Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

NY Times: Blogging Can Kill You

The NY Times is examining the stress that blogging can cause in an article that preys a bit on the deaths of noted bloggers Russell Shaw and good friend Marc Orchant, and also Om Malik's heart attack. The points are reasonably well made. Being someone who swims in the pool that is blogging I can't disagree that the stress can be intense, if you let it build to that, and of course that all depends on why you do it and what your goals are. But I don't think it is any worse or, for that matter, different, than the stress of pursuing anything else you love or have a passion for. Balance isn't in the eye of the beholder in any field of human endeavor.

Survival Kit in a Sardine Can

This looks like a cool gift idea. A survival kit in a Sardine Can. I hear they gave a bunch of these out to Bear Stearns employees. I wonder if you can carry these through airport security?

 

Via ThinkGeek (where you can see pictures of the innards.)

Technorati Tags: Survival Kit in a Sardine Can,Bear Stearns

Giganto Swiss Army Knife

Wow. That's big. I'm a big fan of Wenger's original Swiss Army Knife and also the Swiss Army Card, which I tote with me everywhere. I'm also a fan of Wenger bags. But if you've got a cool grand to drop on this special Giant Swiss Army Knife, that has been issued to celebrate 100 Years of Innovation, you might want to think twice about lugging it around. It only weighs three pounds and contains all 85 tools that Wenger has ever made. Here's the product page at ThinkGeek.

Via BoingBoing Gadgets

The Internet Umbrella

I wonder if we'll see more folks carrying umbrellas on non-rainy days due to this. The Internet Umbrella has an included camera that will snap a picture, send it to Flickr, and then display it on the umbrella. It also has a GPS and a digital compass.

 

Looks very cool, but hey, what happens if a big wind comes up? Check out the video. Via The Daily Mail

 

Motorized Beer Cooler

Ok, I saw one of these last weekend at the Apple Blossom Festival and fell in love. Got to have one. Just got to. Apparently the Cruzin Cooler Motorized Scooter is all the rage at auto racing events. I can see why.

The Bathroom Diaries

For all you Stall Surfers out there, if you're on the road and need a public restroom this might just be the relief you've been craving. The Bathroom Diaries search engine has a listing of over 12,000 public restrooms in over 100 countries. And they are rated as to amenities.

Here's the link.

Via Lifehacker

Griffin's Reflect Case for the iPod

Here's a neat little case I picked up for my iPod. Manufactured by Griffin, the Reflect case does just that. When your iPod is off or the backlight is off the screen disappears behind the mirrored chrome finish. Turn on the iPod and it magically appears. I also like the fact that the bottom of the case (where the cable connector is) is completely unencumbered so you can plug the cable in, or attach it to a speaker set, without having to take the iPod of the case.

In any regard, here's a short little video of the case in action. Even got a bit of Jason Calacanis doing one of his video podcasts in this to show how the video appears through the case. (He needs on camera lessons. I'm available, Jason.)

 

Interesting Looking Keyboard Cleaner

I've tried every solution under the sun to clean gunk out of keyboards, so I guess I'll be trying this one too. Looks promising.

Via SlashGear

Twittering This Weekend

Twitter seems to be the latest rage these days so I’m giving it a try over the weekend. Twitter is a social presence application that allows you to broadcast where you are or what you’re doing and also keep up with what your friends are doing. Some of my favorite on-line buddies are hanging out on Twitter, so I thought I’d give it a whirl and see if it works for me. Still haven’t figured out the pornographically named Twadget, which is a Vista sidebar gadget to check who is doing what. So at the moment I’m using GoogleTalk to watch the world go by and it occasionally misses an update. It is not updating at all. Ah well, that’s what experimentation is all about.

Package Shark Woes On The Web

A few folks are in a quandary because the link I posted to Package Shark on the web in this post doesn't seem to be working anymore. Instead you go to a As Seen On TV site which seems to offer just about any device you've ever seen on TV, except the Package Shark. Obviously they are still selling the handy little item on TV, but not on the web site. I have no idea why this is the case or if Package Shark has moved to another location.

That said, those looking to save themselves the anguish of begin maimed by opening blister packaging can also take a look at the Pyranna at this link. Similar product and at the moment still has a web presence. (Wonder if the Package Shark folks will like to see a link to the competition.) Of course I'm sure you'll get the annoying and obnoxious computer operator there as well.