14 January 2009

'MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - Furniture quality laptop stand'

This is pretty sweet. Too bad I don't have a tap and die set...

You might be interested in MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - Furniture quality laptop stand.

'Marketing: The 10 Most Reliable Car Brands VS Your Preconceived Notions'

Maybe now CR will stop banging Hyundai/Kia...

You will note that the "big three" are in the top 10 on one list, but not ONE American car is on the second one...

You might be interested in Marketing: The 10 Most Reliable Car Brands VS Your Preconceived Notions.

08 January 2009

Woohoo! If you haven't heard, iTunes will be removing DRM from music

Of course, as a final little "f you" they're charging 30c per song for every song you ALREADY bought from them to unlock them.

You might be interested in Apple Shows Us DRM's True Colors | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Awesome graphic of why GM will fail.

You might be interested in Graphic: Why GM Will Still Fail.

28 December 2008

Time to update your AV?

If you are still using commercial AV software, they all seem to be free 3 user licenses this week.

You might be interested in FreeAfterRebate.info.

I say "still" because personally, I am using a corporate version of Symantec from my company on my desktop and my laptops all use "avast!" now. AVG is also free and well recommended. And my servers of course run ClamAV.

18 December 2008

Lighter in a Blender

This is delicious. And a reminder that electric motors are ignition sources!

You might be interested in YesButNoButYes: Lighter in a Blender.

Some GREAT Credit Card law changes

http://consumerist.com/5113129/new-rules-kill-credit-card-industrys-most-abusive-practices

That third one makes me think I will never ever get a balance transfer again... ah, the good ol' days when Discover gave me 0% for the life of the balance and I put 1/3 of my truck and the remainder of my school loans on it... ;)

Unfortunately, they don't take effect until July, 2010. Here's what they are:
  • No more raising rates on existing balances
  • No more double-cycle billing.
  • Any payment above the minimum must automatically apply to the part of the balance with the highest interest.
  • Minimum time before notice of change of terms takes effect goes from 15 to 45 days.
  • Borrowers need reasonable time before a payment is due, at least 21 days
  • No excessive fees for exceeding credit limit because of a hold placed on the account
  • Subprime credit cards that have a $500 credit limit but a big upfront fee will have that fee capped at no more than 50% of the credit limit, and it can be paid off over a year, rather than immediately.

16 November 2008

Dresden Audiobooks

I really liked the short-lived TV show, so I went and got it on audiobook. I'm totally hooked. The company that makes it sells it on MP3 which lets me skip a step. ;) Sadly, it looks like they did the first four and then made a huge jump to the newest (tenth) to keep fans like my friend Colin happy (who has read the rest in hardback). I'm still hesitant to get the latest because I'd really like to hear the story in between. The narrator's really good, I hope they can play catch-up!

Update: Colin sent me this link! Looks like they are, same narrator too.

03 October 2008

Pushing Daisies

If you guys aren't watching this, you may want to. Very funny stuff, in an awesome technicolor setup. And narrated by the guy who read all the Harry Potter books to me.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/pushingdaisies/index?pn=index

Last week was the beginning of season 2, and I believe you can see the entire episode online. The first 3-5 minutes explains the entire backstory to bring you up to speed if you didn't watch season 1.

One of the funniest lines in this one was when it was commented that an image somebody brought up was "an assault on my imagination" - a quote I'll have to remember next time somebody reveals a little TMI.