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I don't know about you, but I don't think this is cute. I think it's a little bit on the creepy side. I hate it when people use kids to market something that has nothing really to do with them. Like political commercials that have kids singing about a candidate. They don't really know what is going on, they don't have their own opinion about the candidate. In the same way these kids are not saying the know have researched the options and they like Bing best. Microsoft showed up at their school with camera s and t-shirts. Anyways I thought this was a poor example of viral marketing video.
The only thing smart about the video is the fact that Microsoft is going after kids in the first place. Get them while they are young. Put little Microsoft shirts on them and convince them that they love Bing and Microsoft Office. It's a smart idea, make it so that's all they know and love. Plus the young generation doesn't know about all the problems that Microsoft has had in the past. It's like a new beginning, a chance to start anew in a new generation of end users who don't know any better.
I'm sorry did that come off a little angry? Well the video is a bit creepy anyway. Right?
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I thought this was pretty interesting a company at a German trade show released flies that had little banner advertisements attached to them. Like they were little miniature planes at the beach or something. I think it's an interesting idea and definitely will get people doing a double take.
I was reading some of the comments on the Youtube page and people were saying they thought it was cruel to the flies. Since when do people care about flies? That and one guy pointed out they can carry 5 times their body weight so I think they can handle the little slip of paper.
VIA Geekologie
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Voice Mac is a native Google Voice application for the Mac OS. It is not an adobe air application like this one, and has integration with your Mac address book. It has a searchable and filterable list of contacts either from Google Voice or from your Mac Address Book. You can choose any of your contacts to call and you can choose which phone you want to ring. You can also SMS with your contacts and the conversation shows up in a little ichat/IM bubble like conversation. You can even use a reverse lookup feature that has Google map integration so you can find out where those unknown numbers are coming from.
I like this little program it come complete with dock badges and Growl notifications. It has it's own interface unlike the Air application that looks like a miniature version of the Google Voice Website.
Voice Mac VIA Lifehacker
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For the longest time when you search for a band or a song you might get a band homepage, lyric websites, or some youtube results. Now that Google has teamed up with website like iLike, Imeem, Rhapsody, pandora, and Lala you can find songs and play them without leaving googles search window. You can also go to the band's page on the different services like imeem and Rhapsody by following the links under the listing.
Google is setup to find artists, Songs, and even songs with the specific lyrics you typed it. It's a handy way to find music but is the feature really that great? I feel that Google should have done this a long time ago. It seems like a very simple solution to people searching for music.
The feature is currently available but is rolling out slowly and should be available everywhere sometime later today. If you want to try it out you can go to Google.com/music and do a search.
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Budget Bytes is a blog that shows you recipes that you can make on a tight budget and gives you the breakdown of the cost per serving. With the economy looking a little wonky it's not a bad idea to learn how to cook for less, portion your meals and save some money.
It seems that is exactly what Beth, the blog author, does at Budget Bytes. There are some great blog around if people would just take the time to read and appreciate them. The website gives you a rundown of what a stocked kitchen should have in it, and a little bit about how the Prices and portioning works.
Check it out for yourself!
Via Lifehacker
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Google Voice is now offering to handle your voicemail without having to change your number. You can get all the same voicemail features as Google Voice but you don't have to change your number. The voicemails can still be transcribed and sent to your email or sent via SMS. You can record custom voicemail messages for your different contact groups so people get a custom message just for them or the group.
This is a great way to get around crappy cell phone voicemail systems. If you don't have a robust voicemail system for your cell phone this would be a great option. If you don't have a Google Voice account you can request one here. If you know someone that has Google Voice ask them for an invite Google has given some GV users 3 invites to send out. You can also watch twitter for invites. I have discovered if you want an invite to a service watch twitter terms and wait for someone to mention they have invites to send out.
If you want to use Google Voice with your own number you have to choose it when you register a new account. I don't think you can switch your number from one type of account to another. You have to make that decision when you make an account. Here is a graph of all the feature you can still use when using your own number.
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I think everyone has seen those pictures on Facebook or Myspace where someone took a picture of a friend and put the face onto some famous person's body. You know the “Hole-in-Face” type of photo. Well I have discovered another website that does the same thing but much better.
Seenow.com does the same basic thing but will automatically blend the edges of the face and put filters on to make it look a little less fake. You can actually create some really fun and interesting pictures of yourself or a friend and then post them to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or your other favorite social media site.
It's a quick and easy way to embarrass yourself and your friends for free. Or it's a quick way to deface famous people or express your dislike for political party members, like Joe Biden for example ;).
Seenow.com VIA Crunchgear
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So with all the new stuff that Apple came out with yesterday one of the little items was a new and redesigned Apple Remote. The Apple Remote is packaged with new imacs so you can control frontrow a media center application that allows you to watch movies, view pictures, listen to music, and other media on your computer.
The first generation remote was just a little white plastic remote that stuck to the side of the computer. It worked but didn't have a great range and the buttons were always a little wonky. The new remote is longer to fit in your whole hand rather than just your fingers. It has a new aluminum build which is much nicer than plastic. They moved the play/pause button down with the menu button and I assume made the center button a enter/select button. The remote can control your Mac, your Apple TV, and the ipod Dock. It can control any of these devices that were made after 2005 when they added the IR receivers into their products. I like the new remote too bad it doesn't match my iMac now. Man I wish I had the new iMac!
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Apple just released a new mouse called the Magic Mouse and I have to say I am intrigued by it. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate the Might Mouse. I think it's the worse mouse ever, and is not worth $60 it's not worth $6 even. The new Magic Mouse has a stupid name in my opinion sounds like a Leap frog accessor or something, but I have to say it looks cool and the features are pretty cool.
The Magic Mouse has a touch top that allows you to click normally and scroll just by moving your finger across the top of the mouse. You can even do a two finger scroll which can switch windows or photos and iPhoto. There is a right click in the top right on the mouse which never worked well on the Mighty Mouse. I hope they get the right click right in the Magic Mouse. I want the right click to work the first time not the second or third time I try it.
I am not holding my breath that this mouse is going to be that much better than the Might Mouse but lets hope it is. At least there is not a scroll ball to get gummed up and stop working.
Update October 21, 200912:32 PM
Okay so I read what some other people have said about the Magic Mouse and people are saying that it's a pretty good mouse. They say the left and right click works well and that the touch top is natural and works well. According to Gizmodo however the mouse is not as ergonomic as Logitech mouses tend to be. I can believe that and it seems it might do if your computer comes with a Magic Mouse but I wouldn't spend the $69.99 for it alone. It will be shipping form the Apple store in Late October as a individual accessory.