GMail Goes Dark

Did you notice? I did not. I don’t use Gmail unless it is to sign in to Blogger. But according to the New York Times, the Mighty Google Gmail system was down for the count Monday night.

One of the best places to track the outage is Twitter. Users are venting their frustrations about Gmail being down — at a rate of 100 or so messages per minute. As a user who calls himself dashmybuttons said, “it’s like a neighborhood blackout, now everyone’s out in the street trying to assess what went wrong.”

I called a Google spokesman, who said he would check and get back to me. For a company that is trying to pitch its Web applications to business customers, not to mention millions of individual users, this can’t be good news.

Someone in the comments made the good point: why would Google “have to go check”? Wouldn’t they already know if Gmail was down, IF Google was using it? It made it seem like Google doesn’t even use it’s own mail program! Funny. If I was Google, I wouldn’t. I’m not fond of Gmail; it’s clumsy and bulky. I only have Gmail because I have to in order to use Blogger (and now YouTube has included it).

Nonetheless, aren’t power outages expected? I think it odd that some people are angry at the outage, and especially for a free service!

Internet Payday Loans?

I’ve been readin gon more websites the availability of such things as Payday Loans and also of Bad Credit Loans. I’m surprised to see these things, as I have believed that financial matters online are risky. However, I am more at ease doing my banking and credit card applications online. I think the Internet is becoming “all things to all people” kind of thing. Certainly in these unstable economic times, people are turning to loans, especially if they are quick and easy and easily obtainable. I don’t see any problem with short-term loans for minor things (like an emergency car repair) or long-term loans for investments (like a house), but the problem would come with someone spending beyond their means, or in getting long-term loans for short-term items. A person has to be extremely careful and self-disciplined to be able to acquire a loan online and pay it back, I think. Although, I am glad to see that we have other alternatives besides begging our local bank for money…. how about you? If you were ever in a real pinch, would you take advantage of a pay day loan? Would you do it online?

An Amazing Video

I saw in some news circles that they are calling NASA’s new video, “An Alien’s Eye View,” which is so juvenile. Might as well say it’s a flying pig’s eye view. Sheesh! Well, anyway, the video is neat. It’s a video of the lunar cycle as view by a camera– NASA’s Deep Impact– 31 million miles out in space.

Isn’t it beautiful? And that’s just a little YouTube video– imagine what it would look like sitting in a home theater seating setting!

Car That Runs on Air

Everyone around the world is groaning for a solution to the outrageous oil prices. I have been paying attention to various viral videos and Internet articles about alternative fuel sources. Here’s a fascinating video I discovered, about a car that runs on air. Can this be?

Unfortunately, all of these innovative vehicles are being crafted in other countries. I applaud Europe for it’s culture of innovation. The automobile industry, the oil industry, and labor unions have such a strangle-hold on the United States that I truly wonder if we’ll ever shake free from it. I just may need a passport to ever get to see these amazing vehicles.

The Computer of the Future?

I think I have seen it all! Well.. come to think of it, maybe I haven’t. But this is something pretty close! Ever heard of it? It’s the “B Membrane” computer.

It looks really funky, like something in one of those retro vegas hotels! I have to wonder if something like this will really catch on. I like the monitor system (like a projector) but the keyboard is extremely awkward. However, there’s no worry about spilling coffee in the keys!

How about you? Would you buy something like this?

Extend Your WiFi Signal Range

I have a wireless DSL modem in the house. I have been unhappy with my very weak WiFi signal in my bedroom upstairs. I had heard that there’s an easy way to increase WiFi signal range, and I found this entertaining video about how to make a homemade “parabolic reflector” with stuff around the house. This looks cool!

The template these guys are referring to is this one. I’m going to try this and see if this fixes my problem. I’ll be sure to give a review when I do it! Now if only making Adirondack patio furniture was so easy!

Online Scanning Service

Here’s an amazing thing: document scanning services! Sourcecorp, a New England company, provides a unique service with their document managing service, called ImageSilo. It’s a service geared toward making all the paperwork for businesses a little easier. Documents are scanned at the company, and uploaded to their “web based document repository” (conveniently named the “Image Silo”). It’s much like outsourcing your paperwork, except that this is an American company.

The documents are heavily encrypted, and the company promises 99.9% uptime so the data is always available. There’s a 30-day free trial. If you are a business owner looking for a way to consolidate paperwork and increase productivity, you might want to check into this. Online storage is available, too.

I’ve noticed that more document-type programs are going online. Spreadsheets, Word documents, and the like are becoming more popular as more applications go online. And everyone has heard of data backups. I don’t think downloaded programs will ever go away, but many computer-cluttering programs are going online.

The Entertainment Age

My generation (Generation X in America) grew up in what is known in popular culture as the “Information Age.” Technology was spawning inventions and geo-political implications, like the man on the moon, Reagan’s “Star Wars” defense plan, televisions and VCRs, and the inception of the Internet. Can you believe that all these things occurred only a generation ago? I remember when VCRs came out– the family was ecstatic! My stepfather was an electronics repairman, so we had the first of everything in my neighborhood. Today, those clunkers we call VCRs and tube televisions from the 70s are nothing compared to the sleek-looking HDTV models out there. Amazing.

I’ve been thinking that the generational age we are living in could be called the “Entertainment Age.” Never before in history have we used technology so much for our entertainment. It is truly a sign of the times. And sports is probably the most popular form of entertainment.

I heard that CBS (who has held the broadcast rights to the games since 1982) is going to stream the entire season of the NCAA March Madness on the Internet this year. The news commentator was joking that businesses would see a sharp drop in productivity, not to mention in clogged bandwidth because so many would be watching the basketball games. There was some speculation that businesses may add filters to their business Internet servers, to prevent workers from streaming the March Madness games.

Retrevo, an excellent source of news and electronics products (and one of my new favorites for news on gadgets and everything about technology), says:

Starting this year CBS will broadcast all games in the men’s tournament, both constant and flex, in HDTV . If you can receive CBS HDTV over the air or via cable you should be in good shape. For the women’s games you’ll have to get ESPN which will be broadcasting many games in HD.

Basketball can be very demanding for HDTV . A fast moving foreground (the action on the court) against a complex background (people in the stands) make it challenging to compress, decompress, and difficult to display without artifacts and blurring.

The very latest LCD sets that offer features like MEMC (motion estimation, motion compensation), 120 Hz refresh, and fast pixel response can help minimize problems. Sets with these features are just starting to show up and may cost a few dollars more.

On the other hand, if you’re willing to put up with a few possible annoyances for a much superior experience than your old standard definition set has to offer, you can get some great values in LCD, Plasma, or even Rear Projection sets for under $2000 and even under $1000.

Imagine, watching the NCAA games on a huge Plasma TV or projected on a huge wall through a high-tech projector? My husband would go bananas. All he’d need to be completely happy is to have Michael Jordan come back to basketball, lol.

There’s more information about entertainment technology here. I love this site because they are so thorough and offer advice and price ranges and examples of all the electronics they discuss. Bookmark that site for future reference (and they are also in my sidebar links).

Well, I have to wonder what will be next in this age of burgeoning electronics. Personal space travel? I still cannot believe that just forty years ago all we had was the tube television and the transistor radio… amazing.

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