HostMonk, Skype on Mobiles, ColorSplash, HomeMade Pizza

Homemade Pizza

HostMonk Compares various web hosts according to price, platform, bandwith, memory, CPU type, and management. The original article for this information came from the good people at makeuseof.com. lifehacker has an article on this ( via makeuseof.com) Read Lifehacker Article Want more on reliable, affordable web hosts? Read More Here>>

Skype Comes to iPhone, Blackberry: phonescoop and Reuters have the news on this development. The application for putting Skype on the iPhone will be available Tuesday, March 31st, 2009. The Blackberry application will make its debut in May. Free long distance phone calls anyone?

iPhone App ColorSplash: This app allows you to dress up pictures on your iPhone with vibrant colors. ColorSpash sells for $1.99 Read About ColorSplash>>

Make Home Made Tasty Pizza: I haven’t tried this recipe yet; I’m on a special diet. When the diet is over in a day or so I may just have to fire up the old oven. Make Pizza at Home>>

Low Down,Dirty Best Buy?, MixTape.me, Mac Apps Galore

Cool Music

Hey Mama by Black Eyed Peas

Oh say it ain’t so Best Buy! Tell me it’s not true you lure unsuspecting victims customers into the store with the promise of honoring price matches, only to pull the rug out from them when it’s time to pony up. More Best buy Shame>>

When I found out there was another music service on the internet, I groaned: not another one?! I was skeptical till I tried out MixTape.me I was B L O W N  A W A Y!! The  MixTape.me UI (user interface) is slick, the music is CD quality – crisp and clear. MixTape.me is a music mashup: it integrates artist bios and album art from Last.fm, song lyrics from LyricWiki and music videos from Youtube. MixTape.me is most definitely worth your time: take a few minutes to look around – don’t be shy about registering for a free account, as I did. ReadWriteWeb has an informative article on MixTape.me

Alright Mac-Heads, this one’s for you. 100 Free Mac Apps to die for Pt. 1 and here is Pt. 2

Beware The Twitter Worm! This worm is only a proof-of-concept right now, if it isn’t addressed soon, it may become reality. Read More Here >> (ReadWriteWeb)

Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinking Rules!, DoINeedAnUmbrella, In-Flight Internet

Airbus 380

Read about five people who got tired of the time proven, sound advice of the “media experts”. They marched to the beat of a different drummer and won – against the odds! Read More Here

DoINeedAnUmbrella I already use, Yahoo Upcoming looks interesting. Are there any Cool Websites and Tools you like?

I have flown on average once a year for the past five years. I have never used the internet on any flight, although I would consider it on a long, boring flight. Here is an article on the state of in-flight internet

AT&T Has New Phone, Flock 2.0, Do You Hulu?

AT&T brings the first 3G walkman phone to the US market; the Sony Ericsson W760a http://snurl.com/4duah

Flock 2.0 Launches: Adds MySpace, Media RSS, and More http://snurl.com/4dugc

Do you Hulu yet? Here are ten shows that make it worth it. http://snurl.com/4dujy

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Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom

Viacom wins, Google appears to be spineless, and those of us who like to watch Youtube videos get screwed.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/judge-orders-yo.html

Update to Judge Orders YouTube . . . the situation is now looking better!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070300743.html

Will the government use your cell phone to track your every move?

http://peek.snipurl.com/2tcsg

Cell phone news

Virgin Mobile to buy Helio for $39 million in equity

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/27/virgin-mobile-to-buy-helio-for-39-million-in-equity/

Two years and $500 million later, Helio sells for a song. But why?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/27/two-years-and-half-billion-later-helio-sells-for-a-song-but-wh/

Unboxing of Nokia 6301 (T-Mobile)

http://www.phonemag.com/unboxing-of-nokia-6301-063547.php

LG enV2 from Verizon

http://www.phonemag.com/lg-env2-for-verizon-hands-on-063443.php

iPhone 3G launch update, phone news

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9978429-1.html

World’s first iPhone 3G on sale in New Zealand a day before the US

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/25/iphone-3g-on-sale-in-new-zealand-a-day-before-the-us/

Motorola Rokr E8 to land at T-Mobile

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9977212-1.html

Yelp

Yelp ( http://www.yelp.com/ ) and I hit it off right away. Yelp is a community of reviewers who have a common geographic region. There are yelp communities in large cities all over The United States. Yelpers write and post reviews on a large number of subjects; restaurants, shopping, and food are three of the largest categories. I came to appreciate yelp after I found a pool hall I didn’t know about in a neighborhood I had spent years in.

Got a Question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, a hot application, or a neat gadget? Drop me a line at asktonyc@aol.com

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3G Apple iphone, Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC)

Today at 1:00 O’clock EST marks the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce the release of the 3G iphone. Engadget has details on the iphone: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/iphone-3g-is-finally-official/ . To check out details of Steve Jobs keynote speech live from WWDC, click this link: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2008/ . Please excuse me for a moment, I have to wipe drool from my chin . . . I sooo want one!

Got a Question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, a hot application, or a neat gadget? Get at me at asktonyc@aol.com

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Best Freeware Utilities, Hopstop Update

I like free utilities that perform as advertised. Some of these applications work as well or better than commercial products. There are many articles out there that claim to list the best free utilities that will make your digital life run smoothly. Here is a list I have found myself returning to time and time again: The Best-ever Freeware Utilities List, http://www.techsupportalert.com/dr/

Hopstop update: I tested two of the three mobile features Hopstop, http://www.hopstop.com/ , offers(I do not have the smartphone I would need to see the maps feature that Hopstop can display on PDAS. The Good: The SMS feature functions as advertised. I sent a text message(SMS) to Hopstop – - I wanted directions from a location downtown on the west side of New York City to a destination on the upper west side. In very short order I received five text messages from Hopstop. The instructions they sent were correct and were clear enough to be serviceable. The Bad: If you do not have a text messaging plan, all of these text messages may take a sizable bite out of your wallet. Hopstop’s voice feature lets you speak into your cell phone to ask Hopstop for directions. The directions will still be sent to you in the form of a text message. The voice feature only works for street directions in New York. The voice feature had trouble understanding what I said. I had to repeat my requests several times.

I do not have a smart phone; I was unable to test the maps feature. Perhaps one of you kind smart phone owners will test out the maps feature and let me know what she thinks. The Ugly: I find it easier to use a map or ask for directions. Hopstop sometimes gave me directions that made my trips longer than they needed to be.

Got a question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, hot application, or a neat gadget? Drop us a line at asktonyc@aol.com

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Freecycle(TM) and Phonezoo update

Freecycle(TM) www.freecycle.org/ is an organization that allows people who have an item they no longer want to connect with others who would like to receive that item. This way our already overburdened landfills are spared from more trash, and both the donor and the recipient of the gift are happy. Items are not sold or bartered; they are given freely. I just registered a little while ago – - I will keep you posted on how things at Freecycle(TM) work out. By the way, the (TM) stands for the trademark symbol.

Phonezoo update: I tried downloading a free wallpaper yesterday. I got the wallpaper on my cell phone with no difficulty. Maybe I’ll try to download a game . . . just to see what happens! Please see my previous post about Phonezoo .

Have a question? I can be reached at asktonyc@aol.com.

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Free Ringtones

http://phonezoo.com is a lot of fun. You can download free ringtones, wallpapers, and games to your cell phone. My main concern with the site was my privacy. I was concerned that giving out my cell phone number would open the door to telemarketers; fortunately I realized that by going into my youmail account http://youmail.com , I would be able to counteract any telemarketers. Please see my earlier post about youmail. I currently have ten ringtones on my cell phone from phonezoo, I have not tried out any of the wallpapers, and the free game downloads are not currently compatible with my service (Verizon Wireless).

If you have news about cool websites, useful applications, neat gadgets, or funny stuff, let me know at asktonyc@aol.com

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Welcome To Ask Tony C

Ask Tony C
asktonyc@aol.com

Welcome to Ask Tony C, a fun blog sharing cool websites, useful applications, neat gadgets, and funny stuff. Write and tell us about some of your favorite sites and gadgets. Also, check me out at Global Vibe Magazine (www.globalvibemagazine.com).

Cool Sites:
http://www.youmail.com
This site allows you to set different greetings for people who leave a message on your cellphone. You can leave a goofy message for your friends, sweet messages for loved ones, and professional messages for business. Youmail has thousands of recorded messages in many categories. You also have the option of recording your own personal greeting. Youmail also has a wonderful feature called ditchmail. Ditchmail prevents a caller from leaving a message on your phone. I had a telemarketer call me on my cellphone. He was trying to sell me satellite TV. I put his number into my Youmail contact list and set a pre-recorded message for his phone number. The message is one most of us have heard – - a woman says ” we’re sorry – - the number you have called is no longer in service . . .” To use Youmail, it is necessary to make some changes to a few settings on your cellphone. The changes you make will disconnect your voice mail from your cellphone service provider and instead connect it to the servers at Youmail. I recommend that you write down the initial values for the settings that have to be changed; This way you will be able to switch back to your service provider’s voice mail system quite easily.

http://www.jimmyr.com
This cool site takes up a good bit of my time every day. jimmyr (Jimmy Ruska) is a great collection of the best that several sites have to offer: Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Wired, Youtube, Fark, Wikihow, Stumbleupon, and Lifehacker are some of the sites that jimmyr reviews and posts to his site on a daily basis. jimmyr.com also has a great collection of video tutorials on programming, “How To”, and a wide variety of other subjects that will be of interest to anyone who spends a fair amount of time online. There are so many more great things that jimmyr.com has to offer. So check it out.

http://www.quamut.com
This cool how to site explains in detail how to accomplish certain tasks. It’s great for those who want to acquire a new skill or improve on an old one. I found the section on faucet repair illuminating. The clear, easy to read instructions and the well illustrated diagrams make learning how to get things done a snap.

http://www.spokeo.com
There are a lot of sites that you are interested in. There is only so much time to devote to staying up to date on them. Spokeo lets you stay up to date without having to check up on each individual site. Simply enter the URLs of each site that you are interested in and Spokeo sends out an e-mail (in my case, about once a week) with a link to any new information.

http://www.pandora.com
Free streaming music that’s tailored to your taste. What more could you ask for? OK this site is ad supported; it really doesn’t stop me from recommending Pandora – - it knows what music you want to hear before you do.

Hot Applications:
Kcoolonline
http://www.kcoolonline.com – This site gives you the ability to download your favorite online videos directly to your computer. Kcoolonline will work on videos from over 200 websites.

Mozilla Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ – This web browser is superior to Internet Explorer. I used Internet Explorer for years – - it crashed often and without warning. I have been using Firefox for the last few months without one glitch!

IrfanView
This image viewer, created by Irfan Skiljan, allows you to resize, crop, edit, and add text to your images. These are only the tip of the iceberg – - there are many more things that can be done with IrfanView: file conversions, batch file conversions, and red eye removal are also a snap with this handy application.

Screenhunter 5.0 Free
Sometimes when I’m web surfing, I’ll come across some image or text that I would like to make a copy of. Screenhunter 5.0 Free, owned by Wisdom Software Inc., Does just what I need – - quick screenshots with no muss and no fuss.

Ccleaner
If you share a computer with others, you may not want them to be able to track your recent online (or offline) activities. Ccleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) will remove temporary internet files, empty the recycle bin, get rid of tracking cookies, and empty the History file on your computer. Ccleaner, which comes to us courtesy of Piriform Ltd, also has a neat uninstaller which I found to be quick and thorough. Did I mention it’s free for personal use?

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Hey guys, let me know about the latest gadgets people are using in your part of the world or submit any new happenings around the web to asktonyc@aol.com. Spammers can hit me up here: http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/spam/