Makeover! and War of the Consumers!
Hey! If you're coming back for another visit, you undoubtedly know that we just got a brand new look for the blog. If you're brand new, welcome!
TODAY IS THE DAY. At 6pm today, the Apple iPhone will be released. Soon enough there will be an unreconcilable rift of pandamonium that will rage across shopping malls and retail stores nationwide. The Evening News will report that rioting has ensued and a war is being waged by consumers. People, this is no Tickle-Me-Elmo! This is a disaster waiting to happen. The world as we know it could be interrupted and turned upside down by a single piece of electronics!
More likely than not this won't happen, but we expect this iPhone business to be on the top of every News channel this evening.
"This is Trisha Takanawa on site for Fox News. I'm reporting on the line of people here at the Apple store. It's all very boring, but we're just going to make the hype much worse by supposing this is a very imperative issue in the social agenda."
For our NY buddies...
Ok, so the size of this image stinks, but if you click the image you'll be brought to a larger version of it. On the large version you can actually see what the heck we're talking about. It basically shows you all the wonderful places (in Manhattan) where you will have the best luck in buying an iPhone. Have at it & good luck!
Site of the Day: Click that image ^Labels: iphone, new york, nyc
So Strange We Couldn't Help Ourselves.
Wtf, mate? Well, there is a brand new genre of robots out there... and beleive us, it's
out there. These "Blubber Bots," designed by LA artist Jed Berk, just want to roam around, eat, and be your friend. They are simple, autonomous robots that fly around like blimps and like to socialize with each other. They seemingly feed off a large white light, and show different colors depending on whether or not they're happy or hungry. Reminds you alot of those little
Tamagotchi dudes, but with blimps attached, right?
Social and friendly in nature, Blubber Bots like to play. You can invite other Blubber Bots over for a party to watch a roomful flock and mingle. They propel themselves using helium buoyancy and two directional motors. They are a little clumsy though and bump into things. Fortunately, Blubber Bots are born with a feeler (bump switch) to help them out of tricky situations. At a flick of a “feeler”, they back up and head in a new direction. Not only do they like to play, but they love to sing. Blubber Bots have a unique voice generated from a vibrating motor and a small piezo speaker attached to its mylar body. They bellow sounds similar to a whale’s song and serenade you with melodies. When not being played with, they rest for awhile, awakening periodically and seeking attention.
Site of the Day: http://www.degree119.com/
Buy a BlubberBot here: http://store.makezine.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKBLIMPKIT
Nature + Lunch + CellPhones
NYC - Nokia Lunch in the ParkThursday, June 28th, 11:00 - 3:00
Union Square Park (W 4th St. and University Pl.)
Featuring:SuperFamilyThe RubThe GlassThis summer, unchain yourself from your desk and reconnect with nature. Nokia is sponsoring free WiFi and events in parks throughout the city. This one is in Union Square Park and features DJs, cold drinks, and the latest cool stuff from the Nokia Nseries. Surf the web on a Nokia N95 or Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Explore the hidden corners of NYC with an exclusive city guide. Or just get some fresh air. Get yourself outside - it's summer!
Site of the Day: www.nseries.com/nyc
We're NOT Hippies
Ok, this one is for the ladies. We told our Moms that we had this new blog.
"Oh, that's great hunny. What's a blog"
"Well Mom, it's like an online journal"
"I'm very confused, but I'll bet anything you silly fellas are writing about color tvs and palm pilots and websites all day long"
"Whoa, that's right Mom."
"Sweetie, I think you should do the right thing and save the planet, at least for a day or two."
"What!?"
So we're taking Mom's advice and telling you to please save the planet. See, she's not worried
about our
silly butts... so much as she's worried about the little kids that are going to come from our
silly butts. That's speaking figuratively, you know. Anyway, we recommend strongly making a big difference by purchasing
ENERGY SAVING LIGHT BULBS.
Don't worry, we're not
hippies trying to preach to you. We're just saying that if you're the one paying the electric bill, you should save yourself some
cake ($$$) and install these little dudes. Plus, you'll make nature smile, alot. An Energy Saving Bulb can save over US$30 in electricity costs over the lamp’s lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases. Good reasons, no?
Site of the Day: www.greenpeace.org Buy the bulbs at
www.homedepot.com , thanks.
FUN! It's not just for kids.
You've been in that office for over 5 years now. Congratulations, you have successfully run out of fun websites to go to during your 15 minute coffee break. Refresh your senses and boost your originality, you silly goose, you. Smile, they are supposed to make you SMILE!
Doug Purver: www.dougpurver.comAnimator Extraordinaire ala NYC. Be sure to check out his "ShowReel" and the Hugo Boss commercial. He's makes fun things to look at.
GRRR:
www.HungrySuitcase.comThis little suitcase wants to go on vacation! Pack him up with all the fun things and see what he has to say. Plus he has a funny accent.
Roth: www.rothaniko.huVery, very pretty. There are fishes and boats and fun paintings to look at. If you like paintings that make you feel all warm inside, than this is for you.
Pudding the Phantom Thief: www.kaitopurin.comWe're still not really sure what this is, but it's cool. Just navigate as far as you can and then hire these guys to design your website. We like the mustaches. :{
Guinness Hands: www.guinness.com/gb_en/Hands/This is a short film that has to do with hands. Hands wrote it and hands star in it. Hands! It is very funny to watch and will be very entertaining... we promise.
Trouble at work
JPC believes in creating the most professional work environment, but we realize that sometimes an employee can reek havoc on office's political correctness (God forbid!). Alot of the time it's funny, but the second someone gets offended, oh boy, there is going to be a hellish-storm.
So to help everyone out, we've compiled a pictorial guide to help you judge what is funny and what is trouble. Be careful, but please, please be funny.
Site of the Day: www.nbc.com/office 
Post-its, FUNNY
Invoices, TROUBLE
No-Farting Sticker, FUNNY
Actually Farting, TROUBLE
Your Co-worker, FUNNY
Your Secretary, TROUBLE
Over-doing it, TROUBLE
Pink, TROUBLE
Conference Room, FUNNY
Bathroom, TROUBLE
Email to Jim, FUNNY
Accidentally Email to HR, TROUBLE
Empty, FUNNY
Half Full, FUNNY
3/4 Full, FUNNY
To the Brim, TROUBLE
Thinking,
Mentioning,
Talking,
Joking about....
TROUBLE
iPhone, haha.
We're sure you've heard of the iPhone. Actually, we're sure that you're sick of hearing about the iPhone. We saw this video and lost it completely. We're also not sure if Conan is funny, or the people that work for him are funny. Regardless, this is perfect.
Site of the Day: http://www.youtube.com/Labels: apple, cell phone, iphone
Around the World in 0.8 Seconds
Ahh, the view from way up here is giving us a false sense of arrogance. That's right, it's easy to look down at people from 1,300 ft (thanks to Google Earth). Download
HERE. and
HERE. and
HERE.
For the Experienced:I understand that most people have heard of Google Earth by now, but this episode is about how wonderful it is to discover the program for the first time. You jaded few who are huffing at this blog right now, remember when you first heard about the Google Earth? You played with it for hours and looked up every town in North Dakota. Well pay-it-forward today and tell someone about Google Earth. Share your joy! Dance the dance of life! I don't know why I just typed that, sorry.
For the Un-initiated:We think Google Earth is nice. This is a program available from Google (for free) that uses satellite imaging to give you amazingly clear aerial views of any
spot on earth. You can Zoom in to see your street, and if the satellite image is recent enough, you can even see your car parked in front of your house. Liberals all over the country should be furious. But, oh man, is it fun! You can enter specific locations or addresses and Google Earth will automatically locate that spot on the globe. Add locations to your Favorites and it will be easy to jump back and forth between said locations.
Our favorite locales are in the Sightseeing Tour. Please, Please, Please go to the Places menu on the left hand side and take the Sightseeing Tour. Just check the box and press the Play button. You'll know what we're talking about once you have the program open. Oh, beautiful world!
Site of the Day: www.earth.google.com
T-minus 2 days....
2 days and counting, ladies and children. Your father deserves a gift that is NOT last minute. We don't want you to hurt yourself thinking... so we have two more suggestions.
Hammock ($84.99,
http://www.target.com/, search:"home
hammock and stand set") We don't usually wander to far away from the electronics/computer gifts, but in this case, we're doing what's best for Dad. Take note... this gift will provide the man with some refuge from all the chores he's supposed to be doing on Saturday and Sunday. Who knows, maybe he'll wake up early and get them done fast so he can nap in the backyard all afternoon. Probably not, but you can be sure that whether or not those chores are done, he's gonna lay in that hammock.
Oh, and in case you didn't notice, this price is cheap. We've been looking around for hammocks and if you want one with any semblence of quality for a decent price, this is it. The wooden spreaders are essential if you dont want to feel like your back in the womb.
USB Rockets ($35.99,
http://www.usbgeek.com/, filed under "Gadgets") Dad's cubicle must
be defended against Karen the evil secretary. She comes over to his cube, and doesn't shut-the-hell-up. Power up defense systems, activate targeting, take aim and fire! This toy is perfect for dad if he's into desktop related nonsense. Probably better for Dads who are already partners at the firm and can get away with this sort of stuff. Or if Dad works in a company with 600 or his closest buddies, than this would work too.
It comes with three 'missiles' and its own Navigation software.
USB Rocket Launcher. Have fun Dad, you deserve it.
Happy Dad's Day from all of us here at JPC. We will be annoying our own Dads all weekend, so we'll see you back here on Monday.
T-Minus 3 days...
3 days until Father's day and we have another set of gift ideas for you. Just in case you didn't like our first two suggestions, try these on for size.
Portable DVD/iPod Player ($129- Model#DCP750)That's right ladies and gentlemen, this player from PHILLIPS has the capability of either playing your DVD selections or movies from your iPOD. It has a swivel screen, SD card reader, and home & car adapters. It's perfect for the long train ride to work or for sitting in traffic. Long battery life means that you don't have to watch the Julia Roberts in-flight romantic-comedy (again!) on your way to Florida. It's currently on sale in Target stores, but you can get it more cheaply at Amazon.com (be careful with the shipping though). Did we mention the iPod fits IN the player!?
Art of Shaving Starter Kit ($38- Item#9800) www.theartofshaving.com The Art of Shaving is the Rolls Royce of shaving companies. Although they
use the blades from major manufacturers, they do bathroom supplies with CLASS. This set is the basic introduction to their product line and gives you the 4 elements of a perfect shave; pre-shave, shaving lather, after shave balm and badger brush. The Badger brush is worth $50 alone. Let Dad try this out with his regular razor (with a NEW blade, please!) and he'll love it to death. It's the finest in male skincare products and certainly worth the money. Mom is allowed to get spa treatments... why not give Dad a little decadence? Ha, decadence is a very silly word. Actually, just give Dad something he'll enjoy.... that's what we mean.
Sites of the Day: http://www.target.com/ / http://www.theartofshaving.com/
T-Minus 4 Days....
4 days until Father's day and we haven't gotten our dads anything yet either. In our search for some things to gift, we'll give you two new ideas every day until then. Please let us know (in the comments section) if you have any good ideas for your Dad or have already gotten him something cool.
1. ShureE2c Sound Isolating Earphones ($99.95)
www.apple.com/store 
The E2c's unique, affordable design comes from Shure's years of collaborating with professional musicians. Featuring a high energy speaker in a distinctive enclosure, the E2c produces studio-quality sound with excellent isolation from background noise.
Sound Isolating Technology: The E2c's in ear design, using foam or flex sleeves, naturally blocks background noise. This allows lower listening volumes in loud environments. No batteries or extra equipment are needed for sound isolation.
2. Sirius OR XM Radio ($139+$13/mo.
OR $184+$13/mo.)
Sirius Stilleto Sirius provides you with commercial free music on a portable player that you can take around with you like an iPod. Sirius offers channels designed by such celebrities as Howard Stern and Martha Stewart. Sirius has the NFL, Nascar and the NBA. It also has NPR.
XM Delphi SkyFi3 XM also provides commercial free music on a portable player. The same concept is applied here. XM offers Opie & Anthony, Oprah, and Good Morning America. XM has the MLB, NHL and the PGA tour. It also has CNBC and the weather channel.
Both Sirius and XM have Fox News. This may be a plus to some of you, but you must admit that listening to Fox News, although fun and entertaining, could be dangerous.
Site of the Day: http://www.bestbuy.com/
Oh, Yelo There! How are You?
If you have ever had the lovely experience of having
responsibility (none of us even know what that is, so we
looked it up) than you certainly must be tired. Responsible for walking the
dog in the morning. Responsible for doing the family
taxes. Responsible for that big presentation going on tomorrow that no one, including the freaking interns, told you about until 5pm today!!!!!
STUPID PRESENTATION!!!!!
STUPID INTERNS!!!!!
Don't we all deserve a
time out? A little nap where we can enjoy the blissful detachment of a full body, 30 minute, shutdown. Go to
315 West 57th Street (NYC, baby). Take a nap.
Yelo is a small salon that specializes in naps.
Reflexology, if you're trying to be
trendy. The
YeloCabs (their patented nap-cabins) have purified air, aromatherapy, chromatherapy, a diverse music selection, and the
YeloChair. The
YeloChair raises the feet and promotes circulation to your chest, inducing sleep much faster. You can nap for up to 40 minutes (anything more than that and you'll enter
REM sleep and wake up
grumpy). Stop napping under your desk. You're upper management now, and that sort of thing is tacky. Be trendy and tell your friends all about it. Recommend it to your boss and he'll think either A) "this
tree-hugging hippie thinks I should take a flower-power nap, where?" or B) "Ah, that sounds like a great idea, Johnson! Maybe it will help me play a better round this weekend. Good work.
Promotion!" .... or maybe not.
Site of the Day: www.yelonyc.com
Break Up with Your Phone....
Before
June 29th, you should break up with your significant other... your phone. Yes,
Sidekick has been really good to you.
Blackberry understands you. It knows about your needs. But it also knows about that ongoing "thing" with your
iPod.
You are a
cheater. Spending time with your
iPod is no way to treat your Blackberry/Sidekick. So, do the right thing and break it off. I want to introduce you to iPod's younger sibling:
iPhone. And
iPhone is HOT... and educated... and trendy. Having
iPhone is the electronic equivalent of dating a
Harvard educated super-model.
Site of the Day: www.apple.com/iphoneTake a look at this silly man with a mustache.
Bonus Blog
Paris Ha, Ha, HiltonWe couldn't help ourselves over here.
Paris Hilton has been released from prison and every
red-blooded American has heard about it by now (except maybe your
grandma). Paris has an 'Electronic Monitoring' anklet on. We were curious.....
This is the latest and greatest of
EM (Electronic Monitoring). Called the "
Traditional - FMD - Phase 2 Curfew or Restricted," the Anklet is
riveted onto your ankle and broadcasts to the router. It uses Radio Frequency to monitor the anklet. Once that transmission is gone, the unit records the date and time... and in certain cases, will immediately alert an officer. In Paris' case, officers will likely not be notified, but she'll get in even deeper trouble. Lovely.
'Dude, she is just gonna pick that thing up, put it in her
$3000 bag, and take it to
Privilege." Nope. It has motion sensors in the router that monitor if it is picked up, moved around, falls off a table, or bumps into
Lindsay Lohan at the club. And better yet, the ankle bracelet is sensitive enough to detect tampering. When the
rivets come out, the router records that too.
Maybe her buddies will visit her at home. Maybe a pool party of sorts. Who knows how the anklet reacts to the water??? So Paris, if you do have that party.... just give us the heads up (
blog@jpcconsulting.com), thanks.
Blackberry for Travel
A Blackberry , Palm Treo, or other PDA is useful for a lot more than e-mail.
**
Nab a hotel room at the last minute Orbitz's mobile service lists hotels in 20 US cities that have vacancies for that every night. You can't book through the PDA, but you can call up Orbitz's phone number by pressing one button.
mobile.orbitz.com**
Get Directions The download Google Maps is almost identical to what you have on your computer. Point-to-point directions are easy to follow and there's even a featurethat reveals real-time traffic info.
google.com/gmm, free.
**Translate Languages Beiks is the leader in foreign-language tools for mobile devices, seeling downloadable dictionaries and phrase books for 26 languages. Some of he programs from Beiks will even pronounce words and phrases for you.
beiks.com, from $8.
**
Check the Weather Forecast There are dozens of ways to get the weather forecast with your PDA, but the Weather Channel's service is the quickest and easiest. it gives extended forecasts for 98,000 locations around the globe and pulls up storm systems on radar maps that look as good as they would on a computer or TV news.
weather.com/mobile, free.
**Tranform from PDA to GPS To get the GPS capabilit on your PDA to work, you have to pay for a service such as TeleNav. The monthly fee may be worth it. A satellite pinpoints your location, and when you plyg in the address of where you want to go, turn-by-turn directions come from the PDA's speaker. The Biz Finder steers you to gas stations - it'll even search the cheapest option, if you like - as well as to restaurants, hotels, and attractions. telenav.com, from $10 per month.
(excerpted from an article by Michael Rose)
Site of the Day: wikipedia PDA
Call Home from the Computer
If you thought AIM was cool, you should give Skype a shot. Skype is the not-so-new, peer-to-peer telephony company. The company provides a program (like AIM) that allows you to connect to other Skype users for free. You can either Video Chat or conversate using some speakers and a microphone. Calling through the internet.
Even better... you can use Skype to call existing phone numbers; land lines AND cell phones. FOR FREE. Ok, so you can do that on the cell phone that you already pay for, but here is what Skype is really for...
+ No long distance. Call anywhere in the US for Free. Anytime.
+ Rediculously cheap International Rates
+ Get your own phone number (Japanese numbers, US numbers, French, etc.)
+ Voicemail, Chat, Video-chatting
Give it a try and see what you think. The download is free and you can Uninstall it if you hate it. Expand your horizons.
Saturday Night will Power Sunday Morning
I feel like Europeans just get it..... sometimes better than we do. Even though
their teeth don't always resemble the picture of perfection, sometimes they know what's up.
DANCE ENERGYThe
Dutch architecture firm,
DOLL, along with enviro non-profit,
ENVIU, are starting a revolution of epic proportions. They aim to transform the center of the hedonistic world (the dancefloor) into an Eco-friendly energy producer. That's right.... Kurt from accounting wasn't just making that stupid story up.... the dancefloor-powerplant is soon to be. It's still just in the planning stages, but DOLL-ENVIU hope to have a working prototype on the Flo' later this year.
...AND MOREAnd that's not all they have in store. DOLL-ENVIU have already kicked off the project (sponsored by the Amsterdam Energy Commission) with a huge party. The Club was transformed with rain-flushing toilets, energy-saving LED lights, paperless marketing, and a green rooftop lounge. One of the walls was made into artwork-in-progress.
Scenesters (Hipsters, Clubbers, Urban-centric teenagers) would drink their frosty bottled drinks and then make their way over to the wall. The strategically placed bottles formed a piece of modern art. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that everybody's nasty bodyheat is going to be concentrated and used to make hot water instead of using hot-water heaters. Gross.... Cool......Gross.
It's in Dutch, but you can switch it to English, don't be afraid.
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
Thou art at the intersection of 45th and Lexington. And thou art turning left onto Lexington at next traffic signal.
GPS (Global Positioning System) is quite possibly the coolest toy I've ever seen that has the most use. Yeah, it's one of those trendy electronics, but at the same time it really does what it promises. If you can be brave enough to admit that (contrary to what you tell your spouse) you're not that great with directions, the days of scratching them out on your
napkin are over. Just plug in the destination address, starting with state, town, street, then number and you'll get vocal directions and a bright-lit LED map. Two-or-three satellite signals are used and, voila!, you have your exact location. "Turn left at next light" or "destination is point-2-5 miles away." Sweet, beautiful technology!
The
NAViBLUE nbc3500 is only $179. c-h-e-a-p. Don't let the fact that you've never heard of NAViBLUE scare you. They're a big-time up-and-comer. So this means that you dont have to spend $400 on a Garmin that will do the same thing. It may not be as sleek as the Garmin, but I would be willing to sacrifice a little style for $200. You?
A 3.5 inch touch screen with the capability of playing MP3s and videos. Preloaded maps and LiIon battery mean it's ready to go out of the box. Tells you about local attractions such as restaurants, theme parks, gas stations, etc. Multi-viewing angles on every map and vocal turn-by-turn instructions. ***FATHER'S DAY*** Consider it for the man in your life who won't stop for directions. He'll love it, and you won't be late. Oh, and don't worry, it's so easy that your 72yr-old grandpa can use it. No set-up. Just open the box, power it up, and have fun.
Site of the Day: www.tigerdirect.comThe NAViBlue NBC3500
The Lazy Days of Summer
and we mean LAZY.
Uniden's waterproof, submersible, floating!, wireless......phone. If you have a pool and don't have this phone, you're doing something wrong. While you're in the pool, a large Jamaican man will jump out of your bushes and smack you for not relaxing enough (I think that's what they do at Sandals Resort).
Just picture yourself sitting on your floaty-raft, enjoying the cloudless sky and the oppressive 97 degrees. You're armed with a questionably pink-colored drink. The phone rings. Now you have to scramble like a wet dog to the side of the pool. You're rowing so hard the vikings would be proud..... Hello!?.... plunk. The regular phone is
dunzo.
Not the
Uniden. It floats! Put it in your floaty-raft
cupholder. Pick up... "Hello?....
ohh Barbara! So lovely to speak with you. Here's my wife." Throw phone across pool to your strikingly attractive spouse.
Commence relaxing.
Site of the Day: http://www.uniden.com/Product Profile
I'm a PC and I'm a MAC
So the richest man in the world just decided to sit down next to his biggest industrial rival..... and reminisce about the good old days. When they weren't worth more than 100 million dollars. Oh, those were the days.
*image courtesy of www.nytimes.com
Bill Gates (Microsoft Chairman) and Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) sat down for a question and answer session at a Tech conference in Carlsbad, CA. They got along like old pals. They talked about initial business ventures, the different directions they took. It all seemed like the classic tale of two brothers........ one goes on to rule the software kingdom with righteousness and spreadsheets while the other is banished to rule lowly insignificant artists, whilst always planning to seek revenge against his brother. Not the case here, however fun that story line is. They seem to have a deep respect for each other. The tabloids are very sad.
Sites of the Day: www.microsoft.com / www.apple.com Here are some of the recaps:
NY TIMESENGADGETINDYSTAR
"This is Trisha Takanawa on site for Fox News. I'm reporting on the line of people here at the Apple store. It's all very boring, but we're just going to make the hype much worse by supposing this is a very imperative issue in the social agenda."
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