Seems Ford sponsored a class at UMich to develop Cloud Computing apps… for the Commute.

The new Fiesta can Tweet while it’s driving. Not sure I like that idea… but it’s interesting, to say the least.

However, Barnes & Noble’s new Nook may change my mind. From the early reviews, it appears to have a better screen, longer battery life, and more natural navigation than either the Sony or Amazon offerings.

My previous experience with eBooks has not been overly positive, with proprietary software and awkward navigation on my PC. However, with the multi-format-capable Nook – I may be ready to give eBooks a try again.

It turns out that each carrier offers a “bypass the instructions” keystroke that takes you directly to the beep. (It bypasses both the person’s own recorded greeting and the 15-second carrier nonsense.)

To be as evil as possible, the carriers do not promote or tell you about the existence of this keystroke. Furthermore, the key to press is different with each company:

* for Verizon

1 for Sprint

# for AT&T

# for T-Mobile

I just got a site setup for my fiancee and I to keep our friends and family up-to-date on what’s going on: http://warrenmyers.com/wedding/.

And yes – she picked the blog theme

And I’m sure that questions like this one regarding VMware and VPNs is something “I should have known” – but not knowing where to look for appropriate data is what makes sites like these so helpful.

I do still wonder, though, how we remember what we know, and whether out-sourcing our collective minds is still a Good Idea™…

I’d love to see a return to a minimalist approach to development – but I know it’s only a pipe dream.

I’d love one or two or 80 of these in my spare bedroom

Today I have a prime example of why these services are so helpful. I have a small db scripting problem. After googling’ for a while with various combinations of keywords, including attempting to make heads or tails of the MySQL documentation, I asked this question on SO.

Inside of a couple minutes, several folks answered my question, pointing to exactly the part of the manual I couldn’t find on my own.

Volunteer communities are awesome.

Don’t know what I’ll use it for yet – but I want a VersaLaser.

Due to some unavoidable delays earlier, we got a later start to our trip to Oshkosh for the EAA AirVenture week. As the sun is getting lower in the sky, we realize that we haven’t eaten in several hours, and this looks like a good area to take a stretch break anyway.

We’ve been looking for a place to stop for about 20 minutes when on the blue sign for the upcoming exit we see “Moonwinks”. That sounds different. I make the executive decision from the backseat that this is where we’re going to try for dinner. If it looks sketchy of uppity when we get there, there’s something random fast food joint a couple miles further we can go to instead.

As we head the mile or so north on Route 305, we see this rather normal-looking building at the crux of a Y intersection, with a large sign reading “Moonwinks” in the roof. This must be the place.

The parking “lot” (ie, the packed dirt and gravel around the building) is packed. This is a Good Sign™. It means either a) they’re really good, or b) there’s no place else to go. I’m choosing option ‘a’, because it’s more optimistic.

We park and look for a door. There’s some kind of party going on in the front of the place, so we go in the side. Turns out this is actually the front door. We’re seated almost immediately.

The dining area we’re ushered-to has seating for about 60 people. The wedding reception out front is in another dining area which could hold as many as 150, I think.

The menu is pretty simple – classic American choices: some pasta dishes, seafood, steak, chicken… they all look good. I opt for the lemon whitefish with capers. Mom got an industrial-sized salad with a grilled chicken breast on top to share with my sister. I don’t remember what dad ordered – I’m too fixated on the huge fish fillet that came out.

I barely got myself around the dinner I ordered. I would have been better-off leaving a little.. but it was addicting! Mom and Josie’s salad lasted past one meal, too. Dad didn’t make it all the way through his plate of food – but bringing that with us wasn’t a good idea – wouldn’t keep well, or reheat at all.

The only thing I have against Moonwinks is that it’s too far from where my parents live to go just for dinner. Anything up to maybe 2.5-3 hours may be worth the ride, but clear 4 hours, and it’s just a long ways to go for a meal

However, if I were going through anyways, or had a reason to be in the Finger Lakes region (airshows, vacation, whatever) – it’s definitely worth going to.

4.5 stars of 5.