Texting Google.

Google makes itself pretty darn accessible from a mobile phone! You can interact with many of their services via SMS or "short messaging service"

What's really cool is that you can query their search engine and more without ever needing to fire-up a mobile web-browser. I like to think of SMS as the command line of your mobile computing experience. There's a certain elegance in it's simplicity.

Text your Search to "466453"

(spells "Google" on most devices)

A couple of tips & cool search commands/shortcuts:

• To perform a local search, text the keyword of what you want to find (e.g. Bars, Night Clubs, Pizza, etc) followed by the location (name of city, or more specifically, zip code) You can separate business and location by using a period, space, or comma, but google recommends a period for accuracy (Ginos Pizza.Chicago -vs- Gino's Pizza Chicago)

• "D" before a word is the "Define" operator - (Easier then searching dictionary.com from a mobile browser)

• "W" before a location (city, town, ZIP) is the "Weather" query operator -(A fast forecast)

• Calculator also works. This is probably moot since most Cell phones worth their salt have a calculator in them, but if you don't and you're in need, just "text" your equation to Google and you'll get the answer right back. Works for Currency / Metric Conversions as well (e.g. 1 US pint in liters, 8 USD in Yen) Pretty slick!

There's a list of more commands + a really cool "demo" of how it works with a little onscreen cell phone interface here.

There's also been some really good stuff in Lifehacker on checking & updating your Google Calendar via SMS too.

Not your average drug bust

Ever wonder what 207 million dollars in cash looks like?


This cash horde was captured by Mexico City Police from a drug kingpin. Great story by my favorite online News site Washington Post. Almost reads like something from Tarantino

Digg the Story

SMS/Text Messages on the Mirror.

For the creepy rich dude whose wife tells him the ringer is off, all the time:



Interested in getting Text Messages on your mirror? Well for a limited time and quantity you can. The low, low price of $10,000.

100 Bloggers' Portaits in ASCII Art.

This is cool. 100 Bloggers Portraits in ASCII art. Go here to see. Click on the individual to see large image of in ASII.

Can't find the remote?

The remote gets lost quite a bit in my house so this set up would be a nice Wii-like fall back:



Don't thank me, thank the team of Aussie scientists that came up with it. There's actually seven gestures including the ability to control volume, turn on a DVD player and more.

I'll forgo the urge to make some jokes about the types of gestures and actions you could use and let anyone who want's to do so by leaving a comment below ;-)

Simplify sharing iTunes Libraries over the web using Simplify

There's an effortless new way to share iTunes libraries over the web. It's called Simplify.

The name is perfect because it's so easy. You only have to download a 4MB software package that takes less than a minute (available for either Mac or PC's of course) and it seems to really work like a charm. You send an invitation and/or accept one and 2-3 people can share the libraries simultaneously. Or you could could listen to your home music library at work. The whole thing has the Mac simple and elegant look, feel, and implementation!

I am using it as I'm posting this. My musician friend has a much more extensive library than I do, and it's just like Im listening to my own locally right inside of my own iTunes.

The service appears to relatively new, but there is another very favorable review of it here at the "StartupSquad" blog. You can't burn or download anything, just stream it, so it's totally legal. That means you can share DRM protected stuff too. Like pownce, this is another hot "trusted friend" kind of social web-app.

iPhone dust and the lighter side of blogging.

Considering the need for personal branding and the advice of Jakob Nielsen on putting out well-written, comprehensive articles vs. short-form, quick and dirty "blog posts," I logged into to blogger today with every intention of drafting a thoughtful and detailed analysis of eventcasting and why it's really more of an evolutionary application of technology - opposed to "revolutionary" one.

Instead, internet-ADD took over and I found this which is probably far more entertaining anyway:



yes, it is on ebay. the current bid is for as much as functional iPhone...but hey...you get a blender. Very Nice.