December 2009 Archives
Dec31

LOST DOG IN DELAWARE! UPDATE: FOUND & BACK HOME!

Posted at 1:56 PM • 4 Comments

LOST DOG IN HOCKESSIN, DELAWARE

Stella - LOST DOG! PLEASE HELP!

Stella - LOST DOG! PLEASE HELP!


Old Wilmington Road/Cokesbury Village area of Hockession, Delaware.

  • 1 year old, female Basset Hound
  • Answers to “Stella”
  • No collar (pulled off)
  • Tri color – mostly brown

EMAIL ME AT borg7609[at]gmail[dot]com or get me on Twitter ASAP!

She’s a friend’s dog. Please help!

THANK YOU & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

UPDATE 01/01/2010: Stella has been found! She’ll be back with her family very soon! She was found in Westgate Farms. She crossed Rt. 48 without a scratch (hopefully). The SPCA is supposed to be calling them soon about the dog. Thank you everyone that retweeted my tweets!

UPDATE 01/02/2010: Stella is now back home with her loving family. It took a day because it seems all of the SPCA officers were off for New Year’s Day.

Dec28

More Premium Music for TTR3

Posted at 8:07 PM • No Comments

In case you missed it last week, Tapulous‘ Tap Tap Revenge 3 iPhone app became a FREE app (down from $0.99). It’s still free and Tapulous has doubled the number of Premium music that you can pay, download, and play. Some good stuff too! And they’ll be adding more music too! What’s also good is that all Premium tracks have their own theme.

Here’s a list of the new Premium artists/bands that you can get:
Duran Duran, Motorhead, Lily Allen, Depeche Mode, Papa Roach, George Thorogood, Sublime, The Hives, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Elton John, David Guetta, LCD Soundsystem, Steve Miller Band, Ok Go!, Jackson 5, Spoon, Dashboard Confessional, Smash Mouth, Wolfmother, Evanescence, 30 Seconds To Mars, Fat Boy Slim, Keane, One Republic, Rascal Flatts, Thievery Corporation, War, Lifehouse, Jimmy Eat World, The Temper Trap, Silversun Pickups, Rush, Lady Antebellum, Flyleaf, Ingrid Michaelson, Schwayze, Steppenwolf, The Prodigy, Thriving Ivory, and New Kids On The Block.

TAP TAP REVENGE 3

Also, there’s a new system of achieving levels, in which you unlock awards, weapons, and music, and online features have been added including new weapons, shields and radar. There are still weapon-free rooms for those purists who just want to do skills-based online games.

Achievements have been enhanced with more challenging options rewarded with better prizes. You can also redeem coins in the store for avatar gear, weapons and music.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of new music has been added, including special channels for labels such as Big Sounds International, Black Hole Recordings, Bug Music, Downtown Records, Fearless Music, Nettwerk Records, Quango Records, Rocket Science, Ultra Records. You can download ten tracks for each of those labels, and play in their online rooms.

Tapulous says that they’re aware some people might be annoyed that they’ve spent $0.99 on what’s now a free game however and so it’s handing out special avatars to those players who’ve paid for the game. And it points out such users will be protected from the majority of the in-app ads that the players of the free app will view.

Here is Tapulous’ blog post on this topic.

Info from PocketGamer.co.uk

Dec27

JibJab’s 2009 Year In Review

Posted at 11:49 PM • No Comments

JibJab is back again with their annual Year In Review – “Never a Year Like ’09″.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Dec27

Questions About Gowalla

Posted at 6:41 PM • One Comment

Q. What is Gowalla?
A. Gowalla is, plain and simple, a free virtual geocaching app for the iPhone. Currently there is no Blackberry or Android app for it. If you have an Android device, you can use http://m.gowalla.com in your web browser to play. Gowalla says apps for Blackberry & Android phones are months down the road. It is a shame that it can’t be sooner.

Gowalla Logo

Q. Why should I drop items at spots?
A. When you drop an item, you become one of the ‘founders’ of the spot. Each spot can hold 10 items and can have 10 founders. This allows Gowalla to determine what spots get higher traffic. If a spot gets a lot of traffic it can become a featured spot. Dropping items will also eventually get you new pins.

Q. What’s a pin?
A. A pin is received hen you accomplish certain tasks like, creating a certain number of spots, becoming a founder of a certain number of spots, checking into a certain number of spots, visiting a specific number of specific types of spots. You can also get pins for completing trips. You can see what pins are available here.

Q. What’s a trip?
A. A trip is a collection of spots that have been grouped together by Gowalla. You need to check into each spot on the trip to complete it. You can see the list of current trips from Gowalla’s web site.

Q. How do I know if I “need” items for my vault?
A. Right now, you can either (1) check Gowalla’s web site to see if you need an item or (2) add a link on one of your iPhone’s home screens to http://iphone.gowallatools.com in Mobile Safari on your iPhone (click the + at the bottom to add a bookmark and click “Add to Home Screen” button) and use that to check what items you need in your vault when you’re on the go. (More info on Gowalla Tools can be found at http://gowallatools.com.)

Q. Why do I need to vault items?
A. As you find items you can store them in your vault. Each item is numbered so you can try to find the lowest number of each item, as many items as you can, collect unique items (so just one of each) or you can vault as many as you can. It’s just an element of fun added into Gowalla.

Q. Can I remove items from my vault?
A. At this time, no you can not. WARNING: Once you vault an item (even duplicates), there is no way to remove it. Gowalla has no plans at this time of adding this function.

Why should I swap items? Is there a method/strategy to the swapping?
A. When you check into a spot, you might run across an item that you do not have in your vault sitting in the group of items for that spot (each spot can hold 10 items). If you have an item in your pack (also limited to 10 items) you can swap one item from your pack with an item at that spot you are currently checked into. You gain a new item and hopefully someone that will check into that spot in the future will find an items that they need too.

Q. Why is finding friends so hard?
A. That’s a good question. I have a low number of friends on Gowalla. Feel free to add me as a friend on there.

Q. There are no spots in my area. Why should I use Gowalla?
A. Someone has to be the first. Download the app and start creating spots. If you use Twitter or Facebook, you can have Gowalla update your status on either or both sites to attract more people in your area to start using it.

Q. How do I get more items?
A. You have to check into spots, even ones you’ve checked into before. This is part of the gameplay of Gowalla. So get going.

Q. Someone created a spot and the name is wrong, in the wrong location, or it’s a duplicate. What do I do?
A. Go to http://getsatisfaction.com/gowalla and create a new post. Copy the URL for the spot (from Gowalla’s web site), paste it into your post saying what is wrong with it and the correct info. If the location is wrong, you can use Google Maps to find the correct location. You can also contact the Gowalla Street Team Elite on Twitter or here. Also make sure that you clearly state what you want done. I just had a request that got all fouled up by Gowalla staff and a spot I created 250 miles away got deleted, when it shouldn’t have.

Q. What if a spot that I created is not in the correct location?
A. Log into Gowalla’s web site, go to the Passport tab, click on the item, and under the map there is the Edit button. Click on that and reposition the spot. You can also fix the name, category, and check-in radius. When you’re finished, click the Save button. The position may not update right away, so you may have to give it some time.

Q. Do you work for Gowalla?
A. No I do not work for Gowalla/Alamofire. Nor have I been paid or bribed by them (but I won’t refuse if offered). I am just a big fan of theirs and love Gowalla.

Gowalla Icon

Do you have any other questions about Gowalla? Feel free to ask me either by leaving a comment here or sending me a @reply on Twitter. Maybe I’ll add your question to this post.

Updated on 01/21/2010

Dec25

Oxymorons

Posted at 12:18 PM • No Comments

1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?

4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?

5. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

6. Why does “slow down” and “slow up” mean the same thing?

7. Why does “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing?

8. Why do “tug” boats push their barges?

9. Why do we sing “Take me out to the ball game” when we are already there?

10. Why are they called “stands” when they are made for sitting?

11. Why is it called “after dark” when it really is “after light”?

12. Doesn’t “expecting the unexpected” make the unexpected expected?

13. Why are a “wise man” and a “wise guy” opposites?

14. Why do “overlook” and “oversee” mean opposite things?

15. Why is “phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?

16. If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?

17. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

18. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

19. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?

20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?

21. Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?

22. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?

23. How come abbreviated is such a long word?

24. Why do we wash bath towels? Aren’t we clean when we use them?

25. Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?

27. Christmas – What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

28. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Dec24

Ding Fries Are Done!

Posted at 5:56 PM • No Comments

Dec23

Dilbert Makes it to the iPhone

Posted at 12:38 AM • No Comments

Now you can get your favorite comic strip character on the iPhone! Dilbert Mobile is out now. It’s the official Dilbert iPhone app! Get immediate access your daily Dilbert comic as well as the 20+ year archive of the entire Dilbert collection – all from your iPhone.

Dilbert Mobile features a random button (called “Random Comic”) that will flash you back to hilarious Dilbert comics from the past. You can also pick the date of the comic in Calendar View or by week with Weekly View. Even select your favorites. No matter where you are you can always get your Dilbert fix.

This app is a must for any Dilbert fan. Pick up Dilbert Mobile for $3.99 at the App Store.

Dec21

HBO Has An iPhone App!

Posted at 7:47 PM • No Comments

Do you love HBO and want to know more about their series, movies, sports, documentaries, and more? Then get the new HBO iPhone app!

With HBO’s iPhone app you can:

  • Get the latest from your favorite programming like Big Love®, True Blood®, Entourage® & Curb Your Enthusiasm®; HBO Boxing & HBO Comedy® Specials
  • Watch & share behind-the-scenes videos, upcoming episode previews and bonus content
  • Check the HBO schedule for tonight, or weeks in advance, all based on your own time zone
  • Browse every HBO On Demand® and HBO HD® schedule
  • Purchase your favorite HBO episodes, where available, with direct links into iTunes
  • Get in-depth information on your favorite HBO characters and actors
  • Explore brilliant high-res photo galleries using the iPhone swipe navigation and pinch & zoom technology
  • Easily share photos, show/character info, and schedule showtimes with your friends via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter
  • Play “Hidden Objects” games – and challenge your friends by posting your score on Facebook and Twitter
  • Send SMS tune-in reminders, for your favorite HBO shows, directly to your mobile device

You can get HBO’s iPhone app from FREE from the App Store

Dec21

Tag the World – Sekai Camera

Posted at 7:09 PM • One Comment

Launched September 2009 in Japan, Sekai Camera from Tonchidot Corporation was named the Best App in 2009 by Apple Japan, becoming one of the most popular apps in Japan. Now Sekai Camera has finally come to the United States. With Sekai Camera you can tag places in augmented reality with text, photo, or voice message. Just hold your phone up and see what’s around you or tag places. There are two modes in Sekai Camera and you can easily move back and forth between the by rotating your phone. In landscape mode you are in the “Sekai Camera Mode (Augmented Reality Live View)” and in portrait mode you go into “Sekai Life Mode (Life-stream View)”.

Tonchidot Corporation mentions a few things about their app: their service requires an Internet connection (3G or wi-fi), that you understand your wireless carrier’s data rates, and that you agree that you’re responsible for those charges. I think this is pretty much standard info for most iPhone apps, but maybe it has something to do with stuff in Japan. They also mention that the app works best with wi-fi and they recommend that you keep your wi-fi on.

Features of Sekai Camera:

  • Air Tag: Create and browse location-linked digital Post-its® that float in real space. See and share text, photo, voice, and web-links posted as Air Tags. Send and receive Air Shout messages that fly.
  • Air Filter: Search for the Air Tags that you are looking for by specifying time, distance and type.
  • Air Pocket: Bookmark your favorite Air Tags and put them in your “pocket”.
  • Sekai Life: Create a life-stream that shows how you and your friends have interacted with Sekai Camera in a timeline display.
  • Air Profile: Register and display your own profile as a personalized Air Tag. This virtual name-tag floats right above your iPhone for others to see – look up!
  • Air Tweet: See your Tweets as floating Air Tags, through a mash-up with Twitter.
  • Air Zoom: Just double tap or pinch in/out to zoom in/out.

Sekai Camera was designed for use on iPhone 3GS. You can download the app onto a iPhone 3G, but you won’t get the full set of features from the app. All of that said, you can get Sekai Camera FREE from the App Store.

Now, I’ve tried it out for a bit, but there is no tags around me. I’ll give it a few weeks and see what happens.

Dec18

The Pocket Essential Dr Who

Posted at 4:55 PM • No Comments

David Tennant’s reign as the current Doctor Who is about to end and Matt Smith’s Doctor will take his place. By coincidence or not, there’s a new iPhone app called Dr Who which is the ebook of The Pocket Essential Dr Who by Mark Campbell. You can pick it up at the App Store for $3.99.

Dr Who

Who is Who? A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey with two hearts and 13 lives? A folk hero who entertained and enthralled through dark winter evenings in front of the TV? A rebellious iconoclast who toppled corrupt dictatorships and freed the oppressed? Or a bumbling weirdo who for 26 years fought rubber monsters and homicidal dustbins? The answer: all of the above and a lot more besides. The essential companion to every era of Who, packed with facts, figures, opinion, cross-referencing, essays and, of course, lunatic time-travellers in silly scarves.