word!

I know that Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace are all the rage for the kiddies on the internet these days. I have frequented these establishments and actively have accounts with them.

I just fail to see why Myspace is the craze that it is. I mean, it’s not easy to configure with backgrounds or what not. It’s next near impossible to just find someone’s Myspace web address, nothing neat and kind about that. The layout is confusing and can be placed about.

Moths are just drawn to some interesting flames. Maybe it’s something I’m not seeing here, but if it’s that unobvious, it sure isn’t living up to the simplicity principle.

After playing around with the idea of personally diving into digital photography, I can proudly say that I am the owner of a Nikon Coolpix 5600. I am amazed that I got such a good deal on this 5 Megapixel camera, being that I get a free-after-rebate Epson photo printer for it and some additional Ritz coupons towards photography stuff.

The features are pretty neat, you can set the camera up to take just about any type of photo situation inmaginable, from fireworks to sepia-only, close up to panoramic, which you can then stitch together to make a continuous photo. Neat stuff.

It can also record short videos and sound clips as well, with fairly decent quality. So, yeah. I like it, and here are some samplings of what it has to offer.

MAX: Sad Dog

Phone Closeup

MOVIE:JAMES

MOVIE:JAMES

Click for Quicktime Movie – Starring my brother James

That’s the line I was given after successfully canceling my account with the ‘newest’ DVD rent-by-mail, powerhouse Blockbuster, and asked why it was so difficult to get onto the website.

It seems the 800 poung gorilla that has sat quietly in the corner while all the others were raking in cash has finally come to the realization it should jump in on this fad, lest the competition undermine their cash cow operations and make them irrevelant. I’m somewhat glad for it, as it has brought down prices at Walmart and Netflix. Capitalism works good that way.

Now that Blockbuster has made it’s play though, I’m starting to wonder if it was worthwhile to put the worst foot forward into such a sizzling competitve and fickle market. I decided to join after seeing their ads plastered all over USATODAY offering a free month of renting. Sounds easy enough. I’ve done it with both rivals and it worked flawlessly.

But Blockbuster can’t even figure out how to let you sign into their website for the rental program. After seeming logging in and giving them your credit card info, you think you’re all set to go. But nope, you can’t. Seems they don’t think you logged in and want you to do it all over again. So I read through FAQs and maybe there is a cookie problem. So I follow the advice and clear cookies in both Mozilla and IE. nothing. Try different computer, same thing, nothing. After putzing a good hour on this, I call up Customer Service and cancel accounts. And for all this they can say they’re a new company. What, did they just steal Blockbuster’s trademarks and create all the buzz in the industry after doing so? I think not.

I am less than impressed with their stupidity, both online and in-person customer service. Get with it.

**UPDATE — while researching links to Walmart’s service, it appears that Walmart has conceded defeat of their service and is pushing it’s users to Netflix. Interesting.

A while back, I found a website that you use to track US currency via the site and the unique serial number on currency. This was interesting to me, because as a kid I wondered what actually happened to money after it left your hands, the places it might go and things that it could be part of.

So upon hearing about this site, I signed up and entered in a few bills of various currencies and disseminated them out into the world. The first one I received information on didn’t travel far, Fergus Falls, or have any other information entered with it. But the second one,a Alexander Hamilton, upon which I just recieved notification, has traveled all the way to Anchorage, AK , which is awesome and very cool in a way.

The site tracks distance from report A to report B and also miles traveled per day, which with the Alaska Bill was on average of some 6.2 miles/day which is quite good I think.

All in all, it was fun to learn of this. Ah, the joys the internet can bring mankind!

Yahoo! is slowly releasing it’s new whiz-bang technology that is going to unite blogging, social networking and some other stuff together under the Yahoo! brand. WOW. I’m almost as giddy as when MSN spaces went live. Props to this guy for the invite though. Man, I wonder how much these things could go for on eBay. (Looks like someone already is auctioning away a not so rare invite). Ha.

So yeah, here’s my awesome placeholder of a page. It’s bland, but it takes off, oh man, imagine the blank possibilities that await.

Wanna an invite? 100 waiting to be had. Don’t want one, no problem too.