Ok, this is ultra cool and a nifty toy, when you don't have to go anywhere fast.  In a way, a fairly Obama-friendly, green transport, assuming you still have some dough left.

A 2008 Italian design excercise between Yacht maker Wally and Hermès, it boasts a 14 knots maximum speed, can withstand up to Sea Force 4, and has a long range autonomy 4 Atlantic crossings.

Of course, the question arises, "Why?", to which a quick response is returned, "Why not?

Check out the Why 58.

Ok, I'm going to let my secret out.  Have you ever wondered even as powerful Microsoft Excel is that there are scads of functionality that have been left out or requires macros, hours and much frustration?  Enter ASAP Utilities, a small 2Mb download created by spreadsheet guru, Bastien Mensink out of the Netherlands.  Even though I have been using Excel since it replaced VisiCalc, and thought I knew my way around pretty well, this irreplacable add-in adds every possible function imaginable. 

There are very simple functions such as deleting blank lines, conditional search and replace, cell formatting, etc., that will save spreadsheet jockeys hours of frustration.  It cleans up imported data that is copy and pasted in like nothing else, and the export to web function is flawless.  The best part is that it is so elegant that it assists novice users and speeds exprienced users.

Trust me on this one, download, try it for 10 minutes, then hop back on the site and buy this.  asap-utilities.com

Ok, you've put off investing in a new gaming system because there have been NO worthwhile racing simulators.  You only have to wait until January 2008.  Good timing don't you think?

System 3 is busy crafting this Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli simulator (official by the way), after the current Challenge series and looks to be a wonderful reason to make the leap to these new platforms.

Click here to go to the Teaser Site

System 3 has employed handling consultant, Bruno Senna, F1’s legend Ayrton Senna’s nephew to assist in its realism.  Having driven and won System 3’s own Ferrari 430 Challenge car at Silverstone, he should be a fitting consultant.

From their website: "On Sony PS3 version, 16 players can compete on LAN or online, testing their nerves on 16 different circuits. However, the online experience isn’t just limited to racing - thanks to the extensive online support, new vehicles and tracks associated with the Challenge series can also be downloaded or swapped with friends via your Virtual garage. Game modes such as the Ferrari Challenge season, Arcade or Quick Race modes ensure variety and quick access to play. You also have a built in tutorial that shows you the correct line to take and braking points around Ferrari’s test circuit at Fiorano.  In the Nintendo DS version, up to four players can duel each other in a wireless game share mode. Both Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 versions support the “Official Ferrari Steering Wheel” from Thrust Master."

Hmmm. should be worth the wait!

Ok, here it is, to ultimate chair.  Designed by Pininfarina and manuafactured by Ares, near Venice.  Fashioned in Aluminum with Dynatec seating surfaces, this dynamic seating system is awesome.

It comes in 4 colors including Ferrari red and Maserati Blue.  See more at http://www.xtenchair.com

I've gotta have one.

Personal feelings were rampant as we discussed many local issues. We spent time on blogging, personal digital lifestyles. There were good points on many items, but I'm concerned about the diarist category allowing us to bog down. I'm thrilled with how the political movements have taken blogging to heart. It's amazing the conversations that have taken place this year. I believe that we taken great steps as a people to share ideas and have brought out new voters. As a whole the young Americans have struggled to understand the process and partake in our democratic process. Ok, does blogging have a possibility in the commercial world? I'm beginning to wonder. It’s a great conversational product, but the tools required are daunting to bring the casual user along with us. We just took a poll and out of the approximately 200-300 folks here there were only a handful of non-geeks that blog. Hmmm. Ok, here is my table, power host. With little power in the building, Phil purchased a long power cord and setup his own power ISP. Thanks Phil. Very interesting vote just took place. The question went out, how many people click on the paid ads in Google; a surprising number of hands went up that not only did they view, but click on them. I feel better now. The fact that Google takes the time to ensure relevance makes the consumer feel better about the ads. Cool. The future of online advertising was today's final topic. Gokul Rajaram from Google is speaking about their new launch of image ads. He's claiming that the click through rate is the same as four text ads. Targeting is the underlying theme, in addition to their application to blogs. Half of the panels are related to blogging... Pheedo is focused at publishing logs and RSS feeds. Dave Taylor just announced a nice list of links published at free-web-money.com. They mentioned that Overture's affiliate program is not as effective. duh. Following some of the links, I found a great article from the Dave Taylor page. The article focused on placement of ads, and featured a very telling point. Review the following image which was generated from a sample 45 people in a study by Poytner. It makes me think that we need to refresh the location of our content, not only our ad space. Unbelievable. In reviewing our own portals, we're way off.

This page is a fascinating bit of study from Eyetrack. The bantered about FOAF (friends of a friend), which was just released on Tribe. Mighty interesting.

As I pack my last item and double check the schedule, I'm off tomorrow to Lake Tahoe. Gnomedex 4.0 as I like to call it, Geekstock begins on Thursday night with a welcome reception and cocktail party.

Friday is rich with content including panels on The Future of Security, Maximizing Your Blogging Strategies, then our Keynote Speaker - Steve Wozniak of apple fame. After lunch, Maximizing Your Digital Lifestyle sounds awesome with Jim Louderback on the panel. The evening will be filled with a party with the Silicon Valley Houserockers as the entertainment (only at Gnomedex).

I'm really looking forward to Saturday with the Future of Online Content on the docket followed by Wil Wheaton and finishing with The Future of Online Advertising and a banquet and a showing of the movie Primer.

We made the front page of the Tahoe Daily Tribune!

I'll blog from the conference throughout the weekend, but if you rather, IT Conversations will be streaming the event.

Ok, another must have. The Swiss-Memory knife. everything you need, and there's even a "aircraft-safe" version.

Buy One Now!

Ok, first Starbucks, and now Kinko's enters the world of WiFi. In an effort for FedEx Kinko’s to solidify its position in the mobile office market it partnered with T-Mobile to provide it's 1,100 locations with hotspots. Another great adaptation of the mobile business person.

Gnomedex, Comdex for the enlightened. After three years in DesMoines, us techies head to a beautiful part of the country. The fun runs from September 30th through October 2nd 2004 and promises a funfilled time. There will be wonderful visionary speakers. Chris Pirillo is actually thinking of panelists instead of single speakers. While the speaker/panelists haven't been announced yet, past speakers included John C. Dvorak, Tim O'Reilly, and Jim Louderback. The fellowship of the geeks is calling you. Please pre-register today, and get the pre-registration fee locked in at $99 for the entire weekend! Rates will increase as time marches on, but please join us. The site is located at gnomedex.com

To celebrate another championship for Ferrari, Acer (F1 team sponsor) is producing a nifty little laptop using another F1 sponsor, AMD for the chipset. The product has yet to be released but has some great features such as:

• AMD processor
  
• 512MB of DDR SDRAM
  
• 60GB hard drive a DVD writer
  
• 15in screen and ATI Radeon Mobility 9200 chip
  
• Integrated 802.11g wireless networking adaptor
  
• Bluetooth support
  
• 10/100Mbps Ethernet and 56Kbps modem
  
• Four-in-one memory card reader, USB and 1394 ports
  
• S-video output
  
  

$1,995

Gallery

After much backlash, Verisign spokesman Tom Galvin announced "We will accede to the request while we explore all of our options". This after ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) came down hard on VeriSign for their SiteFinder service. SiteFinder "helped" users who mistyped .com and .net addresses or invalid domain names by redirecting their browsers to a VeriSign search page. ICANN threatened Verisign with sanctions for violating its contract with ICANN. ICANN sure has is out for this group!

It appears that over 40 million people have been directed to SiteFinder by mistyping domain names since its launch!

When diagnosing DNS problems this last weekend, I ran across a nice, web-based DNS dig routine at the wonderful site http://www.analogx.com. This routine, located at http://www.analogx.com/contents/dnsdig.htm, not only digs the domain and brings back the standard records, but queries all of the associated nameservers to see what everyone sees. Super tool for locating DNS issues.

This site has an amazing collection of tools, all free. Very cool items such as an email list verifier and cleanup tool.

The first entry in the continuing mental gymnastics that encompass my thoughts. First off, this blog finalizes my search for a CF-based blog tool. I just refuse to install a PHP or Perl-based product. Yah, I know, they've been around for a long time, blah, blh, blah, but what can I say, I'm biased. Thanks for Ray Camden's efforts to bring this tool to fruition.