Category: Geek

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Accomplice Podcast

Accomplice is an interesting product that organizes your To Dos and works as a collaborative task manager.

I especially like that it claps when I check something off of my list 😉

I was lucky enough to get to spend 20 mins with CEO and creator Jason Feinsmith a little while ago.

Of course, you’ve probably heard of Accomplice because it was quite the item at DEMO just a while back (DEMO is difficult to get into and if your product makes it there, you know you have something valuable). Another of my pet products, Iotum, also had a great showing there.

Anyway, please give the podcast a listen and apply to be part of the private beta. Just tell Jason I sent you 😉

Accomplice Podcast

(now let’s clap that robyn finally uploaded the podcast and can check that off her to do list)

Accomplice Private Beta

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Google Sidebar Review

google sidebar reviewOK, I am a tad embarrassed to admit I re-downloaded the Google Toolbar… Now, why should that embarrass me? Well, I kinda feel like I ‘fell for’ some sort of ‘toolbar spyware’ akin to downloading the AOL or Verizon browser.

Well, anyway, I downloaded it when it first came out months ago. My main complaint was that it was mighty ugly and it took up too much of my screen space. Well, now I have a widescreen laptop (which makes widgets and sidebars more practical) so I thought I’d download it again just for kicks.

And, you know what…?

I like it.

I’ve been using it a few days now and the worst thing I can say about it is that because I use Outlook email, it’s keeping my Outlook open all the time, and that’s a large system resource drain (not to mention when I installed the update to ClearContext it disabled it because Outlook was open through the Google sidebar when I installed it–easily fixed thanks to their personal customer service and helpful FAQs, but I digress…). However, though I have now publicly complained about it, I’m over it 😉

The sidebar more than makes up for it’s resource drain by offering me a nice little news update, web clips (updates on the sites you visit w/o your having to configure it), a scratch pad, a to do list w/check boxes (I <3 checkboxes), weather, photos, etc. and a neat 'what's hot' section where we get to see... wait for it... What's Hot in the world of Google Video. I jest, but the what's hot section, currently, has a Spore Video (I also <3 gaming), a google video parody of brokeback mountain and a Simpson's parody. Now, because I am a big online video user, this is particularly hot to me (hence the title, I guess). I can configure this so that it pulls maps and stocks, and, get this, my system resources! Me thinks someone is trying to compete with Yahoo!'s Konfabulator... And, of course, last but most important in my opinion, is the way they've prettied-up the Google Sidebar. No longer is it the ugly, flat grey on white beta version. Now it's silver and white with nice shading and a few, muted, colored icons. They've taken a page from other web 2.0 companies ::cough:: Konfabulator ::cough:: and made it look raised and snazzy. Overall, I give the NEW Google Sidebar an 8, whereas I gave the last one a 3 (mostly due to looks).

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Origami

Will it be what I need to deliver an ‘almost as good as a laptop’ mobile experience? I have the Treo 700m and several laptops that contain my day-to-day business info. I juggle my life between these devices, and I need a go-between.

Is Origami going to work for me? Or, is it more for people who don’t have a laptop nor a mobile PDA and need one device to perform both purposes?

If you’re wondering how Microsoft has jammed enough computing horsepower to run Halo into such a small form factor, as in the leaked concept video from Digital Kitchen, the answer is that they haven’t. According to the AP article, the Microsoft source stated that the Origami is “not a portable version of Microsoft’s Xbox videogame console” and will be “less powerful than full-fledged PCs.”

LOL, I love that.  You mean it’s NOT a portable XBox 360?  Hee hee, the AP is rapidly becoming irrelevant…

The question that Origami seeks to answer is intriguing, especially to someone who <3s gadgets like I do, but will I be wasting my money if I get this?

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Blogosphere Popularity

Sometimes the blogosphere DOES feel like high school again. With Technorati and Feedster telling us who is Prom King and Queen so much, what’s a lowly geek gal to do?
I really didn’t hate High School all that much, even though I AM a geek, because I am also a social networker (odd). So, to see a blog comparing the blogosphere to a country club doesn’t really unnerve me at all, in fact I agree with DJHowatt. I think that’s exactly what it is.

<DJHowatt> often proclaims that while technology is an enabler and that nothing has really changed. Humans still seek and uplift experts (the A-lister hierarchy) and that massive social networks are still limited to the amount of individuals a human can have in his or her network. — Jeremiah Owyang

Of course, it might unnerve me more if I was having a difficult time ‘fitting in’.

However, no offense to the A-list bloggers, but I highly doubt many of them were Prom Queen and King. I think blogs are a more level playing field. You don’t have to be gorgeous, you just have to be witty, insightful and engaging to get a ‘following.’

Doesn’t hurt if you’re cute, but it’s really not nearly as important as it is in High School or at the Country Club.

So, is technology changing the world? Yes and No.

As King Solomon said, There is nothing new under the sun…”

There will always be popular people, but now I actually stand as good a chance of being one as a cheerleader or a member of the Country Club (probably better).

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Farewell at Creative Weblogging

FYI:  I resigned my position at the VoIP and Social Networking Weblogs at Creative Weblogging, effective 3/1.  It’s been fun.

I’ll still cover those issues here, but it will surely be different…  G’nite 😉

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VEIL, RFID, The Analog Hole and Privacy/Piracy Concerns

After a heads up from Martin McKeay:

If this legislature does pass and VEIL does become mandatory, I’m willing to bet that it’ll be broken within a couple of months.  All that will really be accomplished is that the pirates will be put off for a few months and consumers will be pissed for years to come.

and Dennis McDonald:

Notwithstanding the naiveté of trying to forestall what is done by dedicated digital pirates, the secret VEIL technology that proposed legislation references appears designed to restrict how consumers use digital media by forcibly reducing the quality of what is displayed on increasingly popular high definition home display systems.

I sat down (for 45 mins) and read Kathryn Cramer‘s immense deciphering of what VEIL might one day mean for all of us.

Now, just to make it crystal, in keeping with transparency, I am not normally in line with the bulk of those women bloggers that make up BlogSheroes, but I have to say this VEIL secrecy confuses me to the point of anger!

After some discussion, the company helpfully explained that I could get the spec, if I first signed their license agreement. The agreement requires me (a) to pay them $10,000, and (b) to promise not to talk to anybody about what is in the spec. In other words, I can know the contents of the bill Congress is debating, but only if I pay $10k to a private party, and only if I promise not to tell anybody what is in the bill or engage in public debate about it. (orig. source)

This leads me to these questions, which I have no way to answer:

  1. Could there, potentially, be any VALID reason to keep this technology under wraps?

    – National Security (and if that’s the case, why insist it’s only for piracy or toys..?  you can’t have it both ways!)

  2. What is the LOGICAL reason to keep this technology under wraps?

    – Is it the company, the senators or the administration (that I supported) that want this to be Top Secret?

I’m left with this ridiculousness:

Chairman Sensenbrenner stated,”This legislation is designed to secure analog content from theft that has been made easier as a result of the transition to digital technologies.This bill will help ensure that technology keeps pace with content delivery.

Hardly…  This bill will ensure that content delivery slows down to the pace of this idiotic legislation.

Now, correct me if I am wrong (please).  I admit to being only a pseudo-geek, meaning I speek geek, but only half-understand what I am saying.

Could there be a legitimate reason here?

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Megite Succeeds

megiteMatthew from Megite sent me a Megite page created from my own OPML file. In fact, he used the bloglines list, that probably took a bit of tinkering to make work, and did it same day.

I am MUCHO impressed. Take a look at my megite page

http://www.megite.com/index.php?section=robyntippins

The ONLY thing I’d change was the visuals. I like a smaller font and I’m a sucker for the whole gradients and rounded edges thingies.

I’m sure I’ll end up using this daily.