TechOnABudget: Tech Geeks on a Budget Lifestyle

If you enjoy superhero comic books and get a kick out of The Simpsons TV show, head over to the blog…

Springfield Punx

…right now.

If you’re a tech geek, you probably think about ways to use tech gadgets for everything including your kids’ pets. Here’s how I use an infrared thermometer to check if the outdoor temperature where my daughter’s pet rabbit spends the day is cool enough to be safe for him.

I never got around to buying the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd generation Asus Eee PC mini-notebook. Now, I’ve got a new project starting up. And, I want a mini-notebook to haul around with me so I can truly work anywhere without lugging a lot of stuff. My Macbook is great. But it is 5 pounds and really wide with is 13.3″ widescreen (I hate those widescreens that sacrifice pixel height, btw). So, I the last day considering the Asus Eee PC 900 and 1000 series devices (both Linux and Windows XP based models). I briefly considered the HP 2133 Mini-note since Costco.com sells the Suse Linux version for $499.99. Costco.com surprisingly also carries two Asus Eee PC models. But, the HP’s poor battery life, sluggish performance (compared to the Eee PCs), reported WiFi issues with the Linux version scared me off of it (again). So, I’m now considering the Acer Aspire One which clocks in at $379.99 at Amazon (I’m checking around for better prices/deals).

I’m trying to download the ISO for the Linpus Linux Lite that runs on the Acer Aspire One to get a feel for it. But, the estimated download time is showing as another 15 hours. So, I may not waste the electricity to download the 674MB ISO file.

I don’t watch MTV (does anyone???). So, I didn’t realize that the well thought-of Invincible super-hero comic book is series on MTV now.

Invincible: Episode 1

It is NOT an animated show as far as I can tell. Comic book panels are shown on the screen and actors provide a dramatic reading of the dialog with speech bubbles being displayed as the actors voice the dialog. iTunes has a 18 minute behind-the-scenes available this week as a free download. You can find a slightly lower-res stream at the MTV link above.

I don’t recall reading the comic book myself. But, I think it may be a PG-13 type storyline.

The series website is found at: InvincibleSeries.com

This is kind of interesting. I ordered something online the other day. UPS processed the package first and then handed it off to the US Postal Service (USPS). I knew that UPS actually handled orders for a number of firms in the sense that they actually handle inventory in addition to shipping. But, this is the first time I’ve seen a packaged handed off from UPS to USPS for the final delivery.

One of the many things I found, while cleaning and reorganizing my home office for the past couple of weeks, was an unused $25 Borders gift card. These things used to be great up until a few months ago because they could be used to purchase items from Borders.com at Amazon.com prices when Borders used Amazon as their sales conduit.

I decided to purchase a couple of things through Borders.com because I had the gift card and a $5 coupon specifically for Borders.com (seen above). So, I tried to apply the coupon before applying my gift card. The problem is that when I did that Borders.com told me Better discount already applied and ignored the coupon code. Although Borders’ prices are higher than Amazon’s across the board, they do discount items below retail prices. Apparently, this coupon only applies to items that are sold at retail prices. In other words, it is essentially useless and worthless. So, I just used my gift card. Since Amazon offers better prices for every item I compared, this will be the first and last time I order from Borders.com.

They were better off being associated with Amazon for web sales, IMHO.

Not sure if any of the places/things mentioned in this InformationWeek article qualifies as budget unless you live near the spot and visit as a staycation, but I thought the idea was on-topic for my blog…

Top Vacations Spots For Geeks

I also learned about the book…

A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry

…while listening to a Science Friday podcast with an interview of one of the book’s authors: Sharon Weinberger. And, there’s also the book…

Top Secret Tourism: Your Travel Guide to Germ Warfare Laboratories, Clandestine Aircraft Bases and Other Places in the United States You’re Not Supposed to Know About

…for more geeky vacation tips.

You don’t really hear people referring to the mid-1990s as the good old days. But, if they did, this little bill from June 1995 might shock them out of that thought. I found it while cleaning up my home office. Yep, that is a $709 price tag for a 16MB (that’s MEGA-BYTES, not gigs) RAM board for my PC.

Here’s another good link from my friend John Pescador’s tumblog…

Marvel: Create Your Own Super Hero

Trivia info: Did you know that the two word phrase Super Hero is jointly trademarked by Marvel Comics and DC?

I’m finding all kinds of interesting stuff as I clean-up and re-organize my home office area. I found a Voyager Company 1993 CD of a transfer of The Beatles A Hard Days Night movie. Voyager, long defunct, also published the highly regarded Laser Disc Criterion movie presses. This CD version apparently came from that project. The movie is delivered as 10 QuickTime MOV files that play fine today. The video window is tiny and difficult to see (increasing the size results in heavy pixelation). However, the sound quality is very good. It is fun to see a time warp of not just an old movie (the movie was released in 1964) but also the pre-DVD movie deliver method.