Mahalo – The human powered search engine

Say what you will about Jason Calacanis, but I believe he’s created a winner in Mahalo, a human powered search engine where guides filter through the results and provide links to only the best results.

Mahalo is like getting a single page of Google results that are all helpful. For example, when I click on BMW 3 Series I get a single page of relevant results. Compare this with Google’s results for the same search term. Google’s results aren’t bad, but navigate past the first page and things get sketchy.

Mahalo doesn’t yet have the reach of Google nor will it ever. Today, you won’t find very obscure topics or products (like Grado headphones) but they have covered a lot of ground in only a short time. And even when Mahalo doesn’t cover a topic, it presents you with results from Google. This is very helpful.

I find myself using Mahalo more and more because it doesn’t flood me with useless information. I am able to drill down to the most relevant details very quickly without a lot of trial and error. And it will only get better as more pages come online.

Technorati Tags: Mahalo, Google, Calacanis

Nintendo Wii Sighting

Last night is the first time I’ve seen a shelf full of Nintendo Wii. Granted it was a small shelf that held only 4 boxes. But I was surprised to see a Wii in the wild and asked the clerk if they were just display boxes. He said, no, they had a shipment arrive this morning. He didn’t know how many arrived but they had four left at the Covington, WA store.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Wii

Things in my Life

Things that just work:

Things that work most of the time:

Things that sometimes work:

Things that cause more frustration than help:

Technorati Tags: Tivo, WordPress, Nikon, iPod, Motorola Q, Qwest, iTunes, BitTorrent, Windows Vista, Sirius

Geek Squad for Cell phones?

I am enjoying my Motorola Q phone from Verizon. The sync with Windows Exchange just works as does Mobile Messenger. It’s a good phone, good IM device, and great email/SMS device. I also run a little application that shows a color coded map of the Seattle area traffic which helps plan my route into work. Even the web browsing isn’t bad as I’m able to read my RSS feeds in Bloglines quite well.

Now that I’ve got it setup, the Q is great little device. But I wouldn’t wish the setup process on my worst enemy. The setup of the last computer I bought from Dell took less than 30 minutes to unbox, setup and configure.The same process for my Q took at least 4 hours.

One major point of confusion is Microsoft ActiveSync which I now refer to as ActiveSuck. It might not suck so bad had I not been used to the sync app for Palm based phones which provide a number of helpful options not found on ActiveSync. For example, the first time you sync your Palm the program gives me the option to synch the phone with Outlook, have the phone overwrite Outlook or have Outlook overwrite the phone. I bought a used Q with over 460 contacts and ActiveSuck assumed I wanted them sync’d to Outlook.

Motorola provides a software update tool that makes it fairly easy to update Windows Mobile. Once I had the latest software installed, I was able to begin the Exchange email configuration. The issues here are numerous and boring so I’ll skip them except to say I believe many of the hoops I had to jump through are probably due to security precautions setup by Microsoft’s IT department.

Maybe I’m getting old, but is it normal to expect spending an entire afternoon setting up a new phones these days? This isn’t just a Motorola or Microsoft problem. I recall thinking the same thing during the setup of my first iPod.

Is there such thing as a Geek Squad for mobile devices? That might not be a bad business idea.

Technorati Tags: Verizon, Microsoft, Motorola Q, ActiveSync, Outlook, Exchange

Amber Alert

On my way into work this morning I drove past two signs off Interstate 90. The first said, “Amber Alert in progress. Tune to radio for details”. A few miles further I drove past the second sign that said, “Amber Alert in progress. Tune to local radio“.

Two questions:

What station should I turn to? There are many local stations on AM and FM in the Seattle area
Someone took the time to put the notice on the signs which is great but, they are not much help without more information such as the license and description of the car.

I just checked the Seattle Times website and found this article on a missing 12-year old girl.

My Favorite things under 25 bucks

Moleskin Notebook ($15) – My favorite is the “Large Ruled Journal”. I keep one at home and one at work. Makes it easy to jot down notes, take to meetings and doodle during conference calls.

Clinique Facial Soap ($22) – Not cheap for soap but it lasts a long time. I’ve been using this for years and it’s the best.

Sigg Water Bottle ($20) – I keep one at work and one at home. Super well-made and water just tastes better out of these.

Red Swingline Stapler ($15) – Perfect weight, perfect form in the only color giving you Office Space cred. I keep one at work and one at home.

Griot’s Speedshine ($10) – Sometimes your car is a bit dusty but you don’t want to wash it. This is the stuff you want in those situations. It’s so good it makes your car look like you waxed it.

Ratpadz Mouse Pad ($15-$25) – If you try one these, you’ll never want to go back to cheapo mouse pads. Smooth as butter and will last forever.

Parker Jotter Ballpoint ($5) – Parker has sold 750 million of these pens since 1954. The original, the icon. You can spend a lot more but you don’t need to.

henckel Henckel Nylon Turner ($15) – We have two of these and they get used more than any other kitchen utensil we own. You can’t go wrong with any of the Henckel tools but this one is my favorite.

Oral-B Vitality Toothbrush ($20) – I like this model better than the $80 one I bought years ago from Sonicare. It can go several days between charges, is inexpensive and replacement brushes don’t cost an arm and a leg. Costco carries a 2-pack for under $30.

Technorati Tags: Moleskin, Clinique, Sigg, Swingline, Griot’s, Ratpadz, Parker, Jotter, Henckel, Oral-B, Vitality

Latest speedtest

Click graphic to test your connection. I have Qwest DSL service in Auburn, WA.

Technorati Tags: internet speed test

Three Sites

Three customer focused sites. These guys get it. These sites just work the way you think they should work.

Netflix – no check out, just the right amount of detail
Tirerack – more than just tires, excellent customization
Orbitz – displays lots of data in clear manner

Three sites that used to be customer focused but recently added something annoying.

Cnet – trying too hard to be hip
ESPN – cluttered, enough with the auto-launch videos
Technorati – someone hijacked our useful homepage

Three sites that are proud to be old school.

Maddox – avoid if you’re easily offended
Craigslist – we can’t get enough text
NewEgg – terrible search, drab, fantastic service

Three surprisingly helpful sites.

IRS – well organized, good search, easy to use.
Kayak – not fancy but very quick search for airfares
Ask Maps – skip the big boys and try this one

Three sites you didn’t know you need.

TinyURL – send your friends short links
Polarize – make any digital picture look like a Polaroid
Slacker – How internet radio should be done

One site where you can do anything at all…..

Zombo

is the iphone the BMW of phones?

Dave Winer says yes.

Have you ever driven a mid-to-high-end BMW? I have, recently, I test drove a 535i. The car feels as if it has a grip on the road, it’s got a confidence, it’s upright, and fast, and it maneuvers, but most important, it feels good to sit in one, and it feels even better to move one. Feels, feels, feels. We buy these things for the feeling. Same with Apple’s products.

Makes me want to test an iPhone for a while to see how it lives up to the comparison. But it does make sense on several levels. BMW, like Apple, has a small market share. Both make drool-worthy products. Both have obsessive fans to critique every small detail of their products. Both companies are arrogant. And both make products that cost more than many completive products.

If the iPhone is a BMW then my black Motorola Q is VW Jetta.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, Motorola Q, BMW

Passport problems

Maybe you’ve heard about the long delays in getting a US Passport. It’s been all over the news. Last week it was hard to tune to NPR and not hear yet another sob story of a newly married couple whose honeymoon was spoiled due to the delays in obtaining a passport.

So, like the guy who runs out to buy batteries just before the windstorm hits along with everyone else, I decided I needed to get my passport renewed. I have no travel plans or honeymoons scheduled but I just want to be ready. One never knows when he’ll need to travel outside the US on a minutes notice!

Well, I went to the official passport website to find out what I needed to do. I filled out the online form and printed it out. I attached 2 color photos of myself that I thought were acceptable after reading the instructions. I sent the renewal application, 2 pictures and my old passport in to be processed.

Today my old passport was returned with a letter stating my renewal couldn’t be processed because my pictures were not acceptable. The paper tells me to check out page 2 of the DS-82 form to determine why my pictures were not accepted.

But here’s the problem: They don’t tell me why my pictures were rejected. So I’m left to guess why they were not accepted. Maybe the background was too dark. Maybe they just thought I looked dangerous. Or maybe it’s because my smile was forced.

So I had Kim snap another picture of me and I’ll try it again. If they reject my application this time I guess I’ll have to make honeymoon plans in Boise.

Technorati Tags: passport, delays, travel