Welcome to Something for Nothing

Maybe I’m just a sports addict, but I really love the Tour de France. I may even venture to say I like it more now that Lance is gone than I liked it when he was there and winning. I think Americans like the underdog story and I’m no exception. I guess we do also like the domination story, but not nearly as much as the underdog.

I found a cool google mashup for watching the Tour de France and the cyclists on it. Not a bad idea to watch the cyclists on a map. The real question will be how often it is updated. Plus, this map will suck until they get into the mountains and the field is spread out across the course. Until then it is just one large pack and isn’t too meaningful.

I ran across another VOIP competitor to Skype (http://www.skype.com) today. It is very nice to see more players in the market. Espescially because iCall (http://www.icall.com) offers a number of things that Skype doesn’t offer.

Here’s a few of the highlights of iCall:

• Free calls to the USA and Canada for ALL internet users(skype only allows US residents to make these calls)
  • From their site: That’s right, 100% free. We’ll never charge you to make a call to the US or Canada. Other places charge up to 3 cents a minute and restrict who can call who.
• Free customizeable voicemail
  • From their site: We have free inbound access numbers in almost every US area code. Just have your friends call one one of them and enter your iCall extension.
• 100% free unlimited inbound calling
  • From their site: Everyone should have voicemail, so we give it to you. This make take some getting used to - our competitors charge several dollars a month for voicemail service.

I’m not sure how they are able to afford the free calling, but I say enjoy it as much as we can. I love to use this at work because if I use my work phone for a personal long distance call then I have to pay for it. If I use iCall it’s FREE!!

Thanks to my nice new wireless internet I have fallen in love with sitting on the couch and using my laptop. Too bad my legs get so hot with my laptop on my lap that I have to just stop using it for a while to cool off. It doesn’t make it any worse that I live in Las Vegas where it’s so hot. I found a possible solution to my problem called Table Mate (http://www.tvproducts4less.com/table-mate-2.html) The key for me is that this table has 6 different height adjustments and 3 different table positions. Who knows where I’ll want to sit with it. It has to adjust to it.