The Smorgasbord

I never would have thought my pussy cat could tweet with the help of Sony. Social Media is very prevalent in our society, and I personally know people that can’t keep off of facebook long enough to eat and take a dump – and that’s primarily because of their own stupidity (can you say ‘farmville’?). Good lord, who spends all their time that way?! I guess it’s no coincidence that most of ‘em are chain smokers – is it? It must be that “addictive personality”.

I found out that my pussy cat could now tweet in this article: Sony Makes cat lifeblogging device. WTF, a collar for that cat that can tweet 11 things? It has an acceleration sensor that can tell you when the cat is running, walking, eating, sleeping. Are our lives actually that disinteresting that we are self-absorbed into this nonsense? What’s next an underwear tweeter that says my 4 year olds peeing, or one that tweets my grandmother has fallen and can’t get up?

I’d like one that tweets me when I’m wasting too much time please!

How ironic that I would find this video in YouTube (it was recommended to me, lol). Everyone knows how embedded google is in our everyday lives from google maps, to gmail, and more – but watch this video and learn how MUCH MORE google is trying to get into your personal lives (and business!). Did you know they want your DNA and health records?! It probably won’t stop me from using google anymore, but this is a REALLY eye opening video!

This is hilarious – these dudes make a rocket out of bacon! That’s right – a flying model rocket out of bacon (and sausage). Then they test it and see if it can fly! Do you think it works? Watch the video to find out…lol.

I wanted to share with you 3 of the best web sites I’ve seen in 2009. It takes a lot to impress me, I’ve been working online for 15 years now. I visit new web sites every day, and it’s rare that I see something that is what I call a “game changer”. There are so many web sites that do so many things online now – it takes something really revolutionary to actually become “viral”, at which point it usually spreads like wildfire. I think in order to suceed moving forward, a web site would have to actually provide something for visitors that they couldn’t get anywhere else. I think all 3 of these web sites do that.

Fonolo.com

Check out fonolo.com. How many times have you put off calling the cable company, the gas company, the electric company, your credit card company, or some behemoth like gateway, microsoft, or dell simply because you didn’t want to have to go through the “phone system hell”, and you knew you’d be on the phone for at least an hour on hold? Enter Fonolo. Go to the web site, enter the company name, and where you want to connect in their “phone tree”. Enter your phone number. Fonolo will call the company and get connected to that part of their phone system, and then CALL YOU and you can continue the conversation from there! Hells Yea!

Aardvark

Aardvark is a cool service that helps you get answers. You probably think – WTF, there’s alread Yahoo Answers!? No dude, this is REAL TIME! I have to say I rarely use the old IM client, ‘cept for when I have to communicate with someone right away. However, with Aardvark – you just ask a question, and once you have an account seutp they find you an answer like in under a minute. You don’t have to worry about old creepy dudes having your IM info too, because you just accept “aardvark” as a friend, and it relays all the IM’s through it’s handle and everything is anonymous! I asked a WordPress question earlier today and got an answer in 30 seconds. Hells double yea!

Supercook

Supercook is the s**t. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for a site like this? I mean seriously – I love to cook, I love to eat, and not only do I avidly find recipes online, but I publish them online to (on another site). Sometimes I search for hours to find what I want, and new stuff to make. Supercook is the bomb, because you just enter the ingredients you have on hand – and it spits out what you can make with it! I type in beer, hamburger, and onions – and voila – I got a recipe! w00t!

What were your favorite web sites for 2009?

Just about everybody has a Netflix account. Most people get their DVDs in the mail, watch them and send them back, but there is a new way to watch some of the movies instantly. All Netflix subscriptions above the $8.99 include the ability to stream movies instantly. Currently Netflix offers over 19,000 (and counting) available streaming options. For most people sitting at your computer to watch a movie is impractical and downright uncomfortable. Thankfully Netflix knows this and has begun to integrate the ability into many popular consumer electronic devices including these:

Watch Instantly on your PC ($ Price included in Netflix subscription, no extra cost) – This is the throwback way to watch all the Netflix instant watch movies your heart desires. Like I said earlier this can be a very uncomfortable way to watch anything for a long period of time, but if you love your computer chair and have a nice monitor this is the cheapest option available.

Watch Instantly on your Xbox 360 (Starting from $199.99) – The Xbox 360 began offering Netflix instant watch in there Fall 2008 update. Netflix reported over 1 million people had begun and kept their free trial straight from the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was one of the first generally used consumer electronic device to offer Netflix instant watch. One note, to stream Netflix on your xbox 360, it requires Xbox Live Gold which is only 40 dollars a year. Chances are if you bought one for your child they have Xbox Live Gold anyways.

Watch Instantly on your Playstation 3 (Starting from $299.99) – This is one of the newest ways to stream Netflix Instant watch titles. Currently, you need to go to Netflix and request an Instant Streaming Blu-Ray disc (which is free). Every time you want to use Netflix you put the disc in (just like you would a game.)

Watch Instantly on your internet connected Blu-Ray player (Starting from $149.99) – This are becoming more and more popular as each day passes. Some of the players are better than others (as you saw in our review of the Samsung BD-P3600. Do your homework before making a large purchase such as this, because the best Blu-Ray player that streams Netflix is the Playstation 3.

Watch Instantly on your TiVo HD DVR (Starting at $549.99) – I can’t recommend this to someone who doesn’t already own one. It is by far the most expensive option mentioned in this article, not to mention TiVo monthly subscription fee. If you do, however already own one this is your best option to watch Netflix instantly on your television.

As you can see Netflix instant streaming offers many ways to watch on your television, and more options are being created each day. If you already have a Netflix account this is the best way to get more outta your dollars.

We use Netflix nearly every day – I don’t know how we’d do without it. If you don’t already have a Netflix account – I suggest you get one:

46 Days. To some that means nothing, but to millions of Americans 46 Days means they had better get a move on. 46 shopping days left until Christmas seems like a lot that is until you’re buying gifts for people at Walgreens on Christmas Eve. Why not get a move on Christmas a little earlier than usual.

First off I have got the website that might just save you some of the trouble of treading through the masses of people looking for that hot Christmas item, Deal Catcher. I just recently found this site but it is a gem. It crawls the web looking for the best days from the webs greatest shopping sites. You can find deals from 1800flowers all the way to zappos. They also have coupons; all around this website could save you some serious time this holiday shopping season.

Black Friday is a longed for day for the bravest of shoppers but for most it’s dreaded. Even though the deals are fantastic you just can’t seem to drag yourself to fight over a Blu-Ray player with a 60 year old woman who thinks it plays VHS tapes. If you’re like the type I just mentioned then you may just want to skip over these next sites. First is Black Friday Ads is a great site to see adscans of the biggest and best black Friday sales. This site also has a section that showcases the ‘hottest deals’. Next we have Black Friday info is another good site for planning your black Friday escapades. They not only have all the black Friday deals and adscans but they also have deals that other places are offering leading up to black Friday.

One more deal that everyone on the web seems to be talking about is Wal-Mart’s pre-Black Friday sale. Currently the deals run from November 7th to November 13th, even though Wal-Mart has state that how long the sale last is completely dependent on how long supplies last. Right now the big ticket item is an Xbox 360 arcade which is $200 dollars but comes with a 100 dollar Wal-Mart gift card. The gift card can be used in store or on the website so you can see how lots of people are trying to get on the best deal so far this season. A few of the other deals include a Sony Blu-Ray player for 149 dollars and a HP laptop for $298 dollars.

Christmas is approaching and if you follow some of these websites and tips you could save yourself the giant headache this season gives you every year.

I’m sorry – this “homeless and hungry – will work for paypal” pic is so funny I burst out laughing. I mean, really – WTF? Is he going to the library to check his balance at the end of the day?

Has YouTube finally been caught allowing copyrighted content? This post on XBiz made me think so. In the major lawsuit Viacom has against YouTube (in a case that’s dragged on for years now) they saw some online reports how show that YouTube has been exposed as having emails indicating they were ignoring some copyrighted content. YouTube’s case all along has been “there’s so much content we can’t be expected to police it all”. Sure they can’t. As the article also points out, YouTube has always seemed to have the ability to remove adult content with surgical precision within minutes – but they can’t find music videos or the latest clips from Lost or The Tonight show? They can find boobs but not Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

The thing I find funniest about this is what kind of battle this is. Every media company should strike a deal with YouTube and just license that shit for public viewing and be done with it. It’s just pissing match now, because it’s not about “copyrighted content” or “pirated video” at all. It’s about where the videos are shown, and who benefits from it. I mean, the companies partnered with Hulu.com have an “exclusive arrangement” and won’t be allowed to also strike a deal on YouTube.

YouTube because popular because it was viral and anyone could publish WTF they wanted. The most engaging content and funniest shit rose to the top. Now it’s just a site awash in ads and fat kids dancing to Britney Spears hoping to become famous at school when they fall down and break the coffee table to bits. YouTube jumped the shark as the new “Funniest Home Videos” for the web. I hate to say it, these lawsuits may just drag on for years, but you can’t tell me (now) that YouTube (owned by google) will win. YouTube knows what the top searches and pageviews are daily – and they know that allowing people to upload TV and movie clips is wrong – but they’re not going to stop what keeps them successful for the masses. The video of the dog dragging his ass across the carpet to wipe off a poop nugget is funny, but 1,000 times more people will google Lady Gaga’s performance on the last Saturday Night Live episode. Sorry YouTube, we love you (and your content) but you just can’t put your head in the sand anymore and make us believe you can’t find the content (that legally isn’t allowed to be there) and filter it out. Everybody knows what you’re doing…

Watch this Liverpool Street Station Flashmob that’s actual a planned and filmed advertisement T-Mobile. I’m a sucker for these viral web meme’s that make you smile. Can you imagine being someone in the station that day when this unwittingly happenned out of nowhere? There are still advertisements that help sell your product where you’re not really selling anyone anything…just making them smile.

I’ve had a lot of inquiries recently about free iPhone apps, so I wrote this short little post about the top free ones I could find. Top free iPhone Apps

Number : eBay Mobile

Who doesn’t use eBay this days? I mean its a fast, and free way to shop for other people’s crap. Well I now you can do it from your iPhone anywhere, anytime. Now you have no excuse for losing an auction again!

Number : SaveBenjis

With the state of today’s economy everyone is a bargain shopper. With SaveBenjis you can now compare prices of any item where ever you are. Just enter the name of the product and this apps shoots back the prices of the big guys like Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon, but it also shoots back small retailers as well!

Number : Mocha VNC Lite

Now this app is awesome. This free app allows you to control you PC from your iPhone! The setup is easy and it even allows you to control your mouse and keyboard. You might want to only using this one on your home network for security reasons.

Number: Pandora Radio

Its no secret that iPhone lacks an FM Tuner. Its also no secret that most people wish it did. No pandora isnt a radio replacement but it comes pretty damn close and for that reason alone this app had to make the list. The streaming is good over the cell network but this little guy proforms best on wifi.

Number: SportsTap

This is the best sports score app in the app store, hands down. It features up to the minute scores, box scores, transactions, big news, and features 15 different leagues to choice from ranging from baseball to NASCAR. It even using the GPS to show the scores for your hometown teams!

Number: Yelp

Yelp using your current GPS location or a specific city to show to find local businesses. It gives detailed business information like address, phone number, pricing level and user ratings and reviews. The app also allows you to make direct calls by tapping the number for the business!

Number: iProcrastinate Mobile

This task manager makes completing everything on time a breeze. Now if it only did the task for you! There is also a desktop version which syncs with the iPhone version to make sure your always on top of things!

Number: AIM

Never miss an Aol Instant Message again with AIM mobile. This app is just as feature rich as the its desktop counter part and even allows you to send sms messages! Why have a text message plan when this is free!

These aren’t all the free apps available, just a small few of my favorites. Use the comment section to post your favorites!