Crowd sourcing has become one of those buzz words. I usually try to ignore such things, but I heard about Herdict by way of The World's Technology Podcast. Basically people can post that they can't view a website. The crowd either verifies or refutes the claim. The podcast coverage was better than I could do, so see that for more info.
Last night we went out to Shaw's Crab House on Hubbard in Chicago. I've heard about Shaw's plenty of times, but it was my first time dining there and I strong suggest the Alaskan King Crab (you can see Emily playing with one in the picture). The crab was delicious and dinner was fun. Happy Birthday Mom.
I got a new laptop today!!! I ordered an Asus EeePC 1000HE netbook last Saturday and it finally (no fault to newegg) arrived this afternoon. I gotta say that I'm really impressed. This little laptop has just the right sized screen, 160Gig of storage, the newest Intel Atom (N280) processor, a multitouch trackpad, realtime performace stepping, and what seems to be a realistic 7 hours of battery. Read the Tech Report review for the details and good pictures.
Erin and I went to Mundial Cocina Mestiza for dinner this evening. I won't get into a full blown review because I could just do that on Yelp.
That said, if you go, strongly consider having their Chile en Nogada. Simply put, it was stuffed peppers, but in truth the flavors were a fantastic, delicious combination. Erin's rib eye entree was very good, but not great. All in all, not a place we would return, but a nice dinner as a one-off.
I've been waiting quite a while for this, but finally, gChat has come to iGoogle. It looks and functions basically like gChat in Gmail did before they added the SMS and video capabilities. Finally iGoogle is becoming the one-stop-shop.
I just noticed that Google has a slightly new look for Map. I'm not sure if I like it. It's the first time that my eyes have progressed down to the ad listing. Usually I hardly notice the ad placements, but this new, blocky layout was different...dono if I like it.
I found out this morning that I'll be going to South by South West. I expressed some interest in going last November, but with the state of the economy, I didn't think I'd be going. But to my pleasant surprise, I now have plane, hotel, and conference tickets. The interactive conference overlaps with film, but I'm going to miss the music. Now it's time to select the seminars I'd like to attend...
Erin was formally offered a full time position at Matec, the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center. She's been working there part time since early December. Yay!
Erin and I both got a free trip to Israel from Shorashim!!! We depart on the 5th of January but we'll likely extend our trip to tour Egypt.
Sports had the same concept as music, but was still a big project. This screenshot has it all. This casino has an upcoming event, a news story, and highlights. Instead of some javascript motion for the 'Overtime Guaranteed' (auxillary) content, Sports uses a 3-D papervision scoreboard. Very Cool.
