Why I Don’t GChat
I don’t GChat or IM or Facebook Chat. Unless you give me a really good reason, I probably never will. I have nothing against people who GChat. If that’s how you like to communicate, keep doing it. I’m not here to convince you otherwise. But I feel like I get asked to switch to GChat [...]
Will the Future Be a Dystopia?
Hunger Games fever (not an actual ailment) continues to sweep the nation. If you’re a reader of fiction, you probably know that the demand for not just The Hunger Games, but also all young adult dystopian fiction, has been quite high the past few years (see Matched and Divergent, among many, many others). In fact, I [...]
The Social Aspect of Liking on Facebook
A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about how excited I was to start Liking everything I possibly could via Facebook. I wanted to live in a world where I could Like anything and everything, from moments in time to tangible objects. I was smitten. Today, I’m here to tell you…that I’m still [...]
The Future of Live TV
Think about the last time you watched live TV. I’d bet good money you were watching one of the following types of programming: a sporting event a season finale the news I’m probably missing one or two items for that list, but in general, in a world of DVRs and TiVo and Hulu and Netflix, [...]
iTunes Genius: Not So Smart
Today’s guest entry is brought to you by frequent commenter Brad. If you ever have something really important to say and you’d like to say it on my blog, shoot me an email. “Steve Jobs knew what we wanted before we knew we wanted it.” How many times have you read that in the months [...]
The iPad 3 Is Here: Should You Care?
By the time you read this, Apple will have announced their iPad 3 (or their iPad 2s. Or their iPad 84 if you’re reading this blog 81 years in the future). Should you care? When Apple released the original iPad, I thought it would fail. It seemed like a device that didn’t fill a need–it [...]
Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest
You probably fall into one of two categories: You’ve heard of Pinterest but haven’t signed up, or you’ve signed up for Pinterest and love it. Either way, I have a few things to help you understand Pinterest and use it more effectively. Pinterest is a public online scrapbook for images you find on the internet. [...]
Would You Sneak a Peek?
I was reading about some new variations on daily deal sites today in this month’s Trendwatching. There were a few neat ideas making the rounds: Savored: Pay $10 for a reservation at a nice restaurant through the site, and then get 30% off your meal at that restaurant. No coupons or printouts–you register your credit [...]
You, 50 Years Later
Wired Magazine has a fascinating little snippet of an article in the November issue that discusses the emotional impact of facial aging software: “Most people view themselves as complete strangers, which makes them reluctant to put away money for a later date. But Bailenson and his team discovered that if people view a virtual version [...]
How Do You Keep Track of Ideas?
I am a constant list maker. I have a grocery list, a list short story ideas, novel ideas, screenplay ideas, board game ideas, and website ideas. I have do to lists, Halloween costume lists, if-I-ever-open-a-movie theater lists, movie lists, gift idea lists, and, perhaps most applicable here, blog entry idea lists. For a while now, [...]
Two Brilliant Websites for Photos
Do you ever come across a brilliant, funny, or insightful photo online, and you want to share it with others? I often use Facebook for this, but there is a website called Pinterest that is much better for discovering, sharing, and perusing random photos and pictures. A number of the photos on this site tell [...]
Letters from Netflix and Solutions by Jameyflix
A few months ago, all 25 million Netflix subscribers got a notice saying that in the near future, Netflix would be raising its DVD + streaming video service by 60%. Users could avoid the price hike by choosing to receive only DVDs or only streaming video, but if they wanted both (as they had become [...]
The Top 5 iPhone Games of All Time
Okay, I know this post won’t apply to everyone, but with the new iPhone 5 coming out soon, hopefully it’ll apply to many of you. First, a preamble: I love games. Especially board games. I’m not much into hard-core video games, though. I don’t play World of Warcraft or Halo, and I don’t own any [...]
3 Must-See Websites for Readers and Writers
Amazon Kindle Daily Deals: For quite some time, I’ve wondered why there’s no daily deals site specifically for books. With eBooks, it would be so incredibly easy to discount a book for a day and even cap it at a certain number of buyers if you won’t. However, I’m glad I didn’t pursue the idea [...]
How Do You Discover New Music?
How do you discover new music? I love that there isn’t a perfect system for discovering new bands and artists. Instead, there are a plethora of systems that people can use depending on their tastes and preferences. You have the classic word of mouth in addition to iTunes Genius, Pandora, and YouTube, as well as [...]
How to Win at QuiBids 200% of the Time
Back in February I wrote a post about a penny auction website in my blog entry, How to Win at QuiBids 100% of the Time. Now I’m back with twice as many percentages. The reason for my return is twofold: I will soon run out of the iTunes credits that I won the last time [...]
My Dear Watson
42 years ago, man walked on the moon. People watched, awestruck, one of our own tread softly over truly foreign soil for the first time. On Monday, for the first time ever, people watched something that doesn’t quite seem possible, and yet it is: A computer participated on Jeopardy. I have to say: When I [...]
How to Win at QuiBids 100% of the Time
QuiBids (pronounced “QuiBids”) is a site similar to BigDeal, which I recently wrote about on the blog. It’s like eBay, except every time you bid on an item, it costs you $0.60. Each auction has a clock ticking towards zero–you can put 10 or 15 seconds on the clock by bidding. If the clock reaches [...]
How to Make $10,501 Off a Single iPad
I have to say, I’m smitten with BigDeal.com (and similar site QuiBids.com). I haven’t even placed a bid there yet, and yet I’m entranced by the homepage, the concept, the copy, everything. And I’m a little jealous I didn’t think of it. BigDeal is an auction site along the same lines of the controversial Swoopo.com. [...]
Pet Please #39: The Like Button
The greatest innovation of 2010 is the Facebook Like button. Seriously. I think we’re only beginning to understand the potential for the Like button. Facebook had vulnerabilities before incorporating this button into their system (first on status updates and apps, then on everything, even individual comments on photos and status updates). But not now. It’s [...]
The ABCs of the Stegmaier Web Experience
In Google Chrome, when you start to type into the address bar, the sites you most often visit appear on a drop down list. As embarrassing as some of these might be, I’m going to type each letter of the alphabet into the search bar to see what pops up, and I’ll type the results [...]
How to Add 29 Minutes to Your Day…Every Day*
Do you have 10 seconds today that’ll save you a ton of time right away? Sign up for blog feeds in Google Reader. What is a feed? A feed, or RSS is a way to receive web content whenever that content is updated. It’s like the difference between walking down the street to the newsstand [...]
The Future of the Condo
This weekend I spent some time thinking about the future of the condo. Specifically, my condo. I’m interested in making my condo a “smart home,” one of those homes that Microsoft predicted we’d all have by now to dock our flying cars into. So I dreamed big this weekend. I don’t have a background in [...]
The Future of the Fridge
My parents were in town for the wedding this weekend, and they commented on how little food I have in my fridge and pantry. This is by design, of course. I try to only buy what I need for that week. I don’t like to accumulate food that I’m not using. When I temporarily moved [...]
