tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115395672020-02-28T11:49:08.082-08:00Ted's MusingsTed Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-26889742734906035892011-03-07T10:28:00.000-08:002011-03-07T10:28:27.269-08:00Gas prices making CNG look even better now<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yJBO9oKQoVQ/TXUZaN9dDXI/AAAAAAAAAb8/7AoJUhcYnho/s1600/gas_prices.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yJBO9oKQoVQ/TXUZaN9dDXI/AAAAAAAAAb8/7AoJUhcYnho/s200/gas_prices.jpg" width="200" /></a>Well, as the sting of $100+/barrel oil prices starts hitting the pumps, my decision to go CNG is feeling pretty good. (Note to my European friends, I realize most of you can't hardly remember a gallon of gas costing $4.00, but it's a real shocker in the U.S.) Here's a check-in for how things are going to far:</div><ol><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uuGP7FC11Lg/TXUb4E-1v8I/AAAAAAAAAcA/jYxp-e9J1ys/s1600/Phill_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uuGP7FC11Lg/TXUb4E-1v8I/AAAAAAAAAcA/jYxp-e9J1ys/s200/Phill_1.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PJB7eXFVNMg/TXUcKDIcDvI/AAAAAAAAAcE/vQFwhp1n6j4/s1600/Phill_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PJB7eXFVNMg/TXUcKDIcDvI/AAAAAAAAAcE/vQFwhp1n6j4/s200/Phill_2.jpg" width="149" /></a><li>The purchase and installation of the Phill home refueling unit was a bit more than I had anticipated. By the time I purchased the unit for interior use and had the unit installed by a certified installer, it was about $6,000 for the home refueling unit. $2,000 comes right off the top as a tax credit, so net cost was $4,000. Since I don't have a convenient CNG fuel station near me, this was my only option. </li><li>Refueling has been going fine. The unit makes a bit of noise when it's running, but because it's in the far side of my garage, I can't hear it from inside the house. If I run the tank on my car down to empty, it takes nearly 16 hours to refuel. I've taken to plugging it in when the tank is between 1/4 and 1/2 and it fills up overnight. It's pretty cool coming out to your garage in the morning and discovering a full tank of gas in the car.</li><li>So, what about fuel cost? I thought it was going to work out to about $1.00/gallon, but it turns out I was off a bit. I applied for the poorly named Electric Vehicle Charging Rate (E-9) with PG&E. It turns out you are eligible for this rate if you use a home refueling unit with a CNG refueling unit. See <a href="http://www.pge.com/myhome/environment/pge/electricvehicles/fuelrates/index.shtml">here </a>for more info. I also applied for the <a href="http://www.pge.com/myhome/environment/pge/cleanair/naturalgasvehicles/rates/">G1-NGV</a> natural gas rate which brings down the rate I pay for natural gas. For the purposes of this gas calculation, I'm going to ignore the fact that these rates will actually save me money on other gas & electric I use in my house. We'll just call that a bonus. Under my new rate tiers, I now pay $0.91 per therm, which is the equivalent of $1.13/gge for gasoline gallon equivalent. A gge is the same amount of energy of a gallon of gasoline, and I'm getting about 32 mpg. So, I'm paying $1.13 for the gas, but I also have to run the compressor to compress the gas up to 3600 psi, the maximum pressure of a full tank of gas. It takes about 16 hours to deliver 6 gge's, or about 2.5 hours per gge. I'll spare you the math, but that's another $0.25 ~ $0.50 to compress the gas into the car, depending on what time of day I fill the tank. Most of my filling is done overnight, so I'll be paying PG&E's lowest rate of $0.25/gge, for a grand total of $1.38/gallon! Compared to the $4.00+ I'm seeing at the corner gas station, this is a pretty good deal. Add to that the white carpool stickers and cleaner burning fuel that relies less on foreign production, and I'd have to say I'm happy with my decision.</li></ol><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-61434071662281689522010-12-05T13:06:00.000-08:002010-12-05T13:06:55.300-08:00New Car Experiment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/TPv33_c84dI/AAAAAAAAAbg/TrWZs4dQYfE/s1600/clean_air_white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/TPv33_c84dI/AAAAAAAAAbg/TrWZs4dQYfE/s1600/clean_air_white.jpg" /></a></div>I just recently turned in my 2008 BMW 535i which I was leasing. It was a fun car to drive when it wasn't having high-pressure fuel pump problems (I'll save that story for another post). When I got the car, I went for the twin-turbo 6-cylinder because it got much better gas mileage than the prior 8-cylinder car I had been driving (real world for me was 23 vs. 17 mpg). <br /><br />As the end of my lease was nearing, I started thinking about what I could do to get even better mileage and whether I could get into the carpool lane too. Several years ago, the state of California issued a limited number (85,000) yellow carpool stickers to consumers who purchased hybrid vehicles that got 45 mpg highway or better. These stickers have been set to expire 3 times, and the final date now appears to be June 30th, 2011. Since the last of them was issued long ago, the only way to get them is to purchase a used hybrid. I was looking for something new that could handle the 18,000 miles a year I commute.<br /><br />This led me to a few options. There is another type of carpool sticker (white) which is available for cars which do not use gasoline at all. These stickers are available in unlimited quantities and do not expire until 2015. In the mass market, these stickers are limited to all-electric cars and dedicated (vs bi-fuel) clean burning CNG (compressed natural gas) or LPG (liquid propane gas) vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles would qualify too, but they are available in very limited numbers in just a few <a href="http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/">test markets</a>. It doesn't seem like they'll be mass market until 2015 or so. You can see a full list of CA certified vehicles <a href="http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm">here.</a><br /><br />Then, there's the issue of charging/refueling. With a full electric vehicle like the Tesla Roadster or the upcoming Nissan Leaf, you need to make sure you have access to a charging station. With a range of around 100 miles (or less), I could just barely make it to work and back. And, my employer doesn't have charging stations at work yet. Plus, unless you want to wait 12+ hours to charge, you need to purchase a home charging station for your garage and wire it up with a high amperage 220v circuit. That's about $2,500 for the charging unit and installation. <br /><br />For CNG vehicles (like the Honda Civic GX - the only mass produced CNG vehicle available in the US), you have access to a larger number of refueling stations that can refuel your tank in about the time it takes to fill the gas tank in a regular car. If you stick to the west coast, you could easily plan a long road trip by accessing a site like <a href="http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/locator/stations">this</a> to plot out refueling stations. Not ideal, but with a range of about 200-250 miles per tank, doable. Besides finding a refueling station, you can also purchase a home refueling unit. The only viable consumer unit is the <a href="http://www.impco.ws/phill-dealers.asp">Phill by Fuelmaker</a>. Purchasing and installing one of these in your garage will run you closer to $5,000. The electric charging station qualifies you for a tax credit of 50% of the units cost up to $2,000. The CNG unit qualifies for a $2,000 tax credit as well.<br /><br />I also compared the cost of recharging an electric car vs. refueling a CNG vehicle. In both cases you qualify for a discounted rate tier with PG&E (if they are your utility) and it works out to about $1.00/gallon of gas equivalent. I won't go into what a gge is - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent">click here</a> if you want to learn more. <br /><br />In the end, I decided to go with the <a href="http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-gx/">Honda Civic GX</a>. The <a href="http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index">Nissan Leaf</a> looks interesting, but it's only available in limited numbers, has a long backlog of orders and I can't charge at work. Plus, I don't particularly care for the styling. I don't really love the look of the Civic either, but Honda has been making the Civic GX for 13 years now, and it seems to be solid and reliable. It's really just a regular gas engine vehicle with a modified fuel tank and fuel delivery system to allow it to burn CNG. <br /><br />One benefit (besides the carpool stickers and cheaper gas) is that CNG burns much more cleanly than gasoline (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas">source</a>), and 90% of the natural gas we use in the US is produced domestically vs. imported (<a href="http://www.naturalgas.org/business/supply.asp">source</a>). I've talked to a few people about this so far, and the question I keep getting is about safety. How safe is it driving around on a tank full of high pressure gas? I looked into this a bit, and found many sources claiming that CNG is actually <a href="http://cngunited.com/support/how-is-compressed-natural-gas-safer-than-other-fuels">safer than gasoline</a>. I also ordered the home fueling unit, but haven't installed it yet. I just picked up the car this weekend, so I'll have to post more about my ownership experience later.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/TPv-tfUiVMI/AAAAAAAAAbk/39YlT-jz7zM/s1600/Civic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/TPv-tfUiVMI/AAAAAAAAAbk/39YlT-jz7zM/s400/Civic1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-63004074329660302162010-01-11T12:51:00.000-08:002010-01-11T12:51:13.450-08:00Television of the future isn’t just on your TV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/S0uOjZcjVYI/AAAAAAAAAZw/L5UbCIP1h2M/s1600-h/tvs.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/S0uOjZcjVYI/AAAAAAAAAZw/L5UbCIP1h2M/s200/tvs.bmp" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(reposting from the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/01/07/television-of-the-future-isn-t-just-on-your-tv.aspx">Microsoft Blog</a>)</span><br />You don’t need to look very far to see how radically technology has changed the way we do things. Take the area of personal digital entertainment. Just think about how advancements in hardware, software and cloud-based services have drastically changed the way we experience music, take pictures and capture video, connect with family and friends, play video games and more recently watch movies, TV shows and videos. My eight year old wanted a Zune HD for Christmas, and my six year old can whip me at Mario Kart.<br /><br />The past few years we have seen widespread availability of mainstream television programming online, content previously only available via traditional broadcast distribution. Consumers now have an enormous choice of live, recorded and on-demand TV shows and movies. <br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video_recorder">DVR</a> was the first major milestone in putting consumers in control of their TV viewing experiences. We’re now entering a second major change that may have a greater impact on consumer TV viewing than the DVR, and not just for the geeks out there (hey, some of my best friends are geeks). TV will be everywhere and anywhere you want it to be - inside or outside the home, time-shifted, location-shifted or simply viewed from any room in the house via a PC, set-top box, connected TV or gaming console. <br /><br />Going forward, consumers will be able to enjoy TV experiences that combine traditional TV content with rich entertainment experiences, drawing on content sources from a variety of places including the Internet. Examples could include outtakes, social commentary, behind-the-scenes interviews and much more. Software and cloud services will be the key to unifying and creating these new, more personalized, integrated experiences for the viewer even as the number of hardware devices proliferates. Bringing this vision to life is the mission of the Microsoft’s Mediaroom team. <br /><br />With Mediaroom 2.0 consumers can view live HDTV programming on their PC’s using just their Windows Media Center software - they can watch or record up to four programs at once.<br /><br />Consumers want to be able to watch whatever they want, whenever they want, and wherever they want. The challenge of storing and accessing vast sources of content in the ‘cloud’ is something the Microsoft team is focused on solving and we’ve made some good progress (there’s always more work to do!). Our Mediaroom IPTV platform has become the world’s leading IPTV solution, enabling more than 4 million households around the world to access TV content in innovative ways, through operators such as AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, SingTel and others.<br /><br />The release of <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/Mediaroom/">Microsoft Mediaroom 2.0</a> that <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2010/jan10/01-06mediaroom.mspx">Steve Ballmer announced at CES tonight</a>, will make it easier for consumers to find and discover great content; to watch, listen and engage with TV in new ways; and to do so anywhere and on all the screens of their lives. And, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/jan10/01-06softwarecloudtvpr.mspx">Mediaroom 2.0 will enable pay TV operators</a> to deploy the Mediaroom platform as a single entertainment cloud, extending their premium TV services to reach more subscribers than ever before, across more screens, with more content and more control, anywhere, anytime (even in the bathroom - is there no escape?). And our operator customers can provide all of these consumer benefits without needing to deploy parallel content delivery systems. <br /><br />Once fully deployed by our operator customers, Mediaroom 2.0 will allow consumers to view live HDTV programming on their PC’s using just their Windows Media Center software - which also provides the ability to watch or record up to four programs at once-. Movies and TV shows recorded on a home DVR will be available anywhere, inside or outside the home. On-demand programming, previously requiring a set-top box, will be available anytime and anywhere as well. Mobile phones won’t be left behind either. Since consumers will be accessing a centralized content system, a pay-per-view movie could be viewed via any connected device, even a smartphone.<br /><br />A TV revolution is underway, where TV experiences are more personal than ever before. We’re excited to be a part of delivering these new capabilities. Mediaroom will enable operators to deliver – and viewers to enjoy -- a seamless television experience with centralized content, DVR anywhere, on-demand features and interactive applications that can flow from screen to screen on any device. <br /><br />The TV of the future starts today.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-84138308229198813382009-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:002009-10-20T12:00:09.115-07:00Bluetooth headset in Windows7<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/St4FzoIIUAI/AAAAAAAAAZI/3OA9sz72His/s1600-h/headset.PNG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 116px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 124px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394755788139417602" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/St4FzoIIUAI/AAAAAAAAAZI/3OA9sz72His/s200/headset.PNG" /></a>I've been meaning to do this for a while. I finally paired my bluetooth headset with my laptop (a Dell XPS M1530). My goal was to be able to make voip phone calls via my laptop to save some money on my cell phone bills - I cut the cord a couple of years ago and don't have a landline at home.<br /><br />So, I paired my headset (<a href="http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/h670/">Motorola H670</a>) with my laptop which is running Windows7 Enterprise. The headset was discovered and paired properly, but the driver failed to load. After extensive Bing searches, I discovered the following work-around which worked great for me.<br /><br /><ol><li>Open the control panel Start->Devices & Printers. My headset showed up with a yellow exlaimation point showing that the driver had not installed automatically.<br /></li><li>Right-click on the headset icon and choose Properties. Then, go to the Services tab and make sure Handsfree Telephony and Headset services are both checked<br /></li><li>Download the self-extracting zip file from <a href="ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R142181.EXE">here</a>. Don't worry that it's from a Dell site. You're going to unzip these drivers and manually use them for your headset. It has nothing to do with what type of laptop you're using.<br /></li><li>Unzip the folder in the file you just downloaded and cancel out of an installer if it tries to run an installer.<br /></li><li>Go back to the Devices panel and right-click on the headset again. This time, right click on the headset, choose Properties and the Hardware tab. At the bottom, click the Properties button. This pops up yet another panel where you want to be on the General tab. Click the Change Settings button and Install/Update the driver. Instead of letting Windows Update search for a driver, browse to the location where you unzipped the drivers above and they should install automatically.<br /></li><li>Once you've done this, your headset should show up as an audio device. You might need to reboot for the driver to load properly and the yellow exclaimation point to go away. I also had to go into the settings in my voice application to tell it to use the newly attached headset instead of the built-in microphone and speakers.</li></ol><p>I hope this helps someone.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-79083574544571383082009-06-28T10:25:00.000-07:002009-06-28T10:54:32.196-07:00Dryer problem solved!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SketqXiqwFI/AAAAAAAAAYk/4jZGY2uSDJA/s1600-h/Electrolux-Steam-Dryer-fb.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 124px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 118px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352437625538658386" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SketqXiqwFI/AAAAAAAAAYk/4jZGY2uSDJA/s200/Electrolux-Steam-Dryer-fb.jpg" /></a>Well, I recently discoverd a problem I was not able to solve using Google. So, I'm typing it up in the hopes it will be indexed and might help someone else.<br /><div></div><br /><div>Two months ago when I moved, I purchased a new Electrolux front-load gas dryer. The first time I used it, I ruined most of the first load of clothes. There was some kind of sticky black residue on the exhaust vent inside the dryer drum. Several plush items had stuck to the vent ripping the soft part of the fabric. I assumed that maybe there had been some sort of sticker over the vent, and that it had melted. Electrolux kindly sent a repair person out who replaced the vent - problem solved. Not.</div><div></div><br /><div>Shortly thereafter, the black residue returned. I then noticed that a pair of my sons fireproof pajamas had melted. So, I thought perhaps the melted fabric had gotten stuck to the vent. Nothing I tried (Goo Gone, etc.) would remove the residue, but when it got hot it was getting just sticky enough to keep ruining softer clothing items. I went down to Home Depot and purchased a hot air gun (I needed one anyway) and a heavy duty scraping knife. After about 30 minutes of heated labor, I got most of the residue off. When it came away, the dried bits were like hard, black plastic. Problem solved. Oops, not.</div><div></div><br /><div>Since that time, I've been drying clothes on a cooler temperature, and the clothes seem to be coming out okay. However, the black stuff seems to be slowly coming back. Luckily, using the cooler temperature has meant I'm not ruining clothes anymore. So, today I sat down with Google to see if I could solve my problem. Something else being melted (gum, crayons, candy, starburst, etc.)? Nope. Something in my gas line? Probably not, but not a lot of information available here other than anecdotal information that gas usually burns clean. And, my gas stove and gas furnace don't seem to be having any issues. Hmm, weird.</div><div></div><br /><div>While I was doing this online sleuthing, I was also doing some laundry. With kids, it seems like I'm always doing laundry. Anyway, I had just finished drying a load of towels and discovered the smoking gun - a half melted dryer sheet. So, for years I have used Kirkland brand (Costco) dryer sheets. I've never had a problem with them. Well, it turns out the new dryer is melting them. Not all of them, or I would have noticed that they're not in the laundry basket when I'm folding clothes. But, some of them are definitely melting. And, when they melt, they've been leaving a hard black plastic residude on the vent inside the drum.</div><div></div><br /><div>Problem solved.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-69383594530298394772009-04-15T23:23:00.001-07:002009-04-15T23:24:54.304-07:00Alaska Airlines Sees Success in Wi-Fi Trials<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SebPDmfSqRI/AAAAAAAAAYE/PhN1Wr1Rziw/s1600-h/airplane-wifi-internet.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SebPDmfSqRI/AAAAAAAAAYE/PhN1Wr1Rziw/s200/airplane-wifi-internet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325171270190541074" border="0" /></a>So, a couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to fly on the one plane on which Alaska was testing their in-flight WiFi service. I also happened to be one of the people that later filled out their online survey that is cited here: <a href="http://www.cellular-news.com/story/37018.php?source=rss">Alaska Airlines Sees Success in Wi-Fi Trials</a><br /><br />I was able to stream live television, chat, post to Facebook & Twitter, etc. While it was cool, I don't think I would pay that much to use this service. That's where things start to fall apart a bit here. In-flight telephones have been around for something like 20 years. And, in that period of time, I think I've made 2 urgent calls. Why? It's not that I don't use the telephone or appreciate being able to talk to people. But, just because I can do it from an airplane doesn't mean I'm going to pay $15/minute to do it.<br /><br />I certainly hope these people don't take a really great idea like this and price it such that only people with corporate credit cards can afford to use it. My limit? $5/hour.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-63550068999545686522009-03-26T22:45:00.000-07:002009-03-26T23:39:33.692-07:00Wine & Cheese pairing experiment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/ScxtWezw7oI/AAAAAAAAAX8/zG_VCkpinr8/s1600-h/019B.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/ScxtWezw7oI/AAAAAAAAAX8/zG_VCkpinr8/s200/019B.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317745493012442754" border="0" /></a>I've been playing around with building a (simple!) wine and cheese pairing application for Vino2Vino. I wanted it to be something easy and fast, with the main usage scenario being mobile. I've been <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dog+fooding">dog fooding</a> with it lately, using it in grocery stores and in restaurants that actually have a cheese menu.<br /><br />It's been working well enough that I thought I'd share it with some of my closest friends for testing. Point your mobile browser at <a href="http://m.vino2vino.com/pairings/">http://m.vino2vino.com/pairings/</a> and give it a shot. I've also tried to embed it here (sorry about the formatting) so that you can try in in a regular web browser. I've read that people want more than just pairing advice, they also want a way to buy the wine or cheese that is recommended. So, I've linked to <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Tomij/d1pJQ&offerid=141136.10000344&type=3&subid=0" >Wine.com</a><IMG border=0 width=1 height=1 src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=Tomij/d1pJQ&bids=141136.10000344&type=3&subid=0" > and <a href="http://www.artisanalcheese.com/" >artisinalcheese.com</a><img src="http://www.awltovhc.com/image-3392696-10561390" width="1" height="1" border="0"> so that you can get an idea of pricing and availability for actual wines and cheeses.<br /><br /><iframe style="width: 500px; height: 520px;" src="http://m.vino2vino.com/" scrolling="no"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-27559740245785502462009-02-27T13:25:00.001-08:002009-02-27T13:25:55.730-08:00Why Are iPhone Users Willing to Pay for Content?<table style="width: auto; float: left;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hhnaomgG5ZmQZeNe2urHPA?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6qxJDErfiRIg&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SahZt6MY41I/AAAAAAAAAX0/i37KJO5VkRY/s144/Steve%2BJobs%2Blaughs%2Biphone.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"></td></tr></tbody></table>This is really quite fascinating. Just when you think you've got Apple figured out, something new like this comes along. Everyone is scrambling to write an iPhone application, but many of them can't tell you exactly why - except that they feel this pressing need to do it or be left out.<br /><br />So, what are your reasons for developing an iPhone application? Is it because you have an existing customer base and content that lends itself well to display on a phone, and finally there's a popular phone with a relatively simple development environment and an easy way to distribute your application? Or, is it because you see the iTunes store as a way to market your product to a large audience of iPhone users? If so, is it for branding and awareness, or is it to make money?<br /><br />Personally, I have been leaning towards the first reason being the best one, and the marketing and revenue (if your app isn't free) as the icing on the cake. However, this story brings up an interesting point. The iPhone may be a perfectly viable place to sell stuff which is otherwise free online. After all, isn't this what Apple does when they sell TV shows on the iTunes store which you could probably get for free from Hulu, Sling.com, or other content aggregators?<br /><br />Who knows, maybe an article like this will spawn a whole bunch of new applications which are basically just packaging and re-selling stuff you could easily find online. And, because iPhone customers have been trained to spend $0.99 without blinking an eye, the developers might actually make some money doing it.<br /><br /><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/why-are-iphone-users-willing-to-pay-for-content/">Why Are iPhone Users Willing to Pay for Content? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-315703902581500552009-02-22T18:39:00.001-08:002009-02-22T18:51:42.746-08:002006 Trefethen Viogner<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SaIMWu23k0I/AAAAAAAAAXI/WxwhVrfs2EM/s1600-h/photo-762110.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SaIMWu23k0I/AAAAAAAAAXI/WxwhVrfs2EM/s320/photo-762110.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305816895670686530" style="float: left;" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p class="mobile-photo">Enjoying a <a href="http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/trefethen+viognier//usa/usd?referring_site=VVO">2006 Trefethen Viognier</a>. Nice complex flavors. Crisp, dry, lightly fruity. Hints of citrus and peach. Very nice medium bodied viognier.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-42372443830166280942009-02-20T08:29:00.000-08:002009-02-20T08:31:18.459-08:00Bay Area may be in too deep for mortgage relief - Inside Bay Area<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SZ7asDqLbLI/AAAAAAAAAXA/Q7Vn_3wYDkU/s1600-h/20090219__ecct0220foreclosure%7E1_Viewer.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SZ7asDqLbLI/AAAAAAAAAXA/Q7Vn_3wYDkU/s200/20090219__ecct0220foreclosure%7E1_Viewer.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304917861520338098" border="0" /></a>A follow-up to my prior post on how the stimulus plan won't help Bay Area residents much. Now, it sounds like the mortgage relief won't do much to slow down the rate of foreclosures here either.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_11743931?source=rss">Bay Area may be in too deep for mortgage relief - Inside Bay Area</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-20556205687528209202009-01-25T10:20:00.000-08:002009-01-25T10:24:36.917-08:00The flaw in stimulus packages<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SXytuxGi1BI/AAAAAAAAAW4/sQW0P2ApNug/s1600-h/275_cartoon_rebate_check_large.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 164px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SXytuxGi1BI/AAAAAAAAAW4/sQW0P2ApNug/s200/275_cartoon_rebate_check_large.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295298280847234066" border="0" /></a>Am I the only one that sees the fundamental flaw in these tax cut stimulus plans? For years now, the Republicans have been doing the same thing that the democrats are now proposing - they base the stimulus packages on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjusted_Gross_Income">AGI</a>, not on need. See: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090124/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_stimulus_24">Democrats unveil $825 billion in stimulus spending</a><br /><br />By phasing out the tax cuts based on income, they complete ignore the massive differences in cost-of-living across the country. A family making $75,000 in the Bay Area might be on the verge of foreclosure. Similarly, a family making $75,000 in rural Iowa might be living in a <a href="http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/301-South-15Th-Ave_Marshalltown_IA_50158_1101805886">4BR house</a> that they bought with cash. If you mail each of these families a check for $500, who do you think is going to spend it?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-24210527472893533672009-01-21T12:53:00.000-08:002009-01-21T13:17:44.035-08:00Streaming the inauguration<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SXeQrKRp7wI/AAAAAAAAAWw/K8jgiMD0wQM/s1600-h/bucket_iphone_1208.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 120px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_houPQDO8lqc/SXeQrKRp7wI/AAAAAAAAAWw/K8jgiMD0wQM/s200/bucket_iphone_1208.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293858958164487938" border="0" /></a>TechCrunch <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/the-day-live-web-video-streaming-failed-us/">reported </a>that yesterday was the day that live web video streaming failed, with unprecedented demand for the inauguration that exceeded the capabilities of the major <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_Delivery_Network">CDN</a>'s out there.<br /><br />I'm pleased to say that I watched the entire speech streaming live to my 3G iPhone on my drive in to work. Yes, I realize I was probably breaking several laws in doing this, but trust me, I had my eyes on the road most of the time! I propped my phone up on the instrument cluster and only glanced at it for brief moments of context.<br /><br />So, how did I do this, and why wasn't I impacted by the problems that faced the major web streaming portals? Well, I was using a <a href="http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-solo">Slingbox SOLO</a> at my house that was streaming video directly to a beta version of the SlingPlayer software running on my iPhone. This is a direct stream from my house, over the Internet, and over AT&T's cell phone network directly to my phone. The Internet wasn't choked yesterday, just the major streaming portals. I still had a solid audio/video stream that only glitched twice over the 25 minute speech. Both of these times were during portions of my commute where I know AT&T's network is a bit weak because I sometimes drop voice calls as well. Both times, the player recovered flawlessly and the Slingbox buffering worked well enough that I didn't miss any of the speech.<br /><br />For those of you that got cut off, you can always watch a replay on Sling.com's special <a href="http://beta.sling.com/genre/presidential%20inauguration">inauguration site</a>. And, next time you want smooth streaming performance, get a Slingbox!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-78003257206609508932008-04-04T12:12:00.000-07:002008-04-04T12:29:46.255-07:00Don't sign up for your $40 DTV converter box coupon... yet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/R_Z92CJ6tyI/AAAAAAAAAO4/-lSqGdEhKN0/s1600-h/dtv_coupon.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/R_Z92CJ6tyI/AAAAAAAAAO4/-lSqGdEhKN0/s200/dtv_coupon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185470388208580386" border="0" /></a>Here's a good article describing why you shouldn't sign up for your government subsidized DTV converter coupons yet.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9906407-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20">Don't sign up for your $40 DTV converter box coupon--yet | Tech news blog - CNET News.com</a><br /><br />For more information about the US switch from analog to digital television broadcasts, check out <a href="http://www.dtv.gov/">this link</a>.<br /><br />Here's <a href="https://www.dtv2009.gov/">where you go</a> to apply for your discount coupons.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-64233610744056250042008-03-28T11:51:00.001-07:002008-03-28T20:10:25.117-07:00The passing of my personal heroI have been fortunate enough to have a father whom I truly consider to be my role model. Sadly, he passed away suddenly earlier this week. You can read more about him on a website we are creating as a tribute to his life, <a href="http://www.inlovingmemoryofdavidmalone.com/">http://www.inlovingmemoryofdavidmalone.com</a><br /><br />Here are some photos of his life. If you pay attention, you might even see a few young pictures of me along the way.<br /><br /><iframe align="middle" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=684503@N20" frameborder="0" width="400" scrolling="no" height="400"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-81168966472007757802007-07-25T21:17:00.000-07:002008-04-04T12:26:38.817-07:00Craig Ferguson waxes about Pleasanton<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/Rqgg9pn0p9I/AAAAAAAAAMc/yXypnf2C_VQ/s1600-h/pleasanton.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/Rqgg9pn0p9I/AAAAAAAAAMc/yXypnf2C_VQ/s200/pleasanton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091355622259337170" border="0" /></a><br />Okay, this is just fantastic. Pleasanton is where I live. It is a really cute town! Craig talks about his recent visit to Pleasanton, what a cute town it is, why he was there, where he stayed, etc. Fun!<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0jtEe93AWFM&rel=0"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0jtEe93AWFM&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-65405599263595842372007-05-12T07:51:00.001-07:002007-05-12T07:58:41.904-07:00Cool new Windows phone<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RkXVc2sGJQI/AAAAAAAAAMU/2AHYsbSmbbs/s1600-h/oPhone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063688047741510914" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RkXVc2sGJQI/AAAAAAAAAMU/2AHYsbSmbbs/s200/oPhone.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here is a great new Windows Mobile based cell phone. They haven't announced who the manufacturers are going to be yet, but I'm sure they're lining up. Now, I just need to make sure we can get Sling Player Mobile up and running on it.<br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WazA77xcf0A" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed><br /><br /><p>Think of it as TV-in-the-round. Awesome!</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-21989816711412820632007-05-01T22:42:00.001-07:002007-05-01T22:53:46.531-07:00Fun with SlingBox<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RjgnRWsGJPI/AAAAAAAAAMM/9CQ6EBUjMWs/s1600-h/slinky.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059837360452543730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RjgnRWsGJPI/AAAAAAAAAMM/9CQ6EBUjMWs/s200/slinky.jpg" border="0" /></a>After the first month, I've been having a great time at Sling Media. It reminds me a bit of TiVo in the early days, but even more so. What's amazing is that Sling has acquired customers at a faster rate than TiVo did, and has managed to deliver a second generation of SlingBoxes (Tuner, A/V and Pro) as well as peripherals (SlingLink, HD Connect, etc.) It's pretty impressive for a company that's barely 2 years old.<br /><p>In the process, I've purchased my first SlingBox. It's the A/V model which supports a single source device. I'm using a TiVo/DVD recorder as the source and the SlingBox let's me watch the output of the TiVo on my laptop while I'm roaming inside or outside the house. I can also access it from my Motorola Q cell phone and watch full-screen video. My daughter likes it so much she wants to watch TV on it while we're at home. The quality of the picture is great, and it's really impressive how well the product works. I'm really excited to be a part of this world-class team.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-13380166003990360892007-04-26T21:42:00.001-07:002007-04-26T21:45:59.134-07:00Google Gadget for Vino2Vino<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?moduleurl=http%3A//www.vino2vino.com/ig-new-wines.xml"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RjF_t2sGJOI/AAAAAAAAAME/GW7P0QYaWjY/s200/new_wines.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057964282265085154" border="0" /></a>One of the cool things about Web 2.0 (and Wine 2.0) is that technology is emerging which let's you extend a targeted community, like wine lovers, out to other sites and communities. Last month, I <a href="http://tedmalone.blogspot.com/2007/03/wine-review-widget-on-widgetbox.html">blogged about</a> our V2V wine review widget on <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/">Widgetbox</a>. The wine widget is cool because you can create a widget to represent different types and kinds of wine. But, it can only be used on sites or blogs where you have authoring privileges. <p>This week, we released a new version of the widget as a Google Gadget. (<a href="http://immike.net/blog/2007/04/25/how-to-make-a-google-gadget-in-15-minutes-or-less/">more from Mike</a>) This gadget allows you to put a special kind of widget on your Google home page that automatically shows you wines that are being updated on vino2vino.com. It's like a visual RSS feed. Every time you hit your Google home page, you'll see an updated graphic of wines that have recently been reviewed on Vino2Vino. And, it's dead simple to add the gadget to your home page. Click on the graphic above, or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?moduleurl=http%3A//www.vino2vino.com/ig-new-wines.xml"><strong>here</strong></a> to add it to your personalized Google home page (Google login required).</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-38706306034928134152007-04-17T09:07:00.001-07:002007-04-17T09:09:43.017-07:00VT Tragedy<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RiTxHQUTI7I/AAAAAAAAAL8/rPQEu8B-b-4/s1600-h/vtribbon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054429788758025138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RiTxHQUTI7I/AAAAAAAAAL8/rPQEu8B-b-4/s200/vtribbon.jpg" border="0" /></a>My brother <a href="http://www.immike.net/">Mike</a> is visiting me this week from Blacksburg, Virginia. Mike graduated from <a href="http://www.vt.edu">Virginia Tech</a> in December and is staying in Blacksburg for another month until his girlfriend graduates and they move to SF this summer.<br /><p>Blacksburg was visited by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre">terrible tragedy</a> this week which has brought home how fragile we all are - that one person can do so much damage to so many individuals and families.</p><p>There really aren't words to describe how tragic this whole event was, so I'll end by saying that my thoughts and prayers go out to Mike and Katy, their friends and the rest of the VT community as they begin the process of putting their lives back on track and healing.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-1101448672637191242007-04-10T20:49:00.001-07:002007-04-10T20:52:24.116-07:00Verizon misleading consumers<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhxbTQUTI6I/AAAAAAAAAL0/Oqzc5RpGOCI/s1600-h/hate_verizon.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052013268358603682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhxbTQUTI6I/AAAAAAAAAL0/Oqzc5RpGOCI/s200/hate_verizon.gif" border="0" /></a>I can't believe that a company like Verizon can get away with this, but they are apparently <a href="http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2007/04/03/verizon-admits-that-their-unlimited-data-plan-is-limited-to-5gb-per-month/">limiting their "unlimited" data plans</a> to 5GB of data transfers per month. If you exceed this amount of data in one month, they will shut off your service. While this seems like a blatant case of false advertising, it turns out that Verizon is really trying to shut out certain types of applications running on their handsets. Specifically, they do not want people running a video service (like Sling, Orb, etc.) that is competitive with their own vCast service.<br /><p>What's really sad about this action by Verizon is that this kind of behavior from major operators will limit the amount of innovation that companies can and will provide to consumers. It sets a really bad precedent and confuses consumers who read the marketing material, but not the full legalese until it's too late. Shame on you Verizon.</p><p>After this, who is going to believe <a href="http://mytechnews.net/2007/04/verizon-to-introduce-unlimited-texting.html">an announcement</a> about unlimited texting? "Oh, you mean text messaging to other people? That will cost you more."</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-55032314306039751672007-04-03T21:46:00.001-07:002007-04-03T21:48:15.423-07:00We're number two!! We're number two!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhMt5ysmjuI/AAAAAAAAALs/g7-YjvUCCAU/s1600-h/OSU.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhMt5ysmjuI/AAAAAAAAALs/g7-YjvUCCAU/s200/OSU.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049430078097100514" border="0" /></a>It just doesn't have quite the right ring to it, does it? My team, the <a href="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/">Ohio State Buckeyes</a>, were handed their hats again this week. In a freaky re-enactment of the NCAA football national championship, the Florida Gators did it to us again. <p>I have to admit, part of me was really hoping we would redeem ourselves. As with the BCS championship game, Ohio State had a real chance to win this one. But, I guess it was not meant to be. Congratulations to the Gators for winning the two big matches this year!</p> <p>Maybe next year will be our year!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-24773740266735437042007-04-01T21:13:00.001-07:002007-04-01T21:18:09.895-07:00Job-shifting<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhCDMXZwvNI/AAAAAAAAALk/0TOBiDEc-FE/s1600-h/ETicket.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048679430746062034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RhCDMXZwvNI/AAAAAAAAALk/0TOBiDEc-FE/s200/ETicket.jpg" border="0" /></a>At TiVo, we helped make <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_shifting">time-shifting</a> possible for many. It had been promised by the VCR, but that promise didn't really become a reality for the masses until the DVR.<br /><p>In 2004, the founders of Sling launched an entirely new category of products with their first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_shifting">place-shifting</a> product. Unlike time-shifting, which lets you watch your TV "when" you want, place-shifting lets you watch that same TV "where" you want. Whether it's live TV or a video device, the <a href="http://us.slingmedia.com/page/slingboxav.html">SlingBox</a> beams your TV signal out of the home over your broadband link to a remote PC or multi-media cellular phone.</p><p>So, I'm now creating a new term, job-shifting. It's where I move from my current entrepreneurial enterprise into full-time employment with Sling. Starting tomorrow, I start as the vice president of product marketing and product management at Sling Media. I'm really excited to be working with the team at Sling, and on the exciting new products on their roadmap. Hang on, I think this is going to be an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_ticket_ride">e-ticket ride</a>.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-30580884713219993062007-03-27T21:59:00.001-07:002007-03-27T22:02:34.842-07:00Tax H E double toothpicks<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/Rgn213ZwvMI/AAAAAAAAALY/u2AC-snOfgM/s1600-h/uncle_sam.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046836262710852802" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/Rgn213ZwvMI/AAAAAAAAALY/u2AC-snOfgM/s200/uncle_sam.jpg" border="0" /></a>Once again, I'm majorly struggling over taxes. It's the same every year. I debate whether it's worth having someone do my taxes, or whether I should just keep doing them myself. My feeling (still) is that most of the work around taxes goes into preparing the numbers your accountant needs, not in actually filling out the tax forms. And, I'm fundamentally against extensions. Once you're in the habit of filing extensions, they don't really help you anyway. You're just dealing with these same headaches at a different time of year than everyone else.<br /><p>So, here I go. Schedule's A, B, C, D & E. Next year, maybe I should buy a farm and try out Schedule F? F - Me. At least the weather sucks too.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-68593014442640835812007-03-23T21:16:00.001-07:002007-03-23T21:19:22.440-07:00You gotta love California<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RgSmmIzjC8I/AAAAAAAAALQ/uAA5gWYXCGk/s1600-h/Skiing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045340656690727874" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RgSmmIzjC8I/AAAAAAAAALQ/uAA5gWYXCGk/s200/Skiing.jpg" border="0" /></a>This past weekend I rode my motorcycle up to Reno to visit a friend and to go skiing. Even though it's mid-March, the weather was spectacular. It was in the 60's for most of my ride, falling to the high 40's when I crossed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_Pass">Carson pass</a>. Instead of taking the fast route, <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=Pleasanton,+CA+94566&daddr=carson+city,+nv&layer=&sll=38.595407,-120.975952&sspn=1.940536,3.735352&ie=UTF8&z=8&ll=38.414862,-120.822144&spn=1.945406,3.735352&om=1">I took highway 88 past Kirkwood</a> and came up on Reno from the south.<br /><p>We skied at <a href="http://www.northstarattahoe.com/">Northstar</a> on Sunday in weather that was close to 60-degrees. I hadn't skied in over 10 years, and this was my first time on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_skiing#Deep_sidecut_revolution">parabolic skis</a>. After such a long hiatus, I think I skied fairly well. After a tutorial on how to properly ski on this new type of ski, I started to catch on. I think I'll need to try them again before I feel comfortable with them.</p><p>At the end, it was a great weekend. How many places can you go on a beautiful, sunny motorcycle ride and then go skiing at a world class resort? You've gotta love California.</p><br /><p><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/a/ZdSXxii21x" width="300" height="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" salign="lt" wmode="transparent" scale="noscale"></embed></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539567.post-79816314995787025242007-03-21T22:13:00.001-07:002007-03-21T22:42:05.733-07:00Call me now!<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RgISkozjC7I/AAAAAAAAALI/_zJ8v4uu3W0/s1600-h/BPhone.GIF"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044614953246591922" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_houPQDO8lqc/RgISkozjC7I/AAAAAAAAALI/_zJ8v4uu3W0/s200/BPhone.GIF" border="0" /></a>I've <a href="http://tedmalone.blogspot.com/search/label/jangl">posted several times</a> about the <a href="http://www.jangl.com">Jangl<span></span></a> phone service. It's a free service which lets you share your phone number with people without giving them your real digits.<br /><br /><div><p>For you, my blog reader, I can let you call me on the phone. All you need to do is enter your phone number in this cool new widget. You enter the number that you'd like to call me from, and Jangl routes the call to my phone. And, your number is protected as well. Jangl gives me a virtual caller ID which I can use to call you back. Neither of our real numbers is revealed. Then, Jangl provides an online control panel for me to manage my incoming calls and lets me block a caller if I feel stalked or bothered.</p><p>Jangl gives you so much control over your phone, you'd be willing to post your number on the web. See, I just did.</p><br /><br /><object id="myFlashb1e3332ff2e84fad9eb498750163cd75" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=" height="220" width="160" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="_cx" value="4233"><param name="_cy" value="5821"><param name="FlashVars" value=""><param name="Movie" value="http://www.jangl.com/JanglWeb/images/mobileFlash.swf"><param name="Src" value="http://www.jangl.com/JanglWeb/images/mobileFlash.swf"><param name="WMode" value="Transparent"><param name="Play" value="0"><param name="Loop" value="-1"><param name="Quality" value="High"><param name="SAlign" value=""><param name="Menu" value="-1"><param name="Base" value=""><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value=""><param name="Scale" value="ShowAll"><param name="DeviceFont" value="0"><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0"><param name="BGColor" value=""><param name="SWRemote" value=""><param name="MovieData" value=""><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1"><param name="Profile" value="0"><param name="ProfileAddress" value=""><param name="ProfilePort" value="0"><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all"><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="false"><br /><br /> <embed src="http://www.jangl.com/JanglWeb/images/mobileFlash.swf" flashvars="colorParam=tattoo&userJangl=b1e3332f-f2e8-4fad-9eb4-98750163cd75&apiURL=http://www.jangl.com/JanglWidget/JanglWidget.asmx&widgetSource=BLOG&visitorText=Enter your number&ownerText=Call me at&titleText=Let's Talk!&janglidText=Enter your Jangl ID" quality="high" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="160" height="220"></embed></object></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/tedmalone" /></div>Ted Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17983618211849364111noreply@blogger.com0