A $2 Million Car, A Pelican And A Lagoon – Houston News – Hair Balls

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Google’s Purchase of Skype Rival Gizmo5 Could Benefit You – PC World

Has Google found the final piece of its voice-calling puzzle? Rumors have it that the acquisition-happy search giant has acquired Gizmo5, a Skype-like VoIP startup.   TechCrunch is reporting that Google has plunked down $30 million in cash for Gizmo5, which offers a software app that lets you make free phone calls to other Gizmo users, as well as inexpensive calls to landlines and cell phones. It supports SMS and instant messaging, too.

Google has yet to formally announce a Gizmo5 buyout, but many industry watchers think acquisition is a done deal. A Google spokesperson on Monday told PC World that the company doesn’t “comment on rumor or speculation.”

Andy Abramson, author of the VoIP Watch blog, sees the Gizmo5 acquisition as a key component of Google’s overall voice strategy. The VoIP startup’s technology provides Google with a PSTN link, or a means of enabling inbound and outbound calls to convention landline and cell phones. By integrating Gizmo5’s tech with Google Voice, a clever call-management app that provides one number for all of your phones, and the Google Talk voice/chat client, a powerful phone service is born.

“If you put all of this stuff together, you have something a lot more powerful than Skype,” Abramson says. “Google has just gotten to where Skype wants to go a little faster, assuming the deal is done.”

Free Phone Service Coming?

So how might Google integrate the various pieces of its voice puzzle? And how might consumers benefit?

Given Google tendancy to stir up trouble in established tech markets — just ask GPS mapping firms Garmin and TomTom — a free, ad-support phone service doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

“Google has a very deep investment in voice search, features that enable people to say, ‘find this, find that,’ and then make a phone call,” Abramson says.

“Let’s face it, with the phone companies monopolizing (voice calling), Google could come in and say, ‘Hey, we’ll give you phone service that costs nothing, and that’s driven by our advertising revenue,’” he adds.

One thing’s for certain: Voice will soon get a lot more interesting.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.

via pcworld.com

Posted via web from lnewcomer link blog

Pit Bull Puppies — 6 weeks old.

Sent to you via Google Reader

Breed: American Pit Bull Terrier Puppies with papers

Age: 6 Weeks Old

This litter has blue, brindle and other colors.

I am a responsible breeder looking a good home for these precious little ones. Looking for responsible pet owners only.

Please call Tony or Beverly 281-253-8122.

Sent from my iPhone 3GS

Zilker Park Costs About $100k To Rent for ACL, Austin360 Reveals – Austinist

via austinist.com

ModernTube: The video that will buy umpires some leeway – Big League Stew – MLB – Yahoo! Sports

via sports.yahoo.com

The side-by-side comparison of the direct and offset CF cameras is very illuminating.

TV: Woman claims ACL mud gave her rash | News for Austin, Texas | Austin News | KVUE.com | KVUE News |Local News

Comments 39 | Recommend 4

TV: Woman claims ACL mud gave her rash

06:32 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 7, 2009

By AMY JOHNSTON / KVUE News

While there are plenty of great memories from this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, Kathy Okon has a lingering, unpleasant memory that she believes was caused by the mud.

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October 7th, 2009

KVUE’s Amy Johnston reports

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“It is better but… there’s small dots going all the way up my legs. It’s a lot… better,” said Okon.

Okon has a rash on her legs that she believes came from the muddy mess at Zilker Park during the ACL Fest. She is not alone. Twitter, Facebook and the Internet lit-up with similar complaints. Many blame it on Dillo Dirt.

Dillo Dirt was used to fertilize Zilker before the grass was laid-down in early spring.

“It’s true that we do use sewage sludge as one of the components. We also use all the yard trimmings that are picked up around the city,” said Austin Water Utility Engineer Jody Slagle.

Dillo Dirt is composted for weeks at close to 150 degrees, which kills the human disease organisms.

“I use it in my vegetable garden. That’s how comfortable I feel with the product,” said Slagle.

It’s been used around the city since 1987, including public high school football fields, without complaint. Slagle says there are plenty of possible irritants that could be to blame.

“There were over 60,000 people there every day, and we’re all tromping-in and out of port-a-potties that were getting pretty nasty as time went on,” he said.

The smell, by all accounts, was pretty overwhelming.

“The smells I encountered out there were more reminiscent of wet rotting hay or rotting hay,” said Slagle.

“It smelled like a pig farm,” said Okon.

Okon says she’s still pretty freaked out by the rash. A nurse told her it is probably not a fungus, but something she should keep her eye on.

While the anecdotal evidence is out there, official reports are almost non-existent. City of Austin Parks and Recreation says it hasn’t had one rash-related complaint. The Austin Travis County Health Department has had only one.

via kvue.com

a “rash”? that’s a pretty weak looking rash?

Walking through MRBC

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0001.mov (5833 KB)

Video to play with video on iPhone

The Cornerback v. The Counselor – Above the Law – A Legal Tabloid – News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession

via abovethelaw.com

Allegedly a UT Law student and UT football player got in a fight at the campus gym.

AT&T Rant

I received a customer service survey from AT&T after purchasing the iPhone yesterday and one of the questions was whether I would recommend AT&T to someone. Since I answered in the negative, the survey asked what my reasons were and I vented a little frustration. Since it's not likely that anyone but a low-level worker at some marketing firm will ever read it, I thought I would take the opportunity to self-publish.

============================

The rates for data plans are too high, especially since I cannot use the data plan to tether my iPhone to my laptop.

The rates for text messaging plans are OBSCENELY high. AT&T is blatantly ripping off their customers, just because they can.

My previous phone was a 1st gen iPhone given to me by a family member. After using the phone several months AT&T cut off the data service without telling me and continued to bill me for it. I was told I could not use my existing data plan, despite the fact that it was working perfectly well, and instead I would have to buy a data plan that costs twice as much, but that did not include any text messages (previous plan included 1500), just because I was using an iPhone.

I live in a very large city in the U.S., yet there are still places in downtown where I have spots of no service on my phone. In other places, including the home where I live, service fluctuates and calls are dropped randomly.

Finally, I believe AT&T has influenced Apple to block the use of applications like Google Voice on the iPhone.

In short, the only reason I am an AT&T customer is that I can't use the iPhone on any other service. If I could try a different service with the iPhone, I would.

Untitled

everything updated for now. seems kinda pointless

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