Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Ultimate Secure Home

George alerted me to this over-the-top, off-the-grid, most secure home ever. Here's an excerpt from the website for the Ultimate Secure Home:

"Strategically located in the awesome San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado, this patented steel-reinforced concrete earth home was built to withstand almost any natural or man-made disaster you can name. It is more secure, safe, and functional than any conventional house could ever be, yet still has a level of comfort that one might not expect to find in an underground home."

It is completely off the grid, relying on solar power for all the electrical needs. It has a safe room (i.e., "bomb shelter"), and is hardended against almost anything.

In an apocalyptic mood? Get it now for just $495,000.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Safari Bookshelf Update: Head First Books Added

I've subscribed to O'Rielly's Safari Bookshelf for a few years now (George has, too), but I was always disappointed that possibly their best series of books was not included: The Head First series.

If you want to effectively learn a new programming technology, nothing comes close to the Head First books. George recently completed the HTML and CSS book ,and I'm interested in the Ajax one.

I just read a post over at the O'Reilly Radar blog that these books have been added to Safari! For a minimum subscription of $9.99, you can have access to all of them. You can try the Safari Online Bookshelf for free for two weeks.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

It's Time to Save the Internet

Save the Net Now
The House of Representatives has already killed an amendment to a bill they passed on Thursday (the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006), so now it is up to the Senate to stop this bill, or amend it. Large telecom interests have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut "Net Neutrality."

Companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner, want to give their own content preferential treatment on their own networks, and tax content providers for the privilege to be carried on their networks.

The concept of Net Neutrality ensures that the network simply moves data, without considering what it is or who is providing it. If these companies succeed, it will be good for them and bad for everyone else, especially YOU.

Visit SavetheInternet.com to learn more, and to find out what you can do.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Do your grocery shopping at... Amazon?

Aparently so. I discovered that Amazon is now carrying tens of thousands of non-perishable items in their Grocery section.

I immediately searched on my favorite energy bars (Balance), and found that they sell the 15-bar boxes for $15.35. This isn't the best price I've every found, but it beats the non-sale price at my local grocer (better selection, too).

I also looked for the new Kashi cereal I've been eating, and while the price is reasonable, it only comes in cases containing 6 boxes. So, it might be more like shopping at Costco than Safeway.

All items in the Grocery Store qualify for Super Saver Shipping, as well as Amazon Prime.

Friday, June 9, 2006

Micro$oft Beware: Google Spreadsheets is here.

Take your browser on a spin over to

spreadsheets.google.com.

I signed up for an invitation to be part of the limited evaluation (it's a new addition to Google Labs), and got my invitation only a couple of hours later.

It works just as I thought it would (i.e., the interface is intuitive and Excel-like). I'm very excited about this. You can share them with other people of you choose, even have multiple authors. VERY COOL.