4 posts tagged “hobo”
LG enV3
Cellphone
Link: LG
The third iteration of the LG enV (version one in Episode 219), the enV 3 is available in the US at Verizon.
This time it has a 2.6" internal LCD screen (320 x 240 pixels), a 3 MP
camera (stills and video), a qwerty keyboard, a microSD card slot, and
supports bluetooth stereo. Plays music and video. The headphone jack
remains a 2.5mm jack, though. Comes in Slate Blue and Maroon.
The Wine Train for Dick
Dick is booked for a visit to Petaluma for Episode 900, and for the Napa Valley Wine Train, which Leo hasn't been on yet. Dick is looking forward to the train, while Leo is looking forward to the wine.
iPres
Chris Van Amburg writes in to tell Dick that while Leo was away in China, he was elected President of the Internet by Tech Republic.
The election featured as candidates Leo, Molly Wood, Marc Andreessen
and Jason Calacanis. A last-minute dash pushed Molly Wood to 31% of
the votes, second to Leo's 41% (3773 votes). Leo has named his cabinet, which makes hilarious reading. Leo asks Dick to be Secretary of Fun, but forgot to include the post in the final line-up. In celebration of his inauguration, Leo dons a crown for the occasion.
Podcast of the Year
Leo promises to have the Daily Giz Wiz nominated for Podcast of the Year, in one of the categories at Blog World Expo. Please remind Leo when the time comes for nomination.
Blue Snowflake
Portable USB Microphone
Link: Blue
Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday
Blue makes professional high-end microphones, but also podcasting mics. Leo used to use the Snowball, but he got the new Snowflake from Dr Bott. It is a USB microphone with a silver ball which slides flat into or sits up at an angle from, the holder. The holder can also mount itself on to the screen of your laptop with the mic sitting on top. No special driver required. Works on Windows and Mac. The mic works well even if you don't have your mouth up close to the mic.
Hobo Names
Alessandro Abate corrects Leo again (after Episode 562), about the number of hobo names in John Hodgman's "The Areas of My Expertise". There are 700 in the Audible edition (not 300 as Leo said in Episode 567), and 800 in the paperback edition. It has inspired the site "The 700 Hoboes Project", at e-hobo.com. Accompanying John Hodgman on the guitar in the Audible edition is Jonathan Coulton.
Rock-Banding with Jonathan Coulton
Most listeners of Leo's podcasts, especially TWiT Episode 133, have heard about the live concert of Jonathan Coulton in which Leo, Merlin Mann and Veronica Belmont joined to play the song "Still Alive", written for the video game Portal. It's on YouTube.
Listen to Episode 602
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Alessandro Abate corrects Leo again (after Episode 562), about the number of hobo names in John Hodgman's "The Areas of My Expertise". There are 700 in the Audible edition (not 300 as Leo said in Episode 567), and 800 in the paperback edition. It has inspired the site "The 700 Hoboes Project", at e-hobo.com. Accompanying John Hodgman on the guitar in the Audible edition is Jonathan Coulton.
Rock-Banding with Jonathan Coulton
Most listeners of Leo's podcasts, especially TWiT Episode 133, have heard about the live concert of Jonathan Coulton in which Leo, Merlin Mann and Veronica Belmont joined to play the song "Still Alive", written for the video game Portal. It's on YouTube.
Listen to Episode 602
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Dash Express
GPS Car Navigation System
Link: Dash Express
Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday
This week's TTTT gadget from Leo is a recommendation by Jason Calacanis of Mahalo. The Dash Express is a GPS car navigation system with a difference. It is WiFi- and GPRS-enabled, so that its AutoUpdate function will always get you the most up-to-date maps and software (maps include 2D and 3D maps). Its TruTraffic functionality downloads the latest traffic information to give you the most accurate road conditions. It receives traffic information from road sensors, commercial fleets and other sources through Inrix, a traffic data provider. It also collates traffic info from Dash users anonymously to get live traffic flow data. Its combination of historical traffic database and live info gives you alternative routes to your destination.
You can also connect to Yahoo Local Search to search for any information you want, like a dim sum restaurant or Starbucks nearest you, or nearest to your destination, or elsewhere, using an on-screen keyboard. You can get gas prices and movie listings.
MyDash is an account you set up for yourself, using the Dash Device Number at the back of the Dash Express, which you can access from any computer. You can pre-enter your destination, add any addional information you want (such as telephone number and other notes), and send the data to your Dash Express. They also have a software plugin for web browsers and Microsoft Outlook called Send2Car (including support for Macs), which you install on your computer. You right-click a destination and click Send2Car and the information will be verified and sent to your Dash Express. Other features include Saved Searches, MyLists and MyFeeds to customise the information you want to access conveniently on the Dash Express and the way it is organised.
A further feature is the DashApps. The Dash Express uses OpenMoKo's Neo open hardware platform, and it is open to third party applications which you can download on to the device, to add functionalities, such as accessing your calendar using funambol, finding out about speed traps via Trapster.
You get 3 months' free trial of MyDash, and thereafter, depending on the length of your commitment, the monthly charge ranges from $10 to $13 per month. The monthly fee includes any Wifi and GPRS charges. If you don't subscribe to the Dash Express service, the device continues to work as an ordinary GPS (and naturally without any updates). Watch the video introduction of the Dash Express:
For another discussion of the Dash Express, by Leo and Jason Calacanis, listen to TWiT Episode 143 (starting at about 1 hour 5 minutes into the show).
A further feature is the DashApps. The Dash Express uses OpenMoKo's Neo open hardware platform, and it is open to third party applications which you can download on to the device, to add functionalities, such as accessing your calendar using funambol, finding out about speed traps via Trapster.
You get 3 months' free trial of MyDash, and thereafter, depending on the length of your commitment, the monthly charge ranges from $10 to $13 per month. The monthly fee includes any Wifi and GPRS charges. If you don't subscribe to the Dash Express service, the device continues to work as an ordinary GPS (and naturally without any updates). Watch the video introduction of the Dash Express:
For another discussion of the Dash Express, by Leo and Jason Calacanis, listen to TWiT Episode 143 (starting at about 1 hour 5 minutes into the show).
DGW Gadget Costs
Ludwik Trammer, who created the Giz Wiz Search, was challenged by listener Jeff Royal to calculate the total cost for acquiring all the gadgets covered by DGW, in Episode 563. Ludwik does not disappoint. He's already posted a comment to the blog post for Episode 563. He's also written to Leo about it, and did an mp3 voice mail. The cost comes up to about $62,700.
Here's his letter to Leo:
Hi Leo,
Yesterday I've listened to Daily GizWiz 563 (I was a little behind, because I moved out of my parents' house, and moved in with my friends, so I have more of this thing called "social interactions"). Anyway, your listener Jeff asked about combined cost of all the gadgets you talked about on the podcast. Obviously I'm not going to go through all the podcasts - I'm too lazy. But I asked my computer, and the answer, based on a sample of 200 gadgets is:
$110 per episode on average. And that gives you $62.700 for all 570 episodes.
I had names of the gadgets in my database already (from id3 tags), so I just run them throw Amazon products API and Yahoo Product Search API to get the prices.
Then, to verify that APIs responded with the right products I displayed product shots I got from APIs side-by-side photos Leo put in the mp3 files. After quickly scanning through all the pairs and ensuring the picture is the same product I calculated an average of the prices - $110 per one episode.
Ludwik
PS: I'm also sending you an mp3 with DGW letter in audio, but I don't really expect you to use it. For one I have a new MacBook, and it turned out I can't plug my mini-jack mic into it, and I had to use built-in MacBook mic. And my English really sucks, anyway. After two or three years of listening to podcasts I understand English almost perfectly (at the beginning I didn't understand almost anything), but I struggle to find a way to learn to talk in English. I recorded it mainly to practice. The answer to Jeff's question starts at 01:00.
Synthesised Voice
Leo also plays part of Ludwik's voice mail on the show. Leo thinks it's a computer-synthesised voice. For the complete recording, listen to it here:
Listen to Episode 572
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Ludwik Trammer, who created the Giz Wiz Search, was challenged by listener Jeff Royal to calculate the total cost for acquiring all the gadgets covered by DGW, in Episode 563. Ludwik does not disappoint. He's already posted a comment to the blog post for Episode 563. He's also written to Leo about it, and did an mp3 voice mail. The cost comes up to about $62,700.
Here's his letter to Leo:
Hi Leo,
Yesterday I've listened to Daily GizWiz 563 (I was a little behind, because I moved out of my parents' house, and moved in with my friends, so I have more of this thing called "social interactions"). Anyway, your listener Jeff asked about combined cost of all the gadgets you talked about on the podcast. Obviously I'm not going to go through all the podcasts - I'm too lazy. But I asked my computer, and the answer, based on a sample of 200 gadgets is:
$110 per episode on average. And that gives you $62.700 for all 570 episodes.
I had names of the gadgets in my database already (from id3 tags), so I just run them throw Amazon products API and Yahoo Product Search API to get the prices.
Then, to verify that APIs responded with the right products I displayed product shots I got from APIs side-by-side photos Leo put in the mp3 files. After quickly scanning through all the pairs and ensuring the picture is the same product I calculated an average of the prices - $110 per one episode.
Ludwik
PS: I'm also sending you an mp3 with DGW letter in audio, but I don't really expect you to use it. For one I have a new MacBook, and it turned out I can't plug my mini-jack mic into it, and I had to use built-in MacBook mic. And my English really sucks, anyway. After two or three years of listening to podcasts I understand English almost perfectly (at the beginning I didn't understand almost anything), but I struggle to find a way to learn to talk in English. I recorded it mainly to practice. The answer to Jeff's question starts at 01:00.
Synthesised Voice
Leo also plays part of Ludwik's voice mail on the show. Leo thinks it's a computer-synthesised voice. For the complete recording, listen to it here:
Listen to Episode 572
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
iSoniCast
iPod Accessory - Wireless Streaming
Link: Monster Cable
Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday
The iSoniCast enables wireless streaming from your iPod to your home stereo or other powered speakers. Monster Cable calls it a "wireless audio bridge".
Connect the base station to AC power and to your home stereo and to one of the audio inputs of your home stereo (via the mini-jack to RCA cable provided). Plug the transmitter into the iPod (which draws minimal power from the iPod), start playing and the music will be streamed by 2.4GHz wireless technology (with a bandwidth of 4 Mega-bits per second) to the base station receiver. The iPod doubles up as a remote control.
Mad Currency
Randal Schwartz, Perl expert, co-host of FLOSS and long-time fan of DGW, came across an entry on Wikipedia about fake denominations of US currency and found that the Mad currency (3-dollar bill) which Dick talked about in the past (see, e.g. Episode 121) has made its way into that entry. Dick goes on to describe the Alfred E Neuman postage stamps that Mad used to make.
Spork Cartoon
Dick and Leo mention in passing a spork cartoon which listeners have written in about. Leo says he is going to save it for the Letters Section, but naturally he forgets. While we wait for Dick and Leo's memory to come round, here's one which is pretty good, by Jakin J Waldock.
Listen to Episode 567
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
