Meetro - location aware Instant Messaging

I am currently trying out a new chat program which is called Meetro.

The program uses the location you provide, be it your home, coffee shop, airport or hotel to show you other people who are in the same area. Currently in NW Ohio I get no one within range to chat with. But I just downloaded the program today.

Beware if you are a friend of mine that you will soon be getting a pitch to install this.

Also it handles AIM connections to so it allows for an easy transition.

Download it here

This afternoon or evening I will put up a post about a nifty cell phone tower finder.

PSP as an Emulator

Over the course of the last week I had a few minutes of free time and other than being confused by this phenomenon known as free time I found some great information about running emulators on your PSP (Play Station Portable). The info can be found at pspupdates.com. The process has moved form choppy recreation on Japanese only versions of the PSP to a robust and easily installed set of emulators for the US version 1.5 firmware PSPs. A note as of yet there is not a known homebrew option for the firmware being released from Sony in the next few days, Version 2.0 so I would advise against getting it unless you really need the new features.

To get Emulators on your PSP click here

or

here for a direct download

The link will take you to a page to download a pack of the most used emulators which easily install on the stock memory card.

I have the emulators and about 10 games fitting on the 32MB card my PSP came with, I am looking to get a bigger card to allow for more games.

To find the games use Google and look for a “insert system name here (nes, snes, MAME)” rom or roms.

There are also a great number of cool homebrew apps including a Super Smash Brothers Port available at pspupdates.com

Win a $50 Itunes card and other rare items at tobiasbuckell.com

Ok so another plug for Toby, He is having a contest to create a website for his new book Crystal Rain.

The Prizes include

-$50 iTunes Gift Card
-A bound galley of Crystal Rain, signed (there are only 20 of these in existence, and I’m only giving away 2 of them)
-A signed copy of Crystal Rain once it arrives (Christmas Time)
-A signed copy of Writers of the Future XVI with a story of mine inside
-A signed copy of I, Alien, with a story of mine inside

And some things to keep in mind about the design include.

-a place to put the blurbs
-a place to put the summary (you can see that on the Amazon page)
-features the cover
-my picture (found in presskit) plus the bio on the main page of this site
-ordering links to amazon/b&n/borders etc
and possibly:
-a place to highlight any reviews?
-a countdown timer featured somewhere?

To check out his post and get more info head over there. I would like to enter but I doubt I have the time right now. The deadline is September 1st 2005.

Tivo Series 2 as a DVD Jukebox

According to a link from Engadget.com and noDRM.com Tivo documents show that they will be releasing a new version of the Tivo Desktop software soon. The new software will allow users to put MPEG2 videos onto their Tivo Units. This will only work for series 2 Tivos. The ability to transfer your own home movies or your backed up DVD’s to a HDD based player easily is amazing. I currently only have a Series 2 40 Hr Tivo but I am thinking about getting a 160 GB HDD and plunking it in to hold in reserve my most watched and favorite DVDs, (Mallrats, Empire Records, Memento, Diehard 3, Requiem for a Dream, etc). The link to the Tivo how to page is below but the new Version 2.2 software has yet to be released.

Link

Sin City and a preview

Well a short post this evening Amber got me Sin City so we are currently watching it.

I would have to say it is a great movie although some people (Jake) would disagree.

I think Alex Rodriguez has a thing for toilets full of human waste since this is about the third scene so far involving someone’s head and a toilet of crap.

Well back to the movie, then a brief read through the special edition comic that came with the book.

Tomorrow I will be giving a short update on NWflow, The Online Auction site for Northwest Ohio.

I also have some cool info about Tivo and new capabilities for Tivo Desktop = A must read.

Video Game Ratings and You

Well the BBC reports that parents do not often care so much what the video game is rated or what it’s contents is as HOW many hours their child is playing the video game. The study was conducted by Jurgen Freund and the findings clearly indicate that parents at least in the UK and I will transfer it to a large number of the parents in the US don’t seem to know exactly what is going on in their child’s lives let alone why they shouldn’t be playing a “m” rated video game. These same parent’s will jump on the band wagon and file a lawsuit when there “darling” child goes on a rampage at the daycare center. They will claim that GTA made him do it but maybe it’s because the they didn’t give a crap what the kid was doing, never paid attention to him.

This whole problem with violent games is ridiculous, Parent’s are at fault, not game publishers not Gamestop, not the kid who sold You the parent an “M” rated game and warned you it had violent content in it. Stop telling the government to place restrictions on games stop giving Hillary Clinton and Half the Congress something petty to debate. Step up be a parent and learn what ratings mean!

Response from Hyatt

Mr. Smith,

I would like to thank you for your feedback regarding your stay. I realize you took time out of your busy day and for that I would like to thank you personally. The short coming that you have encountered in your first room was clearly unacceptable and clearly not Hyatt standards. I will be speaking with my staff specifically regarding this. I am happy to hear that the room move that you experienced was to the standard that we are custom to. I believe that this was an isolated incident and would like to apologize again.
I would like to offer you, should you be traveling to the Chicago land area in the near future to please contact me directly so I may arrange your accommodations.
Again, I would like to offer my apologies for the experience you have encountered and looking forward to hearing from you soon.

P.S. Could you provide me with a phone number to contact you regarding your lost item.

Sincerely,
XXXXXX
XXXXXXX Division

Hyatt Regency Woodfield
1800 East Golf Road
Schaumburg, Illinois 60173

———————————————————————————

So I am not totally satisfied since I cannot tell if the offer to personally arrange my room means it is free or just a feeble attempt to placate me. Either way I am excited about the possibility of getting my sunglasses returned.

Verizon Wireless : We Never stop exposing your personal info (R)

So I am minding my own business busily working and I decide to check out more info on a meteor shower in the area tonight. ( I really don’t look for stuff to complain about to companies!) I am looking through an article on CBSnews.com and I found this ARTICLE about Verizon’s online account info.

The just of the Story is here

The flaw allowed customers who punched in another user’s phone number to see how many airtime minutes that person had used, as well as the number of free minutes they had remaining for the month, spokesman Tom Pica said Thursday night. Snoopers could also learn what cell phone model a customer used.

and

But Jonathan Zdziarski, the software developer who notified the phone company of the problem, said that the programming flaw exposed account balances and the date of the most recent payment, the Washington Post reported in Friday’s editions. The company would not confirm the claim.

This is pretty troubling especially since Verizon is currently making a push to get more customers signed up online for billing and account summary information.

I am tempted to call and try and get a credit for any security problems formerly in the system but I doubt the level 1-3 CSRs will know what I am talking about.

I just got off the phone with Verizon about a 20 dollar refund for some accessories I didn’t order and I was told to wait another 3 weeks. They have had my money since the 6th of July. I think its ridiculous but can they do anything to help me out no…..and their supervisor is in a meeting, imagine that. I will be calling back this afternoon to try my luck with a different CSR.

And thanks to the article above I can have something to say when the operator asks, “Is there any thing else I can help you with today?”

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