Pulp Free

I received a Chumby from my wife a few years ago for Christmas and have faithfully had it hanging out on the nightstand ever since. Sometimes telling me the time in fun and different ways – other times providing a bit a random music from the Internet as I try to find the right way to fall asleep. You don’t really hear much about Chumbys any more – but I’m still enjoying mine every day… And now you can to. Below is a quick collection of my “Clocks” channel…

It’s okay – just let it sit there for a few minutes as it cycles through the different clock widgets. Be careful – the second widget speaks out the time…

It’s been a rough past few days for me. You see, I have a strange need to know what the weather is and what it’s going to be. So much so that I actually have three weather stations in the house that provide both 7-day and 3-day forecasts and current temperature. You’ve probably seen the 7-day models from a few years ago… Sharper Image had them available around Christmas time and I promptly put it on my Christmas list that year!

The 7-Day Forecaster continuously displays forecast data for 150 U.S. locations from AccuWeather.com — no PC or internet connection required. Always know daily high and low temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, UV index, pollen, and air quality alerts. This 7-Day model also features pollen and air quality alerts. Back-light changes color to indicate temperature at a glance.

Now you have to be saying – “There’s a hundred different ways to figure out what the forecast and weather is going to be! Just stick your head out the window, turn on the TV or GASP! Look it up on the Internet!!” – and you’d be right. But I’ve just grown to love my colorful forecaster and all of it’s semi-accurate forecasts. I think they even have some humor… (Tropical rainstorm in Saint Louis? And I’m all for being Sunny & Delightful)

But late this past Sunday night – the data provider in Saint Louis suddenly went quiet. No more updates. And now my temperature and forecasts are no longer working! I did submit a ticket and promptly received a response back from customer support:

Dear Dave,

We received the first reports from the area this morning.  We have contacted the wireless provider so that they can investigate.  We do not have a time estimate yet, but we will work to get the matter resolved as soon as possible.

Best regards,

- Brian , Customer Support

Whew! Thanks Brian!! Glad somebody is on it! I’m having a hard time with my forecasts falling off day by day…

There have been a few new additions to the family clan that I've been needing to talk about… It's been a long time coming, but we're now parents to a brand new Wii.

Now already being a long time XBOX camp member, the Wii was a nice addition for C and I to play some fun games together… (It was rather stressful playing racing car games with her!) Funny part of the story being that I asked a few of my friends to keep my eye out for them during their travels. It happens to be that two of them found them on the same weekend and purchased one for me. What would the odds be of that happening again knowing how hard they've been able to find? (They seem to be coming into their own again… being a bit more available now…)

C		D
		(I don't usually have my mouth hanging open like that!)

I've now spent enough time with WiiSports to become a pro at Bowling (just barely) and I'm making my way pretty well with Tennis… I just need to get C to put in some more time practicing!

Second up has been a real "Life Changer" – a shiny 16GB iPhone has also made it's way into my life.

Since starting my new job at HP I needed to become more connected with e-mail and it's works really well. Add the ability to sync my Microsoft Outlook information, a gorgeous screen for watching videos and a being a pretty decent phone it looks like I couldn't go wrong. (Notice I didn't say anything about how pitiful the EDGE network with AT&T is… – oh wait – I just did… ugh…) Of course, I'm sure that an even shinier 3G phone is just on the horizon but in reality – I'm not that much of a mobile network user… It works great with our home Wi-Fi which is where I use that kind of functionality the most…

With the introduction of my iPulp phone (yeah – I named it iPulp) – that meant it was time to let a few of my older iPods go… I've had my first few experiences with Craigslist and I have to say I've made out pretty well. My 30 GB black Video iPod went for a respectable $125 (of course – $300 new!) and I know that they're actually selling for more than that now. But it went to a better home! A few of my sound modules have also headed out to some other musicians and if I'm lucky – my 65" Mitsubishi HDTV might have a new home as well! Cross your fingers!

Well – that's my story for now (and I'm sticking to it!) We do have a big milestone coming up next post… That's right – #100 is coming up next… Oh whatever will I write about?

Well… it’s just under 24 hours before all of America will be drooling over their new Apple iPhones. Do I want one? Meh… Maybe version 2.0. I still have 18 months left on my renewed Spring PCS contract. But it does look cool. And way better than the other phones trying to compete with it. Time will tell how groundbreaking this latest effort by Apple will be. Granted – I’ve been Apple’tized since the 3rd grade when our family bought an Apple //e (just had to use the same forward slashes!) We even had an Apple SilentType. Mmmmm… Thermal printers!

Anyway – I digress. The point of my ramblings is more specific to how Apple spoke about their employees on this “dawn of the new age…”

Steve got a “look on his face that was kind of the same look as he had when introducing the Mac in 1984.” He said that it sounded like Steve thought the iPhone launch was a really huge deal, and considered it to be one of the most revolutionary and exciting products they had ever created. Steve said, “Don’t worry about two years from now,” they’ll deal with that as it comes. Apple employees will be able to tell their grandkids that they were at Apple when they launched the iPhone, and that it was all worth the sacrifice.

To thank the employees, all full time Apple employees in the US who have been there for a year will be getting an iPhone at the end of July. Multiple sources have told me that they believe this includes retail employees.

Granted – $600 bonus? Yeah, maybe. But I work in technology. I have the projects that seem to last in terms of “years” rather than weeks. Everything pushed aside (including reason) to make the date. It just seems that in this effort – I think the Apple employees really think that their management teams really do appreciate them. There’s something substantial being released at the end of their project. Something tangible.

Maybe I’ll get a paid-in-full mortgage…