Keefer Madness

LightLane, the Bike Lane That Rides With You: Now a Reality

// June 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Cycling

I’m feeling like I’m not posting enough bike/cycling posts here at Keefer Madness, though two (not including this one) currently on the home page fall under the cycling category. Anyway, here’s a new gadget for those night time bike commutes to add a little safety, projecting a laser line on either side of you and your bicycle to encourage drivers to pass you with a little bit of distance, with a video to demonstrate.

LightLane, the Bike Lane That Rides With You: Now a Reality

5 Free Twitter Tools For Smarter Tweeting (Plus Other Social Networks)

// June 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Internet / Web

Here’s a little roundup for making the most out of Twitter. I’m proud to say, I’m already using several of these tools — three to be exact. Two of these tools, I’ve been using for quite awhile. TwitterFeed (now sporting a new design it seems) is especially great. I use Twitterfeed in conjunction with ping.fm to automatically send out new articles of this blog, along with our baby blog and the GPS data from all my bike rides over at Keefer Madness, Little Baby K to not only Twitter, but also Facebook and various other social networking sites all in one swoop. (via their RSS Feeds).

So yeah, those two tools the article below references are very familiar territory to me. After reading the article, I did also sign up with Futuretweets.com as well. With the blogs both being on the Word Press platform, I can already schedule content to post at a given time via those two blogs, but if I want to just schedule a Tweet of some sort that site should come in handy!

I also tried out Twinfluence.com as well. No surprise, I’m not very high on the rankings in the Twitterverse, but still some interesting data. It’s nice to see my “Social Capital” is ranked as very high.

Regardless, check out the article and links in it to help maximize your Twitter account’s usefulness in self (and professional possibly) promotion.

5 Free Twitter Tools For Smarter Tweeting

TiVo May Be Coming To Time Warner Cable

// June 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // TiVo Bytes, TV Talk

Good news for all you cheap bastards on Time Warner Cable who have a generic Scientific Atlanta DVR instead of the DVR pioneer (read: that’s not a DVR by Pioneer). With TiVo’s successful patent infringement lawsuit against Dish Network over DVR technology, TiVo is wanting to get other DVR infringers to start licensing their tech. Comcast already has TiVo software available to its cable subscribers. Expect Time Warner to follow suit. Great news for TiVo, who’s been struggling to stay profitable.

My only hope is that TiVo doesn’t rest on its laurels and stop keeping their DVRs ahead of the curve. I also pray they don’t become a company whose only profit-producing revenue stream is through IP litigation. Regardless, as a two TiVo household, I’m happy to have more people introduced to TiVo as their means of in-home television time shifting.

TiVo May Be Coming To Time Warner Cable

Node Power Outlet Makes Power Strips Almost Useless

// June 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech

This seems like a safe, useful and visually pleasing upgrade from the current outlet setup in U.S. households. I doubt we’ll see widespread adoption any time soon, but would be great to see it start to trickle into homes. It would definitely eliminate all but UPS based power strips in our household.

But as commenters in the linked article below pointed out, it has one MAJOR design flaw: What about those ground plugs? As it currently is, I don’t think these could be utilized and be up to current wiring code.

Node Power Outlet Makes Power Strips Almost Useless

Red Racer Empire IPA

// June 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Cycling, Food & Drink

On the heels of the delicious and cycling themed New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale, comes another bike-themed beer — this time from Central City Brewing called Red Racer Empire IPA. I’m not a huge IPA fan, but will have to give it a try, just for the bike-themed goodness. Though I know it’s not likely to topple Fat Tire in my wishlist. Fat Tire recently became available here in North Carolina BTW. Try it out, if you’re in an area that can get the amber ale.

Tested: Under Armour HeatGear Compression Tee

// June 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Cycling, Health & Fitness

One of my favorite cycling blogs out there is coachlevi.com. He does a ton of great reviews on cycling gear, accessories, nutrition, etc. This one linked below was kind of a revelation for me. I rarely wear base layers outside of the cold and cooler months, but after reading his article, I came away thinking a base layer on hot days (like this morning’s ride) might be a good way to stay cool and dry. I may have to try out wearing my sleeveless Specialized base layer on the next ride. I also definitely want to snag an Under Armour HeatGear Compression Tee next time we’re at Dick’s Sporting Goods. It sounds like it a good way to go, and may end up being both cheaper and better suited as a base layer than some of the supposed cycling-specific base layers.

Tested: Under Armour HeatGear Compression Tee

Giant Cowboys Stadium LED Wall Caught Playing Xbox 360 During Downtime

// June 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, HDTV Bits

A couple of quick posts this evening. So you think it’s fun playing Gears of War 2 on your LCD HDTV? Now imagine a little bit bigger screen, like the huge display at the Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. Now that’s some real big gaming.

Giant Cowboys Stadium LED Wall Caught Playing Xbox 360 During Downtime Update: Video!

In Line @ The Apple Store

// June 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // General Posts, iPhone

So it’s just a little before 6am here in Raleigh, NC. I’m sitting in line on the second floor of Crabtree Valley Mall, home of North Carolina’s second oldest (of four) Apple Stores. I got here maybe 5 to 10 minutes ago, getting in the roped off line queue for my shiny new iPhone 3GS to replace my aging, cracked screen original iPhone Edge.

In front of me, are about 60 early risers. Thankfully, this is a lot shorter than the past two iPhone release days I think, though not completely certain, since I didn’t jump on my phone on release date, nor did I get the 3G.

Phones start selling at 7am and I’m hoping the line and whole process is fairly smooth and uber efficient. Now for the next hour or more, my Edge iPhone will get it’s last hurrah and entertain me til the line starts moving and I actually get into the Apple Store. More mundane blogging to follow. Thankfuly, I’ve got copy and paste now to help post links I’m bound to come across surfing this morning.

Who's Going Bright and Early For the iPhone 3GS

// June 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Apple, Local (Raleigh Durham), Personal Crap

So I said I wasn’t going to do the whole early adoption thing [much] anymore, nor would I camp out for new tech, but I will be hitting Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh bright and early to get my black 16GB 3GS (couldn’t justify 100 bucks extra for a 32GB when I’m operating with an 8GB now). I’d also like to head to my old stomping grounds (and former part-time employer) over to the original North Carolina Apple Store at Southpoint in Durham, but I’m closer to the Raleigh store for heading to work after getting my new phone. It’d be nice to take it home to sync all my apps, etc., but unless it’s super quick getting through the line, I’ll have to head right into work.

Anyway, looking forward to my new phone, and hoping the process is efficient and the line is short and smooth first thing in the morning.

Ho Hum About iPhone 3.0

// June 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Apple

So just two days before the iPhone 3GS officially is released, Apple released the 3.0 software for the 3G and Edge versions of the iPhone. Is it me, or are is 3.0 a little bit ado about nothing? I mean, I’m glad that Apple has seen fit to continue to develop and improve the iPhone software for the two year old and one year old phones respectively, but I’m feeling like a lot of this third version of the software is really stuff that should have been included already.

Cut, copy and paste, and landscape keyboards are both great, but fall into the category of things that should have been there already. But as a developer, I totally can relate to features not always being as simple to include as they may appear to be on the surface. Both of those features will get a fair amount of use on my iPhone.

Pretty much everything else in the release, I could really care less. I’m thinking when I pick up my iPhone 3GS, that may excite me a little bit more.

Apple releases iPhone Software 3.0