I moved the link to my email address. It was just under the masthead on the right. I moved it down to the My Stuff area on the sidebar. And I switched from my Hotmail account to my Gmail account. Hotmail just aint getting it any more. More and more sites won’t accept email from Hotmail users because it’s eat up with spam. This has always been my throw-away account and I’m about to throw it away. I’ll keep it for now, just because it’s difficult to get your name (SteveMays@anything.com) anymore. If you want to reach me you can use the Gmail accsount or just post a comment and mark it personal. But know that I won’t be checking the Hotmail account very often.
Category Archives: Science & Technology
All I need is a fast connection, and a warm place to poop
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I’m sitting in my room at the Fairfield Inn in Indianapolis, cruising down that old Information Highway via their free (and speedy) wi-fi. I keep flashing back to the mid-90’s when even sending an email was agonizing at 16.2. And I was uploading audio files and images. It was tediouss beyond all description. And now I’m blazing along as though I were sitting at my desk at Learfield HQ. I know, I know… it’s like the Aboriginal tribesman standing at the kitchen sink, turning the water off and on. Amazed at this mirical. I will NEVER take a fast net connection for granted.
DSL speed
Chimps and Geeks
If you also missed the careerbuilder.com chimp ads in the Super Bowl, you can see them here. I’d pay a hundred bucks to spend the day watching those commercials being made. Nothing on god’s green earth is funnier than a chimp in a coat and tie.
Did I mention I’m all registered, booked and reserved for Gnomedex 6.0? It’s five months away and I can hardly wait. For three days I won’t have to explain or defend blogging and podcasting and RSS and all the rest. I will be be among believers. Not just believers, but those who are creating and applying these revolutionary technologies. I have no idea who the speakers will be or what they’ll be talking about. But everyone in the room will have a clue.
SpoofCard
“SpoofCard calling cards offers you the ability to change what someone sees on their caller ID display when they receive a phone call. SpoofCard offers the ability to select a Male or Female voice when making a call. The feature works in real-time and allows the caller to speak in a normal tone while the person on the other end will hear the changed voice.” So, if you receive a call from a nine-year-old girl talking dirty, it’s me.
Don’t need no stinkin’ press release
I only go to one technology conference a year: Gnomedex. It’s small, as such events go. Just 300 attendees and sort of a tough ticket. I’ve been going since Chris Pirillo started holding them in Des Moines back in the late 90’s. I’ve gushed about it here so I won’t bore you with why I love this conference. This year Chris is doing something unheard of: No press release.
This year’s conference has sold one-third of its available seats since opening registration a mere week ago. Despite having not yet unveiled speakers or sponsors, the conference is well on its way to being sold out for the second year in a row.
If you’re planning on attending, let me know.
Website relaunch death march
We’re just days away from “relaunching” our corporate website. I added the quotation marks because what we’re really doing here is applying a new template to a few thousand existing pages. Our current look is more than three years old and it’s time for a fresh face. And the nature of our company has changed a lot in those three years. I think the new look reflects that nicely. Andy Waschick and his development team at Gestalt have done a fine job of giving us just what we asked for on this project. My role has been that of the stock dog that runs around yapping and nipping at the cows legs, hearding them in the right direction. In order to do my job, I have to be a little annoying. But I’m pleased with the result and will post here when the new look is up.
Panel: “Revolution in PR Technology”
I’ve been invited to be on a panel at a meeting of PR professionals next month. It’s the “January Joint Meeting” of CSPRC/IABC/PRSA. I’m hoping to be able to pronounce the acronym by January 10th. Maybe it’s just me, but I find it interesting that none of these big public relations organizations are using RSS, blogs or podcasts. But they’re talking about it and that puts them ahead of the pack. Depending on the sound set-up, I’ll record it and post it here.
Ford squeezes office into truck
Ford Motor unveiled a mobile office designed for the new F-Series truck that includes a touch-screen computer, printer, wireless broadband access and Global Positioning System. Ford, which introduced its mobile office at last week’s Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas, is targeting general contractors but the first thing I thought of was farmers and ranchers. [C|net]
When we first started repurposing content from our farm network for the web, everyone said, “Farmers don’t have access to the Internet.” When we started streaming our audio reports, they pointed out, “Farmers are on very slow dial-ups and can’t access rich media.”
I’m no visionary. I just pull my head out of my ass a couple of times a day and take a look around. If your pick-up is your office, this is gonna make sense to a lot of farmers.
Why no computers in the grocery store?
Maybe I’m just not shopping at the right stores, but wouldn’t it make a lot of sense to have a couple of computers scattered around where you could search for items? You get a little “You are here” icon and a dotted line to the location of the item. They could offer suggestions. Looking for pasta? How about some garlic bread? You know they could sell enough ads on the thing to pay for the installation and upkeep. Why make us roam the aisles, looking for someone to help us? Hardware stores, video stores, every store. I can’t imagine why this isn’t being offered.
Equally hard to understand… have you noticed more businesses are having people stand beside the road, holding up signs? I saw a guy today in the middle of a busy 4-way intersection holding up a “50% off at K-Mart” sign. Is this really an effective advertising vehicle? And is this a coveted job or punishment for screwing up?
“I’m not gonna fire you, Mays, but I want you to take sign and go stand on the corner in the sweltering heat for the next couple of days.”
I have to confess I broke my #1 Rule (Never leave home without your camera) so I don’t have photos of this phenomenon. I’ll update in a day or two. If you’ve ever done this job…or sent some poor schmuck out to do this job, please enlighten me.