Spring Break in Tarpon Springs

Click below for pictures from our spring break vacation to Tarpon Springs, FL

2009_04_11 - Tarpon Springs

I also put up some video clips here.

City view

Not to be outdone by the city views from my brothers' apartments in NJ & NYC, here's a shot of the Key Tower in downtown Cleveland taken from my condo in Twinsburg.



Granted it's no NYC skyline, and I only have this view when the trees don't have any leaves on them, but it's still neat to see the tallest building in Ohio from my front window.

In case you're wondering, the Key Tower is just over 17 miles away from my condo.

New Years week in Tampa

Click the album cover below for pictures from our trip to Tampa:

2008_12_29 Tampa

Holidays in Toledo

Click the album below for pictures from Hanukkah and Christmas in Toledo:

2008_12_23 Holidays in Toledo

Foxy

I've spotted a lot of wildlife in my backyard but was still impressed to see a red fox hanging out behind my condo this weekend.

AP news reader for Blackberry

One of my favorite Blackberry apps is the Wall Street Journal mobile reader. I just recently found the AP News mobile reader, which appears to be very similar (probably from the same developers) to the WSJ application. The AP News reader looks like it's actually formatted for a taller screen, such as the Storm.

Just remember to shut these news reader apps down when you're done with them, as the constant polling for new articles will drain your battery.

Google really likes Toledo

Google has just rolled out an update to the Google Maps Street View system that includes "almost the entire US".

However, in looking at the coverage of Ohio, the coverage of Cleveland seems to be sorely falling behind Toledo:



As you can see by the coverage map, the entire Toledo area, including surrounding communities is included in Google Street View. However, for Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, the surrounding areas are not nearly as thoroughly covered.

The Google driver who covered the Marietta area made some very interesting designs, but what is there in Southeastern Ohio to photograph?

Sidenote: Some of the paths that that Google has covered are kind of interesting. Sometimes, they'll just drive in a straight line and then the coverage will just stop. Other times, you can see that they do a circular path and then must have headed back the way they came. And other times it looks like the Google cars just go on random road trips.

Should we rely on the cloud?

I've been playing with the new Live Mesh service from Microsoft and like what I see so far. Live Mesh is an synchronization, collaboration, cloud-based storage service that allows you to access files (and even the computers themselves) from any other mesh-connected computer (or Windows Mobile phone) or via the Mesh web-based desktop. Apparently Microsoft is going to be opening up the Mesh environment to application developers, so it's only a matter of time until we start to see third party applications designed to run on the mesh platform.

For now, this seems great. Microsoft is giving away 5 GB of online storage that can be configured to sync up with any number of computers so that you always have access to the most current copy of your files - even if you're not actually on one of your computers. It also has some very nice collaboration features that allow you to define readers and contributors to your shared folders.

However, how much should we rely on Microsoft to keep this service perpetually in operation? I have used numerous other sites that were supposed to accomplish this very concept - although none of them did it quite as impressively as Live Mesh.

Take, for instance, AOL's XDrive utility. XDrive accomplished a lot of the same functions that Live Mesh does - shared storage across multiple computers with the ability to share your files with others. They even built client side apps that would mount your XDrive cloud-based storage as a drive on your computer.

However, take a look at the email to the right, which I just received from AOL today. [note: I removed the non-pertinent paragraphs from the screenshot]

The XDrive service, which AOL billed as a place to "Back up your valuable files" and to "Conveniently access all your files from anywhere", will be dead as of 1/12/09. According to AOL, "It is never an easy decision to shut down a feature, especially one like Xdrive that some of our members have used for a long time. But we have to look carefully at all of the products supported by AOL to ensure we’re providing as much value to our customers as possible."

So in typical business speak, they're trying to make it sound like they are doing their best to provide value to their customers while reducing the value that they are providing to their customers. Amazing, huh? Apparently they never realized that giving away 5GB of free disk space to anyone that wanted it could get really, really expensive. Now that the economy is in the can, they're trying to cut costs by eliminating this free service.

So, does this bode well for the Live Mesh service? Is Microsoft more reliable than AOL to continuously support their applications? I would think so, however, see another email that I just got recently - this time from Microsoft.

"As a valued MSN Groups or MSN Communities Web Folders customer, we want to notify you that the MSN Groups service will close on February 21, 2009"

Hmm....so Microsoft isn't above shutting down their online storage / collaboration environments either! MSN Groups is (was) another service that provides a lot of the same functionality of Live Mesh - online storage and collaboration. Granted, MSN Groups was painfully lacking in shared storage (3 MB or so...), so as a document repository, it was practically worthless. However, as Microsoft pushes users to rely on cloud-based storage, and soon cloud-based operating systems, we have to consider how much we can rely on these companies to maintain and preserve the cloud that they are asking us to trust with our valuable files.

My old doc is off to (re) join the Army

I just heard on the news that my doctor that I went to when I lived in Westlake is heading to Fort Hood, Texas to re-join the Army.

Apparently he served in the 1970's and celebrated Veteran's Day today by announcing his return to active duty.  

Kudos to Dr. Caravella, but it makes me recall some headlines from a few years ago about recalling troops who had left the service.  I just hope this was a personal decision and isn't a sign that our military is really desperate for doctors.

Google Video Chat

Video chat has been available for quite some time now via AIM. However, as more and more services move inside the browser, I guess it was only a matter of time until Google integrated it right into the Gmail/GTalk system.

I don't even have a web-cam to try it out, but certain family members have asked me about video chatting and it looks like this would be a very easy, free way to accomplish it. Not to mention that it's run by Google, so it'll probably work quite well.

On a side note, does anyone else remember when AOL Quick Buddy / AIM Express first came along and allowed you to chat with just a web browser? Impressive how far we've come since then...

"Hey, I hear you're looking for a caddie. I'm Tiger Woods — pleased to meet you."

Which is cooler? The fact that some random guy from New Jersey had Tiger Woods as his caddy for a round of golf at Torrey Pines or that they had a pimped out Buick golf cart?

Edit: Sorry for the broken image. Why do news sites insist on taking down their content? Don't they know that disk space is cheap?

Copyright laws don't apply to the GOP?

Apparently McCain doesn't think that the DMCA should apply to him.

Thankfully, Google disagrees.

A run on rabbit ears

While in Buffalo this weekend, I happened to be in numerous electronics stores while getting my grandpa all setup with a new 42" plasma tv.

I was highly amused at the drama that unfolded at these stores due to the recent fight between Lin Broadcasting and Time Warner cable. Apparently Lin Broadcasting, which owns the Buffalo CBS affiliate station, is hurting financially...just like everyone else. Their plan to increase revenue is to start charging Time Warner for the re-broadcast rights for their CBS station. Time Warner, however, refuses to pay, citing the fact that the CBS affiliate broadcasts for free over the air, and thus should be free for everyone.

Since no resolution could be agreed upon, Time Warner took CBS off the air for their cable customers. For most people, this wouldn't be a very big deal...they might just have to miss an episode of the Amazing Race or David Letterman. However, because the Bills game is on CBS...the citizens of Buffalo had quite a problem with the missing channel in their tv lineup.

The solution, of course, to watch the game without your cable company is to purchase an old fashioned tv antenna. Time Warner was even kind enough to pass out antennas for free to customers that braved the extremely long lines and short distribution hours. For those who didn't get their free antenna from Time Warner, you could purchase an antenna for up to $20 and be reimbursed by the cable company.

However, good luck finding a tv antenna at any electronics stores in the greater Buffalo area. During the weekend, I was at Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, as well as 3 different Radio Shacks. Did any of them have rabbit ears in stock? Nope.

I don't know how long this standoff between the local CBS affiliate and Time Warner will last, but I'm tempted to buy a bunch of tv antenna in Cleveland and then drive to Buffalo and sell them for a profit. Actually, maybe Lin Broadcasting should do that as yet another revenue source...

I despise Mail-In rebates

I hate mail-in rebates. Let's get that out of the way right up front.

However, if the deal is good enough, I've been known to put up with the hassles of the MIR to get a few bucks off when buying tech items.

I've been looking for a good deal on a 1TB external hard drive for a while, so when I saw the following deal for a 1TB external drive for $90 after rebate, it caught my attention.

However, when you view the rebate form needed to get the $50 MIR, the chance of actually receiving the $50 seems to be slightly less than a snowballs chance in hell.

Check out the crazy hoops that you must jump through to get your rebate.

1) You must visit the rebate website and register your rebate to get a Claim ID
2) You must write down the Claim ID on the envelope (the claim ID isn't even on the rebate form)
3) You must mail in the rebate form (filled out in ALL CAPS) by 10/30/08.

(The purchase requirements are 9/12/08 - 9/30/08, so if you buy the drive on 9/30/08, you have 1 month to receive your item, decide you're going to keep it, and get to this step in the rebate process.)

4) You must wait until 12/11/08 and then you have a one month window (12/11/08 - 1/9/08) to go back to the rebate website and "verify" your information.

(According to the form, "In order for the money to be sent, you must check the status online to assure the information is valid.")

5) Then you must "allow 8 weeks from the postmark deadline date to receive your rebate"

(If you're thinking that 8 weeks after the postmark deadline date is during the one month online verification window, you would be correct...12/25/08)

If this all doesn't sound sketchy enough for you, if you read the bottom of the rebate form, it says "By submitting this rebate, the customer has read the rebate rules, requirements in this form and on www.mir411.com/policy.aspx and agrees to abide by them."

So you're supposed to follow all directions on this form, AND visit that website to see if there are any other requirements!

If you visit that site, it's pretty much the same rules as listed on the rebate form except for one little gem: "The rebate will be void if the rebate form was not signed."

So even if you followed the steps on the rebate form exactly: recorded your claim ID on the envelope, filled out the form in all caps, mailed the form quick enough, marked your calendar to verify the information online, and then waited some unknown amount of time for your check to come...your rebate money probably STILL won't come because you never signed the rebate form!!! And why didn't you sign the rebate form? Because nowhere on the rebate form is there a signature line!

Have I mentioned that I hate mail-in rebates?

Letterman vs. McCain

John McCain was supposed to be a guest on the Late Show yesterday, but bailed on Letterman at the last minute so that he could return to Washington to address the economic "crater" that America is facing.

As you can see, Letterman was not very happy with this:



What made the situation more interesting was that McCain then showed up on the CBS evening news being interviewed by Katie Couric in the middle of the Late Show taping.

There is now some speculation that the reason that McCain canceled on Letterman to appear on Couric's show was that the CBS Evening News was supposed to be airing an interview that Sarah Palin had given to Couric. In the interview, as with the other two interviews that she's done since being named VP nominee, she made a complete fool out of herself. So, it is speculated, McCain dropped in on Couric's show at the last minute so that they would have to air an interview with him instead of Palin.

Watch the clips of Palin's interview with Couric and see if you'd let her in front of a nationwide tv audience:

Lots of People Could Use a Cash Infusion

"Lots of People Could Use a Cash Infusion"

If average Americans acted like Wall Street . . .

Slacker Uprising

Michael Moore has released his new documentary covering his failed attempt to unseat President Bush in 2004.

Watch it below:

Or watch it here or download a copy.

7 Years later

In memory of 9/11/01, here is a link to the 9/11/01 web archive. This was a collaboration between the Wayback Machine at archive.org and the Library of Congress.

You can browse the web pages that were covering the 9/11 attacks as they looked in the days, weeks, and months after 9/11/01.

Cleveland Area Discount Offers

Stephanie recently discovered that numerous Cleveland area radio & tv stations were offering discount gift certificate offers via their websites.

After seeing Stephanie check numerous sites for new discount offers, I figured I could write a web page that would automatically check & consolidate all of the discount sites for her. (It helped that the stations all use the same 3rd party for their discount pages).

So, after a couple hours, my discount page was born. They usually have some decent offers, and they put new offers up every week.

Note: the discount page will take a few seconds to load, since in the background it's actually downloading data from numerous web sites.

Hallelujah, the pod is gone!

Apparently the court system scared my crazy neighbor into cleaning up and getting rid of the pod prior to her 9/3 sentencing. For the first time all summer I can actually look down the street without that eyesore!