YouTube

YouTube has been open for business for five years. Last October, 2009, it stated that it was getting one billion hits a day. Now, Google owned YouTube gets over two billion hits a day on the site. The site said its traffic is more than double the traffic of the top three commercial TV stations combined.

YouTube is no longer just for quick and funny videos, it now has live sports (complete games), news, live music concerts and more. There are twenty four hours of new video content uploaded each minute.  The best part is that Billy Mays commercials are 'on demand' and not 'in your face'.

Cell Phones and Facebook

True - 21-year-old Korey Woodard stole a cell phone from a University of Illinois student. After he stole the phone, he took pictures of himself with it, then connected it to his computer to transfer the pictures off the phone. What he failed to realize was the university student had his phone set to automatically upload all new pictures to his Facebook profile when it connects to a computer. Two days after the phone was stolen, a picture of Woodard’s smiling face appeared on the victim’s profile.

Stop That

From USATODAY

Skype TV Telephone

Many of you have heard of Skype, the free phone calling service, but did you know Skype free calling is now available on your TV. Of course you have to hook up a camera and microphone to call from the comfort of your couch. It only works on Samsung and Panasonic for now, but LG has announced plans to have it within months and I am sure more will follow by the end of this year. 
Sounds like fun, use Skype for a free family conference call and it will seem like you are all in one room, with pictures right on your TV, while you are talking. I can see this becoming a holiday and birthday favorite.

Someone Special

If you have someone in your life who is special, and you don't have Skype -  sit back, relax, and listen to this music from John Denver and Placido Domingo.

Regrow Teeth in Your Mouth

Columbia University has developed a technique for regrowing teeth in a patient’s mouth by homing stem cells to a scaffold made of natural materials and integrated in surrounding tissue, there is no need to use harvested stem cell lines, or create an environment outside of the body where the tooth is grown and then implanted once it has matured.

The tooth instead can be grown in the socket where the tooth will integrate with surrounding tissue in ways that are impossible with hard metals or other materials. The procedure could eliminate the need for dentures and conventional dental implants, which can take up to 18 months to heal, graft, and eventually put into place.

The work of Dr. Mao holds promise of a more natural process, faster recovery times, and a harnessing of the body’s own potential to regrow tissue that will not give out and could ultimately last the patient’s lifetime.

Dennis Hopper

He passed away last week at 74 of Prostate Cancer. Many knew him as an actor, but he was also an accomplished artist and photographer. Here is a LINK to to some of his paintings.

Eight Celebrity Name Changes

Michael Keaton was born Michael Douglas (no relation).
Comedian Albert Brooks was born Albert Einstein (no relation)
Krishna Pandit Bhanji is now Ben Kinglsey
Demi Moore was Demetria Guynes
Miley Ray Cyrus was born Destiny Hope Cyrus
Bono was born Paul Hewson
Audrey Hepburn was Audrey Kathleen Ruston
Whoopi Goldberg was Caryn Johnson.

Floppy

Floppys are not always bad things. If you have some old floppy disks laying around and you happen to live in snow country, throw one in your glove box and use it for an excellent ice scraper. They also work well to prop up wobbly tables or book shelves.

Tito Beveridge

He is the guy behind Tito's hand made vodka that Texans have come to love. Tito's is corn vodka

His thoughts about vodka, potato vodkas are real lean, corn has more body, rye has tartness, and wheat is all over the map. His favorite drink - Tito’s and seltzer, soda, sparkling water or any other bubbly water with a lime and an orange.

When to Text

Here are the results from a survey from Mashable. Not sure I can add anything to this one, except SCARY!.

Speaking of Toilet Texting

A Japanese man found a new use for Twitter. While sitting on the toilet in a Tokyo store, he discovered there was no toilet paper, so he tweeted an urgent message and someone brought him some. Now that is practical use of technology.

Nix the Lowfat Dressing

Contrary to dieters inclinations, research shows that pairing a salad with full-fat or olive oil-based dressing helps your body absorb the nutrients in the salad.

Six Great Google Tricks

We all know Google is great for searches, but here are a few tips to make your online life simpler.
If you want to track a USPS, UPS, or FedEx package, no need to go to their site, just type in the tracking code to find out where your package is.
How about that flight? Just type in an airline flight number to get its arrival/departure status.
If you need a quick stock quote, just type in the stock symbol.
Are you looking for a movie? Type in movies followed by your city name.
Wondering if it will rain today? Type in weather followed by your zip code.
Last, don't forget to use the quote marks for names, like "chuck norris" or "liberty bell" to get the whole name.
If you want to buy my books, you don't need Google, just click Amazon