I was on the radio, and I have a link for the file of the audio, but I can’t seem to dowload it, just play it.  As we already discussed, I am not a MP3 expert.  Any of you care to help me learn this?

Here’s the link to the page.

Here’s the link they gave me for the MP3. When I click on it it opens a page and starts playing.  I tried right clicking to download, but I am not given that option.

Feel free to explain to me why I am an idiot.

If you want to listen to the show, I am the first guest, so I come on right after the hosts do their welcome.

This is a copy of a review I did for Gear Diary.

Vamooose!

I was twittering one night and Judie mentioned that she had this product to test. Only problem is that the product claims to remove cigarette and tobacco odors and she doesn’t know any smokers.

Lucky girl.

Much to my eternal shame, I told her that my beautiful, intelligent teenage daughter has decided she is a smoker. The really great part is that the wretched child thought it was a secret even though everything she owned absolutely reeked of cigarette odors.

At first she tried to tell me it was from hanging around friends that smoked. She thinks I am stupid. (I hear that is a common teenage malady.)

So one day I tell her, “If you think that your smoking is a secret, you are mistaken.”

Foolish me. Now that the cat is out of the bag, she no longer makes any attempt to hide it!

Every time I walk into her room and it smells (even though she never smokes in the house) I get angrier. I don’t smoke. My husband doesn’t smoke. Why should I be made to suffer with a house that smells of smoke?

Vamoose! to the rescue!

The label says it contains a revolutionary new product called Novexium® and that it permanently removes cigarette and tobacco odors.

I sprayed it on everything she owns. (I thought about spraying it on her, but the label also says it is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling and I am nothing if not a rule-follower. Hence the not smoking!)

The label also warned of an initial “odd” odor. Boy howdy, they aren’t kidding. But it passes very quickly and when it dries, the odor is gone. Really gone. I used it a week ago and I really do believe that the old odors are still gone.

I have sprayed newly polluted items as they appear and I am very satisfied with the results. The 16 ounce bottle still feels full, so I know it doesn’t take much to do the job.

Now, I no longer get irritated the second I open her bedroom door. (Now it takes until she opens her mouth and says something snippy.)

Ah, teenagers. My mother told me God makes them awful so you don’t mind when they move out.

What I liked: even my sensitive nose couldn’t smell the smoke after use.

What I didn’t like: the “odd” odor upon initial use (but it really did go away quickly)

I have a weakness for small leather goods. I love bags and pouches and cases more than your average bear. (Wow! It feels good to get that off my chest.) Read the rest of this entry »

Print a pre-paid shipping label to send in your phone

Got an old cell phone sitting around gathering dust? (I was just looking at my Trinity today as it sat, lonely & unused, on a shelf.) This organization recycles the phones and uses the proceeds to buy pre-paid phone cards so deployed soldiers can call home. In the sixties, when my father was in Vietnam, there were no pre-paid phone cards. He wrote letters. My mother let me read them once and while it was nice to get a humanizing glimpse of a man I never got to know, it was hard to remember that the 60’s were a long time ago and that he was a 20-something soldier who, even though he was an instructor at Officer Candidate School, was just, himself, a kid. So, I guess what I am saying is that I have a soft spot for these kids who are so far away from their families and if a used cell phone can help give them a little comfort, I think I can box it up.

(You can mail it in or drop it off at any of 1800 company-owned AT&T stores.)

If you use Microsoft Outlook and you would like to have a more integrated mail system (and you are a fan of beta programs) you should check this out.

Read more here

I installed it and it looks pretty cool. I usually read my mail in gmail, but this is enticing enough to lure me back to using Outlook.

The Nutshell Leather Case For the HTC Advantage Review

This is one of the funniest warranties I have come across, and it should give you an idea of just how tough this item is:

TUFF as Nuts Warranty

For the Nutshell®, not its contents!

Your Nutshell® is designed and constructed to take the rough with the smooth. All components have been selected and assembled with a single objective: to live up to our tuff-as-nuts claim. It should protect its contents against most of what Mother Nature can throw at it. We are so confident of its durability that it comes with a two (2) year Guarantee. If your nutshell® should crack in that time (it’s unlikely), return it to us with the Guarantee, duly completed, and we shall repair or replace it. Simple. Be reasonable, though. We know that some of you might indulge yourselves in unusual activities, so we have to apply a few conditions (for your own good, of course!)

Our Guarantee does not cover any nutshell® that has been used while (or for) putting out oil field fires, deflecting bullets, or shielding from bomb blasts. It rules out bear mauling, Rottweiler attacks and hungry rats. Nor will a nutshell® protect its contents when driven over, dropped from a dizzy height, or trampled by buffalo. Your nutshell® will probably survive, but the contents most likely won’t.

We expect nutshell® owners to be circumspect in the use of their electronic equipment. Look at it this way: you can expect your nutshell® to protect and cushion your computer from any knocks and drops and/or extremes of temperature and climate that you yourself can survive. You will crack before it does. We also suspect that, given time, the average three-year-old might chew its way through – but we don’t know why it would bother. Tastes awful.

I prefer pouch cases because I like to use my phone without any extra bulk. Even the silicone shells make me feel bulky. I think of a pouch case as a place to keep and carry my device, not as a cover to hold while using the device. Since I am not holding the leather while I am using the phone, I haven’t been what I would call particularly abusive to my nutshell® case.

I keep it in my handbag most of the time. Sometimes I wear it; sometimes it is shoved in the little cubby behind my shifter in the car.

Read the rest of this entry »

The ZAGG Advantage Full Body Shield Review

Published by Aura Mae October 30th, 2007 in Aura Mae, Screen Protectors and Reviews. 0 Comments

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of protection. I have purchased more than my share of cases for the devices I have had over the years. I end up liking them less and less because they make the device bigger and often (to my eye) less attractive. I had a silicone skin for my Trinity and it seemed to cheapen the feel and look of the phone, which means I didn’t use it, which means I ended up with a phone that got tattered and abused.

To prevent this from happening to my new toy, I ordered the skin before I ordered my Advantage. Much to my dismay, one of the products that ZAGG (invisibleSHIELD) makes is for the iPhone, and filling those orders put the company behind in their order processing. (Damn iPhone.) I had my Advantage a full two weeks before the skin arrived and despite using the OEM leather case religiously, I still ended up with a little chip in the case above the indicator lights. (I dotted the mark with Sharpie before installing the protector to minimize the cosmetic flaw.)

I have used the invisibleSHIELD screen protectors on many devices and have been very happy. The Advantage is the first item I have had for which they offered a Full Body Shield.

Let’s start with the name, because as much as I like the whole idea, I was very cranky to finish the installation and find that there are no pieces to cover the sides. I was really looking forward to having some protection around the charger slot because that’s where I feel like I am scraping the device. I was expecting full coverage. No dice.

OK. Now that I have my biggest gripe out of the way, let me walk you through the process.

The instructions are not device specific, so I didn’t know where to start. I decided to start with the screen, since I had done that before and figured I was competent enough to give it a go.

I sprayed my fingers, and both sides of the film as directed. It took a little finessing to get it lined up just so, but I was successful. Time to move on to the front, I figured, and here is where I had my first problem. Having only used screen protectors in the past, I was unprepared for the narrow bits that would go on as a picture frame on the metal around the screen. It would have been helpful to know that the film can stretch. I had a really tough time lining up the holes in the film with the holes in the Advantage. In fact, I was unable to make it line up. I had to cut out a tiny bit of film to make it work. (This is where “cranky” began to creep in.) The skin is for the X7500 and not the X7501, so already it has a hole for the front facing camera that doesn’t exist (that’s another gripe for another time!) I knew this going into it, so I had prepared myself for that, but wasn’t expecting to have to do surgery. This is also where I learned how tough the shield is. I couldn’t slice it with an Exacto knife and had to use scissors to cut it. I removed a smidge of the product so that it wouldn’t overlap. (I am a “picker” and an overlapping bit of film would be an invitation to pick.)

The big pieces all went on easily. The most difficult section was the edge with the battery cover. It was tough to get the opening lined up so that the hatch cover wouldn’t bump into the housing.

The kit comes with a squeegee which was helpful on the large bits, but I found a cloth to be more helpful in many places. It’s a bit of a balancing act to get enough moisture for the film to be movable and not so much that you feel like you are soaking the machine. (The instructions do suggest spraying the film, not the device.) There were a few occasions where I just couldn’t maneuver the film into the right spot, so I used a piece of packing tape to lift a corner, spray more fluid, and try again.

The instructions also suggest that you leave the device alone for 24 hours for all the residual bubbles to work their way out. Of course none of us are going to be able to do that with our primary communications device. To that end, I performed the installation on a day off, before dinner, so I could minimize any use of the phone for as long as possible.

I do like the look of the screen without a cover, but I am not willing to risk the wear on the screen without one. (I had a device once on which I played A LOT of solitaire and after a while, there was a visible wear pattern on the glass over the stack of cards and down to the seven rows!) I hated using the Advantage these two weeks with no screen protector, but I also didn’t want to install one of the OEM and have to remove it when the invisibleSHIELD came. (These are the thoughts that keep me up nights. Aren’t you glad you don’t live in my head?)

All in all, I am happy with the coverage. I can still pan easily in Internet Explorer (using SPB Pocket Plus) and the screen seems plenty responsive, so I don’t feel I have sacrificed much in the tactile department, and the VGA screen is still attractive through the film (in fact maybe better with the glare being cut.) I wish the directions were specific to each device, and I wish it covered the sides, but I am glad I have it. Now I’m hunting for a pouch-style holder with a belt clip to carry the phone (without the keyboard.) If you have any brilliant, solutions, fill me in!

The ZAGG (invisibleSHIELD) for the HTC Advantage (7500) is available directly from the manufacturer.
MSRP: $24.95
What I Like: The idea of not beating up my device with regular daily use.
What Needs Improvement: The directions should tell you where to start and to be careful not to stretch. Full Body Shield should mean full coverage.

This is old news for some of you, but I keep running into people who don’t know, so I’m sharing now!

Get answers from Google on your cell phone!

Do you have a text messaging plan on your phone? Do you ever need information while out and about? Text your question to 466453 (GOOGLE) and they will text you back the answer! You pay your regular text fees, but nothing additional.

Running late for your appointment and don’t have our number programmed into your phone? Try this:

azarra tacoma

you’ll get back a reply (dang near instantly) with our address and phone number.

Don’t like to text? You can call 800-GOOG-411 and use the automated system for directory assistance. No crazy charges from your cell company, just regular minutes used.

1-800-GOOG-411: Google’s 411 service

A few years ago, a company was selling motorized shampoo machines.  They were way cool and supposed to save hairdressers time while giving a pleasant experience for the customer.  I heard they didn’t take off becasue the clients prefered the human contact of a traditional shampoo.  Well, here’s the next one coming.  If I were to guess, I’d sat that this will probably be used more for medical treatments than beauty treatments.  

Yet another job for humans has been co-opted by our soon-to-be robot masters — massages. Tokyo’s Waseda University Takanishi Laboratory and Asahi University have developed the WAO-1 robot (Waseda Asahi Oral Rehabilitation Robot 1) for humans in need of facial massages or therapy. One of the robot’s creators, Ken Nishimura, even said he hopes to see the robot take over the work in many beauty salons some day soon. Clinical trials needed to deploy the robot throughout Japan’s hospitals are set to begin next month. — Adario Strange

Via TechOn