We have six days in counting until Christmas. Offices in the Bay Area have 96.5 KOIT on non-stop to hear new and old holiday tunes played on repeat until we start singing Deck the Halls in our sleep. Charlie Brown Christmas aired while National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story are shown on every other channel every other hour of the day. Face it, it’s officially the holiday season – so it’s time to be festive and soak it all in!
Festive you ask? Like music and movies aren’t enough? Well, there is nothing more joyful, nothing more frightfully ‘gay’ and nothing more hard core festive than the one and only holiday sweater. As my gift to you, here is my ode to fantastical holiday fun and cheer – an ode to holiday sweaters.
The ‘Um, is that blinking?’ sweater
The ‘ooh, this is just perfect for my PTA holiday party’ sweater
The ‘Glamour Shot’ sweater
The ‘everyone say CHEESE’ sweater
Now that you’re in the festive mood – I found the perfect place for you to get your hands on one of these oh-so-jolly sweaters!
Happy Holidays everyone!
by Michelle Lentz
Over on his New York Times Tech blog, David Pogue has listed a couple of free downloads, just in time for Christmas. They include PC Pandora (which lets you spy on those using your computer) and an original Christmas music set from sampling company Garritan.
There’s more in the comments too, which is where you always find gems. So far, you’ll find Mac Heist’s Giving Tree and Jaduka. I’m sure the list will grow.
Happy holidays!
__
Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology
Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net
by Michelle Lentz
This is such a fun idea. Betamaxmas takes a bunch of holiday specials and episodes of old TV shows available on YouTube and drops them into an old-fashioned non-cable TV set via Flash. There’s a remote control that lets you change the channels and as you do, the antenna adjust.
There are so many holiday specials and nifty old commercials out there that the little TV functions like a real one – complete with a TV schedule. You can click on the TV Guide in the right hand corner to find out what’s playing when and on which channel.
This is entertaining for so many reasons, but I love the nostalgia. At various times each day you can watch the Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special, Silver Spoons, the Bloom County Christmas special (I had no idea it existed), The Smurfs Christmas, and so much more. There’s even an amazing old commercial for the Apple IIc. (“Anyone can take it home for under $1300.” Guess their pricing hasn’t changed much, eh?)
If you get really sucked in to this, or decide to broadcast this to your TV, it does have a full-screen mode.
Enjoy!
__
Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology
Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net
by Michelle Lentz
So my number one “Want” on my Christmas List is a Kindle, but apparently Santa’s elves and Amazon are not on the same page this year.
The over-priced eReader is SOLD OUT. Obviously someone is getting a Kindle for Christmas. If you order one now, you’ll be put on a wait list. Estimated delivery is a whopping 11-13 weeks away.
According a TechCrunch article last week, the Kindle 2.0 will be released in the early first quarter of 2009 (would that be 11-13 weeks from now?). I have high hopes that the price might drop a little. Heck, drop it to $299 and it makes a psychological jump from almost $400 to less than $300.
Maybe the Valentine’s Day fairy will bring me a Kindle.
–
Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email at michelle[at]writetech.net, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.
by Michelle Lentz
I love posting fun things on Fridays. Here in Cincinnati, it’s been a crazy week, capped off by the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world, outside of Munich, this weekend. In honor of the craziness inspired by our lack of power / internet / gas / essentials earlier in the week and the craziness about to happen this weekend, I bring you International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Talk Like a Pirate Day is always September 19. According to Wikipedia (and much to my surprise), it was founded in 1995 by John Baur (Ol’ Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap’n Slappy) of Oregon. I’ve heard of it for a few years now, but I honestly had thought it was a recent Internet meme of some sort. You can visit Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket’s web site, where they’ve also released a new book: The Pirate Life: Unleashing Your Inner Buccaneer.
So, had a bad day? Liven it up by requesting that your boss walk the plank. And remember to greet people with Ahoy! instead of Hello!
Some additional fun:
Pirate Name Generator
Pirate Speak app for your iPhone, er, AyePhone
__
Contact Michelle Cap’n Cynthia Firebeard with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle Cap’n Cynthia Firebeard at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.