Just For Fun

RSS feeds for package tracking numbers (FedEx, UPS, USPS)

Lance Robinson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:21:59 GMT

I published SimpleTracker, is a simple service that will accept a tracking number or package id from major shipping companies (FedEx, USPS, and UPS), and spit out an RSS feed which you can then subscribe to in your favorite feed reader (FeedDemon, Google Reader, Outlook, Bloglines, etc).

Oftentimes I’m obsessed with knowing where my packages are and why they aren’t on my doorstep yet. Now I’ll always know, without having to keep visiting the tracking website over and over! :)

Technorati Tags: FedEx, UPS, USPS, Tracking, Package Tracking, Shipment Tracking, RSSBus

BrewzKey

Lance Robinson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:14:54 GMT

Every once in a while its good for all of us, after a hard work day, to enjoy a tasty cold beverage. In these times of enjoyment, you should never be caught without the means to open said tasty beverage. Enter the BrewzKey. Your key to bottled goodness.

PowerScripting Podcast

Lance Robinson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:08:56 GMT

If you’re into PowerShell at all and you haven’t listened to the PowerScripting Podcast, you should definitely check it out. I know you’ve seen me write about the show before, but I also know that alot of us don’t have time to listen. Try downloading a copy and burning it onto a cd for your drive home, or copy it onto your mp3 player. The show is done by Hal Rottenberg and Jonathan Walz, two great guys who are a big part of the PowerShell community and who work hard putting together a great show.

The show is great – heck even the advertisements are interesting. IMO, the best things about the show are the interviews and the Ustream channel. The interviews are always with very interesting people who are doing interesting things, and listeners can ask questions in advance or even from the Ustream chatroom.

They post excellent show notes on their blog, and you can listen to previous episodes there too, or subscribe to their feed to get the podcasts in your podcast client (like the Primetime Podcast Receiver. Have I mentioned that I hate iTunes? And iPods?).

Technorati Tags: PowerShell

An Actual link to AWSLink

Lance Robinson — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:38:02 GMT

In my last post I described AWSLink, my bookmarklet for generating Amazon Associates product links. It helps if I provide a link to AWSLink, huh? Here it is!

Quickly create Amazon Associates links

Lance Robinson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:32:59 GMT

I don’t know if there is already an easy way to do this that I just don’t know about, or what…but it sure seems like there should be. I always find it a pain in the ass to create Amazon Associates links – I’ve always had to go to their website, click “Build Links”, click “Text Links’, paste in the URL to the product page, etc. Annoying. The URL isn’t that difficult to build, so I just created a little bookmarklet that will do it for me. You can use it with your own Amazon Associates tag if you like. Just go to AWSLink, type in your Associates tag, click “Generate Bookmarklet”, and drag the link into your bookmarks. Then when you’re on an Amazon product page you’d like to link to, just click the bookmarklet and grab the URL.

Technorati Tags: Amazon Associates Web Service, AWS, AWSLink, Bookmarklet

RSS to iCal Converter

Lance Robinson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:32:59 GMT

Here is an RSS to iCal converter that I published last week. All it does it take your RSS url, and give you back another one that calls RSSBus, and asks RSSBus to retrieve your URL and convert it to iCAL for you!

Recently I came across several RSS feeds of schedules. One was a product release schedule, another a football schedule (go pack!). I was slightly annoyed that RSS was chosen for schedules since no feed readers really know how to handle a future pubDate, but I quickly realized it would be easy to convert to an iCalendar with RSSBus’ iCAL feed formatter (note: RSSBus also includes feed formatters that transform RSS into csv, kml, atom, html table, and mediaRSS. The feed formatter API is open and anybody can create their own custom feed formatters).

Technorati Tags: RSS, iCAL, iCalendar, RSSBus

Amazon MP3 Customer Service

Lance Robinson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:55:41 GMT

I’ve always had excellent service from Amazon, and Amazon MP3 is no different. Last week I blogged about how I purchased the new Rehab album from Amazon MP3. It turns out I accidently bought the censored version, which is annoying to me. So given Amazon’s uniquely amazing customer service, I decided to email them and ask if I could download the explicit version of the album without having to re-purchase it. No more than 2 hours later I had a response: a refund is being issued for my mistaken purchase. Wow.

Technorati Tags: Amazon MP3, Rehab

Good deal on the Amazon Kindle

Lance Robinson — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:01:48 GMT

My buddy James and me were discussing Amazon’s Kindle today at lunch. To us, its such an appealing product, but the price is just too high. But…I noticed today that if you sign up for the Amazon Rewards Visa Card you get $100 off - Amazon Kindle for only $259.

I didn’t click over and buy one yet, I’m going to think it over a bit instead. I really want one… Hmm.. Who has one of these already and how much do you love it?

Technorati Tags: Amazon Kindle

Lost Phonebook – dot com

Lance Robinson — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:42:59 GMT

No, lostphonebook.com doesn’t exist. But I was thinking of buying it, and putting up a little mock “lost” flyer, complaining that I have lost my phonebook. The flyer would ask that if you have found a “lost” phonebook in your driveway or yard, that you simply return it to its owner.

Then of course, I would proceed to offer my address by asking you for your zip code, and what type of phonebook you found. The website would look for the closet phonebook publisher (ie, AT&T publishes “The Real Yellow Pages”) to your zip code and provide directions to that location, asking you to simply deposit said phonebook in their driveway or yard.

I would love nothing more than to see the front of the AT&T Raleigh offices littered with so many useless phonebooks that workers couldn’t even get through the front door.

Technorati Tags: Phonebooks

Pandora Radio

Lance Robinson — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:53:41 GMT

My friend Julie told me about Pandora Radio a while back, but I never got around to checking it out. Well, I finally did today, and she is right about it. Its awesome! Pandora allows you to custom make your own radio station, playing the music you request and other music similar to it. You can also share your station, and listen to the shared stations of other members and friends. In my case, just what the doctor ordered for a Sunday morning of background music while doing some chores around house.