Monday, March 31st, 2008
This weekend I added two online applications to my favorites list:
- Jott – An application that converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.
- Sandy - A personal organization tool designed for email, but works equally well with Jott.
Jott is a free online speech-to-text application meant to convert phone calls to emails, or other forms of digital text. I started actually using Jott this weekend, and, well frankly, I am once again, floored by the advancement of online applications. Granted, Jott isn’t anything new, but I never tried it, and I am simply amazed. The speech recognition is really quite intuitive, and extremely accurate, but my biggest appreciation comes in it’s accessibility with other online applications such as Google Calendar, Sandy, Twitter, etc.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
- Call from a quiet place (I had the radio on in my car, and Jott was missing some words)
- Speak a little slower (you can still speak normally, just slow it down and use good diction)
Sandy is an application that apparently has gone completely under my radar. It’s a very intuitive app, presenting itself in a very personal way. In fact, I’ve yet to find anything directly pertaining to Sandy that isn’t written in the first person. The natural shorthand really reminds me of why I was attracted to 30boxes and Google Calendar from the get go. But the added elements of tagging notes with @todo or creating repetitive events with @monthly or @weekly is a nice touch. But my real attraction is in it’s (her) ability to play well with applications like twitter, ical feeds, and Jott.
For continuity, here are some example uses.
Setting up reminders and calendar events:
- Remind me to call Mom on her Birthday on November 19th @yearly @birthday
- Remind me to order contacts tomorrow at 2pm
- Remember my Doctors appointment in Chesterfield next Tuesday at 3pm
Remembering things that aren’t really related to events:
- Remember that there are some really cool things at jbuc.com
- Remember John Doe jdoe@gmail.com 444-546-7896
- Remember that John Doe’s cell phone number is 555-555-4567
- Remind me that John Doe’s birthday is Tomorrow @yearly @birthday
I know it’s probably redundancy (recommending Sandy when Jott is already supposed to manage reminders, lists, etc) but the added functionality of emailing todo items or some of the more in-depth elements of the sandy application, have led me to using Jott and Sandy together.
Check out Jott and Sandy.
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, ORACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.
But I have not yet gone to college.
::ruthlessly taken from here::
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
In the year 1959, Mercury records released a comedy LP by Del Close titled “How To Speak Hip”. And to day, by the joys of the internet, I proudly present to you, the full record in digital format.
Cool stuff man, I really dig it. You can dig it to, just get hung up here.
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Friday, March 28th, 2008
There are some things that can’t really be summarized. Voytek the freaking awesome Soldier Bear is one of these things.
"He liked a cigarette, he liked a bottle of beer - he drank a bottle of beer like any man."
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Thursday, March 27th, 2008
I’ve been considering setting up my old ubuntu box again, meaning, with my two office XP boxes, my Vista laptop, and my Mac Pro I’m definitely going to need some solution, here is where I’m starting my search.
Feature: Free Ways to Synchronize Folders Between Computers Annotated
tags: synchronize, utilities
Nothing sucks worse than getting to the office in the morning and realizing you left the most recent copy of an important file—whether it’s your to-do list or a PowerPoint presentation—on your home computer. No matter where you are and what computer you’re using, you always want the most updated set of documents and files you’ve got without having to carry ‘em around on a thumb drive. Luckily, several free solutions can automatically sync folders between computers—even over the internet, through office firewalls—no matter what operating system you use. Whether you want work files edited at home to magically appear on your PC at the office, or the family room Mac to have a copy of the latest batch of digital photos downloaded onto the computer in the den, three free applications can help.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
I’ve always had a hard time understanding “fan-art” or tribute-art, but running across these lifelike representations of classic characters today has completely blown my mind. Pixeloo has created two amazing Photoshop renderings of Homer Simpson, and Mario. Check these out!
View Pixeloo’s blog.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
From Picamatic’s Fax Page:
Picamatic - Upload images in one click!/http:
- What is Picamatic?
Picamatic is a powerful, ad-free, fast and easy online service for uploading and sharing images, pictures and photos.
- For how long uploaded images are being hosted?
We tend to save your images forever.
- How many images can be uploaded?
You can upload unlimited amount of files in just one click.
- What image types are supported?
We support the following image formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG.
- Is there a limit on size of images?
Size of each image should not exceed 3Mb.
- Are my images hidden from a public eye?
We don’t put uploaded files in public. Your images are accessible by people with whom you share links only.
- How do I delete an uploaded image?
There’s no such option yet. Soon we will add it. But you can reset the list of uploaded images by clicking on the ‘Reset’ button.
- How do I access ‘My images’ from another computer?
Just click on ‘Save these images’ link and follow the instructions.
- Why doesn’t direct URL show up for certain images?
Direct URLs are only available for images less than 300Kb in size. It’s for saving everyone’s traffic.
- How do I enable batch uploading?
This feature requires Flash Player version 9 (or greater) installed and activated.
If you use FlashBlock plugin for Firefox, please allow Picamatic in FlashBlock settings.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
From: John Resig
Sexy Firefox 3 Annotated
tags: no_tag
Firefox 3, beta 2 was released yesterday, now is a perfect time to start playing around, testing your web sites, and getting a feel for the overall user experience of the new browser.
Here’s a couple things that you can do (specific to OSX):
Download Firefox 3.0b2 Drag it somewhere on your computer, rename it to something like “Firefox 3.0b2″, then drag it to your Applications folder so that it doesn’t overwrite your copy of Firefox 2).
Multiple Firefoxe
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
From CNet, good advice:
Shut down Windows in an instant | Workers’ Edge - a productivity blog from Dennis O’Reilly - CNET Blogs Annotated
tags: hack, speed, windows
There’s another Registry key that automatically ends running tasks at shutdown. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop, double-click AutoEndTasks in the right pane, and change the value data to 1. Now to whack your slow-ending services, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control, double-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout in the right pane, change the value to 1000, and click OK.
Some people will tell you that you can speed up shutdowns by telling Windows not to clear the pagefile when it closes. Unfortunately, this could compromise your system security because sensitive data may be stored in the file unencrypted. There’s even some question about whether disabling this setting will save you any time at shutdown. For me, the possibility of saving a couple of seconds on shutdown isn’t worth the risk. That’s why I recommend that you leave the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/Memory Management at 1.
Some Vista systems (including mine) don’t have all the Registry key entries described above. To add a missing entry, right-click in the right pane of its key, choose New > String Value, type the name, such as AutoEndTasks, double-click the new entry, add its value data (1 in the case of AutoEndTasks), and click OK.
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Monday, March 24th, 2008
So every now and again I like to go through my Firefox extensions and weed out all the “test-run” extensions I acquire through my insatiable apatite for new toys. Anyway, after my spring cleaning, I found, once again that I keep coming back to a core list of “Must Have” extensions in order to maintain my online lifestyle. So without further ado, here is my choice list of go-to extensions for every Firefox install I have.
- Adblock Plus
- I’ve used this extension since the beginning of last year, I put it off until then, despite it constantly being the number one most downloaded extension from Mozilla.
- Diigo Bookmarks
- This a recent extension for me, but I’m including it because technically I used it to replace my del.icio.us bookmarks extension, but that’s a choice I’ll leave for a different post.
- Download Embedded
- Wonderfully small and useful tool for grabbing those embedded media files that you can’t get with a right-click.
- DownThemAll
- This is one of my favorite extensions, I use it mainly for harvesting sermon mp3’s. You can create filters based on regular expressions and file extensions.
- Gmail Manager
- If you are a Google fan, this is a fantastic tool, it is an icon that sits in the bottom of your window, and auto-checks your email, but most conveniently, with a click it opens your gmail in a separate tab. Very customizable, and useful.
- IE Tab
- Renders the current page (pages based on a list) in your installed version of Internet Explorer, perfect for css and javascript tests, and those pesky IE only sites.
- Nuke Anything Enhanced
- Will remove any element in a page, or more importantly exclude everything but what you’ve selected. Perfect for isolating a page to a desired article, or removing images for printing.
- Stumbleupon Tool Bar
- Ok, so i’m kind of addicted to Stumbleupon… a whole new meaning to “Surfing the Web”.
- Tab Mix Plus
- This is another great tool, it does everything and more that you wish could be done with tabs in Firefox.
- Tree Style Tabs
- This one is not for everyone, but in a given day, I find I may have up to 50 tabs open at one time. This extension treats your tabs in a standard tree manner (so I lied about Tab Mix Plus being the be all end all). With the collapsible tabs and auto grouping, I don’t know how I lived without it.
- Web Developer Tool Bar
- My favorite extension, so many tools, so many features, I use this every day.
Well, that’s it, at any given time, I will have several more installed, but that’s my starter batch. If you have any that you think I’ve missed, let me know, I’m always on the look out for new tools.
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