Question of the Day:  Who is your technology idol?

While I’m not sure that the fundamental concept of an “idol” is good, it appears that it’s not going away.  Years ago, people’s idols used to be rock stars, movie stars and sports figures.  Today, it seems that some idolize the technologists that would have garnered a scoff 30 years ago.  For some, it’s Steve Jobs.  For others, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt and so on.

If you have a technology idol, who?  … and to be nosy, why?  Hit the comments to share your thoughts with us!

The final week of the JAMM Store / Mobihand Blackberry Theme Throwdown is here.  With it we find the themes of designer HedoneDesign available for 50% off their regular price.  The premise of the contest is pretty simple:  the designer with the most themes.   Be sure to check them out here!

Skype launched a promotion today that will allow you to call selected countries landlines and mobile phones for free for the next month, either for an unlimited amount of minutes or for a certain amount of time.

Many countries are included in the offer. From the Skype blog:

Why not kick off your football conversations this summer with our exciting promotion?

To celebrate a season of football, we’re offering you free calls to qualifying countries for a month. Pick one of these great deals and talk football with your friends and family.

• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Algeria for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Argentina for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Australia for a month
• 400 minutes free calls to landlines in Brazil for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Cameroon for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Chile for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Denmark for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in France for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Germany for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Ghana for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Greece for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines and mobiles in Honduras
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Italy for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines and mobiles in Japan for a month
• 120 minutes free calls to landlines in Mexico for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in the Netherlands for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in New Zealand for a month
• 120 minutes free calls to landlines in Nigeria for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Paraguay for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Serbia for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Portugal for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Slovakia for a month
• 120 minutes free calls to landlines in Slovenia for a month
• 120 minutes free calls to landlines in South Africa for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in South Korea for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in Spain for a month
• 120 minutes free calls to landlines in Switzerland for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines in the UK for a month
• 60 minutes free calls to landlines in Uruguay for a month
• Unlimited free calls to landlines and mobiles in the USA for a month

After the first month, you’ll be charged our normal subscription rate. A fair usage policy applies where we offer unlimited calls. Subscriptions exclude service, special, premium and non-geographic numbers. Terms and conditions apply to individuals countries – see the promotion website for more details.

So, check if your country of interest is included, and tell us if you are going to take advantage of this offer or not.

Feel free to leave your phone number, and I will be back to you, this next month

Via: Liliputing

Sure: Skype

I paid $8 for my Gmail invite back in the day.  I was blessed to get into Google Voice by being a member of GrandCentral which Google bought out.  The best kept secret in calling using voice over IP (VoIP) is now out of the bag – Google Voice is now public!

With Google Voice, you get a single phone number which you can give out to others.  From that one number, you can have it ring other numbers so that you can take your call anywhere.  Google has enhanced the method of number selection.  You can actually choose key words and phrases which it will try to match – for example my Google Voice number actually has “IMAC” in it.  Google Voice provides screening so that you can take only the calls that matter to you.  For those calls that get routed to voicemail, Google will actually transcribe the voicemail to text.  (This feature alone opens a slew of possibilities like – Note to self:  Buy milk, grapes, a watermelon, and kitty chow).  You’ll also be able to make low cost international calls such as $0.02 a minute to China, France, UK, or Mexico City (other countries are available, just look them up to get the rates).

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Did you upgrade to iOS 4 yet?  Reading around the web, there were mixed reports of successes as well as failures where somebody’s device would be stuck in recovery mode.  In my daily line of work, I get to install operating systems.  Usually, it is a better bet to perform a clean install rather than an upgrade install.  With that thought, I deviated from the standard manner of installing iOS4 on my iPod Touch.  For my 8GB iPod Touch, the upgrade to iOS 4 went without a hitch.

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