Archive for the ‘Technology’ category

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Time to get on the RSS Bandwagon

September 29th, 2006


If you haven’t yet jumped onto the RSS Bandwagon, now is the time. Don’t panic if you haven’t, most people are still in the dark about how to use RSS — but let me tell you that it’s really a great way to stay on top of various news and blog sites all in one place. I’ve always had a link in the right of the Diatribe for RSS description which I’ve always found helpful.

Last week, though, I actually came across an even better explanation from Craving Ideas. This is a great read if you’re interested in learning more about RSS.

Since Miss Possible got me started on using RSS, I’ve been a huge fan of . As of today, though, I’ve officially found a replacement (and this has nothing to do with my new employer). Google finally updated their “ feed reader calling it . They’ve also included a short video in their post about what RSS is.

I’m very excited to start using this product as it seems to have some great functionality and I anyone else thinking about getting into RSS to check it out.

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Posted in Internet, Technology

The argument for Hybrids

August 25th, 2006

In one of the Wired.com Blogs, John Gartner discusses how the debate about the money saved by purchasing a hybrid vehicle has been taking the wrong approach. This just further emphasizes the point that more people should switch to these more fuel-efficient vehicles.

I’m glad to see that there is such demand for hybrids, though, and seeing that the demand for the is far above the supply that Toyota has been able to produce. The waiting list for these schnazzy vehicles is approximately six months, from what I’ve heard, and the tax reduction (no deduction) on top of the fuel-efficiency is only icing on the cake.

Edmunds say the Honda Civic Hybrid takes 6.1 years to pay back the cost over a standard Civic. So comparing it to the already fuel efficient standard Civic doesn’t look like a great deal. (I’ll keep my Civic Hybrid for at least 6 years, so I’m not upset)…

…Using Edmunds’ formula as best I could, the Prius pays back the extra cost in less than a year and a half when compared to the Dodge Stratus. The Honda Civic Hybrid takes less than 4 years to pay back the cost over a Chevy Cobalt. And the numbers for the Escape Hybrid look even better when you compare them to your average SUV.

Read the full article from

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Posted in Internet, Technology

Dictionary gets a new face

August 25th, 2006

One of my favorite reference sites on the Web is , or it’s little brother . I’ve used these two sites mostly for their convenient domain names when trying to look up a definition or synonym.

Despite the very simple design and tacky, I’ve been a steadfast user of the site. I think my main complaint would have been how sluggish the site was on a daily basis.

All of this does seem to be fixed with their latest redesign that launched yesterday. The look is much classier, simpler, and easier to read. I’m very pleased with the changes, and congratulate reference.com for their good work in creating such a new design.

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Posted in Internet, Technology

Flix. NetFlix.

August 24th, 2006


For the past few years, I’ve had a number of people tell me how much they like . I’ve always been a fan of the service, and even Miss Possible was a subscriber back when we first had started dating. She cancelled the service, however, after we found that we weren’t really taking advantage of it because we would never be at one person’s house consistently enough to watch the movies all the time. Plus, when you first start dating someone, I think it’s difficult to immediately share a Netflix queue with them.

But, in that time, I’ve given a NetFlix membership to a number of people as birthday or holiday gifts. Each one of them enjoying it, after signing up and getting involved in the system. I had heard froma number of friends (The Captain and his lovely bride included) as well as a number of co-workers how great the service was. But.. It wasn’t until just recently that I started taking my own advice and signed up for the NetFlix service.

Since then, while we have not taken full advantage of our two-movie a month options, we’ve definitely watched more movies than usual. Being the summer, there’s a lot less new TV to DVR, so.. we’re more inclined to throw on a film or play an XBox 360 game.

Just today, though, I came across a very fascinating article in about the NetFlix service and how the facilities operate. It’s not one of those 6 page New Yorker articles, but rather a “Talk of the Town” segment that is roughly a page long or so. It goes into great detail about what is required to maintain the fast turnaround time.

Whether or not you’re a NetFlix subscriber, I recommend the article, it’s a fascinating read.

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Posted in Life, Movies, Technology

Imprisoned Behind One Bar

August 23rd, 2006

It’s not a good feeling when your cell phone’s battery power winds down to one bar. There’s that moment of dread, followed by uneasiness. On my phone, the display turns from a bright and cheery green 3- bar or 2-bar indicator to a dreary, solitary orange bar. As you could guess, I’m currently held hostage behind a single bar. What do I do? Do I dare leave the house? What if my phone dies? Where is my charger?

I remember Captain Larby’s cautionary tales about when he used to leave his phone charging whenever he was home. Then Dr. Doop warned that doing so can trick your battery. A certain school of thought has it that you’re better off letting your battery run down completely before charging it. With my old cell phone, I thought I was cheating battery death by turning it off during my office hours. I felt like a genius because my phone would hold a charge for two weeks. That eventually caught up with me, as did the battery’s old age, and I was lucky to get two days out of it.

But now my phone is young, spry, and the battery isn’t tricked. Still, it can be torture waiting for that one bar to topple. Considering it takes anywhere from two to four hours to charge, and one bar can last two days or more, these little hunks of aluminum and plastic can have a powerful hold over our lives. Do I go out tonight without it? Do I take my chances with one bar? Do I catch up with my friends later and sit here while my phone charges? It’s strange how much cell phones have affected our lives in just the last eight or so years.

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Posted in Technology

We get no respect

August 1st, 2006

I don’t write about my job — neither current nor past employers. I feel as though there’s enough things to write about that I don’t need to get into any trouble writing about a specific company or organization. So with that in mind, I’m going to take a second to write about my career.

First off, I work in Internet Advertising. Let me take this a little bit further and say that my department (Advertising Operations) is responsible for developing new advertising models for publishers as well as putting these ads online. Now, before you start booing and hissing, hear me out.

The Advertising Operations departmnent for most online publishers has the same primary role — to support the sales team in developing successful advertising strategies, implement the ads that have been sold across the site, but at the same time (and most importantly) developing and adhering to advertising standards.

It’s this last part that I think most people don’t quite understand. When I think about the Ad Ops department, I feel as though we kind of get a bum rap by just about everyone. Editorial or Content dislikes us because we’re pro-advertising (that’s a given). Sales dislikes us because (even though we help them out tremendously) we’re always shooting down their ideas or trying to hold some sort of line. We’re not that good friends with the tech department either, as they typically view us as the troublesome pro-advertising department that is always looking for help to implement another cockamamie advertising intiative dreamed up by the sales team.
» Read more: We get no respect

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Posted in Internet, Marketing, Technology

Breaking News

July 19th, 2006

This just heard on NPR — According to a recent study by the US Government telecommuting is on the rise as a result of 9/11 and other risks.

Inc. adds there’s a resurgence in telecommuting, which was popular immediately after 9/11. Analysts expect the ranks of telecommuters to grow well past ten million by 2009. Source.

This isn’t good news for Matty Ballgame.

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Posted in Technology