The Smorgasbord

You know, over the years I’ve seen lots of crazy stuff for sale on eBay. Maybe I’d seen one haunted baby doll or Jesus in a grilled cheese too many, because I thought I’d seen it all. Then I came across this Slashdot post about a man selling his entire life on eBay. The title intrigued me the most – what does “entire life” mean?

I followed the links, and this BBC article was my first stop explaining that after a recent divorce, his is selling his entire house a contents, which include a house, car, and jet ski. Also included is a shot at his job, introductions to his friends – and just about everything except for the wife he divorced! When it’s all said and done he expects to “walk out the front door with wallet in one hand and passport in the other and to get on the train not knowing where I’m going or what the future holds for me…”

This guy is serious, he has a whole web site that’s he’s been posting to for the last 100 days leading up to his eBay auction, which is now up to $311,000 (Australian). The guy definitely has a bit of an adventurous personality anyway, since he has a jet-ski, motorcycle, car, and he parasails. But I sure don’t know many people who would give up ever single thing they owned, including cameras, computers, all household belongings and just walk out with a check. Can you really put a price on everything single thing you own? I think of people I know who’ve lost everything in a house due to fire, and they will be the first to say that you can’t. I wonder if there’s anything he took out of the house in advance, like really personal items or photos, family memorabilia, etc.

What about you – could you sell your entire life and walk away? Could you put a price on it?

My thoughts on Firefox 3 and Firefox 3 Portable after upgrading and living with them for a few days on several computers.

Were you one of the 11 million people who downloaded Firefox 3 during the first 24 hours it was available? They (tenatively) set the record for the most people downlading a single application within 24 hours. I have to admit – I was one of those people. But I didn’t download it for the guiness book of world records. I did it because (as much as I love Firefox) I wanted the performance improvement.

I’m known for having a dozen or more tabs open, and on a Toshiba notebook running Vista on 2GB of Ram that’s not much of a problem most of the time. However, Firefox 2 has been known to “eat all it can” memory wise. Over time, it gets worse and worse, and sometimes you just have to shut it down and restart the computer. I had read in severa pre-release blog posts Firefox 3 had a smaller footprint, and promised to be quicker when rendering pages. Hmmm…

I first put Firefox 3 on the notebook, and most of my extensions didn’t work – so they were disabled. I just uninstalled them and kept only the compatible ones. Pages do load pretty quick, and opening tabs is faster. The new address (smart location) bar is kinda cool, but takes longer to lookup autocompletes for URL’s and titles – so it’s cool but slower. The one thing I find very annoying is the fact that sometimes when a load heavy page opens, while it’s “loading” the other tabs won’t do anything and FF kinda locks up until that page finishes what it’s doing. Other than that my experience was pretty good.

I work on another PC with is a 2Ghz Celeron with 1.2GB of Ram. On that PC I use a flash drive and run Firefox on Portable Apps. I upgraded that to Portable Apps as well. On this PC I have all kinds of issues with Firefox 3. They are mainly the same issues as my laptop, only it happens more often and Firefox is slower. I can’t open more than 5 tabs without waiting 3-5 seconds for everything, and if two or more tabs are loading anything – FF locks up until it’s done. Also, when using the right scroll or backspace in the URL or any form field, it will freeze for 5-10 seconds, and then be fine. I only have google notebook, del,icio.us, and download statusbar as extensions – everything should function fine. Expecially with 1Gig+ of Ram. I almost wished I hadn’t upgraded that Firefox.

Here’s some firefox 3 reviews of the new features from around the web:

If you’re looking for a visual review of all the new features Mozilla Links has just what you’re looking for. Check it out, it’s a very through Firefox 3 Review. For those of you that like to read, the WinSuperSite has a Firefox 3 Review that’s very (wordy) in depth as well.

How do you like the new Firefox 3?

Here’s something you may not have seen – it’s the “Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card”. Most of us have SD cards lying around because that’s what we store all our precious pictures on in our digital cameras. How many times have you taken pictures, and then waited days (or weeks, or months) before uploading them to your PC or laptop? I can’t count the number of times that I have gotten out the camera and realized that it was full of pictures from a month back. Even worse, that meant fewer pictures I could take – because I couldn’t delete anything off the card yet.

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

Enter the “Eye-Fi”. Inside this flash memory card are some tiny electronics that will astound you. This SD memory card can connect to your WiFi network, without cables, or cradles – or anything! It can automatically upload all your pics to any PC on your network OR even upload them to Flickr, Fotki, Shutterfly, Webshots, Photobucket, Kodak Gallery, Sharpcast, Wal-mart, Snapfish, Phanfare, Picase Web Albums, TypePad, VOX, Smugmug, or Facebook! It can even resize photos before submission if you wish! What an unbelievably handy gadget to have!

This could possibly be one of the coolest gift ideas for just about anyone! Imagine giving this to Mom or Grandma – or anyone that hates having to get the cable or usb adapter out just to transfer the pictures every time!

Eye-Fi Wireless 2GB Secure Digital Memory Card SD
Price: $99.99
Photos should not be trapped in your camera. Set them free effortlessly and wirelessly. The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless SD memory card for your digital camera. It stores pictures like a standard SD memory card, but also uses your home Wi-Fi network to automatically transfer images from inside your camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo or social networking website for sharing or printing. No cables, no cradles, no fuss.

You might be able to find a really good new or used eye-fi in one of these auctions as well:

[nms:eye-fi,5,0,0,smorgas.eyefi]

Is there a google shell, a google command line, or a google operating system?

There is a version of Linux supposedly used within google called Goobuntu, or google on “Ubuntu” linux. Many have speculated for years that google intends to market this, but they have repeatedly denied it. I myself have installed “gOS” which stands for “green OS” – many mistakenly call “google OS” because it such an insanely web based version of linux. Their new catch phrase is “Linux meets MySpace”. I can attest it works well because I replaced relatives Windows XP with this install and they are fine with it. They still don’t understand that they don’t have Windows – and they don’t even know what Linux means. Despite this, they’ve had no problems using their computer for the last year, and I’ve not received one single phone call regarding a virus, trojan, or other crippling PC problems like they used to have.

Get a live preview of gOS here (I’m not sure which version it is):

I found something cool today that calls itself the “unofficial google shell“. Really it’s just an ajax app that allows you to do a cool “command line like” web search. Check it out – I think you’ll really dig it!

The Japanese must be gluttons for punishment today – because I happened along this little jem as well this morning. This guys “Engrish” isn’t so bad I guess, but when he says “dis is wok and woll” – I die laughing! Thanks Banned in Hollywood.

First rule of Japanese Bug Fights – we don’t talk about Japanese Bug Fights. Second rule of Japanese Bug Fights – we don’t talk about Japanese Bug Fights!

I don’t understand sometimes how a culture can be so technologically and educationally advanced – and yet continue to entertain themselves in some of the strangest and most childish ways imaginable. If you must see more – Japanesebugfights.com.

Ever looked for bargains on Craigslist? What if someone listed YOUR stuff on Craigslist – what would you do? I read this story a few weeks back about a cruel Craigslist Prank played on a man in Jacksonville, Oregon. Robert Salisbury is an independent contractor who was gone for the day at the lake. While he was gone – someone placed an ad on Craigslist saying “forced to leave the area suddenly and belongings, including a horse, free for the taking”.

He found out because he was at the lake, and he got a call from a woman who stopped by his house to claim his horse. On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with lawn mowers, weed eaters, ladders and more – and he CONFRONTS them – and they REFUSE to give him his own stuff back! I want you to imagine this scenario for a second, you go away for a nice day at the lake, and come back to find people are basically “ransacking” your home and property. As he pulls into the driveway he finds more than 30 people going through his home and barn. All these people (basically tresspassers) had printouts of the ad they shoved in his face to fend him off.

Apparently he calls the police, and by the time they showed up most of the looters were gone. Everyone who read the ad on Craigslist – just assumed that “because it was on the Internet – it was true”! Unbelievable. This is not the first time I’ve heard of this. Another time, it was reported that a house was to be “torn down” and people came in and took it right down to the studs, including carpet, windows, sinks, toilet, lights, and all fixtures. I believe in that instance it was a couple divorcing and one party was trying to get back at the other before the house was sold.

It is funny how the Internet can be used in this way, but you can use traditional media in the same way. It also goes to show how much now people think that the Internet is just as much of an authority as television, radio, or the local newspaper. Have you ever heard of a story like this? Comment now!

I have become so frustrated by to cost of gasoline in America that day by day I’m out to “find the cheapest gas”. I use the web each and every day from daybreak until bed, so it’s only fitting that I created my own page to find cheap gas. Just click on the tab at the top of any page on this site for a map:

All you have to do is input your zip code at the top to get gas prices in your local area for all listed stations and immediately find out “who has cheap gas” by you!

I commute a lot, and spend a LOT on gas each week. This will help me save money on gas quite a bit I a logon to check the prices every morning before I leave the house. I encourage you to bookmark this page and regularly visit to find the cheapest gas by you too!

Rent Books and Audio books with BooksFree, no late charge, free shipping, it’s basically Netflix for books!

I want to tell you about a new service I recently found, and I don’t know why somebody hadn’t started this company 5 years ago. It’s always cool when a new service comes around that uses the web. Do you have Netflix? Ever used Netflix? It’s the service where they send you DVD’s in the mail (like a rental), and when you’re done watching you slip it into a prepaid envelope and mail it back. No postage costs, quick turnaround on shipments, and you can keep an online queue of moves to be sent next. This is a great way to avoid ever going to the video store again. They also have services like Gamefly to rent video games through the mail like this, and even a few services that rent adult DVD’s this way too.

Well, it only makes sense that someone would invent the very same service for paperback and hardback books. BooksFree is a service that has over 100,000 books available from classics to recently released, and you can signup and have them sent to your home free of shipping charges just like Netflix. It’s like having your own library that you can check out what you want, when you want – without ever having to visit the library.

If you’re looking for the latest novel by Steven King, Michael Crichton, Mary Higgins Clark, or John Grisham – they have them all and more! One bonus feature is – if you’re a commuter (like me) they also have a huge stock of audio books, so if you drive a lot this service is perfect for you! I think it would also make a great gift for any reader – maybe for your Mom or Dad on Mother’s or Father’s day! You can cancel it anytime, and they have plans that start at $9.99 too. I think I’ll get as much use out of BooksFree as I do out of Netflix!

People who believe in Scientology are crazy. They really are. They can slice and dice it any way they want, but there’s no denying the fact that the crux of the religion is the fact that they believe in aliens, and it’s the source of all our troubles today. I find it no small laughing matter that so many celebrities are awash in Scientology because they all live in some kind of fantasy land anyway, and they have to believe in something that crazy just to justify their own life and lifestyle. Recently it was announced that the woman who does the voice for Bart Simpson donated 12 million dollars to her Scientology faith. When I saw this South Park clip below I laughed and laughed because every single shred of it is absolutely true. That’s what makes it so funny – you’d think they made some of that up for the cartoon, but they didn’t, it’s all completely true. After you read the clip, just visit Xenu.net and you will be shocked and amazed what a cult Scientology really is and how many people they have completely brainwashed over the years.