StumbleUpon to find what intrests you

We live in a complicated webbed world. The internet has brought us a ton of information and yet navigating through the sticky web is more like the poor fly who is about to be Charlotte’s  dinner. But wait! Now you have a true way to navigate the web without know what you really want to look at. Hmmm is that wrong. We do search for things using a search engine and it works if what your searching for is in the top two or three pages. However, we all have our own interests and that is where the stumbleupon.com site fits in.

Stumbleupon works like this. You download the Browser plugin (IE & Firefox compatible), create a login and then you just stumble. Stumbling is first telling the site what you like by choosing categories and pressing a button in your browser called Stumble! This button will take you to random pages that other Stumblers have added. The best part is that you just click a thumbs up or a thumbs down on any webpage. These “I like it” or “I don’t” thumbs are organized in your stumbleupon Favorites. Then you can add your review and comments. Since the site uses tags, its easy to go back to cool pages that you’ve stumbled upon.

Now like all web 2.0 sites there is a great community involved. Adding someone as a friend will place the pages they’ve liked into your stumbling activity. The community grows by more people adding pages. If you click on the ‘Thumbs Up’ icon and no one else has then you’ve discovered that page and get to give it a review.

Stumbleupon my page http://yfat32.stumbleupon.com/ to see how it looks. If you decide to enter into the wonderful world of stumbling, realize it’s like pulling down the arm of a slot machine. Sometimes you get crap, but when you hit that unique and interesting site that you’d never know about then you will realize the fun and usefulness of this tool. Send me a message on stumbleupon if you decide to stumble through the sticky web and lets build on this great community tool.

How many bottles of Sake does it take to fuel your car?

With bio-fuel becoming more popular every country is looking into how they can produce their own fuel. While Brazil is the biggest export of ethanol due to their large crop of Sugar Cane other countries may be able to produce bio-fuel crops to help with the current direction of green based energy. Every country produces their own alcohol and with that it seems the trend is starting. Sake is a rice based alcohol that is Japan’s home brewed moonshine. Brazil has its Mojito a sugar cane alcoholic drink. Does this mean that in the future, Poland will run cars off of Vodka and Ireland off of whiskey and one day down the road will my fellow Americans pack an extra six pack of Budweiser to feed the car on the way back from the Football game? This could mean the car getting the DWI instead of the driver.

Whatever the future has in store for us, I’m glad that bio-fuel has started to take off but I wonder what this may have in store for my alcoholic preference in the future. Will the switch over to bio-fuel sky rocket the price of my Irish Whiskey or Japanese Sake? Or do I choose to have another shot instead of filling her up!

Sites: Cnet News – Sake May Power Japan Cars

Fire in the Hole – Oil Lamp Grenade

Attention! At ease solider. Lighting up your night life has become a military exercise with these Grenade Oil lamps. They are surplus US Army Hand Grenade shells modified for civilian use to spread a unique glow in your nocturnal life.

Grenade

via: ELSEWARES.COM

A Clock that Writes? Verbarius clock!

We will have to wait till November to put the writing on the wall. The clock defines Technically Foreign. This clock spells the time out for you….

Verbarius answers the question “What time is it?” writing a different reply every time it’s asked: it’s either forty-five minutes past four, or fifteen minutes to five, or four forty-five, or a quarter to five.” -Verbarius Website

Verbarius Clock

Visit: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/verbarius/ for more info…

The Bad words of Computer Security Part 3 – Software Updates

There is a lot of words for Software updates including, Vulnerabilities, patches, versions and bugs. Software and your Operating system need to have the latest version, otherwise you risk your computer to cyber attacks. For example if your using an outdated version of Firefox (a web browser) and enter a site that attacks a certain bug which has been known and fixed in newer versions then even if you have an Anti-virus program you can get attacked. The simple rules:
  • Make sure your Operating system is always up to date. Schedule your machine to automatically update your software. Next make sure that all your applications are up to date. This use to be a very hard one but has gotten much easier. Before you would have to compare each verison of your software or goto each software and see if they have an upgrade button and click it once in a while. Today a lot of software like Firefox and Thunderbird will automatically install new updates and inform you when these have been done. Also There is a software inspector that inspects your computer for all out dated (vulnerable) software. This is the secunia inspector. Click the button below to inspect your computer and make sure all your software is up to date. This should be run every month.
  • Run the Secunia Software inspector to make sure your computer is safe.
If you follow the first part of the serious about passwords, the second part about Viruses and this part about updating your software there will be a 99% chance of your computer getting taken over, infected and your identity stolen over the Internet. These are simple rules and are equivalent to changing the oil in your car.

Sex, Drugs and iTunes Generation

itunes aware

Today the web is what rock and roll was to previous generations. It is no longer the tool of the geek, nerd and software engineers (if any distinction exists). The web is open to all who have a creative moment, since it lives in the moment for the moment like table dancing in a dive bar at 3am on a Thursday night. In this moment we discover our inner curiosity and build our wish lists on Amazon and iTunes; our profiles on myspace, 360 and facebook; upload our photos on picasa web or flicker; stream our personal videos on youtube and google video. This is how we – the iTunes Generation – are expressing ourselves. Some people do this a little more then others as in the past with head-bangers, greasers, punks we have labeled these bloggers, hackers and back to the word geek . However, years ago it was the rock star, the guys with big hair, loud voices that entertained us by biting off bat heads, smashing guitars, dancing on stage in spandex. These were our heroes, our role models and in some small way they made us all warm and fuzzy inside. The 21st centaury has main streamed entertainment making it possible for anyone to be a rock star, to have their 15 minutes of fame and all they need is a little modern day canvas – the internet – to express themselves and show the world what thy are made of. In myspace they post pictures, link to friends, show favorite music videos just for the fun of it. What use to be the fame of the super cool has been distributed to anyone with a web blog, webcam and a little pride. With iTunes you don’t have to wait to goto the store buy the latest song or movie. Plus you can speak your own mind, create your own PodCast and express your own opion, submit it with the thousands of free PodCasts available daily at iTunes.

I would like to say good bye to the Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll generation and hello to the Sex Drugs and iTunes generation. Because whether it’s real or cyber you can’t substitute the sex or the addiction of any drug but entertainment has gone from old school rock into digital puberty.