Livestation for the New Generation

What the hell am I talking about?!?! Where the heck has my technology blog posts been?

Guess what!?! They are coming back! The first thing I have to share with everyone is something that I was just introduced to today. A friend of mine suggested I check this out, LiveStation. I have a feeling this new software will change my life while living abroad. No longer will I feel so distant from American television. (Yes, I missed American television. Where I could waste hours on end finding reruns to watch). Now, I don't have to wait a day before I can watch my favorite sitcoms to be uploaded online! I can watch new episodes live online at the same time everyone is watching them at home. The best part..(drumroll)... It's free!
Who needs to pay for cable anymore. When you can have everything on your computer. I hate to say it but, Wall-E is coming true. We just have to remember to shut down the trusty computer and take a stroll outside. Speak to people in the here and now world. I'm starting to diverge from the topic.

Back to Livestation! You can watch MTV, FOX, CNN, and other major television networks from all over the world. People can add stations and rate the stations. The nice thing is that it streams clearly. (I'm starting to wonder why I have cable and what the purpose of having cable is). I think the only reason to not cut off cable television is because they don't have all of the channels I watch. (Especially Korean stations now that I am adapting to the society.) Once they have more channels, I think I will say goodbye to my cable and hello to computer television source.
This world is changing fast and I think I'm ready for it. I'll start by using Livestation and then wait for someone to invent a way for my computer to dispense food and beverages at a click of a button.

Google Chrome Browser Download Mystery

It's just time before Google creates their very own computer or phone. There have always been rumors about Google taking over the world but this is getting them closer to that goal. They have created a new open source web browser project dubbed Chrome. The browser is supposed to be an open source that is stable, faster, secure, clean, simple, and efficient. Compared to the way browsers were created that limit the functionality that we use for them today.

The genius perk to Chrome is the ability to have "each tab in an isolated 'sandbox', we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers."

They released a 35 pg comic book describing the product (if you are really bored and have the time, then you can read it.) In my opinion, they should have a press release or something short describing the product than a 35 pg comic book that you have to continue to click "next" to get to each page. I found this page that gives you a better insight into the product. (WARNING some of the videos no longer exist)

The BEST part of this release is that it was supposed to be available for downloading TODAY!! Yet, when I clicked on trying to download it from other sites the link would not work. THEN I found a link to download Chrome.

I have now started using Chrome and am not sure what I think about it. It does seem to work much faster but I do miss my Google Toolbar that had spell check and other wondrous tools. With every new service, product or tool there are pros and cons.

[Via Official Google Blog]

Forget Craiglist! Use NFL.com to Scalp

How many times have you scoured (I wanted to use this word) the Internet looking for tickets to a football game? After looking for countless hours, you start to think you might as well go to the game and pay a ridiculous price for a ticket from a scalper. (I've never done it, but I know people do.)

GREAT NEWS FOOTBALL FANS! The National Football League and Ticketmaster have teamed up (like a football team!) to offer NFL's first-ever ticket exchange service on NFL.COM.
The new service "enables fans to buy or resell tickets to NFL games through a convenient, league-endorsed website." the program developed by Ticketmaster will allow ticket exchanges for all 2008 preseason and regular season games, Playoffs and the Super Bowl.

The point of the service is to give fans (if they aren't going to the game then they are not a TRUE fan) who are unable to attend a game a way to sell their tickets to other fans who want to buy or upgrade their seats. (It's not like craigslist doesn't give you this option.) "The ticket exchange service provides fans the opportunity to find and buy resold tickets in a secure environment, in most cases with the ability to electronically validate the resold tickets at the time of purchase. Fans seeking to buy tickets may go to the site to view and purchase tickets offered for games that might be sold out, or obtain a ticket located in a specific seating section that might not otherwise be available."

Kill Long Phone Waits with Fonolo

While checking out Seth Godin's blog, I ran across his post on "Deep Dialing." A company called Fonolo (Phone-Oh-Low) has created a "beta that spiders phone trees at big companies and promises to make it easy for you to go straight to the spot you want. Then it calls you when the phone is answered and records the call so you can keep a record.

Let me break this down a bit more. How many times have you called a company only to hear, “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed…” or “If your language preference is English, please press one now. Si su preferencia de la lengua es español, ahora presione por favor dos.” As GTDTimes explains, this is usually the company's IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system that takes up countless productivity hours. The time spent listening to menu choices, disgustingly annoying music or random promotional jargon could be spent doing something productive like blogging! FONOLO has answered companies and consumers prayers by saving them time which is money.

Go to their site, find the indexed company, go through the visual map of the automated menu and click on the location in which you want to reach. " Fonolo will now place a call, do the navigating and waiting for you and then ring your phone once it has reached the location in the IVR system that you had previously specified." (See picture of map to the right from GTDTimes).

As I mentioned, this will definitely benefit companies as well as consumers. For example, health providers and consumers can get through medical insurance companies long IVR systems without losing productivity during the normal workday hours. Saving time and money is the first aspect that most people seek in a service. The next thing is the reliability and quality which the company seems to have at the moment.

I'm looking forward to this service because I know the company I currently am working for could really BENEFIT from this. Meaning I will no longer have bruises from banging my head on my desk while listening to automated voices!