Unemployed Geek

UP - Jawbone's new fitness bracelet (technology I can't afford, but would love to try)

2011-11-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Jawbone's new fitness bracelet, the "UP"

Read an article at Businessweek, that started out with an amazing story of a start-up being turned around by a meeting with Steve Jobs where he hate hate hated their product. He pointed out every shortcut they took and tore their ideas to shreds. It didn't discourage them. They attacked their weaknesses and developed the incredible Jawbone headset (that works somehow by using the bones in your head instead of speakers. I've only really tried them out and set them up for others, but they always sounded much better than the cheap bluetooth headsets I wore in the car.). Well, they've now come out with a fitness bracelet called "UP". It sounds incredibly interesting. As I've recently been reading the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss, (a book all about attempting to gain control of your fitness by first tracking it and then making small changes and then tracking those changes), the UP sounds like a perfect compliment to the kind of monitoring I've been trying to implement.

- It tracks your sleeping schedule and works as an alarm clock. (I've been reading all about the various options for this and it seems like they're mainly alarm clocks that don't work and don't unite into a unified system. I'm also interested in trying out polyphasic sleep and napping. This seems like a great monitoring and reminding system for that alternative lifestyle. I'd love it if they had pre-configured sleep schedules and could link it up with the bracelet to remind you to take a nap or wake from one.)

- It tracks your steps (Interesting, but I already do this with Runkeeper. Bonuses would be wearing it all the time and getting more data)

- It links to an iphone program that can help you track your meals by taking pictures of them and presumably choosing the meal from a list to average the calories. (I've done this a little through LoseIt! on the iphone, which doesn't take photos, but does track meals and I've taken photos myself as recommended in 4HB, but again to have them together in a unified system would be excellent.)

- It says you can wear it in the shower (but I don't think I will. Not sure about that one. Wouldn't want to break it. I like long showers and hot water.)

- It has an alarm based system for inactivity (This sounds really interesting, especially for writers and other computer programmer type peoples who sit at their desks all day long. A reminder to take a brief walk occasionally could be really helpful. Especially if it tied into a notification update system, where your computer would thank you for walking and tell you how much you walked during your break, and would then graph and track the effectiveness of the brief walk reminder, eg: if there was a spike in the chart after each reminder or if there wasn't a spike)

The only thing it seems to lack is a weight monitor. Presumably you could type it in and if the computer program asked you for the weight in the right way (similar to the amazing 750words.com, which gives points for streaks and makes a game out of it), I guess I could track that in the unified system. Maybe it works with the Withings Wifi scale (another fitness item I'd love to try, but can't afford). Anyway it sounds like an amazing fitness product and a gateway into a unified body tracking system. I'd love to try it.....

Not only did I gush about the product on this blog, I also wrote the company and begged for a demo version. Stay tuned to this exciting blog to find out what happens next!

I am organized, man

2011-10-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Organization is Cool

Everything is organized. I gave away two bags of clothes, a bag of shoes and two bags of audio cds to the goodwill and have even gotten rid of my old computer cables and a few old desktop computers that were only taking up space. I am no longer your go-to guy for five-year old dayquil. I have just enough clothes for myself and if I don't wear it, I probably won't own it for long. I even sorted my socks and got rid of a ton of those. Sorted my bookcases and moved two of them into another room and started selling old books on amazon. I am organized man.

Now I really have no excuses not to work on my projects.

A quick Q&A with my parents

2011-10-15T21:31:00.001-07:00

Q: Have you found a job yet?
A: No. I spoke to you yesterday. Nothing since then.

Q: Heard back on any state jobs?
A: No. I have not heard back on any state jobs.

Q: Did you read the article about Discrimination against the Unemployed?
A: Yes, I read the article.

Q: Have you found a job yet?
A: No.

Unable to bake cookies, I hold a book sale instead! Book Sale!

2011-10-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Check out my book sale going now! If you've ever thought about buying a used book, consider buying one from me! Some of these books haven't even been read!

http://www.amazon.com/shops/unemployed-geek

Enjoying my Google Software on Apple Devices

2011-06-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm having a real good time using Google Products on my Apple Devices. I just started using Google Music Beta and I really might get into it. I also like Docs, Tasks! and Voice. But I do wonder... What would Google Software be like on Google Devices. I hope one day to try out an Android Phone, Tablet and Chromebook. It's going to be a great showdown between Google and Apple for the one login all data computer. It sounds like Apple has it ready to go. I wonder what Google's solution will be like.

CloudyThoughts

2011-06-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Being unemployed means having plenty of time. Time to try out cloud music players. Click Here to read my initial impressions of the new cloud music players: Amazom Cloud Player and Google Music Beta.

I want to be a Lion Tamer.

2011-05-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Begging for free stuff - status update (no free stuff yet)

2011-05-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

So far two no's from my prestigious begging for free stuff project:

- Haschette Book Group says no free galley copies of DFW's Pale King. They pointed me to their free galley website where I could request free copies of books I don't want to read. Not exactly the same thing.

- 7/11 Free Slurpee - Sent them my idea that slurpees should be free, with coupons for more free slurpees on the cups so people would always be going back to 7/11 to get a free slurpee and naturally end up buying more stuff. They did not send me a free slurpee for my trouble.

- Wacom Tablet thanks me for my interest, but is only interested in me trying out their tablet if I'm a member of the national press. Typical. Yawn.

Trying Amazon Prime again

2011-05-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last time I tried this service, I was just trying to get fast free shipping for Christmas. Now I'm getting that and I'm also getting access to "5,000 streaming movies and tv shows". So far the catalog seems similar (though probably deficient) to Netflix. I'm streaming a movie in my browser window right now. It's like seeing the Amazon website with a movie of a sunburst where the part where I read about the book I'm about to order was. Neato.

Also bought a "free song" so I could try out the Amazon cloud player. Streamed nicely in my browser and is now in my "cloud drive". Might have to give the Google Music service a tryout a little later too, as long as they have free songs I can "buy".

Early impressions on the video player. Pop-out button worked well. Double clicking the video made it full screen and the video switched between full and windowed quickly. Sound is good, no skipping so far, but I have a good internet connection now, so that's not as much as a problem for me as it was before.

Goodreads - Amazon should buy them immedately

2011-05-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Good Reads is a really cool service. It keeps track of books you've read, but it doesn't link up with the Kindle and publish my real time status both on my profile page there and on twitter. That's what needs to be done. Amazon should buy GoodReads and merge it into their burgeoning social network. Then when I finish a book on the Kindle I could publish my review and status to GoodReads.

Things I would "test" on an ipad (games)

2011-05-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

I definitely would be playing Trism right now. Trism has always been my favorite iPhone game, and I'd love to see how it translates to the iPad. I'd also be playing Monopoly and Civilization, two games that I liked on the iPhone, but either ran too slow on my old school iPhone 3G, or were too addictive (in the case of Civilization). I'd also be able to try out some of the more action adventure games I've purchased and own but don't load on my slow running iPhone 3G. I wish Itunes would let me download all of the applications I'd purchased automatically instead of making me go through and choose one at a time. It's really annoying and makes me feel ripped off that I can't easily re-download things I've purchased.

I'd also like to test one of the fancy graphics games by John Carmack.

It would be fun to try an iPad.

I sure could use one of these

2011-05-17T14:57:00.001-07:00

BustedTees - Team Coco: Black Mug

Writing letters, begging for free stuff

2011-05-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Letter to Amazon re: birthday discount. Sent.

Now working on a presentation to send to Amazon about Social Reading. I can only hope they'll watch it, enjoy it and offer me a job (even though I'm more of a thinker/multi purpose geek and not a coder, though I understand some code) and I could do something interesting for a decent salary (even if they make me live in Seattle, which I could deal with) and be able to contribute. It would be very exciting to work on Social Reading. Always loved libraries. Always loved reading as a group in English Classes, Book Clubs. Reading is valuable and it'd be an honor to add anything to such a great subject as reading.

Letter to Wacom re: trial Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet. Sent.

Letter to Hachette Book Group re: review copy of The Pale King. Sent.

Letter to Apple re: trial ipad2. Sent.

Letter to BlackRapid re: trial camera strap. Sent.

Desperate, but not hopeless

2011-05-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Desperate

But not hopeless

I feel so useless

In the murder city

No more spending money (except for the next time I spend)

2011-05-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Back when I was employed, I wasted money. $10 was like water to me. I'd toss $10 items into my cart at Walmart like it was nothing. I was collecting the perfect collection of stuff to support my hotel lifestyle on the lawyer's dime.

Now it's time to go back to the old ways. College style. Not living lousy, no sir, no way. But scrimping, saving, and cutting corners. Every dollar counts. Even though I still intend to buy a few things, if I want to get all the things I want, I must use coupons and my endless well of words to reduce prices. Afterall, as President Eisenhower said, "we've got to keep down the cost of living".

That said, I still have a $50 gift certificate to spend at Amazon for my birthday. Unemployed or not, I was still born and deserve a huge book and a ephemeral book. Why the disparity? Why would I want both a book that weighs 9 pounds (and they claim they won't give me free shipping, a first in all my years suffering from AmazonAddiction) and a book that weighs nothing (although I'm sure it's 500+ pages of depth)? Is it because I'm diverse and unique, like the universe?

"I guess it's just the dichotomy of man. The jungian thing."

$50 gift certificate in hand, I'm ready to spend, but something is wrong. The prices have changed.

Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made 9 pound masterpiece has shifted upwards in price from $40 to $44. Probably because it was mentioned on BoingBoing (or somewhere like that. A google search turns up nothing but reminders that the Kubrick book once cost $700 in a more limited form only makes me want it more).

And in even more shocking news, the unfinished ebook version of deceased author David Foster Wallace's The Pale King has increased in price from $12.99 to $14.99. Why should an ebook go up in price? It's already horribly overpriced and packed with nasty DRM that pissed me off rightly when reading DFW's masterpiece Infinite Jest, which I bought for $9.99 (ebook version) and is still $9.99.

I'd like to get the Kubrick Book and the Pale King ebook for $50 combined, out the door, with free shipping, but it's starting to look like Amazon has purposely been raising the prices in honor of my birthday. This doesn't seem right. I've talked to Amazon before and they always seemed incredibly nice (really the kind of company I'd like to work for, if they had a place for someone who likes their products, but has some complaints and only has a background in using computers, interfaces, thinking about computers, but hasn't really said anything yet, but as mentioned before was gifted with an endless well of words, a man who orders his ink by the barrel and has only recently begun shooting out cannonfulls.) and I don't think they'd raise the prices just for my birthday. Surely there must be some mistake. I think I'll contact amazon and see if we can work together to correct these bizarre price changes, but first I should set the scene:

1. I'll Join Amazon Prime for a Free Month - If I set a reminder to cancel in my GoogleCalendar, trying Prime again for a month carries little risk (except for of course that I might buy more things at Amazon). I think this should justify my claim for a shipping discount on the Kubrick Napoleon book.

2. Complain again about the "unstated clipping limit" on Infinite Jest. I bought an ebook, hoping to join "social reading" and share clips while I quested against the massive 1,000 page Infinite Jest, the literary version of climbing Kilimanjaro, a climb few will make, and I thought it would be fun to bring my friends along. Unfortunately I hit an unknown "clipping limit" while still in the first 100 pages or so. It quickly brought my dreams of social reading to an end and has left me kinda bummed about the Kindle ever since. I really wish that Amazon would read this blog and my other blog and let me help them fix the Kindle. It would be great to work on a team toward an awesome goal like Social Reading (something that would actually do good things for people and help them join Virtual Book clubs which would drive them to read and share more (not limiting it!) (Okay I probably won't mention this in my email, but I really dislike clipping limits and won't stop mentioning it. Clipping Limits Delenda Est!)

3. Remind them what a good customer I am. Embarrassing or not I have a small to large Amazon Addiction. I've spent thousands of dollars there over the years and even have an entire shelf of books to read, my own personal bookstore thanks to years of shopping cart based impulse buying thanks to their incredible store. That said, you'd think they'd send me something for my birthday. Even if it was only a percentage based discount attempting to get me to spend more money, that would be something, and help toward my goal:

Goal: Kubrick $40 + Pale King $10 = $50

While I'm begging, Let me publicly announce my Wishlist: (having quickly edited out the slightly embarrassing books on how to impress the ladies, leaving only the WWII, scifi, unread novels, biographies and a few computery books):

Unemployed Geek's Wishlist If you like what you see, think about buying something for me.

Of course now while I've been editing my wishlist, I've noticed that Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling is finally on sale. I tell you this. Never read an excerpt. It's like mental heroin. I've been wanting to read this book forever, but couldn't because the Hardcover was $17 and the Ebook was $13. Just seemed incredibly overpriced, but now there's a used copy for $2.99 ($6.78 with shipping) which is quite a good deal

New Goal: Kubrick $35 + Pale King $10 + Lay the Favorite $5 = $50

Really mypricetrack.com is quickly becoming my favorite new site. Amazon should put graphs like this on their product pages and allow the users to negotiate with the companies over the discounts. Turn back the clock, time traveling sales. Virtual markets should have such things.

Oh well. Enough kibitzing. Time to write a very nicely worded letter to Amazon customer service.

Welcome to Unemployed-Geek

2011-05-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome to Unemployed-Geek! My name is Thomas and I'm recently unemployed and also a geek. Therefore the name. I've worked in computers for about 15 years, played with computers for the past 25 years recently spent 7 years fixing computers and solving technical problems for high powered corporate lawyers only to suddenly find myself unemployed.

I'm taking some time off. Cleaning out my house, sorting and organizing. GTD. My inbox is zero and my bucket list is getting organized. I just got back from a fantastic family vacation to Chicago and I just finished paying the bills and rewatching Knocked Up. I'm migrating files using the time machine on my mac and I'm thinking about reheating my dinner in the microwave. I'm a modern man with everything to do and no place to do it. This is my new place.

The things I plan to do here:

- Ramble
- Review
- Complain
- Celebrate

The subjects I plan to cover here:

- Software
- Movies
- Books
- Digital Lifestlye

I'll also be covering a few other topics like "life during unemployment" and my quest to convince companies to donate products to me so that I can review them for you. I know it sounds exciting now but wait until it gets started. There will be pictures and sarcasm and everything. I guarantee it. Do you know how I know it will be a great blog? Because I have nothing to do and I plan to make it a great blog.