Something Shiny

So, maybe the directions aren’t perfect yet… note in the screen shot it has me off a good trail and on a busy city street to save a block or two on a 7 mile trip, but just the fact that Google has included trails as a route option is very nice. Thanks Google, you’re the best!

Hit up Google Maps to find trails in your neighborhood, and/or watch the video below for more information.

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Twitter really is kinda flakey. I guess no one suggested that it become a critical communication channel, and I’ve always gotten the impression that there’s more than a little duct tape holding the thing together. Still, it’s a little surprising when it goes down.

After some thought, I suspect the answer to “Where do you tweet that twitter is down?” is “Facebook.”

Over the last week and half ago or so, there seems to be a resurgence in blog buzz (bluzz? buzg?) around Evernote. I first recall hearing about it as an alternative to Google’s Notebook product that they ultimately decided to wind down. At the time, I wasn’t too impressed by Google Notebook, so I didn’t pay much attention to Evernote.

So why is Evernote great when Google Notebook was only meh? (more…)

	Phoenix – Long Distance Call
	Found at skreemr.com

According to The Today Show, Google Voice is going into public beta today. Looks like it’s not open yet, but keep checking back. I’ve been using it for quite some time now and enjoy it quite a bit.

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I upgraded you at your request, but ever since, all you’ll say to me is

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class services_json in …/wp-content/plugins/grooveshark/JSON.php on line 116

Why do you hate me so? Have I offended you? Ok, you were getting on my nerves earlier and I may have yelled, but can’t we talk about it?

Grooveshark?

**UPDATE (‘cuz I know you care)** Looks like Grooveshark and Zemanta don’t like one another much, although the Zemanta WordPress server side plugin seems oblivious to Groovershark, Grooveshark seems to get all catty whenever Zemanta is active. It’s really too bad, because I love them both; however, if I have to choose, I’ll probably go with the laid back one that just wants to get along. There’s always Skreemr, right?

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Alright, so I added Twitter Tools which syncs information between here and my Twitter stream but that blew up the Google Reader integration I had in place so now I’m trying a different Google Reader update system hoping that will be better.

Also, Grooveshark isn’t playing nice today, so I’ll kindly ask you to hum Devo’s Working in the Coal Mine to yourself if you miss the post soundtrack. Thanks for your support.

The developers that brought you Google Maps are at it again. Think email + instant messenging + Microsoft SharePoint (but good), and you have the foundation of Google Wave. That foundation is built to support a whole host of things in the future, most of which is yet to even be conceived, much less implemented.

Unfortunately, the video below is an hour and twenty minutes, but it’s filled with wonderful geeky fantasy come true whiz-bang snaziness.

Google Wave Preview.

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• Google Wave has developers buzzing (news.cnet.com)

Grooveshark now has a Wordpress plugin that lets you, er, me add songs and/or playlists to posts. So, I’m going to start to add theme songs to posts for you to listen to while reading. Hokey? Oh yeah. But, I’m easily amused so be prepared.

Ah, one point of clarification… the plugin has been installed for all of two minutes so there’s bound to be some tweaking required. Please bear with me while i fiddle with the knobs, dials, and switches. Also, I suspect it may not work well or at all in the RSS feeds. I guess we’ll find out…

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So you have a WinMo phone (Smartphone or Pocket PC) and you realize that the mobile web interface for Facebook blows. Windows has released a native WinMo app to give you a decent Facebook experience on your Windows Smartphone or Pocket PC. It’s actually pretty good, you should check it out.

Download Facebook | Smartphone and PDA | Windows Mobile Total Access.

It’s just the mobile view of the Google Voice site wedged into a iGoogle gadget, but it’s better than nothing for the iGoogle nuts such as myself.

You can add it to your customized Google homepage from here.

**UPDATE** If you click on the Google Voice label in the iGoogle left navigation bar, you’ll get the full Google Voice web page wedged into the canvas area instead of just the mobile view.

Ah, if only everyone’s Twitter stream was this interesting. Ok, actually, I’d take just one person… anyone… anyone? Anyone have anything worth twittering? I didn’t think so…

Twitter always reminds me of this clip from The Boondocks. Granted the topic is texting, not twittering, but I feel about the same about both in 99% of the cases either is used.

**DISCLAIMER** These videos are not for the easily offended.

If you liked that, check out this related vid…

From Holy Taco via Boing Boing.

Ok, this has been all over the ‘net the last couple days, but I just got my Grand Central account migrated to Google Voice and it is AWESOME!.

My two biggest peeves have been resolved

1. You can turn off announcements so you don’t have to hit any keys to be connected with incoming calls
2. Text messages are now properly passed on to phones you designate as eligible to receive texts

If you don’t know anything about Google Voice (formerly Grand Central), check out Google Voice for more info.

TIME Magazine shows how sharing on Facebook can be creepy…

Below are 25 facts I wish people hadn’t told me about themselves. They come from friends, friends-of-friends, friends-of-friends-of-friends and coworkers. They are all real, though I wish some of them were not.

1. I eat tacos with a fork.
2. I was fat in middle school. The wake of that horror has yet to subside.
3. I keep forgetting that Barack Obama is our President. (See pictures of Obama behind the scenes on Inauguration Day.)
4. I have been pooped on by a monkey.

…

Facebook: 25 Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You – TIME.

Someone has a little too much free time, but I love them for it. Click on the pic for a larger view.

From Holy Taco via Gizmodo.

Alright, so now you know you can find coupons on RetailMeNot, and best prices on sites like PriceGrabber, but do you really want to check all the best prices on the comparison sites against RetailMeNot for coupons? No, no you don’t.

That’s where the deal sites come in to play. There are even more deal sites out there than there are price comparison sites. Some are great, some are little more than advertisements for the retailers the site has affiliate agreements with and the “deals” may not really be all that good.

A good deal site will post cases where low prices can be stacked with other coupons or additional deals that sweeten… um, the deal.

My recommendations are as follows:

• Tech Bargains: mostly tech, quite a few deals posted a day
• Slick Deals: mostly tech, only five to ten deals posted a day outside of the holiday season
• Combyo: a deal aggregation site that collects and reposts deals from multiple other sites
• Deal Catcher: well diversified, many posts per day

Many sites also have forums where members can contribute deals they find. Often if you’re looking for a deal on a specific model, or niche product, searching the forums can be a good place to go hunting.