Great use of an RSS feed

I've been trying to locate a Nintendo Wii over the past week and have been frustrated that even 3 months after its release, Wii's are still incredibly hard to find. Since I don't have the time or patience to go stand in line outside of a store on a day that they are supposed to have a shipment of Wii's like some people...I have been relying on some Nintendo Wii Tracking websites to find one for me.

I subscribed to 3 different website's RSS feeds that were supposed to track the online inventory of numerous websites to alert users when a Nintendo Wii becomes available for purchase. After only 3 days of viewing these RSS feeds...and finding nothing except the silly Wii bundles that include numerous games and/or worthless protection programs or SD cards...the trackers notified me this afternoon that Amazon.com had the Wii in stock!



Luckily I happened to be sitting at my computer at the time of these alerts, because as you can see from the tracker messages in the image above, the Amazon.com inventory was depleted in only 4 minutes.

I was, however, able to get an order in during those 4 minutes and get free shipping as well. So now I have to wait for my Wii to be delivered...but at least I can stop the phone calls to stores and constant on-line checking in an attempt to locate a Wii.

Tiger Direct doesn't know Vista

I just got the following email advertisement from TigerDirect.com and wanted to extend a word of warning to anyone else who might have seen this...or similar offers.

This advertisement is for a "Vista Laptop" for $600. Sounds like a pretty good deal, huh?



From TigerDirect's description, it definately sounds like a good laptop. Who wouldn't want all of the new Vista features, right?

Notice that in the screenshot above, TigerDirect.com is advertising the "breathtaking Aero visual interface" as well as "Flip 3D".

However, if you read the details closely...or at least look at the top image, you'll see that this laptop only comes with Windows Vista Home Basic. The Home Basic version of the operating system DOES NOT include either the Aero visual interface OR the Flip 3D feature.

See the following from Microsoft's website:

You only get those advanced features if you get Home Premium or Ultimate. NOT the Basic version.

I can imagine that there will be quite a few disappointed shoppers who will order this budget laptop expecting all the new bells & whistles...only to find that they are running a stripped down version of the Vista operating system.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Stephanie threw me a surprise b-day get together for my 27th birthday.



She convinced me that we were going to a "Solon Teacher's night out" at The Boneyard. I had no idea what she had been planning until walking in and seeing my friends waiting for us.

Dan, Me, Ivan, Seth, and Jeff getting our race on. Seth won...but only because I crashed into a wall at the last turn.

Seth, Me, Ivan, and Jeff.

I even gave Dance Dance Revolution a shot. Wow, did I make a fool out of myself.

How lovely it is

The view out my window this afternoon. Ick...