Steve's Online Brain Dump

You might have heard the nasty, derogatory, defamatory, unbelievable rumor that I–a self-proclaimed Apple hater–have brought one of the Apple flagship devices into my home. To further defile my good name, you might have even heard that I actually use this thing quite a bit. Well folks, it’s time I stop hiding and admit my guilty doings (let’s not get carried away and call them “pleasures”).

Click here to read my confession…

Like it or not, you’ve probably used Wikipedia or one of its sister sites at least once. It used to be pretty much a cesspool of people’s dumb internet jokes, but they’ve taken strong action at curbing the derogatory or just plain dumb entries and edits. If you ever saw George W. Bush’s entry during the mid-years of his presidency–before the crack down–you’ll know what I’m talking about. In any case, Wikipedia is one of the best resources on the ‘net today (in my opinion) and needs monetary support from the people who use it in order for it to stay on top of its game; more importantly, to remain free and/or unobstructed by advertisements.

I just gave $10 to them for a few reasons:

• They’re my primary resource to link to in a post to help people learn/understand what I’m talking about.
• I use them probably at least once per day in either a fact-finding mission for something useful or for a quick answer for some spur-of-the-moment office trivia (more for the latter, for which I am very grateful!).
• I hate advertisements with a passion, especially the flat out stupid ones on most websites today. To see Wikipedia graffiti’ed with it would be a shame.

If you want to do the same, click the image below:

…and for anyone wondering, NO, Wikileaks (aka: WikiWankers) is not affiliated with Wikipedia.

As part of my “super fan” status, the kind folks at Carhartt sent me their Acadia waterproof breathable jacket (stock number J219) to try out and review. The jacket couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time of the year: mid-July and no rain in sight! Needless to say, there weren’t many chances to try it out as either a rain jacket or simply a lightweight windbreaker. I was about to stand out in the yard and have the wife soak me with the garden hose nozzle set to “rain” just to try it out! Guilt was starting to set in from letting the jacket simply hang in the closet while Carhartt was waiting patiently to hear what I had to say. Finally, just before I did anything as drastically silly as standing dancing around under the garden hose, it rained; it rained cold and steady and work had me scheduled to be outside the whole time. Perfect!

Click to read the rest…

Sprint's HTC Evo - front and back.

Sorry iPhony friends, the rumors are true: I’m an Evo kind of guy. Since its debut weekend back in June, I’ve been brandishing the fancy-dancy Sprint flagship phone. After much research and comparison via the all-knowing web, I [luckily] decided to reserve a phone at Best Buy and check it out. After nearly two month’s worth of relying on this thing as my digital tether, here’s my hand’s on real world experience with it; the good, bad, and everything in between.

Click to keep reading…