Ask Jeeves desktop search beta available

Yet another free desktop search offering, this time from Ask Jeeves.

Wireless Internet Access on-board by 2006?

Looks like we're going to be able to surf up in the air by end of next year! For some of us "road warriors" this will be a welcome diversion to in-flight boredom.

For details, see the story here.

Wiki News

First there was the wikipedia. Now comes WikiNews where citizen journalists from around the world can contribute to the online news digest. From their mission statement:

While Wikinews aims to be a useful resource of its own, it will also provide an alterative to proprietary news agencies like the Associated Press or Reuters; that is, it will allow independent media outfits to get a high quality feed of news free of charge to complement their own reporting. Thanks to copyleft, anyone can create their own free news source—even a non-neutral one—on the basis of our work. Even if our articles will initially be few, they will be free, permanently available and not require registration before reading.

While we are faced with many new challenges, Wikinews will adopt the key principles which have made Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia websites what they are today: neutrality, free content, and an open decision-making process.

We seek to promote the idea of the citizen journalist, because we believe that everyone can make a useful contribution to painting the big picture of what is happening in the world around us. The time has come to create a free news source, by the people and for the people. We invite you to join us in this effort which has the potential to change the world forever.

Jigsaw snagged me already

There's a new social networking site called Jigsaw that launched in December. It's basically a place to trade business contact information. THEY ALREADY HAVE MY INFO! Well, actually not my super-secret e-mail address (that I won't post here for fear of e-mail harvesting programs) but my "mass" email address. Oh yeah...they also list my title as President!

Microsoft desktop search beta not firefox friendly

I went to take a look at Microsoft's challenge to Google Desktop Search and guess what...

Warning! Your browser does not meet the
minimum system requirements. You are
recommended to use the MSN Toolbar Suite
with Internet Explorer 5.01 or later.

Don't they know we've banned their friggin' browser here?

Weblog Awards Announced!

Some of my favorite blogs won (excepting Dave's personal blog). Curiously, the Asynchrony Community Blog did not garner any. Perhaps we should demand a recount in Ohio.

Next big tech accessory: laptop condoms

First cell phones gave you cancer, now laptops make men sterile. Let's just hope those new OQO devices the JEOD team just got don't make your hands fall off or something.

Admittedly, it's anecdotal, but this laptop thing sure didn't have an effect on me...

Asynchrony receives Top 50 award take two

Bob Nate Stephanie Award
Originally uploaded by fourworlds.

Here's a photo of Nate, Bob and Stephanie receiving the award.

Nice to be recognized

A few representatives from Asynchrony went to the RCGA's Greater St. Louis Top 50 Awards Dinner to accept our award for being chosen one of the "outstanding companies" based on our "significant contributions to the St. Louis region." We were in there with the likes of CitiMortgage, MasterCard and the St. Louis Cardinals (not to mention Build-a-Bear). Very cool to be recognized, and I finally got to see the inside of the puffy building at the St. Louis Science Center!

Top 12 Dave Rutledge Inventions or Innovations

For those of you who missed my (forgettable) public reading last night at Dave's farewell happy hour. I even added a couple more to improve the humor level. Perhaps, however, I need to subtract a few -- like 12 of them!

Top 12 Dave Rutledge Inventions or Innovations

12. The one-handed topspin baseball swing
11. The Asynchrony Graphic Design Department
10. Ping-pong paddles with randomly appearing pips to ensure fair play
9. Geeklife.com
8. MadApeDen.com
7. ScrewYouI'mNotStickingAroundACoupleMoreMonthsForThatSillyJacket.com
6. The Internet (sorry, that was Al Gore)
6. Punk-Rock Band-Aids
5. Guy Fawkes Day parties -- in America!
4. BugChat: IM program that keeps up with more than 500 concurrent chats while you work
3. .css for the home (allowing you to "skin" your rooms!)
2. The DaveBug Cardinals Ticket Plan: all home games from the 8th inning on (price: $0)
1. The Heterosexual Morrissey Look

Blog declared Word of the Year

Although "inumbant" won this year's U.S. presidential election, it was beaten by "blog" in this year's Mirriam Webster.com's race for word of the year! Their top ten list in order:

1. blog
2. incumbent
3. electoral
4. insurgent
5. insurgent
6. cicada
7. peloton
8. partisan
9. sovereignty
10. defenestration

The most unusual resume in history

Now this is a resume!

Roger, Wilco

Those of you who do or have done work in the military sector may be familiar with the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet, or phonetic alphabet, that is commonly used. It's a handy way to convey letters and numbers over the phone, for example, when it is important to differentiate between like-sounding characters.

Well, in honor of Alex's "honorable discharge" from the service of Asynchrony, I'd like to propose a slightly altered version of the phonetic alphabet (okay, really altered) that, if Alex were put in charge, our nation's military might actually be using. For those of you who know the man, and I suppose for those of you who don't, that would be an entertaining, if not altogether frightening, prospect. Congrats, Alex, on your new job. We'll miss you -- and your unique lexicon!

Letter	NATO	Alex
A	Alpha	Arafat
B	Bravo	Bea bea
C	Charlie	Chutzpah
D	Delta	De-geschmackerize
E	Echo	Eliezer
F	Foxtrot	Foxnews
G	Golf	Goy
H	Hotel	Ho
I	India	Interface
J	Juliet	Jew or Joes
K	Kilo	KGB
L	Lima	Liberal
M	Mike	Mama
N	November	No-no-no-no-no
O	Oscar	Optimize
P	Papa	Powder or Pimp
Q	Quebec	Queue
R	Romeo	Ralph
S	Sierra	Schtickle
T	Tango	Tile (as in basement floor)
U	Uniform	Ultra-liberal
V	Victor	Vodka
W	Whiskey	White man
X	X-ray	Exodus
Y	Yankee	Yo or Yomama
Z	Zulu	Zion

Dave Chaney awarded five year jacket

chaney
Originally uploaded by fourworlds.

Nate McKie presented Dave Chaney today with an Asynchrony jacket to commemorate five years of employment...and he looks marvelous in it!

Photos now available

Photos from the party and the meeting are now available.

Sexy new McDonalds clown

McDonalds has a new commercial in Japan featuring a well...go see it for yourselves.

P.S. For full effect, right click the movie
and change the speed setting to slow.

I hate to even mention this but Microsoft launched beta of new search engine

Now that they're losing the browser war to Firefox, Microsoft has decided to go against Google with their new and improved search engine. Check out the incredible description as provided by a Microsoft spokesoman:

"It's good enough. It gets the job done. And it puts Microsoft at the table to play with everybody else."

I don't know about ya'll, but that doesn't sound very compelling.

Features include:

-- return specific answers, such as facts, definitions, conversions and calculations, to certain direct questions by tapping content from Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia;

-- launch specific actions from the MSN Search interface, such as listening to song samples and buying and downloading songs from MSN Music;

-- narrow search results according to various parameters, such as geographic location, news content, language, images, Internet domains, Web site address and Web pages' popularity or creation date.

New plug-in allows post-its on any website

Opine-it is a new plug-in for mozilla (or that other browser) that lets you discuss and comment on any webpage on the internet. You can right click on any site and leave a comment..

New add-on for Google Desktop Search

GDSPlus is a free add-on that allows you to specify what extensions the new Desktop Search tool from Google will index. This includes the ability to add new extensions not yet supported by Google. You will be able to search the contents of any file that can be indexed as text. Examples include:

• .xml, .sql, .bat

• .log (mIRC and Trillian)

• .cs, .vb (Visual Studio .NET source code files)

• .frm, .bas, .cls (Visual Basic 6 source code files)

• .wpd (WordPerfect), .rtf (Rich Text File)

Additionally, adding non-ASCII file extensions such as .wav, .rar, .png, .psd etc. will index just the filenames for search (PDF content is still not searchable, however). You can also remove support for any of the extensions that Google included and you do not want indexed.

Spammers found guilty

"A Virginia jury's conviction Wednesday of a brother and sister in the nation's first felony prosecution of spammers is a landmark victory in the war against unwanted junk e-mail, industry experts said."

Free Corporate Blogging Primer available

The CorporateBloggingBlog has just released a free Corporate Blogging Primer. Content includes:

Corporate Blog - A Definition The Nature of Blogs Reasons for Corporate Blogging Six Types of Corporate Blogs Read Blogs Publish Blogs 14 Steps to Your Business Blog What Corporate Bloggers Say

Another Friday Morn

Another Friday morn, and I ain't got no buddies
I work off-site, so I'll still get paid,
How I wish for someone to play ping-pong with,
I'm in an awful way.

Apologies to Sam Cooke...

E-mail scam targets Linux users

Beware of an e-mail scam targeting Linux users. It poses as a security update from Red Hat, with a link to a security update patch that actually installs trojans.

The story is here.

Awesome free multi-platform mind mapping tool

Freemap is an open source mindmapping tool that runs on Linux, Macintosh and Windows. It's a great tool for brainstorming, outlining and visualizing organizational data.

New site for political downloads

P2P-Politics is a new non-partisan site that makes it easy to share, view and send political video clips. They've aggregated video from Bush, Kerry and Nader sites and allow people to upload other files as well.

Pepper Lounge

pepperlounge
Originally uploaded by fourworlds.

I thought it might be good to post some restaurant recommendations on the blog. Pepper Lounge, located at 2005 Locust Street, is one of our favorites. It is just a few blocks away and has great food and service.

They have a pretty eclectic menu with daily specials that range from Seafood Orzo to Gourmet Pizza. Try their homemade potoato chips!

They are only open for lunch Wed-Fri.

Their website is under construction, but stay tuned.

Google desktop search now available

If you detest Windows search as much as I do, you'll be glad to see that Google has just released an alternative. Google Desktop provides a way to search your own computer using the engine we know and love.

Dell recalls 990,000 laptop power supplies

Dell is recalling power supplies from almost one million laptops sold between 1998 and 2002. The recalled power supplies pose a potential fire risk. Recalled are some Dell Latitude, Precision and Inspiron notebook computers and have the words "DELL" and "P/N 9364U," P/N 7832D" or "P/N 4983D" written on the back.

To confirm that your adaptor is on the recall list or to arrange for replacement, contact Dell at 1-800-418-8590 or via the Internet at www.delladapterprogram.com.

Electronic back-seat driver being tested

If this becomes standard equipment in all vehicles, it could prove to be the most distracting safety feature since the "dinging" seatbelt reminder. Hopefully it can be turned off or at least drowned out by the stereo. This wonderful new technology detects road signs and the speed of the car, and nags the driver to slow down.

New phone OS release by PalmSource

PalmSource will announce their new smartphone OS tomorrow. It will be available on 11 upcoming phones, probably including devices from companies other than PalmOne. The new OS will include improved blackberry-like email, a new browser and better support for bluetooth and wifi.

Sushi Keychain

For all of you Asynchrony sushi fans, here's something to show your love for the raw sport. For the small sum of $6.00 plus shipping, you can receive this beautiful sushi keychain from jlist.

"Bloggers have drawn blood and American journalism may never be the same"

According to CNN.com the first to challenge the authenticity of the documents about President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War were bloggers, and were mainly responsible for CBS's eventual admission of error.

Contributors wanted - yes that means YOU

If you enjoy this blog, please contribute at least a couple times per month. Your contributions will be appreciated!

Firefox 1.0 preview release is here

The 1.0 preview is out including the Windows, Macintosh and Linux versions. I've installed the Windows version and no problems so far.

40 gig cigarette pack sized drive

I've been looking for an extra-small external drive for quite a while and have been underwhelmed by the price per gigabyte value. The best I'd found was a 1.5 gig drive at Comp USA for $150 including a $50 instant discount.

This Apricorn EZ bus mini 40GB drive leapfrogs ahead of the pack, with a <$250 price street price tag in a tiny form factor.

OQO Handheld XP Computer Debuts October 14

After a long wait, the first of the full-blown XP computers with a handheld form factor will hit the market, right around the time the new Treo is available. So many toys, so little time.

Another free file sharing option

Grouper allows user to share files using Peer to Peer technology, rather than hosted storage.

Coffeehouse discussion on Blogging

Thought you blogging fools might appreciate this discussion tonight at the Creve Coeur Border's. If anyone goes, I'd love to hear about it, since I won't be able to attend.

Blogging Our Hearts Out: Authenticity or Mediolatry Stew[ard?]ing (or Either/or Fallacy?)?
Speaker: Jeremy Clive Huggins, Eastern Washington University graduate student in creative nonfiction
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Borders, Creve Coeur: 11745 Olive Blvd.

Free photo sharing service

Flickr is a great newish site that allows anyone to store and share photos. Photos can be available to the public or kept private. This is a great site to keep photos you'd like to use in your blog. It's a also a great place to find interesting photographs including those of current events. You can search all public photos by "tags" which are key words.

Free file-drop-off service

If you're like me, it's always a hassle to figure out how to get someone a large file. Email isn't a good way to send fifty megabyte PowerPoint file. Dropload.com is a free service that allows you to upload up to a one hundred megabyte file and then allow authorized people to download it from their site. They erase the files after four days.

This is not a place to drop confidential files, but for normal use, it sounds like it might do the trick.

Bad-Cell-Connection-In-Hotel Conspiracy Theory

I was just talking with Steve H. last week about cell phone reception in hotels and at events. It turns out at least some hotels try to block cell reception to increase their revenue from phone calls.

There are quite a few companies marketing cell phone jammers.

Birthday Techno Lust II: Treo 650 Info Here

Specs on the upcoming new Treo are out (leaked.) They include:

• Built-in Bluetooth
• High Resolution Screen, much better than the current 160 x 160 Treo 600
• Better camera with 1.3 MegaPixels (current Treo 600 is VGA 640 x 480 camera)
• Different and brighter backlighting system
• Looks to be GSM compatible
• Removable Battery (current Treo 600 is not)
• Video Recording via Camera
• Faster Processor (not sure of the exact speed, but faster than the 144MHz processor in the Treo 600)

Hmm, I don't think it is coincidental that they are releasing it in October, so close to a certain special day of the year.

Envoke featured at AFCEA Conference

Asynchrony Solutions was featured today at a special session at the AFCEA DOIM conference. Here's a Treo snapshop of Steve Hirsch, who represented Asynchrony at the show, along with Ted Haddad, Zeke Salter, Tom Nowicki and David Elfanbaum.

Peeping Tom Worms

I thought I'd heard everything. A new report from Sophos describes a worm that can allow its creator to spy on you through your webcam. Don't we have a few of those around the office?

mind-gamers and applet power

i've noticed the use applets is often dismissed on the basis of browser war paranoia or other dubious reasons. but do non-applet/non-java alternatives really avoid the ongoing problems of dealing with diverse browser technologies? (ahem...rhetorical question)

here are two examples of purely java-driven, free strategy game sites that have worked reliably under netscape and ie for a long time. the first has been around a loooong time and is used by players all over the planet. it has remained essentially unchanged. the second is evolving very rapidly and is real-time, but i've never met anyone there outside the US:

turn based--challenge me to havannah, or pente or chess if u want:
http://www.mindsports.net

real time--you can play against an AI opponent or other members logged in. too many other features too mention!
http://www.pente.org

gamers have fun

NearMe - the Japanese robot cat

This new toy cat is just like the real thing- it plays, has expressional movements and is affectionate. But unlike the real thing, it doesn't tear up your furniture and defecate in your kitchen sink (from what I can tell). The low-maintenance cat has been replaced with the pet that is maintenance-free, except possibly for routine maintenance, like oil changes, joint lubrication, or sending him back to the manufacturer for repairs.

Did anyone else get this email?

It's Time to Sell Your Garmin PDA, Steve

Saying goodbye to the gigantic PDA form facter, Garmin now brings us the the convenience of GPS mapping on a watch. That would have saved me a lost hour and late meeting on a trip to New York a few years back (which I still get teased about now and then.) You can snag one at Amazon for $117.94.

Site Dedicated to Dumping Internet Explorer

Gary's' gotta love this one. Here's a site that explains why it's smart to stop using IE and includes testimonials from happy switchers, as well as alternative browser choices. It was created by the The Web Standards Project a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.

The site must be getting a lot of hits, because it's been timing out most of the early morning.

$700 in hand is worth 2 gigs in the memory stick

Sony is working on a new memory stick this fall that will store a whopping 2GB and will support read and write speeds of up to 80Mbps. This will be a nice addition to the $700 digital camera due out in September.

Welcome

If you are an Asynchrony employee, contractor or client, you can post here on the new community blog I've set up. You should have received an invitation to register, unless our spam filter nabbed it.

My personal blog has moved to interbeing.blogspot.com.