Archive for September, 2004

World’s Largest Focus Group

Tuesday, September 21st, 2004

An Israeli startup called Trendum has developed an analytical tool that monitors information flow on the Internet to determine market trends and popularity, and how people on the Internet are thinking about everything — from pop stars to politics to ideology.

Trendum specializes in online media analysis. Our proprietary Media Mining? solutions have created a new way of listening, understanding and reacting to consumers? opinions and the media. Trendum delivers actionable marketing insights from what millions of consumers and journalists are saying.

Many innovative and trendsetting Fortune 500 companies have recognized the value of Trendum’s solutions and are using them to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Trendum searches and scans thousands of media sources and hundreds of thousands of Web bulletin boards and discussion forums to analyze current opinions.

Recycling Electronics – Revisited

Monday, September 20th, 2004

Previously posted here about the Residential Electronics Recycling Event, which took place this past weekend. Very well organized event where I got rid of some non-functioning electronics taking up space in my garage. I made copies of a couple of handouts that were passed out to participants. Check them out for important information about recycling electronics in San Diego County.

Library Lookup — Way Cool!

Friday, September 17th, 2004

Library Lookup generates a bookmarklet for requesting a library book from a local branch based on the Amazon page you’re currently viewing. I went to my Amazon wishlist (books I might buy) and selected a book from the list.

When I arrived at the book’s detail page at Amazon, I clicked on the bookmarklet in my Firefox bookmarks toolbar, which generated a results page showing the book available at two separate library branches that are some distance from me. I called one of them to have a copy shuttled over to the library branch in my neighborhood. Sweet!

Away Today, Back Tomorrow

Thursday, September 16th, 2004

Check out "The Classics" in the sidebar for some fascinating posts you may have missed.

Approximating Pi

Wednesday, September 15th, 2004

Around 250 B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes calculated the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. A precise determination of pi, as we know this ratio today, had long been of interest to the ancient Greeks, who strove for precise mathematical proportions in their architecture, music, and other art forms.

In Archimedes’ day, close approximations of pi had been known for over 1,000 years. An Egyptian document dated to 1650 B.C., for example, gives a value of 4 (8/9)2, or 3.1605. Archimedes’ value, however, was not only more accurate, it was the first theoretical, rather than measured, calculation of pi.

How did he do it?

$5.95/YR Hosting & Domain Registration

Tuesday, September 14th, 2004

O.K., this is a great deal for a small Web site. I have signed up for a free .info domain (binarywolf.info) at Dotster and $5.95/yr (special byte plan) Web hosting at Telnap. You read that correctly, that’s a total of $5.95 for 1 year!

For a limited time every Dotster customer is entitled to 25 free .INFO domains (1-year registrations). The price for your first 25 .info names will be $0 (1-year registrations). Credit card required.

Domain Registration COST: $0.00/yr

Go to DOTSTER

And over at Telnap

For a limited amount of time we are offering a special byte plan, designed for first time website owners.

We are offering two versions of this plan, one smaller and one larger. Due to the small size of these plans you must prepay for a year, and payment is only accepted via paypal.

– 100MB Web space
- 2,500 MB/Month Bandwidth (2.50GB)
- Unlimited FTP access
- Mail Scanner, virus scanner
- cPanel domain control panel
- 10 email accounts (POP3 Boxes)
- 2 MySQL Databases
- 2 parked / addon domains
- 2 sub domains
- Fantastico Autoinstaller
- Web / FTP Stats
- PHP / CGI / Perl

Web Hosting COST: $5.95/yr

Go to TELNAP

Commercial Extreme Truck

Tuesday, September 14th, 2004

CNN reports Navistar will sell a giant pickup.

On the manufacturers web site:

POSSIBLY TOO MUCH TRUCK. LIKE THAT’S A PROBLEM.

Your eyes don’t deceive you. It’s a pickup truck. From International. Which makes it much more than a pickup truck. It’s an International�7300 CXT, born out of the proven International 7300 severe service truck used by professionals for the most rugged applications.

So you get all the attributes of a commercial truck, but you don’t need a commercial driver’s license to drive it.*

The legendary International�DT 466 diesel engine provides up to 6 tons of hauling power.**The air-ride cab and seats provide an exceptionally smooth ride. And a spacious and well-appointed interior ensures automotive-like comfort and convenience.

The result of more than a century of leadership in the truck market, the International 7300 CXT delivers performance. In a big way.

I previously posted about my choice of transportation with a nod of recognition to some environmental concerns. Futurize your car!

FREE Shipping on Truck Accessories!