Reed Me : gadget

How do I make a Mobile Tag for /dev/null?

reedme — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:11:17 GMT

I’m not going to say that the fact I broke down and joined Twitter in a moment of weakness today made me think of /dev/null... it’s probably just a coincidence. Meh.

A new tagging system? I wonder how much visual appeal had to the need for this instead of old-fashioned barcodes? If we can process these crazy tags on a mobile device, I’m sure we could do the same for bars.

Microsoft Tag - Linking real life with the digital world

Well, here goes nothing!

(No, that’s not a tag for /dev/null. It’s just a tag for this blog. Heh.)

Voice Command: FORMAT C: [ENTER]

reedme — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:40:55 GMT

Well, that’s how the joke used to go about Vista voice command... Apparently somebody thought it would be fun to actually implement something similar in their mobile o/s. On purpose or not. Heh.

The bug can hardly be called a security problem, given it requires access to the handset, but the fact that until the fix was issued today any G1 user typing a text message containing the word "reboot" would see their phone resetting is truly stunning... Google fixes world's most stupid bug • The Register

It’s hard to imagine why one would use the same editor/parser for text messages that is used for phone commands, or have a text sink that hooks in at the system level and parses commands out of all input, but... it’s funny either way. I love the Law of Unintended Consequences™.

As often as I have to reboot my own mobile phone, a voice command for doing this would save me from having to pop the battery off so often. <envy />

How do you spot tourists in Seattle?

reedme — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:01:07 GMT

When we moved to Redmond, I was told that you can always spot the tourists up here: they're the ones carrying the umbrellas. Heh. It's rarely enough of a downpour to justify the hassle, just a light mist most of the time (OK, nearly all the time except for January and June); it's definitely not like monsoon season rain in Houston.

However, one of these might make it worth looking like a tourist: Unbreakable Fighting Umbrella Splits Watermelons, Defends Presidents (Gadget Lab from Wired.com)

Neato!