Me.dium is a plug in for Firefox that tries to make surfing the web a more social experience. Once you sign up for me.dium, which is now public, you then download the plug in which adds a sidebar to your Firefox browser. In this side bar you will see personalized map of the Internet based on where you are, which will change depending on where you visit. You can then see, meet, and chat with people that are doing similar things that you’re doing
“Me.dium brings you all the contextual and social value you get from being around people in the real world, to you online world for the first time… Me.dium brings to you to that hidden world of people and activity behind your browser.”
Today Aaron Patzer, founder of the money management website, Mint, released it publicly. Having been involved in the private beta of the site, I will write about it. We couldn’t do this before, because of an agreement that goes along with being in the beta.
Before I got into Mint, I always used my online banking just to check my transactions everyday and make sure they were correct. It was rather tedious having to log into various internet websites to check my multiple accounts. With Mint, it links all your accounts together. It shows you transactions, spending trends, and “ways to save.” It’s nice seeing all of your transaction on the same list, AND in English. Rather than some foreign code it shows the location/store where you made the purchase. This then plays into spending trends. Mint has categories such as; shopping, dining, entertainment, gas, health care, bills, etc. The program will then take all of your transactions and make these nice charts and graphs showing you where your money is going. With me moving this past month for college, I did a little more shopping than normal. Mint then sent a text message to my phone telling me that. Along with warning me when I start spending to much, I can also make it email/text me weekly holdings in my accounts, and recent transactions. Aside from polished spending trend displays, Mint can also updates with new deals that are going down. Savings, credit, billing, mortgages, student loans, etc. One thing that is a downer about Mint, is that it is not real time. So, if i go $100 under my checking, Mint will not notify me until I log in, and it syncs with my accounts.
At the end of the day, a lot of people don’t know how to handle money. This will help them, and if it doesn’t, it will definitely tell them what they’re doing wrong.
I thought about this once when they released the 80gb iPod, and now I feel the need to write about it since the release of the 160gb iPod. From what I hear, most people think that it is a ton of space and no one uses it unless they have movies like nobodies business. Right now, unfortunately that is true. Unless you have your torrent clients running day and night downloading movies, or you’re a true audiophile and have heard of “better quality music,” then you would never fill that space. Let me shed some insight:
Right now there is a war going on between Bluray Disc and the HD-DVD. Every few years, we upgrade our media and redo everything. The same thing is happening right now with audio. There is a war going on between the Super-Audio CD (SACD), and the DVD-Audio. People do not know about this because everybody listens to mpeg-3, which is really too bad. Mp3 format is even lower quality than WAV, which is what is on a regular CD. Ipods are nice because they allow you to play most any file you want, including WAV, but with that it takes a memory toll. With 160gb, this is completely fine. One problem, iTunes only sells .mp3 (quality) which was outdated 5 years ago. Everybody only sells .mp3.
I almost wish that the iPod touch didn’t come out at the same time the 160gb did. I think one of the reasons Apple has not decided to upgrade their music is because their main product only has 16gb memory now. Does anyone else think 120kbps is a little obnoxious?
This post will mainly be an insight on my newly purchased T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur). Although I do not own a Pearl, many of my friends do and I have used them extensively. At first glance out of the box the Dash is beautiful, more beautiful than the pictures. Small thin body, metallic front, and rubber back makes it a nice hold in hands. Then for the boot up (a little long) I find a colorful Windows Mobile 5. With that, I go to T-Mobiles website to get WM6 (free of coarse). After I download it I search endlessly on forums and websites to find info on Mac integration. I could only find one easy to use program called Missing Sync, that will run you a whopping $40. But wait, even if you think that’s not good deal for Macintosh integration, it only works with WM5 (for now)… so as soon as I download it, I will only be able to use it once to transfer WM6, which you need some sort of syncing program to do, then I am stuck not being able to transfer music, documents, etc.
On to the software… windows mobile 6 is great, I finally got over it and just used my PC partition through boot camp to transfer files. Windows Media Player is disappointing in that it can only play .mp3, wma, and wmv. So for my .mp4 and .avi, I had to download various media players. With the Dash’s not-so-fast processor, playing movies of great sizes/resolutions was impossible. Terrible fps. Short clips played and looked beautiful with the Dash’s Huge screen.
Along with the slow boot up, the whole WM6 interface was pretty sluggish, not because of WM6, but because of the low processor speed, and small amount of memory. With the more programs I had opened, the slower everything moved, to eventually it was saying I couldn’t open any more programs for there was not enough memory. Overall the operating system seemed great, but it’s hardware could hardly support it.
A week after purchase, I was packing up for California. Got in the car, pulled out the Dash to listen to some tunes and realized that there were dead pixels forming. I called up T-Mobile on the drive up only to find that it was a “pressure crack” aka “physical damage” that would not allow me to return the phone in during the 14 day test trial, and was also not covered by the warranty. By this point I was extremely upset. Through the course of my trip, the dead pixels formed a huge black ink blot the rest of the screen was a clean white of more dead pixels. I had just purchased a brand new phone hardly used it, never dropped it once, took extremely good care of it, and it was virtually worthless. It would be 2 weeks before I would come back to Arizona (today) and talk to a representative. They confirmed in was a pressure crack on the internal workings of the screen, and with a thin, larger display, you can’t have it in your pocket because any sort of pressure can damage it. The representative reassured me that they can’t do anything about it, except give me the number of the third party insurance company they use (and I did buy insurance.) With the decision already in my mind that I no longer wanted this phone because of it’s breaking in such a short amount of time (ridiculous!) I called the insurance company to see if I could claim for a Blackberry Pearl. They said the only way I could get a phone of equivalent value (Dash and Blackberry cost exactly the same) was if they were out of stock of my model. The insurance company was so crappy they couldn’t even tell me how long I have insurance with them. (To see if I wanted to call back when they were out-of-stock). I just said that I would cancel the claim and call back later. So I called T-Mobile back convinced that this was a manufacturers defect, and a screen should not break this easily without any physical trauma whatsoever. So tomorrow I will send it in for them to check if there was a defect. If not, the insurance will make me pay half the cost a sluggish fragile phone that I don’t want anymore.
When and if I receive a new Dash, I will probably sell it to some unsuspecting victim on eBay. At least the Pearl has a processor and memory that can definitely hold it’s own. The data plan on the Dash costs $10 more than the Pearl, and does not include international email like the Blackberry does. The main reason that I initially chose the Dash over the Pearl is because I live in Tempe Arizona, an area that is completely wifi. The Dash has a wifi card, and the Pearl does not. Direct push email does not work on wifi though, instead email checks every 5 minutes with WM6 and ever 15 minutes with WM5. I wish I would have originally got the Pearl along with the cheaper more extensive data plan. At first, the Dash was the phone of my dreams, but that’s the problem with Cnet reviews, they never show the “2 weeks later,” which leads me to wonder why it is the highest ranked smart phone on their website.
MIT has successfully demonstrates a wireless power transfer. The team powers a light bulb with seven feet of space and the members obstructing the direct line between the coils. Coined WiTricity, this could be used to power many devices without cords. The technique uses a type of electromagnetic resonance (much like resonance with sound) causing efficient power transfers unlike with radio waves. It also also does not need a direct line of sight for it to work.
I think this could be one of the most amazing inventions since cell phones. Imagine no wires at all. Not even outlets. You purchase a new television and all you have to do is set it where you want it and turn it on. It will automatically pick up (much like wifi) the power source it is keyed to. Or say if your cellphone runs low on battery, it could automatically start charging itself wherever it lay in your house. The article says that the technique is so inlaid in the laws of physics, they’re surprised no one has ever thought of it before.
::Update::
Read the comments, they’re full of information and opinion.
The new Super Smash Brothers for Wii has been long awaited ever first announced. Everybody was terribly disappointed when they read that it would not be releasing along side with the Wii, and it still may not even release this year in the US. It’s scheduled release in Japan is December 31st and in Europe, September 30th. With Wiis still selling like hot cakes, SSBB would do amazingly well if it could be released by Christmas. Do you think this will happen?
::Update::
Release date for North America is December 3rd 2007
::Update::
Nintendo announced addition of Sonic into the character lineup. This pushed the Japan release date to January 24th, 2008, and the US release date is now to be assigned.
When will Super Smash Brothers Brawl be released in US?
The creators of Gears of War have released 4 new multilayer maps today… but for a fee of 800 MS Points ($10). They will be free of charge September 3rd
Bullet Marsh: In this Kryll-infested swamp, an old generator still powers the area lights. A few stray bullets could easily knock out the generator, leaving combatants to fend for themselves against the Kryll.
Garden: This overgrown and crumbling conservatory still has a working fertilization and pesticide system. This system can pose a serious hazard to anyone who ventures into the greenhouse without first venting the air.
Process: Teams must fight for control of this subterranean Imulsion processing plant, still active despite the cessation of the Pendulum wars.
Subway: Timgad’s Central Subway station used to serve as a central hub for commuters. Now the tunnels are crawling with Locust.
I could see the price necessary if the maps were to revolutionize GoW, but they won’t. People will still play the old maps.
After testing for some time now, Joost will now be giving unlimited invites to its beta testers. To inform, Joost is an internet television service with over 150 channels. The creators of Skype have created Joost using peer-to-peer television technology which broadcasts in near TV quality.
Being one of the first applications of p2ptv, I am very excited to see how this turns out. If Skype keeps with it’s track records then this will undoubtedly be a success. There is one problem though… I need an invite!
::Update::
Brent from iBoughtAMac has been awesome in giving me an invite to Joost. If there is anyone who wants an invite, just comment on this post and I’ll throw one your way. Do not put your email in the actual post (to avoid spam) and don’t use temporary email addresses (spambox.us)
Have you ever been watching a movie on your computer and been slightly agitated that you had to occasionally move the mouse a bit to prevent your screen saver from coming on and interrupting your movie, because you forgot to turn your screen saver off and you don’t want to pause your movie to do so? Well your problems are over now, thanks to Wiebetech’s Mouse Jiggler, a $29.95 device which will constanly jiggle your mouse for you, available in fast and slow varieties.
This seems to me a colossally ill-conceived product, and I doubt very many people will pay $30 for one instead of manually jiggling the mouse or simply turning off their screen saver when they don’t want it to interfere with what they’re doing.
For the of you who have not heard of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), it is when bee hives lose all their inhabitants save the Queen (no pun intended), eggs, and a few workers. No one knows why this is happening but since last autumn the west coast has lost 60% of it’s bee population and the east coast missing 70%. There is a new theory stating that the radiation from cell phones interfere with bees’ navigation systems.
Although I do recognize that this is CCD is a huge deal in that most of the worlds crops depend on bees, I do not think that it is caused by cell phone signals. For one, although it started in the US it is also stretching through Europe, who uses different broadcasting frequencies for their cell phones. But that could also be in agreement with CCD because although the frequencies of Europe and US are different, they are a lot more similar then those of Asian countries where CCD is non-existent. But also, although we haven’t been using cell phones forever, the frequencies we use today have been in use for a years now, and if they did interfere with bees’ navigation, wouldn’t it take effect instantly rather than over time?
Stefan Kimme, a graduate student who co-authored last years study states that the media misinterpreted the research and Independent wrote the article without ever calling on it. Kimmel says “This is a horror story for every researcher to have your study reduced to this. Now we are trying to force things back to normal.”
Me.dium is a plug in for Firefox that tries to make surfing the web a more social experience. Once you sign up for me.dium, which is now public, you then download the plug in which adds a sidebar to your Firefox browser. In this side bar you will see personalized map of the Internet based on where you are, which will change depending on where you visit. You can then see, meet, and chat with people that are doing similar things that you’re doing
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Today Aaron Patzer, founder of the money management website, 
This post will mainly be an insight on my newly purchased T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur). Although I do not own a Pearl, many of my friends do and I have used them extensively. At first glance out of the box the Dash is beautiful, more beautiful than the pictures. Small thin body, metallic front, and rubber back makes it a nice hold in hands. Then for the boot up (a little long) I find a colorful Windows Mobile 5. With that, I go to T-Mobiles website to get WM6 (free of coarse). After I download it I search endlessly on forums and websites to find info on Mac integration. I could only find one easy to use program called Missing Sync, that will run you a whopping $40. But wait, even if you think that’s not good deal for Macintosh integration, it only works with WM5 (for now)… so as soon as I download it, I will only be able to use it once to transfer WM6, which you need some sort of syncing program to do, then I am stuck not being able to transfer music, documents, etc.
MIT has successfully demonstrates a wireless power transfer. The team powers a light bulb with seven feet of space and the members obstructing the direct line between the coils. Coined WiTricity, this could be used to power many devices without cords. The technique uses a type of electromagnetic resonance (much like resonance with sound) causing efficient power transfers unlike with radio waves. It also also does not need a direct line of sight for it to work.
The new Super Smash Brothers for Wii has been long awaited ever first announced. Everybody was terribly disappointed when they read that it would not be releasing along side with the Wii, and it still may not even release this year in the US. It’s scheduled release in Japan is 
The creators of Gears of War have released 4 new multilayer maps today… but for a fee of 800 MS Points ($10). They will be free of charge September 3rd
After testing for some time now, Joost will now be giving unlimited invites to its beta testers. To inform, Joost is an internet television service with over 150 channels. The creators of Skype have created Joost using peer-to-peer television technology which broadcasts in near TV quality.
Have you ever been watching a movie on your computer and been slightly agitated that you had to occasionally move the mouse a bit to prevent your screen saver from coming on and interrupting your movie, because you forgot to turn your screen saver off and you don’t want to pause your movie to do so? Well your problems are over now, thanks to Wiebetech’s Mouse Jiggler, a $29.95 device which will constanly jiggle your mouse for you, available in fast and slow varieties.
For the of you who have not heard of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), it is when bee hives lose all their inhabitants save the Queen (no pun intended), eggs, and a few workers. No one knows why this is happening but since last autumn the west coast has lost 60% of it’s bee population and the east coast missing 70%. There is a new theory stating that the radiation from cell phones interfere with bees’ navigation systems.