I don’t often just plug companies - especially when they aren’t paying me to do so! But, there is one company that I really like, use, and hope catches on. That is ZipCar. Basically they are a service in about ten large cities that let you rent a car by the hour. OK, I know, what is so cool about a car rental service?
Well first of all the fact that you can rent by the hour instead of the day. So say I am in Boston on a trip and I just want to go drive out to the suburbs for some reason. Yes, I could take a taxi, but I like to drive. This enables me to go where I want, when I want.
Second, once you sign up for a membership with them there isn’t any of that dealing with a rental agent, paperwork, and do they have a car. You simply go online to the city you need, enter the date and time you need the car, and put in the general location where you want to pick it up. There are cars strategically positioned all over the supported cities. When you find the one you want you just click the button to reserve it online. That’s it! The send you an RFID encoded membership card so that when you go to the car you reserved at the prescribed time you can just wave your membership card over the windshield and the car opens. The keys are already in it. It is that simple!
Finally, and this would be cool for a lot of people, if you live in one of these big cities and normally just use mass transit and such, you can buy a membership that gives you a certain number of hours per month. You could then use the car to run errands, get groceries, or go on dates. Whatever! It gives the non-car owner the benefits of car usage without the hassles. Just return it to its designated parking spot when you are done.
Anyway, I think it is a great time-share kind of way to use a car. I also like it because I get to try out all sorts of different cars in a real world environment. My wife and I used it last year in Boston to drive up the coast and then down to a New England Revolution soccer game. With mass transit or a taxi we would not have had the freedom to explore or the ability to go where we wanted. And with a standard rental car we would have had to plan ahead much more carefully. With this we just booked the car when we saw that we were going to have some time free. Oh, and no credit card required! Debit cards work just fine. Try that with most rental car companies.
Anyway, give them a check. A very interesting and useful concept, and I wish them much success.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Saw this one posted on Digg today, and I just had to repost it. I have always liked this quote and the sentiments that it brings. Many time you hear people saying that you can’t criticize the president or the government or their minister or whomever. The truth is that it is through that critique that you improve situations and bring to light both the positives and the negatives. How would you ever learn in school or in life if no one ever told you what you did wrong or could improve upon. Plus, by having to defend ourselves against criticism, we fine tune our positions and make our arguements stronger.
Finally, rarely do you criticize something you don’t care about. If I give an opinion to a group and hear no comments, I know that no one cares. That is far, far worse that any criticism could ever be. If absolutely everyone is in agreement with me, then I know that I am wrong.
Sometimes it is the small things that make me happy. And who knows, maybe this one might make you happy too. The first part is your Internet home page. Do you just use a random one or the one that your computer’s manufacturer set up? Well, if so, you might want to try using Google as your home page. Why? Because you can customize it to have lots of your frequently used links, news, and other web stuff. Just go to the Google home page and then “Personalized Home” link up in the top right corner. Or, if you already have a GMail account just sign in.
Once you get to the personalized page, just make it your home page. This is done through preferences on Safari or Firefox and through Tools / Options on Internet Explorer. Not that it is your home page just customize away! Add news, email, weather and such. Too much for one page? Just add a tab. Then you can have financial links on one tab, news on another, and personal fun stuff on another. Or make it however you want it.
The final thing about this that makes me happy is that you can now apply themes to this. I have mine set to a “beach”. The cool thing about that is that it changes with my local time of day so the sun rises and sets. Yes, a small thing and totally superfluous, but I like it. It makes me happy. And when was the last time that your computer just simply made you happy?
First of all I will admit that I really like Pink. The singer, not the color. Anyway, I think she is simply cool and her music is excellent. She shows a talent and independence that is very rare in this American Idol obsessed society. One of her songs that I really like is off her newest album, “I Am Not Dead”, and is titled “Dear Mr. President”. I found a video have have posted it below. I really had to think this over for a while before posting because I am sure it will tick off some good friend… not to mention the people who aren’t my friends! But, if it stirs up discussion that is a good thing. And I also remembered some blogging advice I once read that said if you really weren’t sure whether or not to post something, then you ought to do it. If it is important enough to make you uncomfortable about saying it, then it is definitely important enough to be said.
So, here goes. Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” from the CD “I Am Not Dead”….
Other than the fact that I really don’t like coffee, at least not in its hot form, this doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Although in my area I may vote for the Atlanta Bread Company over Starbucks just to shorten the commute. What the heck am I talking about? I am talking about using places with open wireless connectivity as remote offices.
On SlashDot today, PetManimal writes “The laptop and wireless revolutions have led to the rise of a new class of digital ‘Bedouins’ — tech workers who ply their crafts from Starbucks and other locations with WiFi access. Another article describes some strategies and tools for embracing the Bedouin way of life, and even having fun: ‘If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you’re on the clock. In other words, you can travel for fun and adventure and keep on working. You can travel a lot more without needing more official vacation time. I’ve done it. In August I took a month long vacation to Central America, backpacking from one Mayan ruin to the next, and I never officially took time off. I submitted my columns, provided reports and other input, participated in conference calls and interacted via e-mail. I used hotel Wi-Fi connections and local cybercafes to communicate and Skype to make business calls. Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.’”
