May 14, 2007
the real Emergence Day coming soon
This weekend while removing some rocks from my yard I found a couple cicada nymphs that looked exactly like this:
This means emergence day is coming soon for Brood XIII.
For those who aren't from the eastern half of the U.S., there is a species of cicada (commonly called "locusts") that lives underground for about 13 or 17 years, digging tunnels and doing who knows what until they choose to come up for air, molt, and breed.
I remember seventeen years ago in 1990 - the amount of cicadas flying around the Chicago suburbs was insane. Totally insane. You couldn't walk anywhere without crunching these. Apparently, they've done the math, and we can expect 1.5 million cicadas per wooded acre.
I can't wait for the invasion on May 23rd.
Posted by Steve at 12:08 PM | Comments (4)
January 28, 2007
Foxit PDF Reader
Let's face it, Adobe PDF Reader is pretty much the worst piece of software for the PC ever written. It borders on being a virus. It takes about 30 seconds to load, it constantly bugs you for upgrades, and constantly takes up tons of resources on your machine once it's loaded into memory.
I came to realize this wasn't necessary when using a mac. The in-built PDF reader in OS X takes less than a second to load and display most PDFs.
So surely there must be a PC equivalent?
Yes there is - it's called Foxit Reader, and it's free. It seems to have no trouble displaying any PDF on my system. If it works for a few more days, i will purge my system of Adobe Acrobat Reader forever!
Posted by Steve at 04:41 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
January 27, 2007
Feedsparks - New Google Gadget for FeedBurner stats
For everyone who used to use my Google personalized home page gadget to get their FeedBurner stats, I now recommend using this one created by Bernie Thompson. It's a great mashup between the Awareness API and Sparklines, and does everything the old one did and more!
Posted by Steve at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2006
YouTube - Scrubs - Ted's Band Compilation
Sweet. All the Scrubs barbershop quartet bits spliced into one.
Scrubs is one of the 3 tv shows I watch outside of sports. It's genious. And in case you want it, here's Zach Braff's feed.
Source: YouTube - Scrubs - Ted's Band Compilation
Posted by Steve at 03:37 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
December 13, 2006
Entering the Underwater Forest
I never knew there were underwater forests. this is cool.
Link to Triton Logging Company via eTudo
Posted by Steve at 04:55 PM | Comments (412) | TrackBack
December 12, 2006
National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe
How cool was this book? I think I checked this out of my grade school library about 50 times. Anyone else remember it?
Posted by Steve at 09:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Google - Edvard Munch edition
Posted by Steve at 09:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 21, 2006
NeoCounter 2
NeoCounter 2 - now with skins and cities. More bling for your blog.
Link to NeoWORX - Quality tools for your web site and blog
Posted by Steve at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2006
NeoCounter
pretty cool javascript tool. i wouldn't pay for it with real dollars, but pretty cool.
Link to NeoWORX - Quality tools for world of blogs - NUXIT
Posted by Steve at 09:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 12, 2006
MyTimeForce : IQ600 TimeClock
PBTA that we don't use a timeclock at work...but if we did, this would be the one we'd use. Fingerprint your employees and collect their time in a browser!
Link to MyTimeForce : IQ600 TimeClock
Posted by Steve at 11:40 AM | Comments (380) | TrackBack
November 02, 2006
Tommy Lee is in Flickr a lot
check it out
Posted by Steve at 04:20 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 23, 2006
Intesting way to work the Starbucks pricing system
We go through a lot of pricing excercises in our business. I stand by my continual statement that people always find the cheapest way to use your service, even if it means a little bit of inconvenience. They then feel cheated when you close those loopholes.
It reminds me of an old Starbucks loophole when they first released Starbucks cards. In their system, they only kept a monetary value and no currency code. So those of us that travelled frequently to Canada could pay Canadian dollars to our starbucks card, and come home to the US and spend them as big American dollars at par. They closed up that loophole pretty fast, but it was fun while it lasted.
Link to Starbucks Gossip: A reader asks: "Is it fair for a customer to order a 'ghetto-latte'?"
Posted by Steve at 09:29 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 09, 2006
Google AJAX Search API Playground
Wow, really neat example of what you can do with AJAX on a blog. All using the Google API. This is a great example of how to create an API, and then create some killer uses of your API, that just drive more traffic to you, which is in this case, Google.
I can barely get this blog to layout correctly (the MT templates aren't exactly simple to understand) but perhaps someday I can aspire to add this...
Link to Google AJAX Search API Playground
Posted by Steve at 05:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2006
Mindjet MindManager Pro 6
There's really not a whole lot I don't do these days without MindManager Pro...I've recently realized, it is the launching pad for my productivity, and by far the best tool to organize my thoughts.
The odd thing is, underneath, it it's model is just an outline, but the UI and presentation is so much more than that. Its documents are called "MindMaps" and honestly, the documents do end up being a pretty good representation of what is in my mind.
I'm not a linear thinker at all; I bounce all over the place. I can barely finish one sentence without starting a new one. Yet this tool lets you jump all over the place and end up with a document for the rest of the world to read.
If that sounds like you - MindManager is highly recommended. And, yes, there's a Mac version too!
I wish there were a S60 version...
Link to Mindjet MindManager Pro 6
Posted by Steve at 12:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 21, 2006
Casino Royale
awesome, the official Casino Royale blog (powered by FeedBurner).
one of these days, when we get a projector in the office we are going to watch all the Bond movies back to back. one of my prize possessions is a bootleg bond DVD collection i got off Ebay from Hong Kong, way before they were really available in the states.
i love bond films because they are all so remarkably bad that they are great. the music, the opening scenes, the ladies, the gadgets - you always know what to expect.
at 724, when i ran product management, we codenamed all our releases after bond villians. that was fun.
what a rambling post with absolutely no cohesion between sentences.
Posted by Steve at 10:14 PM | Comments (520) | TrackBack
July 31, 2006
My HD DVR
the following story was HD Beat today, and I had to think how it applied to me. I absolutely love having a Comcast HD DVR. Tivo so missed the boat by not licensing to Comcast. I've been a Tivo owner since the very first version, but I have a hard time thinking why i'd want to buy a Tivo over the Comcast HD DVR.
Yes! I watch a lot more HD with the DVR than I would otherwise. I can't stand watching std TV anymore, so I pretty much only record stuff in HD, so that's really all I watch, aside from the GOL channel. but I got spoiled watching the world cup in HD as well, so I'm even having a hard time watching GOL in std def.
The Times asks: "Does a DVR boost viewing hours or not?" - HD Beat
Posted by Steve at 09:31 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 25, 2006
gamerscorechart.com
i love services like this that can take a data stream and make it graphical for you. this graphic, for instance, can show you how much i've been progressing on my XBox360 games. apparently, i played a lot on the 21st and 22nd.
www.gamerscorechart.com
Posted by Steve at 07:51 PM | Comments (169) | TrackBack
July 24, 2006
vlad the impaler
history of vlad the impaler, aka dracula, just in case you were curious.
http://www.vladtheimpaler.com/vlad_the_impaler_bio_001.htm
Posted by Steve at 04:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 20, 2006
urinals in the home
I knew a guy once who wanted to put a urinal in his basement. of course, he was divorced less than a year later, so we never got to see that come to fruition, but yep, you can get 'em
Kohler Home Urinals | Uncrate
Posted by Steve at 03:46 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
July 03, 2006
real time info in video games
while salivating over the soon to be released EA NCAA 07 for the Xbox360, i noticed something in the features i have never heard of in a video game before:
ESPN integration: Get EA SPORTS Dynasty™ results,
conference updates, and real-time sports scores and news updates with
the "always on" Sports Ticker powered by ESPN, or take a shot at the
greatest games of all time with ESPN Instant Classics.
wow, that's cool, and a first. this is the first time i've seen a game integrate real time news data into a game itself. this means you can flip back and forth between playing games, and watching games. you see a score get close, hit pause button, and switch the video source to TV and watch the end of a real game, then go back to gaming.
no matter which gaming system ends up being better - i'm pretty sure sony and nintendo won't touch the online platform that major nelson and co have created with Xbox live. i've been blown away by the difference in the gaming experience compared to the PS2 just because of Xbox live. the fact that every game is required to log off your progress to the network while you are playing and adds to your profile is genius - and totally worth the price of admission.
anyway, some screenshots of NCAA 07:
Xbox.com | NCAA® Football 07 - Game Detail Page
Technorati Tags: ea sports, xbox360
Posted by Steve at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 14, 2006
5 year old karate / taekwando sparring video
5 year olds:
here's the olympic version:
Posted by Steve at 10:30 PM | Comments (193) | TrackBack
May 12, 2006
the octopus is the new shark
a shark a day was missing from the seattle aquarium. turns out an octopus was eating them. they caught it on video. it's bad-ass.
via Tecnorantes
Posted by Steve at 09:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
the octopus is the new chameleon
un-freaking-believeable. you'll watch this twice, i guarantee it.
Posted by Steve at 09:09 PM | Comments (2726) | TrackBack
April 14, 2006
my plan is almost complete - USB charging
i suggested a while ago that everything should charge via USB. take a look at some of this stuff! The only one I own is the USB sushi, and I use it all the time.
Wired News: Weirdest USB Gadgets
Posted by Steve at 12:13 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
April 10, 2006
urban ninjas - you gotta see this
i guarantee you will say "wow" when you watch this:
Posted by Steve at 10:34 PM | Comments (177) | TrackBack
March 22, 2006
Struwwelpeter
If you watched "The Office" last week, there was a good reference to Hienrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter. I vaguely remember these somehow from when I was a kid. It's like the Brothers Grimm but a lot worse....Follow the link to check it out.
The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb
Posted by Steve at 02:41 PM | Comments (270) | TrackBack
March 19, 2006
countries i've visited
create your own visited countries map
not cool enough to permanently make the sidebar, but still cool
Posted by Steve at 09:06 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
March 13, 2006
Just like Chinese click farms, but in games!
We've all heard about the terrible problems Google is having with people setting up "Chinese click farms" of content surrounded in AdSense ads with cheap labor randomly clicking on ads.
Here's the online gaming equivalent...Online role playing games are huge, huge, huge, in Korea - so much that there is now a black market for items found within the game that have value. Chinese are stealing Korean resident Id numbers, using it go get accounts, trolling through the game to find items of value in the virutal world, and then selling them back to Koreans for real money!
check it out:
Police order a game site to close accounts
Posted by Steve at 04:49 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
March 09, 2006
twitching blowfish video
ah, the best thing about Tokyo is that often food is put in front of you that still has synapses firing.
Posted by Steve at 04:00 AM | Comments (182) | TrackBack
February 26, 2006
Pageflakes gets better
(click for a full-size image)
i continue to thing pageflakes is getting better and better, and the best AJAX homepage out there.
they keep releasing cool widgets - i love the alexa widget (zoom in on the page above) and the ability to put a technorati mini into a subset of my homepage. sure this can all be done with google personalized home, but i don't know what it is about it, it's all easier and better with pageflakes.
they seem to be innovating really quickly, which is something that google and my yahoo! won't be able to do because of the scale at which they have to test and release.
keep up the good work, guys!
Posted by Steve at 10:50 AM | Comments (1836) | TrackBack
February 17, 2006
GoogleModules.com
You'll find a couple different sudoku puzzles, and 3 or 4 different modules for displaying Flickr photos.
via Genbeta
Posted by Steve at 10:03 PM | Comments (1875) | TrackBack
December 28, 2005
fun with Google Homepage API
While watching Michigan give away, and then almost win the Alamo bowl, I decided to experiment with the Google Homepage API. Creating a Google Map mashup is so passé, so I decided to create a FeedBurner stats module.
It supports adding feed stats for feeds with the Awareness API turned on and those that don't if you supply your username and password. Just list the feed URIs you care about, separated by commas - example: "burnthisRSS2, boingboing/ibag,feldthoughts"
How do you use this?
1. from your Google Personalized Homepage, hit "Add Content".
2. Expand "Create a Section" and enter into the box labeled "Search by topic or feed URL:" http://www.olechowski.org/steve/fb-homepage.xml
3. it "Go"
4. Click on "edit" on the module to add your username, password, and URIs you wish to track.
Hopefully, one of our great FB designers will help out and make this look prettier sometime in the future.
Posted by Steve at 11:28 PM | Comments (1)
August 22, 2005
how was foo camp, you ask?
since i have a lot of people asking me "how was foo camp?" i decided it would just be best to talk briefly about the experience here!
well...it was great - what a great change of pace. by choice, i mostly do "business" stuff these days, but this was a great chance to sit back and "geek out" for awhile.
things like ...
- sitting in on a very enlightening conversation about greasemonkey between aaron boodman(google) and mark pilgrim (dive into *, looking for opps).
- meeting and talking to the creators of some of the great scripting languages of our time larry wall (perl) and guido van rossum (python). i actually stepped on larry wall's foot which is how i got to talking with him.
- reminiscing over my days of quake addiction with squirrel eiserloh (counterstrike, currently working on quake 4) and don macaskill (smugmug.com) - where don told me about the night he intoduced thresh to john romero (thresh later won one of romero's ferraris from him) - and how "romero's [virtual] feet never touched the ground. thresh would bounce a rocket launcher to his feet, jump and spin, switching weapons in mid-air and gib him before he hit the ground." i was starting to see CTF levels in my head all over again.
- and many, many, more...
unfortunately, i wasn't able to stay the whole weekend, so i'm sure i missed out on more, but rael - thanks for the experience!
Posted by Steve at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2005
statcounter.com
I've been testing a number of different web statistics tools, and the current king of the mountain is statcounter.com. This is the first web stats product i've seen that presents a very clear interface, uses some AJAX, and comes from a SEO mentality, which I think is super important.
I was using nedstadt forever, but it seemed to be getting sluggish, and saw absolutley no innovation in the last two years, so I knew it was time to look elsewhere. The in-built typepad stats aren't that useful and I'm really looking for one place to track the stats for all my blogs.
I used MyBlogLog, which is getting some hype, for about 2 days, but tracking only outbound links I found pretty useless, so I got rid of it.
I like statcounter.com because after putting it on my blogs and waiting about an hour, I was able to get pretty much all the detail I was looking for about keywords, geography, number of hits, etc. And they say outbound links is coming soon for those who are wondering!
I also love the fact you can have multiple "projects" all in one place. This is something that was really lacking in netstadt. At any rate, this is the first stats product I've seen that I would consider upgrading to a "pro" level.
screenshots below (click to see larger view)
Posted by Steve at 08:36 PM | Comments (426) | TrackBack
June 29, 2005
Google Earth
(click for bigger size)
I'm sure Google bought Keyhole for a song, but i'm glad they did because I otherwise wouldn't have tried this app. (With GOOG at $300, I'm sure Keyhole got a lot more out of the deal than they expected - good for them)
Google Earth allows you to get satellite views of wherever you are going on the globe in 3D.
What is this useful for? Well, I wanted to get a better feel how far my hotel was from the airport on an upcoming trip to Spain, and well, this was the tool to do it with.
I'm sure there are other uses as well that I certainly don't need or haven't thought of, but color me impressed with just this.
Posted by Steve at 07:52 AM | Comments (1839) | TrackBack