usability in watches and clocks
I've been subscribed to the Watchismo Times blog for quite some time now after noticing links to it from Boing Boing, one of my staple blog reads. Watchismo describes their content as being "a reliquary of obscure timepieces from bygone eras as well as the cutting edge designs of today." I'd say that's definitely the case; there are some truly...
Geek Bling
All the cool gadgets that I own or want to... [50 entries.]
spaceup! blue
Volkswagen of America unveils a new concept cart - a "green" fuel-cell microbus-like vehicle called "spaceup! blue." First - they had me at "hybrid microbus." Seriously, that's all it takes. Please make one. Please. I will give you my first-born. If you love me, go to the VW website contact page and tell them to make one for me. Second...
Screwing around in photoshop
Making some half-ass wallpapers for my iPhone...
testing blogging from the iphone
I installed the iphone plug-in for movable type. Works good....
I has an iPhone
So in the great clean out, I put my 8 Apple "Think Different" posters up for sale on eBay, and got quite a bit out of them. I believe I paid $80 for them (I think) back in 1999. I'll have to see if blogged about it back then. Anyways, I got $315 for them. Along with invoicing my dad...
Icon Buffet - let me be your referral
So, you like icons, right? Um, they're images you can use for projects, like these: Cool, huh? If you join Icon Buffet, you can get them for free. The fine artists at the site create a couple of sets ever month and distribute them for free, and then you can trade them with other users on the site, like me....
24,000 some songs gone
I took my 200 GB external drive with all of my music on it to CompUSA this weekend to have it put in a new enclosure, because the old one was going bad. I had this happen before to a Maxtor drive - the enclosure doesn't spin the drive fast enough, apparently, so the disk kept crapping out while transferring...
Shadow Garden
I took this video at the frog design party Saturday night of an interesting interactive design project they did....
The Machine is Us
Awesome....
Online, Finally
My new computer arrived this morning! Yay! It's taken all day to get it up and running and online! Boo! Man that was a pain in the neck. Lots of tweaking of settings to get everything ironed out. And I at least have a good idea what I'm doing. For someone who doesn't, that whole process would have sucked. We...
Grrrrrrr.
It's not going to arrive until Tuesday. God, that pisses me off. I deliberately ordered it very early so it would arrive before the long weekend, and I paid for 2 day shipping, which was the fastest possible rate. After getting off the phone with Apple, they've refunded my shipping charges entirely, and they were very apologetic, but it's still...
My New Macbook
Speaking of GeekBling... I ordered a new laptop today for home. I got a 13" white Macbook: 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM-2x1GB 200GB Serial ATA @ 4200 rpm Superdrive 6x No Modem No Optional Software Keyboard/Mac OS Country Kit I'm embarrassed to admit that my current personal device is a graphite iMac, circa April 5, 2000,...
The Apple iPhone
It's pretty - here's a snapshot from the Keynote Address going on right now -- You can read about the address through streaming updates at MacRumorsLive.com I know I was bitching about "smart phones" being too complicated earlier this week, but this is anything but. I can seem this being my next phone/ipod definitely. $499 for 4 gig, and cingular...
Truncated
I finally got wise, and created a new group in my feedreader software called "Truncated" just for people who truncate their posts in their syndication feeds. These are people I love, who are great writers, but the frustration of needing to have a browser window open to read their work is too great, and I have to put them in...
Motorola SLVR Pisses me off
I no sooner got a cool Razr phone, than Motorola came out with the phone I really wanted -- the Slvr, which is very similar, but a bar phone rather than a flip style. Jerks. Every time I see a commercial, I want to accidentally lose my phone so I can get a new one. I hate technology. No, I...
Must post this link...
I just can't stop myself. That's something I never thought of writing down in a public space. I could write something similar, but I'll refrain....
Think Geek's New Products RSS Feed
Think Geek now has an RSS feed for their new products. Good idea! Too bad their entries don't show a picture of the new products, or a description. Bad idea! 3/6/2006 UPDATE: Their feeds now have descriptions, pictures and prices. happy happy, joy joy....
Cell-Phone Etiquette
Wired has the umpteeth article on how to be polite with your cell phone, covering all the stuff that anyone with common sense should be able to figure out without this article, and some of which I wrote myself almost ten years ago. I have to disagree with one point, though: "Don't talk on the phone while you're grocery shopping....
Motorola RAZR Phone
I got a Motorola RAZR phone last night. Stephanie and I upgraded our phones together on a family plan with Cingular, so we could call each other for free any time. She's had the same phone for over four years, and she really needed to upgrade, so we did it together to save money. So anyways, We've both got cool...
Happy Kitty (don't click through and read at work)
A Wired magazine article on a new kind of "massager."...
The Steph Mineart Morning Gazette
Here are all the fine sites I read regularly.
Geek Bling Bag
This guy's got the same idea I do, only he puts together an inexpensive version of the geek bling bag that he could potentially lose if something happened. I thought it was funny that he chose an army navy surplus bag to carry his stuff, too. This guy's got the same thing, too!! I'm obviously a genius. Oh, cool; there's...
Roomba News
A couple links for my girlfriend, who has one of these clever little vacuums. New Roomba Scheduler lets you upgrade your current Roomba! The iRobot Scheduler is a complete scheduling system that can be used with any of our current Roomba productsProgram the days and times and Roomba will clean when you're not at home, at night, once a week...
Roomba
Stephanie bought a Roomba vacuum cleaner this weekend at Target, for half price. It was originally $150, marked down to $75. She needed a vacuum cleaner, and I was looking for a dust buster in the same aisle, so she picked it up. We were busy yesterday, so she didn't have a chance to set it up and test it...
Bush's Real iPod Playlist
Bloggers uncover the truth about what's on Bush's iPod....
Upper Ranks? Who defines these things anyway?
Two articles on the subject of blogging showed up in today's Arts and Letters Daily about how the "Upper ranks" of bloggers are dominated by white males. One article says that it's so and calls for greater diversity. The other article says it's so also, but claims that it's the case because women and minorities either don't hold forth with...
DIY VW Micro Bus
A new Japanese craze is modding a suzuki van to look like a VW Micro Bus. Cool. Since I can't actually get a new microbus (VW decided not to produce the new concept car) I might have to do this, instead. Judging by how many there are, this seems like a pretty big trend over there. I'm going to try...
Make it yourself iPod dock
Piers has a pattern for creating your own iPod dock. It's a PDF file that you download, print out, attach to cardboard and shape to hold your iPod. Pretty fun, and saves you $35....
Xbox.com
I bought an Xbox at lunch today. I got it used, but just barely. The guy who had it played it once and brought it back to exchange for the new Playstation 2. It's the limited edition Halo box, which came with the Halo game and is transparent green. I also got a second controller and the game Fable. And...
This is the reason why I want to be rich....
and why I want to live in a huge house. So I can fill it with stuff this guy makes. Or even stuff from this other guy. Or better yet, I need to start making this kind of stuff myself. Hmmm....
Extremely Cool Kitchen Appliances
Elmira Stove Works makes kitchen appliances that look retro -- 1890's retro or 1950's retro. That is so cool. Damn, I want some money. I need cool appliances, damn it....
Please god, don't let anyone at work see this, or we'll end up with one.
According to the site, "Eric Staller's ConferenceBike is a revolutionary tricycle built for 7 riders sitting in a circle. One person steers while everyone pedals and chats, and has a truly unforgettable ride." Dear god, no. It's worse than our new IRC channel at work....
I'm sorry, but no matter how you slice it, the French are just cool.
From the Guardian: "Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement. Officers admit they are at a loss to know who built or used one of Paris's most intriguing recent discoveries. "We have no idea whatsoever," a police spokesman said." "Members of the force's sports squad,...
Bikes Against Bush creator arrested for "vandalism" for washable chalk drawings
Bikes Against Bush creator Josh Kinberg was arrested on Saturday afternoon after demonstrating the bike for MSNBC (he was being interviewed by Ron Reagan) and the NYPD: Torrent of video from DV Guide After seeing that demonstration and being assured the chalk was easily removed from the sidewalk with water, officers consulted with their superiors, placed Josh under arrest, and...
1982 Video Game high scorers...
Boing Boing has a really great post on Life magazine's 1982 magazine spread on the hot teen craze, arcade video gaming, with the best of the arcade gamers meeting at the Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa to battle it out for the high score. The picture they have of the geek kids is pretty classic, but what's even better...
Bottle Cap Tripod
This home-made tripod is very cool; I think I'll put one of these together just to carry around. It fits on a regular soda bottle....
I totally want to do this...
How to make a home made flame thrower out of PVC pipe....
iPAL Portable Jukebox for iPod
From a review on the Cool Tools website of the Tivoli PAL unit, this cool little box is $129.99 from Amazon.com, which can plug into your iPod for an portable stereo experience. "Several readers turned me onto the Tivoli PAL unit. This is a weatherized, rubber-coated radio/speaker that accepts an iPod (or any other music device with a mini-plug). The...
Geek Bling
So I was watching Ellen, and she had a rapper on and they were talking about bling, and how he had to remember to put on all his bling before he left the house, and I realized that I have to do the same thing... only my bling isn't jewelry; it's my iPod, digital camera, cell phone, car stereo face,...
need... more... science...
Adding "leap seconds" to the atomic clock to correct the time could have far reaching implications for GPS navigation, including air traffic control, which can endanger planes. This is one of those articles I had to read a couple of times before I got it. In my defense, I have not yet had any caffeine this morning....
iPod/iSync -- it's a beautiful thing
I just finished updating my address book on my laptop computer with all the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses I currently have. Then I opened the iSync program, and it sync'ed up all my information with the address book on my iPod, and with the address book on my computer at home. Now when I get a new...
Why Cell Phones are Banned in Hospitals
Although the story of a child dying during a minor operation due to cell phone use is an urban legend, there have been numerous cases of problems created by cell phones in hospitals, especially in emergency rooms and surgical areas. This was one of the things I wondered about during my recent hospital stay....
DVR and "the Office"
I got a Digital Video Recorder the other day as part of my regular digital cable package. I can record 50 hours of TV digitally using the program guide, record two shows at the same time, watch picture-in-picture, and various other cool things. This kicks ass. And fortunately is only a slight addition to my digital cable bill. Of course...
Geek Test
So, how strong is your inner geek? Take the Test and find out. My results: 54.26824% - Super Geek. I swear: here's the proof....
titanium powerbook with MacOS X
On a brighter note, my titanium powerbook with MacOS X just arrived. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I have a bright shiny new toy to play with....
extended keyboard
Yeah! I got an extended keyboard here at work to replace the small macintosh keyboard that came with the G3. I now have a forward delete key!!! Also, no more fat-finger misspellings....
Phone service finally works
Phone service finally works. Also... I love ebay.com almost as much as I love Amazon.com....
White Elephant Gift Exchange at Buca Di Beppo's
Dinner at Buca's wasn't the raucous blow-out that it was in years past, but it was still great fun. I got a t-shirt with Geupel's picture on it. Maybe I can use it to pick up chicks with Westies, like in the commercial. :) Now if I can just get a house, I'll have the shirt and the house to...
My New iMac
On March 15th, I bought a new iMac Special Edition, and an Artec scanner. On March 31, I bought a CD Burner. So I have been very busy. Unfortunately, not working on my webpage. Mostly, I've been getting everything set up, scanning in artwork, and making CDs. I've started scanning in chapters of my favorite book, Curious Myths of the...
Commonplacebook.com is the personal website of 
