Dragon application on the iPhone

I'm actually dictating this blog right now while I'm sitting in traffic. It is safe because it's hands-free and also because I don't type too fast, so this is quite nice. The Dragon speak application is pretty darn good.

This app is really cool because it allows you to do about 30 seconds of dictation and it converts your words to text in seconds.

I spent $100 on the FULL version of Dragon which gives you a headset. It also allows you a little bit longer dictation and more robust features, but for being able to be used globally and in the car you can't beat this application for FREE.

If you are a recruiter and you've just done a phone screen, the big WIN is the ability to be able to transcribe your candidate summary notes and have them waiting for you ion your e-mail when you get into
the office.

I even used it for doing my TO DO list for things that I need to do for the day while I'm on my way to work. This is my new favorite app.

EOTS - Elf On The Shelf - The new Christmas Tradition

This has got to be the coolest new tradition for the holidays. Some enterprising individual came up with the idea of marketing a $1.00 little elf doll for $30. Now don't get me wrong, this is worth every penny. The book and the website are so good that they make up the difference. What is this thing you ask? The concept...Every night this little elf travels to the North Pole to update Santa on whether your child has been "Naughty" or "Nice." What do you have to do? Remember to hide the thing in a new spot every night so when the kid wakes up in the morning they storm the house looking for this elf like a crazed weasle. So far, we have had him "appear" on the top of the Christmas tree, in a plant and hanging from our kitchen lamp. Pretty regular / boring stuff. I actually have friends that have gotten pretty clever with their Elf. He is admittedly a little michevious - he appears in the morning with the kid's homework and is pointing at the score (if it is low..) and he also did snow angels in flour that he poured on the kitchen countertop since he was missing the North Pole snow. Pretty creative, eh? The sky is the limit if you can imagine it, this elf can do it. Talk about fun! My wife went to a recent party and everyone was talking about their Elf on the Shelf. By the way, you get to have your child name the Elf when he first arrives. My son Jake named his elf "Snake." Where do you get one of these things? Check your local bookstore and have a blast......
Visit www.elfontheshelf.com to see what all the craze it about...

To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question (Windows 7)

I spent the majority of the weekend restoring Windows Vista. This is because I received the Windows 7 CDs in the mail since I bought a new computer and have the ability to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista for free. The major issue is that some technology on my hard drive failed therefore I had to reinstall Windows Vista and do a system restore. After spending about two hours on the phone with the helpdesk from HP, they said it turns out that it was a driver issue and now all I need to do is upgrade Windows 7. I upgraded and I still have the same issue that I had before. The helpdesk is calling me this evening to have a conversation about my issue. I bought a new computer with this new hard drive technology called RAID 0. Its an idea and concept for increased performance by splitting your hard drive into two parts. One of the two parts is now failing. I had hoped that an upgrade to Windows 7 would've solved this issue but I am not seeing that is the case so far. I'll hopefully have an update for you tomorrow. To upgrade or not to upgrade?that is the question I wish I could have answered before I went down this path.

The Christmas Gift that keeps giving - The Lightkeeper!

Little things can make us happy around the holidays. I bought this little plastic gun at Wal-Mart a year ago right before Christmas. Basically, its sole purpose is to fix Christmas tree lights. If you have a pre-lit tree, this thing is a must have. I put up the Christmas tree over the weekend and half the lights didn't work. Pulled out the LightKeeper and in about five minutes the entire tree was lit up again. LightKeeper = greatness!