Manage your stocks with stockwrap

Stockwrap Express Charts is an application designed for stock traders. It provides real time data from stock exchanges in the US and Canada, as well as live news. If you trade stocks and would like to check out stockwrap, sign up and become an Ayamae StockWrap Member and you can download the free version right away. There is also a paid version in addition to the free, ad-supported version. Both have lots of bells and whistles which help you manage your stocks. Both are Windows-only at the moment, but a Mac version is on the way. You can check out some of the screens from the application, which is still in beta.

Go Gators

I was pretty shocked that USC couldn't beat UCLA, but the UCLA defense was outstanding and shut down USC's offense, especially their running game. If Florida beats Arkansas, I think they have a good chance to get to the title game. Not because they are better than Michigan, but just because most people won't want to see another Ohio State vs. Michigan game. With the Gators beating Arkansas 38-28, I think they have a pretty good case even though they have not looked too strong the past few weeks. I still think USC is a better team, but you have to give it to Michigan or Florida. If Michigan gets the title game and beats Ohio State, then who is number 1? I don't think it should be Michigan.

Temecula library opening soon?

Progress on the new library in Temecula seems to be coming along. I noticed today that the sign is up and most of the exterior looks done. I don't know if they have any books in there, or where the books will come from, or how long it will take to organize all the books, but maybe it will actually open this year. That's what the city's web page about the library says. It also points out that the library will have close to 100 computers. It's a short walk from my house, so I hope to use the new library -- I have never used the existing library although I went inside once.

Lifehacker book preview

Lifehacker has a book coming out soon and they are running some excerpts on the site. Today's is from Chapter 2: Firewall Your Attention. I like the technology analogy there because using a computer all day has way too many distractions available. This chapters gives some tips and practical things you can do to keep yourself focused on what you need to get done. There are links to software and recommendations on sites to stay off during the day. I'm staying away from that one myself so I don't even know about those really distracting sites.

David Allen interview podcast

Merlin Mann posted his full 8 part series interview with GTD guy David Allen earlier this week. I have listened to about half of it and I found it pretty interesting. David Allen gets right to the point and Merlin Mann is a bit of a character, so they make a good pair. The file is available in mp3 and m4a formats.

Technology bites back

It hasn't been a good day with technology. In the morning, I couldn't help my sons print their homework and ended up writing out a note to each of their teachers explaining that I had a computer problem and they would turn in the work tomorrow. Of course, five minutes after they went to school, everything printed. Then I worked on my presentation for a meeting this afternoon for a couple of hours, saved it and then copied it to my hard drive which I took to work. When I got there, no files had been copied and I had to re-create the presentation in about 20 minutes. I tried to call my wife and have her email it to me from home, but she had turned off her phone. So much for cell phones. Finally, I got an email from the Vizio tech support about my TV image problems. The guy said it was probably my Dish HD box and that I might not even be getting an HD signal. Nice try, but that's not the problem. It's the TV and I'm going to return it. It's always an easy out to blame the other guy for your problem.

Check out KidsFirst first for your kids

If you have kids, you know that there are always things you need for them as well as things they want, and it can require trips to various stores to find those things, to say nothing of trying to find them at a good price. KidsFirstInternet is a one stop shopping center for anything kid-related, from kids toys to bedding to shoes, furniture and more. If there's a product for kids, they can help you find it. Right now, they are tracking more than 300,000 products from more than 400 stores. KidsFirstInternet does the comparison shopping for you, saving you time and money. Looking for a rug? Check out their list. They've got a clearance section and a what's new area, so if you need to save a little more money or you want the latest and greatest, KidsFirstInternet can help you out.

Re-do the training

I thought some more about the day long PowerPoint festival/new employee training event I attended this week. I think it would be more cost effective to cut it down to half a day. Record the presenters on video and give everyone a CD or DVD they can watch. Use the first hour and a half to take care of the team building activities and covering the key stuff everyone needs to know. Then take the group on a walking tour of campus with a good leader who tells you the history of things and have people create something or do some other hands on activity.

Who is Steve Wozniak

I met Steve Wozniak once and spoke to him after a presentation I made when I was working for Apple. He's an interesting guy who likes to pull pranks, among other things. At yesterday's staff orientation, there was a game where people had the name of a famous UC graduate on their back and other people gave hints so they could figure out who the person was. Someone had Steve Wozniak, and I gave her all kinds of hints but she never got it. "First name is Steve, last name isn't Jobs, and he created the personal computer". "Wrote a book about himself called iWoz". "Has a big collection of Segways." Those didn't do the job. I guess she may have been a little too young to remember the Apple II.

Track your child's MySpace use

MySpace is supposed to have a 13 year old age requirement, but most people are aware that kids much younger can easily get around that by checking a box and adding a few years to their birthday. Around one third of the 10 year olds in my son's class last year had MySpace accounts and in many cases, their parents have no idea. While some of the hype about the dangers of MySpace and other sites like it is overblown, there are some definite concerns and parents need to be aware of what their child is doing on MySpace and online in general, and who they are interacting with. Many people online aren't who they pretend to be, and many kids can easily be duped. Myspace tracking is one way to keep tabs on your child's use of MySpace. With SpectorPro 6.0, you can log all the activity your child has online -- keystrokes, websites visited, emails, and chats. The software costs $99.95 and has won a couple of PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards for recording computer activity. You can install it and use it without anyone's knowledge of it, or you can say upfront that you are concerned about some of the online predators who might be out there and let your child know that you will be tracking what they do online. Either way, using SpectorPro 6.0 can give you some peace of mind and keep your child safe online. The software isn't limited to tracking MySpace use -- it will capture everything that goes on.

It didn't work too well for Napster

Napster wasn't able to successfully switch from a free for all download system to one where people paid to download. Not many of the paid systems do much business anyway, but the ones which start out with no rules and try to change run into a culture problem. BitTorrent is the next one which will experience that as they try to partner with some of the desparate movie studios to offer paid downloads of movies. So while some people are going to download the latest James Bond for free, another group will use the same service to pay for the same movie. Probably not going to happen.

But at least that idea isn't as ridiculous as WalMart's buy a DVD and then pay more to get a copy for your video device or computer. I don't see that being too popular either. Who wants to pay twice or three times for the same content?

Check out the Southwest Inn in Sedona

Sedona is a place I have not visited but have read lots about. I think it's kind of a new age resort area with lots of spas and nature-oriented things to do. They even have had the Digital Storytelling Festival there in the past. Well, the The Southwest Inn at Sedona (Voted Sedona's Best) is a great place to stay if you go to Sedona. It's a small luxury hotel and bed and breakfast. They emphasize customer service and it's been voted the best place to stay in Sedona three years in a row. Free 800 calls and the whole place is non-smoking, plus each room has a 25" TV, DVD/CD players, refrigerators, free high speed wireless internet access and "Sedona Dream" pillow top mattresses plus coffee makers and 2 telephones. You may never need to leave the room. Each room includes a deluxe continental breakfast and the property has a pool and spa. It sounds great.

Web Desktop

LifeHacker points to WebDesktop today. It's an interesting application that puts a web page on your desktop. You can interact with it, but you can also set a refresh rate. So if you are monitoring a site which changes often but doesn't autoupdate, you can set it to refresh every minute or 3 minutes or whatever and never miss anything. Combine that with a screen capture every time and you have a record of all changes...

Get mileage by shopping

My wife puts a lot of mileage on the car on trips to various malls and department stores, but she doesn't get any kind of mileage rewards in the process. Now you can get airline miles just by shopping, and you don't even have to leave home. Just buy through shop4miles.com and earn free frequent flyer miles. Right now you can get Delta, US Airways, and Alaska Airlines miles just by shopping. My wife could earn a free trip someplace in about a month doing this! Plus, the site is a comparison shopping site, so you'll save money at the same time you are earning those miles.

Buyer's remorse

Last week I bought DevonThink Professional using the 30% off coupon from 43 Folders. I haven't even unpacked it yet and today I got an email asking if I want to spend $60 to upgrade to DevonThink Professional Office for $60 more... Maybe that's why it was 30% off.

Get your vitamins

Eating right is an important part of maintaining good health. Even when you eat right, you may not be getting enough of some important vitamins and minerals. Stress can also affect what your body needs, and vitamins and mineral supplements may be helpful. N101 Nutrition has a wide selection of supplements, herbs and natural beauty products. They carry name brands like Nature's Way, TwinLab, Avalon Organics and more, all at good prices. They offer volume discounts and free shipping on many items. Check out N101 for the best brands in natural skin care, beauty, vitamins, supplements and sports nutrition. Whether you are looking for protein powder, vitamin C, or green tea, N101 has what you need.

Andy Ihnatko doesn't care for the Zune

Andy Ihnatko's Zune review in the Chicago Sun Times is a little negative. Andy is a Mac guy, but he's pretty reasonable about things most of the time. He sure doesn't like the Zune.

You'll find that the Zune Planet orbits the music industry's Bizarro World, where users aren't allowed to do anything that isn't in the industry's direct interests.

Take the Zune's one unique and potentially ginchy feature: Wi-Fi. You see this printed on the box and you immediately think "Cool. So I can sync files from my desktop library without having to plug in a USB cable, right? Maybe even download new content directly to the device from the Internet?"

Typical, selfish user: How does your convenience help make money for Universal? No wonder Doug despises you.

No, the Zune's sole wireless feature is "squirting" -- I know, I know, it's Microsoft's term, not mine -- music and pictures to any other Zune device within direct Wi-Fi range. Even if the track is inherently free (like a podcast) the Zune wraps it in a DRM scheme that causes the track to self-destruct after three days or three plays, whichever comes first.

After that, it's nothing more than a bookmark for purchasing the track in the Zune Marketplace. It amounts to nothing more than free advertising.

The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure. Toshiba's Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune's limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

If you really want to hear what Andy thinks, check out the recent MacNotables podcast, where he joins in with Adam Engst to rip the Zune. Very funny. I think the Zune really does show how Apple is more focused on the user than Microsoft when it comes to designing products.

HP Digital Cameras are great for schools

I really like to take pictures and I think the digital camera is probably the greatest gadget to come along in many years. The only thing better is a digital camera and a printer to print out the photos. Although I've never owned an HP digital camera myself, I have bought a couple of them for other people and smuggled them through customs in Jamaica to get them to my friends. It's hard to buy stuff like that in Jamaica... The HP cameras have a solid feel to them and take great photos. I used to have a neighbor who worked on HP's printers and he told me many times about how good their cameras were getting, and he was right.

If I had an HP digital camera and printer, I would take them to the local elementary school and teach students how to use them and help the students with a digital photography project for the rest of this school year. We would document what's going on at the school and on field trips, and incorporate the photos into a digital yearbook and use some of them to create digital stories with voice narration by the students. I would do my best to see that all students had a chance to use the camera -- around 300 students. We could use the printer to print some photos and put them up around the school and we'll put the digital stories onto a DVD and make them available to parents. I think a project like this would really show that not only can you take some great pictures with a digital camera, there are some great things you can do with the pictures!

This post was brought to you by HP

Florida won't be national champs in two sports

Not at the same time, anyway, and not in football and basketball, which would have been quite an accomplishment. After watching the Gators beat FSU and USC take care of Notre Dame, I don't think there is much of a comparison between the two schools. Florida's offense looks weak compared to USC and USC has a better defense also. Florida is not beating up on some of the weak teams, like FSU this year while USC has handled some excellent teams with no problem. It's clear that USC should be #2. Whether they can beat Ohio State is a different question, but Pete Carroll is an outstanding coach and I wouldn't bet against him.

Adopt an Alien

Who knows what happend with that flying saucer that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico a long time ago? I'm pretty sure that's not the source for the Alien Adoption kit from alienadoptionworld. With the kit and some free time, you can grow your own aliens, right in your home. They even have the elongated heads and large eyes which are commonplace among aliens who have been seen on Earth. This could be a fun toy for the UFOlogist on your holiday shopping list, or maybe for a lonely neighbor who doesn't quite fit in.


For $39.95 you get two alien creatures who you raise from powder up to full size. They have a chip for a brain and you can help them communicate with the website. I don't think this increases your chances of being visited by other aliens, but I guess you won't know until you try it out. Hours of fun is ahead with your own personal aliens. Buy a couple and share one with a friend, or keep both and see if they can get along. You won't be able to claim them as dependents on your income taxes, but if you need a couple of roommates who can really control, this may be the way to go.

Kids growing up faster

SFGate says that 10 is the new 15...and that kids who are 8-12 are doing things previously done mainly by teenagers.

Zach Plante is close with his parents — he plays baseball with them and, on weekends, helps with work in the small vineyard they keep at their northern California home. Lately, though, his parents have begun to notice subtle changes in their son. Among other things, he's announced that he wants to grow his hair longer — and sometimes greets his father with "Yo, Dad!"

Sounds almost exactly like my son, who is also 10, like Zach. He's already got the long hair.

In some ways, it's simply part of a kid's natural journey toward independence. But child development experts say that physical and behavioral changes that would have been typical of teenagers decades ago are now common among "tweens" — kids ages 8 to 12.

What happens when these kids get to 13 and older? In many cases, it just comes down to what the parents will allow and how far the kids push it. Considering the influence of peer groups, there is only so much you can do as a parent, but unless there are some limits, you will have problems.

Wedding invitations the easy way

Weddings can be complicated, with dresses, tuxedos, photographers, videographers, menus, music and more to worry about. One thing you can take care of easily are wedding shower invitations and invitations to the wedding itself. The Weddingneeds site can help you find the invitations you need easily. They've got several hundred kinds of wedding invitations to choose from. Photo Fabulous, at $269 for 100 invitations, looks like a nice one to me. The bridal shower invitations look great, too, and there are many styles available. Whether you need thank you notes, invitations, or direction cards, the Weddingneeds site has it!

Raiders find a way to lose

The Raiders were looking pretty good against the Chargers today and I thought they might pull off an upset. However, as they have done many times, they managed to self destruct and blow it in the fourth quarter. Their defense was good but spent too much time on the field in the second half and probably wore down. The Chargers didn't look as good as the past few weeks but they made the big plays when they needed them and that was the difference.