Small engine efficiency Nov 19, 2009
I own three machines that utilize small gasoline engines:  A push lawnmower, a weed whacker, and a leaf blower.  During the summer, I use all three every few weeks to keep my tiny yard looking nice.  In the fall, I use the leaf blower pretty extensively to clear leaves.  Despite that incessant hum of engine noise and the wonderful smell of exhaust, I would posit that these engines are actually pretty efficient, more so than a typical car.  This isn't a scientific statement or one that I can prove with numbers, but all I can say is that only after three years of home ownership did I need to refill my five-gallon gas container that feeds all three devices.  I burn through five gallons of gas with my car in probably two or three days. #technology
Ouroboros Nov 19, 2009
The Ouroboros is "an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle."  It represents the idea of a futile process where all that is achieved is ultimately destroyed. 

The new website Autocomplete Me points to a Google search suggestion that asks, "If I ate myself, would I become twice as big or disappear completely?"  Hilarious. #technology
Internet basics (2) Oct 28, 2009
Some of NPR's podcasts recommend visiting their website for more information.  They say, "Please visit N-P-R dot O-R-G."  Every time they say it, I think, "It's 2009.  Just say 'org.'  If people don't know what you're talking about, they probably don't know what the internet is." 

I also hear people say "forward slash" when they're referring to subdirectories of URLs, as in, "google dot com forward slash search."  First of all, most modern web browsers automatically correct for that.  Second, if people can't figure it out by now, they probably shouldn't be using the internet.  Thirdly, I still don't know the difference between a forward slash and a back slash, and look at how far I've made it in life (on an unrelated note, I'm writing this from a bathroom). #technology
Auto-delete podcasts Oct 22, 2009
I know iTunes has the ability to auto-delete podcasts after they've been listened to, but that function has never worked for me.  When I click "Settings..." in the Podcasts tab, I have "Episodes to keep" set to "All unplayed episodes", which to me means all played episodes will not be kept.  However, in real life, this doesn't happen.  Thankfully there's an easy way to fix this:  Right-click a podcast and click "Allow Auto Delete".  Or you can press Ctrl-A to select all, right-click, and select "Allow Auto Delete".  The one caveat is that podcasts are only auto-deleted after a refresh. #technology
Self-fix Oct 7, 2009
A few weeks ago, my toaster oven broke.  The heating element still worked which means the bake function still worked, but the button that simply engages the toaster function stopped working.  Electronic devices are generally above my level of understanding, so I didn't even think about trying to fix it.  And it's not technically broken; it just doesn't work as well as it originally did.  So I decided to forget about it in the hopes that it would fix itself.  We continued to use the bake function and simply stopped using the toast button.  And whether it was a loose wire that melted back into place or a touch from the mighty hand of God, it magically started working again this week.  I'm not sure why and I don't understand how, but now I'm wondering if I should worry about it becoming self-aware and toasting me in my sleep. #technology
Technology always fails Oct 6, 2009
A few weekends ago, I was using the GPS function on my phone to find a friend's house in rural Massachusetts.  The thing about my phone's GPS is that it needs a data connection as well as a GPS connection in order to work.  This is fine for heavily populated areas and interstates, but not so good for everywhere else on earth, such as a friend's house in rural Massachusetts.  Needless to say, my phone stopped working the second I got off the interstate, leaving me fumbling around with a useless phone in a completely unfamiliar area. 

Similarly, but quite differently, there were these two mushrooms that popped up in the middle of my yard over the weekend seemingly out of nowhere, acting like they owned the place.  The grass is dying, some leaves are falling, there are seventy billion acorns, and these mushrooms are like, "What's up?"  So naturally I got my camera and took a picture.  Right before I could take the second picture (the first one is never good) my camera stopped focusing and wouldn't let me press the shutter button.  That's when I noticed a warning light telling me the battery was pretty much dead. 

The central theme of both these stories is simple:  Technology always fails exactly when you need it.  I don't need GPS service on the interstate, I need it in rural areas.  A camera without a battery is worse than no camera at all.  Satellite TV loses signal when there's cloud cover, when all you want to do is watch TV.  My electric razor always dies right in the middle of shaving my face, leaving me half-shaved and pissed off. 

For product designers and engineers, the solution to these problems would be to anticipate failure, and make adjustments.  Anticipate a lost GPS signal, and give the user a simple list of turn-by-turn directions.  Have a better battery meter that alerts the user before, not after, the battery dies.  Admit that a satellite signal has been lost, and advise the user to go read a book.  Allow the device to be used while charging. 

It's stupid to produce a product and think it'll always be used in a perfect world under ideal circumstances.  Technology always fails.  Fix it. #technology
Purpose of the internet Aug 12, 2009
Rat, of Pearls Before Swine fame, on the purpose of the internet: 
"... the internet was specifically invented so that living beings everywhere could be anonymously rude to one another."
Also, without the internet, we wouldn't have words like faceplant and photobomb. #technology
Gapless playback in WMP Aug 5, 2009
Windows Media Player has a "repeat" button, but there's a split-second pause between cycles.  To get rid of that, simply add a file to the playlist twice.  Voila. #technology
Skipping voicemail greetings Jul 30, 2009
How to skip voicemail greetings: 
  1. Press 1.  If it says, "One is not a valid option," go to step 3.
  2. Press *.  Leave your message.
  3. Press #.  Leave your message.
(via Consumerist) #technology
Oh-no (3) Jul 28, 2009
It makes sense to refer to dates in the past few years as oh-[single digit], as in, "I graduated in oh-four and bought a house in oh-five."  Since we're in oh-nine right now, what will happen next year?  Will we of the future start referring to dates using four digits (two thousand ten)?  Or will we finally start doing what our forefathers predicted and call it twenty-ten?  Or even better, will we come up with some stupid slang thing that eventually becomes accepted as common language, like oh-ten?  Oh the suspense! #technology