I've always hated punch cards. You know, the kind you get at a restaurant, bakery or oil change place that reward you for every X number of purchases?
It's not that I don't like getting something for free as a reward for doing business with someone. It's that I can never remember to take the punch card with me when I visit the establishment. That, and I really don't like carrying them in my wallet (for more on this watch this video).
Which means I have about 3 or 4 punch cards for each place b…
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Added by Patric Welch on October 7, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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Being a techie isn't always all roses. Like today when my techie skills were put to the test... by my plumber.
I could write an entire post on the reason I had a plumber at my house but since it isn't even in the slightest bit related to technology let's just leave it at the fact that I hired a plumber to look at some questionable plumbing in my house.
It didn't take long for the plumber to determine that my plumbing was bad. Really bad. So bad in fact that he asked me if I had a digital camer…
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Added by Patric Welch on September 4, 2009 at 7:30pm —
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MICROWAVE NEWS 9/30/08
Striking Increase cited At Congressional Hearing
In many ways, last Thursday's Congressional hearing on cell phone cancer risks, called by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), brought few surprises. David Carpenter and Ronald Herberman made the case for precaution, especially for children, while National Cancer Institute's Robert Hoover countered that he is not persuaded that there's anything to worry about.
One piece of compelling news did emerge, however —though it never…
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Added by Judie Allen on August 30, 2009 at 11:31am —
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Microwave News 8/16/09
John Aitken, a well-known fertility researcher, is advising men who want to have children not to keep active mobile phones below their waists. This issue, he says, "deserves our immediate attention."
Aitken's research group at the University of Newcastle in Australia has found that human sperm exposed to mobile phone radiation (1.8 GHz) for 16 hours had reduced vitality and motility, two key indices of fertility. Notably, he has also confirmed his own previous study, p…
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Added by Judie Allen on August 28, 2009 at 4:57pm —
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I admit it. Today, I was on a roll catching up on email when I realized I had to go to the bathroom. It actually bugged me because it was the kind of bathroom trip that takes more than a few minutes if you catch my drift.
And that's when I did it. I grabbed my iPhone and took it with me to the bathroom. Mind you I work out of my house so I still had my privacy despite the fact that I probably lost my dignity.
So there I was. Doing my business while "doing my business".
I was so proud of my ti…
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Added by Patric Welch on July 20, 2009 at 8:00am —
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Last night, my wife and I attended the Billy Joel, Elton John Face 2 Face concert. It's no surprise that, since our kids were born, we haven't been to a lot of concerts so I found it fascinating to people-watch throughout the concert.
Even more fascinating was the tremendous use (and mis-use) of technology during the concert. I wish I could have talked to the people I observed but it was a little too crowded for that. But here's what I would have said:
- To the teenagers and 20 somethin
…
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Added by Patric Welch on May 20, 2009 at 7:30am —
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I need 300 people to help make a fundraiser that I am putting together for my local high school band students a great success!
I am putting together a fundraiser at Morty's Comedy Joint on Thursday Night. I would like for you all to join Karen Wolfley, Margaret Medley, myself and others for a great comedy show starring Jamie Lissow.
What a great opportunity to
network, get a great comedy show and support this cause all at the same time. I am raising money for children at a local (Indian…
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Added by Cissi Sherlock on May 16, 2009 at 3:04pm —
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My dad recently asked me to settle an argument between him and my mom. My mom said she heard on the news that "it is now possible, when your cell phone is in the on position, to listen in from anywhere. This includes 'sitting in' on board meetings and stealing company secrets if one of the participants has his or her cell phone on the table in the on position." My dad, on the other hand, doesn't buy a bit of this.
When my dad first emailed this to me, I laughed at how preposterous this sounded.…
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Added by Patric Welch on May 5, 2009 at 7:30am —
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Recently I met Karen Wolfley and Margaret Medley here at Smaller Indiana. They are two great people!
We put our heads together and have come up with some things.
Here's how it went. Karen received an email from a networking group of hers inviting her to plan an event at
Morty's Comedy Joint. She contacted me thinking that doing something at Morty's would be perfect for my group,
Make me laugh - Show me…
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Added by Cissi Sherlock on May 1, 2009 at 6:00pm —
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As a service to our community,
Operation "OpenUP!" is registered with the Department of Workforce Development to receive a loan of 4 computers for 1 year.
The primary purpose for these computers is to allow members of our community more flexibility in filing their unemployment claims, filing weekly vouchers and allowing access to any other services that WorkOne might offer. As I have recently signed up for the
MindLeaders program, I see th…
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Added by Cissi Sherlock on March 30, 2009 at 5:10pm —
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Techies have been throwing around the term
smart phone for a while now. The term is used to describe cell phones with enhanced features such as web browsing, email and video. Think
iPhone,
BlackBerry or Treo.
As "smart" as these phones are, I never thought they would compete with…
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Added by Patric Welch on March 27, 2009 at 4:30pm —
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I work in a world where my target message recipients are not infrequently very limited in their web access, I was excited to find a fellow web marketer using a cellular method of signing up for message delivery! Hurrah! Then I signed up and shoot, the IT gatekeepers have shut me down, aka they filtered my desired content: an untrusted or expired SSL certificate.
So many details to getting the message through (just ask ExactTarget about effective email delivery).
…
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Added by Mark Bucherl on March 5, 2009 at 12:39pm —
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I'm
at the beginning of a transition from a casual, if not reluctant cell phone user to a smartphone evangelist. Maybe. Most of my cell phone use to date has been the kind where I check the time or wait for it to ring so I can talk to my wife. I don't use it to surf for information or check email, but I do text Twitter from time to time. That will change this week with the arrival of a new Android G1 with a T-Mobile data plan,…
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Added by Kevin Makice on March 2, 2009 at 4:31pm —
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One week ago I had never heard of a cell phone lot. Then I went to pick up my niece at the brand new and totally redesigned Indianapolis airport. That's when I discovered that cell phone lots are a brilliant invention.
If you are like me a week ago and have no idea what a cell phone lot is let me explain. A cell phone lot is a small parking lot just outside the airport where you can park for free (at least it's free in Indianapolis) while waiting for someone's plane to arrive. The idea is that…
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Added by Patric Welch on February 18, 2009 at 7:52pm —
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Recent article in Westside Flyer
INDIANAPOLIS — Cissi Sherlock once was down and out.
She’s back on her feet now, but she hasn’t forgotten her past. It’s why she started
Operation Open Up, a community outreach that gives those in need a recycled, reactivated cell phone pre-loaded with 100 free minutes to help them get established in a home and/or job.
More than a year after starting
Operation Open Up, there’s good…
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Added by Cissi Sherlock on February 7, 2009 at 10:30am —
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How to advertise your business without spending a dimeFebruary 04, 2009 by Patric Welch
Topics: Phones & Mobile Devices
Everybody's looking for lower cost ways to advertise these days so I wanted to tell you a quick story on how I got the best advertising money can buy... without spending a dime.
Last Friday I was attending a Rainmakers networking event. During the keynote portion of the event (that's not what it's really called but work with me), a cell phone from someone sitting in the f…
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Added by Patric Welch on February 5, 2009 at 6:19am —
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Remember the good 'ol days when you were with your family and wanted to call to wish someone happy birthday? Each person in your family would run to a separate room and grab an extension phone so they could all listen and speak at the same time. Well, actually one person would dial the phone number and once it started ringing would yell "PICK IT UP!" to everyone else in the house.
Fast forward a couple decades where cell phones are commonplace. So commonplace in fact that many people have begun…
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Added by Patric Welch on January 31, 2009 at 7:32am —
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Do you feel like you're running a technology marathon?
I just came back from a long weekend trip to Arizona where I had a chance to visit three of my sisters as well as complete the P.F. Changs Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. This is the fourth half marathon I have completed and each time I have discovered another trick or two to help me complete the half marathon with more energy and less injury.
I also discovered that while I may not be the best half marathon competitor, I can definitely still c…
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Added by Patric Welch on January 22, 2009 at 5:53am —
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Quick, tell me how many minutes you used on your cell phone last month? If you don't know the answer maybe it's time to look a little closer at your next statement. Better yet, go back a few statements and figure out your average monthly usage. You might be overpaying for your minutes.
I just did this little exercise and found out that I used an average of 500 minutes per month over the past three months. My plan entitles me to 1,400 minute per month so I found this a bit troubling.
After logg…
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Added by Patric Welch on January 19, 2009 at 4:42pm —
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I remember as a kid how I excited I was when I woke up on a school day and discovered several inches of snow had fallen on the ground. The first thought that always hit me was, "I hope school is closed!"
In those days, there wasn't a whole lot of technology to announce school closings. In fact, the primary communication method was the radio. And the radio stations only announced the school delays and closings every 15 minutes so you really had to pay attention. And since they always made the an…
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Added by Patric Welch on December 17, 2008 at 6:35pm —
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