:: Intrepid Spaniel ::

Digital camera reviews can be full of good information but it can be tiresome sifting through all that info to decide which camera to buy. So since I spend several hours per month perusing digital camera reviews, I thought I’d spare some of what I learn and recommend a few of what I’d consider the best cameras in several categories with a basic set of pros and cons. Hopefully making it easier to pick a good camera.

Here are the categories, look for the reviews over the next few weeks. I’m kind of biased towards Canon as you’ll see, but I try to be fair and give others a shot. Read more for some spoilers and deals.

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Edit: This deal looks like it is gone already, too good to last, I didn’t even get mine, they said it was ‘not available’ Watch out for for Fry’s and Outpost.com they have good deals some times but usually have limited quanities.

This might not last long, $.25/gigabyte is the best I’ve seen for a while so this might not last long.

I didn’t really “need” more space, but I ordered two. Don’t tell Steph…

Cheap HDD at Outpost.com

or try this direct link. (Read more…)

Here are some good links to royalty free images on the web. A little insiders secret for you guys.

Mostly free: (check license on photos, but most are)

http://www.sxc.hu/
http://www.everystockphoto.com/
http://yotophoto.com/

Searchable in yotophoto, but all free:
http://imageafter.com

More info later, but the calendar is working from nickell.org email, hosted by google’s gmail.

Key points for me so far:

The quick add feature is great, click the q key, type something like “Dinner with Steph tomorrow at 7″ and it adds the appropriate event to your calendar.

If it sees something that looks like an event in a gmail message, an ‘add to calendar link will show up to the right.

It can also send SMS messages to you cell phone for a reminder.

I’m looking forward to getting someone else to help me try the shared calendar features. I think this could be a godsend for busy families.

There is a tool called remote calendars that allow google calendar to sync with Outlook, which can sync with my cell phone. I usually despise Outlook, and playing with it has only slightly improved my opinion of it. It does work though, I can get events from my Cell phone to google calendar and vice versa. If anyone wants to know more, I’ll expand on it, but I don’t think I’ll be using it. I can also create events in my google calendar from my cell phone via a SMS message, so maybe this will work out for the best.

Since it’s been a year since my last update.. I’ve definitely decided to phase the Mambo site out, and probably replace it with http://nickell.org/blog/ (This post was imported from Mambo, just so you are not confused, This is the “new site”)

I’ll (eventually) move the blog content to the main page.. (hasn’t happened yet)

Is there anything worth saving from this page.. I’ll miss the integrated photo gallery, I’ll have to see if I can do that with the wordpress too. Any thing else you guys want to see? Any stories you want me to move over?
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Two new babies in the family this past month. See the photo gallery for pictures.. and the blog for more info.
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Rylee Kate Bigler was born on May 17th, 2006 at 4:08pm. If my memory serves me, she was 7lbs. 14oz and 20.5 inches long.

I’m not sure about the spelling of her name, I’ll let you know when I get the official word. Maybe it will be Ryleigh or Rylee or Rieley or Riley.
Update: It’s official, her name is Rylee

She slept almost the whole time I visited, though I hear she was alert and looking around for an hour or so after being born.

Besides needing some rest, Matt, Natalie, and Rylee are doing fine and send their best.

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You can see the rest of the pictures at http://nickell.org/gallery/bigler/

If you like the pictures, and want an easy, free way to download and touch up your digital pictures, download picasa from this link…

What’s a Skype, you say? This means you can call anyone in the US and Canada from your PC to their regular phone, for free. This is a good example of a disruptive technology. I’m going to make a new category for disruptive technologies, because I enjoy watching the world get shook up a little, change the status quo. Disruptive technologies can enable people to take control of their own life, and set them free. Phone companies should be very afraid… (Read more…)

For the people uninitiated to online forums, here is a definition of a fanboi. In short, it is someone who is singularly obsessed with a subject or hobby. While I resisted Google’s charms for a while, but when I fell, I fell hard.. my wife gets tired or hearing blah blah blah google blah gmail blah blah calendar blah adsense. While I’ll admit to being a bit enamored, I obsess about many things, and google is just the latest.. fortunately for her, I predict the storm will pass. When google does things, they just tend to to them well, and continuously improve upon them.

The tech world, (and Wall Street) all seem to love Google, so it’s not just me . Here’ s some developments from everyone’s favorite company this week. (Read more…)

A physics professor and his assistant are working on liberating negatively charged hydroxyl ions, when all of a sudden, the assistant says, “Wait, Professor! What if the salicylic acids do not accept the hydroxyl ions?” And the professor responds, “That’s no hydroxyl ion! That’s my wife!”
-Joke from Dexter’s Laboratory

I’ve always wanted to understand this joke, so read more for the result of my research.
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