Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Interview with the creator of the Apple startup sound
Nice interview, but warning on some foul language. Enlightening conversation with earconic sound artist.
Screamin Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You
My friend Gail posted a link to this. Never seen this version before. Awesome.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Hooray for East Nashville!
Here's a segment on the neighborhood Lisa and I are living in. Watch this to get a better feel for the area, and take a small virtual tour through some of the highlights that make this side of the Cumberland River so appealing to us.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Deposit money by taking a photo - Yahoo! News
NEW YORK %u2013 In the near future, you might not even have to visit a bank or an ATM to deposit a check. You'll simply snap a couple of photos of it with your cell phone.
Applications to do just that are already available for Apple's iPhone and other gadgets from USAA, a company that provides insurance and banking mainly for military veterans. Chase, Bank of America and Citibank are among the banks planning to release similar applications this year.
Although the technology, known as remote-deposit capture, promises to save consumers time, it adds a new wrinkle to concerns about fraud and the privacy of financial data. But the banks and the technology companies helping them say they have largely overcome these concerns. And with new guidelines from federal regulators, more banks could start to feel comfortable putting the technology in consumer hands.
"Our customers are becoming more and more tech-savvy," said Marylou Dowd, senior vice president for Citibank's mobile banking division. "We're trying to support those people on the go."
Here's how it works. When you take a picture of a check, a computer that receives the image looks for the amount, the check number and the digits on the bottom with information on the check writer's account number and the bank's routing number. A photo of the back of the check verifies that it's been signed by the recipient.
A banking clearinghouse then routes the funds from the check writer's account to that of the recipient. That also prevents the same check from being deposited multiple times.
Remote-deposit capture started as a way for big companies and financial institutions to process huge numbers of checks without having to ship them around the country.
Regulators were surprised when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused delays in financial transactions. With air traffic grounded for several days, the bundles of checks that banks and other businesses needed to move around couldn't get cleared.
So in 2003, Congress passed a law commonly known as Check 21. It allows anyone who receives a check to make a digital image of it rather than having to deliver it physically. The law has led many companies to install scanning machines that digitize thousands of checks at a time for deposit.
The same technology is present in ATM machines used by Bank of America and other institutions so customers can submit checks without a deposit slip.
But the technology has had to clear hurdles before making it onto cell phones.
Among other things, banks were concerned about hackers manipulating the process. Banks have tried to improve the security of the technology by making sure that the software used for remote deposit stores no check information on customer devices, said Bob Meara, an analyst at the market research firm Celent who tracks the industry. All information leaves a cell phone and is encrypted as it travels to the bank.
Anyone who has taken a photo with a cell phone can predict that banks will sometimes get photos that are blurry or otherwise unreadable. Generally, a bad image will bounce back within half a minute and customers will be asked to try again, said Jim McShea, chief revenue officer for J&B Software, a company that handles remote-deposit transactions for banks.
Without a good picture, the customer would have to go the old-fashioned route and bring or mail the check to the bank.
USAA has limited its remote-deposit app to customers who also qualify for its insurance %u2014 mostly former armed services members, said Jeff Dennes, the bank's executive director for mobile services. But Dennes said more than 150,000 people have used the application, and the bank will probably end up lifting that restriction.
"The industry has kicked the tires," McShea said. "They've gone through the due diligence and they want to get ahead of the next evolution in the technology."
I feel like George Jetson.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Bettman: No Olympic decision is imminent - NHL.com - All-Access Vancouver
It'd be a real shame not having NHL players in future Olympic contests.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Free MP3/DJ mix: RA Podcast: RA.194 Patrick Russell
Really well selected collection of Chicago Acid tracks without any 303 builds ... interesting stuff that mostly fell through the cracks.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Michael Hyatt: Some Thoughts on eBook Pricing
One of the thing I learned about consumer research a long time ago is that there is a fundamental difference between what people say they prefer and what they actually do.
Thomas Nelson's CEO with some thoughts on eBook pricing. Interesting to get a publisher's inside view.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
STRONG LANGUAGE: Tips from Hunter S. Thompson on how to get tech support.
Voicemail from Hunter S. Thompson calling Tech Support About His Home Entertainment System. Wow.
STRONG LANGUAGE: Tips from Hunter S. Thompson on how to get tech support.
If your set-up is still there tomorrow night, I’m gonna destroy it, and, uh, write about it.
Voicemail from Hunter S. Thompson calling Tech Support About His Home Entertainment System. Wow.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Pew Political IQ - Pew Research Center
Today I'm thankful for NPR because I got 11 out of 12 questions correct in this quiz. Give it a try and see how you do.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Free MP3: Reagenz - Confidence - SoundCloud
Reagenz
I haven't heard anything from David Moufang and Jonah Sharp since the mid-90s. Stoked to hear new work.
FREE MP3: Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (feat. Hope Sandoval) (Gui Boratto Remix) | RCRD LBL | Free MP3 Downloads
Really, all in one track? You're kidding right? I mean it's too good to be true!
FREE MP3s: Ghostly Essentials: Avant-Pop One: Various Artists: MP3 Downloads
Here's a quality collection from a fine label. I'd pay for this gladly so for free it's AMAZING! Thanks Ethan and Lena for telling me!
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Monday, February 08, 2010
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Thursday, February 04, 2010
http://ping.fm/7HBXV
