Ducktales for Nintendo

In retrospect, that soundtrack was off the hook.

Dead Man's Switch

This seems a tad...macabre, paranoid...smart? It's a free service that automatically sends email messages to preselected recipients in the event that "something happens to you."

Here's the deal:

How?

This is how this works. You write a few e-mails, and choose the recipients. These emails are encrypted with military-grade algorithms, so you can be sure that no-one except the intended recipient will ever read them. Your switch will email you every so often, asking you to show that you are fine by clicking a link. If something were to... happen... to you, your switch would then send the emails you wrote to the recipients you specified. Sort of an "electronic will", one could say.

When?

The emails are sent in configurable intervals. If you don't answer the first, you will get a second and a third one. If you don't answer those either, your switch will be activated. Of course, you can have your switch postpone its activation (if, for example, you'll be away for some time) by telling it to not try to contact you for a specified period of time.

Another Google Killer?

No, nothing can kill the Google, but Wolfram Alpha sounds intriguing. Check out the screenshots here. It's supposed to launch this month, but so far there's no word of the exact release date.

It's not exactly a "Google Killer" like Cuil* purported to be, but it looks as if it could occupy an interested niche somewhere between Google and Wikipedia. However, if I were the person behind Wolfram, I'd be terrified that Google would take one look at it and decide to throw $200 million behind the development of a superior competitor.

*O yea, remember Cuil? It was supposed to be awesome when it launched last summer, and thus far it's been an utter failure.

Update: Here's the first official screencast video from Wolfram Alpha. Looks pretty cool.

Good idea: Digsby

Digsby is a single application that allows you to communicate through AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and Facebook Chat. Digsby also supports e-mail notifications and alerts from MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Also, you can rename the contacts whatever you like, and then link contacts who have multiple screenames across different IM clients. Very useful.

It's 100% free and you should download it immediately. I've been using it for about a year now and it just keeps improving.

Blogging at 30,000

I'm currently enjoying my third flight this month aboard Virgin America, but this is the first time my plane has been equipped with WiFi - it's pretty cool. It costs $12.95 to connect, which isn't terrible considering it's a six hour flight. There hasn't been a single hiccup in the connection so far and the speed is good enough to stream videos on Hulu. I also ordered a delightful fruit and cheese platter and an Italian sandwich on focaccia bread. As a bonus, the flight is less than half full so I have an empty seat next to me. Throw in the leather seats, mood lighting and pleasant crew, and this has to be the best flight I've ever been on. The only negative so far is that half of the satelite television channels do not work, so I'm not able to watch ESPN's draft coverage.

Bravo Virgin America. Bravo.

iGoogle Tweak

If iGoogle isn't your homepage, then I don't know what to tell you. Anyway, here's a way to make it even better by eliminating that annoying space-wasting sidebar. Just change your link to:

http://www.google.com/ig?gl=all

(via Some Bits)

Time Travel Cheat Sheet

Like most people, I've daydreamed about traveling back in time. However, I've often considered that after a certain date, my advanced education and knowledge of history would be rendered nearly useless. For example, as Back to the Future taught us, time traveling backwards 30-40 years can be quite profitable, especially if you bring along a sports almanac.

On the other hand, imagine if you were transported back to Colonial America circa 1650. What use would your knowledge of US history be? If you traveled to a time in the Middle Ages, you'd be aware of the scientific advances on the horizon, but would you have any practical knowledge in the ways of mechanics, chemistry and aviation? Could you create gun powder from scratch? Make steel? Build a flying machine? Probably not.

That's why you should never travel through time without one of these. Now you can build a quartz clock, radio, compass and air foil. Pretty cool.

Tamil Tigers

The Sri Lankan government maintains a Battle Progress Map of their campaign against the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil Tigers have been in the news more and more recently as they are apparently on the verge of being defeated after 33 years of guerrilla warfare.

This has been an extremely destructive rebellion (or civil war) that has waged for decades, so it's interesting to see the conflict portrayed in the style of Panzer General.

Microwave fun

Ever wonder what happens when you put marshmallows in the microwave? Probably not, because I'm sure we've all experienced that before. But what about soap, deodorant, gummy worms, or Christmas tree lights?

Check it out.

Shaq Tweets

I've only been involved with Twitter for a few weeks now, but I can tell you the number one reason why I finally signed up: Shaq.

I was never a huge Shaquille O'Neal fan for the same reasons that people often cite: "He's just big, tall and strong. He lacks finesse. He's not very much fun to watch. His game isn't very dynamic."

It's taken me some time to understand Shaq as a loveable goofball in an era of outrageous egos, but he's truly a delight. Add to the mix that he's undeniably one of the most dominant, fearsome and winningest players of all time, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't fully appreciate him in his prime.

I will however, never stop enjoying his weird thoughts confined to 140 characters or less.

His Tweets are doubly as enjoyable if you picture a 7'1", 325 man pecking away at the keypad of his phone while he's stuck in traffic, sitting in the locker room, or watching TV with his teammates.

Just a few minutes ago I received the following Tweets from Mr. O'Neal:

Im at 5 n diner n phoenix

I feel twitterers around me, r there any twitterers in 5 n diner wit me, say somethin

To all twitterers , if u c me n public come say hi, we r not the same we r from twitteronia, we connect

What? I still can't believe that one of the wealthiest, most recognizable athletes in the world is so genuinely gregarious that he would actually reach out to his fans like this. Here are some other gems from The Diesel:

Im wit steve nash, hes the best, a hip hop scott skiles

Just leavn lebrons party, i have no voice, can u hear this , ................... C i told u , no voice, lol

Allen iverson cut off his braids, dam hes cute, lol,

David stern said i dnt mind sounding trite, what does that word mean, any scholars out there

Man that's good stuff. Also, this might be the funniest ESPN commercial I've ever seen.