This morning, Google announced their free TiSP (Toilet Internet Service Provider) service!

Here’s an quote from the official Press Release.

Users who sign up online for the TiSP system will receive a full home self-installation kit … Home installation is a simple matter of GFlushing™ the fiber-optic cable down to the nearest TiSP Access Node … Within sixty minutes, the Access Node’s crack team of Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) should have your internet connection up and running.

It’s nice to see the guys and gals over at Google having fun on April Fools!

The pages probably won’t stay up after today, so here are the pages saved forever.

Google’s home page with the link to TiSP

Google’s Press Release for TiSP

TiSP home page

TiSP “How it works” page

TiSP FAQ page

Phillips, at a recent prototype event in London called Simplicity, showcased the Drag and Draw; a tool designed for children for “painting” on walls using a “magic” brush, eraser, wand and laser projection bucket.
The laser bucket, follows the outline made by the specially designed pen; resulting in creativity without the mess, letting your child’s inner Picasso bloom

Screw the child, I want this bad boy!

I’m sure my sinuses are pretty screwed up. I tend to get sinus infections once or twice a year. So when I get sick (cold or flu), I really have to watch out for sinus infections. Since Christmas, I’ve been fighting off a bad flu. But today, I determined (due to my intimate familiarity with the symptoms) that I had finally sucuumed to a sinus infection.

Since moving from California, I’ve been dreading finding another doctor. My previous doc was awesome and I really miss her!

I picked a doctor out of my work’s provider directory (simply because he’s close to where I live). So far, I’m impressed: his office has lots of interesting medical gadgets that I’ve never seen before:

• A barcode-scanner-like device that takes your temperature by “swiping” across your forehead. Apparently it’s more accurate than the “traditional” ones that the docs stick in your ear?!
• Some kind of “radar” device that checks for ear infections. They stick it in your ear, you hear some buzzing noise, and then it displays some numbers that “trained professionals” can tell whether you’ve got any ear problems.
• A “breathing treatment” device that administers drugs through vaporization. The drugs they gave me supposedly loosens the mucus in my air passages.

This new doctor seemed very knowledgeable, although being a sinus infection “veteran”, I’d already heard all the advice before (saline irrigation, over-the-counter medications raising blood pressure, etc). Although I’ve historically taken Tequin (antibiotics) for my sinus infections, he prescribed me Levaquin (same family was Tequin) which he said had less side effects.

I guess I’m pretty superficial judging doctors by their “bedside manners” and how cool their medical equipment is. My sister (a doctor) tells me that I should be judging doctors by their “cure rate” (how often their diagnosis and treatment is correct). I don’t know… that swiping thermometer was pretty cool!

Well, I’m not going to waste your time or mine, trying to catch you up on the past 36 years of my life. This blog is about the stuff I learn going through life, from today onwards.

As the Internet-fueled global economy and marketplace expands, it is easy to buy an “unlocked” phone to work with your current cellular provider. I did just that a few months ago, picking up one of the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 devices (Samsung i320N). Of course, one of the things you don’t really think about when scoping out that cool new phone, is how to actually get the damn thing to work with your cellular provider! An unlocked phone doesn’t have all the access point codes, username and passwords required to actually connect it to the Internet!

After much searching, I pieced together information that worked with my provider, Cingular. This is what I learnt…

GPRS SETTINGS (connects to EDGE where available… not sure about HSDPA as my phone can’t do that)
Description: MEdia Net GPRS
Connects to: The Internet
Access point: wap.cingular
User Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM (typed in UPPERCASE)
Password: CINGULAR1 (typed in UPPERCASE)
Primary DNS: (leave blank) or all zeros (0.0.0.0)
Secondary DNS: (leave blank) or all zeros (0.0.0.0)
IP address: (leave blank) or all zeros (0.0.0.0)

PROXY SETTING
Description: Cingular WAP
Connects from: The Internet
Connects to: WAP Network
Proxy (name:port): wireless.cingular.com:80 (type in lowercase)
Type: HTTP
User name: (leave blank)
Password: (leave blank)

Internet connection: Automatic
Work connection: Automatic
WAP connection: Automatic
Secure WAP connection: Automatic

INTERNET EXPLORER SETTING
Internet Explorer -> Menu -> Options -> Connections:
uncheck (Automatically detect settings.)
Select network: WAP Netwok

MMS Profiles
Name: Cingular MMS
MMSC URL: http://mmsc.cingular.com
WAP Gateway: 66.209.11.32
Port: 80