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Techafina

technology distilled

Taking a Half Leap ForwardJanuary 30

Arriving a little late on the scene, I am finally the proud owner of a new iPod Touch. I just could not get myself to make the full jump from my BlackBerry Curve to the iPhone, so I settled for an in-between move to provide some fun, sleek, fast Wi-Fi enabled browsing – yet keep the productivity tools I have on my Curve. If you aren’t familiar with the iPod Touch, it is basically the iPhone – without the phone (or camera, or GPS).

What’s the verdict? Well I can tell you this, nothing annoys me more than reading reviews of products that have only been used for a day or two. Personally, I’d love to see a website that carries product reviews of items that have been used for at least 31 days. I mean really, what do you know of stability or usability when you’re still in the new-gadget-honeymoon phase? You are all too likely to be blinded by the joys of

Get Your Political Fix – On TwitterJanuary 21

Below is a sampling of what you can find on Twitter… or rather, WHO you can find. The list is in no particular order, nor does it represent my views on – anything at all. Enjoy.

http://twitter.com/BarackObama – yes, Mr. President himself
http://twitter.com/thewhitehouse 
http://twitter.com/USSupremeCourt 
http://twitter.com/HouseFloor
http://twitter.com/NationalDebt – this is depressing, but if you want it – it’s here
http://twitter.com/boblatta – Congressman for Ohio’s 5th District
http://twitter.com/danburton – US Representative, Indiana’s 5th District
http://twitter.com/ThadMcCotter – Congressman for Michigan’s 11th District
http://twitter.com/RobWittman – First Congressional District of Virginia
http://twitter.com/RobertBluey – Director of Online Strategy @Heritage.
http://twitter.com/Heritage – Heritage Foundation

The Glory of a NameJanuary 15

The old proverb “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is simply, well, not true. The only time a person is driven to a book based on the content first, is when the book comes as a recommendation. If you are browsing books in a bookstore trying to find a particular area of knowledge – you choose books based on three things; title, subtitle, and the cover art. The truth hurts. So does trying to title a book in progress!

If you have been following me on Twitter, you may have picked up on the notion that I am writing a book. The entire purpose of this blog is for me to have an ongoing area where I can practice, and improve upon, my writing. Of course, the last few months my blog hasn’t received any traffic from me, therefore, my overall web traffic has begun to die. Blogs have a natural ebb and flow and unfortunately, lately, Techafina has been in the ebb phase. As I work on my book I hope to continue to write here as well because, I like my blog. Of course, I hope you do too. So if you are dismayed in the lack of posts lately, please don’t give up. I’m not going anywhere.

But, back to the topic at hand. Book titles…

As I have tried to figure out the “rules” in book naming, I have come across some excellent advice, and noticed some really bad patterns. A well named book will grab a reader’s attention – in 5 words or less. This is a tall order to achieve, and apparently, Daniel Defoe was n

3D-Me PleaseOctober 22 2008

‘Tis the season as they say. No, not THAT season – I mean it’s Fall. Along with Fall comes the realization that many of my clothes from last year are worn out and need to be replaced. Next comes the ultimate chore – clothes shopping. I hate shopping. No, I mean I REALLY hate clothes shopping.

Men have no idea what it’s like trying to figure out what size each item is (which varies by store, as well as season, not to mention what is “in”), they have the pleasure of just dealing with measurements. I know I wear a variety of sizes between not only the number size, but then the style, and let’s not forget height. The definition of Petite by clothing manufactures is shorter than 5’3.” That’s just great for me because I am 5’3” which means a good part of the time Petite clothing is too short for me and “regular” sizes are too long. Next there is the option between Misses, Women’s, and Juniors. So you see, the variables expand at an exponential rate, and all I want to do is get what I need and move on, not try on six different versions of one item.

Is this just a normal rant? NO! You may have noticed before that I tag some blog entries with “Feature Requests” and that’s what this is semi-rant is about. I would love to see the following…

I would like to go into a local store and have myself scanned. Think of it as an x-ray, or perhaps something along

Baby Boomers, Car Insurance, Geeks & GamersOctober 4 2008

Aging issues and discussions are often avoided as they are seen as depressing, perhaps rude (who wants to acknowledge they are aging?) and just not very fun to talk about. Recently my family was facing some “end-of-life” decisions as my grandmother’s health declined at such a rapid pace that the entire family was discussing how to handle “things.” She said her goodbye’s and requested that all of her medications be stopped, her IV discontinued, and just wanted to be let go. Of course being my grandmother (of incredibly strong will), that didn’t really stop anything at all and she is doing quite well now, months later, and will be around for years to come. That aside, it brought up a lot of delicate discussions. Hard to believe since this woman is nearing 90…

When do we discuss aging? If we don’t discuss it in the early years along with proactive, preventative measures, what can we possibly discuss in our elder years other than reactive? I remember my grandfather put up an enormous fight over giving up his car keys, and later was seen driving his motor scooter down the street with a flash light tied the front… But again, I digress.

Is anything being done to improve “quality of life” of the elder community BEFORE they get to a stage where “matters need to be discussed?”

I came across some news this past week about a program that is being piloted to allow older drivers reduced car insurance.