Jaypoc dotCom

I checked into Hurricane Irene on FourSquare and just as I hit the check-in button, there was a loud BANG from outside my window and the entire room went dark. It was completely black.

I looked out the window and saw the lights on in all the buildings across my courtyard, It seemed that my building was the only one that lost power. My biggest concern was the frozen foods (chicken, pork, steak and salmon) that I just bought tonight. I went into my kitchen and looked around. I noticed the time on my oven. My oven uses gas, but I thought the clock was electric. I was right. They are.

That’s when I realized that the compressor for the refrigerator was still running. I was relieved. The lights in my Kitchen are on the same circuit as my bathroom/bedroom but the appliances are on their own. And I guess I just turned out all the other lights which is generally uncharacteristic of me. Whew.

So here I sit at my laptop in the living room with an extension cord to my bedroom powering the rack containing my cable-modem, router PC, and wireless access point. The T V is working too, and it’s getting late, so I may just relax and call it a night. Hopefully my room won’t be out for too long. And yes, I checked the circuit breaker

UPDATE: The original post was around midnight. At approximately 9:30am the rest of the power went out. My contingency plan is in effect. I’m going to fill my cooler with ice and saltwater and bring my frozen goods to my parents, who may have lost a tree, but they still have electricity!

In lieu of some recent saddening events, I had to take some time to celebrate my favorite holiday, April Fools day. Up early, I scoured the web for this year’s April Fools pranks,and I can’t say that I was disappointed.

I should begin by letting everyone know that all pranks must be approved by Groupon who now owns the rights to the holiday.

Hulu has taken it upon themselves to redesign the site using new technologies (back in 1999)!

Speaking of traveling back in time, Check out all the new silent films on YouTube. The new 1911 filter can be applied to any of their advertising-lacking videos.

RIM has announced their latest Backberry featuring a screenless design.

ThinkGeek has been busy coming up with new products. Check out the delicious Angry Bird Pork Rinds. Kids will enjoy the Playmobil Apple Store. Geeks everywhere will be snacking on Light-saber Popsicles (actually a good product idea). The immensely lazy will find use for the new Shirt Plate. Sneak more treats into the movie theater with a Gummy iPhone Case. Science has never been as much fun as it can be with the Arsenic-based Sea Monkeys. Lose yourself in your own Minecraft Nether Portal/ It’s USB powered after all.

Hey, While I’m posting, we need to help out our friends at Improv Everywhere. A recent mission went bad and they’re looking for individuals who attacked their agents. Lets see if we can help them out.

Google has been busy as well. They have made major improvements too their Gmail, Google Docs and Voice services.

Great news for layout artists and web developers. Comic Sans was just made better!

Funny or Die is featuring singer, songwriter Rebecca Black!

Grooveshark has adopted the latest 3D technologies

College Humor may have been hacked! Some accounts have access to the admin page.

Reddit has added a new feature allowing your friends to give you Reddit Mold opening all sorts of new features for you!

Trying to get rid of your ex? In photos, that is… Kodak is to the rescue with Relationshiffft.

Chevy has even announced a new vehicle.

and in closing, Even yahoo is participating in the holiday fun with a new animated logo at their web site.

NOTICE: These links may be irrelevant after April Fools Day.

Remember January 27, 2010? That was the day that Apple changed the way we use personal computers with the release of the first generation iPad. Aside from it’s shortcomings, I bought one. I’ve suffered with it’s lack of storage and limited uses, but now that apple has announced the iPad G2, things are looking up. features of the iPad G2 include:

• Unlocked with capability to use both GSM and CDMA networks.
• Supports G3 and G4 Speeds (where available)
• SD Card Slot accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC cards for expansion
• Dual 5 Megapixel cameras (One on rear, one on front)
• Built-in Microphone
• LED LCD replaced with Easier-on-the-eyes active color display
• Multitasking Capability Added 7:11 PM

It’s a shame it took this long for apple to identify the shortcomings of its device, but the iPad G2 is definitely the correct answer to the first generation iPad.

I’m kind of surprised that Apple released what seem like no more than a 9.7 inch iPod touch with such limited expandability. I am looking forward to what other manufacturers come up with to compete with Apple. Hopefully we’ll see some of (or all of) the features I mentioned integrated into a comparably performing low cost tablet. Ironically, I’ve seen $400-500 web/application tablets released 5 or more years in the past and they all seemed to have disappeared. I wonder, If they had Apple’s reputation and marketing strength behind them back then, what would we be seeing today?

Since it’s inception, I have had an account on Facebook. Over the years, it has grown to be one of the best social networking sites available. It’s users range from teens to adults, but a recent move by Facebook is going to upset a small portion of it’s users, the technically advanced users.

My email address is admin[at]jaypoc[dot]com, and has been for close to (if not more than) ten years. I have maintained this address as my personal email address and is the address that friends and colleagues know to contact me and/or search for me on social networking sites. A few weeks ago, I signed on to Facebook and saw a message stating “Our systems have detected that admin@jaypoc.com is no longer a valid email. Facebook requires all users to maintain an active contact email.“.

It asked me to enter a new email address or re-confirm the same one, but would not allow me to reconfirm my valid email. I searched their help for a reason this was happening. It took a while to find it, but I located this absurd statement:

“Unfortunately we do not support email addresses with generic prefixes (e.g. info@, webmaster@ etc.). Since email addresses of this nature are typically used for organizations and businesses, we do not allow them to be used for personal Facebook accounts. You will need to use a personal email address that does not contain this type of prefix. There are no exceptions to this rule.”

Sure, Email addresses of that nature COULD be used for organizations and businesses, but only if the domain name is  owned by an organization or business. I own a PERSONAL WEB-SITE and have a PERSONAL domain name, so it’s only fitting that admin@MyDomainName.com is me. Facebook ignorantly refuses to accept that an individual could have their own domain name or web-site. Unfortunately, Creating a “valid” name according to Facebook’s statement would require me to reconfigure my mail server with additional aliases or email addresses. While a trivial task, none of my colleagues, friends, or family will know this new “facebook-compliant” address. How would they search for me? The simple answer is that they would not be able to. The basic functionality of Facebook, bringing people together, would be lost because of their closed-minded opinion that a domain name can not belong to an individual.

The fact remains that my email address is what it is. I will not change it for Facebook. If they want to kick me off of their system, then that’s what will happen. I will become a victim of discrimination not because of my religion or skin color, but because email address (while valid) doesn’t conform to their standards.

So yesterday as work ended, I had the opportunity to watch the events of Michael Jackson’s unfortunate death unfold. As somebody mentioned his name, I opened up Twitter Search to find that everyone was reporting Michael Jackson as dead. The strange part is there were few or no references. Finally I get a link to TMZ.com. They reported he had passed away, but hitting up other news sites reported only that he was taken to the hospital. After checking numerous news sites, I settled on CNN and started watching their live feed.

Around 6:28 PM they announced that they received confirmation that Michael had passed away, but it’s amazing how sites like TMZ can start up such a stir. A handful of other news organizations, including our own local Newsday.com reported the death prior to receiving any confirmation. They cited TMZ as their source long before any confirmation had been received.

Michael Jackson was an incredible performer and artist, but definitely had a quirky sense of being. It seems that we’ll never know for sure if all or any of the allegations against him are true or not, but they’ve certainly lead to tons of celebrity gossip humor. While some of it may be tasteless, I’ve continued to get bombarded with text messages containing Michael Jackson jokes, so rather then sending them all on, I will post them here for those who care to read them to do so.

If you are offended by Michael Jackson jokes, please leave this page now.

• LA County hospital are unsure what to do with Michael Jackson’s remains since plastic recycling isn’t until next Tuesday.
• Rumor has it Michael Jackson wants to be buried at sea and strapped to a couple of buoys…
• Michael jackson hasn’t been this stiff since Macaulay Culkin slept over
• When Farrah Fawcett got to heaven, God granted her one wish. She wished for all the children of the world to be safe. So god killed Michael Jackson.
• In remembrance of the King of Pop, McDonalds is coming out with the McJackson Burger. 50 year old meat between 12 year old buns.
• Due to the fact that Michael Jackson was 99% plastic, instead of being cremated, he is going to be melted into toys so little boys can now play with him.
• Michael Jackson died of food poisoning. They found 9 year old sausage and 11 year old nuts in his stomach.

Thanks to the few of you who sent me the above (or variations of the above) jokes.

I finally decided to get off my lazy butt and re-do the site. Let’s face it! It was in dire need of a facelift. Check out the new Jaypoc dotCom and let me know what you think of it. and if you’re looking for something from the old site, it’s still available. Just change the www to old in the incorrect URL and you’ll find what you’re looking for.

I still have a lot to do, but for now I’m happy with the layout/organization. I’ll be tweaking it over the next few weeks, so feedback is invaluable!