760-705-8888 is a Google Chat Phone calling you

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With the rollout of a live domestic-call phone capability in Google Chat, everyone should expect a lot of calls from 760-705-8888 to start appearing in to their caller IDs.

760-705-8888 is the generic Google Chat Phone number all Google chat users are assigned as caller ID, and it is the same number no matter what Google account a person is calling you from.

Just remember that a call from a 760-705-8888 number may not be from the same person as the last person who called you from 760-705-8888!

Also of note, Google kept the Grand Central numbers “live” for all us original beta (alpha?) testers. So everyone who has/had a Grand Central account that was absorbed into Google Voice and is now Google Chat still has the same phone number as before, and not the generic 760-705-8888 number.

Thanks Google!

Are you getting a plugin error in Google’s new CALL PHONE link? Here’s the fix!

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I was having some problems using Google Chat in my Google account through the Firefox browser. Every single time I went to the CALL PHONE link, I got the error that I needed to “please download the voice plugin to make a call”, even though I had already installed the plugin multiple times!

What was even more interesting was that the CALL PHONE feature worked in Safari. Firefox was the only one having problems with it.

Nobody on the ‘net seemed to have a solution, but after messing with the browsers for a few minutes, I think I got it.

Here’s how I got the CALL PHONE feature in Google working for me in Firefox….

  • Go to TOOLS and ADD-ONS
  • Click on PLUG INS
  • ENABLE both GOOGLE TALK NPAPI PLUGIN and GOOGLE TALK PLUGIN VIDEO ACCELERATOR
  • QUIT Firefox and relaunch it
  • CALL PHONE will work!

Here’s what you’re going to see before the fix…

Google Talk Fix


Just click on the greyed out icon and press ENABLE. Restart Firefox and you’re set.

Apparently either Firefox doesn’t enable the plugin on the initial install, or the install code from Google doesn’t hit the right switch along the way.

I also assume a similar trick will work in Internet Explorer through MANAGE ADD ONS and making sure everything with a GOOGLE prefix is enabled.

Free Wall Street Journal Audio Newscast : 800-WSJ-3916

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I was reading the Wall Street Journal for lunch (yes, I’m a WSJ junkie) and found an interesting little notice on one of their financial pages.

Apparently, there’s a free Wall Stret Journal Audio Newscast Portal available for anyone to call in and listen to at 1-800-WSJ-3916 (800-975-3916). It works from any phone and is toll free.

Once the automated system picks up, you will have the following options to pick from…

  • Pressing 1 gets you the “Wall Street Journal report”, a two minute update on breaking news that’s updated twice an hour.
  • Pressing 2 gets you the “Dow Jones Money Report”, a one minute update on what is going on in the markets that’s updated every hour.
  • Pressing 3 gets you the “Whats News” headlines from the Wall Street Journal Online, and is updated three times a day.
  • Pressing 4 gets you the “Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing”, which gives all the tech stories of the day and is updated twice daily.
  • Pressing 5 gets you the “Morning Watch Stock Talk”, which reviews what is currently moving the stock market and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 6 gets you to “Your money matters”, which reviews advice on budgets and personal financial stories and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 7 gets you to “Money Markets and More”, which reviews the day ahead on wall street and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 8 gets you to “Wall Street Journal This Morning” which covers early morning news and is updated every weekday morning.

You can press the * key to go back to a previous menu at any time.

This is a pretty cool freebie!

EDIT : Newspaper Ad Scan!

WSJ Audio Newscast

Subscribe to Spin for $1 or for $7.95?

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In my personal inbox this morning, I received three emails from Spin offering a discounted subscription to their magazine.

The surprising part was that every offer was sent to a different email address I have.

One offer is to subscribe for $1, two offers are to subscribe for $7.95.

Spin 00


Opening the $1 subscription email offer I see…

Spin 01


…and when I click on the link in the email, I am taken to the signup page, which shows I can get 11 issues for $1. That’s a great deal!

Spin 02


Opening either of the $7.95 subscription email offers I see…

Spin 03


…and when I click on the link in the email, I am taken to the signup page, which shows I can get 11 issues for $7.95.

Spin 04


This has to be one of the easiest decisions I’ve made this week.

How to get older free tracks on Tap Tap Radiation for iPad

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Tapulous offers everyone who downloads any of their iPad or iPhone Tap Tap games a free subscription to their music newsletter. In each newsletter, there’s a link for that week’s free music track you can download for the app you’re using.

If you play Tap Tap Radiation on the iPad, I stumbled across a way to get a few of the older “free” tracks. Just copy the current link and paste it into Safari on the iPad…

http://web.tapulous.com/email/weekly/2010/79/ttrad.php

…and change the number before /ttrad.php.

For example…

http://web.tapulous.com/email/weekly/2010/75/ttrad.php
and
http://web.tapulous.com/email/weekly/2010/74/ttrad.php

…will take you to different songs to download for free to play.

I went back to 68 and didn’t see anything past that, but for those of us who just got this app, this adds a few more tracks to play while we’re passing the time.

POST #500!

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With this, I’m officially at the 500th post of my blog! Dude!

Anyhow, this 500th post pretty much snuck up on me and went AYAHH!!, so to celebrate my 500th post on my blog, I’ve stolen posted some “500th issue” comic covers from the heroes of my youth.

Amazing Spider-Man 500


Batman 500


Superman 500


Detective Comics 500


You know, it looks like issue #500 snuck up on a few of them as well.

Right! Back to it!

FREE Kaplan books on iTunes for iPad (or iPhone) Reader!

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Kaplan Publishing is giving away a lot of their high-end eBooks for free on the iBookstore August 24 -30th!

The official giveaway site says all you need to do is “visit www.kaplanpublishing.com/iTunes on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.” From there, it launches the iBooks application on your iPad (or iPhone or iPod Touch) and takes you to the giveaway page on the bookstore site.

Looking at the link from my iPad, they’ve got

  • 15 books in the COLLEGE section (SAT, ACT and PSAT books)
  • 10 books in the GRADUATE section (GMAT and GRE books)
  • 22 books in the LAW section (a ton of PMBR books as well as general information books)
  • 19 books in the MEDICINE section (MCAT and a lot of general information books)
  • 14 books in the NURSING section (both CCRN and NCLEXRN and some general information books)
  • 12 books in the EDUCATION section (Practice question books and a lot of general information books)

Don’t forget to hit the tiny little SEE ALL button by each category to get to all the free books because the main sale page only lists 6 books for each category.

My only complaint is that you have to click each book to download. There’s no batch-download.

But aside from that? Totally geeked out.

Thanks Kaplan!

Holy Birds and the Bees, Batman! [PHOTO]

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I was out with my gorgeous wife at a local WalMart this last Saturday and I saw this three-hole-punched folder in the school supplies display in the front of the store.

The headline says “What startling shock awaits the Dynamic Duo… and you!!”

Batman is pulling a curtain back, pointing at a woman wearing a skintight costume (or something less). We can’t see who he’s pointing to, but the shadow of the woman is making the “come here” gesture (that or she’s holding something invisible).

Robin is in shock, and says…

“No, Batman! It’s not true… It can’t be!”

Batman says…

“You better believe it, Robin. That’s the way it has to be.”

Check it out…

Batman01


Dude. Seriously. I’m still laughing.

Here’s the back of the folder. It’s a real product from DC comics.

Batman02


And of course I bought it!

Shakespeare’s chocolate holiday pretzels are re-labeled Archer Farms pretzels from Target! [PHOTOS]

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So my gorgeous wife and I were enjoying our weekend together, and as we were cleaning up the house, we came across this container waaaaaay in the back of our cabinets.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 01



“Shakespeare’s (Much Ado About) chocolate holiday pretzels”

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 02


We thought about throwing out the container, but it was pretty sturdy, and my wife said we could use it for storing all the miscellaneous stuff we keep finding as we unpack.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 03


So as we proceeded to peel the label off the pretzel package, we saw there was another label underneath.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 04


It wasn’t a small label, but one that wrapped all the way around the container.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 09


We carefully pulled the outer label up and over to reveal…

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 05


Shakespeare’s (Much Ado About) chocolate holiday pretzels is nothing more than re-labeled Archer Farms pretzels.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 06


Archer Farms is Target’s “in store” generic food brand.

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 07


DUN DUN DUUNNNNN!!!!!

shakespeare's chocolate holiday pretzel switch 08


Guys…. come on! If you’re going to do this retail bait-and-markup-300% switch, at least peel the previous company’s label off before putting your own label on!!

Monday Morning Music : 08/23/10

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Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.

This week….

Ceelo – F*** Y**! (WARNING! UNCENSORED VERSION!)



Bootsy Collins – Stretchin’ Out



Gorillaz – Journey to Plastic Beach



and finally, Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup – We No Speak Americano