Spramp Hodgepodge 1

Originally uploaded by Burn-A-Bee

In no particular order, 10 news- and blog-worthy things that caught my attention today. It's a little bit geeky, somewhat artsy, and big gay and fun. Enjoy the hodgepodge...

• What's So Special About Left-Handers?, Seattle Times (November 3, 2007)
• Las Vegas Goes All Out to Attract Gay Travelers, Wall Street Journal (November 2, 2007)
• Imperium: Google's March Towards Becoming America's Biggest Company, TechCrunch (November 1, 2007)
• Consolidate Your Phones with GrandCentral [Screenshot Tour], Lifehacker (November 1, 2007)
• Ireland to Introduce Civil Partnership Legislation, Towleroad (November 1, 2007)
• 25 Best Web Sites, Kiplinger (November 2007)
• Pilots Fell Asleep on Overnight Flight, Rick Seaney (November 2, 2007)
• Invention of the Year: iPhone, Ars Technica (November 1, 2007)
• Sotheby's Surprising Sizzle, Business Week (November 12, 2007)
• An Explosion of Color, in Black and White, New York Magazine (November 1, 2007)
  

Image is courtesy of Burn-a-Bee - check out his photo set "Macros of a Dying Plant," from which I chose the image.

It's Official: I'm Addicted to Moola.com

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)
I've been remiss once again with blogging, but I've been hard at work - my "other" work - I promise. In my breaks, however, I've been Beta-hopping. What, you might ask, is Beta-hopping? I've been testing out quite a few Web sites/services that are in Beta-testing mode - sites that aren't officially "live," but rather sites that are testing things out with people who've been "invited." Keep those invites coming! Recently I got a fantastic invite for Moola.com - an online site that offers visitors up to $10 million by competing with each other on 3 games on the site. Moola gives you a penny, and it is up to you to try to double it by winning matches against others. Each win, in theory, can double your bank: so 1 cent to 2 cent; 2 to 4; 4 to 8; up to $10 million. The games are easy to figure out: Hi/Lo card game; Rock, Paper, Scissors; and Guess the Weight of Gold Nuggets. But as easy as they are, they can be rather frustrating! I spent well over 3 hours last night, only to get 2 cents by the end of the night - can we say obsessive? You can earn more money, using Moola as your search page - it uses Google to handle the searches. The site also has cashback you can earn by shopping on partner sites. The site earns revenue by selling ads that each gamer has to watch before he/she can play. It's not as bad as you think, actually. I only wish the ads were shorter. My other suggestion is: more games! Playing the three games over and over gets tiring. But having said that, the site still manages to grab that competitive spirit of folks like myself, keeping us on the site for hours and hours. Good for Moola - bad for trying to those of us trying to be productive citizens.

If you want a Moola invite from me, CLICK HERE or on the SCREENSHOT below.

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)

BTW: I'm out of Grand Central Invites. Thanks for those who wrote to ask for one! Cheers!

Interesting: InviteShare.com Might Be Your Answer

Screenshot of InviteShare.com
I've been getting a lot of traffic from the Grand Central blog, when I posted my need for a Grand Central invite (which is fantastic!). Grand Central invites are highly coveted - which is understandable since GC is super fantastic! If you still want an invite for Grand Central or any other highly coveted Web sites in Beta testing or sites that are exclusive, you might want to try InviteShare (www.inviteshare.com), where a whole community of invite-seekers and the invited can congregate and share! Grand Central is among the top invites on InviteShare, btw. Check it!

Interesting: I Want a Grand Central Number!

Addendum (08.15.2007): Thanks to the fantastic Sean I just got an invite to Grand Central ... woot woot! Much Spramp love to Sean! ;) Can't wait to try it. So you no longer need to send me an invite, but I can still be your BFF, if you want. xoxo jan


Grand Central Home Page Screen Shot (Source)
I've been a devoted Skype user for years now - the unlimited nationwide calling plan that it offers sold me, and so too did the Skype-In number. Though now I'm totally convinced that the start-up that Google just acquired called Grand Central is on to something bigger and dare I say better than Skype's service. Grand Central's premise is simple: one phone number for all your phone numbers - a universal phone number managed on the Web:

GrandCentral offers many features that complement the phone services you already use. If you have multiple phone numbers (e.g., home, work, cell), you get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some, or none of your phones, based on who's calling. This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job. The service also gives you one central voice mailbox. You can listen to your voicemails online or from any phone, forward them to anybody, add the caller to your address book, block a caller as spam, and a lot more. You can even listen in on voicemail messages from your phone while they are being recorded, or switch a call from your cell phone to your desk phone and back again. All in all, you'll have a lot more control over your phones. (Source)

To test the beta service out, you'll have to get an invite from a current user, or you can reserve your number on the Grand Central home page (www.grandcentral.com) and wait patiently. I've put in several reservation requests using multiple e-mail addresses of mine (shhh, don't tell!), but still haven't gotten any response. If anyone wants to make this spramp's day, I'd love, love, love an invite (jan@sprampblog.com)! I will be your BFF! That said, Grand Central is on its way of revolutionizing telephony! Way to go!


Grand Central Presentation at DEMO 2006 (Source: GrandCentralCom via YouTube)