• You eBay bid is confirmed
• You won this item on eBay:
• You have won eBay Item ...
• Your invoice for eBay purchase
• Good news. eBay item .... (won)
• RE: Item #  ... - Notification of an Instant Payment Received
• Thank you for your payment
• Your package will be shipped by PayPal Shipping with UPS
• Your eBay item has shipped

Nine e-mails. NINE! I knew I bid when I hit the bid button. I don't need 4 e-mails all telling me that I won. I don't need 2 e-mails telling me that the payment was received. And I don't need 2 e-mails telling me the same shipping info. What is going on?

Here is what I want:

• You won the item! Here is your invoice. Please pay here.
• Your payment was received. Item will be shipped ...
• Item shipped, tracking number. Please remember to rate.

The only other time I want to be e-mailed is if I were possibly out-bid, I guess. Even then, I'm not so sure that would change how I use eBay at all.

It is totally amazing that former State Representative/Councilwoman Virginia Isbell still hasn't filed her campaign spending reports.I tried asking her why recently. But instead she blew me off and asked why I e-mailed her so early in the morning. On top of that she tried to change the subject by asking if I wanted her to send me a paddling manual.

In my view, the latter shows her lack of commitment to run a strong campaign against Rep. Josh Green for the District 3 Senate seat.It is insane that she wants to talk about a paddling when she is supposedly running for office.I hope people keep this mind when they go into the polling booth in the upcoming elections.

I got word yesterday that CTS Earthmoving Inc should be completed with the DHHL financed segment of the Manawalea Street Extension by late October. The upper portion of this road constructed by Goodfellow Brothers (and financed by Hawaii County) will be going through the final inspections soon.

I also got word that the HDOT will be requesting on September 19th that the top three bidders for the Queen Kaahumanu Highway Phase II widening project present their best and final bids. The latter process should be completed by the end of 2008. By doing this it will hopefully ease the concerns raised by Kiewit Pacific Company that the winning Goodfellow Brothers bid is inadequate.

It is good to see that Governor Lingle has released 12.7 million dollars to help Hawaii Health Systens Corporation to pay down their accounts payable debt and finance hospital improvements at Hilo Medical Center, Kona Community Hospital and Le'ahi Hospital.

Erika Engle reported today on the FCC fining Oceanic Time Warner Cable for failing to give notice to the DCCA-CATV division that they rolled out SDV here.

It seems the huge reason for the decline in tourism arrivals and spending in June and July was because of decline of cruise ship visitors. Howard Dicus echoes these same sentiments He also provided suggestions on how best to jump start Hawaii's tourism industry.

Lastly, the HTH had additional coverage on the Thirty Meter Telescope proposed for Mauna Kea.

Typically we hear about those multimillion dollar deals from internet start-ups helmed by 20-some year olds that are sold to big companies like Microsoft, Google, etc.

I wonder how many of these smaller-transaction sales are done.  It's heartening to see that someone who creates something as simple as a message board forum can generate enough interest to warrant a big sale, even while a teenager.

OK, admittedly it's a stretch. This wifi hotspot is indeed free, but certainly not local ... unless anywhere in Southeast Pennsylvania can be considered "local" to Sanatoga. Still, finding a no-cost Internet connection is always worthy of note, so this is the third in the occasional series. I had coffee here yesterday morning before attending a work-related meeting.

Free wifi can be found at:

Saxby's Coffee
60 Lancaster Avenue
Malvern, PA 19355
Phone 610-251-9590

Distance from Sanatoga village center (East High Street at North Pleasantview Road): 19.5 miles
Find directions via Google here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/times_online_tv/?vxSiteId=d8fa78dc-d7ad-4d5a-8886-e420d4bc4200&vxChannel=Arts%20and%20Entertainment&vxClipId=1152_timesonline1132&vxBitrate=300

Information about this Animation

What do you think? Leave a comment or email me at tobysnews@googlemail.com.

Anyway, here's the update from the Paint.NET blog:

In my last post about Paint.NET v4, I said that I was going to be writing it "from scratch" — that it would be a rewrite from the ground up, in other words. I’ve since changed my mind.

You see, I got a few months into this rewrite project. I wrote a lot of code — 26,000 lines of it, in fact. However, the continually daunting task of finishing the next 150,000 lines of code and doing a reset on the 4 years of bug fixes in v3.xx made things … depressing. So, I’ve decided that I will turn back to the v3.xx codebase and work towards v4 from there.

However, don’t worry. The rewrite project, which is now called a "prototype," was not wasted time. I was able to work on and experiment with a lot of stuff in a nicely isolated fashion, and I now have a much better idea how I can refactor these into the existing [v3.xx] codebase. This includes some things for stuff like task management, extensibility, eventing, asynchronous programming, retained mode rendering, and an improved document model. This is actually a good example of quantity beating quality: by being able to iterate on all this enormous amount of code in isolation without the burden of the existing code base, I’ve been able to fine-tune it towards perfection.

In fact, I can’t stress that one word enough: depressing. Having 150,000 lines of code worth of work to do before you can even have something that’s feature parity with your already-shipping product, and that your users will even be interested in, is not fun. Next time you hear yourself thinking, "Rewriting this would be worth it," stop and switch over to thinking about prototyping in an isolated codebase instead of rewriting the existing codebase. I can write a lot of code really fast, and I like to think I’m very good at it, but this was just too much for me. Your code (and mine) may not be academic-proof or astronaut-quality, but that’s ok … because it already works.

...continue reading at Paint.NET v4 takes a new, good turn (ixnay on the rewrite)

Hey there everyone....I have had quite a few e-mails about this term OEM...and I myself...did not understand..when I first started to buy e-Bay a lot...so here is the defination...

An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM is a companies orignal product for use with that product which uses a component made by a second company in its own product...so for example it means I have a w300i cellphone...which is compatible with certain headsets....

The OEM...is from SONY...and the non-OEM is from JABBER.....basically a knock off that is still compatible..with the main product

another example...is companys like MAD CATS and Pelican for gamers...these products are not made from Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft...they are also called 3rd party devices...

Don't get me wrong...they are not counterfeit or necessarily bad products....and can be a lot cheaper then the OEM model...just be aware...that they were not made by the same manufacture...and thous can not be 100% tested...like OEM versions that will work with little or no issue....with said device...

Hope that clears things up,

Se7en

From Lifehacker:

Firefox 3 comes with several preferences baked into its options dialogs, but there are still a few you can only access by rolling up your sleeves and digging into its configuration manually. Power users have been diving under Firefox's hood to get their browser to behave just how they like since version 0.9, but Firefox 3 offers some new settings that customize its new features. Let's take a look at our favorite Firefox 3 about:config tweaks for customizing your browser.

What the heck is about:config? Firefox keeps its advanced settings in a giant configuration file in your Firefox directory, and even offers an advanced interface to edit that file in the browser itself. To make these changes, type about:config in Firefox's address bar. You'll get a half-joking, half-serious message about voiding Firefox's warranty if you change any settings. Press the "I'll be careful. I promise!" button (because you will be) and you'll be on your way. Warning: Keep track of what settings you change where in about:config, because one false move can make your browser go loony. You'd do well to back up your Firefox profile first before proceeding.

Got all that? Onto the tweaks.

(continue reading at Useful Firefox 3 Configuration Tweaks)

It's difficult, but not impossible, to find no-charge wireless Internet connections in or near Sanatoga. This is the second in an occasional series of blog entries on local free wifi hotspots. The emphasis is on "free," and not just available.

Free wifi can be found at:

Burger King
1515 East High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
Phone 610-323-3662

Distance from Sanatoga village center (East High Street at North Pleasantview Road): 0.9 miles
Find directions via Google here

Aurora Concept Videos

Part 1. Aurora explores new ways people could interact with the Web in the future based on projected technological trends and real-world scenarios.

Part 2. An experimental UI proposal for Firefox Mobile.

Part 3. Web connected more closely with physical world

Part 4. Large-scale, gestural interface

Bookmarking & History Concept. An investigation into a better way of visualizing and interacting with bookmarks, your history, and the browser in general. ( Lovely voice :) )

What functions would you like to see in a future browser?

Resources:

Mozilla Labs: Introducing the Concept Series; Call for Participation
Aurora (Adaptive Path)
Bookmarking (Wei Zhou’s Blog)
Firefox Mobile Concept

Throughout this week, the Democratic National Convention is going on in Denver (catch the live HD feed here), but for all those people who are too busy to catch the speeches and spectacle live, their official website is presenting all the video on demand in HD, you can even subscribe here to their feed to get all the updated videos as they're released or just check out their video gallery here.

Just check out Ted Kennedy's speech from earlier in the week to get an idea of the quality here. I just hope the Republican National Convention coming up is as technologically savvy!

Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio for the above pic.

Enjoy

Dany

He is quoted in the Daily Record (Its something when even the Daily Record shows up how anti-SNP The Scotsman has become!):

"I feel a bit upset that I have been quoted as saying the idea of a Scottish Olympic team is ridiculous.

"If and when a Scottish team was put together, I would be delighted to represent Scotland in the Olympic Games.

"But before that happens, so much needs to be done for the athletes to be able to compete at the highest level.

"As a cyclist, there isn't a facility in Scotland where I can train throughout the year and that's why I have to base myself outside Scotland.

"I am proud to be Scottish, but at the same time it's not feasible to think we can compete as a nation without the right facilities."

So he's just calling for an improvement in facilities, and seems to have clarified his past comments.

I'm sure he would much rather train in Scotland if the facilities matched those of Manchester.

And that's the rub. Athletes can train anywhere that have the right facilities. Many of the successful Jamaican Olympic team trained in the United States, for instance.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games should provide a legacy of facilities for our athletes for years to come.

Some athletes don't need much in the way of facilities:

Kristin Armstrong, an American Olympic cyclist in Beijing, won the Gold in the Women's Individual Time Trial in Road Cycling.

It seems all she needed was her bike, her husband's GPS and a PC running Google Earth.

She took the GPS when she trialled the Olympic route in 2007. She then went home, imported the data into Google Earth, and then matched the elevations of the Chinese Olympic route to a similar route at her home in Boise, Idaho for her training.

Now that is smart thinking.

And in Beijing she cruised to a Gold Medal.

You can just bet Google Earth will be playing this up for years!

Incidentally, Emma Pooley from England won the Silver, one of the medallists in Team GB. She is based and trains in Zurich, Switzerland. I'll bet she wishes she thought of that idea! Or indeed, Nicole Cooke from Wales - based in Lugano, Switzerland, who finished fifteenth. But she did win the Gold in the Road Race.

Finally a hat-tip to Daibhi Anseo who pointed out in the comments to my post on Home Nations Olympic teams in history that a cycling team represented Scotland in the 1912 Olympics in Sweden.

I've not found a picture yet but I have found the names of the Scotland cycling squad:

John Wilson
Robert Thompson
John Miller
David Stevenson
Charles Hill
James Stevenson
George Corsar
Arthur Griffiths

They finished fourth and just missed out on a medal. The hosts Sweden came first and took the gold, obviously having the advantage of regularly training on the Olympic route.

If only Google Earth was around in 1912!

...a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows it's users to send and read other users updates which are text-based post of up to 140 characters about what they are doing...

 I believe that twitters are not an invasion of privacy because you choose what you post for others to see. If you don't want people to know what you are doing at the moment they don't have too. It is completly up to you what people see so it is not like a GPS tracking device of your every move.

It can be very helpful, I think, to see what others, that you share common intrest with, are doing. Say you want to find information on a certain subject, or where you can get tickets for the concert that is coming to town. Well instead of looking at the whole internet for hours, you could just go look at a few of your friends twitters, and you might find that they have already found the same information you are looking for. This will save you a ton of time and stress because instead of spending hours looking for it you can just ask them where they found it. It is very helpful in a job because if you are working on a project you could require everyone to post their progress on a twitter so everyone in the group can see how the different pieces are coming along and if tehy are getting done at all. I do find a small value in this tool which would ahve to be that it saves you a little time and effort, and it could spark new intrest for you.

Some common Twitters you might know or and use are Twitterific or Facebook.

Check out this video. It's called the TWITTER SONG. It's pretty interesting!!!

DEFINITION

Get your own Twitter at Twitter.com

Original linking article here

Researchers at a Californian company which makes computer-generated imagery for Hollywood films started with a video of an employee talking. They then broke down down the facial movements down into dozens of smaller movements, each of which was given a 'control system'.

Meet Emily - Amazing Lifelike Animation

Interview with creators of the technology

Further reading:

Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games (Times Online)

I finally found a really good reason to install Firefox on my Macbook. The video above is an introduction to Ubiquity, the sexiest Firefox plugin I've ever seen. Productivity hipster, Twitter buffoon, and inside joke humorist Merlin Mann calls it the Quicksilver of Firefox. The tinyurl part of video was the clincher for me. Still haven't installed it, but I expect soon to be geeking out with this.

More info to read:

From the Mozilla Labs

In Depth Review

These are my notes from the program.  [Since I am taking paper-free notes and because there is free Wi-Fi here, I thought that I’d add the notes to the blog.  Disclaimer: my notes are rough, so forgive the typos.]

From ILTA:

Title: The Ultimate Legal Technologist
Description: We discuss the value of legal or IT expertise as a foundation for legal technologists, specifically in the field of practice (or litigation) support.  The panel discusses their findings and experiences when the pendulum is swung in either direction.  Can you find legal technologists who hold in-depth expertise in both areas, and do they make the ultimate technologist?
Speaker(s): Joel Vogel - Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP
Florinda Baldridge - Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Michelle Mahoney - Mallesons Stephen Jaques
 
Learning Objectives: Identify the dynamics that lead to a successful service delivered by multi-disciplined professionals.
Learn about the personality types, perceptions and the reality when managing expectations of legal staff and clients.

No LawyerKM notes due to technical problems.  I recommend checking out the slides from the presentation.

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms