Dani 3.0

Pandora Just Got Better for iPhones

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Pandora has updated their iPhone app.

- Posted using Mobypicture.com

Alas, they were my favorite pr of work gloves

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

- Posted using Mobypicture.com

Testing Mobypicture

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

- Posted using Mobypicture.com

Get more from CraigsList

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Craig's Little Buddy is very close to being a killer app. It lets users search multiple cities in CraigsList, a huge time saver if you're trying to track down an elusive item and want to maximize your chances by adding surrounding areas to your search. I live in Houston, so for hard-to-find items, I'd like to be able to include Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Austin, and San Antonio. Craig's Little Buddy will allow me to do that.

The interface is slick and very easy to use. Choosing cities is accomplished by checking boxes on a pop-up; Select All and Restore defaults are provided options but they could really benefit from a Deselect All choice here as well.

Search is straight-forward. Choose a CraigsList category and/or use keywords, just as you'd do on CraigsList. One of the things I really like about the search is that it displays a list of the cities you're searching - very handy, that, if you're searching multiple cities. Each search result is appended with the city it's located in, another handy feature.

It's Craig's Little Buddy's handling of images, or rather their lack of handling, that keeps this from being a truly killer app. It would be nice if they'd include the ability to search only ads with images. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard for them to integrate as Craig's List already provides this functionality. Also, there are very few preview pictures, and what preview pics there are seem to be for dealer ads. I do like how they've handled the display of the preview pics, however - integrated right into the search result. Another nice feature to have would be to display the full-size image on rollover, much like the Firefox extension CraigsList Image Previewer. (In CLB's defense, it is most likely CraigsList's stingy nature that have prevented them from displaying preview photos.)

For the moment, I'll stick with my combination of CraigsList and the FF CraigsList Image Previewer extension, however, if I was just using CraigsList, I'd switch over to this option in a heartbeat. If they're ever able to more fully integrate images into the search results, this will be a hard site to beat.

I Don't Hear Voices - the Voices Hear Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:42:00 +0000

In other news, I read that experiments to beam voices right into your head have been successful. While the story itself scares the crap out of me, the comments are hysterical! Lots of references to Real Genius (you know you're a geek if you get it.)

TickSpot.com

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:56:00 +0000

When my five dogs heard I was writing a blog on TickSpot.com, they were full of concern - and advice. "Wear long sleeves, Mom." "Do you want to borrow some of my Frontline?" "Do they even make flea collars in your size?" After I explained to them that TickSpot wasn't a place for picking up the latest strain of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but rather a great website for tracking time, they quickly lost interest and trotted off to see if they could find the cat. (They said it was for a round table discussion on interspecies relations.)

I tell the folks at work that I only have a job to escape the zoo at home, but the truth is I like to get paid, too. (Okay, the donuts on Friday are a draw, too.) Since I'm a contractor, that means I have to keep track of my hours - and I haven't been so good about that in the past. Filling out timesheets has always been an ordeal for me as I wrack my brain trying to remember what hours I worked on which days. Since I've discovered TickSpot, and more importantly, the TickSpot Yahoo! widget, keeping track of time is much easier.

Now, I'm going to make a confession here - I'm not using TickSpot to its full potential. I am pretty much a one-gig woman. I have but a single client, and although my tasks vary from time to time, most of my billing falls under one category. I'm also limited to 40 hours a week. (I have to write this blog some time!) TickSpot more than adequately meets my needs. Where it really shines, though, is its ability to help teams keep track of time they've budgeted for projects. The TickSpot team uses the analogy that time is inventory for service providers; when team members can see how much inventory is left (time budgeted for projects) it enables them to schedule resources much more accurately. Ahead of budget? Throw a couple of extra programmers at the project. Behind? Maybe you should give up on that super-cool extra feature you wanted to throw in and just get back to the basics.

The site itself is incredibly easy to use and the site design is beautiful in its simplicity. The widget, too, is beautifully designed and simple to use. Simply turn the timer on when you start working; when you're ready to enter your time, click the Enter Time button and choose the Client, Project, Task and enter any notes. (The time is adjustable too. I find that especially handy since I always forget to turn on the timer until about 20 minutes into my task.) Click Enter Time again and voila! The time is submitted to the site. Timesheets can be printed at any time. In addition, reporting features are offered, as well as the ability to export data to CSV.

TickSpot has four flavors of paid plans but ifIf you only have one project (like me) and don't need SSL, technical support, or Basecamp integration, then the TickSpot free plan will be fine for you. Basecamp integration and tech support (plus up to 3 projects) starts at just $9 a month; SSL is added in the 35 projects, $39 a month plan.

This site is definitely a must-see and I'd love to tell you more about it, however, I'm running late for work, and you know, time is money!

Internet Productivity

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:49:00 +0000

Lately I've been trying to simplify my life, and where I can't simplify, then automate. My most recent adventure in home automation was to purchase an automatic litter box. Although ultimately I decided on the ScoopFree system with a permanent replacement tray from Forever Litter Trays,it required a lot of research. There were a lot of visits to Amazon.com and LitterBoxCentral.com. (Yes, it's a real site. No, I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to.)

In the early days of my job, I could have done my research at work - I had plenty of downtime. But now that we're so busy, I had to (gasp!) rely on my personal time. (And this is why I'm trying to simplify - because I have no personal time. See how we made a full circle there?) Apparently, though, there are people out there that are not as slammed at work. According to a recent Salary.com poll, about sixty percent of respondents admitted to wasting an average of two hours a day on the Internet. That adds up to a lot of cat litter!

If you're one of those people (and you know who you are) you probably want to be productive at work but it's just so easy to lose track of time once you start surfing! The good people at 8aWeek have developed a Firefox toolbar that will help you reclaim your lost time. The toolbar works by presenting your browsing habits in graphs so that you can analyze where you're spending the most time (see pic at left). If you find that LitterBoxCentral is taking up a good chunk of the day, you can add it to a restricted site list. Let the toolbar know the maxium allowable time you can spend at restricted sites per day and it will count down the time for you. When time's up, you get reminded.

If something a bit more hard-core is needed, switch to block mode. (It's okay - you get periodic cheat times thoughout the day so that you don't have to go cold-turkey. Cheat times can be set up in the preferences.)

The toolbar also lets users save interesting sites to a list that you can be visited at a later time (presumably when the user is not at work.)

Although 8aWeek features privacy functions (logging can be done locally, on the 8aWeek server for additional functionality, or completely turned off.), I am curious as to what is done with the data that is collected - since they offer the toolbar for free, they have to be doing something to make money, right? Their privacy policy takes great pains to point out that logging can be disabled at any time and that user information won't be disclosed without "express permission" but a little farther down in the "Information Usage" section it says:

"8aweek may use information collected through our website or toolbar for research regarding the effectiveness of the website and the marketing, advertising and sales efforts of 8aweek and its trusted affiliates."

Hmmm... In any case, if you're okay with your data possibly being shared, this is probably the thing for you. Personally, I'm hoping that the time I save by not having to clean the litter box can be spent online - at home.

I Dig Dibsby!

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:57:00 +0000

I am so, so glad to be back after a long absence. So many cool sites and new technologies have launched since I took what I thought would be a brief hiatus to find a house. After viewing more than 200 houses over a period of nine months, I am greatly relieved that we are finally moved in. We're still living out of boxes, but we have Internet and our laptops are unpacked; what more do you need?

Since my last post over a year ago, I've discovered some great sites, software, and tech toys; today I'm going to post about some of my favorite, and most frequently used, discoveries. First up is the new IM client, Digsby. Digsby acts as my all-in-one communication hub. Not only does it combine all of my buddy lists from AIM, Google, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, and Jabber, it updates me when I receive new email, and when my MySpace and Facebook accounts are updated.

IM conversations are tabbed for easier navigation (I HATE having twenty little boxes all over the screen) and logging can be enabled for those of us that need to refer back to conversations. (I use IM heavily at work and this beats taking notes. ) One of my favorite features (it's the little things that count, y'all) is that buddies can be renamed with an alias. So if you have a friend whose entire internet pedigree is displayed, i.e. i.am.a.friend.who.needs.to.get.a.shorter.email@msn.com, you can rename it to something shorter, like "Friend."

The feature I use the most, though - besides the IM of course, are the email notifications. In preferences, I chose to have an icon displayed in the system tray that lets me know how many new emails I have. (You can choose notifications for your Facebook and MySpace accounts, too.) Clicking the icon pops up a list of emails with choices to Mark as Read, Delete, Open, Archive, or Report as Spam. Incredibly easy and convenient! Digsby also displays update in unobtrusive pop-ups at the bottom of the screen. Bye-bye Gmail notifier!

Digsby is still in private beta and is still a bit rough around the edges, but this is an app to watch. The developers are uber-responsive to requests in their online forums; since I joined Digsby two days ago there have been three updates. (Updates are done automatically - everything about this app is easy.) Hopefully they'll respond to my reqeust for Lotus Sametime support, and then this will be the perfect app. Digsby's so good though, that I've kicked Trillian and Pidgin to the curb and just run Sametime seperately.

Other thoughts:

Amazon's Kindle: Are you serious? It has a monochrome display, DRM out the wazoo, and it's $399! Use your cell phone and sites like EReader.com and Fictionwise.com for an experience that's just as satisfying and much cheaper.

Yahoo! Widgets: I have recently discovered Yahoo! Widgets and I can't stop playing with them. They add so much usefulness to my desktop. So far, I've installed the SoftCode Analog Clock, TV Navigator, CallWave Visual Voicemail and Text Messaging, Yahoo! Maps, Daily Planner Calendar, Flickr, Generic Countdown Timer, Google Calendar, Informer, MicroPlayer, Mind Like a Sieve (a Remember the Milk plugin), Vonageer (interfaces with my Vonage account and makes call logs and voicemail easily accessible), a Twitter client, a thesaurus/dictionary, Zonal Clock (world time), and of course, Yahoo! Weather. Somebody stop me, please!

Yahoo! Go 2.0 - Yahoo! has a winner here. This is simply the best all-in-one mobile app out there. It's fast and responsive - unlike Microsoft's offerings (I had to uninstall MSN Direct from my T-mobile Shadow because it kept hanging), the maps are far more accurate and easier to understand than Google's, and the interface is slick and just plain pretty!
Plus, I really love that it syncs with my online Yahoo! account so that my preferences are automatically added to my mobile app.
- Note: Yahoo! Go 3.0 is out for Blackberry, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson phones and supports mobile widgets!

Hey, It Is Sunday, Isn't It?

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:35:00 +0000

I've recently acquired a GPS unit - a Garmin Nuvi 360 - and I'm having a lot of fun mapping things. Even though this unit lacks the ability to act as a GPS receiver for a computer, and therefore makes creating custom maps impossible, I am enjoying not being lost. It's a nice change.

I have been spending a lot of time on del.icio.us, looking at sites that have been tagged with GPS, Googlemaps, and maps. While perusing the Googlemaps tag, I came across a site that is sure to appeal to anyone interested in history, religion, or religious history (like me.) Created by the folks over at HeLives.com, BibleMap.org is remarkable in its simplicity. A Google map of Middle East region is overlaid by an unobtrusive pane that contains selected books and chapters from either the King James or English Standard versions of the Bible. Clicking on the hyperlinked place names presents the selected area. Being able to visualize the setting in which these ancient events took place makes them, I find, more tangible.

Another site that may be of interest to religious history buffs is the article Mapping New Testament Networks over at the ESV Bible site. The ubergeeks over at ESV compiled data sets of the many figures in the New Testament and mapped their relationships visually using IBM's data visualization tool Many Eyes. There's also a link in the article to a (free) ontology of New Testament names that's worth checking out.

Well, I'm not sure how this post got sidetracked on to religious reference (it was supposed to be about maps) but since we're here, be sure to check out EBible.com, a competitor to BibleGateway.com that arms the intrepid researcher with an aggregated search of not just Bibles, but biblical commentaries, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. Finally, there's also BiblePlaces.com, a pictorial library of Bible lands.

That Dog Will Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:30:00 +0000

One of the things that drives me crazy about having to work (aside from the fact that they frown on wearing your pajamas in the office) is that there's no way I can surreptitiously pop over to MySpace or Ebay on my work computer. Oh, sure, I can use my T-Mobile MDA, but viewing either of those image-heavy sites on a PDA is tedious, and the mobile version of Ebay leaves a lot to be desired. So I've suffered my 8-5 withdrawal pains in silence, stoically gritting my teeth until I can get to my home computer at the end of the day.

But now there's Mdog, a site that optimizes popular online destinations for mobile devices. I can check my Yahoo email, peruse Ebay auctions, read my friend Emma Sometime's blog (and even update my own), catch up on the news, and my personal favorite, visit Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, all using just my humble PDA. Bathroom breaks will never be the same again!

Another Site for Literary Types

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:31:00 +0000

Was there ever a site that sucks more than MySpace? I thought not. And yet, I'm there all the time because somehow, it's become the social site. Who will rid me of this troublesome site? If I see one more error message - that's being reported to their crack team of support staff, natch - I'm afraid I'll puke.

In other news, it's cold here in Houston - and rainy, too. We're supposed to have ice and sleet tonight, and I find it kind of ironic that here that's big news, but any Yank worth their salt wouldn't bat an eye at this forecast. (That salt thing was a pun. You people that get snow on a regular basis understand.) Yet here in Houston, schools and businesses are closing. I believe it's mostly because hardly any of us know how to drive on this stuff. I know I don't. By staying home, I'm doing my part to keep my neighbors safe.

Being cooped up in the house gives me the perfect opportunity to visit new sites and write about them, though. (Although, we've been having a lot of trouble with our Time Warner Cable connection today. We're blaming it on the weather.)

I see that the last review I did before my Blogger-imposed hiatus was Myvelopes.com. Sadly, Myvelopes has gone to join - to use one of TechCrunch's phrases - the dead pool. Myvelopes, an online budgeting site based on the envelope method, had a great idea, but as I mentioned in my review, the payment options left a lot to be desired, especially when you consider the fact that people that take the time to track their money are probably a bit more budget-conscious than their less frugal counterparts.Note: The only thing that's gone to the deadpool is my brain. Mvelopes.com is still very much alive and doing well. Maybe I should budget for a full neurological exam.

And speaking of frugal, allow me to introduce you to FrugalReader.com, a book swapping site that I was turned on to via LibraryThing. (A fantastic book cataloging site that was reviewed here in August.) Although there are several other book swapping sites (Bookins, PaperBack Swap, Book Mooch, Title Trader, What's on My Bookshelf) I find I like FrugalReader the best, even if it doesn't integrate with LibraryThing's real-time swap status. Part of that is because it's so easy to use. There are no complicated points algorithms to figure out; generally speaking, paperbacks cost one point and hardcovers two. For example, I currently have ten books on my shelf available for trading - nine paperbacks and one hardcover. This gives me a total 11 points with which to "buy" books. (Plus, if you list at least nine books when you sign up, you'll get an extra two points.) You can also buy points, or credits, a service that I don't think any of the other book swap sites offer. This is significant as it allows you to get up and running right away, instead of having to mail umpteen books and then waiting for them to be marked "received."

Accounts are offered in two flavors; standard and premium. The standard account is free and includes everything you need to get started. The premium account includes extras, like being able to get first dibs on books as they become available, restricting who you'll trade with, assigning custom points values to your available books, and discounted rates when purchasing credits. For more information, visit their How It Works page.

Note: LibraryThing has another competitor. Shelfari, a slick, Flash-based book cataloging site, boasts a beautiful design and great import features, however, it lacks the depth and friendliness of LT. Still, it's a site to watch.

I'm back - maybe?

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:53:00 +0000

Well, I think I might be back at Blogger. As you may remember, I was having incredible problems with getting Blogger to work. An incredibly busy schedule made it impossible for me to troubleshoot the rather extensive issues, so I took a hiatus.

I've recently switched over to their new format, so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll start working on some new reviews of the coolest 2.0 websites and gadgetry available.

Stay In Budget With Mvelopes

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 04:59:00 +0000

Many moons ago, when I was but a wee freshman in high school, the school district I attended decided to add a "life skills" requirement to our course load. The big attraction for many of us students was that it incorporated sex ed, but it also instructed us in potentially useful talents, such as budgeting. Not surprisingly, I aced the sex ed component of the course, but my performance in the finance & budgeting categories was less than stellar. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone in my disregard for financial enlightenment. Fully 36% of Americans report that they do not use a budget to manage their family's expenses, according to Consumer-Action.org. (I personally suspect that this percentage is much higher, based on my observations. This deficit in basic financial planning isn't limited to the less-educated, either. I know several college-educated people that don't understand basic household budgeting.)

Conceptually, I understand budgeting and would like to utilize it in the traditional sense. If I dealt in cash, I think the envelopes method would work well for me. (In the envelopes method, cash is divided up into several paper envelopes set aside for certain categories, such as groceries, entertainment, utilities, etc. Money is then spent from the envelopes, making it much easier to know exactly how much money is left for any given "category." ) My almost exclusive use of cards makes this method impractical for me, though. (I realized yesterday just how infrequently I deal in cash when I remarked to the grocery checker that one of the tens I had must be a new design. Not so, he told me - that design had been around for at least six months. )

I've tried using Microsoft Money, but I find their tools to be cumbersome, as the information is compared against the budget after the money is spent. What I need is something that will help me not spend money that's been earmarked for something else. That's why Mvelopes sounds pretty appealing.

Mvelopes brings the traditional envelope method online, allowing one to designate money from their funding account to "envelope" spending accounts. They also offer transaction retrieval from over 11,000 financial institution and free online bill pay for up to 15 bills. (Additional bills are .50 each.)

A 30-day trial is offered, but it requires that you provide your billing information beforehand, which I typically don't mind since most places offer a monthly plan. However, the shortest term available from Mvelopes is quarterly, at $39.60 (US) per payment. Other billing options include the two-year plan at $189.60 (US) and annually at $129.60 (US).

SparkPeople.com Helps with Weighty Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 05:44:00 +0000

SparkPeople.com, a free, online weight loss and fitness application, might truly be the best thing to hit the Internet in a long, long time. SparkPeople launched in 2002 as a FREE way “to help millions of people reach their goals using health and fitness as a springboard to success” but somehow I’ve only found it now, four years later.

SparkPeople was founded by Chris “Sparky” Downie, one of the architects of Up4Sale.com, and Ebay’s first acquisition right before it went public. Presumably this left Chris pretty comfortable financially, and he was able to start development of SparkPeople.com, his long-time passion, when he left Ebay three years later.

SparkPeople boasts a clean, if somewhat dated, design and an intuitive interface, but the sheer amount of information may overwhelm some people. Even though SP advocates taking your time and getting to know the site, it took me over a month to work up the desire to wade through all the information.

A wizard makes the initial set up quite easy, and once your current weight, target weight, fitness level, and nutritional preferences are entered, a meal plan and nutrition and fitness targets are generated. (A note on the nutritional preferences: While I found the options to be quite flexible, i.e. vegetarian, low-cholesterol, etc., I was disappointed that low-sugar/diabetic choice wasn’t offered.)

SparkPeople is so feature-and-content rich that it would be impossible to accurately review it in anything less than a volume the size of War and Peace, so this examination will focus on just the highlights.

Nutrition
In addition to a comprehensive food database that contains over 10,000 entries, including fast-food and name brands, SP includes a food journal to track your daily food intake. From this input, SP will calculate your total calories, fat, carbohydrates, and any other nutrient you’d like to track. If you’re not near a computer at mealtime (who is?) and you own a camera phone (who doesn’t?), you can email a photo of your meal to your account so you can enter an accurate accounting later. Both the food journal and meal planner are flexible and allow you to add your own foods and meals. In addition, a bank of healthy recipes is included and can be added individually to your meal plan.

Motivation & Goal Setting
Goal setting and staying motivated are an integral component to the SparkPeople concept. As mentioned in a SparkPeople article, most diets just tell you what to eat and don’t even address the #1 roadblock to weight loss - lack of motivation. SparkPeople.com counters this obstacle by teaching users to start small and develop effective diet strategies. A thriving user community provides support and encouragement along the way.

The points system provides additional motivation, and of course, the comprehensive progress reports offer great feedback.

Exercise
SparkPeople boasts an impressive library of fitness articles. In addition, there are illustrations and videos that demonstrate the proper technique. Exercises are categorized as beginner or advanced and require little, if any, equipment. (Medicine balls, Swiss balls, and a towel are the three props utilized.) Exercises can be tracked in the fitness log, and like the food log, users can use the prepackaged exercises, or add their own. Reports can be generated from the log results.

Community
This is where SparkPeople really excels. Personalized pages, a la MySpace, allow users to chronicle their weight loss, post photos, and blog. Lively message boards provide a positive place for users to offer encouragement and tips to each other, while the journal feature sets aside some virtual quiet time for reflection. There’s also a Diet Buddy forum where users can partner with another user with similar goals.

Tracking/Reporting
Track nutrition, fitness, and weight goals using SparkPeople’s extensive collection of printable reports, including weight, measurements, water intake, exercise frequency, and goal setting.

All in all, this is by far the most useful fitness site on the web. If you’re looking to lose weight, you can’t go wrong here.

Note: If you do decide to join, consider listing me as your referrer. Even though there’s no reward as such, I really am coveting that next level’s icon (think of it as profile bling) and SparkPeople awards 10 points for each member referred. While you’re at it, add me (daniesq) as a friend. No points are offered for adding friends, I believe, but I’d welcome your company!

Leaving Las Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:02:00 +0000

I'm seriously considering moving from my Blogger account to a WordPress setup. It's not because I have to re-publish my entire blog every time I add a new post, or that Blogger sometimes won't even let me add a new post. Not playing nice with other blog software annoyed me and not being able to extend Blogger exasperated me, but that's not it either. No, what's really got my panties in a wad is not being able to edit my posts after they're published.

Invariably, I discover a mistake immediately after publishing the post - and re-publishing the entire blog - that needs to be corrected. But Blogger says it can't find any previous posts. Not a one. Gone. Into the ether. Vanished. However, my errors have managed to hang in there and are out on the Internet for all the world to see, in perpetuity.

There's a Word for It

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 05:59:00 +0000

If you're into word games, then you're going to love PlayBabble.com. The premise is simple - form words of four letters or more from the grid of 40 letter tiles. However, the word has to be formed from adjoining tiles and the letters must join in the proper sequence. Oh, and you have twenty-four hours to do the puzzle before a new one is posted. This is harder than it sounds - I recommend that you play with a dictionary nearby.

PlayBabble comes in two versions; free and Pro. Pro users, of course, get more features, such as a stats panel (to view your ranking in the community), an online profile, a personal icon, and a graphic of your country's flag.

Like all good online games, a chatterbox is available so you can "talk" in real time to other players. However, if you're antisocial, you'll be fine with the free account. (I use the free account. I don't want people chattering at me while I'm wracking my brain for a word that starts with C-O-M-F and uses either an "e" or an "s" for the next letter.)

There are a lot of small features, too, that make the game more interesting, such as a points per word feature and a look up the definition icon next to each word you enter. (Although I would presume that you knew what the word meant if you entered it.)

Note: For other games like this one, visit http://www.allwords.com/Word_Games.php.

A Water Bottle You Can Drink To

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:34:00 +0000

Forgoing the lattes is starting to pay off. A little over two weeks out and I'm down six pounds. I dared to try on a pair of pants that hasn't fit me in a couple of months, and they fit! I was ecstatic and proceeded to dance around the living room, frightening the cat so badly that I think she'll need therapy.

One of the hardest things for me to do while dieting - aside from getting on the treadmill - is drinking enough water. Even though we have no fewer than six gallons of Ozarka in our kitchen, I still seem to forget to drink water - or anything else. So you can imagine my interest when I read about a new, "interactive", water bottle. Billed as the "water bottle that nags you", HydroCoach calculates the amount of water you need, the amount of water you consume, the time it takes for you to drink your water (so you can pace yourself), and your average water consumption. Although it isn't as quite interactive as the Shockulate Vault that delivers a mild electric shock to would-be diet cheaters (or my personal favorite, the device that delivers a similar shock to snoring spouses), it does seem like a neat idea. Not neat enough for me to part with $30, the suggested retail price, but still - neat.

Now if they would come up with one that would nag my kids to clean their rooms, they'd have my money in a heartbeat.

Technorati Tags: HydroCoach, water bottle, diet, hydration

Hiveminder Gets It Done

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:54:00 +0000

I'm back after a long, restful weekend, only to find that Blogger is having issues. I'm not able to see any of my previous posts, but it does look like it will let me create a post, so hopefully I'll be able to tell you all about Hiveminder, a free web service that helps you keep track of your tasks. There are other task tracking services on the web, but Hiveminder is certainly the most feature-packed, and I'm really surprised that more people don't know about it. This might be the best-kept secret on the web.

In addition to the requisite task list features (priority,due date, notes and comment), tasks can be grouped, assigned, and even hidden until a specific date. Moreover, Hiveminder supports dependencies, a feature that should make this app a real standout, especially with all the other task features. Another standout feature is the ability to tag tasks, and to search for tasks using a tag cloud. If you're working collaboratively, there's also a history view to track the changes to each task.

Entering tasks is easy and can be accomplished several ways. My favorite is the "brain dump", a huge text field that allows you to enter multiple tasks to the to-do list as you think of them. Details can be added later, if you wish. Tasks can be entered individually, of course, and even by email. (Hiveminder assigns a random email, however, paid accounts will be able choose the email address they want. ) You can be reminded of your task as often as you want using email, iCal updates, ATOM feeds and plain text or HTML files.

Another neat feature is the task review. Basically, it cycles through your entire list of tasks and requires you to assign an action to it (hide for a month, done, assign it to someone else, comment on it, or do it today) before it will move on to the next one. This essentially forces you to deal with your list, a sort-of "Getting Things Done" methodology.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention another entry into the online task management space, Bounty paper towels own Honey-Do list. While not as feature laden as Hiveminder, it is cute and accomplishes basic to-do list functionality with style. A simple form allows you to add tasks, priorities, a small note, your signature, and a choice of four backgrounds. The list can then be emailed or printed out for your honey. (Thanks to Emma Sometimes for the heads-up.)

Social Sites Reaching Epidemic Proportions

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:51:00 +0000

Holy smokes! It was only 39 days ago that I posted about the lack of MySpace alternatives but the market has since exploded! (You can thank me later.) In the past week we've been introduced to:

Koolanoo.com - A social networking site "For the Jewish people, By the Jewish people."
HoverSpot - HoverSpot hopes to differentiate themselves by rewarding users for contet. Uploading photos, filling out your profile, commenting, and blogging will earn you points, which in turn will become entries into contests and sweepstakes. Currently the giveaway is limited to a Nano every other month.
Tired & Tested - A sports-focused social networking site, Tired & Tested bills itself as "MySpace with shorts on." Those crazy Brits.

Other new social sites abound, including:

Yardbarker - Digg meets Sports Illustrated meets MySpace. Sports fans submit their favorite sports stories, and other users rank them a la Digg. My husband thinks this is neato-cool, and I suspect my teenage son will as well.
Hotspottin.com - Tell the world about your favorite hotspots.

In addition, the Australian site Faces.com relaunched this week, and according to the article by Mashable, they've gone all out with the features.

I still haven't met a recipe site that I'm in love with yet, so if Frankenstein's Lab could give the MySpace business a rest and get busy on cooking sites, I'd really appreciate it. (Oh, and don't forget to make it sync with my Pocket PC.)

LibraryThing, aNobii Check Out Online Bookshelf Space

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 07:40:00 +0000

It looks like LibraryThing might finally have a real competitor in aNobii. Like LibraryThing, aNobii offers a virtual bookshelf for your tomes, and it covers the social aspect by recommending other readers with similar tastes. aNobii boasts a fairly powerful import feature that can add a list of books from any web page by either processing the URL, as does LibraryThing. However, aNobii can also parse HTML code that you paste in. (I used this method to copy my list from LibraryThing.) Adding a single book is simple at both sites, although I find that LibraryThing is much faster. (This might be because aNobii has a more graphical design.)

aNobii isn't all brains and no beauty, though. The site has a beautiful, clean interface that's obviously well-thought out and designed with the end user in mind. LibraryThing's design tends to be on the clunky side, and while not counterintuitive, it's not going to win any awards for usability.

Both sites offer blog widgets, rating systems, and tagging, and a host of social features, such as saving other readers as favorites. aNobii adds a nice touch, though, with the ability to designate the status of a book ( currently reading, not started, finished, unfinished) - a feature that is sorely needed at LibraryThing. In addition, aNobii lets users specify if a book is available for sale or swap. Finally, aNobii offers a wish list feature that lets users browsing the bookshelves keep track of future reads.

LibraryThing offers a mobile edition (very handy, that, when standing in a book store wondering if you have that book already) and an export feature that aNobii doesn't seem to have. LibraryThing also has the advantage of time, having far more users - and shelved books - than aNobii. (LibraryThing just hit 5 million books on their "shelves"; in comparison, aNobii only has 8460 as of this writing.This is significant because the social aspects of both sites rely on matching readers with like tastes and books in common.)

Even without the mobile app and the export feature, aNobii still gives LibraryThing some stiff competition, and they seem to be pretty evenly matched. It will be interesting to see how this plot develops.

Technorati Tags: books, library, LibraryThing, aNobii, Amazon, social networking

Frankenstein Labs Working Overtime on MySpace Clones

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:12:00 +0000

My goodness but the MySpace clone category is starting to get very full. Just this last week, we've seen the release of:

Angler's Lounge - If you want to get your great outdoors fix from your armchair, this is a great site to visit. Mingle online with other fisherman and brag about the one that got away.

KrishnaFriends - The Hare Krishnas finally get their own MySpace.

BakeSpace - Cooks, unite! While your husband is online visiting Angler's Lounge, why don't you whip out the laptop for some hardcore recipe trading over at BakeSpace?

Motortopia - A MySpace clone for enthusiasts of cars, bikes, boats and planes. Super-slick design!

OakTreeIdea - A MySpace for Christians.

~~MyChurch - Online communities for churches.~~ I stand corrected - Joe from MyChurch was nice enough to point out that they have more in common with Facebook than with MySpace. Thanks Joe!

In addition, the site touted as "the MySpace for parents", Minti, is out of beta this week.

I'm waiting for DogHerder.com, the MySpace for households with more dogs than people. Then I'll know I've truly arrived!

Technorati Tags: MySpace, MySpace clone, MySpace alternative, Christian, motorist, cooks, Krishna, churches, Angler's Lounge, KrishnaFriends, BakeSpace, Motortopia, OakTreeIdea, MyChurch, Minti

PayJr Still Hasn't Finished Their Chores

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 04:20:00 +0000

I found a site last week that promised to change domesticity as I know it - or at least eliminate some of the chaos associated with chores. It's called PayJr and it bills itself as the "next generation of chores and allowances." The idea is to allow parents to assign chores and pay allowances online.

There's not a beta tag in sight, but it's hard for me to believe that the developers intend for this to be live yet. For one, the signup didn't work in either Firefox or IE last week when I initially tried to join. This week the signup works, but your password has to exactly 8 characters long. (The help text says at least 8 characters. I finally figured it out by playing with it.) When I finally got my first look at the actual application, I was dismayed to see that the developers don't offer any way for parents to enter their own chores, although they do offer about 30 canned chores. For me, this was a deal killer. After all the hype of the beautifully designed interface, and the very compelling copy, I was practically salivating at the thought of getting my hands on this. (Track chores and allowances online! Printable chore calendar! Optional prepaid teen card!)

I did manage to get both my children entered without any trouble, but not being able to enter our own family chores essentially rendered the application useless for me. For example, in our house we have a veritable herd of dogs. Although "walk the dog" is on the list, it would be helpful if I could designate which of the four dogs needs walking. Other chores associated with the dogs are feed the dog(s), clean out the water bowl, fill the water bowl, play ball with puppies, change bedding in kennel, wash the dog(s) - well, you see where I'm going with this, right?

It sounds as if PayJr has some big plans for the site, and if the early functionality is anything to judge by, I do think this will be a very useful site for parents. Until then, we'll stick to the pen-and-paper method.

Technorati Tags: PayJr, chore, chore list, allowance

Etiquette 2.0 & a MySpace for Cooks

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 04:38:00 +0000

Do you know what I hate? I hate it when I get MySpace requests without any introduction, especially since my profile explicitly states that requests without an introduction will be denied. This complete disregard for my simple request tells me that this person either has the attention span of a gnat, or is a friend 'ho, neither of which I'm likely to want to be associated with anyway. In the real world, a friend request without an introduction would be analogous to walking up to a complete stranger and shaking their hand without any introduction. Hopefully most of us were raised better than that, although I'm starting to wonder about most MySpacers formative years.

Bad manners seems to be making a comeback on the 'net. Consider this screen capture from Skinnyr, a site that lets you "track your weight with a graph thingy!" You'd think that with such limited functionality, they'd be a little nicer to their users. I might add that part of the signup process is giving them your weight and height. If you're any kind of overweight, seeing your disproportional weight and height reflected back at you from your screen is disheartening enough without being insulted by the site you wanted to join to help you in your weight loss efforts.

In other news, there's a new crop of MySpace competitors/clones that have been launched since my last post on said sites. One of the new clones that I'm really liking the idea of is BakeSpace.com. It's a MySpace for cooks. How cool is that? It's a pretty site (they get points for that from me) and there are some neat features like being able to forward recipes, but filling out your profile will take about the same amount of time that writing the sequel to War and Peace would. Pack a lunch. In addition, they're hampered by a small user base - and as a result - a very limited recipe offering. If they can increase membership, I think this has the potential to be a great site. Still, they have their work cut out for them with "competitors" such as AllRecipes.com and Meals.com.

Technorati Tags: MySpace, BakeSpace, cooking, manners, etiquette, recipes

Mobile Entertainment

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:49:00 +0000

Tonight's post will be short. I am exhausted tonight for some reason and can hardly keep my eyes open.
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I feel like I finally got something accomplished today! I finished my portfolio site, and at long last, started my workout regimen. The workout passed very quickly since I was listening to an audio book from Audible.com on my MDA. I love Audible! I've been a member for a few years and the service just keeps getting better and better. For $22.95 a month, I get to download two books, plus the daily (M-F) edition of the New York Times. (The Wall Street Journal is also available, if that's more to your taste.) Moreover, each month members receive six featured audible books/interviews/short stories, etc. for free. Finally, if that weren't enough, members also receive a free subscription to the digital edition of AudioFile, "The Magazine for People Who Love Audiobooks." Another one of my favorite audiobook sites is LearnOutLoud. They specialize in educational audiobooks (and videos.)

When I'm not listening to a book on my MDA, I'm reading a book on my MDA. My favorite site to pick up great ebooks is Ereader.com, but Fictionwise is a close second. I've had a lot of people exclaim that the could never read a book on a screen that small, but you'd be surprised at how easy it is to get used to. One of the biggest benefits of reading digital books, aside from portability, is being able to read in the dark. Since my husband has a hard time falling asleep with the light on, ebooks make him happy, too. Other benefits include that it looks like you're working when you're actually reading, and of course, it eliminates the embarrassment of toting a book to the bathroom with you. (Pun intended.)

Another of my favorite "digital entertainment" sites is Zinio. Zinio provides digital editions of some of the most popular magazines for download. You can purchase individual issues or annual subscriptions, just like with print editions. Zinio provides a free, Adobe Acrobat-like, reading application that is easy to use and has neat features like searching, bookmarking and annotating. Generally the cost of the magazine/subscription is the same as it is in print. Now if they could just develop a way to get the mags on to my MDA, life would be good.

Sorry this post is so short (some of you may actually be happy about that) but I've given you some of the most digitally entertaining sites on the Internet, so shouldn't you be moving along now? Shoo. Go read - or listen to - a book.

Tags: literature, audible books, Audible.com, Learn Out Loud, ebooks, Ereader, FictionWise, digital magazines, Zinio

Get the Kids Off to School and Get Some Rest!

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:57:00 +0000

You have no idea how much I detest Internet Exploder 6. I've spent several hours today troubleshooting styles that work fine in FireFox/Flock/Mozilla, but blow up in IE. It's hard for me to believe that this is the same browser I used to prefer working with. My how far it's fallen!

The good news is that the major kinks have been worked out and now it's just design tweaking. This means that I'll be done soon and I'll be able to get back to surfing the net with impunity. I've been relying on my rss reader (Flock, natch) to keep me current with new sites, so that's where you're getting your news tonight.

It's been a slow news day for web apps, but just in time for back-to-school, there's a new site called Easy School Search. This could actually be pretty handy, especially if one is new in town. It allows users to locate schools in an area, or by zip code. Search results include all public and private secondary schools in the area; adding pre-schools to the results would make this a very valuable app. Basic information is provided about each institution, and in my case, a link to the Texas Commissioner of Education and State Board of Education was provided. A link to the district and/or school site would be a great addition.

(Today's photo is of the Houston Uptown area, and is sposored by the letter "B".)

Tags: Easy School Search