Gmail down for 2 hours Monday Afternoon
Posted By RichC on August 11, 2008
Let’s hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. Quite a few people are now hooked on Gmail as their primary email address.
Politics: Be the first to know
Posted By RichC on August 11, 2008
Although I’m not planning to send my mobile phone number to the Barack Obama for President campaign, I thought this was an interesting way to broadcast the Vice Presidential running mate campaign choice announcement. Technology is changing the way we keep abreast the latest information.
Be the First to Know
Barack is about to choose a running mate, and he wants you to know first. You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be part of this important moment. Sign up ‘here’ today and we’ll send you an email announcing Barack’s running mate.You can also text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.
Mouthy French swimmers ‘eat crow’
Posted By RichC on August 11, 2008
We have once again spent our evening watching NBC’s coverage of the Olympics from Beijing China. For a second night we’ve watch the impressive Michael Phelps swim, although this time as a team of four U.S. men battled the favored French 4x 100M relay swimmers. The American team had a little extra inspiration preceding Sunday night’s race, as French world record holder Alain Bernard commented that the French relay squad would “smash” the Americans. Eat crow moi ami.
The Americans “smashed” the 4x100M relay record as anchor swimmer Jason Lezak outtouch the 100M world record holder Alain Bernard of France. The last 100M leg saw Lezak nearly a full body distance behind Bernard only to dig hard to win the race for “our” guys. The U.S. team took Gold with a 3:08.24 time ahead of the French. Way to go U.S. Olympic Swim team!
Gold Medal ceremony for Men’s 4x100M Relay team
Watching the Olympics 2008, Beijing, China
Posted By RichC on August 10, 2008
Instead of renting a movie, we watched swimming (and some beach volleyball) coming from China Saturday night here, Sunday morning there. My wife being a swimmer has been looking forward to rooting for Michael Phelps, so without objection I sat politely to watch his impressive performance … as did President Bush, although he in person. Phelps, who was favored, won his first gold this 29th Olympiad in the ‘Men’s 400m Individual Medley’ breaking the world record. Lazslo Cseh of Hungary won the silver and Ryan Lochte of the U.S. the bronze. Impressive.
Conserve fuel, inflate your tires
Posted By RichC on August 9, 2008
A little local political humor in hopes to drum up business …
😀
“Asked at a St. Louis town hall last week how people could contribute to the effort to conserve fuel, Obama said that steps such as inflating tires to the correct levels could make a difference. Republicans have seized on the comment to suggest that the advice on tires was the sum total of the energy plan put forth by Obama.” — LINK
Sen. McCain and Straight Talk Express drive by
Posted By RichC on August 8, 2008
Senator John McCain was speaking in the neighborhood next door at 7 PM Thursday night (Four Bridges in Liberty Township, OH), so when they headed out we all made fools of ourselves and waved as the Straight Talk Express bus as it drove by our back driveway … pretty cool to have someone running for President of the United States drive by your house!
Of course not all were waving in support — LINK.
🙁
The Palm Centro — a Timex® like cellphone
Posted By RichC on August 7, 2008
Here’s a great cellphone story that was published over at the more national Palm blog, but it actually comes from my neck of the woods. The customer email praises the durability of the Centro, which reflects politively on at least one of Palms’ designs; both my wife and daughter should feel good to have such a solid little smartphone. They are also in significant company since 2-million Centros have been sold in less than a year!
Takes a licking, keeps on clicking
Built-in QWERTY keyboard: check.
One-hand navigation: check.
Instant ringer-off switch: check.
Ability to survive a fall from a super-duper roller coaster ride followed by a drenching in the pouring rain: check?
It wasn’t exactly in the product spec, but one Palm Centro user in Ohio shared this story about how his Centro survived all that and still works as good as new.
I own a Palm Centro through Sprint and wanted to tell you how amazingly well it’s made. On Friday, I was at our local amusement park, King’s Island. While on a roller coaster, my Palm Centro fell out of my pocket, flew through the air, and landed on the roof of a building.
When I got off the ride, I told the workers about it and they said they would get it after the park closed. A half-hour after I lost my Palm Centro, a torrential thunderstorm swept in and soaked my unprotected phone. I knew it was ruined.
On Monday afternoon, I drove back to King’s Island and checked in the Lost & Found to see if they had recovered my phone. They had! I took it home, charged it up, and believe it or not, it’s as good as new.
You should be really proud of your product. I’m so glad I chose the Palm Centro for my phone.
-Stephen H.
Volkswagen considers roadster again
Posted By RichC on August 6, 2008
Although Volkswagen fans have been tempted with thoughts of a two place VW roadster before, we are once again seeing the plans and a prototype being resurrected. Autoweek put out a few details that have me wondering if I really want to put any more money into my MGB. According to the article, “VW chairman Martin Winterkorn is planning to unveil a concept version of the lightweight two-seater at the Los Angeles show in November. If public opinion is positive, the new car could be in showrooms by 2011.”
The “cut-rate Lotus Elise” design will offer a mid engine design with “GTI levels of acceleration — 0 to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds.” It will also offer excellent fuel economy with engines option from a 170 HP 1.4 liter twin turbocharger TSI gasoline fuel powerplant to the 125 HP 1.6 liter TDI diesel and be linked a seven-speed DSG transmission. I’ll bet some of the hyper-miler types will be able to squeeze some pretty impressive fuel efficiency out of a 2200 pound car and the TDI powerplant.
No “tinyurl.com” at Panera Bread WiFi
Posted By RichC on August 6, 2008
Hmm … I stumble upon this irritation today while having lunch at Panera Bread. In the past it has been a enjoyable lunch stop when on the road in different cities as I can check and respond to emails, etc. Unfortunately it has been getting more and more difficult to access what you want, when you want at more and more public hotspots — including hotels. Not only does Panera Bread limit users to 30 minutes access during the day, but they are also blocking certain domains. One example is the site “tinyurl.com” which has become a popular way to share long cumbersome links. Many users of email groups, forums and the popular Twitter have adopted URL shortening, but unfortunately Panera customers will not be able to access them.
Pet peeve number two has to do with the 30 minutes of access as today I was in the middle of updating a GoogleDocs online spreadsheet and zap … no more access. Grrr. (BTW, I’ve tried KLC Consulting’s SMAC 2.0 in order to switch my MAC address and ‘steal’ another free 30 minutes, but the ‘trial version’ doesn’t work with OS Vista)
Commentary on Volkswagen’s new small SUV
Posted By RichC on August 6, 2008
Volkswagen’s 2009 small SUV, the Tiguan, hasn’t exactly taken North America by storm, but at least VW finally has a vehicle to compete with Honda’s CRV and Toyota’s Rav4. I wouldn’t say that Volkswagen has struck out with the Tiguan, but in my opinion they have at least two strikes against them. After owning a 1998 Toyota Rav4 for 11 years (my wife’s car), the functionality of the Tiguan falls significantly behind even the older Rav4. I was surprise at how small the space was behind the hatchback fifth door compared to the sideways opening door of our “boxier” Rav4; from what I could tell, there looked to be about as much cargo space as a VW Golf. (Speaking of VW Golf, check out the next generation A6 VW Golf.)
Strike two for me was the price. The Tiguan window stickers I glanced at were all close to or over $30,000 mark. This is pretty steep for a small compact SUV and parallels what one might expect from competitors mid-sized SUVs. That said, sitting in any seat was very comfortable and along with the huge sunroof and non-plastic feel, I wouldn’t mind at least test driving one — but I’ll wait for the TDI diesel!
Here’s what the folks at Motorweek had to say:
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.