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Small Business Makes You Feel Good. It Is Not Good For The Economy

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:25:26 +0000

Walmart is cheap because they don’t offer amazing service, they buy in bulk, they use distribution centers to minimize shipping costs, and labor. All that means they have a lower carbon foot print. Insurance and Pay roll is cheaper by the 1,000. You get all those efficiencies. Buying from small businesses tends to send more [...]

YCombinator Wants To "Kill Hollywood With Entertaining Startups".

Brandon Wirtz — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:35:05 +0000

Story telling is the second oldest form of entertainment (the first is only legal in Nevada, and they shut down that section of Craig’s list). TV and Movies aren’t going away. We aren’t consuming that many fewer hours of them either. But we have changed the revenue model. We don’t pay $30 for a DVD, [...]

A Peek Inside Facebook’s Oregon Data Center

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:30:47 +0000

Tens of Thousands of Energy-Efficient Servers Handle the Deluge of Data Generated by More Than 800 Million Users Call it the heart of Facebook. Take an unusual peek inside one of the world’s largest data centers, Facebook’s monster server farm that opened last year in the remote desert town of Prineville, Ore., 150 miles [...]

Don’t Fall to the Consumer Revolution, Lead it!

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:04:49 +0000

Today we have a guest post from Brian Solis. Brian is a principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on [...]

Cloud Computing Democratizes Digital Animation

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:24:08 +0000

Pay-As-You-Go Datacenter Processing Power Creates Opportunity for Smaller Business Origami Animation“To make things move like paper … is a big challenge. And it required lots of computer crunching power to render graphic images into motion.” — J. Walton (Flickr photo) While cloud computing may be nothing more than pie in the sky to some, [...]

Why I love PandoDaily, new media company focused on startups

Scoble — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:46:15 +0000

Today Sarah Lacy, formerly of Techcrunch, announced she was starting a new media company and has gotten funded, to the tune of $2.5-million by a variety of big names in investing. This is just what the tech industry needs. Why? Because big companies are too focused on profits to properly cover the startup world. Here’s [...]

How To Practice Carpentry And Basic Woodworking

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:15:06 +0000

Carpentry is the oldest of the arts, and it has been said that the knowledge necessary to make a good carpenter fits one for almost any trade or occupation requiring the use of tools. The hatchet, the saw, and the plane are the three primal implements of the carpenter. The value is in knowing how [...]

CES 2012: Measuring Social Conversations Amid the Noise

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:32:07 +0000

A Look Inside the Social Cockpit Intel is Using to Discover and Analyze What’s Getting the Most Buzz on Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube The online heartbeat of the Consumer Electronics Show is being monitored in real time by a team of data analysts and algorithm coders. In a small private room [...]

Intel Smartphone Reference Design Shortens Development Time

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:12:19 +0000

The Android Phone Features a High-Resolution 4.03-Inch LCD Screen; Battery Life Is Expected to Be up to 8 Hours for 3G Voice Calls Intel’s Smartphone Reference design was getting a lot of attention at CES and may have finally put Intel firmly in the phone game. The Intel Smartphone Reference Design was developed to [...]

CES 2012: Celebrities Abound at Vegas Tech Event

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:16:16 +0000

Justin Bieber, Snooki, Eliza Dushku and 50 Cent Are Among the Household Names and Cult Favorites That Will Make the Scene at the Consumer Electronics Show With a galaxy of stars from all walks of entertainment committed to appear at the International Consumer Electronics Show, the giant Las Vegas trade event could seem more [...]

CES: Intel Demos Translucent Touchpad Concept PC

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:10:57 +0000

The Nikiski’s See-Through Touchpad with a Translucent Screen Allows Users to See Status Updates, News Feeds, Messages and Calendar Items without Opening the Lid Intel showed off an “Ivy Bridge” laptop concept that featured a large see-through touchpad with a translucent screen. The demo product created quite a stir at the company’s Ultrabook press [...]

Stephen Hawking’s New PC

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:28:28 +0000

The Acclaimed Physicist and Author of “A Brief History of Time” Uses a Custom-Built PC That’s Hand Delivered and Set Up for His Use For a man who was diagnosed with a devastating motor neuron disease at age 21 and given just 3 years to live, brilliant British scientist Stephen Hawking, who celebrated his [...]

CES: Smaller Exhibitors Gamble on Show Floor Location

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:16:54 +0000

Being Beside Big Brands Can Mean Added Attention for Smaller Exhibitors, but Trade Show Veterans Know It Can Yield Mixed Results How does a “little fish” exhibitor attract attention in the enormous pond that is the gigantic International Consumer Electronics Show? It’s a challenge for companies of more modest stature. But when smaller [...]

Casey Anthony Video Hits YouTube

nikki — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:11:57 +0000

Just when everyone thought their gag reflexes could relax, Casey Anthony is back in the news. NBC’s Today Show aired a video Thursday which was apparently recorded by Anthony and released on YouTube. The grainy black and white recording shows a very different woman than was last seen in a Florida courtroom, where Casey Anthony [...]

How To Understand Basic Electrical Theory, Magnetism, and Common Electronics Terms

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:57:23 +0000

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER The subject matter of this work relates to one of the secrets of creation which appears to have been intended at the very beginning to be “sought out.” This idea is expressed in a certain saying copied three or four thousand years ago by the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah: from Solomon’s [...]

6 WiDi Questions, Answered

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:23:09 +0000

Wireless Display Connection Technology Lets People Connect a Laptop to a TV without a Tangle of Cables 1. What is WiDi? WiDi, the popular name for Intel Wireless Display, is a display connection technology that allows people to extend their laptop screen to their TV — no cable required. Introduced in 2010, [...]

Behind the Scenes with Intel’s Tom Kilroy

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:38:35 +0000

An Inside Look At How the Leader of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group Spends His Day As head of Intel’s sales and marketing, Tom Kilroy believes that “selling” is only a small portion of what his organization accomplishes every day. While selling products is the end goal, a mind-boggling number of things must [...]

Dick Clark Rings In The New Year For The 40th Time on ABC

nikki — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:26:03 +0000

For 40 years celebrating the New Year in the United states has meant tuning in to “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve.” To celebrate Clark’s 40 year milestone, ABC has gathered some of Clark’s most memorable moments on the show for a look back special which will air prior to this year’s broadcast. Though television and radio [...]

Men Say ‘I Love You’ Before Women According To Study

nikki — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:02:53 +0000

As everyone knows scientists spend most of their time thinking up brilliant hypotheses and solving the mysteries of the universe. When they announce a conclusion it is always as a result of intense research, thought and dedicated study. So when scientists say men are usually the ones to say ‘I love you’ first, we should [...]

Katy Perry and Russell Brand to Divorce

nikki — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:04:51 +0000

In a move which couldn’t have surprised many, Russell Brand has filed for divorce from Katy Perry. Brand, 36, made the filing in L.A. citing irreconcilable differences and did not state a date of separation. The filing also included a statement that there are “community property assets” between the two. This is a possible indication [...]

My first photowalk with Lytro’s lightfield camera

Scoble — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:48:58 +0000

This weekend we’ll be in Yosemite with Google+ photographers, including Thomas Hawk, Trey Ratcliff Karen Hutton Scott Jarvie Peter Adams shirley lo and Kimberly Shoemaker. All trying to make a better image than the ones that come up in searches for Yosemite on Google+. So, to prepare, I went on a photowalk around Half Moon [...]

CES Remains Biggest Stage for Tech Industry

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:37:14 +0000

Despite Microsoft’s announcement that 2012 will be its last CES, the technology trade show is poised for the biggest turnout in years. Riding a wave that has seen launches of tablets, Android devices and connected TVs over the past couple of years, the upcoming International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas looks for another [...]

6 Tablet Computer Productivity Tips

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:02:16 +0000

Being a workshifter is a constant quest for productivity. Do more with as little as possible – at least, that was one of the reasons I used to justify buying a tablet computer earlier this year. As such, I’ve been putting my iPad 2 to the test. My goal was to figure out if tablets [...]

Resolve to Rewire, Part I: 4 Tips for Wired Wellness

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:05:03 +0000

Today we have a guest post from Camille Preston, PhD. Camille is the founder and CEO of AIM Leadership, one of the country’s premier organizational and leadership development firms. She is a pioneer in the field of Virtual Effectiveness and the author of Rewired: How to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Be Purposefully Productive in [...]

Enterprise Features That Set Windows Phone 7 Apart From Android And IOS

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:35:17 +0000

Robert Scoble made the comment that there is nothing that Windows Phone 7 does that Android and IOS don’t. Well here are 4 huge features that make Windows Phone 7 superior in Enterprise environments. ADFS 2.0 Support: Many of you don’t live in "Real" enterprise, but I do. Active Directory support means that the phone [...]

Oh, Charlie, you should have been here for Christmas

Scoble — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:18:46 +0000

Oh, Charlie. Charlie Kindel, that is. He used to work at Microsoft. He still has Microsoft in his blood as he tries to explain why Windows Phone 7 hasn’t taken off. I thought about posting this over on Google+ or Facebook or Twitter, but I like the way MG Siegler is treating it. All the [...]

The Math Of Trees As Observed By Da Vinci and Fibonacci

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:07:39 +0000

I should sit around all day thinking of things which reporters will be impressed by that are common knowledge in science communities, so I can be famous with out having to do anything. NPR is running a story about how a French scientist has proven that the surface area of trees are a result of [...]

Nike Air Jordan XI Concord Retro Cause Mayhem Nationwide

nikki — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:37:06 +0000

The release of Nike’s newest Air Jordan basketball shoes Friday caused fights, injuries, arrests, property damage and in one case the use of pepper spray. Nike released the throwback design on a limited basis Friday. Customers lined up hours in advance for a chance to purchase the $180 Air Jordan Retro 3 basketball shoes. Which [...]

CES 2012: Analysts Pick Top Tech to Watch

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:17:15 +0000

Tablets, Big TVs, Home Automation Technologies, Ultrabooks and Win8 Will Be Buzzworthy, but Analysts Aren’t Expecting Any Blockbusters at the Upcoming Consumer Electronics Show It may be little things with limited sales potential, such as the intelligent Nest digital home thermostat, that will generate the biggest buzz at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show [...]

Adam Lambert Arrested in Finland After Brawl With Boyfriend

nikki — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:54:50 +0000

Adam Lambert gets to say he spent part of his Christmas vacation in a Finnish jail cell alongside his boyfriend. According to reports, Lambert and his Finnish boyfriend, reality star Sauli Koskinen were both arrested for brawling outside a gay bar early Thursday morning. Authorities were called to DTM (Don’t Tell Mama), a famous gay [...]

Debra Messing And Husband Daniel Zelman Separate

nikki — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:06:20 +0000

Actress Debra Messing, 43, and her writer-producer husband Daniel Zelman, 44, have separated. According to People Magazine, the couple actually separated earlier this year but just acknowledged it publically yesterday. Messing and Zelman have been married for more than 10 years and have a 7-year-old son, Roman. The pair first met in the early 1990s [...]

User Experience Key to Differentiation?

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:30:55 +0000

Wireless Industry Veteran Leading Intel’s Efforts to Deliver a Better Smartphone Experience Mike Bell holds up an Intel smartphone reference design. (Flickr photo) Midway through his keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum last fall, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini demoed slick new software called Pair Share, easily moving photos from a mysterious [...]

The Workshifting Work/Life Balance Dilemma: Stay Late or "Go Home"

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:21:20 +0000

The Harvard Business Review never ceases to speak my language, reveal my deepest and darkest professional secrets and remind me that I am not alone. In a recent HBR blog post “Should You Stay Late or Go Home?” Ron Ashkenas reported that more and more employees are working longer “since there’s always more to do [...]

Bears Wide Receiver Johnny Knox to Undergo Surgery

nikki — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:02:02 +0000

Chicago Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox will undergo surgery today in Chicago on his back after his scary injury in Sunday’s game. The Bears were playing Washington Sunday when early in the game Knox was tackled and bent so far backward it appeared he had been folded in half. He was taken from the field [...]

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, 69, Dead

nikki — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:10:13 +0000

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, 69, died Saturday according to a state media announcement. According to Monday’s broadcast, Kim died on Saturday as a result of a massive heart attack. State media said that an autopsy has already been performed which confirmed cause of death as heart failure. In September of 2010, Kim revealed [...]

Why Peyton Manning Won’t Be Playing For The Indianapolis Colts In 2012

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:48:10 +0000

The Indianapolis Colts have their eye on a Stanford quarterback who might cause Peyton Manning to exit the 2012 roster. Andrew Luck is an amazing college quarterback and everyone agrees he is ready to make the move from Stanford to the NFL. The Colts have been scouting him, and clearly want him, but any team [...]

Pushing the Limits of Solid-State Technology

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:54:39 +0000

SSDs Absorb Punishment in Series of Outrageous Torture Tests Alan Frost, host of “Adventures with Intel Solid-State Drives,” finds creative ways of imperiling SSDs. (Flickr photo) If Alan Frost loves solid-state drives so much, why does he relish throwing them, smashing them and, yes, even cooking them? “Awareness,” said Frost, and he [...]

The Anatomy of a List

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:33:10 +0000

I was the type of kid who got lost looking up a word in the dictionary. Twenty minutes after flipping the cover open, I would find myself deeply concentrating on some random page, reading entry after entry. I wouldn’t even be in the right letter for the word I’d set out to look up. Without [...]

Schedule a "Meeting Day" to Reduce Disruptions

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:56:02 +0000

When I first gave up my office environment for the life of a digital nomad, one of the earliest things I noticed was how flexible my time had become. I loved my newfound freedom! However, I soon discovered that I didn’t seem to be getting quite as much accomplished as I had when I was [...]

Viral coefficients + store feature + branding + influencers = cool apps on iOS first

Scoble — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:55:20 +0000

At LeWeb last week former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt was asked by an audience member why the coolest apps come out on iOS first. Apps like Flipboard and Instagram. He answered: “”So my prediction is that 6 months from now, I think the question is exactly right right now, and 6 months from now, you’ll [...]

How To Be Polite, Well-Mannered, and Ladylike or Gentlemanly

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:54:00 +0000

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. Politeness has been defined as an “artificial good-nature;” but it would be better said that good-nature is natural politeness. It inspires us with an unremitting attention, both to please others and to avoid giving them offence. Its code is a ceremonial, agreed upon and established among mankind, to give each other external testimonies [...]

Holiday Movie Song Lyrics That Aren’t Kid Friendly

nikki — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:35:32 +0000

The great thing about being a kid is that you take everything at face value. Children don’t read into or take anything out of context. They generally believe what you say because you’re someone they trust and that’s good enough for them. It’s only as adults we start inserting subtext into everything. Sometimes that’s a [...]

Michelle Duggar Miscarries 20th Child

nikki — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:31:03 +0000

Michelle Duggar suffered a miscarriage Thursday, according to US Weekly. Michelle and husband Jim Bob Duggar were planning to welcome their 20th child in April. The couple discovered the miscarriage at a regular checkup this week. “Earlier today at a routine doctor’s appointment Michelle and I received the sad news that we lost the baby,” Jim Bob told [...]

Silicon Valley Women: The Duchess of Tech Startups

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:35:39 +0000

A Serial Entrepreneur Shares Her Secrets for Technology Startup Success and How She Wooed Guy Kawasaki Away From Apple Outside it looks like a cabin in the woods, but on any given day inside Buck’s Restaurant Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are striking funding deals over breakfast, including such startups as Hotmail, PayPal [...]

Lindsay Lohan Playboy Cover Leaked

nikki — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:16:23 +0000

Lindsay Lohan’s Playboy cover was supposed to be revealed next week. Instead, it was leaked online Wednesday and has gotten Lohan some unusually good press for a change. Leaked by The Insider, the cover features Lohan seated on a chair in nothing but black stilettos and a strategically placed Playboy logo a la Marilyn Monroe. [...]

Ornament Commemorates William and Kate’s Marriage

nikki — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:26:51 +0000

What do you get this holiday season for the Royal watcher who has everything from the William and Kate tea towels to the Kate doll? Those who aren’t quite ready to let go of the Royal Wedding Euphoria of this year now have the opportunity to hang a little reminder of royalty on the Christmas [...]

NeatDesk Arching solution for Mac/PC

Braeden — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:38:33 +0000

NeatDesk ships an all in one solution for arching documents, business cards and receipts and does so with easy to use documentation, customizable fields and easy to follow directions. The box containing the hardware/software is is designed in such a way as to protect the contents but is easy to unload and eco friendly to [...]

Augmented Reality Brings 3-D to Retail

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:58:32 +0000

Lego’s Familiar Building Bricks Come Alive Using In-Store Technology the Danish Construction Toy Maker Hopes will Enhance the Customer Experience Using augmented reality, a customer in the Sacramento, Calif. Lego Store gets a better look at the Millennium Falcon set from Lego’s Star Wars collection. (Flickr photo) As brick-and-mortar stores compete not only with [...]

How To Study Living Animals

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:47:00 +0000

In the following brief exercises the primary purpose is to arouse an active, attentive interest on the part of the pupil in various forms of animal life which may be at hand, reminding him of what and how various creatures eat, how they breathe, how they get ideas of the world, how they get about, [...]

Universal Studios Florida to Close Jaws Ride

nikki — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:08:17 +0000

Universal Studios Florida has announced it will close its classic Jaws ride at the beginning of next year. The Jaws ride was one of the original attractions available to park goers when Universal opened in 1990. Fans of the classic 1975 film in which a giant great white shark harasses and snacks on natives of [...]

Chicago News Anchor Tells Kids There’s No Santa

nikki — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:19:51 +0000

A Chicago newscaster recently got in some very hot water for a grinchy attitude toward Santa Claus. WFLD news anchor Robin Robinson had just finished delivering a report advising parents how to curb their children’s high-budget holiday gift expectations. As news anchors will sometimes do, Robinson then decided to add her two cents on the [...]

What is the best “Games on Demand” service?

Braeden — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:20:56 +0000

I have been an avid gamer for many years and have used many services that deliver games as a download. These services range from simple, puzzle games to full blown titles like Call of Duty MW3. The first service I will be discussing is STEAM, by the makers of the Team Fortress and Half Life [...]

Brandon Wirtz is Great In Bed: Top Awesome Reasons Brandon Wirtz Is Single

Brandon Wirtz — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:27:54 +0000

This post is specifically for Autumn Lawson Hill BooBoo, Lindsey Moran, and Missy Anne Pifer who asked "Why is such an Awesome Guy Like Brandon Wirtz still single?" 5. Living around Brandon Wirtz is dangerous. When Brandon fixes things there are sparks, flames, and occasionally explosions. Ask Erin Michael Vondrak and Ivy Lauren Radicans how [...]

My Doctor Explains The Hierarchy of the Universe

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:06:29 +0000

I have one of the most wonderful M.D.’s in the world. She and I are rarely in the same place because she works with Mayo Clinic, and studies a "Genetic Anomaly" that effects my blood. But she also calls to say, "Hi, how you doing, got your blood test, let’s talk about your week". You [...]

Will Workshifting Become Commonplace?

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:33:38 +0000

Slowly but surely, a seismic shift is taking place in the way that we work. We are far more enlightened and aware of exactly what is possible, and we are beginning to question what working for a living actually imposes on us, our family and our private lives. We understand that we need to work [...]

How To Deliver A Baby In An Emergency

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:25:00 +0000

EMERGENCY CHILDBIRTH What To Do 1. Let nature be your best helper. Childbirth is a very natural act.2. At first signs of labor assign the best qualified person to remain with mother.3. Be calm; reassure mother.4. Place mother and attendant in the most protected place in the shelter.5. Keep children and others away.6. Have hands [...]

Christopher Meloni to Join The Cast of HBO’s True Blood?

nikki — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:22:30 +0000

Former Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star Christopher Meloni may be joining the cast of True Blood. Meloni, who is currently filming Man of Steel, is reportedly being courted by executives from HBO’s hit series to play the role of an unnamed but incredibly powerful vampire in the upcoming fifth season. HBO representatives refused [...]

An Impressive Case For Taking The Stairs

nikki — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:25:35 +0000

Most people think getting stuck in an elevator only happens in movies. Most people are wrong. As of today it has happened to me twice and from now on I’m taking the stairs. The first time I was stranded it happened to be with two drunken men, a claustrophobic and a hot guy. Sounds like [...]

3 Healthy Workshifting Habits

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Becoming a workshifter often means a significant lifestyle change. You go from spending 2 hours a day commuting to suddenly having that time back. Where once you had a cafeteria to serve you fresh, hot meals for lunch, you now have to make do with your own refrigerator and stove. Your cubicle mates have now [...]

Breaking Dawn Part 1 Is The Best Installment Of The Twilight Series Yet. Which Doesn’t Mean It’s Good…

nikki — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:06:36 +0000

Unlike every woman I know the Twilight phenomenon hasn’t really impressed me so I wasn’t keen to see Breaking Dawn Part 1. I read the books because everyone else was reading them and they weren’t bad. Sure, most of the time I wanted to slap Bella for constantly letting men dictate her life without ever [...]

Is Your Brand Advertising On Porn Sites? Buying On AdRoll? You Might Not Even Know

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:52:31 +0000

While investigating click fraud on a client’s behalf I discovered that they weren’t being defrauded exactly, just that they were advertising places they didn’t realize. It’s not that the client did anything wrong. Just that by advertising with a less than first tier ad provider they can’t be sure what where their ads will appear. [...]

Is Sexual Addiction On The Rise?

Brandon Wirtz — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:42:42 +0000

No. Every generation gets to a certain age and thinks the previous generation had a lot less sex. Let me tell you World Of Warcraft is filling millions of hours that would have been filled with sex in your grand parents day. "Kids today" might be having Kinkier sex. With moving images to give you [...]

Celebrating Adoption during Adoption Awareness Month

nikki — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:04:17 +0000

November is Adoption Awareness Month. Getting the word out about adoption and the many children hoping for a family of their own is a great thing; it’s a necessary thing because everyone needs to have somewhere and someone to call home. Most of us take that for granted. We shouldn’t. At any given time in [...]

So What If There Was A Billion Dollar Investment In Intel Itanium?

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:29:12 +0000

That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the ROI. Itanium is a staple of government and high reliability services. If you actually need to never lose any data ever you run Itanium. Wall Street Journal’s comment that you can do Itanium things on Non-Itanium processors borders on stupidity, but certainly doesn’t represent the views [...]

Interesting Thanksgiving Facts

nikki — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:02:23 +0000

As we get ready to officially begin the holiday season, here are some interesting facts about Thanksgiving. Now a traditional item on the Thanksgiving table, cranberries were used by Native Americans to treat arrow wounds and dye clothing. When Thanksgiving was moved to the next-to-last Thursday in November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order [...]

Quorn Meat Alternative: It Tastes Like Chicken But Is Made From Mold

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:05:07 +0000

Quorn is pretty tasty as long as you don’t know what it looked like before you bought it. In my meals it looks just fine. Quorn tastes about like a high end chicken nugget in nugget form, but in it’s naked form it will pass just fine for chicken cutlets. In stir-fry it looks and [...]

6 SSD Questions, Answered

Brandon Wirtz — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:48:59 +0000

Solid-State Drives Can Boost Performance, Improve Reliability and More, but at a Cost (Flickr photo) 1. What is an SSD? Forget file cabinets, photo albums and record collections — increasingly, our personal computers are where we store life’s important documents and memories. For years, the classic PC hard drive was the data-storage device [...]

Best Buy Black Friday Sale: Best Sub $200 Tablet Deal of 2011

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 21:06:31 +0000

Looking for a great Tablet or Slate? For $189.99 the Acer Model: A100-07U08U| SKU: 3245029 is a great choice this Black Friday at Best Buy. This Acer Tablet runs the latest version of Android, is a great size and is the XYHD.tv pick for best door buster in the Sub $200 Gadget Category for this [...]

Best Buy Black Friday Sale: Best Sub $100 Deal of 2011

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:51:31 +0000

Looking for a great large PC monitor, or TV for a college dorm room? For $79.99 the Dynex Model: DX-24L200A12| SKU: 2970158 is a great choice this Black Friday at Best Buy. While there are a lot of great choices for "BIG" TV’s this 1080p 24 inch class TV is the XYHD.tv Pick for best [...]

The Facebook Freaky Line

Scoble — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:49:12 +0000

It seems everyone is getting freaked out by Facebook once again. Molly Wood at CNET says that Facebook’s automatic sharing features are ruining sharing. That got everyone to pile on over on Techmeme. First, what does this automatic sharing feature (otherwise known as “frictionless sharing”) do? Well, every time I play a song on Spotify, [...]

Netflix To Air New Episodes Of ‘Arrested Development’

nikki — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:32:59 +0000

Fans of ‘Arrested Development’ rejoice, your favorite dysfunctional and disturbed family is coming back in all new episodes to air on Netflix in 2013. That’s right, Netflix. \’Arrested Development\’ was a cult hit on Fox from 2003-2006 and won an Emmy for best comedy. The show followed the adventures of the ethically bankrupt but always funny [...]

Setting Google AppEngine (GAE) Performance Sliders For Instance and Latency

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:03:24 +0000

If you are trying to figure out how to not get eaten alive by the new billing for Google AppEngine, but also don’t want your application to be doggedly slow, then you have to get the mix right. Tuning GAE is more finicky than tuning the carb on my classic mustang, and often the results [...]

Setting Cache Control Headers In Python To Take Advantage Of Google AppEngine’s EdgeCache

Brandon Wirtz — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:41:25 +0000

To get the most speed out of Google AppEngine, and pay the least for hosting, you want to take advantage of the Google Edge Cache when ever possible. I have fought back and forth with issues related to the Google EdgeCache… Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn’t sometimes it would hold on to files [...]

Most Popular Toys For Christmas 2011

nikki — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:54:46 +0000

Tis the season of brotherly love, brightly colored decorations and wrapping paper, crazy crowds and parents fighting over that must have toy on their child’s Christmas list. In case your child hasn’t let you know yet what they hope to see under the tree this year, here is a list of the top 10 most [...]

Vietnam War Memorial Volunteers Ask For Photos of Those Lost

nikki — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:33:43 +0000

Anyone who has been to Washington, D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial cannot help but be moved. To describe its central structure, known as ‘the wall,’ you wouldn’t expect much. It’s a long, curving black granite wall with the names of the service men and women lost during the Vietnam conflict etched into it. It sounds like [...]

What AOL Needs To Stay In The Game

Brandon Wirtz — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:27:20 +0000

John Furrier posted "AOL needs new products and a modern vibe…" but I disagree. AOL that’s the company that sends the Shiny coasters in the mail… I don’t have kids so I let my cat play with them… I think they make an instant messenger too. That’s quaint. Maybe they could convince someone that they [...]

Has Telework Growth Slowed?

Brandon Wirtz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:22:21 +0000

The latest research from the Telework Research Network indicates that while telework is growing, it’s not increasing at the pace we might have expected. According to 2009 U.S. Census data, 61 percent more employees considered home their primary place of work versus 2005. But that number translates to only 2.3 percent of the total workforce. [...]

Workshifting Through Disability While Traveling

Brandon Wirtz — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:58:08 +0000

When I write about my workshifting lifestyle, there are so many strands to discuss. I, like all other workshifters, have multiple reasons for pursuing remote work, including a checklist of needs for it to run smoothly. When you are disabled, using a cool electric wheelchair and requiring full-time care assistance along with a raft of [...]

Arctic Edition Jeep Wrangler, Wrangler Unlimited, and Liberty Shown At LA Auto Show

Brandon Wirtz — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:31:20 +0000

I like that Jeep is doing Special Editions, but this one isn’t very "arctic" it has a Yeti on the Speedometer which is just weird, and it doesn’t come with snow tires, or heated seats by default. They might also have considered insulating the hard top for arctic environments. Here’s what Jeep has to say. [...]

Google Brings Cloud Computing To Porn

Brandon Wirtz — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:46:04 +0000

Previously Google AppEngine had a terms of use that prevented gambling and pornography from being hosted on the service. Even at the free tier. That’s right the cheapest porn hosting online is now Google. Confirmed by Google employees on the GAE Forum the change comes as Google AppEngine is leaving beta and entering production. Along [...]

What Is Your Workshifting Work Worth?

Brandon Wirtz — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:18:30 +0000

Workshifters come in many varieties, and the 2 flavors with which I am most familiar are the freelance contractor and the full-time employee who works from home. In either case, your time is your money. The hours you attach to any given task or project have a value – the time you could be spending [...]