Super Size G Google expected to build campus at NASA Ames / 1 million-square-foot complex envisioned as heart of Valley. The details are pretty interesting, but what's even more interesting is the geek-coolness that this brings to the table. I mean seriously, working side by side with NASA in a self-sufficient techie-centric community.

Come to think of it, there are also some great advantages of locating into a government location that deals with top-secret projects and billions of dollars. In the game of one-up-manship, we should be hearing of Microsoft moving into the Kremlin.  ¶ 9/28/2005 09:04:00 PM 0 comments

  How Permanent is your CD-R? How Permanent is your CD-R? Well, the short answer is not very permanent at all! :-(

For the longer, more detailed explanation check out this article: How Permanent is your CD-R

I guess its time to go back to those clay tablets which seem to last quite a while.
  ¶ 9/22/2005 02:54:00 PM 0 comments

  And Blingo was his name ohhhh This is something I think all of us can enjoy... Google + Free Gifts!

Blingo is the same Google search engine, but with the ability to win prizes! NO REGISTRATION or personal information is required. To win, all you have to do is search...

So get out there and start enjoying Blingo.

  ¶ 9/21/2005 11:44:00 AM 0 comments

  Your are here! So I’m guilty of starting this blog too late in the game and thus I may mention things that may be a little old, and while I will keep it short, I hope you will find them useful.

If you have somehow managed to miss the fun that is Google Maps, Google Earth or even Google Moon – let me enlighten you, especially as I have a feeling I’ll be talking about these a lot more in the relatively near future….

Google Maps (think MapQuest on serious steroids) is a serious mapping tool for web users, and by serious I mean seriously fun, easy and useful to use. From the dragging of the maps to the satellite images, to so much more…. Take 10 minutes to play with it, and save yourself the time you might spend reading info on this.

Google Earth (did you take the 10 minutes to play with Google Maps yet?) is basically Google Maps on steroids… for your desktop… for free (at least one version)…. Now you can travel to distant corners of the world without the hassles of currency exchange, jet lag, etc. Do I jest? Not at all…. You’ll need a decent computer to play with this, but if you can run Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and a few browsers at the same time, your more than likely good to go.

Google Moon… this one is great and really shows a forward thinking company, they are actually mapping out the moon… and the level of detail they have is really unexpected.
  ¶ 9/21/2005 09:19:00 AM 0 comments

  Welcome to the Opera A while back I sang the praises of the Maxthon browser, and while I stick by what I wrote, recently the famous Opera decided to become a little more aggressive and removed the obnoxious banner ads that had lived in their free versions of the software.

Given much of my day is spent on the net, I decided I would give it a test drive. My first impressions? ITS A SPEED DEMON! This browser really zips... I mean it really feels like I've just turbo charged my browsing experience. And me likes it!

So what about the looks? Well, I cant lie, its also damn sexy by default, though you can change the look & feel very easily.... which I did... but I liked the original look I just had to go back. And features.... It has has about a 95% overlap of features with Maxthon... but it just feels more polished, refined, intelligent - dare I say sophisticated and sensual.

So what about your beloved Maxthon, you may be asking. Well, I'm still using it... though I have to admit that I have gotten used to some of the shortcut Maxthon offered, but a href="http://www.opera.com/">Opera is promising to offer me a more satisfying experience across the board.

So download and install this baby before they change their minds about giving it away for free... It'll make you want to sing!



  ¶ 9/21/2005 09:02:00 AM 0 comments

  PocketMod: The Free Disposable Personal Organizer For those of us who have experienced one to many PDA crashes, or sync/tech overload here is a great low-budget PDA... its PocketMod: The Free Disposable Personal Organizer, check it out and enjoy the simplicity.  ¶ 9/07/2005 10:01:00 PM 0 comments

  Apple announcement rather small - the iPod nano Hype, hype and more hype... the hype is one of the secret ingredients that Apple mixes into its products, big or small, and the new iPod nano is no exception, having been developed in secret and launched today to what I imagine was much fan fair and high expectations.

Apples new iPod nano is cute, and while not (in my eyes) revolutionary, it will fit a market niche, as well as most pants' watch pockets. The fact of the matter is that the iPod nano is small, really really small (smaller than the iPod Shuffle), yet holds 2GB to 4GB depending on the model, and comes in traditional white and also in black.

Naturally, being an iPod, it does everything the rest of the family does - only smaller and with a color screen, so you can hold your music, see the album art, or carry around a few thousand of your favorite photos.

Personally, I see the iPod nano not so much as an bold step forward in the MP3 player market, but rather as a bold step forward in the Flash memory market. If you're considering buying a Flash memory card, why not shell out a little extra, get yourself 2 or 4GB AND be able to listen to your music.  ¶ 9/07/2005 04:52:00 PM 0 comments

  Browse this! Es lo Maxtheon! So many browsers, so little time, so little incentive to change...  I’ve tried a variety of different browsers over the years, and overall I’ve wanted a better browsing experience, but time after time I keep falling back to IE. Mind you that this was not due to superior feature, usability, reliability; rather it was just there… always.  Furthermore, it always seemed that whenever I installed or tired a new browser, some problem or issue would arise, so I’d end up loosing all the benefits of another browser.

Not wanting to spend hours troubleshooting, I simply uninstalled any new browser that gave me attitude and just kept using IE, which was somewhat reliable but at least predictable.  

As to the question of website content, IE has always done a decent job, mostly because all sites are tested for IE, while other browsers are ignored... not to mention the various ActiveX components and other site particular goodies that only seem to work for IE.

So one day I stumble upon the Maxthon browser… it’s the best of both worlds.  Maxthon uses the IE engine, which means that all the sites I know and love look and more importantly act the same… it even shares (not imports) the favorites/bookmarks, but has some really great added features that make it soooooo worthwhile, those being:

• Tabbed browsing – This is the most important feature, which allows you to have as many windows open at once, without actually having tons of browsers open (and it seems to take up less resources).


• Groups – like your favorites, this feature simply lets you store websites in, well, groups.  Yes, I know you can create folders in your bookmarks, but trust me this is much better, as I’ve found that when doing research, you like to have all related materials in a single place, and thus this lets you open all at once (or not) and just seems to be far more intuitive to use than bookmark folders.


• Space saver (or at least my name for the this nifty function) – by simply pressing “Alt + ~” the Maxthon browser ‘disappears’ into the little icon area of your desktop, out of your way until you press the magic buttons again and poof… its back and ready for action.


• Resume – ever be working/researching/surfing and then ended up with a great bunch of windows open that perhaps you did not necessarily want to save, but also did not want to loose?  If so, you’ll be happy to know that when closing, Maxthon will actually ask you if you would like to resume with the same websites next time you open it up. It will also allow you to save them into a group if you prefer, or both if it floats your fancy.


• Other – yes there is more, much more in fact, but the truth is that if you are not convinced by now, there is not really much point in continuing, as the rest of the other features are great but more goodies than deal makers…. Nonetheless, here is a quick list of other feature (for a complete list visit the Maxthon feature list):


• Mouse Gestures


• Super Drag&Drop


• Privacy Protection


• AD Hunter


• RSS Reader  -  GREAT FEATURE!


• IE Extensions Support


• External Utility Bar


• Skinning

In conclusion, if your unhappy with your browser, its worth upgrading… if your happy with your browser, its worth upgrading… and if your afraid of commitment… don’t be, you can always keep both side by side.

Hope to have helped.

/ps



  ¶ 9/02/2005 02:32:00 PM 0 comments

  Google Talk So Google has launched an IM client Google Talk, in true Google style the app is clean, simple and effective, focusing on allowing users to actually SPEAK to each other.

While this is not new, the fact that it works with my current gmail account is great as it allows for one less username and password to remember. Though I've only tested it briefly up till now, it seems to work surprisingly well and has the additional advantage of not being over-populated (yet)... so why do I appreciate this? Simply because I'm able to have it open without fear of being constantly bombarded by people who simple want to chat for chatting's sake, which has become a huge problem with MSN, which I now rarely log into these days.

Now, if you are looking for a do it all client with funny faces, and lots of cutesy features, this is not the client for you... it is simple, effective and elegant. Another plus is that it uses open standards, allowing you to use various different programs other than the Google Talk client.

As I play around with it some more, I will keep you posted on any new thoughts I have.

/ps

  ¶ 9/02/2005 09:50:00 AM 0 comments

  First Observation The spellcheck on Blogger does not recognize the word 'blog', just thought this was strange.   ¶ 9/02/2005 09:30:00 AM 0 comments

  the future is simple Hello all!

For some time now I've been a scavenger of the web in a constant quest to find out what's going on, what's interesting, what's new and generally speaking what's cool and/or useful. Occasionally sending forward the various tidbits that may be of interest to friends or family; but now have decided to take it up a notch and start posting the various tidbits into one place for all to see.

I hope that as my finding are posted and the news and tidbits revealed, that those reading this will find the postings of interest... for today's' world or tomorrows.

For those who do not know me, let me introduce myself, I am Philip Silvestri, founder of Silgon Inc., an Integrated Marketing Firm based in Miami, FL and the Dominican Republic; working with clients around the world and offering solutions to a specific type of client, but I will more than likely expand on this in future posts. For now I mention this simply to get the ball rolling, let you know "who is this guy?", and say "welcome".

Lastly, please know that though I while today I think that this blog will focus mainly on current/future technology related events/news, this is subject to change (aka my ever changing whim and desire), thus the only thing I will promise regarding my blogs is that I will try my best to make them interesting!

Thank you for coming and hope you enjoy!

/ps     ¶ 9/02/2005 08:40:00 AM 0 comments