Groovy Google Maps

I was attempting to use Google's Street View today to see if a local gas station had a standard beater brush Car wash, cheesy I know but who wants to drive around only to be disappointed. "Driving" around with the product I enter the groovy zone. Take a peak...

Groovy

Cheap gaming rig

Looking for the most bang for your computing buck in these economic hard times?
User MikeL_HH over at HotHardware.com has created a solid guide to upgrading your rig from lame to game for $500 bucks or under.

Check it out: Build Guide

StackOverflow.com beta opens!

Well Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky have finally opened up their new venture StackOverflow, a site for programmers by programmers. It's a registration free experts-exchange like site which has some neat features.

For one if you choose to register it uses an openID account, which is usable throughout various other web sites bypassing that 500th login/password combo you were going to create again.

Another quirky item is the default icons for each user. They have implemented use of a gravatar which basically translates to a unique image per user based on their IP address. Heres an example:

I've been very impressed with the simplicity of design while maintaining a slick minimalistic feel. All in all I wish the best for this site and hope everyone gets a chance to check it out.

New site/podcast

Recently I posted a few of sites I frequent everyday Daily Sites.
One of them being Coding Horror run by Jeff Atwood a now ex developer of Vertigo Software.

Recently Jeff has parted with Vertigo in hopes of starting a new venture in partnership with Joel Spolsky (Founder of FogBugz). That venture being Stack Overflow. It is still in its infancy as they discuss what it will be and how they will implement the site. The main premise is basically a more community based Experts Exchange focused solely on software development.

If you are a developer I highly recommend both Coding Horror and StackOverflow. We not only need great readings and community based knowledge bases, but also to support our fellow developers who wish to further advancement of the field.

What do you do to help humanity?

Recently I've been evaluating what I've done in my life and how I've impacted others lives around me. To be honest, I recently noticed that I had the mindset of taking care of myself and myself only. With this invading my mind, I figured it is time to change some. Something small, something I can ease off with (hey, its a start) and still feel like I'm making some difference.

My significant other is one of the most giving people I know. She signed up a while ago on a site called Kiva. Today I signed up and made my first donation toward a loan. Meet Mr. Abdul Sabor Mohammad (Right ad/banner), a DVD video exporter in Kabul.

Update Abdul's loan has been fulfilled and the banner has been updated to reflect another Entrepreneur in need.


I can't say I feel like I can and/or have changed the world. But if I gave one family the chance at a fraction of what I've had, its a pretty good thought/feeling.

Best random IM ever

11:21 AM Tuesday April 23
Random IM comes on my screen from a coworker at a previous gig. One who I really don't talk to much anymore...

Any identifications have been removed to protect the guilty:


Once that flew across my screen he was signed off before I could even reply to lengthen this exchange...