Insomnia
It’s 4:16 in the morning and I am still awake. The neighborhood is quiet and the mood is great. I love late nights such as these — priceless! What has kept me up? Web stuff. I’ve been tweaking things since earlier, writing new blog entries and following stats. When you decide to make a living from the Internet, these things are necessary. You always have to engage and always be connected.
I was thinking to myself earlier about how far the Internet has come. I remember the first day I got a shell account in 1995 at Wayne State University. I was connecting via WSU’s modem pool via a 2400 baud modem (yep, good ol’ dialup). Procomm Plus and Gopher were my best friends. I’d spend endless nights in a text-based world searching articles at various universities and other resources. Can you believe it? More than 10 years online (well, more like 14 with Prodigy, although they didn’t establish Internet connectivity until the mid-late 90s).
Well, it’s time to catch a few hours of rest and start the cycle all over again. Hope everyone is doing well out there.
Google Quietly Enhances GMail UI
Google announced today their integration of Google Talk with Orkut. However, they did not mention a UI enhancement to their GMail product. So far, I’ve noted the following (as shown in screen captures below):
- A new combo button featuring “Reply” and a drop-down menu
- The drop-down menu integrates the following functions:
- Reply to all
- Forward
- Add e-mail address to contacts list
- Delete this message
- Report fishing
- Show original
- Message text garbled?
Essentially, Google simplified things by grouping several functions onto a single menu. All of these options were previously available just beneath the header of the e-mail. Google also slightly modified the header details to reflect the menu addition. Finally, you’ll notice some fresh new icons throughout!
Overall, it’s a nice refresh which enhances the Google e-mail experience. Remember, you read it here first.
(Click images for available sizes)
Ed Bradley Dead at 65 (1941-2006)
CNN just reported that CBS anchor Ed Bradley has died of Leukemia. I was always fond of Ed’s work on CBS and 60 Minutes. He will be missed.
OneAddress: A ‘hypo-solution’ for instant address changes
The problem: It is a pain to update your new mailing address and phone number after a move. Change of Address forms aren’t the solution. They are not effective. They are not always reliable. And who cares to be bothered with manually updating dozens of accounts on various websites and forms to reflect your new place of residence? Not to mention, it normally takes several days to weeks for such changes to reflect. How convenient.
What if there were a better a solution? Well, hypothetically, there is.
The solution: I call it “OneAddress”. It would save millions of people worldwide the hassle of changing a name, address, email and phone number. Here’s how it would work:
- Logon to the OneAddress website
- Opt-in to the OneAddress Universal database
- Create a profile which includes your name, address, e-mail and phone number
- After account setup, you’ll receive a unique OneAddress “token”
- The “token” is an algorithmic number, which could be distributed via secure XML or RSS
- Payees, family, friends, etc. authorized as subscribers to your token will instantly receive any updates you make, regardless of how often or little you make them
The technology
- Hypothetically, OneAddress’ platform would be based on a combination of LAMP, XML, SSL and RSS
- A secure transport using XML and SSL would serve token updates to authorized subscribers
- For token subscribers, any changes received would automatically be appended and reflected in their internal databases, thus permitting the most up-to-date name, address, email and phone information
- There are thousands of uses for this technology
The benefits
- No more Change of Address forms
- A ‘one click’ solution for instantaneous name, address, email and phone number changes for all of your payees, family, friends, etc.
- Never miss important mail or phone calls
- What previously took days and weeks is now done in just under a minute’s time
- Perfect for all living situations, whether permanent or temporary
Seems like a good solution to a simple, although frustrating and time-consuming task, eh? Do you see the potential? Remember, you read it here first.
VoIP Skypecast with Ronald Lewis
Tonight marks the beginning of a new Skypecast dedicated to the discussion of everything VoIP. For future dates and times, check back here for updates
Let’s talk VoIP! Join podcaster, blogger and new media producer Ronald Lewis for an open-ended conversation about everything Voice-Over-IP!
Tonight’s Skypecast: 8:00 PM Eastern (click to join)
Requirements: Skype 3.0 Beta
The limit for this discussion is 100 people