Play With Legos on Your Computer

Tired of searching for missing Lego pieces? Now you can use the Lego Digital Designer for PC or Mac to design your own Lego creation. After designing your masterpiece, you can submit an order for all of the actual Lego parts needed to complete it. (Sources: Lego, Lifehacker)

What's Inside Your Favorite Non-Dairy Topping?

Apple Announces iPhone 3G (8GB) for $199 with GPS

As expected, Apple announced that the next version of its hugely popular iPhone will cost $199 for the 8GB model. The new iPhone 3G will feature built-in GPS capabilities and will run on AT&T's new, faster 3G network, which Apple claims is 3.6 times faster. The 16GB iPhone will cost $299 and there will be available in white.

These announcements kicked off Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference 2008 (WWDC) today, along with other news about a new personal information synchronization service called Mobile Me ($99/year) which will replace the .Mac service. With international deployment and third-party development kicking into high gear (specifically with games), the iPhone is poised to become as ubiquitous as the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, the required unlimited data plan will cost $10 more per month, making ownership of the coveted gadget more expensive at the end of a 2-year contract than with older iPhones. (Source: Engadget)

A Geeky Observation at DFW Airport

ZAC Browser Great For Kids

A grandfather who is in the software business programmed a special browser for his autistic grandson, Zackary. The ZAC Browser (Zone for Autistic Children) is a wonderful, easy-to-use browser that features videos, games, and educational modules for children, with a special focus on children with autism and other developmental disorders.

The ZAC Browser can be downloaded as a 6MB stand-alone executable file and once run, will present children with a simple, protected interface for viewing content which eliminates often frustrating interfaces that children sometimes have to deal with. It is a fantastic program that every family with small children should have. (Source: ZAC Browser)

Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card Helps Catch Camera Thieves

When Alison DeLauzon's bag was stolen from a restaurant with her digital camera in it, she probably thought she would never see it again. Little did the thieves know, she had installed an Eye-Fi wireless memory card in the camera, which uses wireless networking to transfer digital photos to a web service. After the thieves took pictures of themselves, the wireless memory card came in contact with a wireless access point that matched Alison's pre-configured access point (probably an open, unsecured "linksys" wireless network), the Eye-Fi uploaded all of the pictures (including pics of the rascals who stole her camera, who turned out to be restaurant employees) and Alison got her photos back. (Source: Reuters)

Google Checkout = BROKEN

As I was perusing my feeds this morning, I stumbled upon a hot deal for a SanDisk 4GB Cruzer Titanium USB flash drive for $22 with free shipping. I noticed that you could get the drive for $11.99 (a $10 discount) if you signed up for Google Checkout through Buy.com. Being a Google fanboy, I figured it would be a great time to sign up, since I already have a Google account, and I just couldn't pass up such a sweet deal. I added my credit card to my Google Checkout account, placed the order, and received a confirmation e-mail. Unfortunately, about thirty minutes later I got an e-mail saying that the order had been canceled. I tried it again, and the order was canceled again. I tried using a different credit card, but the order was canceled again. I called my bank and I made sure I had all of the right information. It turns out that I entered an incorrect credit card expiration date for the second credit card. So, I entered the correct information again, but the order was denied again.

I tried to see if I could contact someone at Google Checkout. I dug up a phone number from Gethuman for Google Support (650-623-4000), but when I reached a representative she informed me that there was no support for Google Checkout. No support? Nice. Why was my credit card still being denied, even after checking with my bank and verifying all of my information?

I scoured the Google Checkout help pages and tried placing the order five times total, using two different credit cards. Every time, the order was canceled. After digging some more on the Google Checkout help pages (and beginning to wonder if this is worth my precious time), I was able to find a contact form after eight tricky clicks. Hopefully, I'll get a response soon.

After trying all day, I noticed that the much-coveted flash drive is now out of stock. It really shouldn't be this difficult. Google Checkout is broken. If Google hopes to succeed with their Checkout service, they must improve their customer support and the usability of this product which has great potential. I hope you have better luck with Google Checkout than I did.
Comments? Suggestions?

Windows Vista Performance Improvements

"Love it or hate it, Vista is performing far better than it used to." That was a quotation from a recent ExtremeTech gaming benchmark test. ZDNet's Ed Bott also quotes the article which concludes, "It took about a year and a half, but the performance gap between Vista and its forerunner has finally evaporated." This is good news for those still on the fence about Windows Vista and its bad rap in the media, which is apparently an outdated conclusion that the press has a hard time letting go. The results of recent tests concluded that Vista outperformed XP in half of its gaming tests and equaled the performance of Windows XP in the other half of the tests (Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3). Despite the good news for Windows Vista, Ed Bott comments on how the ExtremeTech article does a fair amount of Windows Vista bashing and praising of Windows XP. What has been your experience with Windows Vista performance compared to Windows XP? (Sources: Ed Bott's Microsoft Report, ExtremeTech)

Adobe Media Player

Hey Adobe, Joost called, it wants its app back! Adobe has released a standalone, flash-based streaming video program called Adobe Media Player. The application runs on the cross-platform Adobe AIR development environment and performs very well--way faster than Joost!

So, what is Adobe doing releasing a streaming video player? It already has a large market share in online video with its hugely popular flash video format ("Hello Youtubes!") It seems that the Adobe Media Player is a portal for content as it offers up shows and clips from networks such as CBS, DIY Network, Food Network, HGTV (my wife will love this!), MTV, PBS, and more. Whatever their plans, Adobe has created a fast, lightweight, very clean, user-friendly application that can deliver on-demand, standard and high definition video programming.

When you launch the Adobe Media Player, you see the "home" screen from which you can access shows from different networks. Noticeably absent from the list of networks is NBC and FOX. Hey guys, can't we all just get along? I love Hulu, but wouldn't it be nice if we could just pick one location for streaming shows online and stick with it, instead of jumping all over the place? But, where's the excitement in that?

The Adobe Media Player features a slick interface for content and the program feels quick and responsive. You can customize your favorites and receive regular updates to your favorite channels. Give it a try!

(Source: AppScout, Adobe)

Happy Pi (π) Day

Today is Pi Day, and today (3/14) at 1:59:26 p.m., is Pi Second. How will you celebrate?

My Nerd Score

Apparently I'm nerdier than 93% of all people. :-)

DoD Posts Video of Successful Satellite Missle Mission

The Department of Defense destroyed a failing spy satellite Wednesday with a huge missile launched from the USS Lake Erie. The DoD has posted video footage of the successful mission.

Here's an embedded video straight from the DoD site:

, unknown@http://dodvclips.mil/linking/index.jsp?skin=oneclip&fr_story=FRdamp250959&rf=ev&hl=true" href="http://dodvclips.mil/linking/index.jsp?skin=oneclip&fr_story=FRdamp250959&rf=ev&hl=true" id="">

(Sources: DoD New Media, CNET)

Huge Blue Screen Error in Vegas

I don't know what it is about public blue screens of death, but I am oddly attracted to them. Perhaps it's because I can sympathize with the poor systems admin who gets that dreaded phone call saying that the display is jacked up again. They're both funny and sad at the same time. (Source: The Raw Feed)

Digital TV Converter Box Coupons

In case you haven't heard, Feb. 17, 2009 will be the day when U.S. broadcast TV stations will shut off their old analog broadcasts and switch to all-digital broadcasting. To help with the conversion, the U.S. government is offering two $40 coupons that can be used towards the purchase of a digital converter box. (Source: US News & World Report, 12/31/07-1/7/08, p. 70)

Hulu: I'm in!

I finally got an invite to the private beta of the new video site Hulu (Thanks TechCrunch!). While there may not be a lot of anything worth while on television nowadays, Hulu is still fun to use, and gives you more control of what you want to watch.

Hulu features some limited HD content which looks pretty good (using the latest Flash Player 9.0.115), and you can expect the HD offerings to increase in the future.


One cool feature on Hulu is the ability to embed and share clips on your blog or with friends via e-mail. You can even select a customized chunk of a particular video to share. The social networking aspect of Hulu is evident when you view your profile, which shows your public playlist and your history (both of which can be viewed via RSS).


Here's an embed straight from Hulu:

Internet Safety Podcast

"Because children have high levels of exposure, media have greater access and time to shape young people's attitudes and actions than do parents or teachers, replacing them as educators, role models, and the primary sources of information about the world and how one behaves in it." (AAP) In our hyper-connected world, protecting our families, especially children, and ourselves from unsavory influences and real threats becomes a top priority. While teaching children self-control and the correct usage of technology is important, the risks of unintentional exposure can be mitigated by putting certain practices and tools in place.

The Internet Safety Podcast aims to "educate parents, teachers, and teens about the benefits and risks of technology...[and] make technical issues and solutions accessible in an educational, entertaining, and useful way." Dr. Charles D. Knutson, professor of Computer Science at Brigham Young University and Joe Brockbank help make "the world a safer place, one podcast at a time." Check it out!

Software Inspector Finds Vulnerable Software

You probably already have Automatic Updates turned on to automatically update Windows or other Microsoft products, but what about all the other programs installed on your computer? Secunia has a tool called Software Inspector that scans your computer for software with known security vulnerabilities and then tells you what you must do to fix the problem. I found two programs that had vulnerabilities on my computer. In most instances, simply upgrading to the latest version fixes the problem. Software Inspector runs as a Java applet from Secunia's web site, although downloadable "Personal" and "Network" versions are also available. (Larry Seltzer, PC Magazine, Nov. 20, 2007, p. 95)

Massive BSOD

This could be perhaps the largest Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)! I sure don't envy the systems administrator in charge of that machine! "Uuh, Bob, we've got a problem with the display; I don't think it's supposed to be showing 'STOP ERROR 0x0000007E.'"

Gmail Chat Gtalk Problems

I'm not sure if I'm alone with the problems I've been seeing in my Gmail chat lately (Google Talk built into Gmail). I'm using Firefox and I usually keep my web browser open all day. In the last couple months, I periodically see the error message, "We're experiencing technical difficulties that may prevent your chats from being sent." And none of my contacts in Google Talk (within Gmail) are displayed. When I refresh the page, Gmail won't load at all. I usually end up having to clear my cache, restart Firefox, wait a few minutes, and try again, but even then it still won't work. It usually returns after a few minutes. I deleted my local Firefox user profile and recreated it and also disabled all of my Firefox add-ons but nothing seems to help it.

One possible explanation for this weirdness is that the network I'm on uses content filtering (SurfControl) which could be heuristically scanning for suspicious network traffic (such as the periodic "pings" within my Gmail chat). I am using the encrypted Gmail site. The network content filtering could be somehow choking or inhibiting the traffic to Google's servers which may be causing the service to mess up. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments.

Update: Later this afternoon, I received another error that said, "Your internet connection is experiencing problems or your network administrator has blocked Gmail chat. Learn more" A few minutes later, I switched back to my Gmail and everything was fine. I've sent in a trouble ticket to Google and I will post if I find out more.

Video site Hulu launches

Watch out Joost and YouTube! NBC and News Corp. launched their new ad-supported video site Hulu today to a limited group of private beta testers. Although the site is still in the invite-only stage, you can watch full TV programs (The Office, Heroes, The Simpsons, and many more) through Hulu partner sites such as MSN Video and AOL Video. (Sources: Download Squad, MSN Video, AOL Video)

Search Your Feeds in Google Reader

All I can say is, "It's about time!" Google finally added the ability to search the contents of your feeds in Google Reader. Now you can search for that article you came across a couple months ago but can't find. Very handy! (Source: Official Google Reader Blog)

U got pwned!

Check out this video demonstrating how a compromised bank web site maliciously infects a visitor. The Bank of India's web site was "pwned" ("owned" for you non-leet-speakers). If a user were to visit such a compromised web site without having the latest security patches installed on their machine, an attacker would be able to completely take control of their computer, possibly logging and monitoring all activity and using the computer for malicious purposes. Likely the malicious payload would be disguised as a rootkit, effectively masking it from the operating system. Keep your systems patched! (Source: AppScout)

Monster.com Hacked, Personal Info Stolen

Job search site Monster.com was recently hacked according to a Digital Trends article. Apparently the Monster.com login credentials for an employer account was compromised and the personal information of hundreds of thousands of users was stolen. The compromised data is reportedly already being used by malicious hackers to send specific, targeted phishing e-mails containing personal information. The fraudulent e-mails claim to be from Monster.com and are designed to install a Trojan horse that will capture bank login information and encrypt the infected computer, holding the data hostage until a payment is made. (Source: Digital Trends)

Hotmail Increases Storage to 5GB

Microsoft increased the storage limit for Hotmail (Windows Live Hotmail Mail) to 5GB this week. Yahoo! currently offers unlimited storage and Google's Gmail's limit is around 2.8GB. (Source: CNET)

Clean, Safe Web Browsing for Your Family (free)

Joel Dehlin, a former Microsoft employee and co-founder of Microsoft Surface, and now CIO for the LDS Church recently posted a very interesting question on his blog. He asked readers what they do to manage Internet usage in their homes. Protecting your family, especially little children, from potential danger while accessing the Internet is no doubt a top concern of parents everywhere. Threats range from pornography, pedophilia, and stalking, to identity theft and computer security breaches. Due to the ever-evolving nature of technology, it is impossible to be completely protected from indecent content or other security risks associated with Internet usage. One must constantly be vigilant. Teaching correct principles and following some basic rules (such as no unsupervised, aimless web surfing or no installation of unknown, risky software) seem to be the most effective way to combat exposure to obscenity and security threats. Nevertheless, there are some technology-based tools that definitely make the battle a lot easier.

ScrubIT is a free service that filters out millions of malicious and obscene sites using good ol' DNS, the protocol that translates an easy-to-remember host name such as www.google.com into a numeric IP address like 64.233.167.104. No more accidental stumbling upon obscene web sites because of a mistyped URL. Instead of using your Internet service provider's DNS servers, you use ScrubIT's free DNS servers. For most users who use a router to share their Internet connection, this change can easily be made in the router's configuration page:

This way, all computers behind the router/firewall will be filtered. If you don't have a router, you can automatically configure your computer to use the ScrubIT DNS servers by downloading their config utility. If you know what you are doing, you can also manually enter in the ScrubIT DNS servers (67.138.54.100 and 207.225.209.66) in the connection properties.

The service seems to be fairly new but is indeed promising for those who are fed up with pornography, pop-ups, and other problems related to malicious or obscene sites, or for those who just want to play it safe. The service is completely free and the ScrubIT web site promises that it will stay that way. They are working on implementing a paid service that will allow users to customize what sites get blocked. I will be looking forward to this because one problem is that ScrubIT blocks Blogger.com, and we use Blogger in our family a lot. But, the beauty of a DNS-based solution such as ScrubIT, or a gateway or router-based solution like the Astaro Security Gateway (free for home users), is that you don't have to load any software that could bog down your computer or cause other problems. ScrubIT is not a silver bullet, but it is certainly an efficient and useful tool that can easily be setup to help protect families from potential online threats. I whole-heartedly endorse them.

GrandCentral Rocks

Google recently acquired GrandCentral, a voice communications company that allows you to pick one phone number and have it automatically forward calls to multiple phone numbers. Your GrandCentral phone number stays the same even if you move or change phone numbers. GrandCentral provides call forwarding and screening, as well as free voice mail that is also accessible from the web. I recently signed up for a beta test of GrandCentral and I'm very excited about this new service!

Some really cool GrandCentral features that I like are the ability to record phone calls and switch phones mid-call. No more, "Let me call you back from my land line." You can also listen in on voice mail and join the call at any time while someone is leaving you a message. There is no software to install as everything is setup and managed through the easy-to-use web interface. There is a slick address book into which you can import contacts from a handful of sources.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about GrandCentral is the fact that I can choose a phone number in the metro area that is not long distance for most callers in my area. I happen to live in an area that is long distance for most callers (a different exchange). I pay my phone company extra for an extended metro line. With GrandCentral, I may be able to ditch the extended metro line and save a significant chunk of cash each month. I am still testing to see if this is possible.

As if these features weren't enough to get you stoked about GrandCentral, you can also embed a WebCall button that you can place on your website or blog that allows people to contact you securely (see my Contact page for an example). Check out Invite Share to get a GrandCentral beta invitation.