Degutis Insights

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

19 Aug, 2008

How to run a beta test

Posted by: Al In: Business| Technology

I’m a beta-whore. I tried to categorize myself as a beta tester, an early adopter, and various other, nicer labels but my wife insists that “beta-whore” fits best.  I enjoy technology and feel my jack-of-all-trades skills can be beneficial in a beta test.  I sign up for many beta programs and devote more time to [...]

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19 Aug, 2008

Smart ForTwo cars spotted

Posted by: Al In: Business

In the last three weeks I’ve spotted three of the Smart ForTwo cars, at least I think it was three. Two of them were on the I90 toll road near Chicago and looked like this:

Image take with my iPhone through
a dirty front windshield
The third one appeared to be a convertible Smart ForTwo, but I’m not [...]

18 Aug, 2008

No customer service at this time

Posted by: Al In: Business

I was on the phone trying to get in touch with the Customer Service group of Other World Computing about an order. As is too common nowadays, they use an automated phone menu system, but this one forces you to talk to it which I particularly don’t like.  I had to grab my voice recorder [...]

05 Aug, 2008

What iTunes 7.7.1 broke for me

Posted by: Al In: Business| Technology| iPhone

I’ve been one of the lucky ones. I’ve had pratically no problems with the 3G iPhone and only minor issues with a couple of apps since Day 1. Then I installed the iTunes 7.7.1 update when it came out. That’s when the troubles started. Luckily, the iPhone itself hasn’t been affected but the iPhone with [...]

One of the great features of Twitter is that you can access and post it in various ways: from the website, from a dedicated client on Mac or PC, from a cell phone via SMS or mobile app, etc.  Maybe someday we’ll see digital cameras with built-in Twitter access.  With all of these different access [...]

With Twitter continuing to be so unreliable, I think third party applications such as Twhirl, TweetDeck,  Twitterrific and possibly FriendFeed(?), just to name a few, need to add the option to keep a local copy of messages and your Following and Followers list. TweetDeck is already ahead of the game as it keep messages in [...]

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20 Jul, 2008

Twinkle - a few days later

Posted by: Al In: Business| Technology| Twitter| iPhone

I started using Twinkle, an iPhone app, on Thursday night (July 17th) and wrote this post about it. Here are my impressions and what I’ve learned about it after using it for few days.
Twinkle has it’s own network which it uses for its Nearby service. The Nearby service, also a section in the app, [...]

When I was getting my haircut I overheard the discussion in the chair next to me. The person was lamenting about a night out with some friends. She and three of her friends went out for drinks and appetizers. The bill ended up being $200 because the Long Island Ice Tea they were drinking were [...]

15 Jul, 2008

Stone Nudes - Art not sport?

Posted by: Al In: Business| Photography| Sports

Over the last couple of days I’ve seen stories online about the “Stone Nudes.“  The story in the link states:
It is a breathtaking - and death-defying feat - which redefines the term extreme sport.
Battling both gravity and the elements, the climber claws her way up a granite boulder by just her fingertips.
For most, the lack [...]

Like my previous post on this topic, here’s another batch of apps that caught my eye, but this time only focusing on free apps. (Note - links below are iTunes links, not web browser links)

Flashlight (a free version), FlatLux and MyLite - all free
Both are trying to steal market share away from the $1.99 Flashlight [...]

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Flickr PhotoStream

    Our new "drinking" glassThere's no crying in Project ManagementPanoramic Sunset Aug-23-2008Puzzle time for Topher (21st Century)

About

Degutis Insights consists of the ramblings of Al and Judy, where we share our thoughts and images from our lives, including family and friends, technology and other miscellaneous topics.