The Latest Technologeez

Beware the Ides of SPAM

2008-03-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today I received another question from a “member” on Fanbox (which I now refer to as SPAMbox). So, I search Google for: fanbox spam. At the time of this writing, I’m #4 on the list, but what cracks me up is the obvious seeding that SPAMbox has done on the web.

For example, take the posting they’ve done on the Office Tweaks blog. There is a comment there by a guy named “TJ Brown” that is an obvious seed for Fanbox.

I love FanBox! They have so many cool applications and features on their desktop! Their social network aspect rivals even MySpace and Facebook! I looked up the old stuff on SMS.ac, and who cares? It wasn’t even a big deal and they have since discontinued offering sms service. So stop crying and give the site a chance.

- TJ

Give me a friggin break! Sounds like he’s trying to sell me a used Pinto. Fanbox is SPAM, plain and simple. No other company out there sends me emails with “questions” from people I don’t know and “questions/invites” from people I do know. Fanbox will phish your password, SPAM your friends, and phish their passwords.

Fanbox is a scam. Every message I receive, I mark it as SPAM and post another blog to help spread the word. Judging by the number of posts I have about Fanbox, you can see that I’ve been SPAMMED a lot lately. Keep the emails coming, I’ll keep posting.

Parabolic Listening Device for Spying

2007-04-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 14, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, cool stuff, technology

I bought one of these from Gagdet Universe last Christmas for my dad. I pointed it at my neighbor’s house, and I could hear her walking across her kitchen floor. You could easily listen in on conversations from a distance away.

technorati tags:gadgets, CES, Consumer Electronics Show, electronics, spy

Answering your home phone from 80 miles away

2007-04-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 4, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, cool stuff, technology

This is not just impressive because you can call someone from 128km away (79.5 miles). It’s impressive because a company in Hong Kong is going to market and sell this item to you directly. Checkout their guarantee and shipping near the bottom of the page. They are claiming to guarantee the item for 10 days from the date you receive it. The most important part is the part about the shipping. They will ship this anywhere in the world. Heed their warning though. Is this thing legal in The States?

Long Range Cordless Phone - Senao

technorati tags:technology, phone, wireless, global, marketing, cool stuff, gadget

Email is an Ineffective Method of Communication

2007-04-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Feb 2, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in culture, quotes, myspace, landmark, Team Management & Leadership, friends, writing, blogging, life, Relationships, cool stuff, technology

I love the conversations that people have about Internet communication. I’m in a team management leadership program right now. The entire program is based upon being in communication with others and creating a listening of others that empowers them. What I find interesting about the course is that participants have created a listening of Internet communication as ineffective. That is to say that in the realm of communication, most participants view communication via the web and email as ineffective.

I’ve had a number of conversations with people in the course and other people in my life about how they relate to Internet communication. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you really want to communicate with someone, verbal communication is the best way to go”.

There are a couple of errors in this statement. First, verbal communication essentially means communication with words. Modern definitions of verbal have twisted it into meaning oral communication as opposed to written communication. However, the true meaning of verbal is “of or pertaining to words”. Nothing in the original definition implies oral vs written.

The second problem with this statement is that it implies that one must speak with another person in order to be in communication. Now, what I find interesting about this is that written communication was invented specifically to make communication available to more people.

Written word has the ability to become timeless. Written word has the ability to make us and our communication live on forever. Where would we be is Shakespeare was only communicated through oral communication? Where would we be if the US Constitution was never written down but just communicated in oral conversation?

The moral of the story is that the web, being part of written communication, is a very powerful method of communication. You can gain interest from people in whatever you are up to through oral or written communication. The web and community websites (more about this later) are very effective methods of communication.

technorati tags:landmark, community, myspace, communication, blogging, discussion, verbal, oral, team, management, leadership, writing, books, relationships, culture, friends, life, shakespeare, constitution, history

Retro Cell Phone or More Useless junk for your garage?

2007-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 30, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, Weird Stuff, Stuff that sucks, humor, photos, rants, blogging, technology

Let me start off by saying that I love gadgets. I’ve been shopping at Sharper Image since… Well, since before they had their stores (which I’m sure they will be shutting down a few of later this year, but I digress). I’ve long been a fan of Brookstone, Hammacher, and Gadget Universe. Then there is FirstStreet aka TechnoBrands.

I can’t really say that I’m a fan of FirstStreet. Most of their products are… I’ll let the picture do the talking here

Larger Image View - firstSTREETonline

technorati tags:cell phone, phone, ridiculous, gadgets, junk, lame, rants, stuff that sucks, photos, products, innovations, weird stuff, technology

Is a Natural Product a Gadget?

2007-04-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Original Post from The Gadget Panel

What is a natural product? Well, the folks at Expo West can tell you. I was invited to the Natural Product Expo in Anaheim, CA this weekend by my friend, and fellow Gadget Panelist, Jeffrey Schiller.
We had a great time looking at cool food, products, and… well, we went
to a fashion show (second one in as many weeks) as well (pictures to
come on my wordpress blog).
I learned a lot about some of the amazing conventions that Jeff has put
on in the past. I hope soon that we’ll be seeing some of them again
soon!One of the things that I was thinking about was whether I was
going to find a cool “product” or not. See, most of the stuff at the
Natural Product Expo is food related. Now, I could write about the
chocolate… mmmm, chocolate… for ages. In fact, I could have an entire
publication to chocolate. Wait! There IS a magazine dedicated to Chocolate!

I found some really cool products there. For example, there is this
shower filter that de-chlorinates your water. This means that I’m not
going to get prune hands from being in the shower, and hopefully it
will help my itchy scalp. Maybe I’ll even grow some hair back (crossing
fingers). My concern was that the water pressure was going to get
squashed when I installed it. Well, no problem there! Checkout the
video!

Where can you get one? Well, that was the only problem I was having
at this expo. Most of the companies there only sell wholesale. However,
some quick sleuthing brought me to the product on Amazon. 40 bucks is a nice price for this product.

There were a few more non-food innovations that I’m going to write
about later. I’m even going to setup an interview with the founder of
the Fartless Factory
(yes, the Old Fart himself). Yes, he doesn’t have much of a website,
but I guarantee you will get a chuckle and maybe find yourself some
sixteen bean chili that won’t make you blow a gasket in his online catalog.

technorati tags:health, tradeshows, 16 bean chili, chili, chlorine, clean, expo, fartless, fartless factory, farts, food, gas, old fart, organic, passing gas, shower, shower filter, soft water, humor, life, environment, bathroom, youtube, videos, cool stuff

Charge your PDA with a flashlight!

2007-04-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on the Gadget Panel

A while back, I wrote about a flashlight that can charge a cell phone. I got one for everyone in my family. It is a MUST HAVE for anyone with a car. It’s bright, has a swivel head, and requires no batteries. You simple charge it with the pull of a string. Talking with people on movie and television sets, it is perfect for that line of work too. Having a portable, rechargeable power source and light is great for anyone on set.

My only problem was that the device did not come with an adapter that would charge my Pocket PC (which I’m not a huge fan of anyway). However, my Pocket PC charges via USB anyway. So many devices charge via USB, so it would be nice to have a portable USB charger. Alan Parekh from Hacked Gadgets, posted a blog about building a charger for his old iPod Shuffle. Brilliant!

Today, someone dropped off a series of adapters that can be used with the Zipping Flashlight. I got to charge my cell phone!

Where can you buy the adapters? I think Radio Shack, but I’ll find out and post later. You can get the flashlight at Gadget Universe. There is another product similar to it, but I’ve never used it. You can find it on Froogle.

You can read other blogs about the flashlight here:
BackCountry.com | The Goat
Coolest Gadgets
The Gadget Panel
Hacked Gadgets
Gizmodo

Technorati: Gadgets, Cell Phone, convenience, battery free, cell phone, charger, flashlight, froogle, hacked gadgets, iPod, led, light, movies, no batteries, portable power, radio shack, rechargeable, television, tg 336, USB, youtube, zipping flashlight

New Scrolls Discovered!

2007-04-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on the Gadget Panel

I’ve had the LED message billboard (available through SkyMall) for a while. I’ve used it at events to promote the next activity. I’ve used it at parties to let people know when the movie will start or where to find drinks. It’s pretty functional. Now, I’m using it to promote The Gadget Panel. You can use it to promote yourself!

I’ve hosted and promoted a lot of dance events in my day. The LED Message Billboard offers a very effective method of notifying people of upcoming activities. At most of my events, there is a raffle of sorts. The idea is that you buy a ticket for 2 bucks, and if you win, you get 50% of the total prize money. Meaning that if 100 tickets are purchased (which is about the norm), you end up with 100 bucks in your pocket. I use the LED billboard to let people see how many tickets have been purchased.

I’ve also used it at my poker night parties. I let people know when the Blackjack tournament is going to start or who is winning the foosball tournament. It’s very functional. I even had the director of the dance department at the local college ask me where I got it. He is looking to have an inexpensive way to notifying people of upcoming dance events and activities. Since the product can use either an AC power source or batteries, it makes it a very useful tool for portable promotion. You might just find one in the back window of a car promoting your company soon!

Technorati: Gadgets, tradeshows, Communication Technology, advertising, batteries, billboard, college, dance, dance deparment, digital billboard, events, LED, mobile advertising, parties, poker night, portable promotion, prize money, promotion, raffles, skymall, te 349

Vadim is a Gifted Drummer

2007-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on the Gadget Panel

I spent a little bit of time with my friend Vadim this Saturday. I pulled out my PMP (Personal Media Player) that I purchased from the deal-a-day website StrongIdea. This thing has been half way around the world and back. I took it on my trip to New Zealand last September. I’ve taken it to a couple of other spots. This PMP has seen a lot in the world!

But nothing could prepare it (or me) for this prime time with Vadim and the Digital Drum set I purchased for my nephew last Christmas. I liked it so much that I had to get one for myself. Now, Vadim gets his first crack at being a virtual Tommy Lee. Enjoy…

I don’t think Tommy has anything to be worried about. If you want a deal on one, visit Gadget Universe and place the order with the source code EM070118. And if you couldn’t bare to watch the video through to the end, you missed all the cool features of the item, such as a metronome, learning feature with flashing lights, different songs, changing the tempo, foot pedals, different rhythms, reverbs, and more. So, go back and watch the video all they way through again

Technorati: Audio, Travel, Toys, ASF, audio, band, christmas, digital drums, drum machine, drummer, drums, drumset, gadget panelist, MP3, MP4, music, nephew, new zealand, personal media player, PMP, strongidea, te 354, tommy lee, vadim, video

Grab some Tiddy

2007-04-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Ummm….

Get two cuddly Tiddy Bears for the low price of one at just $14.95. LOL I don’t really have anything else to say.

technorati tags:youtube, videos, infomercials, funny, random, humor, weird stuff, gadgets, television, commercials, tiddy, boobs, breasts, automobile, travel, road trip, cheesy, lame stuff, comedy

Put a spring in your step

2007-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me the following image he found on the Modern Mechanix blog. He said it was like a pair of naked Gravity Defyer Shoes

Apparently, this is from the September 1939 edition of Mechanix Illustrated. I couldn’t help but chuckle. These clumsy looking shoes were invented by some Swiss shoemaker who wanted to reduce the impact of everyday walking on our bodies.

Music and Movies and Voice Recording… OH MY!!!

2007-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on the Gadget Panel

GP Tags: accounting, auto detect, billy wirth, celebrities, commercials, controller, conversation, cool stuff, coolness, experience, family, FBi, female celebrities, free, free product, gforce, GIF, home theater, home theater watch, Honda, images, ipod, joel moore, JPEG, laughing, MAC, memories, micro USB, movies, MP3, MP4, music, nerd, NVX, office, Olay, Oscars, PC, photo album, photos, pictures, record, recording conversations, shawn hatosy, sister, spy, survey, TA 457, time, timepiece, USB, videos, voice, voice recorder, Warren G, watch, work, wrist watch, youtube

I had the Home Theater Watch at the 2007 GBK Oscar show. Like I mentioned in previous blogs, Billy Wirth, Shawn Hatosy, Joel Moore, and Warren G all loved the Home Theater Watch. It wasn’t a huge hit for the female celebrities, but there were plenty of women taking a look at the watch.

But this isn’t about the Oscars or celebrities. This is about my very own Home Theater Watch experience. Now, I’ll admit that I’m not much of a nerd. While I’m sure that my sister is laughing her butt off right now at that statement, I swear I’m not a nerd. Honestly! This watch is actually really cool.

Plug it into your MAC or PC. It uses a micro USB cable and is auto detected by both in my case. Although, be a lil’ careful with the MAC because its wide open folks! Don’t start deleting files that you *think* you don’t need. You probably do.

Anyway, getting back to the coolness of this watch. I was totally blown away by this cool product. It really is like Joel Moore said, “It’s like an iPod for your wrist.” Yet the Home Theater Watch also has the added coolness factor of being a watch. Something you wear on your wrist that tells time. I was sporting it at the office today, and people were all begging me to see what the watch can do. There are dozens or people who have written about the Home Theater Watch:

Gear Live had something to say
Luxist recommends it while you are standing in line while out and about
SciFi.com even pointed out that you can watch a full length film or a couple of episodes of Prison Break
Coolest Gadgets pointed out the usefulness during a traffic jam
Wrist Dreams… Well, I’m not sure what to make about their name to be honest with you
Book of Joe wants the manufacturer to promise “Your friends and family will be eager to spend time with you….”. How do you become the most popular blogging anesthesiologist? I’m sure that the first step is to start blogging
So, everyone at work is following me around…

Does it play movies? Yep!

Does it play music? Yep!

Does it have a voice recorder? Uh…

I didn’t even realize this until after I had shot the video. See and hear the Home Theater Watch video I posted on youtube.

So, when the controller came by my office to tell me that one of my biggest marketing channels had posted a FAT profit for Q1, I was excited because I had it all on audio. I was testing the recording feature when she came by, so I’m not going to make a practice out of recording conversations, but it just kinda happened. Hopefully the FBI will make note of that when they scan this website and let me slide

And, BTW. At the time I wrote this blog, there was a 5 question survey on gadgetuniverse.com that claims you can enter to win a Home Theater Watch. I don’t know the details or if there is a deadline, but this watch is worth giving it a shot. I’ll take another one!

Technorati: Gadgets, Audio, Video, Latest Technology, Communication Technology, Apparel, spy equipment, hollywood, Toys, accounting, auto detect, billy wirth, celebrities, commercials, controller, conversation, cool stuff, coolness, experience, family, FBi, female celebrities, free, free product, gforce, GIF, home theater, home theater watch, Honda, images, ipod, joel moore, JPEG, laughing, MAC, memories, micro USB, movies, MP3, MP4, music, nerd, NVX, office, Olay, Oscars, PC, photo album, photos, pictures, record, recording conversations, shawn hatosy, sister, spy, survey, TA 457, time, timepiece, USB, videos, voice, voice recorder, Warren G, watch, work, wrist watch, youtube

Listen to the Radio!

2007-04-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Don’t just read about gadgets. Call in and talk to me and other gadget enthusiasts during during our upcoming Gadget Panel BlogTalkRadio.com Show.

Guaranteed to be entertaining, fun, and informative. You won’t want to miss our first show in a couple of Saturdays. Share the gadget experience!

Technorati: Gadgets, Audio, Video, Outdoors, Fitness, Latest Technology, Travel, Health, tradeshows, Cell Phone, Communication Technology, Apparel, spy equipment, hollywood, convenience, Toys, books, blogtalkradio, chart, discussions, experiences, gadget, gadget experience, gadget panelist, gadgets, hard to find, information, innovations, live, live radio, panelist, participation, radio, sharing, special, speciality items, talk show, talkshow, value

FREE Gravity Defyer Shoes from the Gadget Panel

2007-04-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on the Gadget Panel

GP Tags: academy awards, comfort, complimentary, free, free products, gadget panel, gravity defyer, gravity defyer shoes, oscars, pair of shoes, prostitute, shoes, special, survey, US residents, win

The Gadget Panel has access to complimentary pairs of Gravity Defyer Shoes. From the Oscar event I attended a while back, I was passing out cards for a complimentary pair of the Gravity Defyer Shoes. I have a few left over, and they are yours, so enter to win today. I’ll be posting a new contest each month for the next few months. Tell your friends about this. These shoes are really comfortable.

A while back, I compiled a list of websites that covered the Gravity Defyer Shoes. At 130 bucks, this is a great win! With the chance to win the most comfortable shoes in the world, this is a great win! Of course, Gadget Panel is not going to sell, rent, lease, bargain, enslave, remarket, prostitute, or distribute your information to anyone. It’s just a cool opportunity to win a free pair of shoes (open to US residents only, sorry).

Click here to enter to WIN!

Technorati: Apparel, academy awards, comfort, complimentary, free, free products, gadget panel, gravity defyer, gravity defyer shoes, oscars, pair of shoes, prostitute, shoes, special, survey, US residents, win

BlinkList Blogmarks del.icio.us Digg it Earthlink Furl iFeedReaders Netvouz Netscape RawSugar reddit Simpy Spurl StumbleUpon Wink

That Lucky Bastard Jaredude

2007-03-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Originally Posted On My Wordpress Blog

My buddy jaredude got one of the coolest products I have seen in while. He got these wireless speakers from Brookstone. The idea was good and they sounded well in the store but the real test when we got them to his house. I was really amazed how two little speakers could sound so good and actually have some bass to them. Now I want a pair dammit but wont spend the $200 for them. Of course Jared got them for $100 cause he spent about an hour and a half flirting with the sales~~man~~ person. I will post some videos or the performance on my YouTube account check it out. Also feel free to check out any of my other videos and leave comments thanks. Here are some pics of the sexy beasts.

-Vadim

That Lucky Bastard Jaredude

2007-03-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on: Tolstivlad Wordpress Blog

My buddy jaredude got one of the coolest products I have seen in while. He got these wireless speakers from Brookstone. The idea was good and they sounded well in the store but the real test when we got them to his house. I was really amazed how two little speakers could sound so good and actually have some bass to them. Now I want a pair dammit but wont spend the $200 for them. Of course Jared got them for $100 cause he spent about an hour and a half flirting with the sales~~man~~ person. I will post some videos or the performance on my YouTube account check it out. Also feel free to check out any of my other videos and leave comments thanks. Here are some pics of the sexy beasts.

-Vadim

What did Paris Hilton get for her birthday?

2007-02-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

Original blog posted on The Gadget Panel

One of the presents Paris Hilton received for her birthday this year is pictured here. Can you spot it?

Read on to get a few more hints... I'm standing around at the GBK Oscar celebrity gift event when Kathy and Rick Hilton come into the room. It was a pleasure to spend a few minutes with them, showing them some of the coolest gadgets and innovations on the market. As I'm talking to Rick about the various gadgets and gizmos available on the market, Kathy comes over and points to one of the coolest digital recording devices in the world: The 1GB Digital Voice Recorder from Gadget Universe.

Of course, they love all of the cool tools available through the Gadget Universe catalog, but the Digital Voice Recorder is just the right item for Mr. Hilton's busy schedule. The real estate mogul is always on the go with his fast paced life. His mind is always full of brilliant ideas, and he often finds himself without the utilities necessary to capture them. No pen, no paper... and the idea can be lost.

As soon as Rick picked up the 1GB Voice Recorder available through Gadget Universe, he was hooked! Of course, it was Mrs. Hilton who spotted it first. She really does have a keen eye for great products :-D The features Rick likes about the 1GB Voice Recorder are that you can record 25 hours of high quality audio without having to move any files to your computer, easy USB file transfer to your laptop of desktop, one button recording, and pause and restart recording in the same file with just a single button! Pretty cool for someone as busy as he is.

I really must add that Mr. Hilton was very appreciative for receiving this gift from Gadget Universe, compliments of Alexander Innovation Wizard. I never know what to expect when meeting high profile people like the Hiltons. So, I was incredibly happy when I realized how nice both Kathy and Rick really are. They are the most delightful people I can possibly imagine. They listened intently to everything I had to say about the world of gadgets in front of them and were genuinely interested in the value of each of the products. I'll write more about the products that they enjoyed, including the Steinhausen Marquise, available through SkyMall, the world famous Gravity Defyer Shoes, and the iPlatform.

Have you spotted Paris Hilton's birthday gift from Gadget Universe? It's almost impossible to notice and that's the beauty of the product! And, as her parents said, its perfect given the amount of paparazzi she encounters while driving. I'll write about the product in my next blog.

Phone Camera Telescope... Geez

2007-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

The folks at the annual Peeping Tom Convention in Las Vegas have announced the most extraordinary innovation in cell phone technology since the iPhone. The first ever Peeping Tom Cell Camera Telescope Adapter! Peeping just got a whole lot safer AND easier. Peep from the convenience of your own home.

No longer do you need to crawl around in the neighbor’s plant box to get a sneak preview of her goodies. Simply attach this device to your cell phone’s camera and view those hi-res 1.3 megapixel images from the comfort of your computer desktop. Of course, if your friends are peeping Toms like you, you can easily forward the images via pix messages to their cell phone in just seconds.

Folks, I don’t know where people come up with these ideas, but someone does come up with them. Where do you find a product like this? I don’t know. Try a Google Search. One of the product managers was asking whether I thought this would be a good item for one of the various print and online marketing channels we run. The image of the white truck is an actual picture I took with the device attached to my phone. I must admit that it took me about 10 minutes to align the telescope to my camera’s lens because I have a Pocket PC instead of the 1998 Nokia cell phone the attachment device was designed for.

In case you don’t have your regular digital camera with you, be sure to capture the 1.3 megapixel moment with the Peeping Tom Cell Camera Telescope.

More windDOZE Follies

2007-02-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the last Windoze update has a time bomb in it. After a certain period of time, certain features no longer continue to function. The most noticeable is gaining a network connection after my laptop has been on hibernate. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a huge Microsoft fan (Windows is a Piece of Work, Cursed Windoze, A Depressing Day in Blogging, I’ve sold my soul to the devil, Windows Mobile or PC Therapy?). The only real benefit to Microsoft products is that it gives me something blog about

It used to be that I could just hibernate my laptop by closing the lid, come back later, open the laptop, and it would connect right to my wireless (or wired) network automatically. This was a useful feature of Windoze, you know… working! Well, the latest updates have apparently give me some new features such are not connecting to ANY network after hibernate, not being able to shutdown, and even slower performance for all Internet related apps!

I suppose that I could spend time on the phone with MS support to figure out what’s going on. Or I could spend hours searching for solutions on the KB… Wait!!! Another update! Mayhaps that will fix the problem!

Protect your banana.

2007-02-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

No, not THAT banana. A real banana.

Are you one of those types of people who bring a banana to work or used to bring a banana to work but it just happened to get squished and oozed all over your TPS reports? Well, there's a product available to protect your banana from getting crushed while on your commute to work/school.

http://www.bananabunker.com/

Charge Your Cellphone with a Flashlight

2007-01-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I posted about one of the most useless bits of cell phone technology
I've seen in a while. Today, I'm pleased to show you a video of one of
the coolest gadgets I've used in a long time. I've written about the Zipping Flashlight from Gadget Universe before. I really did purchase one of these from GU for everyone in my family for Christmas.

Alexander Innovation Wizard made a video of this flashlight available on Youtube. However, they didn't actually show the coolest feature of this flashlight: you can charge a cell phone. Here it is in action!

You Don't Really Defy Gravity but Your Feet Will Like You

2007-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

The Gravity Defyer Shoes by Alexander Innovation Wizard are a hot item. They were a huge hit when debuted at the 2007 CES. Yes, shoes made their debut at the largest consumer electronics show. A crazy idea, but it actually makes sense, given the amount of time people spend on their feet.

See what people said about the shoes at the CES as well as what other bloggers and reporters have to say:

Read what GUTTERBOY said (humorous)
Read what turboGADGETS said
California Newswire
The Red Ferret says they “are straight off the ‘what the…?’ banana boat LOL
Investor’s Business Daily
Nothing to do with Arbroath
Dr. Joe Vitale has many good things to say not just about the shoes
The Gravity Defyer Shoes are wishlisted by someone on TheThingsIWant.com. Perhaps I’ll send him a pair
CrunchGear had their hopes up about defying gravity
MondoShoes had something to say too
Sys-con
Yahoo! Finance published the press release
Can you Digg it?
eNewsChannels
They even love it in India
The Ventury County Star picked up on the hot news!
So did the Dallas Morning News
Even EARTHtimes.org got in on the action

See the reactions from people at CES for yourself!

Gadget Universe - Gravity Defyer Shoes

Alexander Elnekaveh (Alexander Innovation Wizard)

A Christmas Gift for Everyone

2006-12-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

I gave my Christmas shopping a lot of consideration this year. I also braved the crowds of the Topanga Shopping Mall in Woodland Hills, CA. 30 minutes waiting in a parking structure might drive many insane, but I kept reminding myself that I was doing all of this for the people I love.

I enjoyed the response my presents cause for those who received them. My nephew loved his digital drum set I got him but not as much as his mom :-D. My brother loved the UFO I got him. Those things are wickedly cool. I charged it before I brought it over for Christmas so that it was fresh and ready to go right out of the box. Everyone loved all the different items I gave this holiday weekend.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the response I received from my sister about the Pull-to-Charge LED Forever Flashlight from Gadget Universe. It really is a simple product. Last year, I got everyone in my family a Forever Flashlight from Gadget Universe. This is a similar item but much better. In my opinion, the Pull-to-Charge LED Forver Flashlight is truly an innovative twist on the battery free flashlight.

A flashlight without batteries. What's so impressive about that? The feature that impressed me AND my sister was the power adapters that come with the flashlight. On the bottom of the flashlight, there is an input for a power outlet. Yes, a power outlet. My sister's cell phone was dead. She had forgotten to charge the phone before she left, and she didn't have a charger in her car. I was joking about it charging her cell phone. After all, I didn't think it was going to fit her phone. But it did.

Next thing you know, she's pulling the string a couple of times and her cell phone is charging. Her phone charged for 20 minutes on the Flashlight. Her phone is the typical cell phone flip top. I think an LG or a Motorola. I don't remember. I ordered more from GU to give to other people in my life. Not only do they get a powerful flashlight but a portable charger. Now, if I can only find one that is powered by a hamster wheel, I'd be set for life!

Yahoo Finally Beats Google at Something

2006-12-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

I RARELY use Yahoo search. Granted, this has little to do with the usefulness of the search. It has more to do with the fact that I think Yahoo is a bunch of ass clowns. However, today... Today, I might just have to change my mind.

I am a HUGE proponent of RSS. I love RSS. If I could eat RSS, I would. I love RSS so much that I've tought about legally chaning my middle name to RSS. Jared RSS Tracy... I like the sound of that!

I ran a search on Yahoo to see how certain products were showing up on Yahoo vs. Google. I noticed something up in the corner of my Flock web browser whilst searching on Yahoo. It was the distinct RSS feed logo. At first, I thought it was merely a link reference for some main Yahoo RSS. Upon further review, it is actually an RSS for whatever the current search is! Wickedly SWEET!

Yes, Google does offer the Google Reader thing. However, it's more than just one click away. Kudos to Yahoo for geeking Google out. If you have a browser with a built-in RSS (such as Flock), explore the difference between bill gates - Google Search and the bill gates - Yahoo! Search Results

Gadget Universe Innovates Online Advertising for the Catalog Industry

2006-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

Sylmar, CA - Gadget Universe became the first major innovation catalog to offer up its email deals via Real Simple Syndication (RSS). Continuing a trend of innovative marketing ideas, Gadget Universe now offers the Gadget Alert Newsletter free to anyone with a news feed reader. Users have the ability to add the Gadget Alert Newsletter to their Google, Yahoo, or MSN homepages as well as any news reader web service.

The Gadget Alert Newsletter offers discounts on products, free shipping, and other specials previously available only to email subscribers. Utilizing RSS to promote specials and deals to Gadget Universe visitors puts GU at the forefront of innovative advertising. Since RSS delivers content directly to the browsers and newsreaders of subscribers, it offers similar functionality to email delivered specials. However, no personal information is required to be submitted by the visitor in order to receive the feed. There are no worries about spam from Gadget Universe, as the browser now has complete control over the feed.

The feed is available directly from the Gadget Universe website and also through the FeedBurner.com feed service.

My two cents...
I'm very excited about the latest release from Gadget Universe. This is truly innovative marketing technique that has been lacking from the catalog industry. Yes, companies have been delivering specials announcements and deals via RSS for a while. However, Gadget Universe is the first major catalog company to take their email specials and make them available via a news feeds, readily available to any browser; without having to divulge any personal information.

This will transform the catalog industry. I'm going to dare to say that catalog giants like Sharper Image, Brookstone, Hammacher Schlemmer, and First Street will all follow the lead of Gadget Universe is offering syndication of their online promotions before the end of 2007.

A FREE Word Processor

2006-12-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Original post on Jared's Bloggin'

If you are like me, the primary functions that your PC or MAC serves
are to surf the web, watch videos on YouTube, and blog. Perhaps you are
a variation of those. Maybe you even use your computer to write a daily
journal.

Well, I’ve been journal-less for months since my old laptop died. I
purchased a MAC, which came with a trial version of MS Office. When the
trial expired, I didn’t want to spork out the 500 bucks it costs for
MS Office. Sure, I could have just purchased MS Word, which is what I
primarily use. However, I held my ground in not wanting to spend money
on an office sweet.

I recently purchased a laptop from newegg.com.
This too came with a trial version of MS Office. I used it a few times,
but I really didn’t want to get used to using the Office suite because
I’d then feel a need to go spend another half a grand on MS Office. I
held out again.

I’m glad I didn’t purchase MS Office. I was working on an
advertisement with someone in my art department the other day. They
opened up the Word doc I had sent from my computer at work in a program
called OpenOffice.org (OOo). I remembered back to the old days of that POS Star
Office (nerds in the house, lemme hear you say wOOt wOOt!!!) Anyway, OpenOffice.org offers an MS Office type suite for FREE!

But that’s not where the coolness ends. Sure, free is great, but there
is one very sweet feature that I will be utilizing soon: export to PDF.
I’m going to start working on my new book soon. Of course, the best way
to get an eBook on the market is as a PDF! So, I’m going to be doing
this all for FREE.

Now, even if you’ve already sporked out the money for MS Office,
download OpenOffice.org for free. Yes, it’s completely free. Yes, it
offers pretty much all the same functionality as MS Office. Plus, you
can save/open MS Office documents whenever you want with
OpenOffice.org. When the latest version of MS Office comes out, you can
spork out another 200 bucks if you like. When the latest version of
OpenOffice.org comes out… Just download the puppy!

Now, I’m sure there is some ultra-nerd out there who is going to read
this and have plenty of bad things to say about OOo and how slow it
might be and blah, blah, blah. In my experience, OOo used no more
memory than Internet Explorer after having viewed a few flicks on
Youtube and spent some time on my other favorite websites. In my every
day use, OOo has not been too slow. If you are an every day person
(non-ultra-nerd) like me, OpenOffice.org is the Office suite for you.

Blogger out of beta now!

2006-12-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am sure you've probably seen the new logo image or read one of the small messages saying that Blogger is out of beta and in it's final fully operational state. Surprisingly this is one of the few Web 2.0 esque applications to actually lose it's beta title. It seems everything offered from Google remains in beta indefinitely. Digg too managed to come out of beta pretty quickly.

Anyhow, Congrats to the new release of Blogger and hopefully many unique and awesome features will come in the up and coming year.

The T-Shirt that launched 1,000 blogs!

2006-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION BLOG LOVERS! Geek it up from the folks at ThinkGeek.com. My coworker myspaced me a link to this product. It's time to get White and Nerdy. Like the T-Shirt says, "I'm blogging this." Pass it on!

ThinkGeek :: I'm blogging this.

Sexy Technology. What's not to Love?

2006-12-14T17:04:00.000-08:00

Adrianne Curry has always been one of my favorite reality TV stars. She was great on "America's Next Top Model". She was great on VH1's washed up celebrity TV show "The Surreal Life" where she met now husband Christopher Knight (aka Peter Brady). She was great on their TV show "My Fair Brady", where she worked on convincing Knight that he should marry her.

There is just something I really enjoy about someone who is being herself on television. Whether you like her attitude or not (I personally love her personality), Adrianne Curry is as real as them come. If memory serves me correctly, she was working at a restaurant when she was accepted to compete on America's Next Top Model.

Now, this beauty has made her contribution to technology, and us geeks are all the happier that she has. The NVIDIA processor utilized Adrianne Curry to help showcase what I'm sure we all agree with is an excellent ability to render curves and details. And what an excellent job the graphics processor has done with representing such a natural beauty.

YouTube - REVOLUTIONARY NEW NVIDIA GRAPHICS PROCESSOR (GEFORCE 8800...

Why Best Buy Posted Low Profits

2006-12-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

I could have predicted this months ago. In fact, I posted a comment on some guy's blog about stores like Circuit City and similar businesses. The last time I went to Best Buy was about two months ago. The time before that was about a month earlier. Nothing changed. Best Buy had some new Plasma TVs that just confused the hell out of me because some looked good and others looked like crap. There was so much selection that I just didn't even want to waste my time.

Instead, I went online and looked for TVs. I found all kinds of great reviews and information. I asked my friend Keen about projection TVs and all that good stuff. The end result is that I went to Costco and found the DLP projector of my dreams. It had everything that Keen was talking about. It had everything that all the super geek websites said it should have, for a reasonable price.

What I want from a store is for them to limit the amount of clutter. I don't want 500 choices when it comes to my television set. I don't want 200 choices when it comes to my washing machine. I want a store that is going to stock ONLY the highest quality merchandise and tell me, "Jared, this is the best item right here."

Of course, since I rule the universe, it was no surprise when Best Buy posted disappointing profits.

Best Buy profit disappoints, shares fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Best Buy Co. Inc. reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as the consumer electronics retailer cut prices on flat-panel TVs to boost sales at the start of the holiday shopping season, sending its shares down 5 percent.

Yet Another Music Download Website

2006-12-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

UrbanBoomer is touting their new digital music store (UBTunes) as a hip place for the 35-60 year old demographic. They're genre selection is a little different than say iTunes (or the 50 million other iTunes knock-offs).

It's pretty clear that this web service is not for the person who finally got on the web using AOL for the first time. If you are going to be using UBTunes, you better know how your MP3 device interacts with your computer and how to get files from your downloads into your portable device.

Right now, they have a program to win a Zune, loaded with 250 songs. I'll take the 250 songs, and they can keep the Zune. How does that sound? The part of the site that most caught my attention is the same thing that keeps drawing your eyes away from this text. Short of the snapshots from the infamous "wardrobe malfunction", this is one of the best pictures I've seen of Janet Jackson in a long time.

Honda robot face plants into the ground.

2006-12-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

Stolen from Gizmodo..

That was a pretty nasty fall. Poor lil' guy shattered his face on the fall. I bet that was one costly accident. Just goes to show, even after hours of testing and tweaking, shit can still go wrong at the worst possible time.

I actually like this humanoid more so than some of the others out there. The ones that are created to look like people just aren't realistic enough and its kind of eerie. I'd rather they take on a totally different appearance, such as the astronaut kind of look that this one has.

More Myspace BS

2006-12-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm an avid user of myspace. That's not to say that I'm one of those people who has a totally pimped out profile with 300,000 friends who I don't even know any of them. All it means is that I, like many people, sign in to myspace once or twice a week to keep in touch with many of my friends. I post comments, fill out lame surveys, post bulletins, write blogs, etc. I use myspace as a useful method of communicating with some of my friends.

Given the usefulness of communicating through myspace, I figured that I would attempt to utilize myspace as the wonderful networking tool that so many people have claimed it is. I went to the Myspace.com Classifieds section and posted a job opportunity for bloggers. I wasn't sure exactly where I should post such a classified. Posting it under the job section seemed to make sense. Granted, it was not a paid position. It was not a typical posting, but the job section seemed to be a logical fit. After all, the requirements are essentially the same as a job. You need to be able to post a blog on one of the topics at least once a week.

However, I'm not going to pay any of the bloggers money (for now). The starting point for this network is that of a cross promotional network. Each individual contributor will receive a link on the blog to their personal website/blog/etc. Individuals promote the network, the network promotes the individuals. The network is simply a means to expand your exposure for yourself. Simple idea, now back the the Myspace BS...

My classified posting was deleted. There was no notification stating that it was being deleted. There was no message sent to me saying something along the lines of: "Jared, we noticed that you posted a classified for a job that does not pay money. This does not fit the guidelines of the myspace.com classified section. Please consider a new location for you posting." The best part is that the posting is completely gone. I can't even go back and move it to another location on myspace. To top things off, when I click on the link to view my classified posts, I receive the infamous:

Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.

This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.

Now, I know that people have been saying that myspace is going to die out because of all the problems it has. I have another suggestion. How about Google buys myspace from Fox? Seriously, everything that Google touches seems to turn into gold. Imagine a myspace world where stuff actually works, where you can post a bulletin without having to worry if you "profile is temporarily unavailable for maintenance". Imagine a myspace world where you wouldn't receive the infamous Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred message whenever you try to go back to you home page. Imagine a myspace world where you don't want to strangle Tom because the damned website just erased your bulletin after you've been working on it for 15 minutes! I'm sending good ESP vibes to the business development folks at Google so that they buy myspace from Fox. Join me in this entrancing thought. The will of the masses can make this a reality.

Windoze Scams

2006-12-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Someone in the office forwarded this email to myself and the IT Manager here, asking "Is it correct" and wanting to purchase it for someone in our office in China. Now, not only is this ridiculous because its an obvious scam, but there are laws around exporting software to China. Of course, this is also the same guy who wonders why he keeps getting 200 spam emails in his inbox every day. Well... Let me think about that :-D

Subject: BUY WINDOWS XP FOR $49.95! RETAIL PRICE: $269.99!

Dear customers and friends of DS Team,
Please let us represent our new special offer you can't afford to miss.
Announcing Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Edition. Office 2007 is available for enterprise users from November 30, 2006. The end user version will be available in the beginning of 2007.
The 2007 Microsoft Office System, also known as Microsoft Office 2007, is the most recent version of Microsoft's productivity suite.
Formerly known as Office 12 in the initial stages of its beta cycle, it is scheduled to be made available to volume license customers on November 30, 2006, with general availability following in early 2007.
Retail Price $899.00
Our Price $79.95
You save $819.05
Find more about it: http://mawrtt.net

$500 For 720p (Lame)

2006-12-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

Toshiba HD-A2 on store shelves now

Posted Dec 8th 2006 2:59PM by Richard Lawler
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

After a relatively brief delay, the cheaper of Toshiba's two second-generation HD DVD players for the U.S. is now available. Shipping in limited quantities to some dealers already, a few AVSForum members were able to pick them up at Best Buy yesterday and today. Priced at $499, in exchange for a new slim design and faster loading times (around 30 seconds from power on to movie play according to initial reports), this revision loses the 5.1 analog audio outputs of the HD-A1. Still, if you've been waiting for that bug free (don't bet on it) second revision hardware with HDMI (1080p coming on the HD-XA2) output not available on the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, this is it.

[Thanks, Ken F.]

Ok for the record the Xbox 360 HD player can do 1080p provided you have the VGA cable. Yes SO far their is no news of any HDMI set up coming to the 360 but I bet it will. For the money I would get the 360 set up any ways. Even if your not a hardcore gamer the live arcade could entertain even the most casual gamer. Pair it up with the HD add on and you got the super HD DVD player i have been waiting on since birth lol. I must admit I have a Samsung 720p dlp set so I don't care much about 1080p but I could see the value of not having that feature and having a 1080p set.

-v

Mmm Quad Core

2006-12-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here in the office we received our new spankin' sexy beast machine.. the Mac Pro (cue kick ass intro music). It's currently still in the box in the photo studio alongside a 23" Apple HD Cinema Display that is just waiting for me to tear apart like MJ and a 10 year old.

Hopefully this system will be the end of the continuing problems we have in the photo studio. We currently have a horribly ancient G3 machine running OS 9.2.
During photo sessions the system will randomly lose sync with the camera and it wouldn't restore connection until a series of reboots, cursing and kicks. It's also horribly slow when working with really high megapixel images.

I'll be sure to describe the intimate pleasures I will unleash on the box in a follow up post.

Prosumer Listening Device

2006-12-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

The Orbitor (not sure where they got the name from) Listening Device from Gadget Universe has been getting a lot of news time the last couple of weeks. It has been on a couple of morning TV shows in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the year, it was featured on the Daily Candy newsletter. Some of the stories I've read about this item are great. I'd like to share the best story I've ever heard. Now, I might have my card revoked by my Man Group for sharing this, but oh well, here it goes...

A woman (I'll refer to her as Y) working at an advertising agency in New York suspected that her fiance was cheating on her. Her friend went looking for spy equipment and found the Orbitor Listening Device. She purchased it and then they came up with a plan. Y's fiance told her that he was going to have lunch with a friend. So, she stalked him a lil. Y and her friend followed Y's fiance to the rendezvous with the "other woman". They sat on the other side of the street and pointed the orbitor discreetly in his direction.

Y's friend did most of the listening because Y just couldn't handle the fact that her fiance was saying some of the things she was hearing. They sat there long enough to get enough evidence. Later that night, Y confronted her fiance about the rendezvous. He vehemently denied the entire thing, until she busted out the recording.

See, one of the coolest features about the Orbitor is that it has a recording feature. You can record 60 seconds of spy audio and then use it, like in the example above, to your advantage. At 60 bucks, it's a pretty good deal, and might just save you some heartache like the woman in the story. Spy responsibly!

Writers Wanted

2006-12-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

Get exposure for your personal blog, website, myspace, etc! If you can blog on a hot technology topic every single week, send an email to rantson[at]gmail[dot]com with a link to your website.