The Most Bittersweet E-Mail I’ve Ever Written…and So Can You
If you have a Gmail account, prepare to write the most surreal, bittersweet e-mail ever. Yesterday I learned that Google has set up something called an “Inactive Account Manager.” Basically, if your Google account (not just Gmail) isn’t used for a certain period of time, Google will declare the account to be “inactive.” Sometimes this [...]
Podcast Me
Sometimes I’m in awe of the quality and quantity of educational content available at our fingertips. YouTube, Coursera, Khan Academy, Wikipedia, blogs, podcasts…some say that we’re less connected to one another in this digital age, but we sure have the potential to be more educated. With my focus on board games over the last 6 [...]
Memento Would Have Been Different with Memoto
Have you ever been sitting around the break room table with coworkers or out at a restaurant with friends, and this perfect moment happens that you wish you could have captured, but it’s too late? Have you ever wanted to put away your camera on a trip and just experience everything, but still have photos [...]
Can You Meet Your Match at the Pool?
Due to the all-consuming nature of the Kickstarter project I recently ran, I’ve had zero time for dating lately. However, I still get e-mails from the various sites I’ve used over the past few years. One of the more interesting matchmaking (note that I didnt’ say “dating”–I’ll get to that in a minute) websites is [...]
The Future of Trash Cans
I bet you never thought you’d see that headline on the blog, did you? Up until now, trash cans have been stationary monoliths sitting in the corners of our rooms, their gaping mouths waiting for us to launch trash into them. Sometimes you hit the trash can, but other times you miss, and you end up crawling [...]
My Most-Used iPhone Apps
Those of you who have smart phones might relate to this: Sometimes you don’t realize that you’re consistently accessing hard-to reach apps until you become annoyed that you’re scrolling three screens to the right and looking in a subfolder for the app every time. I wish there were a way that you could sort apps [...]
The Future of the Phone
Over 4 years ago on this blog, I wrote the following about receiving a phone call when you’re already on the phone: Nine times out of ten, all I want to say to that person is, “I’m on the phone—I’ll call you back in a few minutest.” So why is there not a button on [...]
Real World: Mars
A few days ago, one of the topics on the blog was trashy reality TV. By coincidence, on the day before that, it was announced that a company is planning the first manned mission to Mars…using the platform of reality TV. Let’s just say this merits a blog entry of it’s own. You can read [...]
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. [...]
Some Commercials Still Work
Some commercials still work. Kinda. When I say they “work,” I mean that I don’t fast forward by them. I mean that I actually watch some commercials. Because they’re entertaining. Because they move me. Because they make me feel something–pride, joy, nostalgia. Something. Do they make me want to buy products? Hardly ever. Although I [...]
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 [...]
