Evans Thompson & Associates

Google Storage pricing

2010-01-13T01:35:08Z

Google's done an interesting thing with their storage pricing.

On Google's announcement of the ability to upload any file type to Google Docs, they say:

You'll have 1 GB of free storage for files you don't convert into one of the Google Docs formats (i.e. Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), and if you need more space, you can buy additional storage for $0.25 per GB per year.

However, on the Google Storage purchase page, it's not the "pay only for what you use" model that's the crux of much of "the cloud." Your options are 20 GB, 80 GB, 200 GB. Nothing in between. What gives, Google? Will you let us by 31.4 GB rather than 80 GB? On the plus side, that $50 you paid last month for the 200 GB Picasa storage (with "free" Eye-Fi card) is now split between Gmail, Google Docs, and Picasa Web albums.

Now, if only we could link that with a Google Apps account...

UPDATE: Google Apps Premier customers will pay $3.50/GB/yr. That's a big difference from the consumer $0.25/GB/yr.

An Experiment: Using only Chrome for a week

2010-01-13T01:26:40Z

I'm a man of many browsers, but Firefox has my heart (or rather Firefox's extensions do). I want to put Google Chrome to a really fair test, however, and will use only Chrome for the next week.

(I know, it's not that exciting of an experiment...)

Microsoft announces Office 2010 versions and pricing

2010-01-08T02:06:15Z

Microsoft announced Office 2010 pricing at CES. Office Home and Business includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. There’s no upgrade pricing at the moment, but the Product Key Card version will retail for $199.

How much will Office 2010 cost?

In addition to the great momentum statistics, we are also releasing Office 2010 U.S. retail pricing today. Office 2010 will be offered in four versions, to make it easier to choose a version of Office that’s best for you – Office Home and Business, Office Professional, Office Home and Student, and Office Professional Academic. Here’s a chart that outlines the features and pricing for each version.

Version	Boxed Product	Product Key Card
Office Home and Student	$149	$119
Office Home and Business	$279	$199
Office Professional	$499	$349
Office Professional Academic	$99	N/A

Office Home and Student boxed product is available in a Family Pack, allowing usage on three PCs in one house
Purchase rights for Office Home and Business, Office Professional, and Office Professional Academic boxed product allow for usage on two of your PCs.
The Product Key Card is valid for a single installation of the product.

Or click here to download a more detailed guide to each edition.

[via Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering]

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NYTimes.com has a Time Machine!

2009-12-03T23:20:59Z

A version of this article appeared in print on December 6, 2009, on page MM18 of the New York edition.

via nytimes.com

Whoa. It's December 3, but the NYTimes shows us the future 3 days from now.

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Jeffrey P. Bezos on the Kindle -- NYTimes

2009-12-03T23:20:35Z

Barnes & Noble claims on its Web site that the Nook has several advantages over the Kindle -- for one thing, a Nook book can be lent to friends. You can forward the text to another user.
The current thing being talked about is extremely limited. You can lend to one friend. One time. You can't pick two friends, not even serially, so once you've loaned one book to one friend, that's it.

What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub?
I'll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It's much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book in a Ziploc bag you can't turn the pages. But with Kindle, you can just push the buttons.
What if you dropped your Kindle in the bathtub?
If it's sealed in a one-gallon Ziploc bag? Why don't you try that experiment and let me know.

via nytimes.com

Jeff's right on the Nook. I was excited about the ability to "share" books. Since it's only a one-time deal (and only for 14 days), it quickly loses its appeal.

I'm tempted to try the Kindle in the bath experiment. If it's sealed in a Ziploc bag and then gets wet, I wonder if Amazon will replace the device.

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Rant on H1N1 and people "toughing it out" at work

2009-11-13T15:32:37Z

If you have flu symptoms, please, please don't go to work or be in close proximity to others in public places. We all know you're a trooper and can tough it out, but that's not the point. Take the welfare of everyone else around you into account. Many of us do have better things to do with our time than get sick.

There's a person at the office who had flu-like symptoms. This person spent a week in a conference room in close proximity to four other people, one of whom was a pregnant woman. This person was later diagnosed with H1N1. Out of those other four people in the conference room, one of them was diagnosed as having H1N1.

With the supply of H1N1 vaccine still short in the US, there's a limit to how much we (those of us who do have better things to do with our time than get sick) can do to thwart the illness. In this case, if you need to be in a conference room with other people all week, there's not much you can do to avoid those people that may be sick. On the other hand, if you're not feeling well, you do have the ability to minimize your exposure to other people.

Staying home when you have flu symptoms (or really any time you are unwell) is not just a matter of common courtesy; it could save the life of someone. Geez.

(No, I'm not a germaphobe, but I do have an aversion to getting sick. There's only so much hand washing and hand sanitizer I can use.)

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Google offers Free WiFi and matches donations

2009-11-11T15:16:20Z

Give Back and Have Your Donation Matched by Google

The holidays are about giving and we hope that you can continue to spread holiday cheer by making a donation via Google Checkout to any of the participating non-profits listed below. At the end of the program, Google will match donations made via the WiFi network, up to a maximum of $250,000 across the three non-profits. Just look for the link to donate once you connect.

The airport that gets the highest dollar amount contributed per passenger (based on 2008 FAA data) by January 1, 2010 will also receive $15,000 to donate to the local charity of their choice. If you'd like to make a donation but aren't traveling this holiday season, we encourage you to make a direct contribution to these organizations by visiting the websites below.

via freeholidaywifi.com

This rocks. Google is sponsoring free WiFi at selected airports this holiday season. While the WiFi is free, they will accept donations. Google will match those donations, up to $250,000.

So, that $9.95 airport WiFi you were thinking about buying because your flight is now delayed 2 hours is free. Or, you could donate, say, $5.00 which would end up being $10.00 to charity.

How cool is that!

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Print Friendly -- save a web pages as a PDF

2009-11-05T23:20:18Z

Make any web page print friendly

Get the Bookmarklet

Add Print Friendly to your browser.

Drag the link above to your browser's bookmark toolbar.

via printfriendly.com

Print Friendly is one of my favorite websites and Bookmarklets. It takes any web page and creates a print friendly version (catchy name, eh?)

The best part, though, is it will then create a PDF of that page for you to download. I use it all the time when I'm at a PC that doesn't have a PDF converter installed or even if I'm on my Mac and I want to print a page without its own "print friendly" (e.g., WSJ.com, NYTime, The Register) version.

New Starbucks Rewards Program - You get a Gold Star! (And more free drinks...)

2009-11-05T22:51:30Z

via starbucks.com

Starbucks is re-launching its Starbucks Rewards program that's linked to registered Starbucks Cards. The "Green" level has the same perks as the current Starbucks Rewards program.

You earn one star every time you pay with your registered Starbucks card. Five stars will keep you at Green. After 30 stars, you're at the Gold Level and get a free drink after every 15 stars!

If you go to Starbucks every day, that's 1 - 2 free drinks a month. Nice. :)

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Easy way to get apps for Windows 7 - Nitrite

2009-10-28T16:19:39Z

The easiest way to get apps.

Pick the apps you want.

Start your customized installer.

You're done!

Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works
in the background 100% hands-free.

We install apps with default settings and
say "no" to browser toolbars and other junk.

All we do is install the latest versions of the apps
you choose. Not even Ninite is installed.

via ninite.com

So you've upgraded to Windows 7 and now face the tedious task of downloading all your "crucial" applications (Firefox, Evernote, Dropbox, Flash, etc).

Nitrite makes the process less painful by allowing you to "package" many app installs at once. It beats tracking them down among multiple websites. And it's free!

NWA Flight 188 Overflight - Pilots Say Laptops, Scheduling Conversation Made Them Distracted

2009-10-27T14:59:16Z

In some ways, the latest update from the National Transportation Safety Board about Northwest Airlines Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis confirms the worst fears: The pilots just plain weren't paying a lick of attention to flying the airplane.

The NTSB interviewed both pilots, both experienced aviators, who overflew MSP last week and said the captain and first officer say they had laptop computers out and were deep in discussion of a new crew scheduling system launched by Northwest's parent, Delta Air Lines.The first officer was showing the captain how the new system worked, and neither were listening to radio transmissions or even glancing at airplane instruments or messages from company dispatchers.

There's an old saying in aviation: "Flying can be hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror." Automation can make flying a jet a boring task -- set the autopilot and all you have to do is change radio frequencies as you cross the country. Automation has made air travel safer, but complacency in the cockpit will lead to accidents.

via blogs.wsj.com

I can certainly understand the need to fill some of the time while on autopilot,but what about a good ol' game of Solitaire or some games/books on the iPhone/iPod touch? Couldn't you at least set an alarm/timer to remind you to pay attention? I'm sure there's an app for that.

Posted via web from Evans's Posterous

Plants can recognize rivals and fight, study says

2009-10-21T00:57:12Z

Back in 2007, Canadian researchers discovered that a common seashore plant, called a sea rocket, can recognize its siblings — plants grown from seeds from the same plant, or mother. They saw that when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil, they "play nice" and don't send out more roots to compete with one another.
But as soon as one of the plants is thrown in with strangers, it begins competing with them by rapidly growing more roots to take up the water and mineral nutrients in the soil.

via msnbc.msn.com

Mulberry, you hear me over there? It it SO on!

Posted via web from Evans's Posterous

Acetaminophen Reduces the Potency of Some Vaccines, a Czech Study Finds

2009-10-21T00:54:49Z

Babies are often given acetaminophen when they get their routine vaccinations. The drug, sold as Tylenol in the United States and called paracetamol in most countries, counters the common risk of fever and the much less common risk of fevers high enough to cause seizure.

But a new study, done in the Czech Republic and published last week in The Lancet, may have implications for children everywhere: the researchers found that the antifever drug makes some vaccines less potent. Fever is part of the immune response, and suppressing it, the authors said, appeared to impair the body’s ability to make antibodies.

via nytimes.com

I certainly understand the need for the body to have a powerful immune response for a vaccine to be effective.

While it's outside the scope of the study, you might want to hold off popping down a couple Tylenol when you get your flu shot(s).

Posted via web from Evans's Posterous

The Nook has cooler covers - Alice Cover in Paper

2009-10-20T23:03:34Z

This trompe l’oeil cover opens just like a book, and features a delightful quote from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Made from durable, subtly textured cotton canvas and coated for extra protection, this cover is also lined with a soft synthetic suede interior that helps protect your nook from scratches and handling while you read. For added convenience, an angled pocket on the inside of the cover is perfect for notes and cards.

via gifts.barnesandnoble.com

Out of the gate, the Nook has much cooler covers for the Nook than Amazon has for the Kindle -- even now!

Posted via web from Evans's Posterous

Nook Features, eBook Reader, eBook Device - Barnes & Noble

2009-10-20T22:10:58Z

Share favorite eBooks with your friends, family, or book club. Most eBooks can be lent for up to 14 days at a time. Just choose the book you want to share, then send it to your friend's reader, cell phone, or computer.

via barnesandnoble.com

Barnes and Noble's new Nook eBook reader looks cool. The part that sets it apart from the Kindle (for now at least), is the ability to lend a book to someone else.

The color touch screen is nice, but the lending is the killer feature.

Your move, Amazon.

Posted via web from Evans's Posterous