Chris Pirillo

Is Technology Making it Easier to Cheat in School?

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:59:57 +0000

Is Technology Making it Easier to Cheat in School? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Robert posed this very interesting question over on Lockergnome. The advancements in technology allow kids to take notes wirelessly and carry fewer physical books around in a backpack. However, they also have enabled teens to hack into a school grading system, steal and recycle written work by others, obtain copies of tests and find answers in a teacher’s account. There are now more ways to cheat the system than ever before.

Do you feel that a high number of kids are taking advantage of the advances in tech to obtain better grades? We all know kids hide their phones on their person while in class. Many of them have found ways to text friends right under a teacher’s nose. But are they using those same devices to cheat on tests or hack the grade records? What are your thoughts?

You don’t have to cheat any system to get the best software at the coolest prices. Just visit our download center.

Become an Acrobat with Mirror’s Edge for the iPhone

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:05:12 +0000

Become an Acrobat with Mirror’s Edge for the iPhone is a post from Chris Pirillo

Mirror’s Edge is the newest app to come from the folks behind EA Mobile. The game transports you to a place which appears on its surface to be perfect. As we all know, nothing is ever as it seems. You’ll have to become an acrobat to combat the evil that is hiding around every corner.

In a city where information is heavily monitored, where law is brutally enforced, where most people sacrifice freedom for a comfortable life, there are still those that choose to live on the edge. In Mirror’s Edge, take control of Faith Conners, a member of an underground group known as “Runners.” These acrobatic messengers are the last source of free communication in this “perfect” city. But a deadly threat has grown from within and Faith finds that she alone is the one that can stop it. Use Faith’s incredible acrobatic moves to outmaneuver the enemy –run on walls, slide down precarious ramps, ride ziplines, and leap between rooftops.

Reviews claim that this version captures the essence of the console counterpart very well – and I have to agree. It’s rare to see this happen with a mobile game. Just as with the console version, the app has a storyline which will propel you through the levels. Since there actually are levels, there’s always room to improve. Learn the best routes through each level, explore the map to find hidden bags and figure out how to master the various controls in order to have faster completion times.

It is a bit challenging to get all of the various swipes and moves down pat. Once you are used to swiping in a certain direction to control a particular function… it’s all downhill (or uphill!) from there. This is a fast-paced and fun game, and one that I will be playing often. Can you beat my score?

Brew Your Pictures With Percolator

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:37:13 +0000

Brew Your Pictures With Percolator is a post from Chris Pirillo

I have been having a great time using Percolator on my iPhone lately. You can use the app to turn any photo into a seriously cool multi-color mosaic. Open it up and mix up new color palettes for all of your designs… and add more style to your old typography. Create new patterns for your websites, page layouts or illustrations. Heck, you can even use this in conjunction with other photo apps. The only real limits to what you can come up with are the ones created by the rock sitting on your shoulders.

Percolator is simple to use. You can use the camera on your phone to take a new picture or load up something that is hiding in the camera roll. Zoom in and pan around to make SURE all of your details are exactly the way you want them. The Grind setting controls those details: “Coarse produces the biggest circles, while “Fine” gives you the smallest ones. Close cropping the photo will give you a larger and more detailed finished image. When you’re satisfied with what you’ve done, simply export it to the film roll as a JPEG file.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that once you start playing around in Percolator, you’ll never look at pictures in the same way again. Even if you aren’t a professional designer or photographer, you can easily create some off-the-hook stuff to share with the world. Heck, send me links to what you’ve done with this app. Perhaps one of you should start a special photo group for this stuff over on Geeks.

T-Mobile Adds Kids are Free Plan to Help Your Budget

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:42:32 +0000

T-Mobile Adds Kids are Free Plan to Help Your Budget is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you’re a parent, you know how difficult it is to maintain proper communications within your family these days. Kids are involved in more activities than ever. Parents are busier than ever. We cannot freeze time, and we cannot seem to get in touch every time we need to. Mobile plans aren’t cheap, and many families cannot afford to add lines to their plans so that their children can carry a phone with them. Those of you who don’t have children may scoff at the though of a child or teen needing a phone. Trust me, though – all of my friends who are parents will vehemently tell you that this is imperative.

T-Mobile understands that being able to add your kids to your phone plan often doesn’t work with your budget. They introduced the new Kids are Free program yesterday. With Kids Are Free, new and existing T-Mobile customers who sign up for a qualifying family plan through Nov. 2, 2010, receive free add-a-line service on up to three lines of their plan until 2012. “Not only is T-Mobile offering the most flexible and affordable family plans among national carriers today, we are also making it more affordable than ever for families to add their kids or other family members by eliminating the associated monthly service fee until 2012,” said Ashley White, marketing director of value offers at T-Mobile USA. “The up-front cost of purchasing new phones and dealing with monthly service fees for an entire family can add up quickly, so this promotion is designed to make it easier for families.”

The mobile carrier is offering a few other new plans this fall, as well:

Special deals on the latest devices. Starting today customers who purchase a Samsung Vibrant receive a second Samsung Vibrant for free after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement. Also, T-Mobile’s new line of messaging phones are all under $75 after a mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement. Adding unlimited texting for the whole family is just $20 per month.
Different types of contracts:T-Mobile’s Even More® and no annual contract Even More Plus® family plans offer customers affordable options for their family’s wireless communication. T-Mobile’s Even More family plans start at $59.99 per month and T-Mobile’s Even More Plus family plans start at just $49.99 per month.
T-Mobile’s Family Allowances service lets parents set up-front monthly allowances for their family’s phone usage — minutes, messages, and downloads.

Does your child or teen have a cell phone? Does it put a painful dent in your monthly budget to keep them connected to you in this way?

Archive the Tweets That are Important to You

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:20:43 +0000

Archive the Tweets That are Important to You is a post from Chris Pirillo

Tweets are archived for all of eternity in many different places. The problem is, there are millions and millions of them. How the heck are you ever going to find the ones that are actually important to you? Plexipixel and Microsoft’s MIX Online have teamed up together to bring you a whole new way of tracking the Twitter information that you want – when you want it. The Archivist may still be in its Alpha stage, but it is quite a powerful little tool.

Type in any keyword, and The Archivist will track tweets and archives your key words throughout the entire Twitter universe. It will analyze the data and provide you with six easy-to-understand visualizations. It will allow you to export the archives via Excel or .zip files to better analyze and data mine your results. Devs can even download the datasets of top users for any given archive to include in their own projects and applications!

What does this mean to you? You’ll be able to easily visualize, analyze, export and share tweets about your brand. Track trends to find out what people are saying with ease… and see what people have to say about your competition.

After using it only a few times, I have to say that I’m impressed. Try it out for yourself – I have a feeling you’ll be adding this to your arsenal of tools.

I Hack Household Products

Chris — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:31:20 +0000

I Hack Household Products is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I recently returned home after being away for a month. Much to my dismay, I found my house overrun with fruit flies when I walked in the door. Some of them were still flying around, but a few had managed to die – inside of my mini-blinds. Argh! I tried a few different things to get them out of there without hurting the blinds. I ended up having to head to a local store and picking up something to use. It may not have been originally intended to clean dead bugs out of window blinds, but that’s okay – the newest household hacker made it work!

The Turbo Snake Drain Hair Removal Tool was obviously designed to remove hair that is clogging the drains in your sink or bathtub. However, this little thing was perfect to sweep the stupid dead fruit flies out of the cracks in between the slats on the blinds. Swish! They were on the floor, ready to be sucked up into the confines of my vacuum cleaner.

The little brush at the end of the snake is much like a mascara wand – according to Imei. The tiny bristles were exactly right for the job at hand. It only cost me about ten bucks, and now I have a tool that I can use for several different things.

What other household products have you used for purposes in your home that you didn’t expect?

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A Letter from AT&T

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:57:13 +0000

A Letter from AT&T is a post from Chris Pirillo

Mike Maxwell, Vice President and General Manager for AT&T (Pacific Northwest & Alaska) took time out of his busy day to send me a nice form letter:

I am writing to thank you for choosing AT&T for your wireless service, and to update you on exciting plans we have to make your wireless experience even better.

You already know that AT&T covers 97% of all Americans. And as an AT&T customer, you have access to the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network; a mobile broadband network that allows you to talk and browse the web at the same time; and seamless access to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots – more than any other U.S. wireless provider.

But you may not know the extent of our plans to improve your experience. In 2010 alone, we plan to invest between $18 and $19 billion in our wireless and wireline networks across the country. In fact, we’ve invested more in our networks over the last three years than any of our U.S. competitors. We’ve already upgraded our cell sites to enable faster mobile broadband speeds when paired with expanded backhaul, and we plan a similar upgrade at the end of the year that will enable even faster speeds.

We’re not stopping there. We are also adding thousands of new cell sites, expanding mobile broadband coverage to millions of customers, installing enhanced fiber backhaul, and increasing the capacity of our data network. Not only do these enhancements provide a better experience today, but they also enable a seamless migration to our next generation of mobile broadband – LTE.

What this means to you is simple: better coverage where it matters most, and fast access to information on the go.

Uh huh. All I want to know is when I can stop telling people I’m using an iPhone before it’s had the chance to end the call prematurely?

Subservient Chris Raised Money for Cancer Research

Chris — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:16:33 +0000

Subservient Chris Raised Money for Cancer Research is a post from Chris Pirillo

Subservient Chris made an appearance again just the other night. This time, he was doing wacky things in order to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Community members (and awesome Gnomedex core volunteer members!) Liana and Michelle are both running in the Amica Seattle 1/2 Marathon on November 28. This half marathon is being held in conjunction with Team in Training, and both girls are working their proverbial butts off to get ready.

Thank you to the many community members who donated to this awesome cause on Monday night! If we don’t have your Twitter url linked to your name below, please drop me an email and I will get you added if you wish. Those of you who wished to remain anonymous are not on the list, but we are grateful to you just the same.

It’s not too late to donate to one (or both!) of the girls. Visit either Liana’s fund-raising page or Michelle’s fund-raising page to see how you can help – and exactly where your dollars will go.

A huge shout-out to the following people for participating on Monday:

Kathryn Urmeneta
Iota42 Productions
Brian Holaday
The Eggman
Sean Heffernan
Dreams and Magic Animation Studio
Bryan Elliot
Nickey Braham
Alex Fuentes
Chris Mackin
James Schenz
Titus Francoeur
Mellodi & Mike Parks
Brittany Klopfstein
Pro-TECH PC Shop
Alex Nikitchenko
Matthew Johnson
Shannon Moore
Johnny Worthington
Danny Minick
Vince Bognot
Jonathan Florenc
David DiFranco
Chris Quamme
Loryhauer
Thomas Sewell
Lamarr Wilson
Richard Sabbage
Robert Straw
Kip Silverman
Alfred DiBlasi
Nathaniel & Naomi
Jason Sullivan
W.G Finley
David Banther
Kat Armstrong
Calvin Shirley
Justin Yorke

It seems as though everyone has had their life touched by cancer in some way. It is because of people like Liana and Michelle that one day we WILL find a cure.

Dropbox Tools

Chris — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:25:43 +0000

Dropbox Tools is a post from Chris Pirillo

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It’s been a while since I last talked to you about Dropbox. It’s a service which gives you 2GB of free storage space in the cloud. You can then purchase up to 100GB of space if you wish to. The best part of Dropbox is being able to share your space with as many others as you choose. Invite people to download or add files, and even help organize them into separate folders. Don’t worry – if you accidentally delete something, Dropbox even lets you undo your oopsie from the interface!

Another cool feature of the service is the fact that it doesn’t matter which operating system you choose to use. Dropbox will sync between Windows, OS X and Linux with ease. Heck, each person using your Dropbox can be on different operating systems, and it doesn’t matter. It will work seamlessly for everyone.

Dropbox can be accessed from your iPhone, Android device or iPad. It’s secure, it’s private and it backs up your files online instantly (and automagically!). This isn’t why I wanted to talk to you today, though. I actually wanted to highlight AirDropper.

AirDropper will let you have people send you files by way of Dropbox, even if they don’t have an account. Connect AirDropper to your Dropbox account and send a file request to someone. They will upload the file, and it appears in your Dropbox folder quickly. Many of the file upload and sharing services out there right now are complete crap. This is the perfect solution!

Habilis is another service that makes Dropbox even more worthwhile for you. Once you sign up for a GetHabilis email address, anyone can send files to that email address and have it show up in your Dropbox account.

Even though you only receive 2GB of storage space free on Dropbox, your storage space can be increased to 10GB when you refer enough people to the service. Check them all out, and let them make your life easier – for free!

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What’s New in iOS 4.1? Get it now!

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:20:00 +0000

What’s New in iOS 4.1? Get it now! is a post from Chris Pirillo

Via Apple, this update contains improvements, including the following:

Game Center:

Send and receive friend requests
Invite friends to multi-player games over the Internet
Play multi-player games by auto-matching with other players
View Leaderboards and Achievements
Discover new games from friends

High dynamic range (HDR) photos on iPhone 4
Support for TV show rentals on iTunes
Ability to upload HD videos to YouTube and MobileMe over Wi-Fi on iPhone 4
Additional support for AVRCP-supported accessories, including next & previous track control
FaceTime calling directly from Favorites
Bug fixes:

iPhone 4 proximity sensor performance
iPhone 3G performance
Nike+iPod fixes
Bluetooth improvements

Landscape Camera and FaceTime Call Controls
Direct Ping support in iTunes
Disable Spell Check Feature
FaceTime and Multiplayer/Game Center Restrictions
Over the air Nike + Submissions
AT&T Carrier settings shift to version 8.0

Products compatible with this software update? iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2nd generation, or later. Game Center requires iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 2nd generation or later. Thanks to 9to5mac for a more comprehensive list of changes.

Can Money Buy Hard Drive Happiness?

Chris — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:10:28 +0000

Can Money Buy Hard Drive Happiness? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Over on Lockergnome, there’s a popular discussion going on about the things money can’t buy. Several people have talked about how all of the gold in the world cannot purchase happiness or love. We already know this, right? It cannot fix broken hearts. It can’t guarantee you will grow old. The fun part of the discussion, though, comes in when people start bringing up the technology they only wish they could get their hot little hands on.

Tim is sad that all of the greenbacks in banks everywhere is still not enough to buy him the Intel 48 core CPU. Sadly, it isn’t available for purchase. This particular piece of technology is only for use in scientific and educational settings.

What do you wish money could buy for you?

Great news! Money can buy the best software and apps available… and it doesn’t even take a lot of green when you visit out software center.

HDR Photograpy Software Review (True HDR, Pro HDR)

Chris — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:53:29 +0000

HDR Photograpy Software Review (True HDR, Pro HDR) is a post from Chris Pirillo

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After tweeting about my test results on Twitter (and subsequently posting photos to my blog later that day), I decided to do a somewhat-live demonstration of the iPhone’s leading HDR software. It’s true that iOS will bring HDR capabilities to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and (presumably, when it gets a camera) the iPad – but sometimes dedicated apps handle things better than features tacked-on to default apps. Despite the crash, my choice remains Pro HDR.

Using High Dynamic Range photography (or HDR) allows you to capture details in both the foreground and background of any given location. You will soon become familiar with this acronym due to iOS 4 and the support it has for HDR. I used two apps I purchased over the weekend to demonstrate this capability.

TrueHDR “expands the iPhone camera’s limited dynamic range by automatically aligning and merging two photos taken at different exposures, with a result that has vivid colors and details in both bright and dark areas.” TrueHDR gives great balance between dark and lighter areas of a scene.

The app isn’t bad. However, it leaves images looking washed out. They take quite a while to process and doesn’t let you save revisions of the edits you make.

ProHDR “captures an image exposed for the highlights and another exposed for the shadows. It then aligns and merges the images, giving you a gorgeous 3- or 5-megapixel HDR image like nothing you’ve ever seen from such a tiny device.”

I like this app better because it gives me sliders which allow me to adjust things such as the brightness. It also does well with contrast and saturation. This one is definitely my choice of HDR applications.

If you know of anything that works better, please let me know in the comments section.

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Web Browser Games

Chris — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:27:41 +0000

Web Browser Games is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I consider myself an extreme casual gamer (which is why I spent this weekend at home playing Web games instead of rubbing shoulders with stinky geeks at PAX across town). Not sure if you’d heard of these two in particular, but I’d be surprised if you had – unless you were following me on Twitter and Facebook, then you would have found out about these two and a helluva lot more long before this video was uploaded.

Scrabb.ly was created by a Seattle-area developer in less than twenty-four hours’ time. This is a very cool MMO word-game where you continue to build words on tiles.

Swarmation is another online multi-player game where each pixel is a person from somewhere in the world. The idea is to get everyone to work together to form the specified design within the time period allotted. You have to collaborate to score points.

Both of these games tie back into Node Knockout. The idea of this particular endeavor was to bring developers together to build on Node.JS to build things based on JavaScript. The list is seriously extensive if you scroll through to take a look. There are a ton of games and services.

If you have browsed the list at Node Knockout and have found something I might like that wasn’t reviewed in this video, leave me a link in the comments section. I’d hate to miss out on something else I can get addicted to.

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Fun iPhone Photo App: Percolator!

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:51:11 +0000

Fun iPhone Photo App: Percolator! is a post from Chris Pirillo

Use Percolator to produce these kinds of bubbly images:

It’s really easy to do:

Now, go enjoy your percolations!

Does Your Password Suck?

Chris — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:57:00 +0000

Does Your Password Suck? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The New York Times on Sunday stated that a strong password isn’t the strongest security. We should instead be focused on the malware/keyloggers that invade systems and can steal ANY password, weak or strong. Should we continue our focus on “strong” passwords which some jobs make you change every few months, or should our focus be more on computer security, getting to the root of the problem?

If you have malware or keyloggers on your system, your information will be stolen no matter how strong your password. Instead of focusing so much energy on strong passwords, you need to make sure that you protect your entire computer system. That’s what the NY Times article says to us, at least.

Do you pay much attention to password security, or do you focus your energy on overall computer security?

Lamarr wasn’t able to send us a video last week, since he was worn out from traveling. He wanted to make it up to all of you this week by doing a video today and one on Thursday! Now that is dedication, folks. Thanks, Lamarr, for all of your support.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.