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SurfShelfWorking on a computer most of the day does not really do much for one’s figure - I have even heard it referred to as “Geek Gut” and “Blogger’s Butt”.  Personally, I love to walk, ride bikes, and play golf, but there isn’t always time or the weather is bad. Riding a stationary bike or walking on the treadmill can be so boring!

Enter SurfShelf! You can attach the SurfShelf.com to your treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical trainer and watch videos, catch up on your RSS feeds, read your email, and more.

Now, I don’t think you can pound out an in-depth blog post or design a website while jogging on your treadmill, but you certainly could combine some of your more basic tasks with some exercise and take care of two tasks at once. Your heart, waistline, and inbox would thank you.

I think it is a pretty cool gadget actually! What do you think? Would you use it?

Categories : TechToys
Comments (4)

WordPress 2.8WordPress, which is undeniably one of the most amazing pieces of open source software to ever be developed, is getting ready for its next release - WordPress 2.8. While WordPress 2.8 is still in beta (round two at the time of this post), it appears that this already powerful and easy to use platform is about to get even better.

One of the highlights of this latest update is the ability to upload and activate a theme through the dashboard, much like you can do now with plugins. This is a huge plus - especially when you consider that the average WordPress user is intimidated by FTP.

Rather than rehashing what others have already put together so nicely - check out the following articles on the the new features for WordPress 2.8, its benefits and a very cool tutorial.

The official word from the Codex - Wordpress 2.8

Kim Woodbridge spells it out in her post on WordPress 2.8: Upcoming Features and Enhancements

Clint Maher keeps it positive with Seven Reasons Why WordPress 2.8 is Better than Ever

Justin Tadlock has three posts on WordPress 2.8 already - The Complete Guide to Creating Widgets in 2.8, Custom Taxonomies in WordPress 2.8, and Tag Descriptions in WordPress 2.8.

I have not heard when the official release date for WordPress 2.8 actually is, but suspect it will be sometime in the next month or so. Have you tried the beta? What did you think? Do you think that the newer versions of WordPress are better or worse than the WordPress of old (2.1 and 2.3)?

Categories : WordPress
Comments (2)

Very few commercials are good enough that I want to watch them in the first place, let alone write about them, but the new Sprint - Now Network commercial is so good I have to share it with you.

The ad shares an amazing cross section of data in a very easy to digest format - its visual, relevant and its presenting numbers about what people are using their Sprint cell phones for NOW. Like:

  • The number of cell phone users - then how many just hung up
  • The number of incoming emails - and the power of spam filters
  • What people are searching for
  • How video is being used on their phones
  • The popularity of texting - even in business meetings
  • People using their phones for Twitter - and the fact that 26% of the population has no idea what Twitter is
  • That people are using their phones to research destinations (such as restaurants) and oh, by the way, we even lose those phones
  • And the fact that now, the first thing people do when a flight lands is turn on that cell phone!

That is a TON of information - relevant information with a little humor built in - that is conveyed in less than 60 seconds! And as someone who uses my cell phone for just about every one of those purposes, I got a really good sense that if I ever needed to change providers, that Sprint would have everything that I need. Luckily Verizon has done a great job of offering the services I need at a price I am satisfied with, but if I ever considered changing, the first network I would think of would be Sprint.

What other ads/commercials have you seen that are so effective, especially in today’s highly fragmented ad market?

Categories : Marketing, TechToys
Comments (3)

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