GEEK GRAB OF THE DAY! WiFi For Miles...

My office has their internet access pretty well locked down, making it impossible for me to access sites like Facebook, Twitter or even Gmail.  Granted I have a smartphone, but I'm pretty sure my office building was constructed out of magnets or something, because my 3G service drops in an out all day long.  This is annoying to say the least.

But Amped Wireless has the solution to all my troubles.  Their new SR600EX Pro Smart Repeater will boost your wireless network up to 1.5 miles.  THAT'S AMAZING.  My office is only about a mile from my apartment, well within this puppy's purported range.  While the $180 pricetag might feel a bit high, consider that it's exactly the same as an Apple Airport Extreme, and that thing won't give me Wi-Fi access if I'm sitting in the Boston Common, the Museum of Science or the Charlestown Naval Yard.

Now all I need is a really solid encryption protocol.  Don't wanna be giving EVERYONE the interwebs...

HEY AMAZON! I Want A Locker Too!

My future wife hates to go out shopping in malls and retail stores, so we make a lot of purchases online and most of those purchases come from Amazon. Since moving into our downtown apartment we've had fairly decent luck when it comes to receiving packages; while nothing has been lost (yet!), we have gotten boned by the Post Office a few times. I'm sure you're familiar with this scenario: walking downstairs to get the mail on a Saturday only to find that the mail carrier left you a notice instead of your actual package, thus depriving you of anticipated new toys and whatnot despite the fact that you were HOME THE WHOLE TIME. Or perhaps you come home after a long day of work expecting to find a new box of DVDs only to find that your box is actually being held hostage at your local USPS branch because there was no one home to sign the release. Needless to say, this blows. While the convenience of home delivery is hard to argue against, there are certainly a few loopholes that lead to nothing but frustration and annoyance.

But now Amazon's got the solution to all your package delivery woes! The online retail giant has started installing special lockers in 7-Elevens and other local convenience stores, allowing you to have your package delivered there instead of your home. They're essentially PO boxes, so you punch in your access code and now you can pick up your package a time when the post office is most likely closed. I love it! I want to be able to walk down to the corner at midnight and grab an ice cream sundae cone and that copy of Knight Rider Season One that I ordered last week.

Amazon has already deployed their lockers (pictured above) in Seattle, London and, as of this weekend, New York City. Come on Amazon, show Boston some love!

THANKS STEVE: My Apple Year

About 16 months ago, I moved from Los Angeles to my childhood home of Boston.  I arrived with a free place to live but no job to speak of, and to be honest, I couldn't afford to stay unemployed for too long.  I needed a short term job, a quick and steady paycheck while I searched for something better, so I applied to everything I could find.  I soon found myself at a group hiring event at my local Apple Store.  Please note the following: despite having worked the better part of a decade in the realm of computers and IT, I had never before worked retail and the only Apple products that I owned were two outdated iPods.

To make a long story short, I charmed the managers, did an entertaining impression of an old lady during a role playing exercise and ended up spending the next year working in the House That Jobs Built.  Apple has always been somewhat of an oddity as a corporate entity, with its detractors often quick to compare the company and its employees to a cult, but I really couldn't disagree more.  Apple was a fantastic company to work for.  I rarely felt pressured to push seemingly unnecessary products on unsuspecting consumers and instead left each day feeling that I had really helped people, whether it be by finding them the right computer/iPad/iPod, or by teaching them how to solve some nagging technical problem.  Despite being an almost lifelong "PC guy", I was accepted with open arms by my co-workers, and while there were a few odd ducks in the group, some have become great friends of mine.  (One will even be DJing my wedding.)

Did I "drink the kool-aid"?  Sort of.  Yes, I now own an iPhone, an iPad and a Macbook Pro.  But I still use a PC everyday and I'm still faster and more comfortable with Windows than I am with OS X.  I consider myself both lucky and privileged to have been a member of the Apple family, even if it was only for a short time, and today I send out much love and respect to not only the Steve's wife and kids, but to Apple employees everywhere.  On my way home today, I plan to stop by the Boylston St. Apple Store and spend a moment taking in the flowers and tokens left there by Steve's admirers.

And how could you not be an admirer of a man who gave people so much to be excited about?  I have overwhelming respect for anyone who uses his passion and intellect to make an indelible mark on the world (without resorting to violence).  I can only dream of what else we might have seen if his life had not been cut so short.

(Sidenote: I'm alarmed at how many people I saw via Facebook and Twitter who a) don't know who Steve Jobs is and b) think that Apple is going to somehow close up shop and stop making new devices without Steve.  Are there really people out there who think that Steve invented the iPad and the iPhone all by himself?  Like he's tinkering with a circuit board in a garage somewhere and everyone else at Apple has no idea how he does it?  It's times like these, when I see such a widespread and fundamental lack of understanding about how the world actually works, that I mourn our educational system and fear for the future.)

To sum up: Stay hungry.  Stay foolish.  Think different.  Cancer sucks.

We'll miss you Steve.

Amazon Wants To Be Netflix For Books

Files this under "So obvious I can't believe it's taken this long."

Not content with having eviscerated the corpse of Borders, Amazon is now looking to adopt the Netflix model for books.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the online retailer is currently negotiating with a number of different publishers to establish a system whereby users will pay an annual fee (yet to be determined) to gain access to an online library of written works.  No word yet on which (if any) publishers are ready to jump on board, but I have to imagine that these guys will work something out with Amazon, even if only out of fear of turning into the music industry.

As bandwidth increases, 3G (and now 4G) service becomes more prevalent and devices like Kindles and iPads find their way into the hands of more and more users, creating a giant streaming library seems like a natural fit, and if the price point is reasonable I can't see why people wouldn't jump at the chance.  Netflix and Spotify (and soon Apple's iCloud) have long since proved that streaming content is the model of the future and any media/publishing company that isn't willing to adapt will soon find itself lost at sea.

Just yesterday I walked into a giant Borders store that's closing this week and while I've always enjoyed wandering through a bookstore, browsing for new titles, I don't find myself longing for Blockbuster since its demise.  If anything, being able to virtually "borrow" books without having to actually purchase individual titles feels like the best way to get people to actually READ again, since they can basically sample any book that sounds interesting and eventually purchase electronic or paper copies of whatever strikes a chord.

Bad news for Barnes & Noble, but probably good news for writers and publishers in the long run, provided everyone decides to play along nicely.

Breathe Easier With New Artificial Lungs

There's this old man who lives somewhere in my neighborhood and every few days I pass him on the street, usually coming out of the butcher shop.  There's nothing remarkable about this particular gentleman, nothing that makes him stand out other than the giant oxygen tank he drags behind him wherever he goes.

You see, artificial lungs suck.  First of all, their gas exchange rates are horribly inefficient, meaning they require pure oxygen in large amounts in order to function.  Thus the above-water scuba tank.  They're also large and require a mechanical pump to keep them going.  Long story short, artificial lungs = no fun.

But now researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have developed a prototype for a whole new kind of breather.  By utilizing layers of flexible silicone, they've been able to increase the gas exchange efficiency up to five times what current artificial lungs can achieve.  That means the lung can utilize normal atmospheric air, thus no more scuba tank.  Not only that, but this new design could potentially be made small enough to actually be implanted in the human body in place of the damaged lung, and would be powered not by a mechanical pump, but by the human heart itself.  Click over to Think for more details.

While the prototype has been tested with pig's blood, it's sadly still about a decade away from human trials.  Expect an increase in cigarette sales around the same time...

Building A Better Mousetrap...For Toothpaste

If you ever find yourself in the position to visit a design school or, even better, go to an end-of-the-semester showcase, don't hesitate.  You will inevitably find incredibly cool concepts and models for everything from future cars, to smarter designs for everyday household objects.  Case in point: SavePaste, an incredibly cool and simple redesign of the standard tube of toothpaste.

SavePaste gets a number of things right.  First of all, it eliminates the need for extra packaging, selling you a cardboard tube directly.  Not only does it also feature a space-saving design, but it actually allows you to utilize ALL the toothpaste in the tube, eliminating the need for extra folding, rolling, squeezing, and various other forms of toothpaste origami.  And, of course, it folds flat when empty and is ready to be recycled.

Sadly SavePaste is still only a design concept, but I'm holding out hope that it appears in my local CVS while I've still got teeth to brush.  Click it here for all the details.