Technogeekboy

Pouring Beer Faster and Better with Magnets

2011-06-19T14:15:00.001-05:00

Brilliant new beer pouring system uses magnetic discs to fill glasses from the bottom up.

Technogeekboy's Favorite Android Phone Apps

2011-03-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of the Android platform. It's fast, it's stable, and it's got apps. Lots of apps. In fact one of my few complaints with Android is the Android Market. Even with the recent update, it's harder to find good apps than it should it be. Here's a little help.

Utilities/Tools

Advanced Task Killer Free
You need a task killer and this one works great. You can also set it to auto-kill background processes

Lookout Free
Great free security suite. Includes a phone finder and backup tool.

Quick Alarm Free
Great for quick naps or as a snooze alarm. A couple taps sets an alarm between 5 and 60 minutes from now.

ClipNote Free
Simple multi-paste tool. Great for filling out forms.

Games

Baseball Superstars $
There aren't a lot of good sports games in the Android Market, but this is one of the best I've played on any mobile device. Plenty of action, strategy and fun.

Field Goal Free and $
A great game for a quick time kill. Nice graphics and gameplay with plenty of challenge.

Alchemy Free and $
A fun and sometimes silly game that has you combining "elements" to form new things. For instance, did you know that glass+fire=lamp or fruit+pressure=juice? Well it's true.

Multimedia

DoggCatcher $
Pricey but invaluable tool for podcast fans.

Relax and Sleep Free and $
It goes beyond any sound soother to let you build and save custom sound combinations. You can even set a separate volume level for each sound in the combo.

Rhapsody $ subscription
I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years and bringing the "listen to anything anytime" model to a phone is a truly liberating experience.

Last.FM Free and $ Subscription
I'm a big fan of internet radio site Last.fm and their Android app is actually better than the Web site. It's slick, responsive and sounds great.

Productivity

Extensive Notes Pro $
Simply the best mobile note taking app out there. It also sports a wide array of extras including a to-do list, currency calculator, image sizer, weather report, lyrics search, and on an on.

HootSuite Free and $ Subscription
A full-featured Twitter and Facebook manager. Post or schedule posts to accounts and pages, follow streams and messages.

Information

Pulse Free
A very attractive news aggregator that presents news in a grid-like format with all the bells and whistles.

Yelp Free
Still the best social ratings and reviews site for restaurants, venues, and more. The mobile version gives you a very clever "Monocle" real-time view of what's around you. My only quibble is that you can only draft reviews from your phone. You have to go online to publish them.

DroidAnalytics $
If you use Google Analytics for your Web site, you'd best get DroidAnalytics for your phone. Keep up to date with almost all the important traffic data about your site.

Google Sky Map Free
Use your phone to scan the stars in real time. Even if you're not an astronomy buff, this is one cool app.

5 Things I Wish Apple Would Have Released Instead of the iPad 2

2011-03-10T19:58:00.000-06:00

The iPad 2 came out and the world, other than Apple Fanboyz, let out a collective yawn. Apparently it's thinner and now has two crappy cameras instead of one. So go out and buy one and sell me your "old" iPad for $50. Everybody wins.

Maybe instead of releasing the iPad 2, Apple should have focused their consumer savvy on some products that we actually still need.

A Next-Gen Car Stereo

Most car stereos I see are pretty much the same. Little LCD panel, bunch of poorly named knobs and buttons, etc. Some have nifty features, but nothing tremendously different than it was 10 years ago. Couldn't Apple come up with something that looked better and did more? Maybe with 4G built in?

A Brilliant Clock Radio

I have a pretty awesome clock radio (it's this one here). I can set two different wake times (one for me and one for my wife) each day and they can be different depending on the day. It works great but it's a real pain in the ass to set up and work with. Plus, it's nicer-looking than most clock radios, but I wouldn't consider it stylish. I would think Apple could design a brilliant clock radio. Something like the Sony Dash but cooler.

A Watch I Don't Mind Wearing

I stopped wearing watches many years back. Mostly because I don't like the feel of a watch, but also because it really doesn't offer much. I think most people just use their phones to tell time these days, unless they just like to wear watches. I suspect Apple could give people a reason to wear watches again. Something that looked slick and did things other than telling time. Maybe reading your vital signs or generating power kinetically for your other devices.

A New Instrument

When was the last time someone created a new, game-changing instrument? Something you could grab as easily as a guitar to take on stage and make sounds never heard before? Sure, you could hook up a laptop to some speakers, but a laptop is inelegant and difficult to play. Imagine some white glowing tube with a few mysterious buttons or panels that sounded like whale songs or an underwater banjo.

An Amazing Educational Toy

Leapfrog makes some cool educational toys, as do other toy makers. But I haven't seen anything game changing in kids toys in a while. What if Apple put its brains behind a simple, effective educational toy that first and second grade kids could use at home and at school? Something that wasn't a computer I mean. Something devoid of a computer's distractions but rich in interactivity and education. Something that could be wirelessly updated by the teacher at the end of the day for homework. I don't know what it is, but it would be a great legacy for Steve Jobs.

Tmail Tmail and Other Odd Popular Searches

2011-03-04T22:43:00.000-06:00

I was looking at the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and noticed that some of the most searched-for keywords in the world don't make much sense, including tmail tmail which seems to be an obscure task management application that, for some reason, gets over 20,000,000 searches a month.

Some other odd popular searches with numbers in the millions:

apple0
microsoft0
xp windo
erthe google
woff woff
macbood

Now I'm heading to Amazon to pick up a macbood for my woff woff so she can use tmail tmail.

The Montana Family

2011-03-03T19:17:00.000-06:00

In Praise of Doors

2011-02-17T13:51:00.000-06:00

I don't have a door at work. I've had jobs where I did have a door, but at the moment I'm not only doorless, I'm in a high-traffic, utterly public cubicle. In fact, as I was typing that last sentence, a salesperson came up and started reading over my shoulder. I wish I were kidding.

While cubicles are a step up from simply having desks sitting out in the open, they still lack a mechanism that has the potential to dramatically increase worker productivity -- a door.

People wonder why today's office worker has the attention span of a 4th grader. They blame Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the other attention-sucking tentacles of the Web, but I guarantee a fair part of it has to do with never being left alone.

I can shut off my email, close my browser, send my phone calls to voicemail, and still get interrupted every five minutes. It's hard to prioritize a person standing at your desk. As much as I'd like to click on him or her and set them to "Low Priority" my only option is to deal with them right now. Even if I tell them I'm busy right now and I'd be happy to stop by and interrupt them later, I have already been pulled away to tell them that and write down a note to myself.

This wouldn't happen if we all had doors. In our increasingly digital office we have a wide variety of ways to shut people out when we need to concentrate. In the real world office only certain people have doors and if they need to concentrate or have some private work time, the door gets closed. Sure, people will knock or poke their heads in sometimes, but you've cut down interruptions by a significant amount. Plus you can always lock the door and ignore the knocks. You are back in control of your own time.

This is unfortunately not an easy problem to solve since office space and remodeling aren't cheap. But here's the deal. If you run a company or plan to run one some day, look for office space with plenty of offices. Don't settle for anything less. And when you move in, give offices to anyone who wants one. If you run out of offices, have people double up. It's a lot easier for two people to figure out when to leave each other alone than for an entire office.

Doors should not be status symbols in an office, they should be used to make workers more productive. ALL workers.

Writing for New Media: The New Inverted Pyramid

2011-01-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

This is probably an obvious point to anyone in Marketing these days, but I've noticed a pattern in what I do every day when it comes to content. When we have a new product or feature that we need to communicate, we start with a print piece. It's usually a two-sided page of copy that gets laid out to look nice and gets distributed to our field sales team as a hard copy and to our Web sales team as a PDF. Let's say there's about 800 words in the piece.

I'm given the copy (hopefully as a Word document and not a PDF) and I rewrite it to work on a Web page. I shorten copy, remove marketing-speak, turn paragraphs into bullets, make it scannable, etc. Hopefully I've cut the copy down to about 350 words.

Then I take that copy and consolidate further for an email, which, if I'm smart will link back to the Web page I just created. Now, I'm chopping out any remaining fat and selectively leaving out even some of the more important details. Now I'm down about 125 words.

Next I'm taking that copy and pounding it flat as schnitzel to post on Social Media. Sure, you get 141 characters on Twitter, but who has time to read a tweet that long? I'll keep it under 100 characters.

Finally, I'm taking that copy and consolidating down to three lines of text for a Google text ad. A short headline and two short lines of copy. Maybe 85 characters.

Illustrated, the process looks like this:

I guess this is a daily reminder of A) How we consume content and B) How important it is for today's Marketers to know how to distill a message down to its core over and over again. You have to spend a lot of time asking the questions: "Why is this really important to the intended audience?" and "How do I say that as succinctly as humanly possible?

Best Alt-Rock Tracks of 2010

2011-01-23T13:27:00.000-06:00

After reviewing a dozen different Best of 2010 Lists, I hand-picked the following tracks. They're listed in no particular order.

1. Trace Decay - Wintersleep
2. Road Regrets - Dan Mangan
3. City With No Children - Arcade Fire
4. The Rake's Song - The Decemberists
5. Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
6. We Don't Talk About It - Steve Wynn
7. Tell 'Em - Sleigh Bells
8. Cold War - The Morning Benders
9. Collector - Here We Go Magic
10. Permalight - Rogue Wave
11. Trouble Comes Running - Spoon
12. When She Comes Home - Deer Tick
13. Younger Us - Japandroids
14. O.N.E. - Yeasayer
15. World News - Local Natives
16. 2024 - Cage The Elephant
17. Clay - Wire
18. Gimme The Sweet And Lowdown - Social Distortion
19. Fountain Stairs - Deerhunter
20. Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood

Listen on Rhapsody

How to Survive a Shark Attack

2010-07-05T22:06:00.001-05:00

via howcast.com

Just in case you're one of the 1 in 11.5 Million.

Posted via email from generatorland's posterous

The World's Most Ambitious Hopscotch Artist

2010-07-02T15:03:00.003-05:00

Ran across this while strolling through the neighborhood. It's even longer than it looks. (Click for larger image)

The IRS Shoots for the Sky

2010-05-05T17:39:00.003-05:00

When it comes to a quality user experience, the IRS is ready to make sure you're satisfied. Not "Extremely Satisfied" or even "Very Satisfied," just satisfied.

Break Dancing Robot Wants to Kick Your Ass

2009-12-09T21:37:00.001-06:00

This robot is coming to kick your break-dancing ass.

Brainstorming Resources for Writers at Generator Land

2009-11-21T15:07:00.005-06:00

In addition to its ridiculousness, GeneratorLand.com offers some valuable writing resources for writers who need a little brain kickstart.

Character Name Generator
Not only does it provide a name (pulled from census data), but it also provides an occupation and location. Some examples:

Benny Davis, fearless mountaineer from Saint Louis
Dwight Coppin, lonely drummer from Arlington
Amalia Westrick, exhibitionist street vendor from Columbus

TV Show Pitch Generator
Helps you come up with a fairly complete TV Show concept, including cast. While some results a clearly ludicrous there are gems to be found. Some examples:

A nun with a heart of gold stalks a zoologist who cries uncontrollably. Stars Mary Tyler Moore and Christopher Lloyd. Genre: Mini-Series
A marijuana farmer who can't find happiness reviews bad theater with a pro football player who is accused of a murder. Stars Steven Wright and Marg Helgenberger. Genre: Action
A perennial bachelor who can't find happiness competes for a prime job against a rapper who runs a chocolate shop. Stars Chevy Chase and Nancy McKeon. Genre: Sci-Fi

Soap Digest Generator
Looking for a plot twist? Need to keep things fresh in an ongoing story? This might be just what you're looking for. Many of the plot devices were taken from actual soap operas. Some examples:

Michael rescues the stalker. Todd warns Malibu in the ladies room. Bradley toys with Lucky.
Dylan suggests a wicked plan to Dolf. Jared foils a plot with Chloe at the bonfire party. Kelly questions Baldwin.
Brit urges on Olive. Greenlee has a drink and a discussion with Kayle at the farmer's market. Lulu crumples into a whimpering pile at the feet of Bliss.

Subdivision Name Generator
Need a name for your story's location. If it's in the suburbs, this tool will be invaluable. Some examples:

Rustling Swan Springs
Sandy Quail Bay
Golden Brothers Farms

First Name Generator
If you want your characters to have unique first names or you're writing fantasy novels you can get them here with a few clicks. Some examples:

Phernix
Nalvael
Philaver
Christaigeal

Newspaper Headline Generator
Want to write a story around a specific event? While some of the "news" generated by this tool is best left for The Onion, you may stumble across a few very interesting situations. Some examples:

Brodhead Homecoming Queen Makes Hay About Hunter At Brothel
Tar Junction Man Steals Squirrel Secretly
Waco Hippie Vandalizes Piano At Crawfish Boil

Horror Movie Title Generator
Need a B-Movie title? You're sure to scare up a few perfectly ridiculous ones here. For example:

The Sinister Insane Hiccup of the Undead
Beware the Self-Involved Chicken Part VII
Attack of the Gruesome Freak from Hell

Best Free Windows Mobile Apps

2009-11-19T23:26:00.004-06:00

There are some great apps for Windows Mobile out there, although you wouldn't know it these days and a lot of them are free. Here's a list of some of the great free apps I've downloaded to my AT&T Tilt. Note: Check out pocketpcfreeware.com for a huge library of free WM apps.

AgileNotes: Great note-taking app.
Google Maps: The best mobile mapping app. If you have GPS on your phone it's even better.
Klaxon: I simple and effective alarm app.
MyTravlr: Surprisingly robust travel companion with weather, international clocks, and more.
Opera: The second best mobile browser.
Skyfire: The best mobile browser. Includes great social networking features.
Viigo: A very full-featured RSS/Podcast client. Amazing it's free.
PockeTwit: A full featured, polished Twitter client.

GeneratorLand.com Playlist #1

2009-04-03T14:22:00.003-05:00

GeneratorLand.com Playlist #1

Night Windows, Weakerthans
Monty Got A Raw Deal, R.E.M.
Objects Of My Affection, Peter Bjorn and John
Hitchin' A Ride, Green Day
Alex Chilton, The Replacements
I Burn For You, Sting
First Drag Of The Day, Bob Mould
You Made It, Teddy Thompson
Swingin Party, The Replacements
Head Over Heels / Broken (live), Tears for Fears
Femme Fatale, R.E.M.
Don't Lose Touch, Against Me!
Rhthm & Soul, Spoon
Mary Watches Everything, Luka Bloom
Pale Green Stars, Everclear

Turn Google News Into an Obituary Page

2009-03-30T20:59:00.003-05:00

Morbid thought, I know, but if you're curious about who's died recently, just go to Google News and search for "dies."

http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=dies

The Obamanator in Action

2009-03-29T15:18:00.001-05:00

Here's what the Obamanator does.

Unfortunate Placement for a "Become A Police Officer" Ad

2009-03-01T14:32:00.002-06:00

I Want My Jet Pack!

2009-02-17T07:42:00.002-06:00

Now if they could just get rid of the tether...

New Simpsons Main Title Sequence

2009-02-15T10:33:00.001-06:00

A great and long overdue main title sequence upgrade.

My Job is Easy

2009-02-09T18:11:00.004-06:00

Next time you think your job is hard. Make this your desktop background for a few days (click for larger).

Update: You can find the original image and many more at: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bushfires_in_victoria_australi.html

1&1 Hosting Sucks

2009-01-31T10:11:00.002-06:00

Back in July of 2007 my site, generatorland.com went down due to a server issue with 1&1 Hosting. The site was down for about 12 hours that time when all was said and done. I lost a bunch of traffic and potential ad clicks/merchandise sales. Well, six months later it's happened again. Since that last outage our traffic has increased 50% meaning now this outage is costing me even more.

Once again a call to their technical support "team" lead me to someone with no information and an accent so thick I had to ask them to repeat everything they said, sometimes three times. In the end they had no information for me other than there's a problem and they're working on it. They will not let me know when it's back up just as they didn't let me know that it was down.

We've already contracted with another host and will be moving the site in a few months. Ultimately all I can do until then is warn anyone looking for a good Web host to stay away from 1&1. Their prices are great and they have some very attractive options, but don't get sucked in, just keep looking.

Taking Notes in the Shower

2009-01-25T16:22:00.022-06:00

I've had a decade-long quest to find a good way to take notes in the shower. As I've searched for a solution over the years I've been amazed to find that no one has already come up with a great answer. The good news is I've made progress in my search, thanks to a comment from a Facebook friend.

Other things I've tried, like grease pencils (don't clean up well) and dry erase markers (the "dry" part is obviously a problem) have failed, the main problem being the actual writing tool. Obviously it has to write despite surface moisture and it has to clean up thoroughly. If it gets wet it can't get easily washed away but if it does it can't stain. A tall order I know.

So yesterday I made a Facebook status update regarding my fruitless search and my friend Meg suggested the Crayola® Floating Art Desk, which, while designed for creative toddlers in the tub, also has a "storage" feature that allows it to hang on a wall, giving non-toddlers an adjustable-height writing surface while standing. I found one at Toys R Us for about $10.

The included writing tool happens to be a specially-designed crayon, which while water-resistant, isn't a tremendously accurate writing utensil. However, it gets the job done since I'm not generally jotting down more than a few words at a time.

Oh, one more thing, the Crayola Floating Art Desk is clearly not designed to fit in with an adult bathroom and since we don't have any kids I suspect I'll be explaining things to a few curious guests. I'll be honest, it looks fairly ridiculous. I'm considering making some modifications to it, provided I can do so without completely destroying it. You'll see what I mean in the photos below:

The unit comes with a crayon storage compartment on either side.

I tried it on the tile, but it fell so I moved it to the glass door. So far so good.

The crayons are retractable. I'm not sure why.

I'll give it a little while before I call this a complete success, but in the meantime I'm feeling better about saving those random brainstorms in the shower.

Straighten Your Office 2007 Learning Curve

2009-01-23T12:40:00.003-06:00

If you've recently switched to Office 2007 (as I have), I strongly urge you to immediately go download and install Microsoft's "Search Commands" toolbar (or "ribbon" in the new vernacular).

The hardest part about making the switch to Office 2007 is trying to find the commands you're used to using regularly. While I think the new Office ribbon is very cool, it also takes some time to warm up to it. The Search Commands ribbon speeds the process by providing a way to quickly search for a command and then use it (see below).

Read more about the Search Commands Toolbar in Microsystems' Word Tips and Tricks.

The Best Way to Reduce Traffic Congestion and Accidents

2009-01-18T19:43:00.006-06:00

By promoting telecommuting and providing incentives to companies with formal telecommuting programs, the government would reduce the number of cars on the road, the "trickle down" being:

Reduced traffic congestion
More productive man hours
Reduced fuel consumption
Reduced road accidents
Reduced air pollution
Reduced wear on roads

Some facts from a 2005 article by Longge Gao in the SAM Advanced Management Journal:

"Telecommuting can have positive efforts on society. One is helping alleviate the number of vehicles on the road (Harpaz, 2002) and, consequently, the amount of pollution and oil consumption (Mills, Wong-Ellison, Werner, and Clay (2001). Other societal benefits include less noise pollution, less potential for accidents, less strain on the public transportation system, and an increased ability by organizations to hire employees with special needs (Harpaz, 2002)."

There are, of course positives and negatives to telecommuting both for employees and their employers. These issues are well documented. But by asking businesses to consider it and helping them make it happen if it's a good fit, the government would be making a great step forward.

Fortunately it appears President Obama will be looking to "expand flexible work arrangements" including telecommuting. Here's hoping he follows through.

Make Mine Freedom (1948)

2009-01-15T20:36:00.000-06:00

It's Very Cold in Chicago

2009-01-15T19:02:00.003-06:00

Chuckles, Marketing, and Aliens

2009-01-05T17:46:00.009-06:00

I just polished off a package of Chuckles jelly candies from the vending machine in our office and a few thoughts occurred to me:

The flavors in Chuckles have never changed.
I have never, in my life seen any advertising or marketing for Chuckles.
I don't even know who the hell makes Chuckles. Is there a Web site?

The Flavors
In case you're curious, the official name of the five Chuckles flavors are: Cherry, Lime, Lemon, Licorice, and zesty Orange. As far as I know these have always been the flavors. They were introduced in 1921 and they haven't even CONSIDERED adding or changing the flavor, not even the black one in the middle that most people don't like. That's confidence! That's chutzpah! At some point wouldn't you expect a dude in marketing to come up and say "Hey, coconut's big this year, why don't we try out a Pina Colada Chuckle?" My guess is someone did and he was fired on the spot.

Marketing and Advertising
I assume that the people that make Chuckles have a marketing department. But I may be wrong. For all I know they're made by aliens. In any event, I know for a fact that I have never seen any consumer advertising for Chuckles. Have you? Yet I have eaten Chuckles throughout most of my life. They just seem to show up and periodically I buy them. I assume they are being marketed heavily to candy dealers. If not I can only assume they are indeed made by aliens and they're being beamed down to Earth without us even noticing.

OK, It's Not Aliens

Chuckles are actually made by Farley & Sathers and they do indeed have a Web site. The Web site is as retro as the packaging although while the packaging appears straight out of the sixties, the site merely seems straight out of the 80's. Farley & Sathers also manufacture other similarly semi-famous candy like Now & Later, Rain-Blo, Trolli, and Fruit Stripe (that's right!) I think I've actually seen a Fruit Stripe ad but other than a terrific product placement in Ferris Beuhler's Day Off for Trolli Gummy Bears, I think that's about it. Wait, maybe that was Haribo Gummy Bears. Someone should do a comparison.

Anyway, I think the reason that all this struck me me is that I was thinking how nice it must be to have a product that succeeds for over 80 years despite an utter lack of innovation, marketing, and style. Chuckles just show up. Hey, maybe that could be their tagline!

I seem to have a Chuckle left. Does anyone want the black one?

Dialog Box from Hades

2008-12-04T14:39:00.004-06:00

I ran across this dialog box on the Microsoft Partner site. I read it three times, went and had a cup of coffee, came back and read it five more times. It's almost musical in its incoherency.

(Click for Larger Image)

I'm Scared of My Snowblower

2008-12-02T18:33:00.005-06:00

There are 3 WARNINGS and 2 CAUTIONS on just this page of my new snowblower's operator manual. I fear starting it may end civilization as we know it.

(Click for Larger Image)

Duck and Cover!

2008-11-29T22:02:00.001-06:00

Duck and Cover!

Gas Prices Are Interesting

2008-11-22T11:06:00.004-06:00

According to this chart from GasBuddy.com we are in the midst of the steepest drop in gas prices in the last five years. It certainly already felt like it, but until I saw this chart I didn't realize how dramatic it has been historically. Almost two dollars in less than two months. I hope Exxon executives can keep their second butlers!

Safety Sign Generator

2008-11-20T20:29:00.010-06:00

I had way too much fun with this safety sign generator.

Get Mouth Happy! Old Time Spud Cigarettes Commercials

2008-11-20T18:11:00.001-06:00

Creepy Smiles

2008-11-13T20:12:00.001-06:00

I wonder if I'm the only one totally creeped out by the smiles in this commercial.

The Everything Shaker

2008-11-08T11:35:00.004-06:00

My favorite type of bagel is the "everything" bagel. However there never seems to be enough of the "everything" to satisfy me. Hence, I created the "Everything Shaker" (click for larger image). Now, in addition to the baked-in "everything" that comes on the bagel I can shake on a little more to the other side. Now everything is everywhere and all is good with the world.

Everything is:

Poppy seeds
Sesame seeds
Flake salt
Minced garlic
Minced onion

If the holes are large enough you could also add sunflower kernels.

Dr. Horrible Y'all

2008-11-07T21:04:00.000-06:00

The 10 Commandments of PowerPoint Presentations

2008-10-28T12:25:00.000-05:00

Every presentation and every audience is different. The rules below apply to actual presentations where an idea or product is being sold. These rules don't necessarily apply to small group project meetings, classes, etc.

Have a good, well thought out, story and tell it well. PowerPoint will not save a bad presentation. The slides are just there to help support you by providing a framework for your words.
Use handouts. Let the audience know they'll be getting the notes at the end, but don't hand them out at the beginning unless you want to be ignored.
Use interesting professional stock photo images, not cheesy clipart. If you can't come up with a good, evocative, relevant image, don't use one.
Only use transitions, animations, and effects if they're important to your story and help clarify a concept. Don't use them just to use them. At times an animated "building slide" can help you maintain audience focus on individual points.
Build your presentation from an outline. Put the whole story together first, and then start refining. You can use an outline format of your own choosing or you can try PowerPoint's outline view. In either case, purge slides ruthlessly. Your audience will thank you.
Use fonts that are large enough for the room to see, not just the people in front. If you are forced to use smaller font, you're likely trying to cram too much on one page. You should never have to say "sorry for the eye chart everyone." What's the point of showing a slide no one can read? You're better off without it or, at least, breaking it into two slides.
Practice. Practice makes professionals…in anything. Present to someone who knows the material and someone who doesn't. They'll both help you fill in the gaps and you will pick up valuable changes. If possible, record yourself and watch it. You will no doubt cringe several times, but better you than your audience.
Don't try to cram every slide with text, charts, images, and the like. Some of the most powerful, effective slides are less than ten words. If you need to use a chart keep it simple. It should make a point without too much narrative needed.
Don't use more than 3-4 bullet points per slide, and use "sub-bullets" sparingly, if at all. If they're there to help you remember what to say, refer to rule 7. You want your audience listening to you, not reading slides.
Don't put all your notes up on the slide, put them on index cards, work from an outline, or memorize them. You may also prefer to use PowerPoint's Notes pages. Just make sure to delete them if you hand out the slides.

Own Your Own Slice of Generator Land

2008-03-30T22:18:00.002-05:00

We've just added some personalization stuff at Generator Land. Now our intrepid GL faithful can create their own pages and save their generated nonsense for posterity. The pages can be shared or listed in our member directory. It's pretty cool. We're already generatin' new features for personal pages. More to come.

My page is at http://www.generatorland.com/glmembers.php?napdynmite

Lindsay Lohan Wants to Be Marilyn Monroe

2008-02-20T07:06:00.004-06:00

So The Lohan posed for a bunch of nude and semi-nude photos in the hopes of being labeled the next Marilyn Monroe. Given Marilyn's career path I'm not sure that's such a wise ambition. Perhaps she should just roll the dice at the "Spoiled Starlet Headline Generator" instead. It would be a much safer bet.

(NSFW)

2008-02-08T20:26:00.000-06:00

I was talking to a friend today about the concept of having a low "Campaign cap" on presidential candidates to ensure we got a better cross-section of citizens in the race (not just rich people), when it occurred to me maybe there's a way we could take advantage of the unstoppable force that is reality TV to elect our next president.

Maybe we could take a little bit from the each of the different reality TV concepts and combine them into a new electoral process:

Let's narrow the field using the American Idol concept. Following a background check, travel to several major metropolitan areas, bring in every Tom, Dick, and Hillary that wants to be president and run them by a panel of judges from mixed backgrounds with no party allegiance. Maybe a cop, a hairdresser, a college professor, a cattle rancher, and a hip-hop record producer (I'm just thinking out loud here). Candidates give a 60-second stump speech and get evaluated by the panel. Once the panel weeds out the truly lame candidates, the rest get presented to the American Public who narrow the field down to 15.

Next up, is The Apprentice portion of the competition. Task each candidate with a series of political problems and scenarios to work out. Solve a healthcare crisis, use diplomacy to stop two countries from going to war, deal with charges of philandering, whatever. Have them work together as well as individually. Rate the results objectively and narrow the field to 8.

Finally we move to Survivor. Put all eight remaining candidates on an island and let them prove they're healthy and cagey enough make it in the Washington jungle. The winner gets four years in the White House. And a Toyota Prius.

This is just one idea. If you have another in the same vein let me know.

A Great Article About Planning a Presentation

2008-02-08T08:19:00.000-06:00

I thought this was an excellent piece from "Rands in Repose" about how to plan a presentation. I discovered that I actually already follow a few of the tips, but many of them were brilliant and new to me. I especially like the idea of practicing your presentation immediately after roughing out the slides. Why? As the author says:

"Build confidence. You now know the absolute worst case scenario regarding this presentation. There is no way it could be worse than what you just went through."

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/cat_tech_life.html

Nice Canned Surveys

2008-02-07T10:54:00.001-06:00

I was looking for some Web User Satisfaction survey samples and ran across this site:

http://www.vovici.com/efm-innovation/reference/survey-templates.asp

Vovici is a survey/feedback/marketing vendor and shares a lot of nice survey templates free of charge. Good deal.

If the Pizza Is As Bad As the Web Site...

2008-02-01T17:09:00.000-06:00

A Web site can make you look more professional or experienced than you are. However, sometimes it can make you look like an idiot even if you have a good product or service. This is especially important for small business who don't have big marketing budgets and rely on the Web for part of their lead generation.

The site below is a pizza place that I've never tried that's a few block from our house. I decided not to order from them simply because their Web Site sucks. It's a good thing they've littered their site with Google AdSense ads (and a LOT of other things) because I can't imagine a lot of people will buy their pizza based on the site itself.

http://www.jackstrawspizza.com/index.html

Top Ten Top Album Lists on the Web

2008-01-13T11:25:00.000-06:00

Each January I go back through the various "Top Album" lists and start dumping music from Rhapsody onto my MP3 player (gotta love subscription music services!)

This year I Delicious-ed all my favorite Top Album lists to make it easier. Feel free to take advantage:

http://del.icio.us/napdynmite/2007+music

Collection of Disaster Preparedness Items

2007-11-28T13:09:00.000-06:00

Emergency Items

Mini-pry bar
Respiratory Protection (particulate protection)
Nuke Alert radiation detector
Bicycle
First Aid Kit
Solar Powered Lantern/Power Source
Grab and Go Bag
Non-Incendive Flashlight (LED Flashlight)
Multitool
Portable Water Filtration Unit
Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking and little or no water.
- Pack a manual can opener and eating utensils.
- Avoid salty foods, as they will make you thirsty.
- Choose foods your family will eat.
- Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables
- Protein or fruit bars
- Dry cereal or granola
- Peanut butter
- Dried fruit
- Nuts
- Crackers
- Canned juices
- Non-perishable pasteurized milk
- High energy foods
- Vitamins
- Food for infants
- Comfort/stress foods
Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
Flashlight and extra batteries
First aid kit

Two pairs of Latex, or other sterile gloves (if you are allergic to Latex).
Sterile dressings to stop bleeding.
Cleansing agent/soap and antibiotic towelettes to disinfect.
Antibiotic ointment to prevent infection.
Burn ointment to prevent infection.
Adhesive bandages in a variety of sizes.
Eye wash solution to flush the eyes or as general decontaminant.
Thermometer (Read more: Biological Threat)
Prescription medications you take every day such as insulin, heart medicine and asthma inhalers. You should periodically rotate medicines to account for expiration dates.
Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood pressure monitoring equipment and supplies.
Scissors
Tweezers
Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricant
Aspirin or nonaspirin pain reliever
Anti-diarrhea medication
Antacid (for upset stomach)
Laxative

Whistle to signal for help
Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
Local maps
Prescription medications and glass
Infant formula and diapers
Pet food and extra water for your pet
Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
Cash or traveler's checks and change
Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov
Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
Fire Extinguisher
Matches in a waterproof container
Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
Paper and pencil
Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

Vote for Best Generator

2007-11-04T23:57:00.001-06:00

Cubs or White Sox?

2007-11-04T23:49:00.001-06:00

Top 5 Random Generators at Generatorland.com

2007-10-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

Top 5 Random Generators at Generatorland.com

The Willy Name Generator

We didn't realize how much people want a name for their penis or the penis of a friend, but we're glad they do. The Willy Name Generator is the ahead of the pack by a large margin.

The Froo Froo Menu Generator

People have come out in droves to build their own fancy restaurant menus full of ridiculous dishes. We're just hoping no one actually tries to cook any of them.

The Horoscope Generator

The least "random" of our random generators seems to be a hit. Unlike most of our other stuff, the Horoscope Generator relies more on the wit of our contributors than the random yoking together of language.

The Death Metal Band Namer

A suggestion from one of our users that seems to have hit a high, shrieking note with everyone. Rock on.

The TV Show Pitch Generator

Our first success story continues to churn out bizarre TV show ideas by the thousands.

Defense Against Butt Dialing

2007-10-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

This morning I "butt dialed" my parents' house 20 times on my walk into work. I imagine they were crazy with rage by the time I realized it. I got to thinking why don't mobile phones have a built in "Butt Dial Defense System?" (BDDS). Sure, I could have turned off the phone or locked the screen before I threw it in my pocket, but that requires some action on my part.

Why can't a phone be programmed to recognize when it's dialing a number accidentally. If the same number is dialed more than 3 times in the span of a minute and there is no direct voice input on the caller's end how about the screen locks with a message saying "Accidental Call Suspected" or something to that effect?

Also, I wonder how much cell phone companies make each year on butt dialed calls. Someone should do a study.

Wondering if I Should Continue Blogging

2007-09-09T18:04:00.001-05:00

I suspect most bloggers come to a point where they try to decide if they should keep up their blog or move on. Life gets in the way, jobs get in the way, hobbies change. Blogging isn't the hardest work in the world, probably not even close. But it is almost always something people do in addition to doing bigger things. That's certainly true in my case. I work full time in a Web Team for a large association and my fiancee and I just bought our first house, which is one of the more stressful and time consuming things I've ever done.

I love writing a blog and reading other blogs and I also love working on generatorland.com, which continues to roll on unabated. However, at some point I realized that I needed to sleep and that we all need a little break from the Internet once in a while to smell the roses, or, in my case now, to fight common yard pests.

So I haven't posted in a while and I guess that's OK. I'm sure most of my readers have wandered off to other blogs or sites and there's a good chance there are few around to read this post, which is cool too. As much as I'd like to connect with great, random people around the blogosphere, this blog has always been as much a place for me to deposit my thoughts and discoveries as it has been a place to interact with an audience.

So with all that in mind I'm wondering if I should continue blogging. I have some thoughts on how I might better organize my Web/free time to ensure I can make regular posts, but then I'm not sure if I necessarily should. If you have an opinion I'd certainly be interested in hearing it, but ultimately I guess I'll just have to decide if I still need a blog as an outlet. Maybe a blog about owning your first home...

MySpace erases 29,000 sex offenders

2007-07-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

This is good news, but I'm curious how they determined who the sex offenders were since phony names are so common on the Web. Were there really 29,000 sex offenders dumb enough to use their real names?

MySpace erases 29,000 sex offenders | The Register

My Host is Pissing Me Off

2007-07-25T23:58:00.001-05:00

Most of the time I'm pretty happy with the host for generatorland.com, which is 1&1. I'd heard some horror stories about them, but I gave them a try. Up until now things were fine. Today I got home from work and tried to launch my FTP to work on the site and it couldn't connect. I went out to make sure the site was OK and it was down. OK, little panic. Refresh. Refresh. OK, site's down.

It's late, but 1&1 has a 24-hour support number. I call it and about 15 minutes later I'm on the line with someone I assume is in India. I give them my customer ID and tell them my site's down. They tell me that due to technical problems the server my site is on is currently down. OK, I ask, how long has it been down? They don't know. When will it be back up? They don't know. The server administrator hasn't told them anything. They ask me to call back tomorrow if it's still down. I ask if they'll alert me when the site is back up. No, they won't, just call back tomorrow if it's still down and maybe if they get enough calls the server administrator will know this is really a problem(!).

Now it's not like I'm raking in the big bucks with the site, but it's getting good traffic and building a loyal audience. The last traffic I can see from Google Analytics is from 4pm today, which was about 7 hours ago. That means anyone referred to my site in the last seven hours now thinks the site is gone. They may not come back. 1&1 is losing my audience every minute that goes by. This should be important to them and they should be proactive with me in handling the situation. They aren't. I had to call them to tell them their server was down and now they want me to call them again to tell them if it's still down tomorrow. What?

Meanwhile our users suffer, I suffer, and no one is happy. Come on 1&1, get your heads out of your asses.

Runaway wrecking ball causes chaos, accident - CNN.com

2007-07-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

And how was YOUR day?

Runaway wrecking ball causes chaos, accident - CNN.com

On The Go: Googlify your cell phone - Lifehacker

2007-07-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

Google's been doing some great things for mobile devices. I was particularly blown away last night when I downloaded Google Maps for Palm. Over a wi-fi network it's really impressive. Google Blogoscoped has more (via Lifehacker).

On The Go: Googlify your cell phone - Lifehacker

CSS Rounded Corners Tool

2007-07-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

I ran across a nice little tool for building rounded CSS corners. If you don't know how (and I didn't) it's also easy to see how the results are achieved. Check out "Spiffy Corners". You just tweak a few settings, click a "roundness" level (3px, 5px, 9px) and the code spits out below.

Generatin' Fools

2007-07-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

We've added three new homegrown generators since last we mentioned it:

The Sick Clown Name Generator
If you've decided to slap on the makeup, pop on the nose, and unleash your inner clown on an unsuspecting world, we're here to help you get off on the right (giant) foot with a good, sick clown name.

The Horoscope Generator
Your future may be written in the stars, but more likely it's just a bunch of random crap. To that end, we present The Horoscope Generator which creates a personalized horoscope just for you. Probably.

The TV Show Title Mashup
What happens when you randomly mash up TV Show Titles? You get things like "Hardy Strokes" and "The Wind in the Mother." Help us find more ridiculous TV Show Title Mashups.

So far, with little fanfare, the Horoscope Generator is taking off like wildfire, especially throughout Europe. We welcome our European friends with open arms and offer Philly cheesesteaks.

Invention Illustrations

2007-07-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

I ran across these sites via the afore-mentioned halfbakery.com and thought they were worth sharing. All three are collected invention illustrations by some talented halfbakery users:

http://bz.pair.com/
http://www.geocities.com/farmerjohnnie/index.html
http://www.graphesthesia.com/hob/gallery/hb/index.html

We're looking to add illustrations to our Super Hero Generator at Generator Land as well (although frankly we're a little concerned about what a hero called "The Electric Placenta" might look like).

The Half Bakery: Sharing Your Half-Baked Ideas Publicly

2007-07-05T08:34:00.000-05:00

I wanted to build a site like this a while back, but, similar to many of the ideas on "The Half Bakery," my idea remained unfulfilled. The idea for the site is simple: people post half-baked ideas and the rest of the community members vote on it. Non-members can browse around as much as they want, members can post, comment, etc.

Some of the ideas are truly stupid, but if you search by "best" you'll see some really good ideas. The site is entirely text-based and very easy on the eyes. The navigation is a bit odd, but not confusing. My only complaint is the registration process, which requires you to send an email to request membership. I'll write more when I hear back from them.

Under the Nav Bar: Focusing on the Web Team

2007-06-26T14:06:00.000-05:00

I got a nice note from Lucy Spence in reaction to a post I made about Web teams a while back. She's started up a blog called "Under the Nav Bar" that will focus on aspects of a Web team. How it should work, who should do what, what skills the team should have, how the team fits in the organization, etc.

I offer my humble support for Lucy's endeavor, I think it will be a great resource.

Generator Land Enhancements

2007-06-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

We've added a new feature to Generatorland that lets you submit a particularly amusing result to the Generator Land Hall of Fame. For quality control purposes, we are currently monitoring the submissions and approving/axing where appropriate. Based on what's come in so far, this was probably a wise decision, however, we expect to be switching to a user rating system at some point.

In the meantime, check out what got through the Mike & Joe filter here: http://www.generatorland.com/hall_of_fame.php.

The Willy Name Generator

2007-06-11T22:12:00.001-05:00

The Generator Land team apologizes in advance for our latest generator. Generate a random nickname for your willy with the click of a button.

read more | digg story

CBS Acquires Europe’s Last.fm for $280 million

2007-05-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

Not sure if this sucks or not.

CBS Acquires Europe’s Last.fm for $280 million

This is Generator Land: On a Blog Spree

2007-05-29T19:09:00.000-05:00

The last two generators we built on Generator Land got some shout outs. The Joke Opener Generator was posted on The Generator Blog and, lo and behold, The TV Show Pitch Generator appeared on AOL Television's TV Squad. Props to both blogs for the mentions!

We're working on some new features for Generator Land, as well as the next top secret generator (which is only top secret because we can't make up our minds which one to release next).

Web Worker Daily: So Your Co-Worker Isn't Your Best Friend. Now What? �

2007-05-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

I thought this was a pretty good article about dealing with bastards at work. I've been in the "working with a jerk" situation quite a bit and I've found a lot of these techniques really do help, especially this one that they suggest:

"Get perspective. What you’re reading as a big personal insult in an email might not be the case at all. Ask a friend who will be honest with you what they think of the email you’re sending and receiving. Do they read the same negative tone from your co-worker? Do they think you’re being particularly biting when you don’t need to be? Try and see the situation from different eyes."

Of course you could also stay late and mess with their stuff, but that wouldn't be a real mature release would it?

Web Worker Daily: So Your Co-Worker Isn't Your Best Friend. Now What?

Avoid Your Neighbors, They Might Be Sick

2007-05-22T21:30:00.001-05:00

In case you were wondering if the ailment you're faking to get out of work is rampant in your neighborhood, visit whoissick.org. The site allows you enter your symptoms (stomach ache, runny nose, severe malaise) and then see if anyone else around you has those or any other symptoms. Or you can simply browse with morbid fascination.

You can narrow your search by symptoms, age, sex, and time period. There's also the saddest little tag cloud I've ever seen (see image above). I imagine that's what the brain of a hypochondriac looks like.

Cameroid: Best Interface I've Seen in a While

2007-05-21T18:08:00.000-05:00

If you have a Web cam, check out Cameroid. If you're a Web interface or application developer you should check it out too. While the site's intended use is harmless fun (taking photos with effects and sharing them), the beauty lies in the drop-dead simple interface.

When you visit the site you get some intro text and a button that says "Ready? Click Here." You will likely get a security prompt as the site connects with your Web cam and then that's it. Your ugly mug appears onscreen and you get a bunch of effects to try using a simple tabbed system.

The effects are nice, but not earth shattering. Applying them is simple and the changes happen in real time. You can move around to see how the effect will look from different angles. Then you click the camera button to take the picture immediately or with a 3 second delay. All this is handled in a way simple enough to pass the "my mom could do it" test.

When you're done, you can save the image or link to it using a URL provided. You can also use it as an instant messaging avatar, email it, or add it to your blog. If you just want to download it you don't have to provide an email address.

It's a shame more Web 2.0 apps aren't this simple.

How Much is Your Blog Worth | Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog

2007-05-17T22:53:00.000-05:00

If you're a blogger and want to make yourself sad (and really, why wouldn't you?) check out how much your blog is worth at Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog.

You just type in your blog 's URL and hit submit. Within seconds you'll find out that blogging is easy, but blogging professionally is not. Fortunatley most bloggers are in it for the fun and attention. Technogeekboy is worth something, but not much (see below).

For some real fun check out what blogs like Lifehacker and TechCrunch are worth. Zoinks!

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

How Much is Your Blog Worth Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog

Brainstorming the Web Way

2007-05-16T20:21:00.000-05:00

I just found a terrfic brainstorming site that I'm becoming quickly addicted to. It's called BrainReactions and it's a community of people who post questions like "What should newspapers be doing if they want to survive?" and "How can I communicate better to a large audience?" and then wait for responses from other users.

The addictive part of it is that you can scan through the list of questions and quickly post an idea in a matter of seconds. There is a truly diverse bunch of ideas to brainstorm about so you're bound to have something you can expound on. Posting your own question is just as easy.

While traditional group brainstorming is a mixed bag that's usually not worth the effort, BrainReactions is low maintenance and quick. If you don't get any good ideas from the community, it's not like you had to book a conference room, buy a bunch of doughnuts and spend hours getting nowhere.

BrainReactions.net Online Brainstorming and Idea Management Software - Open Brainstorms

Walk to Work then Walk at Work then Walk Home

2007-05-15T16:08:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Reuters and had to laugh. In theory I suppose it makes sense. People walk all day on a treadmill instead of sitting in a chair. Miraculously, they lose weight!

I actually have a setup just like this at home. I secured a large Elfa shelf to the handles of our treadmill and set my laptop up on it. There's plenty of room and it works very well. However, working, even at a slow walk, is not exactly a sustainable activity. An hour is about all I can handle before the bouncing and movement begin to wear on my eyes and posture.

So, interesting concept. Not practical.

The Generator Blog Gives Us a Mention

2007-05-14T22:47:00.000-05:00

We got a mention from The Generator Blog, which we appreciate. They featured our Froo Froo Menu Generator and drove us some nice traffic.

The Generator Blog features a crapload of generators so be sure to check them out. Especially if you're into those generators that create images with your text like the Beer Label Generator or the Bling Necklace Generator.

The Local Headline Generator

2007-05-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

We're getting into a regular rhythm at Generator Land with a new generator launching today which I'll get to in a moment. We've also made some other changes to the site including adding a Top Rated Generators area, an RSS feed, an archive, and a few minor tweaks to cinch it up and hunker down.

The latest addition to our growing family is The Local Headline Generator. Given the similarity of small town newspaper headlines it seemed a natural to randomize. We took a list of odd small town names and mixed them with a common headline format and hit the random button. You can check out the results at Generator Land right this second.

Traffic is quickly building at the site and we thank you all for your support!

Alan Graham Seems to Agree About Subscription Music

2007-05-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

I said this a few days ago, and it seems ZDNet's Alan Graham agrees. From Alan:

"You see, when Sonos started to support Rhapsody, I fell in love with the subscription model. In fact, since I became a Rhapsody subscriber 8 months ago, I haven't purchased a single iTunes track. Amazingly, I haven't even played a single track of music from my own music library (which includes a lot of tracks I bought from iTunes). Not once…in 8 months! My NAS drive just sits there on the shelf…lonely…and pointless. I just can't bring myself to purchase albums based on 30-second samples, when I can go on Rhapsody and listen to the entire album anytime I like."

Read Alan's Whole Post

Ridiculous Restaurant Menus in Seconds

2007-05-08T00:18:00.000-05:00

Our latest generator at Generator Land is the "Froo Froo Menu Generator." It randomly produces a hoity toity-sounding dinner menu that, upon closer inspection is usually a bit disgusting (for instance "Jerked Mongoose with a Cask-Conditioned Mayonnaise.")

Please check it out and leave a rating and comment either positive or negative. Unfortunately, because we just finished building our own rating system, we had to start from scratch with the comments and ratings. Growing pains I guess!

Commenting on More YouTube Lawsuits

2007-05-05T17:32:00.000-05:00

(Note: This is from a comment I made about YouTube on Profy.com. And don't worry, I have my own permission to re-use it.)

I think netizens have been spoiled by free content into thinking that they have an inherent right to get whatever they want whenever they want it. It’s certainly an easy state of mind to fall into. Copyrighted music and movie sharing on P2P networks is stealing and so is substantive re-use and gain from copyrighted content without the copyright-holder’s permission. I can’t strictly define “substanative” other than to say that showing a thumbnail image of a video wouldn’t be “substanative” but showing a certain amount of the video itself would be. Copyright holders get to make the call on if it’s fair use. Some might like the attention/marketing aspect of it, but some might not. Lately, not so much.

It seems that a site that simply aggregates links and information about videos on other sites in a user-centric way would be a smarter model than simply showing the videos directly. I assume those sites are out there. These sites can drive traffic to the copyright holders’ sites, which is what they want, and could provide the centralized hub that users want. Do we need to see it directly on the “hub” itself? Not really. Content sites just need to get their collective act together and create better, more user-centric sites while working with these hubs as much as possible.

YouTube should continue to aggregate user-generated content and video provided to them directly by copyright holders, but they need to get some common sense and quit acting like what they’re allowing on their site is something other than copyright infringement. Just because people want it doesn’t mean you should do it.

Steve Jobs is Back to Being an Idiot

2007-05-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what Steve Jobs was basing his comments on, but he seems to think that no one is interested in subscription music. Regardless of the fact that I am a huge fan of subscription music in and of itself, I think he's missing the point.

Subscription music services like Rhapsody don't JUST "rent" music, you can also purchase it forever if you want to. I burn a few CDs a month from Rhapsody and the per song cost is cheaper than iTunes. Subscribing doesn't mean you can't own whatever music you want, it means you get more music. Who wouldn't want that?

So while I do buy songs outright sometimes, mostly I just load up my MP3 player with as much music as I want, I stream as much music as I want, etc. I can listen to any album or song anytime in its entirety. I probably listen to music an average of six hours a day between my commute, the office, and on weekends and I never run out of new stuff to listen to. The thought of using a service where I have to buy every song I listen to for .99 cents seems ludicrous to me now.

Super Hero Name Generator

2007-05-03T23:41:00.000-05:00

Things are moving along at Generator Land. We just created and posted our first homegrown generator called "The Super Hero Name Generator." I think it turned out pretty well. It's a good waste of at least 15 minutes of your valuable time.

We've got a few more in the works and our goal is to add at least one new generator each day. If you visit, feel free to rate and comment on what we post. You can also submit good generators you've come across. Everyone seems to know of at least one.

Map Your Site the Web 2.0 Way

2007-05-02T22:47:00.000-05:00

WriteMaps is a basic Web sitemap outlining tool. It's low-frills but produces nice-looking sitemaps, good for planning out the architecture of your site. You start with a single page and build on it using the plus or minus icons on each new page. Branches can be collapsed easily. You can switch to an outline view instead of the icon-based view and zoom in and out with a slider bar.

And that's about it. Sitemaps can't be exported to any format (XML would be nice) and can't be downloaded. You can only print. In theory this might be a nice way to share sitemaps among team members, but there aren't any annotation or markup tools. This is clearly aimed at less technical users as developers, who are used to more complex tools like Visio, may feel limited. However, less technical users may enjoy the straightforward functionality.

Generator Land: Le Randomness Rule

2007-04-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

After seeing how popular random generators are on the Web I felt it was my duty to create a site that brings them all together. I'm calling it "Generator Land." I'll be collecting all the sites that create fake band names, game characters, business speak, haikus, biblical curses, etc. and putting them under one roof so they can fight amongst themselves about who left the dirty dishes in the fishtank and who saw who's girlfriend getting out of the shower "by mistake."

In addition I'll let users rate them and comment on them so my opinion won't be the only one that matters. Don't expect too much right off as I begin collecting, but I hope to eventually collect enough random generators to make repeated visits a must.

If you know of any random generators, let me know on the blog here or submit them at Generator Land. I can't pay you, but I will say a prayer for your immortal soul. Or I'll at least generate a prayer with the Random Prayer Generator (if I can find one).

A Devastatingly Good Video About Vanity and the Media

2007-04-26T13:02:00.001-05:00

This is some incredible animation work and a poignant comment on society as well. Enjoy.

read more | digg story

Flash Earth: Keeping it Simple

2007-04-24T23:52:00.000-05:00

Flash Earth is a very straightforward and fast satellite image maps with one-click switching between the various map service images. It's actually a good way to see the differences in quality between them (Google wins). Easy navigation, zoom and rotation. It has a location finder, but I couldn't seem to get it to find any street addresses. Zip codes worked fine.

Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash

Virtual desktop trifecta at Web 2.0 Expo | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

2007-04-23T20:51:00.000-05:00

As a follow-up to my post about Desktoptwo, I just ran across a week-old post at WebWare reviewing three similar services: Zcubes, G.ho.st, and Sparc. I seem to remember looking at Zcubes a while back and finding it a bit sloppy, but perhaps I'll go back and have a look.

Virtual desktop trifecta at Web 2.0 Expo Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

MiniBoxs Misses "E" and the Mark

2007-04-23T20:30:00.000-05:00

Another competitor for the likes of OriginalSignal and PopURLs is MiniBoxs (what happened to the "e?") which is an RSS aggregator billing itself as the "Net's first RSS magazine." If that's what this is, then I don't think they're the first.

It's a nice-looking site and the editors do a good job of choosing feeds to include. I like the Buzz! page, which aggregates the most popular items from many social news sites like Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Furl, TailRank, etc. This is similar to other sites of this type, but they have a pretty comprehensive list here.

All in all, I prefer PopURLs and OriginalSignal, but my true preference will likely always be rolling my own.

MiniBoxs Buzz!

Weather.com Maps Smooth Like Buttah

2007-04-21T12:13:00.000-05:00

If you haven't already noticed, weather.com has a new weather map in beta and it's very slick. Imagine GoogleMaps, with all its click-and-drag/scrollwheel zoom goodness with weather overlayed.

You can choose clouds and/or RADAR images with transparency, add roads, and animate. The interface is smooth like butter. I still prefer Accuweather overall, but Weather.com scores points here.

Weather Radar and Weather Maps - weather.com

Curse Your Enemies with Biblical Authority

2007-04-20T13:39:00.000-05:00

Insults with pious panache, courtesy of Ship of Fools. My current favorite:

"Take heed, O ye of little faith, for you will be pursued into the mountains by sex-mad baboons!"

Ship of Fools: Biblical curse generator

Top 10 Reasons as to why I still need to be convinced about marketing on Second Life

2007-04-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

HP's Eric Kintz makes some great points about Second Life here, some of which I echoed a while back. I agree that the potential for marketing may still be there and, more importantly, a sustainable user environment may still be there, but I think SecondLife 3.0 needs a lot of work.

Top 10 Reasons as to why I still need to be convinced about marketing on Second Life

Microsoft entices beta testers with Windows Media Center update

2007-04-20T00:38:00.001-05:00

Microsoft entices beta testers with Windows Media Center update
4/19/2007 7:30:00 pm

Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

It was but three months ago that Microsoft opened the flood gates to beta signups for Windows Live for TV, and now the mega-corp is soliciting the help of free laborers yet again to test out a potentially buggy and likely frustrating piece of forthcoming software. If you're still intrigued, Microsoft is holding an open signup to beta test Windows Media Center update for Vista, but we certainly hope you weren't counting on even a partial list of features, as the curiously bland signup page doesn't relinquish much of anything beyond procedural instructions. So if you're hankering for something new to try out, and don't mind replying to Microsoft's "surveys, bug reports, and other means as required," feel free to hit the read link and toss your name in the hat.

[Via BoyGeniusReport]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Ugh, how bad will the new Windows Media Center be? I switched to BeyondTV after about a month of wrestling with Media Center and I haven't looked back.

PopURLs Let's You Have It Yor Way

2007-04-19T23:19:00.000-05:00

Since I was on the subject of "article tools" a few weeks back I thought I'd mention a similar concept alive and well at news aggregator, PopURLs.com. The site lets you basically take over and transform it however you want. The menu bar (shown on the right) lets you easily:

Switch to a black background
Switch to popflow (a one column format)
Switch to big text
Switch to Buzzmania (more news items)
Turn off story previews
Turn off video/audio feeds
Open links in the same window
Customize feed arrangement
Open scrapbook

I am impressed anytime a Web site's designers let you mess with their work to suit your needs and it would be nice if more did. Thanks to CSS and AJAX these kind of user-focused controls are easier to build and thanks to the Time Person of the year (you) there are more sites taking it seriously.

Drag and Drop: Turning an Outlook Email into a Task

2007-04-18T18:21:00.000-05:00

With software as complex and feature-heavy as Microsoft Outlook, it's easy to remain unaware of everything it can do. One of the Outlook features people still seem surprised about when I tell them is the fact that you can drag and drop an email to transform it into a task or meeting request. I use this feature many times each day and while Outlook's Tasks program isn't the greatest in the world (that honor goes to TaskPilot), it's fairly powerful and awfully convenient if you already use Outlook most of the time.

Since most of the tasks I perform arrive via email, using the drag and drop method saves me from having to re-type information and, more importantly, because it's so easy I'm highly motivated to use it. This makes it almost impossible for me to forget to do something. A sidenote here: When someone calls me and asks me to do something, I will often ask them to send me an email about it instead. This might seem a little rude to people who prefer the phone, but it's really the best way to ensure everyone ends up getting what they want.

To use this feature, just select the email that has all the information you need, drag it over to the navigation pane (probably on the left of the Outlook interface) and drop it onto the "Task" button (click the image over there to see what I mean). A new task will pop up with the same subject as the email and the contents of the email in the task's body. The due date and start date of the task will default to today, the status to "Not Started," and the priority to "Normal." You can edit all this, as well as the Subject, save it and you're done.

The same thing can be done with the Calendar, however it will usually require more cleanup since it's likely you'll be sharing the meeting with other people.

The only real problem with this method is that attachments to the email don't automatically get attached to the task. However, I found a workaround for this using macros. I won't get into all of it because someone else already has here. If you know a little VBScript or are willing to get your hands a little dirty to figure it out, you can customize that macro to your heart's content. Then you just add the macro to your Outlook toolbar and any time you get an email with attachments relevant to the task, click the button and voila, the attachments automatically show up in the task!

Desktoptwo, three, four!

2007-04-16T23:20:00.000-05:00

Desktoptwo is a web-based "operating system" manifested in a desktop that you can access from anywhere. Unlike sites like Netvibes and Protopage, which serve up RSS feeds and widgets as panels, Desktoptwo mimics your PC's desktop, complete with programs like office applications (OpenOffice), chat and email clients, calendar, contacts, and even 1GB of free hard drive space. This is more of a workspace than a startpage. It's all driven by some slick Flash.

OpenOffice can open Microsoft Excel and Word documents fairly well so even if you're tied to Microsoft Office, you can still get work done. Files can be uploaded and downloaded from the "Hard Drive" program, which acts like Explorer.

If you upload a bunch of MP3s to Desktoptwo, you can play them from the interface using the MP3 Player. A nice way to keep your music handy. The player's pretty bare bones, but sounds fine.

There are some social features like a blog and a message board available if you share your desktop with others. Not sure I'd use this, it would be like sharing your PC with a bunch of people, but I imagine, like most online social things, the kids would like it.

The rest of the apps are basic and functional. Performance is excellent and I saw no delays or hiccups. I suspect more applications will be added before it gets out of beta. All in all it's a pretty slick program that I suspect will appeal to anyone switching PCs frequently.

How Should a Web Team Work?

2007-04-14T12:12:00.000-05:00

Try as I might I've found little research on how a corporate Web team should be structured. Should developers work directly with front-end designers? Should content producers be involved in architecture? Should anyone other than IT know what's going on with the servers? I work in an environment where each element of the Web site is handled by different departments:

Server maintenance
Hard-core development (applications, eCommerce, etc)
Database maintenance and development
Front-end design and architecture
Content development
E-mail marketing
Enterprise applications

These separate departments don't necessarily play well together and are rarely looped in on each others' plans or projects, operating largely in their own silos. Is this how it should be or should they all be under one, centrally-managed group?

How are other "Web Teams" structured? Bear in mind I'm not talking about agency Web teams, I mean Web teams internal to a corporation or association. These teams work together over the long haul and may evolve over time. They're not the streamlined, project-focused teams you'd find in agency and members may wear several hats and manage several different Web sites like intranets, extranets, external sites, enterprise applications, etc. They may be called on to handle the minutiae and whims of departments throughout the enterprise.

I've yet to see an optimal model for this kind of team, but I will keep looking.

12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them

2007-04-14T12:09:00.000-05:00

Great list of client types and how to work with them. This is written for a Web design/tech audience, but can be applied elsewhere. Also, a commenter points to a similar article (in cartoon form even!)

12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them

The Gyroball

2007-04-11T17:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've seen a new pitch introduced in baseball. Now, Daisuke Matsuzaka (aka "Dice-K"), a recent Japanese import for the Boston Red Sox has introduced American baseball to "The Gyroball." He's apparently one of the few players who can throw the pitch well enough to strike out professional hitters. Because of the arm motion required to get the proper spin, most pitchers can't throw it fast enough to get it by hitters. Apparently "Dice-K" is a rare talent.

For a complete scientific look at the pitch check out Bill Nye's article and to see it in action watch the video below. Very cool. Also, for a great guide to pitching check out "The Complete Pitcher."

My Mind Map Never Seems to Fold Properly

2007-04-10T18:14:00.000-05:00

Since I'm in the process of taking a seminar on "Critical Thinking" which includes things like the Socratic Method and Mind Mapping, I thought I'd share a great Mind Mapping tool that I've discovered. It's called bubbl.us and it's a free online tool that helps you brainstorm ideas and build very snazzy Mind Map charts.

To see an example of a Mind Map, click on the image to the right, which is a map for building a tree house (and also proof that I have no idea how to build a tree house).

The interface is intuitive and Web 2.0ish so can get up and creating within a few seconds. The keyboard strokes are simple and brilliant. Don't expect a whole lot of customization like adding pictures or special icons, just really clean, attractive shapes.

If you want to save your work of mind art, you can register (name, email, password) and then not only save it, but collaborate with others on it. Mind Maps are probably best created in a room with everyone sitting around a screen or whiteboard, but I'm curious to see how this concept translates to individuals collaborating in non-real time.

Merlin Mann: Won't You Listen What the Mann Says

2007-04-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

I think Merlin Mann will eventually, and perhaps begrudgingly become a star. Mann does 43 Folders, 5ives, and now The Merlin Show which so far has featured interviews with talented musicians floating just below the RADAR. He has a natural interview style and is genuinely funny and humble. Merlin also appears on the This Week in Tech fairly often and offers a witty yet usually positive counterpoint to the regulars.

Who Says There's No Free Lunch, or Free Books?

2007-04-09T06:16:00.000-05:00

Friedbeef's Tech offers up the best places to get free books.

The Art of Article Tools

2007-04-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

A great trend we've seen on online newspaper and magazine sites, as well as many other sites that feature article content is the increased use of "Article Tools." Article tools include links or buttons like "Print This, " "Email This," "Increase/Decrease Font Size," etc. Some sites only include one or two (usually "Print" or "Send") while some like the excellent news site The International Herald Tribune go crazy with the concept, including things like "Clip This" for saving articles to your own private area.

I've put together a bunch of examples, which you can see by clicking on the image on the right there. As I mentioned recently regarding Younanimous.com, I have no problem with "clutter" and the more article tools I see the more I think the publisher wants to empower me to read the content the way I want.

Yahoo! Widgets: More of the Best

2007-04-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

In a previous post that has easily been the most popular I've written, I mentioned some of the Yahoo! Widgets I've been using regularly. With the advent of Yahoo! Widgets 4.0 (which I'll look at more closely later) I've decided to mention a few more of the widgets I use regularly:

TachClock: A slickly designed and deceptively simple clock that pops up unobtrusively on the hour and/or half hour. No numbers, just tick-marks for the hours, minute and second.

PowerX: Another simple but elegant widget that allows easy one-click access to log off, shutdown, and restart. I use it every time I reboot.

ClipDrop: A handy clipboard tool that saves and displays as many clipboard items as you want. Click a copied snippet from the list and it's ready to paste.

Yahoo! Maps: I prefer Yahoo! Maps over Google Maps these days and this widget makes looking up locations and directions a snap. I just wish it connected directly to the "Broadband" version of Yahoo! Maps by default.

AfterVote (a.k.a. Younanimous), The Hardest Working Engine in the Search Business

2007-04-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

I've been holding off on mentioning Younanimous.com because it was early, but now they've changed their name to "AfterVote" (which I just can't seem to like) and have been adding features every few seconds, so I guess now's as good a time as any.

AfterVote is a social search engine, which I've already voiced my concerns about, but after talking to the guys at AfterVote, I think it just might work. I guess I was thinking a bit simplistically about the concept of voting search results up and down. With AfterVote, rankings will be based on more than the simple + or - voting system and they plan to adapt the alorithms as needed.

For instance, if you click on a result and don't like it, you will probably return to the results and click on another. The system logs that behavior and uses it to "passively" tally votes for or against the results. If you really like or hate the result, you can also vote with the + or - buttons. While they didn't elaborate further on how else they'll police the system, I'm sure they'll look for the same things sites like Digg look for.

In addition to the social ranking aspect, AfterVote includes a plethora of social Web widgets (this link is already out of date, but shows many of them) for sharing results via Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. and seeing where the result ranks on Alexa, Compete, Google PageRank, etc. These widgets can all be turned on and off as preferences dictate. Personally I like to leave all of it on because I have no issue with clutter.

Did I mention it's actually a metasearch engine pulling from Google, Yahoo!, and MSN and that it has links to cached sites for all three? There's also a widget for the Trust level of the site. I haven't figured out where that comes from yet, but then, at the rate they're adding features I may never have a complete grasp of what's going on.

The question becomes "How much is too much for the average user?" I think AfterVote, in its current form is extremely appealing to people like me who can't get enough "stuff" when it comes to search and the social Web. However, if this stuff is all turned on by default when they get out of beta, I'm a little worried more casual Web users might feel a bit overwhelmed and confused. And I would think that to take best advantage of the voting system mass appeal will be key. Perhaps there are enough people like me to make this a success. I'm hoping so, because I think this is a terrific tool.

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