline phone since I left college; in college is was provided for free where I was living, but I think the only people that called me on it were my parents. For a few years I had a phone from Vonage that was $15 per month for 500 minutes of long distance and everything else, but after reviewing the usage, the $15 was a better incremental spend for more minutes on the cell phone.

What's the value proposition in having a landline anymore? If you still have one and swear by it, let me know why.

Picture from Darwin Bell.

Tags: landline+phone, phone, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

In memorium

So, I had to put one of my dogs down last night, which is a totally miserable experience if you've never been through it. The temptation in these situations is to think about all the things that you didn't do, focus on all of the bad stuff, all the times you didn't take them for walks, etc., so I'd like to remember a few of the good things:

• He was never left alone overnight. Any time that everyone was out of town, there always was someone that stayed at the house with him.
• He got to come to more concerts than many of you have probably been to -- I used to bring him to work at the amphitheatre with me. For that matter, he's probably met more artists than many of you have.
• He got to play in deep snow.
• He got to live in Venice, CA 8 blocks away from the beach and walk on the strand and play in the Pacific Ocean.
• He got to watch my daughter grow through her first 2.5 years and to be her protector.
• He got to lay on the couch (frequently) even though he wasn't supposed to.
• He got to sleep on the bed (frequently) even though he wasn't supposed to.
  
• He was fiercly loyal and protective and absolutely hated mailmen and trash collectors with a passion.

I found this great excerpt from "The Best Place to Bury a Dog" by Ben Hur Lampman:

The one best place to bury a dog is in the heart of its master.

It was my great pleasure that he was my friend for 8 years -- I can count on 1 hand the number of real friends I've had for that long.

I'll miss you.

HBO hits iTunes, if they get Food Network, I'm cancelling my tv service

So, it's official, iTunes is now carrying HBO series programs. I would say that about 95% of my television viewing is HBO and the Food Network, so I'll cross my fingers that Food Network shows are coming (or that Food Network just starts streaming online) and that I can cancel my television service.

Link -- press release

Tags: HBO, iTunes, HBO+on+iTunes, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Keep Moving Forward

Quote by Walt Disney the ending of Meet the Robinsons:

"Around Here, However, We Don't Look Backwards Very Long,
We Keep Moving Forward, Opening Up New Doors And
Doing New Things, Because We're Curious...
And Curiosity Keeps Leading Us Down New Paths."

Actual quote from Walt Disney's 1965 presentation, "Total Image":

There s really no secret about our approach. We keep movingforward opening up new doors and doing new things because we recurious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We re alwaysexploring and experimenting. At WED, we call it Imagineering theblending of creative imagination with technical know-how.

Tags: keep+moving+forward, Walt+Disney, quotes, Meet+the+Robinsons, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Why I want a Kindle, but maybe not this Kindle

As I was looking at the boxes of books in my basement that I haven't cracked in the last 3+ years, I realized that while there were some books in there that I like, I'm really unlikely to keep carting the boxes of books around for the rest of my life. Furthermore, I started thinking about how cool it would be if, instead of looking at boxes full of books, I was just looking at folders on my hard drive (I used to feel this way about CDs and I imagine lots of people did before the iPod came around). Carrying around boxes of heavy books is a pain, while carrying around a hard drive is very easy.

The Kindle would seem to be the solution for me: simply draw a line in the sand as of the day I receive the Kindle and never buy another paper book again. I could talk myself into that kind of strategy, but I'm not sure that the Kindle is the perfect device yet for the following reasons:

• It uses a pretty proprietary data network to download stuff from Amazon. Although I'm not a world traveler, I'd like to be able to buy books when on vacation if I run out.
• It doesn't seem beefy enough for general use. I take books to the gym, to the beach, read them by the pool, etc., so I want my ebook reader to work in all those places without getting damaged.
• You have to turn it off during takeoff and landing. This rule applies to all electronics, but I think about how much time I have to leave my electronics off on a plane, and I'm usually reading during that time, so that's frustrating (and applies to any ebook reader, not just the Kindle).

Anyone have a Kindle that wants to convince me otherwise?

Link -- Amazon Kindle

Tags: Kindle, ebook+reader, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Slim down your wallet -- fat wallet 2

If your wallet is big enough to affect the geometry off your butt when you sit in a chair, it's time to go to work on slimming it down. My first suggestion is to read my post about consolidating all of your club cards. Next, check out this article from Real Simple, which has some great ideas about receipts, ID cards, etc.

Please fix your big, fat wallet.

Image from mikeying88.

Tags: wallet, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

The final solution in getting mail out of Outlook and into Gmail/Google Apps

If you use Google Apps and Outlook 2003 or later (this also works for a multitude of other desktop mail programs), simply download the newly-released Google E-Mail Uploader.  It's not clear if this works for regular Gmail accounts, but it definitely works for Google Apps accounts.

If you use Gmail or Google Apps, simply turn on IMAP access, configure your desktop client appropriately to access your account via IMAP, and drag and drop your e-mail into the Google IMAP folders.

Both of these methods preserve all of the original e-mail information, including the correct dates.

Thanks to everyone that worked with me in the past to come up with workarounds to make the upload of e-mail to Gmail easier; it's now so easy that it fits into this small of a post.

Tags: Google+e-mail+uploader, Gmail, Google+Apps, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Don't park like an asshole

If you park like an asshole, I think you should be sited for it.  Luckily, youparklikeanasshole.com exists with not only some notices that can be printed out and put on cars, but also with a gallery of people that park like assholes.  There's a guy in my building with a relatively nice car that blocks 2 spaces every morning and there's not a lot of parking in our lot -- there are people in my building with $100K cars that manage to fit in one space.  This weekend some jerk parked so close to my driver door that I had to climb in the passenger side and there were 3 empty spaces on each side.

Feel free to print out some of the notices and keep them in your car -- I like Notice 1.

Link -- youparklikeanasshole.com

Tags: youparklikeanasshole.com, parking, Strategize, Ross+Hollman

Why Firefox 3 is super-cool and why you might want to wait

I've been a Firefox fan for years -- I load it on every machine that I sue, regardless of operating system (and usually regardless of whose machine it is).  Generally I don't get into playing with the beta versions of Firefox, but due to the amount of buzz around Firefox 3 beta 4, I went ahead and installed it.

First things first, and this may be the reason you don't want to install the beta: most of the add-ons that I use were disabled as they are incompatible.  Luckily Greasemonkey is compatible and most of the Greasemonkey scripts are compatible, but things like Google Toolbar and the del.icio.us toolbar haven't been updated; while I don't mind some of the things not working, the del.icio.us toolbar is what I miss the most.  (P.S. -- I did install the nightly tester tools to override and enable all the extension, which was a totally bad idea as Firefox got into an infinite loop where it wouldn't boot -- luckily I found out how to launch it in safe mode from the Terminal in OS X and disable all the add-ons).

Here's what's cool about Firefox 3: it is really fast.  You can search around for benchmarking and read all the reviews, but the simple fact of the matter is that I can observe it rendering and loading pages faster.  Further, it seems to interact in a more snappy manner with my heavy-use Google services such as Gmail and Reader.  I also like the history that comes up as I'm typing in a site.

Interestingly the search box did not install by default and I never realized how much I used the search from the toolbar until it wasn't there.  Luckily that was easily fixed by simply dragging and dropping it on the toolbar.  I'm guessing that if the Google toolbar was installed, that would have been automagically taken care of.

The Firefox 3 interface is cleaner and tighter and the buttons more closely resemble the OSX interface, which is quite nice.

Bottom line:

• If you are a user dependent on your add-ons, wait for the actual release, which is supposed to be June some time.


• If you are nervous about being bleeding edge and beta scares you, then wait for the full release.


• If you are like me and get along without most of your add-ons and love relatively stable bleeding edge stuff, then download it by all means.

Linik

Tags: Firefox+3, Firefox+3+beta+4, Firefox, Strategize, Ross+Hollman