Steve Hart's Blog » Tech

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

stevekhart — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:02:20 +0000

Here’s a few gift ideas for Dad’s…

CIGAR ASHTRAY BLACK WOOD AND STEEL GREAT GIFT

$13.99

BRAND NEW WOOD AND STEEL CIGAR ASHTRAY!

1″ wide by 4″ long

Great gift

Inexpensive

Blazer Chief II Cigar Lighter with Snap-In Cigar Cutter – Chrome

$45.00

Introducing the new Blazer Chief II with snap-in cigar cutter! A smooth and sleek outer casing houses two essential tools that are a must have for every cigar aficionado; a powerful blue flame lighter and a precision engineered Japanese stainless steel cigar cutter. Slide the ridge ignition dial downwards to activate the automatic flip-top and release the butane blue torch flame. A simple push on the cutter instantly pops it from the main portion of the lighter. Pull the Blazer logo on the handle to

open the sharp & stylish Japanese steel cigar cutter. Locks easily back into place with an audible snap. No more looking for your cigar cutter. Each chrome bodied Chief II is accented at the sides in a choice of 4 finishes; Misty Black, Misty Blue, Solid Chrome and Solid Black. Attractively packaged in a stylish black case, The Chief II is ready for immediate gift giving. Sharp, sleek, stylish and multi-functional, The Chief II will quickly take the place of your favorite lighter as well as old cigar cutter!

Cigar Caddy 3540- 15 Cigars

$18.98

Cigar Caddy 3540- 15 Cigars Outdoor Travel Humidor.

A perfect gift for cigar travel. Sturdy humidified case means your cigars travel with care.

Perfecto 3-cigar Case

$10.95

Telescopes to fit 3 cigars up to 8 inches long and 50 ring

Made with crush-proof ABS plastic

Built-in humidification device

Audi R8 - $$ Priceless $$

Personalize Google.com with your own background image

stevekhart — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:07:13 +0000

Google just released a small but fun feature that allows you to personalize your Google experience. You can now choose from a selection of photos, or upload your own, as the background image on www.google.com. Every time you come back to Google, your selected image will display as the background.

How do I set my background? After going to www.google.com, wait a moment (or two) for the “Change your background image” link to appear in the bottom left hand corner of the google site. Click the link and follow the directions.

Put a picture of the kids or your favorite vacation photo up. It will make Google searching much more personal.

SEO Inbound Link Building – Tynt.com

stevekhart — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:51:06 +0000

I came across this great new feature while ‘copy and pasting’ content from a website into an email. I kept getting an additional line reading ‘Read more: www…’. I tried it twice and then a third time before realizing this attribution link was being added by the website.

www.Tynt.com has create a script based tool that will insert the attribution link into any text that is copied and pasted from your site. They will track all the cut and paste activity and provide a report via your account page. The report can be emailed to you weekly. Best thing of all, it’s FREE!

From Tynt… ‘Now with Insight, put your customer’s copy behavior to work for you. Each time reader’s copy and paste content, our attribution link goes with it, thereby generating hundreds of quality organic backlinks that enhance your search ranking. Where else can you generate links for free?’

The ‘Read More’ is a great example of the inserted attribution link from the content I copied and pasted from their website.

www.tynt.com claims that their tool will increase Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings through increased inbound links. Their websites reads that an average newspaper site can increase their monthly traffic by 8k to 10K.

Give it a try on this (stevekhart.com) site. Copy some text from this post and paste it into an email. Send it to a friend.

Who is Reading My Status Reports? – TrackMyCV.com

stevekhart — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:29:09 +0000

With most email clients you can request confirmation that an email has been opened (not read, just opened). I was wondering if there was a way to track whether a Microsoft (MS) Word document could be tracked to see who was opening it. Each week I diligently send out my status report. It goes to over 20 email recipients. All members of my team and key management individuals. I could never tell if anyone was reading my status unless they sent me a question directly relating to my status report.

Now there’s a way! www.trackmycv.com.

TrackMyCV is intended for job hunters who want to know if their resumes are being read by people they are sending it to. Best of all, it’s FREE!

How does it work? Well, After registering, they generate a tiny invisible image (1 pixel X 1 pixel) for you
to insert into your MS Word document. Take great care in following the instruction on the site on how to link to this image. Save your document and send it out. Each time you document is opened, that tiny image is referenced. and for each reference, TrackMyCV.com gathers information about where that image is being linked from.

As you can see from my tracking image, my status report was only opened 8 times. Once in Colorado, and 7 times in Orange County, CA. While it won’t tell me who the person is, it does give me their IP address info.

Here’s what you get after an easy sign-up:

See how often your CV is viewed

Find out where people are reading it

Track which recruiters are working hardest for you

Split test different versions of your CV

Supports all common document formats

Get updates via email and RSS

Italian Judge Convicts 3 Google Employees Over Video

stevekhart — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:25:41 +0000

According to Google’s blog, three of their employees have been convicted in a Italian court for failure to comply with the Italian privacy code.

In 2006, a video was posted on ‘Google Video’ showing a group of student bullying an autistic student (horrible!) at an Italian school. Google quickly took the video down and worked with local Italian authorities to apprehend the suspects.

A public prosecutor in Milan chose to charge 4 google employees for violating Italy’s privacy code. These employees had nothing to do with the video. They weren’t in it. They didn’t upload it. None of them had seen the video before the charges were brought up.

Today (2/24), the judge found three of the Google employees guilty.

Why is this important? Because Italy has set the precedent that employees of a content sharing company can be held liable for their users content. This includes the likes of WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, and other social media sharing giants.

Skype Calls Using Verizon Network

stevekhart — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:21:33 +0000

This is a huge announcement and possibly the biggest game changer in the wireless arena for 2010. Verizon announce today that starting in March of 201o, Verizon Wireless will allow Skpye Internet calls on their network. ”Verizon Smartphone users with data plans will enjoy free and unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls to anyone on the planet. And you’ll enjoy amazingly cheap Skype International calls as well. All this from Verizon Wireless’ 3G network” says Rob Jackson at phandroid.com.

If all goes well, a data plan only smartphone could make Skype calls without Verizon’s wireless phone service. This Voice Over IP (VoIP) service could change wireless plans and the overall cost of phone service.

We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out with the other major service providers like AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. But for now it looks promising.

From Skype’s website:

BARCELONA, SPAIN; BASKING RIDGE, NJ, UNITED STATES; AND LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG — At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March. The new Skype mobile™ product enhances Verizon Wireless’ smartphones for users who have data plans by offering a new way to call around the globe, while also giving hundreds of millions of Skype users around the world the opportunity to communicate with friends, family and business colleagues in the United States using Verizon Wireless.

The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans can use Skype mobile to:

* make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe on America’s most reliable wireless network;
* call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates;
* send and receive instant messages to other Skype users; and
* remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.

Initially, Skype mobile will be available on millions of best-selling Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones with data plans, including the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530, Storm2™ 9550, Curve™ 8330, Curve™ 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour™ 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS™ by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR™.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “Skype mobile on Verizon Wireless changes the game. For Verizon Wireless’ more than 90 million customers, Skype mobile adds great value because we’re effectively giving customers with smartphones and data plans the option to extend their unlimited calling community to hundreds of millions of Skype users around the globe. And you’re not limited to using a single type of phone; we’ll have nine smartphones ready right at launch in March.”

Josh Silverman, chief executive officer of Skype, noted, “People want to take their Skype conversations with them wherever they go, whether it’s on a PC, TV or increasingly mobile phones. Verizon Wireless will give U.S. consumers the best Skype experience on mobile phones and will truly change the way people call their friends and family internationally.”

Customers interested in learning more about Skype mobile for Verizon Wireless smartphones can visit www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile. Additional information about the service will be available next month.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com for more information about Verizon Wireless or follow the company at http://twitter.com/verizonwireless. Learn more and download Skype at www.skype.com or follow the company at http://twitter.com/skypemobile

Google Sky Map For Your Phone

stevekhart — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:54:30 +0000

Just got the new Motorola Droid phone and I love it! It makes my blackberry seem archaic. Comparing the Droid to a blackberry is like comparing a standard cell phone to an 1980 brick sized cell phone…you know what I’m talking about.

So I started downloading applications. There are a ton of them in the “market place”. A few pretty cool ones, but the best is Google Sky Map. It turns you phone into a personal astronomer. Want to know where Uranus is? (insert joke from a 7 year old here).

Using your Android phone orientation sensors, just hold the phone towards the sky and the screen displays the stars and planets regardless of cloud coverage. It uses the device’s compass, GPS, and accelerometer to see the constellations, planets, and stars.

And best of all, it FREE!

What’s your favorite Droid or iPone app?

Holiday Gifts for the Geek in Your Family

stevekhart — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:45:25 +0000

Here are a few holiday gift ideas for the geek in your family. I guarantee they won’t be disappointed.

Chargepod

The Chargepod ($39.95, callpod.com) comes with one mini-USB adapter and a voucher for an additional adapter. Each adapter after that costs $9.95. Or pick up the Bundle Pack ($79.95, Callpod.com), which comes with six of the most popular adapters and a car charger.

Samsung CL65 Camera with Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth

This way cool camera from Samsung offers 12 mega pixels and is the first camera equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS geotagging. This camera allows you to upload pictures and videos directly to Flicker, Facebook, Photobox, YouTube and Picasa. The built in GPS tags where the photo or video was taken.

Nikon Coolpix S1000pj

Nikon introduced the world’s first projector camera. This 12.1 mega pixel camera will be a hit when your’re dispalying images of up to 40-inches and to two meters away. It comes with a remote control and stand to help.

Keyboard Cuff-links (Uncommongoods.com)

This gift assume the geek in your family actually owns a shirt with cuffs. If he or she does, this is the perfect gift for them.

Post your gift giving suggestions for your favorite geek.

Verizon / Google Droid, The New iPhone?

stevekhart — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:48:32 +0000

In direct competition with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has released their new cell phone “Droid”.

Verizon’s Droid: Specifications

4.56 by 2.36 inches and weighs about 6 ounces.

It has a 3.7-inch, 854-by-480 pixel touchscreen.

It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 5mp camera capable of DVD-quality video recording.

It has a 16GB microSD card, expandable to 32GB.

It runs Android 2.0 operating system.

It has integrated turn-by-turn GPS navigation (FREE).

The Droid connects to Google’s Android Market, which has over 10,000 downloadable apps.

Verizon’s Droid: How Much Does It Cost

$299 up-front not including the $100 mail-in rebate. $199 in total.

You can buy the “Droid” at Best Buy where you will avoid paying the extra $100 from the mail-in rebate. Best Buy credit the rebate at time of your purchase.

The Droid requires a voice plan which runs $39.99 for 450 minutes and an unlimited data plan that runs $29.99. A text messaging plan is extra.

If your not looking to switch networks (iphone/att), the Verizon Droid is the best Android based phone on the market.

Picasa 3.5 Released with Facial Recognition

stevekhart — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:02:02 +0000

From the Picasa site…Picasa 3.5 now has name tags, based on the same technology that powers name tags on Picasa Web Albums. With name tags, you can organize your photos based on what matters most: the people in them. In this new version, you can also more easily geotag photos using Google Maps, plus import photos from your camera and upload them to Picasa Web Albums in one step. Get started by downloading Picasa 3.5 for PC or Mac at picasa.google.com

People

Add name tags – Picasa 3.5 scans all the photos in your collection, identifies the ones with faces, and groups photos with similar faces together. It’s easy to add name tags to dozens of photos at once by clicking “Add a name” below a photo and typing the person’s name. Once you’ve tagged some pictures, you can make a face collage with one click, easily find all your pictures with the same two people in them, or upload your name tags to Picasa Web Albums. Learn more.

Other Improvements

	Geotag your photos with Google Maps – Quickly add geotags using new integrated Google Maps by clicking the Places button in Picasa 3.5, and dragging your photos to the location where you took them. Of course you can stil use Google Earth to tag or view photos if you prefer. Learn more.
	Import, upload, and share, all at once – We’ve improved the import process so that you can star your favorites, upload to Picasa Web Albums and share with Google contact groups at the same time. Learn more.
	Tags — Better bulk tagging, quick tags & tag counts – We’ve also improved the tagging experience. Just click the new Tags button on the right side of the Photo tray to add Quick tags , see tag counts for groups of images, and manage tags more easily. Learn more.