Archive for the 'Links' Category

Jason Calacanis, also known as the Web 2.0 Copycat, is complaining again about an idea that he probably wished he had come up with himself. After copying digg.com and paying digg’s top submitters to start the clone site for Netscape, he is now taking jabs at PayPerPost.com, a company allowing blog advertising revenue to be earned by smaller blogs so that smaller companies can get their products out there. I don’t know why he hates the idea so much, but it seems to be quite popular with advertisers as well as bloggers. I say more power to you PayPerPost.com! Maybe Mr. Calacanis is just upset that he hasn’t figured out a way to rip it off yet.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve needed to lug a computer monitor out from its usual location and sit it on the floor, plug it into the wall and a headless computer. I have a 700MHz Pentium 3 in the living room hooked up to the television working as a media hub. I also have a slower machine working as a print/scanner server and web server. Every so often something goes screwy and I can’t log into one of them over the network. I have thought time and time again that what I really need is a way to hook these boxes up to my laptop and use the keyboard, touchpad, and LCD screen to control and get feedback from the headless systems. I have thought about this but never realized that this was really possible. Well, as it turns out, it is possible!

Epiphan Systems, Inc. must have run into a lot of people with the same wish I had. Maybe they had wished they could use something similar internally, I don’t know. Whatever the reason and however they came up with the idea, here it is! The KVM2USB hooks up to a laptop’s USB port. It has three connectors on the other side: VGA, PS/2 Mouse, and PS/2 Keyboard. Now you can service any machine that is usually not controlled with a keyboard and standard display without a bulky monitor and separate keyboard and mouse. Normally you wouldn’t be able to carry all of the things you need by yourself in one trip, but now you can. Maybe some day they will have an official version that works on laptops running Linux, but you can get a binary only driver that will allow it. Take a look at the KVM2USB Technical Specifications.

This really has the potential to become the tool of choice for the system repair technician.

I just love trivia games. My brain is like a sponge soaking up useless little bits of information. I have enjoyed watching Jeopardy ever since I can remember. I always look forward to playing Trivial Pursuit at parties. I love watching documentaries and increasing my knowledge. Learning is fun, even if most public school curricula don’t teach children that. Now I’ve found a fun resource for unusual trivia. The Aviva Trivia Blog includes such varied information as 10 Things I Didn’t Know About Jukeboxes, Weird Jobs, and Useless Facts About Shaving.

I will be checking this site regularly to see what other weird trivia they come up with. Take a look and let me know what you think! Do you have any weird trivia that most people don’t know about? Let’s see what you’ve got in the comments.

Krissy and I rarely order pizza, but on kind of a fluke we’ve ordered pizza twice in the last two weeks. The first time we ordered was for just the two of us. We both like Pizza Hut so I decided to check out what sorts of specials they have at pizzahut.com. You have to create an account at either site before you can order. I was impressed that they were able to find my address and which restaurant services our apartment because it is in a relatively newly developed area. The controls for ordering made what could have been very complicated process rather simple while still allowing for maximum flexibility. I was able to pay for the pizzas using a credit card online. All I had to do once they arrived was sign the receipt.

Lst night we ordered pizza for the family we’re taking care of. They usually buy from Dominos, so I hopped online to see if I could order using dominos.com. Their interface is a little bitty clunky. It looks like a website designed in 1998. It failed to find both my home address and the address of the family we were with. It isn’t surprising that our apartment wasn’t in the database, but this house has been here for years! I don’t know how the credit card processing works because we paid in cash. They were very fast and prompt delivering exactly on time. I take off points, though, for popups used for no reason.

If you want to order pizza online you can choose whichever you like best, but I think I’ll stick with Pizza Hut.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the normal hot air hand driers in restrooms. Now there is a new product produces by a company better known for their industrial vacuum cleaners. They have applied their sucking technology to a hand drier that really blows… but in a good way! Check out the Dyson Airblade hand drier. First of all, they filter the air to remove almost all bacteria. Then they pump it at 400 mph at your hands. It’s twice as fast as conventional hand driers and uses only one-fifth the energy. I would install one in my bathroom at home, but it looks like it’s only available for businesses for use in public restrooms. It looks like it could really take off, though.

Not just a sound effect on Teen Girl Squad, VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Internet Protocol, or IP, is the way that information is sent over the Internet. Information is broken into short bursts called packets. These packets can then be sent to the destination through many computers across the world. The way VOIP usually works is by connecting telephones to a box that is connected to the Internet. Since many people already have high-speed Internet connections in their homes the cost of connectivity is usually zero. A regular telephone can then be used to talk at a far-reduced rate by sending the information over the Internet for most of its journey and then only getting on the regular phone lines close to the destination. For more information about VOIP, what it is, how it works, and how it can benefit you click on the VOIP link near the top of this paragraph.

I haven’t used any of the pay services yet, but I have used Skype which is similar, but is free. The free version of Skype isn’t as convenient as paid services, however.

DigitalLife is an amazing show featuring consumer electronics from companies including Nvidia, ATI, AMD, Intel, Logitech, and many many more. Experience the latest video games and the newest ways to enjoy technology. Check out Nelson Gonzalez of Alienware talking about the future of computer technology and the “better than real” immersive worlds that are just now becoming possible on the high end computer systems. To get in free just go to the ticketing page and enter the promo code INSIDER in the box provided on the page.

I would really like to be able to attend this show. I am almost as far away as you can be from New York and still be in the United States, though. If you get to go I’d love to hear about it. Leave any experiences you may have in the comments.

Digital Restrictions Management, cialis or DRM, forces people to buy the same sond over and over again or be forced to do things the way that others dictate. Click on the link to find out more!

Congratulations! You have found a piece of the puzzle! This is part of a promotional contest. There will be a $1000 award for the first to complete this puzzle and find out the payperpostbignews contained within. Good luck to you! If you win and you found this puzzle piece on my site as part of your search please let me know by emailing me or replying to this post. Remember that the most important thing is that you have fun!

This puzzle was created by a company that lets people make money blogging.

I can’t remember how many people I’ve helped out over the years to list things on eBay. Many of these people will only list very rarely or even just one time. I have always wanted to give these people an easier way to create high-quality listings without needing to learn HTML. Now I have found an eBay listing tool that is perfect for them. It’s called List’d and it includes templates that make listings actually look good. It has free image hosting so you have an all-in-one place to put together every part of a good eBay listing. This is great for beginning users and college students who just want to get their stuff sold fast. It will even help you select an ending date for your auction to get the highest price for your stuff. Technologies like this one are making the powerful tools on the Internet accessible to everyone.