Scoop The Dirt

Hello everyone!  I am excited to be here on Scoopthedirt.com sharing my passion for science and technology with you.  Before I get started, I would like to send a big thank you shout-out to Gabe Lee who created this amazing page for me. I can’t thank him enough.  I absolutely love the logo he designed for me over there to the right because, ironically, it ties in with my first post.

It seems like everywhere I go these days, I feel as if I’m the only one without an Iphone or an Itouch (Iphone-phone-camera=Itouch.)  Both of these devices share features and wireless mobility that I would LOVE to employ in my own crazy lifecasting world; twitter, geo-location, web browsing, link sharing, etc.  Friends that know my lust for such devices are still completely dumbfounded that I don’t have one yet.  The simple truth is that along with having three kids comes three undergraduate experiences to fund.  So instead of firing off tweets from a shiny Iphone, I will be sending smoke signals from a fire for a while.  Please believe me, however, that long before children came into my life, I was on top of the tech device scene.  My wife and I were among the first to own Palm Pilots back when they were still made by 3COM… who?  We were both rockin’ the first Motorola flip phones in fashionable faux leather cases, back when the phrase “can you hear me now?” was MUCH more prevalent.  As time passed, I upgraded to all of the slick Nokia phones to keep me covered on the voice front and for everything else, I relied on the top-of-the-line Palm device, the “Lifedrive.”  With my Wi-Fi connection at home and all the free Wi-Fi available in public, I was on top of the world.  Nobody else had this device and I was King!  I was checking e-mail while waiting for my bags at the airport, watching movies on the plane, and reading slashdot.org during my downtime, all from the palm of my hand.  The George Jetson era had arrived and I was on easy street… until that last fateful trip to Minnesota.  I arrived back home to kick off my shoes and do all of the above on my pocket mistress and nothing!  It would not turn on, it would not respond to the charger, it would not go get a cold beer for me… NOTHING!   After a valiant attempt at replacing the 4Gb microdrive with a 4Gb flashdrive and failing, I had to relinquish my little friend to the land of misfit toys.  This was all happening at about the same time when everyone I knew was getting into the Iphone scene and I wanted to be one of them!  I wanted an Iphone so badly that I could taste it.  But being of sound mind and knowing that Verizon already owned me, I knew that I had to come up with another solution.  With some research and some patience, the solution to replacing my Lifedrive and attaining what I really needed in my mobile life turned out to be four simple steps.

1st - I bought the 120 Gb Ipod classic for music and video.  It has the most storage for the buck and let’s face it, at 42, I have a lot of mandatory media to carry with me!

2nd - I signed up for a five phone family plan with Verizon.  With three texting teens, I upgraded to the 1400 shared minutes/ unlimited texting plan.  I blocked all web data to avoid surprise charges.  Text is today’s child’s preferred mode of communication anyway, so I accepted that and got the LG enV® 2 so I could at least have a keyboard.  The beauty of this plan was that I could rely on a constant bill each month, ~$160.

3rd - With the realization that I am rarely away from a web capable computer, I let go of the idea that I NEEDED wireless connectivity everywhere I went.

4th - Learning the ways of SMS and MMS to do the simple digital updating tasks that have become key to nearly everyone under the age of 50 these days (no offense intended to my fellow “tekees” >50.)

This last step is the basis for this post.  For those of us that can’t yet justify owning an Iphone, there are many ways to enjoy the fun of IT connectivity and social media without having to rely on a host of applications, which can only run if you have a data plan that you pay for EVERY MONTH!  I want to share the ones I use that keep me in-the-loop, without subscribing to a data plan.

#1 Twitter, of course, lets you update your stream and keep up with your followers.  A full host of SMS commands and account settings lets you keep a pulse on what’s going on with your twitter friends.

#2 Facebook also allows you to update your profile with text, pictures, and video via MMS.

#2 Brightkite gives you geolocation via SMS, just text them with you address, cross street, or venue and they will update your followers per your privacy settings.  This is by far the easiest service, next to twitter, to subscribe to and use via SMS.  Once you are “checked in” to a location, continue by adding geo-tagged pictures to your stream.  All the while, if you wish, your twitter stream can reflect the same information.

#4 Google calendar allows you to add appointments via SMS and will send you a text message alarm prior to meetings.  There is also a feature to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook so that you always have a local copy of your calendar on your computer.

#5 Google SMS. Send a text to GOOGLE (466453) stating a business name and you will get a nearly instant reply with the listing or choice of listings.  Find out more at

#6 Goog-411. Dial 1-800-GOO-G411 (1-800-466-4411) and interact with a voice driven 411 system that you are probably already familiar with, only this one doesn’t charge you to use it.  Plus, during your call, you can add voice commands that will activate a text message to be sent to your phone with all the information you are looking for.

#7 Posterous in my opinion is the BEST place to upload your everyday lifecast type blog posts.  Where twitter is the best micro-blogging service, Posterous is fast becoming a favorite mini-blogging service.  At the very least, consider Posterous as a place to send out a picture while maintaining the ability to go back an add detailed text descriptions later.

#8 Nabbit certainly falls in the last but not least category.  One of the things I have longed for since childhood was the ability to ID a song on the radio.  The Iphone and many others have spiffy apps that listen to what is playing and tell you the title and artist.  Even my phone does that for free.  However, I find myself simply texting the station frequency (omitting the decimal point) to 545454.  You will get a reply with the title and artist.  Check them out.

There you have it!  Although the list could probably go on forever, these are the services I rely on to keep me hanging on by a thread until the day when I can get back into the loop, once again enjoying the latest and greatest connectivity device that money can buy.