John Duprey’s Post[erou]s

 

Google makes it official: Phone calls now in Gmail | Relevant Results - CNET News
via news.cnet.com

You can now make phone calls in Google Mail, gmail. Very cool.  Of interest to google voice users from the official blog post: "If you have a Google Voice phone number, calls made from Gmail will display this number as the outbound caller ID. And if you decide to, you can receive calls made to this number right inside Gmail (see instructions)." -- http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html


Filed under: geek google google_voice voip
 

Tracking The Companies That Track You Online

I found the following story on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129298003&sc=17&f=1001

Tracking The Companies That Track You Online

- August 19, 2010

No surprises here, but what I found interesting is that some ad groups will allow you to see the info they've collected. 

Filed under: geek Internet privacy
 

Top 10 Clever Google Voice Tricks
via lifehacker.com

If you aren't using Google voice, you should be. It is to phones what a modern day e-mail client is to e-mail and more.

Filed under: geek google google_voice
 

Yes. I'm that old.

Sent from my iPhone

Filed under: geek nostalgia
 

Clear WiMax Makes it to Rochester - High-Speed Wireless WiMAX Internet & Home Phone Service
via clear.com

I just received an e-mail from Clear Wireless which offers WiMax (4G) and 3G wireless access, in home with VOIP option as well as mobile. The prices look comparable to TimeWarner cables internet access with the benefit of having a wireless option. For me, it would be a wash in terms of savings, but I like the idea of having a choice and I like the idea of getting mobile Internet far cheaper than any else is offering. I wonder how reliable this service is in the Rochester, NY area? Any Rochester Clear customers care to comment?

Filed under: 3G 4G geek internet twc wimax
 

xkcd: Real Programmers... Use emacs
via xkcd.com

A colleague linked to this on Yammer today. It made me chuckle. I used to be an emacs guy - never vi. I have the gnarled pinkies from rapid meta-commanding and [CTRL]'ing my way through code.

Filed under: emacs funny geek programming xkcd
 

Agile Blog : Chrome extension updated to 0.6.2
via blog.agile.ws

1Password has an update for their Google Chrome plugin - still alpha.

Filed under: apple chrome geek google security
 

What Motivates Us

 Some of my colleagues linked to these RSA videos recently via yammer.

The first video, "Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us", rang true with me.  In the presentation they talked about how independent studies (Carnegie Mellon and MIT)  have shown that, after a point, monetary reward does not make people more productive in jobs that require cognitive skill.  In fact, higher monetary rewards produced worse performance.  It seems the best motivator is to pay people enough so the issue of money is "off the table."  This lets people think about the work.  Once money is out of the way there are three factors that lead to better performance: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Amen!  Watch the video:

The second video, "Smile or Die," talks about realistic thinking and how a serious lack of it has been doing a lot of damage.  This video is just good for everyone to watch and maybe reflect on their attitudes.  Hopelessly optimistic is just as bad pessimistic.  Somewhere in between is something that approximates the truth and from that a measured response.

Filed under: geek philosophy presentation
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