Monday, July 21st, 2008
Facebook Redesign To Go Live Tomorrow
Five months later and it looks like Facebook is ready to release their new profile redesign. Initially Facebook announced they were working on a redesign earlier this year. In May, a glimpse of the redesigned was released to developers in the developers sandbox. Tomorrow evening the redesign will be open to the public.
Google’s Android Losing It’s Mojo Fast
Android started off being a great idea, from a great company, with lots of support from carriers and manufacturers, and an awesome $10million contest to get developers drooling. With some stiff competition from Apple, and loss of developer morale, I’m afraid of what the future might hold for this platform.
First Commercial-Scale Tidal Power System Delivers
The world’s first commercial-scale tidal turbine developed by British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines, has delivered electricity onto the grid for the first time. In principle, SeaGen works much like an “underwater windmill”, driven by the power of the tidal currents.
Google Tests Search Interface That Looks More Like Digg
In the new Google Search Interface each comment has an up or down vote feature as well, and Google is using thumbs up and down icons that are exactly the same as those on Digg. The comments show the username of the person leaving it, and clicking on it shows their Google account profile.
Google Launches New Space Race To The Moon
When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, he uttered unforgettable words. But the next visitor to roam the lunar landscape may send back e-mail instead. Welcome to a new kind of space race, where the earthly guest will be a machine and the goal is as much exploration as seeking out new business ventures.
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Monday, June 9th, 2008
Wind Power Marvel in Dubai
This self-sufficient, sun and wind powered design is making headlines once again as the Italian-Israeli architect has just unveiled the latest design for his twirling tower, and construction is set to begin this month!
Actual Footage/Documentary on the “Pacific Garbage Patch”
For years we’ve been reading about a patch of garbage the size of Texas floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ingeniously dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.For all the breathless accounts of the mess and its impact on the area’s sealife, however, no one seemed to have a picture of the buildup. Until now.
USDA: Ethanol Accounts for Only 3% of Increased Cost of Food
Diggers who buy the “they’re turning food into fuel!” myth should take note: the number one reason for the rising cost of food is oil prices. Who perpetuates the food/fuel myth? The Oil Lobby.
5 Homemade Chemical Free Bug Repellents That Work
Not only can insects be a nuisance in your garden, but they can ruin a perfect picnic or hike. Here are a few totally green, home remedy suggestions to repel insects without using toxic chemicals.
CleanTech Biofuels to Turn Dirty Diapers Into Ethanol
CleanTech Biofuels is serious about turning garbage into fuel and sincerely hopes you’ll ignore the fact that your car’s fuel tank could be carrying what’s left of little Timmy’s soiled nappies.The company is investigating suitable sites for commercial garbage-to-ethanol facilities.
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
101 Ways to Monetize Your Blog (Without Irritating Readers)
Blogging is big business these days, with some bloggers reporting six-figure or even million-dollar incomes. There are a number of ways that these bloggers earn such large paychecks, and the best know how to do it in a way that won’t scare off readers. Check out 101 ways that you can earn money from your blog.
Apple has sold 5 million iPhones
Apple has sold 5 million iPhones, according to 9 to 5 Mac, an Apple rumor site. At the iPhone’s launch, Steve Jobs set a public goal of selling 10 million iPhones — next year. With the iPhone only on sale for six months, that means Apple’s already selling its sleek smartphones at 2008 speed.
Firefox 3.0 Beta 2 Is A Win For Linux
Mozilla has released the latest beta of Firefox 3 today, and the Linux efforts behind it are starting to show even more. This release, being a beta, is surprisingly stable. Here’s the killer that makes this beta release amazing: true GTK support.
Norway mandates use of open formats: HTML, ODF and PDF
Government, state and regional agencies, authorities and services may also publish in other formats, but they must always publish in one of these formats. The decree is retroactive, and by 2014 all documents published prior to this decree must have been converted and made available in one of the three formats.
10 great Web site designs/redesigns of 2007
We pick 10 of our favorite site designs and redesigns of 2007.
8 Bold Predictions on Google’s Next Moves
There’s little doubt that Google Inc. is indeed king of online media. In August 2007 alone, Google captured 57% of worldwide market share among search engines, with more than 37 billion search inquiries. Not surprisingly, this dominance has led to endless rumors about where Google is headed next?
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Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Today was a pretty busy day for us.
I think one of the most fun things about me is that I have no plan. This morning, while I was sitting at my computer, I decided to call Lowe’s to make an appointment for Laura and I to head down and meet with someone. I had my measurements all set. I called and made the appointment for Wednesday at 7PM. I kept pacing back and forth, because the woman I spoke with on the phone had no business designing kitchens, much less answering a telephone. I wasn’t at ease.
I was talking to Laura about it when I decided to give the local place a call, just to talk. We talked and they sounded good. He invited us up for a visit. At 11AM, we pulled in the parking lot of the showroom. We walked in and were impressed with what they had. Everything looks so damn good in those places. We talked for a bit and we told the guy what we wanted. The room is fairly simple, so there really were no curve balls.
Ok, let’s get to the point. At the end of the visit, I found myself writing a check for 5% of the project. After Laura and I left, we headed to the tile place and picked out some really nice 13″ tile for the kitchen floor. We also scheduled the tile installation for the first week of the new year. Then, we got some food at the food store, but that’s not important.
Ok, here is the shnazzy design he created for us, based on what we said we wanted.

This is the window wall that faces the backyard. We went with the darker brown color. The wood is solid maple. We are getting a dishwasher, so that is going to be a nice addition to what we have. The upper cabinet all the way to the right is going to have glass in the doors. The corner cabinet is going to go all the way to the ceiling and have glass, but different than the others. This one is going to have panes in it. The bottom corner is going to have shelves, not the lazy susan thing. We vetoed that. All the cabinets are going to have crown moulding. We already have a nice sink with faucet, so we are keeping that.

This is the continuation of the “L.” I guess this is pretty self explanatory. Nothing new here, except that we are keeping the same refrigerator and oven. They are both new and stainless. From what I have been hearing, stainless is the cat’s meow for this half-year. Next half-year, I’m sure it’ll be something different.

This is the wall heading out into the hallway. This is a great new feature…a pantry. This piece comes with five adjustable shelves. We are most likely going to take most of them out, so we have somewhere to keep the vacuum. Also, the counter top to the right is a nice place for the cats to eat.
We are using them to install everything, except for the floor. Their price as a whole, is higher than Lowe’s, but believe it or not, the installation is less. We did get the least expensive counter tops. Whatever it is, it will be fine, I’m sure. We have another appointment next Thursday to go back to the showroom and finalize any colors or designs. Also, we have to pick out the color of the counter tops and choose what hardware (handles) we want.
I feel pretty good about this. I like the way I know who is taking care of the ordering, shipping and installation. That is what was making me nervous about the other places. Also, now that I have the designs, I can only fix the portions of the walls that need to be fixed. That is going to save a heck of a lot of time.
I really didn’t plan on doing this today, but I am glad we did. At least things can get ordered and we can have the project done early in the new year.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2007
I had to run down to the tile place today to pick up the extra tile that wasn’t used on the bathroom floor. It was a whole box. I got it and put it in the basement for safe keeping. While I was there, I struck up a conversation with the fine lady about remodeling kitchens (we have to do ours). She gave me a business card for a local kitchen place, right up the road. I noticed a website address on the card, so I gave it a visit. I looked at all the pictures on the website and at the information. I got all motivated and accidentally started ripping up the kitchen floor.

This is the before shot…well, I started a little of the floor.

This is a picture of most of the floor ripped up, before I moved anything around, like the refrigerator or stove.


This is what I got done today. Do you know what this means? Commitment. I really wasn’t planning on starting the kitchen so soon. But then again, I am not sure I planned any project I started here.
As I look at the guts of the whole thing, I am noticing that there really isn’t too much to it. We were planning on keeping things the same way and just updating everything, but now I am thinking that we make an “L” out of it instead of the hallway thing that was going on. The main reason we wanted to keep the same layout was because I didn’t really feel like moving the power source for the stove and we were going to keep the tile on the wall above the counter tops. When I moved the stove, I found the power source actually closer to where the stove would be if we changed the layout. Also, the tile is crap, so it’s coming down.
I can take my time with this project because, unlike the bathroom, we can function in the kitchen while it’s a construction zone. Remember, we are moving in an estimated two years, so we will try to make some less-expensive decisions.
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