Tag Archive for Technology

April Fool's Day roundup

April 1, 2008 Reluctant Business, Comedy, Technology

Google + Virgin = VirgleIt’s kind of become tradition in the technology industry to put out a fake announcement on April 1 of some cool experimental technology that will revolutionize the industry and is usually completely implausible.  Google always leads the way.  Today is no exception as they have already started pouring in.

And there are so many more that I am unaware of.  It seems everyone is doing some type of April Fool’s joke in the tech community.

Google has been the king of these pranks.  A few past Google announcements from April 1:

  • Google TISP: Google Wireless Broadband through the sewer system. TISP = Toilet Internet Service Provider. (my favorite)
  • Gmail Paper: Order your emails printed and shipped to you by Google
  • Gmail Custom Time: Customize the time you send an email

Checkout a list of all Goolge’s Hoaxes.

No comments , ,

iPhone scriptures (and more)

February 25, 2008 Reluctant Holidays, Internet, iPhone, LDS Life, Personal, Random, Technology, Web Development

I’ve reviewed the iPhone in the past and although I love the device, it has it’s problems and I have my pet peeves.  One of the cons I mentioned in my review was a lack of third-party applictions.  And although I am waiting with baited breath for the iPhone SDK (promised by end of February), which will bring third-party apps, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the online applications inspired by the iPhone.

Within the first few days oh having my iPhone, I went looking for the scriptures online.  But not just the scriptures. I wanted something that was optimized for the iPhone so I wasn’t waiting for several minutes in Church for a verse to load.  I found a decent application at MountainMighty.com ScripturesApp.com.  This little site provides not only a the scriptures formatted for the iPhone, but handy tools like bookmarks, community bookmarks and searching.  Just recently though, they outdid themselves by adding the current Elder’s Quorum and Relief Society lesson manual as well as the words to the hymns.  I’ve been wanting the hymns for a while and although the manual is available on lds.org it’s much more bulky and hard to navigate.  So thank you Chuck!

» Read more..

2 comments , ,

Google adds Greater Salt Lake Area to Street View

February 16, 2008 Reluctant Internet, New Technology, Society

Ratchet up the stocker fears.  Google has just released Street View for Salt Lake (including Utah and Davis Counties).

Some of you may recognize the following locations.  I’ll post about the fears and privacy concerns later.

» Read more..

No comments , ,

High Definition DVD – is it ready for you?

January 12, 2008 Reluctant Electronics, Gadgets, New Technology, Technology

Perhaps you’ve heard of Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Bly-ray and HD-DVD are competing technologies for the next generation in home video. The video and audio coming from these technologies is incredible. Can you tell the difference… nope. They are pretty much the same. And as home video tech goes, welcome to the latest format war.

» Read more..

No comments

Google Apps rocks!

January 6, 2008 Reluctant Business, Internet, New Technology, Technology

Recently, I got a new server. While trying to get the email handling installed, I became very frustrated. Not only did managing the email consume a majority of my server administration time, but it took a lot of bandwidth just dealing with the spam I received. Because I’ve had my main domain (acucore.com) for over 7 years, it gets a large amount of spam.

Google AppsBut with the introduction of IMAP for Google Email (including their free gmail.com email service), Google has opened up a whole new world for me. In addition to the gmail.com service, Google has a service called Google Apps (previously Google Apps for Your Domain). It allows you to use several Google services (including email, calendaring and docs) with your own domain. This is ideal for small businesses.

» Read more..

No comments , ,

Where is the world is Santa?

December 24, 2007 Reluctant Computers, Family, Internet, New Technology, Technology

Google Earth tracks SantaEver wanted to know exactly where Santa is on Christmas Eve? Well, usually you would have to wait for the news or something similar. But this year, the traditional Santa trackers (NORAD) and Google have teamed up to give you the best way to track Santa.

Santa can now be tracked through Google Earth. If you don’t have Google Earth installed, click that link to download it. Then visit NoradSanta.org to download the tracker link. It will open in Google Earth and a nice 3D graphic of Santa and his reindeer will display and he will continue to move throughout the world. If you don’t want to download Google Earth, then NoradSanta.org has an embedded map that will update when Santa moves. But Google Earth updates much more often and is far cooler.

He’s already started and is in Ethiopia as I type. Not only is this a lot of fun for the kids, but it’s a great world geography lesson too!

Enjoy!

PS. For an interesting history on how NORAD started tracking Santa, check out the Wikipedia article.

No comments , , , ,

iPhone Review

August 1, 2007 Reluctant Electronics, Family, Gadgets, iPhone, New Technology, Technology

iPhoneAs I mentioned before, I succumbed to the seduction that is the Apple iPhone. Two coworkers purchased it the day it was released and I promptly began drooling over the device. The beauty of the screen and the ease of the interface lured me to it. I couldn’t help myself and visited the AT&T store the following Saturday.

Of course, my wife wanted one as well, but that meant $500 x 2. Ouch! So we decided that I would get one and if she really liked it and felt she still wanted one, we could get her one later.

I came home and promptly connected it to iTunes to activate. The activation process was painless and within 10-15 minutes (mostly downloading the new version of iTunes) I was up and running with my new iPhone.

That was about 3 weeks ago and so I’ve had plenty of time to try it out. Here’s my evaluation:

» Read more..

One comment ,
  Recent Entries »