Technopinion

How to get paid for surfing the web

Back in 1999 there was a company called AllAdvantage. They paid people to install a little toolbar in their web browser, which displayed little unobtrusive ads. Then, while you surfed the web, and probably ignored the ads, you earned a share of the money that those advertisers were paying. When tech crashed, AllAdvantage went out of business, but now the concept is reborn as AGLOCO. Sign up with the link below and earn money for doing absolutely nothing but surf the web. Convince others to sign up, and you can earn money for them surfing the web too. Not only that, but you can earn shares in the company. This just launched, the time to get in is now, before the market is saturated and all your contacts have already been referred by someone else.

Microsoft Expression Web Designer Beta Breaks Outlook 2003 Junk Mail Filtering

So I just finished deleting over 100 spam emails from my Outlook inbox that came in since this afternoon, emails that normally should have gone straight to my Junk folder. For some reason, Outlook wasn't filtering the junk. Various disaster scenarios ran through my mind (virus? trojan? email worm?) but a bit of Google research revealed that installing various Office 2007 beta components (of which Microsoft Expression Web Designer is one) seem to disable junk mail filtering in Outlook 2003.

Here's the fix:

Go to your Windows Control Panel from the Start Menu and select Add or Remove Programs. Find the Outlook Junk Email Filter Update in the list of Microsoft Office updates, and remove it. Then go to Microsoft Update and it should auto-detect the latest Junk Email Filter update, which you can then reinstall. Your junk mail filtering should now work again.

Call in Sick In Advance

It will be interesting to see how long this web site lasts. It's a free service that lets you call in sick, in advance. You record a message, tell it what time to make the call (they suggest 5am so that no one will actually answer the phone), and it makes the call for you.

Ok, problem: What happens if your boss is actually there at 5am? It could happen. Busted!

Not to mention the abuse possibilities. You could send a message from a payphone (so that it doesn't have your callerID), and have it send a crank call to anyone you want, at any time. Yeah, that would be against their terms, but you know people are going to

Installing iTunes 7...

Begin rant...

What the hell, man, they can't even be bothered to check if I have an earlier version installed and pick that same directory by default? Move directly to Programming 101, do not pass GO.

And, last time I checked, the year is 2006. Why does the iTunes installer want me to restart my computer after it finishes? That's so 2003. Did they miss the memo? Or is Apple just trying to keep alive that old myth that Windows needs to be restarted with every slight configuration change.

End rant.

Why I hate my iPod

The iPod, while certainly a marvelous piece of technology, instills in me a certain dread every time I use it. Is it the propensity for the click wheel to stop responding for days on end? No. Is it that the battery always seems to be almost dead every time I use it after letting it sit for a few days? No.

What I hate is this: While being amazingly easy to use, the damn thing is just so frickin' frustrating to use!

Sony's Mylo Media Player: WiFi, Skype, Messaging, oh, and it's a media player too

Gizmodo's got a review up of Sony's new Mylo (My Life Online) multipurpose handheld. This thing looks to kick some butt, with not only video, photo and music playback, but a WiFi (wireless network) connection, instant messaging, a keyboard, web browser, and it also works as a wireless Skype phone. Sounds pretty sweet, until you get to the part that says it comes with 1GB of flash memory and a memory stick Pro Duo slot. Wha??! Let's see, I have 18GB of music on my iPod right now. Sony expects you to store video, photos and music in 1GB? Come on. And just when I thought Sony was finally starting to get it.

Share your vacation adventures

TripDiary.com (owned by the same parent company as the host of this blog and built using the same engine) is a new and very cool travel blog hosting service. In about 30 seconds (and that includes the time to register) you can create a "Trip Diary", and then post diary entries for all the cool stuff you did on your vacation.

You can include, of course, photos and even videos if you first upload them to YouTube, but the most interesting feature is the ability to specify on a road or satellite map the exact position of each diary entry. Then, at the top of the page, TripDiary automatically generates an interactive overview map showing all the locations you went to.

TripDiary has various other nice features too - you can "bookmark" other users as "friends", and then you get links to their diaries right from your personalized home page, plus send them instant messages and chat with them. You can also set your diaries (or even individual entries) so that only your "friends" can see them or comment on them.

Who needs wireless? Just plug into the power lines.

Power-line networking has been around for a few years. It has always been a little quirky though, suffering from slow speeds and noise issues. Netgear aims to fix that. They've just announced the launch of their new 200Mbps Powerline HD ethernet adapter. Need ethernet in another room of the house? No problem, just plug a Netgear adapter into the wall outlet and plug in your computer's ethernet jack. No worries about drive-by's and neighbours hacking your WiFi, and no wireless interference issues.

How small can bluetooth go?

Really really small. Witness the new Motorola H5 in-ear microphone and speaker. Yes, it's a headset that fits completely inside your ear. It picks up your voice through your ear canal. To get around the obvious battery limitations of such a small device, Motorola includes a portable charging base to give a total of 7.5 hours of talk time (1.5 hours without the portable charger). And because it's right inside your ear, it eliminates external noise interference. Now if only I had a bluetooth phone...

The Early 80's - The Golden Years for New Computers

How many of the computers in the link below did you own or use? I had 3 of them , the Sinclair ZX-81, the Vic-20, and the Commodore-64. Too bad the list didn't go to the end of the 80s, or I could have added my Amiga 1000.