P.O.B.

What more is there to say?

The world's biggest discount retailer is changing its famous logo and how the company spells its name. Wal-Mart will now be Walmart (no hyphen). And the star is going away too and will be replaced by a starburst.

The Wall Street Journal obtained a mockup of the new logo which is to be unveiled next week. But here's a preview, thanks to our friends at myFOXPhilly.com:

My personal trainer is friends with some bouncers at a few nightclubs here in St. Louis.  In the middle of my workout this morning, he tells me that ladies purses are now being checked as they enter the bar--for a can of green beans and a tube sock. 

It's a form of self-defense where they assemble the two once in the bar by dropping the can into the sock, then when they feel threatened, they whip it out , swing it around like a lasso and whack the guy giving them a hard time. 

Just imagining this in the bar made me laugh hysterically (especially when trying to lift heavy weights), but after some thought, I wanted to bring this up to the bloggers and get your thoughts on it.

What happened to the days of mace?  Is it the economy that's causing us to come up with "cheaper" ways of self-defense? Some ladies must have performed this ninja magic enough times so bars are finally making it their policy to prevent it.

I fail at this. Maybe I need a flat surface. Seems so simple. I may just leave the clothes in the hamper and pull them out as needed. Who knows. Best of luck to anyone who succeeds in quick folding.

How many five year olds could you take in a fight?  Seriously, that's the name of the website:

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com


While flying to Dallas a couple weeks ago, I was reading over the shoulder of the guy next to me, and this web site appeared in the Southwest Airlines magazine. You should be proud of me by the way--I had nothing to write on, and had to remember this exhaustively long domain name until the plane landed and I could email myself the name.

So I had time to ponder what this site could be about.  Such a long website name, and it sounded instantly in poor taste.  And after viewing the site, it still leaves a bad impression. Are the creators trying to be funny? I filled out their form to see just how many I could take in a fight, and after a quick (and slightly funny questionnaire), my results showed I could take 15 in a fight. 

But now what do I do with that knowledge?  Concerned, yet don't really care.

ChaCha.com's TXT service is amazing!

Our 6:00pm news producer Alicia Bumpus introduced me to Cha Cha today. Sounds so silly, but it's one of the best FREE applications for TXT I've seen. All you do is TXT 242 242 with your question, and within 3 minutes you get an answer.  It can be about anything!  I tested it's knowledge today with these three questions:

My Question: What are the primary colors?
ChaCha's Answer: Red, green, and blue are the primary colors.

My Question: How many Facebook accounts are there?
ChaCha's Answer: Several million

My Question: How many episodes of Family Guy are there?
ChaCha's Answer: I'm finding 110 episodes of Family Guy.

Cool! I haven't asked quirky things like "How deep is your love?" or "How do you throw away a trash can?" or what's Klingon for "Where's your bathroom?" but if I get bored, I may.

Have you tried it? Are you trying it now? Have I piqued your interest?

Ripped straight from myFOXstl.com's Business section:

SAN FRANCISCO  --  The maker of the popular photo-editing software Photoshop on Thursday launched a basic version available for free online.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe Systems Inc. says it hopes to boost its name recognition among a new generation of consumers who edit, store and share photos online.

While Photoshop is designed for trained professionals, Adobe says Photoshop Express, which it launched in a "beta" test version, is easier to learn. User comments will be taken into account for future upgrades.

Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser. And, once they register, users can get to their accounts from different computers.

Web-based software is increasingly popular, and Adobe knows it's got to get on that train, said Kathleen Maher, an analyst at Jon Peddie Research.

Many kinds of software are available for use online in a trend known as "software as a service," or "cloud computing." The earliest were e-mail programs, but they now include services to create and manage content and even whole operating systems. And they don't require time-consuming upgrades because they're maintained by the service provider.

Google Inc. provides a host of such services, as do Microsoft Corp. and others.

"This is the battlefield where Adobe and Microsoft and Google are going to fight some pretty big battles," Maher said.

Photoshop enters the online photo-management arena many years after such services first appeared. Some companies have already made a big name for themselves, like 9-year-old storage solution Shutterfly Inc., photo-editing service Picnik or image-sharing site Photobucket Inc.

Adobe says providing Photoshop Express for free is part marketing and part a strategy to create up-sell opportunities. It hopes some customers will move from it to boxed software like its $99 Photoshop Elements or to a subscription-based version of Express that's in the works.

Ron Glaz, a research analyst at IDC, says the move was necessary for Adobe to keep pace. Users are less likely to switch to a software they aren't familiar with, he said.

"They have a whole market that they are missing out on, and they need to make sure that the market is aware there is a Photoshop solution for them. As that market grows and becomes more sophisticated, hopefully it will generate money," Glaz said.

"It's one of those things, if you can't beat them, join them," Glaz said. "If they don't join them, the long run could be really painful."

Get it here! http://www.photoshop.com/express

I can't believe this exists, yet I know creative minds wander and come up with this kind of stuff. I guess there's a market for this, especially with $8 stadium beers and the inability to bring your own cooler to concerts.

It's called THE WINE RACK. The website that sells it says "My cups runneth over! Hey girls - must improve your bust? Then do it with a stealth wine dispenser that you wear like a bra. As well as allowing you to secrete and sip drinks wherever you may roam, this boob-enhancing gizmo will increase your cup size by two full cups. Gulp!"




Features:

• Very comfortable sports bra available in versatile black.
• Polyurethane bladder holds over 750ml or 25oz. of your favorite beverage, increasing your cup size 2 full cups.
• Drinking tube long enough to route as you wish.
• Easy to use on/off valve to control the flow.

Dimensions:

• Small fits 32A thru 36A
• Medium fits 34B thru 38B

Here's more info on the Wine Rack (including video): http://firebox.com/product/2061

It's around $30.
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They also have a man's version, and it's called "The Beer Belly" and it's about $35.



More info on the Beer Belly (including video): http://firebox.com/product/2061

Would you buy this?

It took me 33 minutes to cancel my XBOX live membership tonight. (Thanks to BluRay and free online gaming, I moved over to the PS3.)

I ended the call thinking I was lucky for only being on 33 minutes. Not a nightmare cancellation story I know I know...

Anyone got some good stories out there?

Hulu is the long anticipated website created as a joint venture between NBC and FOX to bring you free online content. The site offers a plethora of popular, full length current television shows (such as House, Simpsons, The Office, and Heroes), past television shows (I Dream of Jeannie and The Addams Family), and movies (The Big Lebowski, Sideways, and The Usual Suspects). 250 TV series and 100 full-length feature films so far for the public release.



The site also houses NBA and college basketball games (some dating back twenty-five years), as well as soap operas and news shows. Users can search by most popular videos, by title, by genre, or by network.

The site has been in beta release for some time, and I had the privilege to be a beta tester, and I'm really amazed by how it's turned out now that is has finally launched to the public this week.

To really test out the amount of video they have, I search for my favorite show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". Not only did they have all the episodes, but they showed a behind the scenes special, which I never saw before. LINK.

All in all, very impressive. Have you seen it? What's your impression of it?

Some lady calls 911 and complains that Burger King messed up her burger order. She wants them to bring the police down to "protect" her. This is audio only. Hilarious!

It's been a year now since I've subscribed to satellite television. I wrote a blog about this time last year asking people for their ideas (here's the blog), and now I'm giving my one-year later scenario with my provider: Dish Network.  Some goods and bads may be for other service providers as well...I'm not sure about that.  This is based on my experience.

YES!

• Great selection of HD content and channels.
• DVRs are easy to navigate and lots of room to record shows.
• Technical support over the phone was simple, people were very friendly, and the calls were about 20 minutes long on average.
  

OH NO!

• Both receivers in my house had to be replaced because of hard drive failure, and I lost all my recorded shows because of it.
• The $100 mail-in rebate never automatically processed when I bought the unit. (The rebate was to take $10 of my bill each month for 10 months for HD programming.)  I had to call and ask why it never processed, and after that, they only took off half the discount.
• Because I do not have a phone line, they charged me $5.00 per month per receiver. That's 10 bucks gone each month for no reason. It's called a "Program Access Fee"...be aware of this.
  
• I see the pixelization in HD because the signal goes to the recorder, then to my TV, and there's no way to just show me the picture without going to the DVR first. I really don't know what true HD looks like (unless I buy a separate HD converter and antenna or buy a BluRay or HD-DVD player)
  
• I wanted to save some shows to a hard drive--and the unit has a USB port, but to activate the USB port, it would cost extra each month, and I would need a special hard drive.
• Pay-per-view appears to be in standard format, not HD. I can't really prove this one though, since I never bought a PPV movie.
• They force you to take the Dish Home Protection Plan for $5.99 a month. Since it's a forced option, they should have disclosed that in the very beginning.
  

Remember when we used to say "make a cassette copy" or "fax me that paperwork"? What phrases do we say now that will end up dating ourselves?

How about:
Now on DVD!
"Logon" to blahblahblah.com
Check your voicemail

I think it's hilarious when ensembles like this take it to the next level...and then the next level. This is Bringham Young University's Vocal Point Choir. Great stuff. Crowd reaction is perfect!

Any guesses? Merriam-Webster went towards technology this year with their selection.

“W00t,” a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher’s online poll for the word that best sums up 2007, according to an AP article.

The official definition is: expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”.

Source: LostRemote.com

So let's hear it! Woot woot!!