Nels Wadycki

From the popular Facebook meme, here’s the definition of Nels on UrbanDictionary.com:

Nels Uncategorized Facebook, Memes, Nels, Nels Wadycki

As an only child, I kind of enjoy the solitude that comes with working from home. Of course, as I tell people when they ask if I like it better: If I could walk across the hall, and be in the office downtown, I’d go into work every day.

When I’m at home, though, I can watch Hulu during my lunch break without looking like I’m slacking off.

Nels Uncategorized Hulu, Working From Home

Only the obvious ones have been submitted to the SongsInCodeDB.

worldAsWeKnowIt.end(); self.feel = “fine”;

Wish skeelo = new Wish[]; skeelo[0] = “taller”; skeelo[1] = “baller”; skeelo[2] = “girl who looked good”;

if (ready) { hereICome = true; } else { hereICome = true; } you.hide = false;

if ( !woman ) { cry = false; }

temperature = temperature + 100; clothes.off();

Guitar g = new Guitar(); g.color = “#CCCCCC”; if ( picasso.know() ) { buy(g); g.play(); }

if ( romeo.makelove(juliet) ) { juliet.cry(); }

public boolean bringDown(landslide) { if ( reflection.see() ) { landslide–; bringDown(landslide); } }

Problem[] jz = new Problem[99]; for (int p=0; p

dc = chillin; pg = chillin; if (this.name == wale) { kill(it); }

if ( me.hasWorld() ) { empire.build(); }

Nels Memes, Social web, Twitter, Uncategorized Songs In Code, Twitter

Nels Uncategorized

Of course, Read/WriteWeb compares it to Twitter rather than, say, Yahoo Answers (which is the first product that I would think to compare it to).

Whatever comparison you make, though, Aardvark sounds pretty cool. (Too bad the URL www.aardvark.com was already taken, leaving them with the awkward vark.com)

Basically, what Aardvark does (or will do, when it’s out of beta) is allow you to send questions to your instant messaging client (provided that you use Gmail, AIM, or MSN Live Messenger) and get answers back.

In the RWW post there is another picture with a real demonstration of an Aardvark user looking for book recommendations for someone who likes Neal Stephenson. As someone who likes Neal Stephenson, this is a great example (and I’m sure it was chosen since it would appeal to tech geeks who tend to be Stephenson’s usual audience). Again, as someone who likes Stephenson, and related authors, I can say that the recommendations given by the Aardvark responses were really very good.

RWW had 25 beta invites, but those are gone now. I’ve signed up to get my own, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

Nels Uncategorized

I mean, it’s not like I do it that often anyway (since it’s so freaking expensive), but this (clearly biased, but still somewhat informative) article has convinced me. I usually respond to people’s text message by calling them since it’s cheaper (and usually faster) to call.

Some quotes from the article:

20 class-action lawsuits have been filed around the country against AT&T and the other carriers, alleging price-fixing for text messaging services.

For those financial analyst type folks:

T-Mobile called Mr. Kohl’s attention to the fact that its “average revenue per text message, which takes into account the revenue for all text messages, has declined by more than 50 percent since 2005.”

This statement seems like good news for customers. But consider what is left out: In the past three years, the volume of text messaging in the United States has grown tenfold, according to CTIA — the Wireless Association, a trade group based in Washington. If T-Mobile enjoyed growth that was typical, its text messaging revenue grew fivefold, even with the steep drop in per-message revenue.

For those slightly more technically inclined people:

text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network.

That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.

And a quote for people who like buffets:

Once one understands that a text message travels wirelessly as a stowaway within a control channel, one sees the carriers’ pricing plans in an entirely new light. The most profitable plan for the carriers will be the one that collects the most revenue from the customer: unlimited messaging, for which AT&T and Sprint charge $20 a month and T-Mobile, $15.

Customers with unlimited plans, like diners bringing a healthy appetite to an all-you-can-eat cafeteria, might think they’re getting the best out of the arrangement. But the carriers, unlike the cafeteria owners, can provide unlimited quantities of “food” at virtually no cost to themselves — so long as it is served in bite-sized portions.

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Image via Wikipedia

Today is the day Oprah started giving away Suze Orman’s new book 2009 Action Plan, and the site has been unreachable since just after the show aired on the East Coast. The book will be available on the site for a week, but I think it’s a sign of the times when everyone is rushing to get free advice from Suze as soon as it’s available.

Nels Uncategorized

I was looking to acquire a game that I played some over the holidays at my brother-in-law’s house (I won’t reveal the name since, as you can see, the rating is pretty low – which is actually why I held off on getting the game until I played it), and noticed that Amazon has partnered with 1up.com to provide editorial ratings on their video game product pages.

I’m not going to go looking or anything, but I’ll be interested to see if I come across any other partners incorporated into Amazon’s product pages.

Nels Uncategorized

After nearly 2 months of silence, I am made aware of Howie’s latest project via the magic of RSS. I’m going to reserve comment on said latest project, but just wanted to promote the old RSS since I still feel guilty about missing RSS Awarenesss Day.

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ReadWriteWeb has news about Weird Al’s new music release plan, which entails:

releasing songs on iTunes right after he finishes them, bypassing the standard album model for a faster and more flexible approach.

I only mention it because I’ve been waiting for this moment for probably close to 10 years. Ever since Ben said it would happen.

And thus, the death knell sounds for The Album as we know it. Sure, it’s not going to go away any time soon because the major lables will probably take another 10-20 years to realize that most artists are better off selling singles as they produce them. I realize this may be hard for some artists who are used to going on tour and then holing up to write and record a whole album, but it’s a concept that’s been around for a long time, albeit in a slightly different form known as the EP. The Smashing Pumpkins released their American Gothic EP exclusively as a download on iTunes and then followed it up with a CD vesrion that is only available in the US as an Import. (Yes, I know there are probably many other more recent and pertinent examples, but that’s the one I picked, because the Smashing Pumpkins were one of the first bands to release a full album [two in fact] on the internet for free, and they deserve a lot more credit for that than I feel they received)

Anyway, the point is: I am excited to see that the Single is one step closer to replacing the Album.

Nels Uncategorized