MP3Tunes is offering unlimited music storage and playback. They make it really easy by providing a tiny application called ObeoSync which scans your music collection and uploads everything to MP3Tunes. It will then continue to monitor your music folders and handle the synchronization automatically. I’ve been using this service now for about a week and really enjoy it. You’ll have a backup of your entire collection and be able to play your music from any browser. Here’s how you do it:

1. Go here and register for an Obeo Free account

2. Login to your account and grab Obeo Sync software from this page.

3. Once you’ve install Obeo Sync, give it your login/password and tell it where to find your music. It may take several hours, even days, to upload all your files depending on the size of your collection.

4. Once you’re uploaded your music you can access/play it from this page.

We recently purchased our first Digital SRL Camera. After a lot of input from friends, speaking with helpful sales people at several camera stores and reading numerous reviews and article online we decided to purchase the Nikon D40. We are notice SLR owners and feel this camera will meet our needs the best for a long time. Here are a few things I’ve learned in the process of researching, purchasing and training for the camera:

1. Although I buy many items online, if you are a first time DSLR owner, I suggest purchasing the camera at a local, reputable store. I found the knowledge gained by speaking with a knowledgeable salesperson to be the best research I conducted. Sure, some will favor one brand over another, but you’ll pickup information that can balance out what you learn by researching online. Being able to hold a number of different cameras was critical. Several models I thought looked good online didn’t feel so great in my hand.

2. Last night I attended a class at the store where I purchased my camera. The class was taught by the same man who sold me the camera and I learned more about photography in those two hours than I knew as a whole before the class. It was interesting to watch several novice owners become very frustrated when their more complex cameras were not as easy to use or configure as they had hoped. Nikon has done an amazing job at making the settings on the D40 not only easy to set but easy to understand. Two women sat in front of me. One had a D40 and the other had a D80. The D40 owner was able to follow along the entire class while the D80 owner spent most of her time trying to find the right menu or change a specific setting. Another guy behind me was having similar trouble with his D200. I wonder how successful they will be when the actually try to snap a few shots?

3. Price, price, price. I found that if you are purchasing a camera made by Canon or Nikon the difference in price wasn’t very much between the local and online store. I’m not certain but I believe this is similar to how Apple prices products which doesn’t allow for much variance between retailers. Sure, I could have saved a few bucks (mostly due to lack of sales tax) by purchasing online but I felt the knowledge I gained from speaking with the sales person was worth a lot more than the money I could have saved by purchasing online.

4. If you’re a beginner, stick with Canon or Nikon cameras and lenses. I say this because your needs could change quickly. You may take to photography fast and want to upgrade or you may find that it doesn’t interest you very much and want to scale back. Either way, you’ll be able to sell your equipment for a good price if you stick with these two brands.

5. Read Ken Rockwell’s site, especially these two articles: How and Where to Buy Photo Equipment and Why Your Camera Does Not Matter.

6. Most of the books I came across were confusing. They either are insultingly simple or geared towards the advanced users. Of the many I skimmed through, only The Digital Photography Book caught my interest. Have you come across a good book for beginners? If so please comment with the name.

What other suggestions have I missed that would help first time DSLR buyers?

The Moment put together an interesting interview/article about the co-founder of Google.

On August 16, 2004, its first day of trading, Google stock shot from $85 to $100 per share. Last November, it crossed the $500 mark, a number seldom seen in stock market history and far above the share prices of rivals Microsoft and Yahoo! At that price, Sergey and Larry, who together hold a controlling interest the company, each boast an estimated net worth of $15 billion.

What does that sort of money do to a 33-year-old? If you’re Sergey, you buy a new house on the peninsula south of San Francisco, trade in your hybrid Toyota Prius for a fancier ride, and continue shopping at Costco. “From my parents, I certainly learned to be frugal and to be happy without very many things,” Sergey tells me. “It’s interesting—I still find myself not wanting to leave anything on the plate uneaten. I still look at prices. I try to force myself to do this less, not to be so frugal. But I was raised being happy with not so much.” His parents say Sergey taught them to shop at Costco, too. “He bought us a membership,” Michael says. “It’s a store that he knows and understands.”

–Link to full article

If you live a big city chances are several, if not many people use public transportation to get into work. For the downtown Seattle that means taking the various express buses, Sounder Train, Van Pools and even carpooling. I happen to work for a company that has been accommodating to those that must take public transportation.

I’ve noticed that several companies in the area really encourage the use of public transportation. Some subsidize or outright purchase a bus or train pass for their employees. This is fantastic and is a benefit to the employee on the bus/train as well as the person who must drive by keeping fewer cars off the road.

Here are a few suggestions for companies who want to encourage the use of public transportation:

End All Meetings by 4 pm – It’s frustrating to have a meeting run long and have to make a mad dash to the train station. Schedule meetings far enough in advance so they can be held earlier in the day.

Offset the Cost – Even 50 bucks towards a bus or train pass would encourage people. I know that some jobs require having a car at work but not as many as some people believe.

Plan After-Hour Events Well in Advance – Company parties or happy hours usually take place later in the afternoon or evening. Give your employees enough advance notice so they can make plans to attend while still making arrangements to get home.

Provide plenty of Conference Room Space – Nice, large conference rooms are great because you can have larger client meetings at your place instead of making the trek over to your clients office. This provides an opportunity for your clients to meet more people at your company including management. Make sure each room has a projector that doesn’t take calling the IT to get working properly.

Provide Laptops/Remote Connections – If you really want to make your employees happy get them a state of the art laptop and one of the new high speed internet cards so they can work from anywhere! At the very least you should provide the ability to remote into the company’s network to get work done from home or any wireless hot spot.

Provide Virtual Meeting Space – For those times when you need to review a presentation, a service like Microsoft Live Meeting is very helpful. This cuts down on travel during the workday while still allowing your employees to work efficiently.

I’m sure I’ve left out many more. What are some ways your company encourages the use of public transportation or what would make you consider taking a train or bus if you currently drive to work each day?

Sound Transit has posted notices on each train with details of a public hearing about proposed fare increases for the Sounder Train. I grabbed one of their pamphlets today and read through the reasons for the fare increase including the 70% increase in the cost of gasoline since Sounder went into service. Every reason seemed reasonable to me.

The pamphlet detailed the three choices they were considering, but I have to wonder if input from passengers will make a difference. Here are the three choices:

1. Increase fare by 10%

2. Increase fare by 20%

3. No fare increase

I’m not sure what to think about these choices. Are many people going to tell Sound Transit they want to pay 20% more to ride the train? The whole thing seems a bit weird to me. Maybe it’s more of a formality since Sounder uses tax dollars to subsidize the operation. It feels like something they have to do rather than something they’d want to do.

This post from Kathy really hit home. Are you passionate about your company? Your job? I’ve thought about jobs where I’ve been the most happy and they were the times when I was challenged. I never had to be told I need to work late or come in over a weekend. Those were the times when I was so excited, so engaged in a project that I didn’t mind working longer hours.

I recall a time, at a company I used to work for when someone from sales asked if I’d talk to a guy on my team about working longer hours in order to complete a project. But the project wasn’t exciting and this person from sales tended to hover over project making them even less exciting. I never did ask this guy to work longer hours. It wouldn’t have done any good.

Hey, and while you’re at Kathy’s site checkout this post on one difference between Gates and Bezos.

Klein is the attorney who lead the anti-trust march against Microsoft who is now the chancellor of the NY public school system. Fortune conducted an interview with Klein. I liked it all but especially this part:

If you want to lead an organization, think: What are the two or three things that I can do that are really going to have an impact? That’s the role of leadership. I try to ask myself what the really big ideas are. And how can I get them right?

–Link to full interview

Dell introduced a very Digg-like site called Dell Ideastorm that allows anyone to submit product suggestions/enhancements which users vote on. I think this is a fabulous idea that could help companies design better products.

Each morning I walk from King Street Station through Pioneer Square to our new offices located just off 1st and Columbia in downtown Seattle. The walk through Pioneer Square is usually quite interesting. There are several shelters and churches that help the homeless and the lines start to form for these services by the time I’m walking through just after 8 am. It’s not uncommon to see people jogging through the area along with a number of people out for a morning stroll.

This morning as I was just a few blocks from our office, I noticed an elderly couple coming towards me. The man was using one arm to balance himself with a cane while his other arm was clinging to his partner. They were moving very slowly down the street. As I was getting closer I noticed they would stop every few steps and pickup paper. As I neared I saw the lady was holding a clear plastic bag full of cans and paper. They appeared to be going around the block picking up trash on the sidewalks.

I thought of the kids who seem to do much of the littering and wondered if they would change their behavior if they could see this older couple picking up after them. Kudos to this couple for making a difference. I’m going to make an effort to pickup trash when I see it next time instead of walk by and assume it’s someone else’s job.

Here’s Dr. Ashen’s review of the Gamespower 50. This guy cracks me up.