Couplehood

Here It Is :)

That be the box. Thanks to Andy my bradder for his personal review! :) And yes, this post was written entirely on the iPhone.

Alright. Back to work.

Testing My Phone

My phone recently died, and I traded it in for a new one. It's got running on windows mobile (nice), and I decided to throw in a data plan as well, since I'm moving around a bit.

Seems to work nicely, no?

By the way, that's the lady and the baby in Church. Coming to Church messes up his cycle and he gets grumpy all day after coming home. I hope he adjusts better soon.

The lady's very tired these days.

Stress Reduction Kit (Installation Details Inside)

Originally uploaded by programwitch

We all need this sometimes.

A Really Cute Gift, Made By Buddies

"I Love You! Erm, That's About It. But It's Plenty-o-Love!"

I hardly talk about nice little trinkets, but this really lit up my day.

You speak into it, and it plays back 10 seconds of well-reproduced speech for anyone you intend it for (hopefully, lovingly so). Apart from flowers, hampers, baskets, and other pretty arrangements, I can imagine the wife using this to drop reminders to me just as I leave the house ("Remember to press the In.Voice before you leave the house, 'kay?").

I guess I like it even more that some of the sweetest people I know are behind it.

Check out the  Advanteus Enterprise website for more, and/or drop by Andy's and Yuling's blogs (they're the ones behind it, yep)!

Alarms, Bells, Reminders: Set Up Your Bedroom TV for Productivity

Beep Beep

Instead of a traditional DVD Player/HDD Recorder setup, I installed a small form factor PC (and for me, a Mac Mini) can do much much more than just a  bedroom AV workhorse.

So, with a bevy of applications, we could really get a great "Before You Go To Work" system going. Let's see:

• Alarm 2 - Waking up, Appointment Reminders
• Vitalist - To-Do/Bring-Along Lists, daily/weekly reviews
• Spurgeon Daily - Devotions
• Google Reader -  A quick glance at headlines before you go

Having the functionality of a Mac/PC, it'll play music, videos, iChat, and now, it'll be an electronic "Fridge Door" that you can look at before you leave. Just  have those applications/pages pre-launched and spread across your window (or hit the Expose Key on your Mac),

Of course, it might give you bit of a headache with wire management. That's a different story for a different post.

 

iPod Touch: Apple's Done It Again, But Fouls Up Product Launch

So Pretty.

Apple rumor mills have been telling us to expect one, and how better to introduce a full-screen iPod than to bless it with the same form factor as the iPhone. We should have seen it coming! Read all about it here.

Sure, as Engadget says, it's flatter, got a smaller home button, but overall, it's familiar territory. If this doesn't make it for "Bestest Gift of the Season", I don't know what will.

Now, if only they didn't mess the product image in their site, this might nearly have been the perfect product launch:

Tsk Tsk, Apple.

Technorati Tags: apple, gadgets, iphone, ipod touch, gifts

Internet Security: Kids, and Also Adults

"It is tragic," a pastor said, "that today, the word 'adult' is more commonly linked with X-rated media and morally questionable things, rather than maturity and coming of age." How true. Perverse material on the 'net floods our webspace, and pummels our emails, webbies, and over Internet user experience with filth.

If you're looking for a fuss-free, easy-to-use, plug-and-play type solution for the young'uns, something you can bring along to any computer, this is the gadget to get. Here's a blurb from press release from "Tech-On!":

"If you insert this product to a USB port of a Windows XP or Vista PC, the PC will log off first, install software and log on in Kids mode. Since all these operations are carried out automatically just after inserting the key to a USB port, users do not need to do software installation themselves. If parents set a Windows logon password, children can't enter a parent's Windows environment even if they remove the key.

In the Kids mode, a dedicated browser is provided to block children's access to harmful Web sites. Children can neither access any other sites but "Yahoo! Kids" nor directly enter any URL (parents can set the mode to use Windows standard browser as well). And the mode only allows children to use application software and files permitted by their parents."

So, parents, password protect your computer, and give access only via a key like that. Someone's got to save them from those adults filth.

Technorati Tags: family, gadgets, kids, usbkey

The Moblog Test: Part II

My Gadget of Choice  

I had a very painless experience blogging from my email today via my gadget of choice, the 6960.

The 6960's been serving me well, and I'll even go so far as to say that it's become nearly indispensable. It manages my to-do lists, projects, reminders, appointments, writing projects, and is extremely fuss-free for a Windows Device. The bells and whistles put in by HP are a welcome addition. I can't wait to see what they are up to next.

Okay, really, let's get back to the Moblog thing.

It's Nice,But It's No Fun
At the lady's place today, I took a look at the post and thought, "This looks dead." And it did. Something about the way it was formatted made it look raw and unappealing.That's merely aesthetics, you may say, but it's an integral part of the look and feel.

A Picture Brightens A Thousand Lives
And mine especially. It soothes the dyslexic part of my head (it's arguable that my head's ALL dyslexic) and it really makes the post look nice. Aesthetics again. Sorry.

I Don't Get to Apply Concepts in HyperText Theory
That module (on hypertext) I took in college was worthless. But if it taught me one thing at all, it would be the introduction of the concept of hyper-linking information. Okay, to be utterly honest, the concept: college; mastery of application: Engadget.

Final Thoughts
I guess moblogging could be a quick fix if I ever find myself starved from the interweb for extended periods of time, which I don't think will be anytime soon. Till then, I'll work from my main machines.

Technorati Tags: gadgets, opinion

Coolest Toaster Ever

Cool

As you may know, I'm working on building a  minimalist home, This here toaster will very wonderfully fit in there. I can't remember the last time I fell in love with a toaster, but I have fallen in love with thumbtacks before. (Seen on Engagdet)

Th problem is, I do want to have kids, and this doesn't look like the type of child-safe appliances one should have, especially something as commonly used as a toaster. As it is, I wasn't able keep my virtual hands off the jpeg; so I can't see how a 6 year old will not want to touch a transmogrifying slice of bread.

You remember the old skool toaster. They were menacingly red-hot looking, loud ("rrrrrRRRrrrrrrr......TING!!!"), and when mum said, "if you touch that, your arm will melt off" I believed it. But this? This is going to make kids wonder about how polyurethane "SpongeBob" would look like toasted (and exploded).

That, and the fantasy of putting their hand in there hoping they'll become Spiderman or something. Yeah.

Technorati Tags: decisions, gadgets

A Moblog Test: Are They Even Worth It?

Having been sent out of the office for a course (the office being a benevolent high-achieving place for HR Development) I've found myself in a peculiar situation without an internet connection.

While that means I'm effectively severed from office email communications (yay) and other bits of internet goodness, it also means I get to try out this spiffy moblog function.

But not having the ability to see how it looks on the web page is a funny feeling. It's like painting blindfolded - you know what you're doing, you can probably visualize the colors, but you can't see the canvas.

I guess I'll have to wait for tonight to see this then.

Toodles!