More info, from my friend:
“I just got an email from nccd att announcing that they now do support new iphones. Off I go to Apple Store!”
Go forth and buy the new iPhone and let us know what you think! I’m so tempted to buy one, but I’m not too sure about not being able to type without looking at the iPhone … I like to walk and type at the same time!
New iPhones Don’t Allow Discounted TAP Plan
July 11, 2008
The new-gen iPhones went on sale today! But I just got this from a friend:
“I’m disappointed in ATT for not making an announcement that TAP discount plan can be applied to new iPhones. They said it was for old iPhones….so I decided not to buy it today.”
Has anybody had the same experience?
Finally Sticking It to Myself
July 10, 2008
Three months after I blogged about Starbucks’ new Splash Sticks, I finally saw these sticks in the Starbucks store next to my workplace.
I’m a really happy man now. I know my ID photo doesn’t make me look happy, but believe me, I’m happy.
Please don’t forget to recycle these Splash Sticks, either in your local plastic recycling bin or by re-using them.
I just hope my local workplace Starbucks hangout won’t be one of those stores slated for closure. There’s another Starbucks on the next corner, after all.
Map of Starbucks Store Closings
July 8, 2008
(EDIT 7/18/08: Starbucks has released the complete list of 600 store closures.)
If you’re a somewhat die-hard Starbucks fan, you might’ve heard by now that Starbucks has announced it’ll be closing 600 stores (or 5 percent of its total stores) across the USA due to the challenging economy.
The Seattle Times newspaper has set up a map of Starbucks store closings. This map is not of all 500 stores, since Starbucks hasn’t released the list yet. Instead, the Times is getting this info piece-meal mostly from baristas and the media. None in the DC / Frederick / Baltimore area as of yet (whew!), but this map (so far) only has a fraction of the expected 600 closures.
Any closures near your home or in your town? Let us know.
View Larger Map
(Edit 7/10/08: I forgot to give credit where credit is due – thanks, Starbucks Gossip!)
A Mercedes Roadster Worth Half A Million Dollars
July 3, 2008
The Mercedes-Benz 2008 SLR McLaren Roadster sells for a cool $497,750. Positively cheap compared to that $1.4 million Lamborghini I previously blogged about.
Here’s what a half mil buys you:
- 617 hp @ 6,500 rpm (will someone tell me what that means?)
- Top speed of 206 mph (who-ah, that’s like breaking the law several times over!)
- Swing-wing door design (good for swingers out there)
- Fully retractable semi-automatic soft top (handy for lazy folks trying to look cool)
- Bi-xenon twin headlights (as if just being gay or straight isn’t enough)
- 7-speaker Bose sound system (making for more than 3 speakers per seat and a higher proportion of late-deafened Mercedes drivers)
- Flip-top start button (just don’t go crazy thinking it’s a missile launch thing)
- Carbon filter bucket leather seatings (oooh-la, what a feeling)
- 0-60 seconds in under 3.8 seconds (don’t you ever want to be first when the light turns green?)
- 6 airbags with 8-way protection (you can’t be too careful nowadays)
- Ultra-light, ultra-rigid carbon filter frame can absorb 4 times more energy than steel in the event of a crash (but still, ow, bye bye $500k)
- Intelligent design makes commanding control within easy reach (but I thought Intelligent Design was a cover story for teaching of biblical creationism in school)
- Dry-sump lubrication system allows for a low center of gravity (I’m sorry, maybe it’s me, but this sounds vaguely pornographic)
Honeybear, I want one. I don’t care how much it breaks our bank account, and I don’t care that there are no backseats for our young daughters (even though I know they’d LOVE this car).
I. Simply. Want. One.
The Uno — A Segway Competitor?
July 2, 2008
We all know and love (or not) the Segway, a cool gyroscope-equipped contraption that just about anybody (except the current President of the U.S.A.) can use.
And now there may be a competitor: The Uno.
A nineteen-year-old guy, Ben Gulak, has developed a device that looks like a cross between the Segway and a motorcycle. According to WTOP:
“The Uno” operates on a gyroscope like a Segway, has two side-by-side wheels and almost looks like a unicycle. The battery-powered motorcycle also responds to the slightest forward, backward and side to side movements.
Its top speed reaches about 15 miles an hour.
The developer’s website for the Uno is pretty sparse right now; if he wants to get this really going, he’d better finish up his own website. No info on pricing, tho.
It definitely looks a lot more cool than standing upright while using a Segway. I’d love to put on the coolest pair of sunglasses I have, whiz (well, at 15 miles per hour) through downtown Frederick on this contraption, and see heads turn in my direction. Yee-haw!
Facebook Privacy: Are Your Photos Private?
May 19, 2008
I loooove Facebook. And so do many of my friends! In our photo albums, we post photos of our kids, of ourselves (whether it be sunnying ourselves at the beach or something a bit more decent), of our friends, even of our pets doing stupid tricks or just looking cute (come to think of it, so do the photos of our kids).
What many people don’t realize is that each photo album has its own privacy setting. When you first create a photo album — whether it’s your first or 10th — its privacy level is automatically set to “Everyone.” That means everyone can see it. You can choose from several privacy levels: Everyone, My Network and Friends, Only people at your network, Friends of Friends, or Only Friends. You can even customize who can and can’t see these photos. See screenshot below of the page that appears when you create a photo album:
If you only want your Friends to see these photos, then be sure to select “Only Friends.” Otherwise, everyone and their hairdressers would be able to see YOUR photos even if you’ve got the rest of your profile restricted to Friends only.
You can go back and check the privacy setting of all of your albums all at once via Facebook’s Photos Privacy page. Here, you’ll see a list of all of your photo albums with the option of changing the privacy level of each of these albums. Too bad there’s no option to change all of the albums at once — so if you’ve got 20 albums, it’ll be tedious changing each one individually. Be sure to click on “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page once you’ve changed the privacy setting(s)! Here’s a screenshot of what this page looks like.
So, go forth and have fun on Facebook, and be careful with your privacy!
This is part of an on-going series of posts on Facebook privacy. See related posts on photo albums, profile page, and search options.
DeafDC Post: Loving is Dead, but Love Endures
May 6, 2008
Just posted some thoughts on DeafDC.com about Loving and love. Go check it out.
AT&T Announces Accessible Monthly Rates for the iPhone
April 30, 2008
AT&T has announced that it will provide a discounted rate of $40 per month for deaf users of the iPhone. This discount also includes unlimited text messages, unlimited data usage, “Visual Voicemail,” and a rather steep $.40 per minute pay-per-use voice plan. If you wanna get this discount, you’ll have to apply by downloading and filling out a PDF form.
This also coincides with an announcement that AT&T will be offering discounts on new models of the iPhones for the general public starting this summer. These new iPhones will run on the 3G network which is much faster than the “older” data networks — almost as fast as broadband speed, in fact. And the discounts will make these iPhones be as low as $199.
Hmmm. Tempting. I’ve already made my opinions known about the iPhone, but as the iPhone goes through these updates I can be swayed …
(Thanks to David for pointing me to Gizmodo, and to Vadim for being first to let me know about this!)
Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s!
April 29, 2008
Today is Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s! Now if there was ever a cause to celebrate at your local Ben and Jerry’s, this is it.
Ben and Jerry’s has its Free Cone Day on April 29th every year to celebrate its anniversary. Go find your nearest Ben and Jerry’s and indulge yourself.
See you there!
