Delivered
Looks like my new T60 widescreen will be waiting for me when I get home. I'm shivering with anticipation From Kowloon Bay to Arlington Heights in less than a week. That's cool.
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December 13, 2006
Fun with Headline Animator
We introduced a really powerful new capability at FeedBurner last week: custom Headline Animators. We're already seeing a ton of cool skins that people have created, and I thought I'd have a little mash-up fun with it ... introducing, the "Dream Date Dock Worker's Word of the Day" widget, brought to you by the OnDemand Action Figure Builder Tool, TheFreeDictionary.com, and FeedBurner.
December 07, 2006
They Shared My Email Address
Everytime I give my email address to a company, I create a new email address that I can trace back to that company. That way, I can see who's selling my email address by looking at the "To" header in spams that I receive. I mentioned this about a year ago in the "United Email = Broken" post. Well, here's an update. These are the companies that have sold my email address without my consent. Thanks a lot!
- Datek, which merged with Ameritrade in 2002 and is now TD Ameritrade
- United Airlines. I've created multiple email addresses for United and received spam on all of them
- Micro Center, the electronic store
- Vindigo. I no longer use their service.
- Network Solutions. That gives you confidence, eh?
- 1-800-Flowers
I have no illusions that sharing these results will change anything, but I figure a little public humiliation wouldn't hurt.
December 05, 2006
Time for the Magic Music Box
It's that time of year again ... time to hand out magic Christmas music boxes to your family and friends. What's a magic music box? It's one of your old MP3 players that's stuffed in one of those "old electronics" drawers that you have in your home office. Just follow these quick and easy steps:
- Dig the MP3 player out and dust it off.
- Start digging in that other drawer you have for the bulky AC adapter that no doubt came with it.
- Plug in the MP3 player and hope that it boots up without any omnious clicking sounds.
- You have a USB or Firewire cable for this thing, right? Try plugging it into your computer and pray that it's recognized. Otherwise, it's time for a driver hunt!
- You have all your Christmas CDs ripped, yes? Good. Clear off the MP3 player and fill it up with holiday tunes.
- Grab a mini-to-phono cable, the MP3 player and the AC adapter and head over to your parents house.
- Now, find your parent's stereo and look for a spare input. Aux? Tape in? Video 2? I'm sure there's one that's open. Plug in the MP3 player (and the AC) and relabel the input selection "Magic Music Box".
- Turn on the MP3 player, set it to "Random Repeat All" or whatever, hit play, and hide it. Presto - endless, delightful holiday tunes.
What a LIFE HACK, eh? Just tell your parents to just hit the "Magic Music Box" button whenever they want the holiday tunes, and don't forget to go retrieve your MP3 player after the holidays so you can do it all again next year.