Off-Hook

Introducing the Mobiblu. It’s called the “finger cube” because it’s literally comparable in size to an ice cube. Seriously… How small are they gonna get?

If my finger is too fat to operate it AND I can lose it in my car seat, it’s really too small.

I’ve been thinking about changing the title of my blog (currently, of course, “Quasi-Geek”). I was wondering if anyone might have a suggestion or two. I’d kinda like something associated to my name (Mike or WirelessMike) or perhaps Louisiana… I’ll still post a disclaimer about the geek content, but I’d rather have something more creative for a title. I’d like to keep it short, though it doesn’t have to be as short as it is now.

A couple ideas I’ve come up with so far include:

“straight from the wirelessmike”
“step up to the mike”
“north of mardi gras”
“the mike is on”
“mike test 1.. 2.. 3..”
“off-hook”
“is this wirelessmike plugged in?”

I will change the title soon, so if you have a suggestion, make it now… and Thanx!

At this point, I’ve practically decided on one, but i’m still open to suggestions. I’ll most likely make the change next week.

Saw this on a friend’s blog and had to try it, myself…

Imagine that– I’m quasi-geek. I refuse to accept, however, that I am a “Supreme Nerd” (the test is rigged, I think, against married folk).

It’s cruisin’ time again!

We’re headed out in April to the Carribbean again (we should be gone before you get that song out of your head), only this time with kid in tow. She ought to love it! I particularly like Cozumel where I get to use my rusty Spanish (’cause they’re so patient with that there), but overall, Grand Cayman can be more fun (swimmin’ with the stingrays is pretty cool).

Bringin’ the kid isn’t the only difference from the last time we took this cruise– We’re going on a MUCH bigger boat this time (Carnival’s flagship, in fact). There’s so much to do on the boat that I wonder if we’ll actually see it all. The food is always so good, too.

Last time we went on a converted ocean liner. They’re much more stable than the flat-bottomed floating hotels in erratic waters, but they move around more, too. We spent a couple days seasick, each.

It’s a long time until April, though, so I probably won’t mention this again until after (hopefully with some interesting vacation pix).

It’s no secret I’m a die-hard AMD fan… but I can’t touch this modder for dedication:

Now THAT’S a die-hard fan (see more here)!

With all the recent bad press Intel’s been getting (lawsuits for questionable business practices, slight lags to competition in innovation, and most recently getting caught bringing a chip to market before addressing a very serious bug), one might wonder if the Apple deal is enough to firmly seat Intel as the market owner for processors.

Until recently, I might’ve simply said yes due to it’s enormous existing market share and it’s public perception as the chip that was good enough to keep an exclusive contract with Dell and woo Apple from IBM. But what if Dell, the world’s largest pc maker, opened the door to AMD?

Well, according to Forbes.com, AMD is only weeks away from finally getting their foot in the world’s biggest computer retail door.

Advanced Micro Devices is within weeks of getting its chips into Dell computers, says Doug Freedman with American Technology Research.

The analyst says Dell (nasdaq: DELL – news – people ) will first use AMD (nyse: AMD – news – people ) chips in its notebook PCs, and later add them to its servers and desktop PCs.

My guess is that Dell is attracted to the extremely efficient AMD Turion mobile currently powering HP’s best lappys.

Even without Dell, AMD has been gaining market share against Intel lately thanks to its technological and manufacturing strides.

Freedman says most of the impact is already priced into the shares, but that the actual announcement could still lift AMD shares 10% and drop Intel’s 5%.

Mmm… Smell that capitalism!

A very cool new service being tested currently by Google is Click-to-Call.

What this new service provides (in a nutshell) is the height of internet laziness. Anywhere a subscriber publishes a contact number (a customer service phone number, for example), there will appear a phone icon which is actually a link to the online click-to-call service. Upon clicking the icon, you will be prompted for a local phone number. After entering your number, the phone will ring and after you pick up, you will hear the familiar ringing as you wait for the subscriber to pick up, or the subscriber may already be live on the line waiting for you to answer the ringing phone.

Google promises to pick up any charges for the call, including long distance, outside of typical mobile phone charges which will still apply.

Up front, it appears to be a service to compliment telecommunications providers, but what is the long-term goal of such a service?

One might argue that (warning: conspiracy theory follows) Google, like Skype and Netmeeting, is simply getting you to keep your fingers off the telephone touchpad. This is your primary interface with telephone billing. Several successful calls, maybe an integration with an address-book interface like Outlook, Evolution or KAB, combined with a few low phone bills (no long distance, etc.), and before you know it, the NEXT phase of Click-to-Call becomes a connection over the internet (VoIP) without a local phone number at all– Just a headset/mic and a GoogleTalk plugin (all free).

Well nothing so new about that. Telcos are scrambling to get in on this game right now (have been, actually, for a few years, but only now sensing the urgency). What’s cool is that yet another small startup, called Pep-Talk already has a patent on this technology and plans to go global very soon. It appears as though Pep-Talk plans to be cooperative with telecommunications providers (at least, for now) and offer supplemental services to existing bundles.

Regardless– The service has 2 major advantages that will make it successful:
(1) They don’t suggest anyone change local voice service providers to be able to use or benefit from the service, and (2) the service is incredibly easy to use and offers an easy, non-committal form of introduction, and eventual transition to VoIP services.