just an asterisk

I think things are going quite well here at JAA.  We have been mentioned a few times on Lifehacker.com (even on Lifehacker Japan – see link).  There is a new guest post from Eric and hopefully more on the way.  Here is a recap of the most popular articles so far on JAA, just in case you missed them…

Thank you for reading – it’s a pleasure to read your comments.

~ab

I’d like to tell you about a cool way to organize events and send out invitations online. It’s like www.evite.com except much, much better.

To start, evite.com wasn’t meant to cater to the business market while www.eventbrite.com does. (At some point they will probably stop being free and offer a premium version of their service.) I don’t know about you but I’ve never been satisfied with Evite.com – they don’t have an overarching theme. They’re still sort of a playful idea (with ads) instead of a proper site. Read more »

What follows is more of an opinion piece than a useful cocktail party geek – sorry.  It was late.

An avatar?  A gravatar?  A buddy icon?  Perhaps you’ve heard these terms before?   I could quote Wikipedia about 2d representations of online personality yada yada but I have a word for you – panache!  Your avatar/gravatar/buddy icon says something about you and the effort you make to converse with others on this wide web of ours.

Take Gmail as an example:  Did you know you can change your buddy icon on Google to show up whenever someone puts their mouse on your name?  Do you know how many people still have that silly asexual silhouette?  Your picture is like a firm but not overbearing handshake – it matters.

Want more examples? Read more »

Although I’ve written a brief guide to googld reader in the past, I’ve created a quick screencast, showing off only the basic features.  This is my first screencast, so please feel free to comment/critique in the comments!  I’d love to know what can be done better.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y34vhSKgkBM]

This could will happen to you at some point.  Perhaps you won’t get the jet engine hard drive like I did last night, but there are many variations: the blank screen, the system freezing every 10 minutes (ironically due to overheating), USB ports failing, rather important keys like the letter “a” just refusing to work… The list of possible hardware faults is endless.  So if it’s inevitable, what can you do to be prepared?  Although there’s probably no way to prepare you for everything, here is a list of things that I recommend.

Read more »

So this is the third post I’ve written for my wife – including only sites that I think she’d find fun.  I don’t think it’s tough to find these guys on the web, far from it – people send this crap to me all the time.  The trouble comes with remembering to keep it for rainy “another one for the ladies” day.  Here are the newest additions to the series.

Postcards from your Mamma – This one made me cry laughing… It’s part screenplay for a sitcom, part blog.

PeevePile – Personally I think this blog should have a disclaimer.  Something like “if you’re already mad or “peeving” about something, stay away until your happy again”.  That said, when I’m a in a good mood, it makes me smile.

ThisIsWhyYourFat – If ever you want to feel better about ANYTHING you just ate, this is the site for you.  I’ve never seen a better thesis on the causes of American obesity.

MyVeryWorstDate – Ladies would commiserate (I imagine) while guys will feel threatened (again I’m guessing).

TruuConfessions – “Go ahead confess yourself, we won’t tell”.  No this is not a blog written by Catholic priests.  This is another confessional site.  Enjoy.

Probably more to come…  Enjoy

~ab

Some sites are simply cool.  There’s no practical function to this one – it’s simply a memorial to the Apollo 11 mission.  What makes it fantastic is that it’s recreating each stage by pooling all the available information (photos, speeches, radio messages etc).  You can even subscribe to the radio feed via twitter.  Follow the details on the site and enjoy!

WeChooseTheMoon

Many thanks to Jerry for letting me know about the site.

There comes  a time when every technology writer has to admit a simple truth – shiny toys are great, but most people are interested in improving their day to day.   Today’s post is purely practical – it’s not a site for posting to twitter or writing blogs – it’s a site to make sure you never run out of soap called Alice.com.

Read more »

Thanks to my recent mention on Lifehacker, I’ve had a bit more traffic than usual.  It seems only fair to write something in return.  For the last month, I’ve been keeping track of useful Lifehacker articles – pieces that really show (in my opinion) the most interesting themes of their blog.  Here’s a breakdown of why it’s worth checking in from time to time…

Read more »

Hi all,
In the past few weeks, I’ve been working with AutoHotKey to speed up some of the tasks I do regularily. I wrote a short script for Twitter and it was mentioned by Lifehacker.com. My traffic has increased… substantially.

Here is the link

Wanted to share the good news. Thanks for reading. As always, please feel free to suggest new posts either in the comments or to posts@justanasterisk.com.

~ab