Category Archives: Gadgets & Apps

All posts that don’t obviously fit in one of the sub-categories go here.

A9 is A-1.

Posted on by

I haven’t needed to save browser “Favorites” or “Bookmarks” much since Google came along. But I have a few. And a few more on my Thinkpad. And a few more on my home PC. And it’s too much trouble to try to keep them all sync’d up. But a new service from Amazon has made the problem go away. It’s called A9 (I have no idea) and it’s pretty slick.

“A9.com is a search engine, using web search and image search results enhanced by Google, movies results from IMDb, and more. A9.com remembers your information so you dont have to. You can keep your own notes about any web page and search them; it is a new way to store and organize your bookmarks.” [More]

Any links I save in the future will be on my A9 page. My thumb is up on A9.

stevemays@gmail.com

Posted on by

What’s an invitation for a Gmail account worth? If you have an invitation to open an account on Google’s new e-mail service, you could sell it on eBay for as much as $60. But if cash is a little too prosaic for you, your Gmail invitation could net you 4 pounds of fresh fudge, some Jewish mystical knowledge, a photo of a wife and a girlfriend kissing, a tarantula, Paris Hilton’s phone number or any one of more than 1,000 other options. Full article at Wired.com

[Update: Google launched on April 1, 2004. Created my account on April 21, 2004]

Invite to beta test Gmail

Posted on by

As a long-time Blogger subscriber (going on three years), I got an invite to beta test Google’s new email service, Gmail. And they allowed me to invite two friends to try the service. One of whom pointed out that these accounts are selling for as much as $50 on eBay. Might be just because not everyone can get them yet… or the gig of storage. I’m not ready to drop Hotmail as my back-up (to work) email.

Gmail

Posted on by

I’m trying out the new, free email service from Google, Gmail. The big draw –in addition to “free”– is storage. A gigabyte. Which is a shit-load of email. The idea is you save ALL your email and use Googles great search tools to find stuff later. I’m not one of those that likes to save everything but I’ll reserve judgement.

Thinkpads Forever

Posted on by

I bought my first IBM Thinkpad in 1996. That was the year IBM introduced the 560 model, the first “ultraportable.” The little bugger is still working. In December of 2000 I replaced the 560 with an A21p. I told the IBM rep on the phone to give me “the biggest, baddest box you have.” The warranty on the A21p expired in later February and the mother board expired last weekend. A brand new Thinkpad R40 left Hong Kong overnight and is heading my way.

Thought about buying a Mac (for about 30 seconds) and decided to stick with what I know. Thinkpads are a little pricey but looking at the 10-year-old 560 over there on the couch reminds me why I keep coming back.