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Google has just added an awesome new feature to Gmail. It allows you to send a Text message to anybody’s phone using the Chat feature in Gmail.

It’s only available for cell phones in the United States right now, but you can send texts to your friends with US phone numbers from anywhere in the world. You can start by just typing a phone number into the search box in the chat window on the left, then select “Send SMS.” You can also select the contact you want to SMS first and then add their phone number

Google will save your friends’ numbers in your Contacts, so next time you can just type their name in the chat box and select Send SMS. The reply gets routed back to Gmail’s servers and shows up in your friend’s Gmail chat window. Each of your friends’ messages will come from a different 406 number so you can reply to any message and it will get back to the right person. Messages from the same person will always come from the same number, so you can even bookmark it in your phone.

Just click on Settings, and go to the Labs tab. Scroll down until you see “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat” and select Enable and Save Changes.

I got a letter the other day from Washington Mutual informing me that because i had not used my credit card for over 12 months they had closed it on my behalf. Overall its not the worst thing that ever happened b/c the limit on the card was quite low, however it happened to be one of my oldest credit cards (dating back to when they were Providian).

While the credit card companies are completely within their rights, cutting off lines of credit can bring down people’s credit scores because it decreases their amount of available credit, a factor in your FICO.

I guess the best solution is to remember to use each credit card for a small purchase at least once a year, and pay it off right away

After a little research i ended up openning a Scottrade account, heres why:

» $7 limit trades.  The best I could find when opening an acount with only 500 dollars
» Local broker. It’s nice to be able to drive just a few minutes and talk face to face.
» No maintenance or inacivity fees.
» Real time stock quotes, and a streaming ticker.
» There’s a large selection of mutual funds, bonds, CDs, and preferred stocks.
» Good reviews both offline and from online comments.
» Just $500 to open.
» With $5,000 in account equity, you get free checkwriting, which you can then link up with other accounts.
» Depositing money into your account happens the same day

Here are the details of actually opening my account.

The Lumix DMC-FZ28 digital camera boasts a premium 27mm wide-angle LEICA lens with an 18x optical zoom, ideal for tight indoor shots and long-distance action photos. The 10.1 mega pixel digital camera also features an enhanced Intelligent Auto Mode (iA), with the AF (auto focus) Tracking function, making it easier for photographers at any level to shoot sharp, well-focused photos, even when the subject is moving making it ideal for action shots. The AF Tracking function, the component to be added to Panasonics iA system, allows users to lock focus on a moving subject. The camera then automatically tracks the subject as it moves, keeping it in focus without the need to hold the shutter halfway down. AF Tracking makes it easier to capture moving subjects and spur-of-the-moment action shots. The AF Tracking technology also improves face detection, by providing continuous adjustment of the focus and exposure, even if the face is turned away from the camera.

I just purchased these Yakima Blockhead’s for my Jeep cherokee.  I’d been looking for something like this for a while and finally came accross these while searching google.  I mounted them on a 2×6 cut to length that i panted black.  It works great, and the weight of the bikes really keeps them from moving around. The fork mounts can be had for about 20 bucks if you catch a sale and they are on sale right now!  Be sure to counter sink the bolts so that they don’t stick out an not allow the wood to lie flat.  Im still thinking of getting a roof rack, however this is a great alternative and i couldn’t be happer with how well the whole thing works all for about 50 bucks!

Click here for the Yakima Blockhead at Amazon.com

Google Inc. made a deal with Life Magazine to host an online photo gallery that will feature millions of images from Life magazine’s archives that have never been seen by the public before. http://images.google.com/hosted/life is now hosting over 2 million images stretching back to 1750. Google is still in the process of scanning in the 10 million pictures from Life’s archives.  Life has said that more than 95 percent of its photo archive has never been publicly viewed or published in the magazine.

“This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” Google software engineer Paco Galanes wrote on Google’s blog.

Life’s archive contains images of nearly every memorable moment in modern history, including notable names like Joe DiMaggio, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Lindbergh, and world- changing events like the war in Vietnam, the World’s Fair and the 1930s oil boom. The archive also includes the famed Zapruder film of President Kennedy’s assassination, which may be Life’s most iconic photo, and the image of an American sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945.

Ive been using the new Samsung Sway for about a month after getting it right when it was released. Overall its a pretty nice super slim little device.  The phone is entirely clad in plastic, and while it does have that feather-light inhand feel, it also feels a tiny bit cheap.  The battery is supposed to give 270 minutes of talktime and 312 hours of standbye, but mine is nearly dead at the end of the day with only an hour or two off talk.  Who knows, maybe my battery was a dud.  Hopefully Verizon will exchange it for a better one.

Key features and capabilities of the Samsung Sway from Verizon Wireless include:

• Media Center-capable – downloadable games, ringtones, wallpapers, location-based services and more
• Mobile Web-capable – customizable, enhanced wireless access to the latest in news, sports, weather and more
• Mobile IM capabilities
• Text, picture and video messaging
• Bluetooth profiles supported: headset, stereo, hands-free (car kits), serial port, object push for vCard and vCalendar only, basic imaging, basic printing and phonebook access profiles
• 2.0 megapixel camera with NightShot
• Camcorder
• Expandable memory up to 8GB with external microSD™ card slot
• Hearing aid compatibility = M4
• Bilingual user interface (English and Spanish)
• Personal organizer with calculator, calendar, alarm clock, world clock, stop watch and notepad
• Dimensions: 4.15” (h) x 1.96” (w) x 0.47” (d) with standard battery
• Weight: 3.56 ounces
• Display: 2.2”
• Usage time: up to 270 minutes with standard battery or
• Standby time: up to 312 hours with standard battery