2008 May

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Matt says: “I just found out about this free service that allows you to video/voice chat with as many people as you like over the Internet using a flash plug-in within your browser. You just don’t have to install it on your computer or anything!” The flash software you already have installed will make this chat service work!

MeBeam is a free web-based chat service. It’s so simple, it’s almost scary. You simply choose a room name, invite people to join you, and start chatting. That’s seriously all there is to it.

I was surprised at how easy this is to use. It may not be “pretty”, but it works! I created a temporary room, and sent out a link. Within seconds, I was video chatting with about seven other people. You can imagine the fun you can have with it. More than anything, I know I will be using this site to conference with people from now on. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s web-based. What more could I want?

MeBeam comes to us courtesy of the folks at Meebo. Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web. You can keep in touch with friends you know on any instant messaging network. Instant messaging from absolutely anywhere, no downloads or installs required, and free!

If I had one request, it would be that I would get more emails from all of you at chris@pirillo.com. The emails I love to get the most are ones like these, letting us all know about free services and products that can help make our lives earlier. So send yours along!

Read more on Free Video Conferencing and Chat: No Downloads!…

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We depend on our gadgets and devices so much these days… so what happens when one is lost or stolen? Are we out the money and our data? Philip emailed to tell me about an open-source piece of software that can help recover your MacBook should the need ever arise. But what about the rest of these devices? I had another email from Aaron, who sent along another link to help with just that!

iAlertU is free, of course, since it is completely open-source. AlertU is the first of its kind alarm system for your Apple MacBook computer. Basically iAlertU is a car alarm for your Apple Mac. iAlertU uses the built in motion to trigger the alarm and the isight to capture the image of the thief.

ihound software is a free service for up to three devices. No credit card is needed to sign up and get started, even! ihound is revolutionary software that helps protect your devices by alerting you when your USB digital device is connected to another individual’s computer.

ihound Software works on most USB devices that you need to connect to your computer to update: MP3 players, Flash Cards, Jump Drives, Phones, iPods and more.

You will know where your device is at all times via ihound Software’s “Device Tracker”. See your device’s location on a map and “Get your digital life back”. ihound Software will alert you via email as soon as someone else tries to connect your device to a computer. Once your device has been located, you can print a report for the authorities that contains your device’s information as well as the location where your device has been tracked.

Why not give it a shot? It’s free for up to three devices. I think this is definitely something you’ll be happy you have should you ever lose one of your gadgets.

Read more on How to Recover a Lost or Stolen iPod, Flash Drive, or Digital Camera…

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John sent an email to me the other day, with his tips for what you can do with old computers. Don’t send them to a landfill to rot! There are many other options.

Read more on What do you do with your old Computers?…

“LegoShark” contacted me last night to ask me what I thought about his hobby:

Hey, I’m an amature Stop- motion animator. I have been looking in your chat for about a month now. I use a medium of stop-motion known as “brickfilming.” This is stop-motion animation with LEGO. I noticed you had some LEGO fan pics of your office in your Fickr stream, so i thought i might a well bring this up. I was wondering if you could possibly spread the word a little bit about brickfilming. it’s a very fun hobby, and takes skill and patience. all you need is a decent camera, some LEGO, and patience. the “official” site for brickfilming can be found at brickfilms.com, but the community is more based at ilovebrickfilming.com. There was a change in administration and a bunch of stuff I don’t want or need to get in to that made people switch to ilovbrickfilming.com.

Read more on Mac vs PC: LEGO Brickfilming…

Hey Chris,

I was just wondering if you knew of any coupons for Books A Million? That’s one of my favorite bookstores, and it’s quite accessible to me. Any help would be great! Thanks!

Read more on Books-A-Million Coupons…

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know that my parents were in a car accident this afternoon on their way down to see my brother’s family (Ben) in Texas. Here’s what we know about it thus far:

Read more on My Parents Were in a Car Accident…

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Flying is an excellent way to travel. However, there is much room for improvement, wouldn’t you say? What kinds of things would you like to see on airplanes if you could choose? We had a good time in my chat room discussing this, and throwing around ideas. Some of them were a tad over-the-top, but these are the five things we all agreed on.

Read more on What is the Future of Air Travel?…

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With the Technological advances being made every day, what do you think the future holds for automobiles? Where, and how, do you see yourself “driving” twenty years from now? With the gas prices being so insanely high right now, it naturally led to a discussion as to what changes will be made to our travel habits.

The folks in my chat room and I were discussing this, and we came up with a few ideas as to what we think the future of automobiles is or should be.

Read more on What will Cars of Tomorrow be Like?…

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Where do you do your shopping? Do you get in your car, drive to a store, and then physically walk around to make your purchases? Or are you like a growing number of people who prefer to do their shopping online, from the comfort of their own home? It blows me away that some people still don’t understand that the Internet is a giant shopping “mile”.

It’s so nice that I don’t have to run all over the city looking for a specific item. I simply go onto Google and instantly find what I need. You can literally find anything online that you’re looking for, with just a few clicks of your mouse. You don’t have to get dressed, go out, drive somewhere. You don’t have to spend the money for gas, which we all know is wayyyyy over-priced right now. Just choose your time, sit down at your computer, and shop!

The folks in my chat room and I were discussing this, and we came up with a few ideas that could help traditional brick and mortar stores survive in the onslaught of Internet shopping.

Read more on Are Brick and Mortar Stores Better than eTailers?…

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What was the first movie you ever saw in a movie theater? For me, I remember watching The Rescuers at a drive-in when I was a kid. I’ve been going to movie theaters all my life, even still today. Even though I have excellent home equipment to watch from the comfort of my couch, there’s still a place for the movie theater. There needs to be some changes, yes. And the cost? Don’t get me started there.

I talked to my chat room, and asked them what their thoughts are as to what movie theaters need to be like for the future. Here is what they came up with:

Read more on What was the First / Last Movie you saw in a Theater?…

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My first home page on the web was through my college. There wasn’t much you could do with a home page back then. In order to digitize photos, you had to actually scan them. No one I knew had a digital camera back then. But, I’ve been building Web pages since the mid-1990s. Even though I’m not Expert at building them, I do have a good idea of what works, and of upcoming trends.

I was reading my feeds the other night, and saw an article written by an old friend of mine, Jeffrey Zeldman. If you’re into any kind of Web design, then you know who he is. His article on April 27th, called The Vanishing Personal Site. I want to share the beginning of this article with you:

Read more on Are Personal Home Pages and Blogs Dying?…

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How many people do you believe have used email? If you had to give a percentage off the top of your head of US citizens that you believe have used email, what would you say? According to a survey, about 20% of US heads-of-household have never sent an email. About 18% (20 million) of households don’t have Internet access. Approximately 30% of people have never used a computer to create a document. Wow. I had no idea! I wonder why Internet access isn’t considered almost like a public utility of sorts. Think about it. We have access to the public library, and there are computers there. We have the ability to grab television and radio broadcast signals over the air. We have water and trash services that we pay for as a standard. It just seems like it would be a detriment to any household not to have Internet access today.

Read more on Could you Live Without Email or the Web?…

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I know a few of you use forums. Some of you have blogs and other social accounts. Most of these places allow you to set up an avatar. The hope is that one day, you only have to upload an avatar once and have it populate to all places you are on the Web. There is something that may be used throughout any blog that uses WordPress, and that has this feature enabled. For years, the Gravatars have been a plugin for WordPress. Now, the new version of WordPress has support for these Gravatars.

Read more on Is your Avatar a Gravatar?…

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Everyone knows that I’m addicted to USB devices. Because of this, I need several USB hubs, but my desk is only so big. I read about this product not long ago. So, when I saw it in a store I had to buy it.

Read more on A USB Grommet Hub for your Home Office…

I’m not sure if I’ll be upgrading to Adobe® Flash® Player 10 until it reaches late beta stages – or until I know that it’s not problematic for most browser-based Flash experiences. This one oughta be a good release, giving us an array of new features:

Read more on New Flash Player Software Beta…