Category ArchiveTechnology



Technology &the net 23 Dec 2005 01:52 pm

Blogging as a Social Tool – Gnomedex 5

blogging

There’s a lot of cool videos over at Chris Pirillo’s blog from his latest event Gnomedex 5. One I thought was particularly appropriate to mention was Blogging as a Social Tool – check it out.

Technology 10 Dec 2005 02:34 pm

I need one of these

voiltaic

I know, “Sorry, I ran out of battery” is a lame excuse. Battery charge is finite. Daylight is not. This ubergadget is just so essential to me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve run out of juice on my phone or laptop at the most inconvenient times. Considering we have over 340 days of sunshine in Greece, you can’t help but want to take advantage of the rays. The Voltaic Systems Solar Panel Backpack is a bit pricey at $229.00 and I wouldn’t want Panos to use it as a stepping stool like he does with my current backback, but it really is a must have for me. I hope to pick one up soon so those that need to reach me can reach me when they need to.

Explaining &Technology 10 Dec 2005 02:01 pm

Explaining: RSS

feedreader
Like email, but for websites. It’s a way to get new content delivered to you automatically. When a site gets new content, your RSS reader (a program that retrieves RSS): receives a notification.

Most sites with dynamic content have a little RSS button that helps you subscribe to that sites RSS feed. For example I have an RSS Feed on this site.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”

The BBC has a great page explaining what RSS is

Popular RSS readers
netnewswire
feedreader
newsgator

Technology &the net 08 Dec 2005 10:24 am

GPR$ Rip Off

bb

Am I cheap or am I simply not a fool?

Is it me or are blackberries just not selling in Greece? I’ve had one for about 6 months but never turned it on. My feelings towards the daylight robbery that is GPRS bandwidth are well known. A Vodafone rep recently came in to the office to try convince me convince my users to subscribe to Blackberry service. His pitch was really pathetic. No mention of the benefits of using such a service nor any mention of communication / productivity gains, full time availability etc.

No, his sell was basically this: “Get in on the deal now because we’re barely keeping up with demand. We’ve got thousands of requests a day and almost can’t manage. We’re surprised you haven’t subscribed yet”

I remember thinking then, “Gimme a break ! Who is this joker !” – My response -“GPRS costs too much – how can you expect me to justify such costly bandwidth rates when compared to ADSL or even dial up. Sure mobility is a factor but is it worth 1000%? Bring down the prices and we’ll subscribe. Until then we’ll stay wired.” –

Sales rep, duly sent packing.

When i pay 8 bucks to host a website and they give me a 250 Gb transfer rate/month and compare that to 30bucks a month for 10mb on Vodafone GPRS – can u help but feel ripped off ? No thanks – Den tha Paro !!

A few months on and just I don’t see those thousands of subscribers tapping away at their Blackberries on the streets of Athens. So much for the demand they couldn’t keep up with. Maybe it’s me wearing a blackberry user filter lens.

Technology I use 30 Nov 2005 04:05 pm

NASLite Backup Server Software

naslite

NasLite is something I aim to try over the weekend. It may be something I can use for a number of people asking for online backup solutions. An old PC and some HDD’s and a floppy is all thats needed. Plus, it’s free ! I’ll do a review when I’m done testing it.

Technology I use 29 Nov 2005 02:38 pm

Theo’s Great VOIP article at NewsAgent.gr

voipbuster

Theo did a great article on VOIP over at NewsAgent.gr tonight.

You have all probably heard of Skype and its call2landline service SkypeOut but have you heard of VoipBuster ?

If you haven’t heard of it yet, here’s a really useful download that’s a great deal too. VoipBuster allows you to make free calls to land lines in selected countries for a minute each time. You can subscribe and get unlimited calls to those countries by buying €10 worth of credit for calls to other destinations. Greece is of course covered in the Superdeal Free!!! Category. Gotta love this one. I’ve been using it for quite some time.

Technology I use &the net 20 Nov 2005 02:40 pm

Finally, Real Ubuntu CD’s !!!

ubuntushopping

Ubuntu has gotta be the coolest Linux out there. The 30min install has everything a PC will need, Firefox as the default browser and some cool server stuff too. It’s free, and supported by Spaceman Mark Shuttleworth. Of course I’ve downloaded ubuntu !! A couple of times in fact. I’ve burned quite a few CD’s too. Still, there’s nothing like an original CD so a couple of weeks ago I ordered 5 (the minimum) just to check it out. Suprise, suprise. Yesterday a small parcel came from Switzerland containing my 5. Super excited, I gave away the 4 immediately to non-linuxers, pushing them to try it, then did a fresh install of 5.10 and immediately proceeded to order 40 more. I have absolutely no doubt I’ll get them. Hey, they’re free and I’m going to give them away at the F.I.T. meetup which will happen sometime in January. I will probably order more before then anyway.

Technology &Technology I use 20 Nov 2005 02:15 pm

Java Studio Creator est très Cool

java

I’ve tinkered with Java ever since taking the SL110 and SL275 courses at New Horizons earlier this year. I can’t say I was happy with how much code it took to build a GUI. This is just so cool though. I’m downloading it now and will do a write up once I start my first JSP web app.

Technology 16 Nov 2005 06:53 am

“Friends in Tech” Meetup

lounge I’d like to organise a “Friends in Tech” Meetup where we can all basically get together and do some networking/brainstorming – basically a get-together where you can brag about the cool stuff you’ve done, cool products or services you provide. I might do it in an Athens hotel and get a sponsor for food, net etc. Will invite most tech geeks I know and also open it up to peer invite so if you have someone you’d like to nominate, then email me. I will have to limit it to about 250 attendees. I have a couple of ideas for speakers let me know if you want to talk/present. Stay tuned.

Technology &the net 14 Nov 2005 12:41 pm

Top 10 Sites I Read

top10sites
1) www.digg.com
2) www.wired.com
3) www.downloadsquad.com
4) chris.pirillo.com
5) www.google.com
6) www.engadget.com
7) www.thisweekintech.com
8) www.theregister.com
9) www.hackaday.com
10) www.technorati.com

life &Technology 03 Nov 2005 12:52 pm

Day Job: WILL INNOVATE

noinnovation One of the bosses
(I have many, some days more, some days less) insisted there was no room for innovation in the organisation as it is today. At least he said that’s what his bosses are trying to impress upon him. “We are outsourcing all forms of innovation.

People who by default were full of brainpower, workarounds, new ideas and approaches are a dying breed. We are in a state of emergency. The organisation doesn’t want our type around any longer. We may have a history of innovative solutions through the years, in some respects our innovative ideas made the organisation what it is today, technically at least.

We are slowly being phased out. We are too costly to run. The beancounters see commercial solutions on par with our internal solutions. We, as an organisation, have special needs. You’ll see, it will turn. It’s a cycle. We’ll be back.”

I agree. I’ll continue to innovate. Secretly. Let’s hope there’s some talent left when we need it.

SO –

WILL INNOVATE, WILL REBUILD, WILL REDESIGN – WILL BEAT THE LOWEST BIDDER

Technology I use &the net 31 Oct 2005 03:48 am

Edirect

No bullshit – I ordered 4 x Maxtor 120Gb backup devices at, wait for it !!!!!!! €3.50!!!!!! each this morning from www.edirect.gr

Needless to say, they called me a couple of hours later saying they had made a mistake on their site and that the price was wrong. I insisted that they should fulfill the order as advertised. They insisted they were cancelling my order.

I then called EKPOIZO – the Greek Consumer Council – got some good advice, thanks. They suggested I write a letter. Well, in the modern spirit of blogging, no letter, just blog.

Now I’m no legal eagle but, a price advertised as far as I am concerned constitutes contract. However, in the spirit of good netizenship, I admit I thought that e-direct made a mistake when palcing the order but thought it wouldn’t hurt to place the order anyway. Because in commerce, both sides need to be honest for a transaction to be successful, and because e-direct took the trouble to admit to thier mistake, I’m happy to let this one go.

Pity, I could have used the disks Edirect

Απόδειξη παραγγελίας
Κωδικός παραγγελίας: #10509 Ημνία Παραγγελίας: 31/10/2005 8:15:33 πμ
Προϊόντα παραγγελίας

Α/Α Τίτλος Προϊόντος Ποσότητα Τιμή Συνόλου ΦΠΑ Σύνολο
1 Maxtor OneTouch External 120GB 4 €14,00 €2,66 €16,66
Σύνολο €14,00 €2,66 €16,66
Αποστολή παραγγελίας
Όνομα: Stavros
Επώνυμο: Messinis
Οδός:
Αριθμός:
T.K.:
Πόλη: Athens
Νομός: Αττικής
Χώρα: Ελλάδα
Email:
Εταιρεία:
Τηλέφωνο 1:
Τηλέφωνο 2:
FAX:
Μεταφορικά
courier €5,60
Τελικό Σύνολο "

Technology I use &the net 29 Oct 2005 10:36 am

My Favourite Power Browser

I’ve been using Maxthon as my primary browser for some months. It really is a power users browser.

Although not striclty a browser but rather a browser shell based on IE, its’ pretty damn powerful and makes IE a usable product. Given all the IE vulnerabilities out there I wouldn’t suggest using it without running regular windws update patching by default as well as Windows Antispyware and Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Still it has tabbed browsing and what I think is the coolest feature, closing tabs with a double click. Other cool features include “Mouse Gestures” which allows you to navigate using the mouse and also “super drag & drop” that lets you open a link simply by dragging it upwards (almost like throwing a link to open a new tab)

Try close Maxthon down completely and you’re handed a window asking if you’d like to save the session of open tabs for next time – very cool indeed.

Maxthon has a facilty for plugins too, checkout the cool plugins site
Once you try it you probably won’t go back to anything else any time soon.

« Previous Page