This is coming from someone who is still living life without assisted vision. I consider myself pretty darn lucky to have been able to last as long as I have without needing corrective lenses. I can see the writing on the blurry wall when I look at things FAR off in the distance, but I have been able to keep things from getting too bad through a regular ocular exercise regimen.
Back to the Beast. This might be the fastest single processor system I've had the pleasure of using. I've got as many eye-candy inducers as I can get to run without causing trouble for each other as I can on it, running Windows XP, and it doesn't ever miss a step. I'm also very impressed that the Bluetooth software is suitably capable, and can handle just about every type of function there is.The keyboard is very comfortable, mostly because HP didn't have to squeeze any keys to fit inside the "constraints" of the chassis. I'm very happy to use it, and am still amazed to have been able to get it, considering how much my employer is trying to squeeze all they can out of every last cent. Thanks, Intel!!
The most fun I've been having of late is working on the development of a new team blog for a fictitious person originally established on a Facebook fan page. The idea came about shortly after Facebook's "Like" feature popped up. Allison mentioned that she wished she could "Dislike" things, and that started the ball rolling toward the birth of H.A.Ters. It has been a rather therapeutic platform for venting about stupid things you see, and finding a few other like-minded folks. We only have 14 fans at the moment, but we are determined to grow. :^)
Once the idea to branch out from the Facebook page was broached (again by Allie), I set up a twitter account and twittermail address so that H.A.Ters' ghostwriters, of which there are currently six, could all tweet directly to their (currrently singular) followers. This was followed by a Google Group for the ghostwriters to discuss the blog setup, and hold the information concerning the ins and outs of the H.A.Ters universe. I started another Google Group to allow more of us to monitor H.A.Ters' email inbox, which is still a little problematic. We have pretty much launched the new blog now, and it features a few imported rants from our previous adventures in blogging, to fill the toddler-blog out in its infancy. The nice part about making this a team blog is that we can each contribute what little we can to make for a more frequently updated blog.
With H.A.Ters' blog and twitter account running, I was able to add RSS feeds from both back onto the Facebook fan page, and added the new blog to Facebooks Networked Blogs app. From Networked Blogs I was able to take a blog following gadget and add it to the blog to go along with all the Google Friend Connect gadgets on the blog, so it is really "socialed out." You can sign up to follow the blog through Blogger or Facebook, and you can leave comments and videos on the page as well as leaving comments on the blog posts. It has been a lot of fun, even if we are the only ones to get much out of the exercise.
My last bit of news has me VERY excited. I just read that Google is finally unveiling a closely guarded secret for the last year. What was once known as GrandCentral, a company Google bought not much before GrandCentral stopped showing any outward publicity, has now become Google Voice. This is going to be an interesting ride. Google Voice will take all of the features from GrandCentral, and integrate the phone book with that from your Gmail account's contacts, and makes your Google Voice phone number available for SMS and email. They have added message transcription, which is an amazing feature all by itself, and usually can't be found for free. We will most likely be dropping our Vonage line very soon. Vonage, I love ya, but you can't keep charging me the small pittance you expect if you can't keep up with this.Blogged with the Flock Browser
