Cool PDF trick

Lifehacker is showing a great tip that I'm sure most people already know about. For those of you like myself who are a little late to the party here's the deal. You can send a PDF document to pdf2txt@adobe.com and they will send you a text document in return. If you need HTML you can send it to pdf2html@adobe.com and you'll get an HTML version of the document. Pretty cool hack that could come in real handy for altering documents that were never meant to be changed!

Via BoingBoing

Maybe Steve knows what he is talking about...

I agree with both Mike Masnick and Om Malik on the problems facing mobile entertainment. Maybe Steve was right when he stated that people don't want to watch video in little screens. What I don't think anybody is talking about is the fact the people don't always want to share what they are watching, Video is a personal experience for a lot of us and I don't think there are that many people that want to take the chance of sharing it with the world. Is it also that video, especially TV, is seen as a lesser form of entertainment than music or reading?

Turnout Heavy Among Iraqis

Regardless of your political position, it is a great thing to see a nation willing to take its future upon itself. I hope that this is simply the start to a long future of independence for Iraq. The New York Times > International > Middle East > Bombers Kill 35; Turnout Heavy Among Shiites and Kurds

More about KitchenAid Mixers

so after my trip to Macy's today to do a little wedding registering, I think it is only a matter of time before KitchedAid starts actually selling the flame painted mixer. I can't believe the number of color options!

Somebody has got to tell these people it's only a mixer!

Courtesy of Alton Brown, a Kitchen Aid worthy of a NASCAR sponsorship.




What ever happened to nice cooking shows like the Frugal gourmet?

Via Gizmodo

Distractions

There are so many great blogs out there it is hard to concentrate on blogging as opposed to just reading the incredible amount of commentary that is out there. Getting lost in all of the opinion is too much fun.

See more progress on: Be a better blogger

Arts Funding should be just like music funding, the users pay for it.

Roger Downey on how Arts Funding is all screwed up. Wonderfully written and well thought out. I have been saying this for years, although not all together popular, the opinion is correct. But don't ask my Fiance as she is part of a different mind set

Seattle Weekly: Arts: Tough Love for the Arts by Roger Downey

Has anyone had any experience with Squarespace?

Squarespace - Blogging Evolved I'm looking at this as a way to build a website for my consulting services. Has anyone had any experience with it, good or bad?

Middlebrow

Dick Staub makes a Great point about how America lacks a middle culture. What I find amusing is that I am usually the one complaining about the middle America that I can't stand. Check it out: Dick Staub: Staublog - Middlebrow.

Searching with pay-per-click

I noted a few days ago about the Cnet article regarding click through rates of Firefox users compared with the general internet population. The interesting thing I have noticed after reading that article is that I am now using pay-per-click ads as a backup to my normal google searching. Rather than worry about what term to use in search of a particular solution to something, I simply input a broad subject and let the marketers who write the ads do the refining for me. The down side of this may be for advertisers because using the advertising in this way means I may not be looking for something to buy when I click on one of the ads.

Forbes.com: Saving for Your Health

It is interesting to see that some of the fear around HSA's is still alive and well after a year.

Still, HSAs do have drawbacks. If you are healthy now but turn critically ill later, you may or may not be able to switch into a traditional health policy with a low deductible. That will depend on enrollment rules at your employer.

I know that in some cases this may be true, but many times the out-of-pocket costs even when paying the larger deductible can be offset with the savings.

New Yahoo Desktop Search

newsobserver.com | Technology While I haven't used much Yahoo in the past few years that fact that this is based on X1 technology is[should be] enough to make everyone try it. Great idea on Yahoo's part to snag X1 and pose a serious threat to Google.

Firefox users ignore online ads, report says | CNET News.com

Normally terrible news.com has an interesting article about online advertising. Firefox users ignore online ads, report says | CNET News.com I can see this in my office as I (Firefox user) am much less likely to click-through than my two co-workers who are IE users. Funny how organically these things segregate.

Ok, so this Flikr thing is amazing. I am so suprised it took this long for someone to come up with this!

Moving out of the college house

Another pic of the old house
Originally uploaded by Freshperspective.

Well, it was good while it lasted but I have moved out of the house. This house has been good to me over the last year and a half. I'll miss the place, although it's nice to be able to type this post in quiet from the new apartment!

Back up and (hopefully) running

Well after an extended break I'm hopping to be back up and running! I have been busy settling into a new gig and making wedding plans for the last few months but I should be posting with more consistency from now on.

I'm done!

On a personal note, I just wanted to mention that I graduated from Seattle Pacific University on Saturday! It feels very strange to be done, like I'm caught between two worlds. At least it will give me more time to pursue FreshPerspective and other opportunities.

Great discussion....

There is a great discussion going on about homeschooling and its effect on a child's manners at Philip Greenspun's Weblog: . Make sure to check it out, especially the comments part. It's good to see that the issue is being discussed, maybe over time more homeschooling discussions can develop that may eventually lead to reduced misunderstanding about the whole issue.

Also, great comment about "family schooling", that is truly the best homeschooling approach in my opinion.

The world may actually come together...

So I'm sitting here at the awesome new Zoka Coffee Shop in the U-district and I'm just thinking about all the sociologists that say that we as a society are becoming more isolated. While I think they may have a point in some areas, I think that some things are actually getting better.

I say this because I am sitting at a small round table with three other people that I have never met before, and we are all sitting here peacefully doing our homework or what not. Two of us are online via the free WiFi, and one is studying some printouts of something. What I am most surprised about is that we all seem perfectly comfortable. Strange thing is, you would never walk into a Starbucks and sit down at a table with someone else. It seems that some of the smaller cafe´s have succeed in creating an atmosphere of community that encourages us to sit closer and relax a little bit.

Who knows, we may even start talking to each other again!

It's about time!

So it looks like Sprint may finally have a Bluetooth cellphone. Both Nokia and Motorola have announced Bluetooth phones for the CDMA network, two plus years late! I have avoided upgrading for two years because all you could get was a crappy picture phone. Sorry, but if I want to take a picture I would like to be able to tell what the picture is. But being able to have my contacts all up to date, now that is something useful. I'm just hoping these phones hit the market before my old phone completely dies.