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  • Toni 5:24 pm on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    WordPress.com now supports geotagging. Every blog and every post can have their own real world location.

     
  • Toni 2:18 pm on November 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I’m intrigued by Local Motors, a new car company that crowd sources the design of their cars and plans to build them at local micro-factories. This is the first car they’ll build:

    rally-fighter

     
    • Mike Lewis 4:48 pm on November 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Me too! I’d love to have one of these. Cars are getting more and more similar. As a kid, i used to be able to identify the make of a car by their headlights in the dark. Now i can’t even identify them in the daylight. I love the thought of crowdsourcing and micro-producing for cars. We’re already doing with t-shirts (threadless), shoes (nikeID), and airplanes (Epic planes)

      My post: http://loo.me/2009/11/local-motors/

  • Toni 10:45 am on November 4, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I wonder why Diane sent me this post? For the record: I have never worn white sports socks with leather shoes.

     
  • Toni 6:00 am on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Mike Arrington is on a tear with some great posts exposing the dark underbelly of advertising on social networks.

     
    • Matt 10:05 am on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I think phone companies should take some responsibility for the mobile scams. I consider myself a savvy tech user and I noticed one of the 10/mo charges on my cell phone bill a few months ago, who knows how long it was on there. My Mom has one too we’re removing. I think there’s a similar “ecosystem hell” with mobile providers who take a huge chunk of those charges and the scammy companies underneath.

    • Rod Edwards 4:11 pm on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      OfferPal’s refutation includes such dissembling gems as:

      “Why one tech blogger feels this problem is unique to the virtual goods industry or somehow a reflection on the payment providers who power it is entirely unclear.” (http://myofferpal.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/virtual-goods-summit-09-what-an-ending/)

      Unique or not, vectors like Facebook combine scale with a uniquely vulnerable demographic. Clearly there’s a point in the value chain at which oversight needs to be applied. Matt, I question whether that’s the role of cell providers any more than it would be bank’s role to police the use of cash dispensed from one of their ATM’s.

    • Yuval Levy 9:19 am on November 3, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for the excellent link. Mike’s analysis is spot on. The video posted on his blog should be a warning to investors and consumers alike to stay away from that sCamEO. I’m with Mike. Oversight and responsibility need to be applied over the whole food chain. Phone companies could be part of the solution and enable charge backs like credit cards already do. If an offer is unclear the consumer should have a right to withdraw and have all of their money refunded. That’s probably in the realm of the FCC? in the meantime it’s caveat emptor.

      • Matt 4:53 pm on November 3, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        That’s a pretty good point, an equivalent of a chargeback could help the ecosystem a lot.

  • Birthday wishlist of an 11 year old: Min… 

    Toni 8:45 pm on October 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Birthday wishlist of an 11 year old:
    Mini computer
    Gravity defying boots
    16 GB SD card
    Songs for mp3 player
    Really really really comfy pillow
    More songs for mp3 player
    New socks that fit (not pink like mom gets)
    More songs for mp3 player
    Lots of wii games (good games)
    Dirt bike (big engine)

     
    • Noel Jackson 4:06 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I love it! I think I was asking for a floppy disks for my digital camera at that age ;)

      • Rajesh Kanuri 10:00 pm on October 30, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        cool man.. I think i m asking for a computer and a bicycle for me at that age..

  • Toni 3:46 pm on October 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    The office of the San Francisco mayor has switched to WordPress.

     
  • Toni 8:03 pm on October 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    My fortune cookie from tonight’s Chinese take out:

    fortune

     
    • Joseph Scott 9:32 pm on October 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Frame that one!

    • Alex M. (Viper007Bond) 12:35 am on October 25, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      A) lol B) What kinda fortune cookie is that?!

    • Mark Jaquith 12:29 pm on October 25, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Here is mine from two nights ago:

      Nothing in life is to be feared;
      it is only to be understood.

      Lucky Numbers 23, 30, 12, 7, 4, 19

      Spot-on, but amusingly incongruous next to a list of “lucky numbers.” Bonus points for semicolon usage!

    • Sheri 1:30 am on October 27, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Smart cookie.

  • Cell phone radiation 

    Toni 8:32 am on October 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    There are no tinfoil hats around my house, but I did recently look into the mobile phone radiation issue. My daughter just turned 13, and she was apparently one of the only kids in her grade without a cell phone. This is one of the reasons why:

    radiation

    It’s from a University of Utah study (pdf) and shows how the human head absorbs electromagnetic radiation from a cell phone held up to the ear. Given that kids absorb a lot more of this radiation and that no one seems to be 100% certain what it’s doing to our brains and bodies (especially the brains of kids which have more rapid cell division than adults and might therefore be more susceptible to radiation), I’ve felt that it might be best to hold off on getting cell phones for my kids. That argument worked for the last few years, but it wasn’t going to work forever. So the other day we did get our daughter her first phone – with the following “better safe than sorry” rules:
    - Get a low radiation phone
    - Use wired headphones to make calls
    - Put the phone in your bag (instead of wearing it on your body)

    Oh, and it turns out that my iPhone is quite the fountain of radiation, so I’m going to follow rules 2 & 3 as well…

     
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