Just a warning to all considering getting the Nexus One.  According to the T Mobile sales rep I spoke with today (1/09/2010) Google is blocking Visual Voicemail on the Nexus.

I purchased the unlocked Nexus One this past week and signed up for the Simply Everything Plus plan which includes VVM as a standard feature.  Everything on the phone works except for the visual voicemail.  I downloaded the application, tried several times and had no luck.  I gave up and went to the nearest T Mobile store for help.  The employee who was helping me was very kind and we tried calling the T Mobiles customer support and technical support several times and no one had a resolution.  It was only after about 45 minutes that she was transferred to Google support that we had an answer.  According to the rep, Google is blocking VVM on the Nexus one and suggests that I switch to Google Voice.  No F#$%king Way.

I am inclined to believe the employee helping me.  When the Google support person told her that, she turned white and verified that she heard him correctly.  Not only was this news to me, this was apparently news to everyone at T Mobile as well.  It is possible that she was mistaken and if I find out more information, I will gladly correct this post.  As it stands right now, I am still w/o VVM and it doesn’t appear that I will ever have it.

I don’t like Google having all of my personal information.  They have my contacts and calendar, a different company handles my email and T Mobile now handles my voice (after another bad Sprint experience.)  No one company should handle all of my information and that is why I am not using Google Voice.  I have an account and it seems like a great service, I just don’t like that Google is handling it.

If you find a workaround, please post it below so I can update this post!

Text from error messages:

Not Activated: You do not have access to Visual Voicemail. Please upgrade your account.

Visual Voicemail: Visual Voicemail is available with this phone as part of your data plan for no additional charge.  Click below to enable Visual Voicemail on your account.

Change Service Result: Your purchase cannot be completed at this time. Please visit My t-mobile.com or call 611 to purchase this value bundle.

Huh.  I thought Amish people generally shunned electricity and technology…Of course, I did find this on Home Shopping Network.

High tech amish electric fireplace with a remote!

High tech amish electric fireplace - only $400!

High tech amish electric fireplace

UPDATE: this looks to be a scam.  It is basically a 1,500W space heater that costs $400 and had numerous consumer complains.  Not that I originally suggested anyone buy this in the first place, but this looks pretty damming:  http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/02/amish_heaters.html

Here is some more recent footage of the RGBV laser scanner video I’ve been working on.  It is really only good for beam effects but it is still a lot of fun to play with.

Specs:

• 200mW @ 650nm
• 120mW @ 532nm
• 40mW @ 473nm
• 190mW @ 405nm

Software is LaserLine

Blood?  Check.  Gore?  Check.  Death?  You betcha!

This isn’t a low budget horror film.  No, this is a low-budget workplace safety video!  You have to see this one to believe it.  It is something between a 1980’s high school traffic safety video and the final scene in Terminator 2.  Throw in a little bit of slasher humor and you get this gem:

http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/videos/will-you-be-here-tomorrow.flv

Educational Resources, Inc.  “Videos for safety meetings.”

UPDATE: Do you know who rocks?  John Romero rocks.

This is called a social media flogging.

Is it really that hard to control your bladder?  Is your going problem a growing problem?  How hard is it to walk 2 blocks to the Metrodome?   You couldn’t hold it for the car ride and just had to piss the second you got out?  Seriously, MN LTX-695 POS Silver Ford Taurus, act like an adult.

The photos are from 4.7.2009 @ 5:30 PM CDT.

IKEA KOFFIN

This can’t be real….

Original source unknown

This will slow down your computer

I’ve been working on a useful little set of files that I hope someone else finds useful.  I have complied over 40,000 hotels worldwide in to a single Google Earth KML file.  Each hotel is listed as a point on the earth along with the the hotel name.

I am not sure what to do with this data so I am passing it on to you.  If you find a cool use for it, please leave a message in the comments.

IF YOU WANT TO LINK TO THESE FILES:  You may do so as long as you include a link back to this page.  I update the files occasionally so you will always have the latest versions.  If you link to the files and don’t give attribution, .htaccess rules will send you goatse instead!  (Well, probably not.  I’m not that mean…)

A few notes:

The files are large.  The worldwide file is almost 8 MB and causes Google Earth to crawl on even new computers.  Because of this, I have not included phone numbers, photos, URLs, etc.  That is what Google is for.  These files are ONLY the location and the name.

Some hotels might not match up with the images on Google Earth.  For example, the images for Minneapolis, MN look to be almost 8 years old.  There are hotels in this file that are not included in the aerial photographs.

This file was made by compiling the list in Excel and using it to clean up the data.  From there, it was exported to a CSV file and KMLCSV Converter was used to generate the KML file.

The download links are past the jump:

Continue reading…

butterflies by lawrence yang

I was just sent this image via Stumble Upon and wanted to share it.  Be sure to check out his websites:

• http://www.suckatlife.com/
• http://blowatlife.blogspot.com/

A murder of crows in downtown Minneapolis.  In my neighborhood, twice per year, there are thousands of crows.  Last night, a sizable portion of them were hanging around the church behind my building.

Good News: There Is An Afterlife

Bad News: Yours will be on YouTube

Good news: there is an afterlife. Bad news: Yours will be on YouTube

(from a fotrune cookie I recieved at Chino Latino in Minneapolis, MN)