Category : Entertainment
In a hurry to get to the 17th floor on a crowded elevator? The
iHacked web site says a simple (but impolite) key combination can make
some elevators skip everyone else’s floor and go straight to yours:
The
only thing you need to do is press down the close door button, and the
floor you would like to go to at the same time. This trick has worked
on all the office elevators I have tried so far. I find it works the
easiest on:
Otis Elevators
Dover Elevators
And Most Desert Elevators
I come from a long line of elevator experts (hi J&A!) so I’ll
have to confirm this with them, as California has a lot fewer elevators
in tall buildings to test on. Ever given this trick a try? Let us know
how it goes in the comments.
Google realized that one of the reasons Google Talk has such a small number of users is 
that you need to have a Gmail account to use it. And that wasn’t too necessary. Of course, you had your Gmail contacts, mail notification, your chats were searchable in Gmail and the voicemail you received looked better, but the basic client doesn’t need a Gmail address.
Google Blog reports that now anyone can try Google Talk, if they have a Google Account. So if you’re in this situation, you just have to sign up for GTalk, choose a nickname, and get the client (1.5 MB, Windows 2000/XP). You’ll notice that the interface still talks about Gmail and features like mail notification are visible, but don’t work.
Google claims “there are millions of people around the world to chat with”.
Update: Google also released Google Talk 1.0.0.98, fixing some bugs, and introducing others. Offline contacts and those who use Gmail Chat have non-working options like “Call” and “Send files”.
Category : Television
Some TV markets were privileged enough to hear the rarest of TV faux-pas’ the other night. Yes folks, a “prime-time fuck” was uttered during a Family Guy episode. Ooooh no! Stop the press! I’ve heard the word before. I’ve used the word before. Hell I’ve even used the word in conjunction with other dirty words while having sexual relations with a woman. Big FUCKING deal! But since this is a pop-culture site, I feel I’d be shirking my duties as a respectable blogger if I didn’t let you guys see the video for yourselves. May God have mercy on us all. (watch video here)
Category : Web/Tech
Today, I’m going to explain how RSS can help you live your best life
online.
We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun
but can take hours going to visit every single web site and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current
stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place?
Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed.
The Oprah definition
The technical acronym for RSS is Really Simple Syndication, an
XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content
on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to
everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, Uh, I don’t get it?
So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS
stands for: Ready for Some Stories. It is a way online for you to get a
quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and
blogs all in one place. How cool is that? (Click on image for larger view)
Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit
regularly. Going to visit each websites and blog everyday could take you hours.
With RSS, you can subscribe to a websites or blog, and get all the new
headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s
going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver!
That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS
Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you
have subscribed to. In a moment, I will describe how to get an RSS Reader.
Subscribing to RSS feeds
But first, to subscribe to a website or blogs RSS feed simply
means that you are telling that website or blog, Yes please. Send me your
story headlines.It’s like subscribing to a magazine or newsletter. Instead of
getting a magazine or email, you will just get a list of headlines sent to your
RSS reader. If the headline looks interesting to you, all you have to do is
click on the headline and you’ll be sent to the whole story.
In order to subscribe to a website or blogs RSS, all you have to
do is click on an RSS symbol like one of those shown in the diagram above, or a
text link of the words Subscribe to our RSS feed on the website or blog.
Typically, you can find these RSS symbols or text links in your browser window,
on the sides of the website page, or on the bottom of the page. The publishers
of the websites and blogs really want people to subscribe to their RSS, so they
will make it very easy for you to find the subscription links.
RSS Readers
Now, because nothing is ever standard on the web like dealing with
different operating systems, Mac vs. PC, and different flavored browsers like
Internet Explorer, AOL, Safari, and Firefox, the way to get an RSS reader will be
dependent on what browser you like to use, and how accessible you’d like your
RSS list(s) to be.
Just like there are flavors of web browsers, you may see and hear
of different flavors of RSS XML feeders like RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Again,
the flavors are only important if you want to get techie. If you stick to
looking for an RSS symbol like I have shown you in the diagram, you will be
just fine.
If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or
mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS
readers include (and almost all are FREE):
MyYahoo
MyMSN
MyAOL
MyGoogle
Bloglines
FeedDemon (this one costs money)
NewsGator (there is a cost for mobile accessibility)
NetVibes
PageFlakes
Shrook (For Mac users. Free trial and then there’s a cost.)
As you can see, there are a plethora of choices for you. All are
good RSS readers, so your choice will simply come down to the style that
appeals most to you.
RSS as Live Bookmarks
Browsers like Safari and Firefox allow you to subscribe to RSS
feeds through the browser, and it’s called live bookmarking. Currently, you
can only do live bookmarking in Internet Explorer if you have IE7 which is
still in Beta. Oprah translation: Non-geeks cannot do live bookmarking in
Internet Explorer because it’s not done yet. The limitation with using RSS in
live bookmark form is that you only have access to your RSS list from the
computer you created the bookmarks on. If you want the flexibility of complete
accessibility, then I recommend going the RSS Reader route.
Here’s an example of an RSS live bookmark feed for the celebrity
gossip site TMZ.com using the Firefox browser on a PC.
Here’s an example of RSS live bookmark feed for the Yahoo Entertainment Celebrity page using the Mac Safari browser.
So there you have it. Are you now Ready for Some Stories? Enjoy!
Category : Web/Tech
Clever web site PhoneSpell takes the numbers of any phone number and suggests words they spell for easier memorization.
For example, 836-8725 spells “tent-sale”, “vent-salt” and
“tent-pals.” Not every number combination will give you a memorable
word or phrase, but many will. PhoneSpell says they don’t record your
phone number, but to be safe, leave off the area code. Great for kids
or anyone with a bad memory for numbers and no cell phone quick dial.
Category : Web/Tech
Windows only: Open source program myFairTunes6 is designed to remove
the digital rights management (DRM) from your iTunes Music
Store-purchased songs.
At the moment, myFairTunes is a pretty young app with room for
improvement, but it does allow you to losslessly strip your tunes of
Apple’s DRM, and it’s maturing very quickly. Like previously-mentioned FairUse4WM
(a PlaysForSure/Windows Media DRM counterpart), use myFairTunes6 at
your own risk. Personally, when DRM limits me beyond a certain point,
I’m all for stripping – unfortunately the Man might not agree with me.
I’ve written about Box.net, a service that provides 1 GB of free online storage. To increase the adoption, Box.net has released a new service called Box.net Lite, that allows you to upload a file of up to 10 MB and get a direct link.
You
can upload any kind of file and there are no traffic limitations. You
don’t have to register, although you have to provide an email address,
so that if you decide you need to manage your uploaded files, you can
sign in for a Box.net account. If you don’t want to do that,
test@example.com seems to work.
For photos, you also get a
thumbnail, so you just have to copy-paste the code into your blog. I
think this service is a good replacement for All you can upload: you don’t have options for resizing, but you can do that with any image editor, and you can upload more than photos.
If
you upload audio files (I’ve tried only with MP3 files), Box.net offers
you a very slick Flash player, so you can embed it into your blog.
All in all, this is a very good file hosting service if you don’t have a domain or you don’t want to pay for the traffic.
Category : Music
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Category : Entertainment
the lavish gift bags handed out at the Oscars in March will get some
decidedly unglamorous notices: don’t forget to pay tax on the windfall.
“There’s no special red-carpet tax loophole for the stars,” Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson said Thursday.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
in an accord with the IRS, agreed to pay taxes due on gift bags handed
out through 2005.
But responsibility for paying taxes on this year’s swag falls on the recipients.
The agreement marks the beginning of an IRS
effort to reach out to the entertainment industry with reminders that
award show gifts and promotional giveaways are considered taxable
income.
The value of the gifts must be reported on a
celebrity’s tax return. That includes gift certificates or vouchers if
they’ve been redeemed. The gifts count as income because the IRS does
not believe they were given “solely out of affection, respect or
similar impulses.”
Celebrity gifting has become more lavish as
marketers try to harness some star power to advertise their goods. The
giveaways often include luxury trips, jewelry and electronics.
George Clooney donated his Oscar swag bag to
United Way. It fetched $45,100 at auction, benefiting the United Way
Hurricane Response and Relief Recovery Fund. Clooney may be eligible
for a tax deduction.
The bag, given to presenters at the 78th Annual
Academy Awards, included a BlackBerry 8700c, a Kay Unger kimono and a
cultured Tahitian-pearl necklace. Clooney also took home another prize
— best supporting actor for Syriana.
The Internal Revenue Service said it is not
conducting a special audit initiative in this area, but questions about
gift reporting might arise during an examination of an individual’s tax
return. Donors giving gifts to celebrities will be reminded to fill out
special informational forms reporting the gifts to the IRS.
