Hi-ya Web friends!
Thirty nine years ago today, while home on leave before being shipped off to Southeast Asia, I married a woman who is still my best friend. We look at each other and occasionally just marvel … it’s been that long. Happy anniversary, Deb. You know, the word “Love” is overused in the English language. It needs to be kept for a special time like this.
Here’s some of what I came across on the Web this week …
It’s common knowledge that when you purchase any sort of electronics that the prices will fall some time after your purchase date. Maybe there’s a law for that like Murphy’s Law (that’s the one for things are broken until a repairman shows up, then they just mysteriously work again). It’s still frustrating to spend top dollar for a laptop or smartphone just to find it’s cheaper the next week. Well, Shopobot, a start-up that opened Thursday, tracks the wildly varying prices of consumer electronics and videogames online and shows you best time to purchase to get the best price. How it does it is it crawls the Web sites of 12 retailers, including Amazon.com, Newegg.com and Walmart.com, several times a day or every couple of hours for popular items. It’s free to join and use … http://www.shopobot.com/
Google search users will notice yet another change in the results, as you type in your query. Google Instant Pages shaves another two to five seconds off the time it takes for a web page to load. Now, they not only begin bringing up possible sites you’re looking for as you type, but load those search results faster as you make your decision. And I would rather use Yahoo or Bing because why?
Here’s another thing I noticed using Google search on my Droid this week … the search engine has included icons at the bottom of the search page to categorize local searches before I start. Because my GPS is on, Google uses the information to find shops, restaurants, cheaper gas, and a host of other places around me. Now I can dump a couple of apps I have been using like “Places” which does the exact same thing. And the Google search app is far better than anything I have tried using including Firefox for Droid (slow and clunky) and Bing (who would use that in the first place?). Apple users should note that there’s an app for them and it also works faster than their Safari search engine … way faster. I’m just saying.
Cloud computing has gone mainstream. I already have Google documents through my Gmail account, and use Google Music to store up to 20,000 songs (I have 236 now at last count), but they’re not the only ones jumping on the Cloud. Amazon.com has a Cloud (called cloud because they have dedicated computers to store your stuff). You can store up to 5 gigs of photos, music or documents for free with an account with a pricing structure if you need more space. You have unlimited access to it from any computing device, and know that it will always be there for you when you want it. I have to admit, it takes some getting used to. After all, you are relying on something else to store and keep your stuff (like when you store it on a thumb drive or on CD), but it is the future of computing. Find out more and sign up for Amazon’s Cloud … https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore
===HuMoR===
DID HE JUST SAY THAT?
Voice mail was the man’s sworn enemy. He never really understood how it worked. Finally he broke down and called the office operator to get instructions.
“I can send you an instruction sheet,” the operator offered.
“Great, fax it right over.”
“Sure thing,” the operator replied, “but fax it right back. It’s my only copy.”
(thanks, Robert)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
A torrential rainstorm was knocking down power lines all over town. That meant, as a customer service rep for the electric company, I was dispatching repairmen right and left.
When one lineman called a customer to get her exact address, he was told, “I’m at Post Office Box 99.”
The weary lineman replied, “Ma’am, I’ll be coming to you in a truck, not an envelope.
(thanks, Mary)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
I heard this story on the news some time ago.
Apple had a new computer under development. Their project name for it was “Carl Sagan” (I don’t know why).
When the real Carl Sagan learned about this, he was upset. He demanded that Apple stop using his name, even for their private, internal projects.
Apple agreed. They changed the name of the project to “Butthead Astronomer”.
(thanks, James)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
I went to my doctor yesterday. After a long wait in the outer office, my name was finally called. When I got into the examining room, the nurse pointed to the scale and said, “I need to get your weight today.”
I immediately replied, “One hour and 5 minutes.”
(thanks, Reggie … funny but true)
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That’s the week’s Webwatch, JWL readers. Have a great weekend and as always, may God bless you and keep you safe.
c-ya!
Jim
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