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My week with the 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV

Advertiser — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:00:22 +0000

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SPONSORED: This post is presented by the Toyota RAV4 EV. Because innovation can be measured in miles, kilowatts and cubic feet. Learn more at toyota.com/rav4ev.

Last week our sponsor Toyota delivered a 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV to my house so I could drive it for a week. As soon as the friendly fellow who dropped it off went away, I jumped in and drove it around town. The first thing I noticed was how, in many ways, the 5-passenger RAV4 EV felt like a traditional gasoline-powered car. And that's a good thing.

It's roomy, comfortable, and solid (the latter quality no doubt due to the heavy batteries that make the electric model about 400 pounds heavier than its gas-powered sibling). The air conditioner was at least as good as, if not better, than a the aircon system in our Corolla.

The electric motor was somewhat quieter than a gas-powered car, but today's cars are pretty quiet so that didn't really leave an impression on me. The thing I did notice was how responsive the acceleration is. With a drivetrain built in collaboration with Tesla Motors, The RAV4 EV is one of the zippiest cars I've ever driven. In fact, I accidentally squealed the tires when driving out of my daughter's school parking lot.

The other surprising thing was that no one who saw the car when I was running errands, dropping off kids, parking at restaurants, etc. said anything to me. I was hoping someone would say, "Cool! An electric car." But the fact is, as nice-looking as the RAV 4 EV is (and it's an attractive car) it does't look like a flying saucer. It looks like a car. Again, that's a good thing. If it looked weird, most people wouldn't want one. Toyota was smart to avoid outlandishness.

Like the gas-powered RAV4, the EV model has plenty of cargo room. Toyota did a good job of hiding the batteries under the floor so they don't take up interior space.

It takes 44 hours to fully recharge the depleted lithium-ion battery pack using a standard 110-Volt outlet. If you get a 240-Volt dedicated circuit charging station installed at your house (about $1,000) you can charge it in 5-6 hours. I took the RAV4 EV on a lot of errands around town and drove it on the freeway a few times, but I just used a 110-outlet to top off the batteries overnight. The car had a full charge every morning.

I was truly sorry to hand the key fob to the Toyota rep after my week of gas-free driving.

The 2013 RAV4 EV has a sticker price of $49,500 and is for sale in California only. After various rebates the take home price is around $40,000.

15 weirdest things on wheels at Maker Faire 2013

Advertiser — Fri, 31 May 2013 06:50:57 +0000

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SPONSORED: This post is presented by the Toyota RAV4 EV. Because innovation can be measured in miles, kilowatts and cubic feet. Learn more at toyota.com/rav4ev

Maker Faire launched in 2006 as a place for makers to meet up and show off their stuff. 20,000 people attended that first year. It was a mind-blowing experience to witness such an exuberant celebration of ingenuity.

I just returned home from Maker Faire Bay Area 2013, and it was the best one yet. At least 120,000 people attended. The variety of projects was impressive, and the trend of "makers making tools for other makers" has accelerated. Who needs an organization to make and sell products when you can use low-cost, effective DIY versions of R&D, prototype development, vendor sourcing, funding, manufacturing, and sales & marketing? The level of sophistication I saw in many projects at Maker Faire is a sign that makers are going to make a difference in the world.

It was nice to see traditional companies come to Maker Faire to support it as sponsors, and to engage with makers in discussions about the future of manufacturing. For example, I checked out Boing Boing sponsor Toyota's RAV4 EV 2013 that was on display at Maker Faire.

Sheldon Brown (below), Toyota's Executive Program Manager, was on site and I chatted with him about this all-electric vehicle. It has an EPA-Rated driving range of 103 miles and takes about 6 hours to charge using a Level-2 (240-volt) charging station. It's rated at 78 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) and looks roomy. I'm looking forward to driving it for several days next week!

The Rav4 EV 2013's motor was of great interest to the attendees, who crowded around the open hood, but I couldn't take my eyes off the brightly-colored liquids in neatly lined up plastic jars. They reminded me of the sweet syrup that you find in those tiny wax bottles of Nik-L-Nips. Unfortunately, by the time I returned to the car with a drinking straw, the hood was down.

The RAV4 EV wasn't the only wheeled wonder on display. I saw dozens of rolling projects on exhibit that had little purpose other than to spread cheer to others. I took photos of a few, which you can see below.

A member of the Cyclecide Bike Rodeo on one of their many custom novelty bikes.

A sweet-looking battery powered bike with a metal saddle. I hope the suspension system is good!

Very young children at Maker Faire didn't care for this android.

This fat-tired vehicle moves when you bounce on it. Not the most efficient way to ride, but it looked like fun.

I never found out what this does, but my guess is that it's a smoke ring cannon on wheels.

Lined up and ready for remote control battle.

This creative young maker brought his own awesome remote control rover to Maker Faire.

Tall Bike Bobby rode his custom two-wheeler from Vancouver to LA last year. Here's my MAKE post about him.

Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate's Serpent Twins cars are always a crowd favorite. (Who's photobombing on the right?)

And here's a video of four more weird wheeled wonders I encountered at Maker Faire:

Sponsor shout-out: Upstream Color now on DVD and Blu-ray

Advertiser — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:00:32 +0000

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We'd like to thank and congratulate our sponsor Upstream Color on this week's launch of their DVD and Blu-ray. It's a film written and directed by Shane Carruth, one The Los Angeles Times calls “intense and hypnotically powerful” and The Playlist describes as “a romantic examination of love, who we are as lovers, what our love does to one another, and how that’s connected to the nature of all things.” Visit UpstreamColor.com for more.

Interview with Wrong director Quentin Dupieux

Advertiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:38:24 +0000

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The following is a sponsored post:

There’s nothing quite right about this hilariously delirious clip from Wrong, which hits theaters throughout the country this Friday and is already available on iTunes, featuring a suspicious gardner explaining the impossible overnight transformation of an everyday Californian palm tree to an evergreen. Its one of the many, many things wrong with Wrong from director Quentin Dupieux.

After directing just a mere handful of features, Dupieux (aka international electro-musician Mr. Oizo) has already established himself as one of the modern cinema’s foremost fearless surrealists who refuses to play by the rules. The Cannes Film Festival selected Rubber about a serial homicidal tire (yes, a car tire), the viral short and soon-to-be feature Wrong Cops starring Marilyn Manson and now his latest comedic brainbomb Wrong all seem to be constructs of the same wholly original and strange deadpan daymare. With a laser-sharp eye, a pranksterish wit and the airy rhythm of a ballet dancer, this filmmaker has zapped a fully-formed artistic vision into our collective space.

Wrong follows “Reno 911”’s Jack Plotnick after he loses his beloved dog and encounters a barrage of bizarro human roadblocks in his journey including a feces-hunting pet detective (Steve Little from "Eastbound And Down") and an ponytailed, face-scarred guru (a flat-out brilliant William Fichtner). This surreal comedy guides you through a fascinating and hallucinatory universe to which you’ll want to book repeat accommodations. In this interview, Dupieux chats about Wrong, his unique brand of nightmarish comedy, the construction an unconscious dimension and working with Plotnick.

Wrong is the story of a man who loses his dog: Paul. Is this an excuse for talking about something else?

QD: I love dogs and I am fascinated by the relationship between people and dogs. I get along with dogs better than I do with people! Wrong is an homage to this special love between people and dogs! The story about the character and his dog is the real subject of the film. In writing, you could think that it was some sort of pretext, but I soon realized that there was something poignant about the story of this guy Dolph who loses his dog. I talked about it with the lead actor, Jack Plotnick, and it didn’t take long for us to agree that it’s something you have to experience. The kind of telepathic exercises with his dog, the scenes where he cries in his car because his dog might be dead, all of that could have just been funny but I felt that the potential tragic side of those moments had to be fully explored. I had a very basic desire to see Dolph find his dog and to feel a sincere joy. At the same time, we had to avoid the slightly depressing aspect of a single man with his dog. That’s why he lives in a rather chic house: he has taste, there are lots of pictures on his mantle. You feel that he has a real life.

What was the idea that led you to start writing Wrong?

I wrote Wrong using the same method as I did for my other movies: in a rather random way. Once I have laid down all the random elements, I link them together to create an overall logic. I try not to have too much control. I reject steering the audience as part of the director’s role. On the contrary, I like the uncertainty that a film can generate. I refuse to take on the role of the director who controls the spectator. Instead, I like this idea of anxiety and uneasiness that the film generates. What a person should be thinking about this or that scene, is a problem for each viewer, not mine. The science of directing the viewers is not my cup of tea. There are already a lot of directors who do that very well. I prefer to create my own domain, which is to create the sense of unease.

The film is sometimes very nerve-wracking. As you’re watching, you say to yourself that it could veer off into a complete nightmare or pure comedy. You’re never sure what to expect.

The film is built on a bed of anxiety, through these scenes when characters don’t really understand each other. It’s the disappearance of the dog that guided my writing and I hope that plotline stays in people’s minds. I’m pleased to have forged an alliance between comedy and the anxiety linked to the missing dog. From the hero’s point of view, the situation is atrocious, especially when he picks up horrible snippets of information, like the burned-out van. The trap for a movie built on misunderstanding is that if everything is possible, nothing is important. The dog plotline anchors us to something tangible.

How do you achieve an overall coherence while preserving this unconscious dimension?

Once I have a certain number of ideas, I process them almost mathematically in order to find the overall logic. At the beginning, though, I love not understanding where an idea comes from. The process is the fruit of a lot of hard work. The short films I made when I was 18 were guided only by chance. They lack any logic. Reaching greater maturity, finding the cement that holds ideas together, took time. I sort through parameters; I check everything, like a pilot before take-off. The mere fact that I believe it gives the movie solidity. I’m my first audience.

You don’t want to make it your style?

No, I find artists who have a style boring. It’s too easy. When you know how to do something, I find it rather lazy to do it again. The filming of Rubber was very exciting because I was discovering my own method, finding my own grammar by inventing it.

Thanks also to Jack Plotnick, who seems inhabited by his character’s quest.

It was important not to play it cynically. In fact, it worked out quite the opposite. In some takes, Jack was crying too much because his character’s tragedy was so raw for him. Jack Plotnick is unforgettable in the role.

“Wrong” opens this week in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Ithaca, N.Y., Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, Winchester, Va., Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio; and opens April 5 in Duluth, Minn., Portland, Ore., and Seattle, with more cities to follow. It’s also available on demand from cable, satellite and online providers. Watch the theatrical trailer here.

LG Monitor Gives New Meaning to Color Precision

Advertiser — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:15:46 +0000

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This post is sponsored by LG Electronics. Discover the LG IPS Color Prime Monitor.

LG’s ColorPrime IPS LED Monitor is a must-have for anyone who makes a living or has a passion for graphic design, photography video creation, or any other design-related projects. That’s because the 27-inch monitor has 99 percent coverage of Adobe RGB, which is essential if color precision is a key part of your work.

The picture quality even goes beyond the standard HD that you’re used to. In fact, the built-in Wide Quad High Definition (WQHD) is four times the resolution at 2560 x 1440, ensuring you can see all the detail necessary in everything you view.

The LG ColorPrime makes multitasking a breeze, too, with it’s one-click 4-Screen Split feature, so you can work on multiple projects at once in various configurations without having to click back and forth.

Whether you’re laying out design, editing video, or touching up an illustration, you can count on the LG ColorPrime Monitor for supreme color accuracy.

Eco-friendly stuffies and Postmodernist socks from American Apparel

Advertiser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:00:09 +0000

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This post is sponsored by American Apparel:

Stuff those stockings with stuffies and stockings! From the American Apparel/Boing Boing Style Gift Guide:

• Scrappies: Environmentally friendly stuffed animals featuring 100% recycled stuffing, and an exterior made from reclaimed neon fabrics that, ordinarily, would have been destined for landfills.

• Calf-High Memphis Sock: Inspired by the Memphis Design Movement of the 70's and 80's.

Check out more stylish gifts for happy mutants in the American Apparel/Boing Boing Style Gift Guide!

Solar watch, colorful beanies, and other gifts!

Advertiser — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:17:34 +0000

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This post is sponsored by American Apparel:

Dig the timeless timepiece and these bright beanies from the American Apparel/Boing Boing Style Gift Guide! Above, the Casio Batteryless Solar Stainless Steel Digital Watch, $78, and Unisex Cuffed Acrylic Lined Beanies, 36 colors for $20 each. Many more happy mutant gift ideas in the American Apparel/Boing Boing Style Gift Guide!

American Apparel style gift guide

Advertiser — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:40:03 +0000

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This post sponsored by American Apparel:

Seeking stylish gifts for the happy mutants in your life? American Apparel has moved way, WAY beyond t-shirts and hoodies. Here's a fine selection of sweatshop-free items from the USA's most colorful and comfortable vertically-integrated manufacturer, along with some classic products from other iconic brands:

• Casio Batteryless Solar Stainless Steel Digital Watch: A twenty-year old design that remains, er, timeless.

• Quilted Laptop Bag: Nylon, front pocket, 10 1/8" x 14 3/8," durable.

• Unisex Fisherman's Pullover: 100% cotton, choice of 21 (!) colors and patterns.

• Calf-High Memphis Sock: Inspired by the Memphis Design Movement of the 70's and 80's.

• Red Wing Chukka Boot: An American Heritage product, Red Wing Shoes have been handcrafted in the US for more than 100 years.

• Nylon Cordura® School Bag: Adjustable straps, choice of 29 (!) color ways.

• Unisex Cuffed Acrylic Lined Beanie: Available in 36 (!) colors and patterns

• Scrappies: Environmentally friendly stuffed animals featuring 100% recycled stuffing, and an exterior made from reclaimed neon fabrics that, ordinarily, would have been destined for landfills.

Epic Fun Day at the Beach

Advertiser — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:20:15 +0000

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This post is brought to you by The New Santa Fe from Hyundai.

Our sponsor Hyundai asked my family and me to take a new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe on an "Epic Fun Day." What that meant was entirely up to us. The first step was coming up with where we wanted to drive! We chose a beautiful beach near our home in Los Angeles where I knew we could pack lots of fun activities into a short time. Then we invited our pal and video maker Eric Mittleman along to document our day. Watch the video above for a glimpse of the fun! Here's what we did:

• Used our homemade kite aerial video rig to shoot some bird's-eye-view video.

• Hunted for sea glass, which we brought home and used to decorate polymer clay creations.

• Made a bubble wand out of sticks and strands of seaweed.

• Explored the cool caves and tidepool lifeforms on the beach.

Keep your eyes out for future posts where I'll share the details of our kite aerial video rig and our polymer clay creations, and tell you how to make them yourself!

Does your family rock? Enter this contest!

Advertiser — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:30:33 +0000

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This post is brought to you by The New Santa Fe from Hyundai. Think your family rocks? Show us by uploading a photo of your family rocking out. Enter now for a chance to win great prizes.

Do your family values include kindness, sharing, and hard work? That's nice, but boring. How about loud music, pranks, epic adventures, and intergenerational rabble-rousing? In short, does your family rock? If so, you should enter the Hyundai and Rolling Stone My Family Rocks Contest. All you need to do is upload a photo of you and your kin at your most rocking, along with 500 words or less about you and your family. Prizes include a photo shoot in Rolling Stone, a trip to the Grammy Awards, and a sweet Hyundai Santa Fe "Custom Rock 'N' Roller" complete with a flaming paint job!

Hyundai and Rolling Stone My Family Rocks Contest

Mass Effect Trilogy's Mordin Solus and other esteemed extraterrestrials

Advertiser — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:45:33 +0000

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This post sponsored by MASS EFFECT TRILOGY. Own the award-winning saga. Out now.

Once you're immersed in the Mass Effect Trilogy, you'll come to know Mordin Solus, seen above center. A Salarian from the planet Sur'Kesh, Solus is a professor and geneticist who was formerly an operative in the Special Tasks Group. "Lots of ways to help people," Solus famously said. "Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps.”

Of course, Solus, featured in Mass Effect 2 and 3 of the Mass Effect Trilogy, is only the latest otherworldly celebrity in a long line of excellent on-screen extraterrestrials. Here are some other ETs we've known and loved...

• The Blob (1958): It had all the personality of a dollop of jelly, but The Blob made a young Steve McQueen into a hero.

• Alien (1979): Designed by HR Giger, the Alien's slimy tongue was tipped with a second toothy mouth.

• Tongo Rad (1969): From Star Trek "The Way to Eden," Rad and his Catullan comrades are the quintessential space hippies.

• Marvin the Martian (1948): While not named until years later, Marvin's debut was in the Looney Tunes classic "Haredevil Hare" in which he threatens our planet with a Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

• Uncle Martin (1963): Years before his career-defining role as Mr. Hand, Ray Walston was My Favorite Martian.

• Mothership alien (1977): At the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an iconic gray alien bids farewell with a sequence of Curwen hand signs.

• Thomas Jerome Newton (1976): David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth seeking water for his draught-ridden home planet Anthea.

• Klaatu (1951): In The Day The Earth Stood Still, Klaatu and his robot Gort deliver a demand for peace on Earth. Or else.

Great gear for your favorite photog

Advertiser — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:50:15 +0000

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This post is sponsored by Best Buy. What will your gift do?

You don’t take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams

With that in mind, here is a fine collection of tools to make beautiful photographs. The rest is in the eye of the beholder.

* Nikon D3100 14.2-Megapixel DSLR Camera with 18-55mm VR Lens. We prefer red.

* Nikon - AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Zoom Lens. One of the two lenses that are all almost anyone would ever need.

* Nikon - Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G AF-S Lens. Beyond these two, you're starting a collection and that can get dangerous.

* Nikon - SB-700 AF Speedlight External Flash. Light has color.

* Manfrotto - 055 Series 70.3" Tripod. Steady as she goes.

* Manfrotto - Ball Head. With mounts, you get what you pay for.

* PNY - 32GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Class 4 Memory Card. Memory is cheap; buy several.

* Lowepro - Slingshot 102 AW Camera Shoulder Bag. Take care of your toys.

Timothy Ferriss: Cheat Sheets for Everything

Advertiser — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:39:29 +0000

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This post sponsored by Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef:

Timothy Ferriss's new book The 4-Hour Chef isn’t just a cookbook. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure guide to the world of rapid learning. Here's an excerpt:

CHEAT SHEETS FOR EVERYTHING

Any subject can be overwhelming. Magazines have to fill editorial space month after month with “new” recommendations and the result is predictable: clashing recommendations, uncertainty, information deluge, and opting out.

To stem the tide, I have a constant checkpoint posted over the walkway into my atrium: Simplify.

Above the sign rests the beautiful and brutal Nepalese khukuri, a curved knife symbolic of the legendary Gurkha military regiments. Field marshal Sam Manekshaw, a former chief of staff of the Indian Army, was quoted as saying: “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or a Gurkha.” The blade is in my home to remind me of the importance of decision. The word decision, closely related to incision, derives from the meaning “a cutting off.”

Making effective decisions—and learning effectively—requires massive elimination and the removal of options.

The easiest way to avoid being overwhelmed is to create positive constraints: Put walls that dramatically restrict whatever it is that you’re trying to do.

In the world of work, a task will swell in complexity to fill the time you allot it, a phenomenon often referred to as Parkinson’s Law. How does so much get done just before you leave for holidays? It’s the power of the clear and imminent deadline. Though vastly simplified, in the world of cooking, Le Chatelier’s Principle is invoked to remember that a gas will expand to fill the size of its container.

So…all we have to do is create a tiny container: the wonderful one-pager.

The goal here is to make something intimating unintimidating, so you don’t quit. You have the rest of your life to seek out and master the exceptions, to be comprehensive, if you want.

I use two different types of one-pagers:
1. The first is the Prescriptive One-Pager, which lists principles that help you generate real-world examples. In short: “Here are the rules.”
2. The second is the Practice One-Pager, which lists real-world examples to practice that indirectly teach the principles.

Let’s create a prescriptive one-pager for almost all of the recipes in The 4-Hour Chef. Ready?

Just follow these rules:

PROBE IT
Use a probe thermometer for just about everything. You’ll never need to guess if something is done or not again.

JUST STEAM IT
Just steam vegetables: Put 1/2” of water in a pot, throw in the veggies, cover, and leave for 15 minutes on a burner set to high. Squeeze lemon juice on them just before serving.

350
Set the oven at 350°F (180°C). Setting the oven at 350 will work more than 90% of the time. Just use the probe thermometer and cook all proteins until the internal temperature reaches 140°F (60°C).

HERB PAIRINGS
For each type of protein, there is a spice or herb that will never fail you. (Don’t forget to add Maldon sea salt.)
- Fish → fennel or dill
- Beef, pork, or lamb → rosemary
- Lamb → mint
- Eggs → tarragon
- Tomatoes → basil

ADD INSURANCE
Add one or more of the following to make anything delicious
- Montreal steak rub
- Prosciutto – it’s already cooked, like bacon
- Guacamole
- Ghee
- Thyme

TOP IT OFF
For entertainment or conversational value, offer one of the following as a topping at the table:
- Edible green tea leaves (eatgreentea.com)
- Lemon or “Buddha’s hand” zest (using Microplane)
- Crickets, roasted and placed in a pepper grinder; they taste nutty.

MAKE IT PRETTY
To make your served food look pretty and “restaurant made”:
- Sprinkle sliced almonds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), or chopped chives on top.
- Stack things atop or against each other on the plate: make the food look tall.

GO COLD
If you need an appetizer for a group and want to minimize stress, always go cold: make gazpacho in advance and leave in the fridge until ready.

AND… THAT’S IT
You’ll make awesome stuff, and nothing should be overcooked or undercooked. Congrats! You are now cooking better than at least 50% of the people in the entire U.S.!

Get your copy of The 4-Hour Chef at http://www.amazon.com/the4hourchef

The Future of Outlook.com

Advertiser — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:18:30 +0000

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This post sponsored by Outlook.com:

By now you may have heard that Microsoft is retiring it's Hotmail service and replacing it with the new Outlook.com. If you're in the market for a new email service or simply curious to see what other options are out there, head to www.Outlook.com to sign up for your free account.

If you're an existing Hotmail user you can upgrade your experience to the new Outlook.com right now and rename your email address from SteamPunk4Evar@hotmail.com to something that might look a little more professional on your resume (like Your.Actual.Name@outlook.com). Don't worry, you can keep your SteamPunk4Evar@hotmail.com address as an alias.

Outlook.com is currently "in preview" meaning that the boffins who build the service are still fine tuning the experience and adding new features. One of the features currently being worked on is Skype integration. Very soon you'll be able to launch and receive Skype video calls from within your Outlook.com inbox. No app needed. Even if you're at some random Internet cafe in Bangalore, you can login to Outlook.com and Skype with your friends and family right from your inbox.

But even while we wait for Skype, Outlook.com is jam packed full of awesome features such a beautiful and intuitive new user experience built for both touch and mouse and keyboard; 7GBs of free cloud storage with SkyDrive; Office Web Apps integration allowing you to view, edit and create Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents from within your browser as well as industry leading tools for managing Graymail and spam. So what are you waiting for? For more on Outlook.com or to sign up for a free account head to www.outlookpreview.com

Privacy Matters On Outlook.com

Advertiser — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:05:58 +0000

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This post sponsored by Outlook.com:

Imagine you have an account with a major free webmail provider. You log into your account via your web browser and notice ads in your inbox and when you read a message. Now imagine that these ads are displayed based on what you write in the email you send as well as the content of the emails you receive. Oh, and the ads are also influenced by the videos you watch, the stuff you search for and the files you upload while on your webmail providers network of sites and services.

Sound unlikely? In 2009, Carnegie Mellon researchers conducted a study about behavioral online advertising and nearly 60% of the participants didn't believe that email providers (like Gmail) could serve ads in this fashion. In fact, a third of the participants thought laws or consumer backlash would put an end to this kind of advertising before it even started.

Outlook.com doesn’t force you to trade your privacy for a free webmail account. Unlike Gmail, Outlook.com does not read the email you send or receive in order to target you with ads. The contents of your personal conversations don't have anything to do with the ads that you see.

Even the placement of the ads that are served on Outlook.com are far less invasive than on other providers sites. For example, when you're reading an email from someone in your address book, there's no ads displayed at all. Instead, you see more relevant, social content like a recent tweet, Facebook post or status update.

For more information visit www.outlookpreview.com

Conquering Graymail With Outlook.com

Advertiser — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:02:12 +0000

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This post sponsored by Outlook.com:

Go and look at your inbox right now. Go on, I’ll wait. Done? Good. For the majority of you, over 80% of the email you receive is something called graymail. It’s not spam, but it’s also not higher priority messages from friends, family or colleagues that you’re more likely to read and respond to. Newsletters, social updates and daily deals are all examples of graymail and left unattended they can take over your inbox pretty quickly.

Now here’s a little secret; Microsoft didn’t entirely build the recently released Outlook.com preview from scratch. Under the hood, Microsoft took the best tools and features originally developed for Hotmail – such as those designed to tackle graymail – and incorporated them into the new service.

If you’re someone that likes to file your email away once you’re done with it, Outlook.com has a great tool called Sweep that lets you select a single message from a sender (or multiple messages from multiple senders) and with two clicks “sweep” the messages out of you inbox and into a folder. If you like to delete your read (or unwanted) mail then you can use this feature to sweep messages straight to the trash can. You can even set these actions up as rules that run automatically when messages from certain senders are received.

And that 24-hour-only-daily-deal from November 2011 probably isn’t worth keeping. Use Schedule Cleanup to setup a rule that only keeps the most recent message from 24-hour-only daily deal sites. For more info or to sign up for your account visit www.outlookpreview.com

How my VW won me the college presidency

Advertiser — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:19:27 +0000

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Sponsored Post: This post is brought to you by Volkswagen. It's not the miles, it's how you live them. Read our stories or share your own at whyvw.com.

Naturally, the thing to do when one drops out of high school at 16 and enrolls in city college is to immediately run for student body president. I did exactly this. It turns out all you need to win is that logic and a 1970 Volkswagen Bug (with that ridiculous Autostick shifter).

I can’t say the students of my commuter college were all that excited or cognizant they even had a student government. If there was a "debate," I can’t remember it. Position documents read something like, “When I was young, I voted for Monte. Be young, vote Monte.” I won’t say our ambitions lacked, but I will say no one was willing to listen to them.

Apparently the secret to winning these elections was to have the best picture in the display case outside the polling area. The previous year's president told me this so matter-of-factly that I could only assume it was true.The problem was, I was 16 and didn’t have a single decent picture of me. Coincidentally, a close friend, David, showed me some photos from a particularly strange adventure we’d had a few nights before.

Somewhere in our driving around town with friend Adam (who gets this cheap photo credit), between getting life lessons from a sushi chef and molesting statuary outside a bank, we came across a no parking sign that had been “left” in the middle of the street. Naturally, we pulled off the road, and posed with the Bug and the sign. Then we went on our merry way.

This photo was the result.

Imagine how bad the other candidates photos had to be for me to win.

Everyone who congratulated me on winning said “Nice VW.” That's politics.

Outlook.com's social life

Advertiser — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 04:58:10 +0000

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This post sponsored by Outlook.com:

For the majority of us, our online connections with friends, family, colleagues and internet celebrities are managed through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. When YASN (Yet Another Social Network) comes along and asks us to rebuild those social connections from scratch – but this time in "their" sandbox – most of us simply change the channel. Instead of asking you to re-create your social sphere, the new Outlook.com preview connects to the social networks you already use – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (and even Google) – to take advantage of the connections and relationships you’ve already created and use every day.

Connect your Facebook account to Outlook.com and your friends' mugs show up in your contacts along with their latest posts that you can comment on or like without having to leave your inbox. As your friends update their contact information in their Facebook profile, that info is automatically updated in your Outlook.com people tab so that you always stay up to date. Twitter integration is also useful, albeit a bit overwhelming if you follow tons of people. You not only see your contacts' tweets, but you can retweet them right in the application.

The beauty is that all of this social interaction lives in the sidebar of Outlook.com to the right of your message window, where you'd expect to see ads. If the email you're reading is from someone you know, or at least someone in your address book, the social stuff appears in place of the ads. In fact, the approach to ads on Outlook.com is worth a separate post in itself…

Android on eBay

Advertiser — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:12:40 +0000

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This post is sponsored by eBay. From the new to the hard to find, when it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay.

There are those who are dedicated to the fruits of Cupertino and those who, well, aren't. As we saw previously, there are plenty of Apple deals to be had at eBay. Three of the latest-and-greatest Android devices are available at discounts that may surprise you. The Samsung Galaxy S III is listed for various carriers and in both white and blue. If the S III is out of your budget, try the HTC EVO 4G at half the price. And if it's a non-iPad tablet you're after, the Google Nexus 7 won't leave you wanting. Check eBay for all your Android needs.

Save on Apple at eBay

Advertiser — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:15:02 +0000

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This post is sponsored by eBay. From the new to the hard to find, when it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay.

No, that isn't the brand new iPhone in the center there. It's the iPhone 4S. And while the new phone grabs the spotlight, the 4S is hardly obsolete. Just back to school with a limited gadget budget? eBay currently offers the 16GB iPhone 4S used, refurbished, starting at around $300 depending on the carrier and color. New factory unlocked models are also available. Of course, iPhones aren't the only Apple product to be found on eBay at discount. Check out listings for the iPad 3 and Macbook Pro with Retina Display for significant savings.

Pepsi Goes on a World Tour

Advertiser — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:00:53 +0000

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This post sponsored by Pepsi:

Listen up, soft drink lovers: Pepsi has embarked on its first “World Tour.” This summer, the beloved beverage company that’s always aligned itself with the hottest pop superstars and an overall party vibe has begun a summer “Live for Now” campaign. And, you can stay on top of it all by visiting Pepsi Pulse – Pepsi’s interactive website – which brings up-to-the-minute news on all the fun things going on in your city, as well as great deals and prizes. If you’ve seen the commercial spot featuring pop star Nicki Minaj, you’ve already gotten a taste of the fun.

And that fun continues with the "Summer Beats Concert Series." Pepsi is serving up three Twitter-enabled (twitter.com/pepsi) shows during the summer season featuring performances by Billboard chart-topping artists.

Next up, it’s all you – show off your “now” moments and share your photos with your Twitter peeps. Check out Pepsi’s partners -- MTV, Vh1, CMT, Comedy Central, as well as the Pepsi Summer Concert Series -- to win access to amazing events and other cool prizes. Be sure to use the unique hashtag related to the prize you’re eyeing (for instance, VH1’s is #playnow, MTV’s is #mtvnow, CMT is #countrynow, etc.). You just might end up in the spotlight on shows like “The Colbert Report” or be chosen as a MTV Video Music Awards correspondent.

As you sip your favorite Pepsi this summer, don’t forget to stay in the “now” at Pepsi Pulse. “Live for Now” will run all summer long through September 2012. Learn more by visiting www.pepsi.com.

Max Payne 3: Official Launch Trailer

Advertiser — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:07 +0000

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For Max Payne, the tragedies that took his loved ones years ago are wounds that refuse to heal. No longer a cop, close to washed up and addicted to pain killers, Max takes a job in São Paulo, Brazil, protecting the family of wealthy real estate mogul Rodrigo Branco, in an effort to finally escape his troubled past. But as events spiral out of his control, Max Payne finds himself alone on the streets of an unfamiliar city, desperately searching for the truth and fighting for a way out.

Presenting the Official Launch Trailer for Max Payne 3, which will arrive this week in North American stores for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on May 15th and in Europe on May 18th. Visit the Pre-Order page for a selection of retail options.

Youtube link

A Lifetime Car Lover Has Found His Match

Advertiser — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:56 +0000

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This post is sponsored by Chevrolet Volt. Electric when you want it, gas when you need it.

Note: The 2012 Chevy Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles on a full charge based on 94 MPGe [electric] and an additional 340 miles with a full tank based on 35 city, 40 MPG highway [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

The Chevy Volt is unique among electric cars because it runs on two sources of energy. You have an electric source – a battery – that allows you to drive gas-free for an EPA–estimated 35 miles. And there's also an onboard gas generator that produces electricity so you can go farther. So if you want to drive using only electricity, you can. If you want to drive using electricity and gas, you can do that, too. Feeling all charged up? Check out what this current Chevy Volt driver has to say about his unique driving lifestyle…

Mark Fleischhacker of Minnetonka, MN has had a fascination with electric cars for the last 25 years. “I am a car collector. I have been tracking the Volt since 2007 and have read every article I could find,” he says. After doing his due diligence, he decided this was the car for him, and patiently waited for the Volt’s debut. “In the 45 years I have been driving, this is by far the best ride I have owned.”

For Fleischhacker, as is the case with many Volt drivers, his expectations have been exceeded. “I live in Minnesota so I expected the mileage to drop and to not see the full benefit of the mileage gain. But even with temperatures down to zero, I am still averaging 118 MPG,” he says. A typical day for him consists of a 24-mile commute. “This allows for plenty of battery power for going shopping and making a few stops along the way,” he says. Of course, sometimes, his travels take him beyond the battery range. “In the past two weeks, I drove three trips of 170 miles and three trips of around 70 to 90 miles. The generator starts as needed, and you see or feel nothing except the fuel gauge changes from battery to fuel tank. The technology is awesome,” he says.

He’s also gotten a kick out of how other react to the Volt’s capabilities. “The funniest moment was when I pulled into a fast food restaurant and the person taking my money stuck his head out the window with this puzzled look on his face and asked what the heck I was driving. After I received my food and pulled away, the guy was hanging out the drive-up window to the point where he almost fell out onto the driveway,” he says.

Fleischhacker’s favorite perk, though, is how his Volt is teaching him how to drive more efficiently. “The computers continue to compensate, and my battery range continues to grow. What is fascinating is the technology in the car will learn my driving conditions and it will modify the expected range,” he says. “In my opinion, the Volt leads the way into the future for highly efficient cars.”

Volt is available to order at participating dealers.

Has your Volt been the perfect match for you, too? Tell your amazing story here.

Having a Blast With New Driving Technology

Advertiser — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:28:53 +0000

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The following post is sponsored by Chevy Volt:

Note: The 2012 Chevy Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles on a single charge based on 94 MPGe [electric] and 35 city, 40 MPG highway [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

Sounds like the perfect car for a patent attorney who’s into exploring new technology, doesn’t it? That’s certainly the case for Chuck Fredericks, a Marina Del Ray, California resident whose career and personal passions include technology that can positively impact society. “As technology has progressed, our lifestyles have become increasingly dependent on energy and therefore I have long felt that electric vehicles can have a great impact in this area,” says Fredericks.

He finds the concept of electric cars to be efficient, good for the environment, and a good promoter of energy independence. But it wasn’t until the Volt came along that being an owner of one was feasible for Fredericks, who’s a parent and needed a car with some room to transport his family. “When GM introduced the Volt, I knew this was the perfect design to fit my needs. I get all of the fun and efficiency of a pure electric vehicle, I can drive as far as I want, and there is plenty of room for a car seat in back. My Volt has been a no-compromise vehicle,” he says.

When he’s not having fun with the fam’ on the weekends, taking long drives up the coast of Malibu without worrying about running out of charge, Fredericks is pleased with the Volt’s daily practicality. “Round trip, my work commute is about 30 miles, which means there is always plenty of battery to get me to and from work without gas,” he says. “Since I am mostly commuting to and from work, I am using the battery for about 90 percent of my driving.” In fact, his favorite place to plug in is at work, mostly because it’s free.

“I initially asked my employer if I could charge my Volt at work and pay for any electricity usage I might incur. When I explained that topping off my battery after the 15-mile drive to work would cost him less than a cup of coffee per day (about 50 cents), he was more than happy to let me charge for free,” says Fredericks. The result is a very happy employee.

Prior to being a Volt owner, Fredericks’ driving experience was having a vehicle that got him from point A to point B. The Volt, in contrast, is pure driving enjoyment, he says. “Instant torque, quiet acceleration, and well-balanced handling -- it was shocking to me that a car could be both efficient and a blast to drive!”

It’s also fun seeing how others react to the Volt. “Almost everywhere I go, people approach me to ask questions about my Volt. When I tell them that I drove nearly 11,000 miles last year and only used about 23 gallons of gas, they are blown away.” On average, by charging regularly, Volt owners are driving 900 miles between fill-ups, and filling up only about once a month.

The 2012 Chevy Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles on a single charge based on 94 MPGe [electric] and 35 city, 40 MPG highway [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

Volt is available to order at participating dealers.

Are you a satisfied Volt driver? Share your amazing story with us here.

Take a minute to unclog your inbox

Advertiser — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:59 +0000

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This is a paid post from Microsoft:

Crafting your own Stormtrooper uniform from recycled bicycle tires takes time. As does constructing a TARDIS replica from discarded hubcaps. But to unclog your inbox, all you need is 60 seconds.

While you're busy with important projects, your inbox can fill up with dozens, if not hundreds, of unread email messages. Over 80% of this mail is graymail; newsletters, deals and updates that you signed up for but don't always want. But don't worry, Hotmail has powerful new tools that can help you identify and manage this graymail and to get started all you need is one minute.

View your newsletters by using the "Newsletters filter" and then move emails from multiple senders to a specific folder, or straight to the trash, with "Sweep". "Schedule cleanup" can then move or delete emails as they reach a certain age, or just keep the most recent message from a specific sender.

Now that your graymail is under control you can get back to more important, time consuming projects, like fashioning a full set of Vulcan wedding costumes out vintage bottle caps.

For more on how to conquer graymail, even if you don't have a Hotmail account, head to www.whatisgraymail.com

How To Manage Your Inbox

Advertiser — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:00:09 +0000

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The following is a paid post from Microsoft:

Are weekly steampunk paper craft enthusiast newsletters filling up your inbox? Too many daily deals on half-priced crocheted Cthulhu kitty hats? Finding it difficult to respond to those important messages from the co-authors of your Cylon romance fan fiction?

Your inbox is likely filled with graymail. Email you signed up for at some point but don’t always want. Over 80% of the average inbox is made up of social updates, newsletters, and deals. We call this graymail. Sometimes you love these newsletters and notifications but they can easily clog up your inbox making it difficult to find the really important stuff.

Hotmail has introduced some new tools to help identify and manage the graymail in your inbox.

“Sweep” moves emails from multiple senders to a specific folder, or to the trash, and can be easily made into a rule so that the action happens automagically for future messages. Schedule Cleanup will move (or delete) emails as they reach a certain age, or just keep the most recent message from a sender. Imagine all the time you’ll save now that you’re not deleting 24-hour deal emails from three weeks ago; enough to go build that life-sized Minecraft cat-fountain you’ve been planning.

For more on how to conquer the graymail in your inbox, even if you don’t have a Hotmail account, head to www.whatisgraymail.com

Your Inbox Weighs as Much as 5 Sumo Wrestlers

Advertiser — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:00:52 +0000

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The following is a paid post from Microsoft:

Do you ever feel like newsletters, deals, and updates are weighing down your inbox? This isn't the spam of your inbox. It's the bacon. That's called graymail, and the amount you receive each year, if equated to the weight of real mail, would be the equivalent of 2,330 pounds. That's the same as 27.4 metal suits worn by a certain avenging billionaire. It's roughly 896 hardcover copies of the book on which a certain hit fantasy show is based. 2,330 pounds is the same weight as a dragon that, well, weighs 2,330 pounds! And as you'll see in this video, it's the same weight as 5 hefty, scantily-clad sumo wrestlers—yikes.

To lighten the load, Hotmail is taking the lead on managing your graymail. Their new "Sweep" feature allows you to select an email like a newsletter and have all of the emails from that sender sent to a folder of your choosing—or straight to the trash. "Schedule Cleanup" automatically cleans your inbox for you. You can set it to clean out certain newsletters or deals every few days, every month, or even to keep only the latest one. They also add unsubscribe links to most of your email newsletters, so all you have to do is click once and Hotmail will take care of the rest automatically. Head over to Hotmail to try out these and other great features and get your graymail under control.

Gym membership? Check. Times I actually went? Once...

Advertiser — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:15:19 +0000

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Does this sound like you? All New years resolutions start with good intentions, but as the year unfolds, so do many of our resolutions… not to mention our waistlines. What if personal fitness was easy AND enjoyable, would you make the time? What if your exercise machine could also help you unwind and entertain with family and friends?

Introducing the Endless Pool, the intelligently designed personal fitness pool for the 21st Century.

Imagine your own compact, temperature controlled swimming pool, installed just steps from your home or office. About the size of a compact sedan, the Endless Pool can be installed in virtually any indoor-outdoor space, including basements, garages, rooftops and more. And because the Endless Pool uses less space, less water, less chlorine and requires less maintenance than a traditional pool, it's the green alternative to pool ownership.

What's more, the Endless Pool creates an adjustable speed, perfectly smooth swim current that you can run or swim against. Whether for pure swimming, weight loss, endurance training, therapy or just family fun, the Endless Pool is the whole package, and more. Are you ready to get fit and stay fit in 2012?

View our quick :60 video to learn more and request a free idea kit to see our full line of products for any budget, application or location.

Visit: http://www.endlesspools.com/

A New Driving Perspective

Advertiser — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:46:01 +0000

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Note: The 2012 Chevy Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles on a single charge based on 94 MPGe [electric] and 35 city, 40 MPG highway [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

The Chevy Volt* is unique among electric cars because it runs on two sources of energy. You have an electric source – a battery – that allows you to drive gas-free for an EPA–estimated 35 miles. And there's also an onboard gas generator that produces electricity so you can go farther. So if you want to drive using only electricity, you can. If you want to drive using electricity and gas, you can do that, too. Hear what one proud Volt owner had to say about how the electric car has reinvented her driving experience.

Meet Laura Winger of Arizona. She admits that since owning a Volt, it has totally changed her perspective on driving. “It's a total paradigm shift,” she says. “It feels great knowing that, while idling in traffic, stopped at a traffic light, or waiting in a drive thru line, my car can be running on electricity and not wasting gas.” In fact, it was up to Winger, she’d never gas up again. “I haven't filled up once just for my day-to-day driving, and that's a refreshing change,” she says.

“We joke about our own version of electric range anxiety, because none of us like using gas at all anymore, even if it’s minimal,” she says. Winger says she’s also learned to drive efficiently enough to avoid using gas, even when she has to go farther than her typically commute. “As more charging stations become available, it's become easier to charge up for an hour or so while I'm doing something else, avoiding gas even for a few miles.”

Beyond not regularly having to pay at the pump, Winger notes that basic maintenance costs are minimal as well. “My next oil change isn't until 2013!” she says. Winger also enjoys the fact that the vehicle is quite the conversation starter. “Co-workers, family, strangers in the parking lot, other drivers on the road, the valet driver -- they all want to know how it's truly performing, if it's really what they say it is,” says Winger. “And it is,” she assures.

There are also plenty of bells and whistles, too, she points out. “Everything in the car is cool; from the hard drive for music storage and the ability to rewind live radio, to the intelligent programming that allows the car to charge based on electric rates where available.” Her favorite feature, though, is that little green ball on the dashboard that she says has influenced her driving quite a bit. “My old habits of accelerating quickly are severely penalized by the ball (it gets smaller and turns yellow, which is almost as bad as getting a frowny face on a report in school),” she says.

In a nutshell, Winger says owning a Volt saves her money, it’s respectful of the environment, and it makes her a better driver. The one downside to loving the Volt so much? “Driving gas cars drives me nuts now. They are so loud and slow, it's like they're complaining when you hit the gas pedal.”

*Volt is available to order at participating dealers. Quantities limited.

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