clubs

Ray Ozzie's cloud hangs over the Valley

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Ray Ozzie tends to see things much like a Seattle meteorologist--always cloudy.

Making a trip to sunny Silicon Valley, Ozzie addressed Silicon Valley's Churchill Club, outlining the transformational role that cloud computing will play.

As he discussed that vision, moderator Steven Levy asked if Microsoft itself was sufficiently cloudy when he had arrived.

"The Hailstorm had passed," Ozzie quipped, making a reference to Microsoft's widely panned first attempt to offer cloud services.

In seriousness, though, Ozzie said that Microsoft wasn't really cloud-focused when he joined the company, following Microsoft's purchase of … Read more

Books for practical mechanical engineering

I've mentioned the Homebrew Robotics Club here a few times. The club has an active mailing list. And when I found myself writing a lengthy post there over the weekend, I figured it might be of interest to the wider audience.

The post was in response to this inquiry from club president Wayne C. Gramlich, included here with his permission:

Can anybody point me a book that goes into design issues associated with assembling mechanisms out of bearings, axles, and gears? I'm looking for pretty basic stuff, like when to use a ball bearing, where to place bearings … Read more

Toyota to sponsor Earth Day activities

Toyota and 24 participating Audubon sites nationwide will host TogetherGreen Volunteer Days in celebration of Earth Day to provide thousands with opportunities to take hands-on, local conservation action.

Activities will take place on April 18, April 25, and May 2. Activities will include habitat and trail restoration, river and lake cleanups, invasive species removal, nest-box building, wildlife, and plant surveys.

To date, 5,850 TogetherGreen volunteers have donated more than 28,000 volunteer hours at 40 Audubon locations. More than 40 partner organizations, including the Sierra Club, AmeriCorps, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Toyota employees and their … Read more

Take to the links

Let's Golf offers up great graphics, solid gameplay, and is reminiscent of the popular platform golf game, Hot Shots Golf. Drawn in smooth 3D graphics with a cartoonish appeal, you can play three skill levels, on four courses, with your choice of four cartoon-drawn players of varying skill. Surprisingly, the touch screen almost performs better than traditional controllers, making it easy to aim shots via the touch screen and quickly check an overhead hole map to precisely aim your shots. You have your choice of playing the front or back 9 of any of the courses, or go in … Read more

Webware Radar: Photobucket teams with T-Mobile

A correction was made to this post. Read below for details.

Photo-sharing site Photobucket announced Thursday that it has inked a deal with T-Mobile that makes it a provider of a mobile photo service for T-Mobile customers. According to the company, users will be able to send photos directly from their mobile phone to their Photobucket album, their PC hard drive, or any e-mail address. To use the app, customers will need to download it onto their BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, or any one of three Windows Mobile devices. The app is available in a free 21-day trial. Once that period … Read more

Webware Radar: Virgin looks to 'uncrunch' frozen credit markets

Financial services firm, Virgin Money announced Wednesday that it has joined the Uncrunch.org campaign in an attempt to raise awareness about alternative, social sources of credit for both consumers and businesses. Virgin joins Geezeo, Lending Club, OnDeck Capital, Credit Karma, and ChangeWave, while trying to "unthaw" the credit markets by giving consumers and businesses an online resource to research and find credit.

Uncrunch's focus is social lending, which is why Virgin Money joined the campaign (the company has close to $400 million in social loan volume). Those who surf to Uncrunch will be able to learn … Read more

Get a free one-day pass to Sam's Club

Want to stock up on batteries, toilet paper, rice, and other bulk essentials? Head to your local warehouse club.

Of course, normally, you have to pay an annual membership fee to reap the savings, but Allstate has a coupon (PDF) that'll get you into Sam's Club for a day--and waive the usual 10 percent upcharge that nonmembers pay.

I realize this isn't a tech deal, per se, but Sam's Club does carry a variety of computers, electronics, and the like. Plus, the coupon lives on the Web, so it kinda sorta fits, right?

Anyway, there's … Read more

Littlest Pet Shop virtual world about to yip

Awwwwwwwww!

Littlest Pet Shop is going virtual.

Those tiny, plastic creatures with the larger-than-life googly eyes are set to come to life in the virtual world this fall, with manufacturer Hasbro and gaming giant Electronic Arts teaming up to launch the site, the companies said Thursday.

The site, which will be banking on the popularity of the 2-inch idols, will be jumping into a tween market that is already heavily populated with the likes of the Webkinz, Disney's Club Penguin, and start-up Dizzywood.

Once launched, the Littlest Pet Shop site aims to offer preteens the ability to customize their … Read more

Podcast: Site seeks to boost young girls' self-esteem

Girl Ambition is a social-networking site on a mission. The site, which is aimed at 7- to 13-year-old girls, does more than provide communication tools. It also teaches values. Girl Ambition's CEO, Hilary DeCesare, says it's about boosting girls' self-esteem "to help promote positive female role models, going forward." In an interview, DeCesare says some activities focus on "liking yourself and your limitations." The site also teaches online safety, which makes it, in a sense, training wheels for teen social networks like Facebook and MySpace.