POTUS dropping F-bomb

What happens when the president does a reading of his memoir? Comedy ensues, of course. http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2009/02/05/barack-obama-is-tired-of-your-motherfucking-shit/

Using google alerts to find followable twitter users...

Nothing earth shattering over at Adam Green -Mr. Google Alerts especially for those of us with strong google-fu, but a well done primer for using google to find people with interests similar to yours and in your area for twitter following. Adam does a great job throughout training on how to bend google to your will. Worth the read.

Verizon shenanigans

Talk about wringing every last dime out of your customer...

A few weeks ago my Verizon Blackberry died. Since I'd fulfilled my 2 year commitment, and was tired of having to tether the thing to my PC to get my contacts and calendar to sync, I decided to go ahead an jump for the iPhone, crappy-AT&T-network and all. I began porting my numbers... first mine... then I canceled the OnStar service in the Tahoe...and then a few days later, my daughter's phone. Now that her number has successfully ported out, I called verizon to cancel the account altogether, and I got the best excuse ever from Jan at Verizon Wireless: "We'll cancel it effective the 18th, which is the end of your billing cycle, so you don't get a pro-rated bill". Uh. What? You mean you'll bill me through the end of the month so I can pay for 2 weeks of service that I'm not going to get? Hell yeah! NOT.

So then Jan puts me on hold for 5 minutes while she "makes that change". Jan comes back and tells me that she has to transfer me to someone that can help me.

Kristen. Ah, what a sweet lady.
"Why are you leaving us Mr. Goldsby, what's wrong?".
"Nothing's wrong, I just made the move to the iPhone".
"Okay, well let me make that change. You realize there will be an early termination fee becuase you didn't fulfill your 2 year commitment on that other handset, and your final bill will be pro-rated so it will be a little higher than usual?".
"Uh, yeah, but it will be less than letting it run through the 18th of the month?"
"Well, yessir.".

I guess that little game has made it into the corporate playbook.

Saavvii for MSWord - Even faster keyboard shortcuts!

http://www.softwaretheories.com/

This application is great. I have always been a keyboard junkie, avoiding the mouse as much as possible. Under MSWord 2003 and prior versions, I was able to do just about everything with the keyboard and rarely needed the mouse. This all changed with Office 2007 and the blasted "Ribbon". The keyboard shortcuts largely changed (to nonsensical combinations) and it became near impossible to find the function I wanted.

Enter SAAVVII. This little utility lets you call it up with the hotkey sequence of your choice, and type in plaintext commands like "insert 2x3 table" or "edit header" or whatever you like. No instructions, but they're largely unnecessary. As long as you don't try to get silly and trick it, Saavvii will generally figure out what you want to do and do it. Handy.

iPod Shuffles Indestructible?

I have an iPod Shuffle (2G) that I've been using for my 430am trips to the gym for over a year now. I have managed to leave it in my shorts and washed / dried it no less than half a dozen times. Every time it comes out dead, but if I give it a day to dry out it will re-sync and keep on playing just fine. You just can't kill these things!

Belkin Flywire - multi HDMI + others inputs wirelessly to your LCD

Finally. Wireless HDTV in your house. Well, almost. When will this thing ship?

http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/07_10_08FlyWire.html

The "Ten Demandments"

In the workplace, political skills can determine one’s ability to perform effectively. The following “Ten Demandments” are common-sense principles that can harness political energy to foster successful teams.

From Baselinemag