Bonus Day? Time to Kill? Fun Websites To Visit

Tech Expert Segment for 20080229

Happy Leap Year! What to do with this bonus day that comes but once every four years? Spend it online... check out these fun websites:

Meebo / meebo.com -- You know the problem… you’ve got a few friends on one instant messaging client, some on others – Meebo.com brings them all together into a single website. Handy for those that might have trouble with the traditional IM clients downloaded to your computer, perhaps banned by your company or school’s network settings – meebo.com makes it easy. Networks supported: MSN, AOL/ICQ, Yahoo, and GTalk/Jabber. Bonus points for registering: Ability to save chat logs, single sign-in, and customization.

Buzzillions / buzzillions.com – Before you buy anything online, it’s good to get the good, bad and the ugly from those who have ventured through the checkout path before. Are the shoes true to size? Does that product really do what it’s designed to do? Did you have any problems? Consumer reviews are a powerful force. A leader in product ratings online is Power Reviews and their consumer site Buzzillions.com brings this data to potential buyers. The same folks that power sites from big players such as REI, Toys-R-Us and Brookstone – present the shopping site buzzillions.com. Features to look for: Narrow search results by various criteria, compare brands, upload customer images. Unique: Buzzillions users have, for the most part, actually bought the product they’re reviewing.

Pandora / pandora.com – Pandora creates a radio station tailored to your tastes. By selecting songs and artists you like, the online service selects other music based on hundreds of criteria in the Music Genome Project. The service is free and doesn’t require you to load a player – it works right in your browser. The more songs you review the better it predicts what else you might like. Limitations: It’s not a music-on-demand service, so you can’t play a particular song or request only songs from one artist, given rights issues – only US customers can play, a bummer if you travel. Favorite feature: Thumbs-up, Thumbs-down ratings are super-simple.

Yelp / yelp.com – Looking to check out that new neighborhood restaurant? Want to try a new night club? Want to share your review with friends and get their feedback? Social Networking meets local community reviews with Yelps slick interface, intuitive navigation and the ability to add darn near everything in your ‘hood. Seattle’s a focus city, so you may not find the same level of detail if you’re visiting, say Peoria.

Woot! / woot.com – Looking for a bargain? Don’t really care what the bargain is? Look to woot! Woot offers exactly one product (most days) and each customer can buy up to three of this item each day. When the item is gone, it’s gone… some products can sell out in hours or even minutes and are generally electronics or related gizmos. Sign up for various woot! notification services to have new products sent to you daily. Caveat: Return policy restrictive, shipping can be somewhat slow.

Etsy / etsy.com – The “ebay for handmade products” allows anyone to sell homemade products to others online. Unlike Ebay, which sells anything to anyone, Etsy focuses only on handmade products. One real benefit to this site, as opposed to buying from some of the larger mass-merchants, is that you can focus your search on those items made right in your area – perhaps you’re limiting your carbon footprint or just want to support local artists. Another neat feature – search by color. How clever is this? The site offers the ability to pick a color and it will find products that match that color. Wouldn’t you have loved to have this feature the last time you were decorating a room or in search of the “something blue” at a wedding

Chegg / chegg.com – Why buy when you can rent? Textbooks are an expensive part of any education. Now various online sites are providing an alternative to the full-price of retail stores. One site, chegg.com allows students to rent a textbook for a semester or quarter. That econ text that costs over 150 bucks? Just one-third of that for a quarter – $60 if you need it for the semester. When you’re done? Print a pre-paid shipping label and send it back. Eco-friendly bonus: Chegg.com plants a tree for every book rented!

Prosper / prosper.com – Need some cash? Got some to lend? Prosper.com matches lenders and borrowers. Giving borrowers the opportunity to bid on the loan, value, and rate you want to receive – lenders select the max. interest rate they’re willing to pay. Prospective lenders have insight into the credit rating (through an obfuscated grade) for a better idea of the risk involved. Sign up at: http://www.prosper.com/join/brianseattle

Grand Central / grandcentral.com -- One number. Doesn’t that sound great? Sign up for a Grand Central account and you are assigned a number. This number, when called, will ring all your phones, give callers the ability to leave you a voicemail that you can listen to online and the ability to switch calls mid-conversation. Personalize voicemail greetings – (tell the boss you’re working when you’re really out goofing off). Big Brother Add-on: Record calls during a conversation.


Of course, if you've got others... pass them along or post in the comments for all to enjoy! Happy Leap Day Portland!

YouTube: Super Mario Bros. Inside Edition (1988)

Bill O'Reilly hosts an Inside Edition broadcast featuring a classic review of the Super Mario Bros. game from 1988. With all the talk about Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 -- it's a nostalgic look at how far video games have come.

(I still have my 8-bit Nintendo, perhaps I'll dust it off and play a game of Super Mario Bros. on my 42" Plasma HDTV. ;-) Who wants to be Luigi?)

Tech Check for 26 Feb: MacBook Updates, Google Chatback, Hotmail Outage

The MacBook and it's bigger brother get a boost today, Microsoft Windows Live services take a mid-day siesta and Google Talk goes micro on Tech Check for 26 Feb 2008.

Apple launched updates to its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines today. Adding 802.11n (faster WiFi), faster Core 2 Duo processors and larger storage are among the features. Jump on over to the online Apple Store to learn more.

Throughout much of the day users of Microsoft's Windows Live Services experienced outages. Users of Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger -- along with other online applications -- found themselves unable to access mail and instant message tools today. The new Windows Server 2008 operating system, which runs the services and launches to the public tomorrow, is said to not be at fault.

Finally to round out what is apparently a look at the big three today, Google launched a micro version of its Google Talk Gadget. Called "Chatback" it allows website developers to place a small bit of code on a web page enabling users to interact with the site creator via. Google Talk. Google's Official Blog has more on the enhancement.

Your feedback is always welcome! Email: techexpert (at) brianwestbrook (dot) com

Oscars Sighting: Jon Stewart's iPhone

Viewers of the 80th Annual Academy Awards saw Jon Stewart using his iPhone on stage. Watching Lawrence of Arabia on his "new media" device, Stewart explained that movies were even better in wide screen.

Any speculation on how much Apple paid for the iPhone product placement?

Enjoy the show!

Tech Check for 22 Feb: Vista SP1 Leaked, Frozen Decryption,

Microsoft creates Service Pack Confusion, encryption gets bit by frost and a Northwest company makes a purchase on Tech Check for 22 Feb 2008.

When Microsoft announced it had finished the service pack update for its Windows Vista operating system -- but that users wouldn't see it for over a month -- confusion set in. Add to the rather mysterious launch plans new reports that the update is being made available to some users ahead of schedule. What's more, there are reports of requisite rebooting (an infinite loop in some cases) and incompatible software. Read more here, here and here.

MSNBC.com has a story on how hackers can bypass hard drive encryption with a blast of cold air. The results are somewhat alarmning and a good reminder that physical security is your best bet. In other words: Don't leave a laptop with sensitive data someplace thieves could get at it. Like your car.

Finally as we head into the weekend some business news. Northwest company Real Networks buys TryMedia. Of note? More fun and games!

Enjoy the weekend... we'll be back Monday with more on Tech Check.

Tech Check for 21 Feb: Microsoft Opens Up, Hackers Localize, and Unlimited Mobile Plans

Microsoft releases previously closely-held secrets, hackers want linguists, and mobile phone providers match Verizon's unlimited mobile phone plan today on Tech Check for 21 Feb 2008.

Microsoft announced earlier today plans to release details of application programming interface (API) software. The deal, met with skepticism from open source advocates and an anti-trust aware European Union, has Microsoft sharing previously tight-knit secrets to help developers interface with their software. Open source advocates are concerned the announcement doesn't go far enough. Meanwhile, the EU is cautiously optimistic.

Know a foreign languauge? Good at software development? A recent AP story describes the latest efforts among hackers and virus writers to recruit foreign language skills to target specific countries. Applications being accepted now.

Finally in the news -- how about an unlimited mobile phone plan? AT&T and T-Mobile have matched a previous Verizon announcement launching a frenzy of unlimited mobile plans. Fairly soon, anyone paying more than $100 for monthly cell phone service will be paying too much.

That's your look at tech news for Thursday... more tomorrow on Tech Check.


Further reading:

• MSNBC: Hackers recruit for local language skills
• CNET: Unlimited plans may spark mobile price war

Tech Check for 20 Feb: Community Gaming, Cheaper Shuffles, Boycotting Auctions

Microsof announces community gaming at Game Developer's Conference, Apple slashes Shuffle price, and Ebay sellers boycott over fees and feedback... today's Tech check for 20 Feb 2008.

Microsoft is putting you in charge. Tentatively called the Xbox Live Community, the objective is to let user's submit their games for community review. Once the pass the peer test, they're made available for other users. Think Ebay meets Youtube in the gaming world... watch for more from the 2008 Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco. (Check out Evan Ackerman's 2008 GDC coverage at OhGizmo.com, including this kick-off report from today's keynote.)

Apple yesterday announced a new smaller price for their smallest iPod -- a mere $49. The iPod Shuffle 1G which holds about 240 songs and does not contain a screen drops $30 and gains a big brother with a 2G version, expected later this month, for $69. Find colors, details and order yours here.

This week many Ebay sellers have agreed to neither post nor purchase on the popular auction site. KOMO-TV has the story. Will this have any effect on the auction site? Will buyers and sellers flock to alternatives?

Stay tuned for more tomorrow... on Tech Check.