Wolverton: A look at HP's new Veer smartphone - San Jose Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18148545?nclick_check=1

"The Veer also trails the competition by not including a front-facing camera, so you can't use it to do video chats as you can the iPhone 4 and many of the latest Android devices. It has only 8 gigabytes of storage, which is half or less than what you'll find on most recent smartphones, and it's not expandable. It also lacks a gyroscope, which is useful for games and augmented reality apps, and doesn't have a near-field communications antenna, which allows a mobile phone to be used like a credit card. Beyond its hardware, the Veer suffers from the same critical problem as earlier webOS devices: a dearth of apps. While you can find "Angry Birds" and "Pandora," you won't find Netflix's (NFLX) movie player, Amazon's Kindle e-book reader, the popular iPhone game "Pocket God," and many other top apps.

But it's basically the same phone as the Pre that Palm introduced two years ago, only smaller. That wasn't good enough then. And given how much better competing phones have gotten since, it's not nearly good enough now."
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On Memorial Day, a SEAL's family remembers

On Memorial Day, a SEAL's family remembers http://usat.me/47699514

Online digital scrapbooking

So far I've found 3 online digital scrapbooking sites that are non-Apple  They all run under Flash, so you dont have to download any software, and they store all your data in the cloud.  Ultimately I want to scrap on an Android tablet with a touch interface because I think it would be fun and fast.  But the world doesn't seem to have caught up to me yet.

- Coolibah - iOS only, Android on the way.
- Tapnscrap - iOS only.
- ScrapHD - bought by Michaels and expected to relaunch in 2011.  Unavailable right now.
- HowFastTimeFlies - now part of MyPublisher.  I tried it but it's not anywhere near as flexible as Mixbook.  It seems to be mostly ploppers and the most you can change is the colorway of the plopper.  You can't add or delete elements. You have to use the pages the way they come.  So to put a whole book together, you need a lot of ploppers to keep the pages from all looking identical.   At first glance they seemed to only have a few dozen.
- Scrapblog - bought by Mixbook.  This is the one I like the best.  It has a nice collection of elements with a lot of variety.  You get a lot of control over how things look - transparency, drop shadow, reflection, border, shape cutouts; also you can change brightness/contrast/saturation of pictures.  It automatically sizes pictures up to the frame you drop them in (HowFastTimeFlies plops it in at 1:1 and forces you to resize them manually).  You can add or delete elements too.  They provide both ploppers, and backgrounds & templates to create your own pages.  They also support 2-page spreads.  It's easy to navigate around the book, and insert pages wherever you need to.  Moving layouts from one page to another is very easy, just drag and drop.  This is going to make resequencing very easy.  Also, there are lots and lots of template variations, for up to 6 pictures on a page.  And unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can import your own elements - you are locked into their elements.  All you can add is your pictures.

Attached is a 2 page spread I did last night.  It was so much fun I stayed up until 2:30am scrapping!  Now, back to scrapbooking!!

Business Cat: http://memebase.com/category/business-cat-2/page/1

Cats and the workplace, its comedy gold I tell you. I'm wiping the tears from my eyes.
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Challenge Accepted - LMAO

http://memebase.com/category/challenge-accepted-2/

Part of the fine family of icanhazcheeseburger sites.

Love this stuff. It's so stupid.
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Velocirapture

http://imgur.com/gallery/8o87u

The iPad has completely revolutionized...

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/37d8cb9cd57b9e0eb29e7cfc56d34d6c

If Church Signs Were Honest About The Rapture | someecards.com

http://www.someecards.com/2011/05/19/if-church-signs-were-honest-about-the-rapture

NSFB -
Not safe for believers
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HP's unlikely hero | TheStreet

http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/11126378/2/leo-apotheker-hps-unlikely-hero.html

""There is a common perception that HP is mainly a commodity PC and printing vendor due to the fact that approximately 53% of its total revenue in calendar year 2010 was derived from its computing and printing units," said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Company. "However, many fail to recognize that the company's operating profits are generated in a much different manner." Marshall points out that more than 63% of the company's operating profit comes from enterprise-focused, recurring revenue-type businesses such as services, networking and software. Services alone accounted for a massive 38% of HP's total operating profit in 2010, he added."
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HP Veer 4G review -- Engadget

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/13/hp-veer-4g-review/&category=classic&postPage=1

"there is Palm's proprietary magnetic charge / sync port. This requires a special USB cable to use, unfortunately, though you do get that fancy MagSafe effect, and the port does double duty by hosting the included headphone adapter --because there's no dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack. It's a chore to carry around an easily misplaced little nicknack like the adapter, but it does work here, and the magnets are strong enough to hold up the Veer by your headphone cables (not that we recommend anything of the sort). It's also a little annoying the way the software pauses your music whenever you connect or disconnect the adapter since it seems wholly arbitrary --when you attach it, the phone rapidly transfers from speaker to headphones, then puts a sudden halt to the tune three seconds later."
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Dilbert blog: Osama's Productivity

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/osamas_productivity/

Link is NSFW

"The marijuana at the compound explains a lot too. When we see pictures of other terrorist leaders, they always look angry. Every time we see a picture of Osama, he's just chillin' with his homeys. Here he is asking for some curly fries."

Basic Instructions - Basic Instructions - How to Understand Men's Fashion

http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/5/8/how-to-understand-mens-fashion.html

I've always thought my husband was weird but I keep finding that this weirdness is in fact characteristic of all men.

There's A New Kind Of Oreo, And It's Coming For Your Face - The Consumerist

http://consumerist.com/2011/05/theres-a-new-kind-of-oreo-and-its-coming-for-your-face.html

"we're willing to pay extra for more decadence and more calories if you will give us a staycacation in our mouth."

Five Reasons why Google's Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer

https://www.readability.com/mobile/articles/20kda2iv

"Put it all together, and I think Microsoft's Steve Ballmer did far more than blow a few billion on Skype, I think he wasted his time on a side-issue while Google came straight at Microsoft's strongest stranglehold on the industry: the business desktop.

Should Microsoft worry? Yeah, I think so. They've got Apple making in-roads on the business desktop front with tablets and smartphones, may other companies, like HP, are also going after the business desktop with tablets, and now Google has finally thrown down the gauntlet on the business desktop.."
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How Credit Card Data Is Stolen and Sold - NYTimes.com

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/card-data-is-stolen-and-sold/?partner=rss&emc=rss

OMG! The bottom fell out of the stolen credit card market!

"Hackers who claim they are responsible for the Sony breach wrote on underground forums last week that they had access to over 2.2 million credit cards. If these millions of new stolen cards were sold online, the price could fall to well below the standard rate to as low as $1 or $2 each."

I'm not laughing, as someone tried to hijack one of my credit cards last week.
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Osama Bin Laden's Hideout Compound

http://maps.google.com/?source=friendlink&q=Osama+Bin+Laden's+Hideout+Compound&cid=9294138184493326603

Still enjoying the reviews of this Rustic Hideaway
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NYT: Wal-Mart Changes a Measuring S

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/business/08gret.xml

"But Mr. Flickinger said Wal-Mart's pay packages seemed especially unfortunate in light of the company's decision late last year to end its longtime profit-sharing programs for lower-level workers. This arrangement was created by Sam Walton, the company's founder, and was a source of considerable pride to him. "Profit-sharing has pretty much been the carrot that's kept Wal-Mart headed forward," Mr. Walton wrote in his 1992 autobiography, "Sam Walton: Made in America." Last year, before Wal-Mart eliminated that profit-sharing program, it said it paid roughly $1.1 billion in profit-sharing and 401(k) matches to employees. In the future, it will offer only the 401(k) match.

"Taking away profit-sharing was the ultimate Ebenezer Scrooge story of the last holiday season," Mr. Flickinger said. "Ebenezer makes all the money, and all the poor Cratchits working in the Wal-Mart stores become poorer and poorer."

At least one Wal-Mart shareholder has expressed concern that the company's directors are awarding bonuses to executives despite lagging performance. "As the union that represents retail workers we are troubled that these bonus payouts come when front-line Wal-Mart associates are getting wages and benefits cut, and seeing their hours reduced," says John Marshall, senior analyst in the capital stewardship program of the United Food and Commercial Workers. "Wal-Mart's serious understaffing is part of the reason same-store sales continue to decline, which ultimately hurts the stock price." "

NYT: There's No Data Sheriff on the

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/weekinreview/08bilton.xml

"In underground online forums last week, hackers said Sony's servers were severely outdated and infiltrating them was relatively easy."

Seth's Blog: Don't Shave That Yak!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/03/dont_shave_that.html

This is a little like "perfection is the enemy of good enough".

NYT: What Happened to Air France Fl

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=784520

"A few days later, in Paris, I stopped by the office of Alain Bouillard, the lead crash investigator for the B.E.A. After studying thousands of pieces of wreckage, Bouillard came to the same conclusion as Sarmento about the plane's landing. Many of the items recovered, like meal carts, were found with their contents compressed from the bottom, and pieces of the plane's underbelly were flattened as if struck from below. "There is a high probability that the aircraft landed in one piece," Bouillard told me. "We are reasonably certain." "
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Seal Dogs

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/05/05/050511-news-seal-dog-1-5/

Titanium teeth. Ear radio. Bullet proof vest with infrared camera. Able to leap out of helicopters and planes. Are these doggies for real?

Osama bin Laden | The Economist

http://www.economist.com/node/18648254

"The difference between pure Muslims and Americans, he said, was that Americans loved life, whereas Muslims loved death."

CRTC sets target of 5Mbps broadband for all Canadians by 2015 -- Engadget

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/04/crtc-sets-target-of-5mbps-broadband-for-all-canadians-by-2015/&category=classic&postPage=1