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Win it, Save it, Live it.
Fortunz.com is a blog about living better. We'll tell you about great contests, deals, and how to get the most out of the ordinary.
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filed under:
One Chrome extension seems to be satisfying users more than any others. "Nothing" manages expectations fantastically by doing… nothing. Perhaps the more surprising is the user response. 7,000 people have installed the extension at a clip of around 2,000 a week with a 4.5 of 5 rating. There are hundreds of comments filled with effusive praise from good natured users like this one from anonoymous:
This extension does exactly what you said it'd do. I love it. Keep up the good work.
Sann on the other hand disagrees:
No it does something. It made me laugh!))
Extension builders everywhere wasting hours adding new features and slaving away responding to feature and support requests in hopes of pleasing a few disgruntled users have been outdone by Nobody who promised Nothing and delivered big.
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filed under: gaming software
Hidden Path, the makers of the killer premium tower defense game Defense Grid: The Awakening have released their Borderland expansion to Steam users for free — no need to do anything, it will download when Steam auto-patches it. Previously, this same set of 4 levels was available to 360 users for free, but it's brand new to the Steam version. I purchased Defense Grid at Steam on sale over the new year, and it was the best $2.50 I've spent in a long time — it would have been a deal at 10x the price. At this point, if they put the Defense Grid brand on a steaming pile of crap, I'd buy it. Just in case they knew something about steaming crap that I don't. My theory for game developers is a lot like my theory for authors, if they prove their quality, stick with them.
Hidden Path is also working on another expansion planned for April, called Defense Grid: Resurgence. There aren't many games I buy at full price, but I'll be picking up Resurgence the day it releases.
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filed under: google phone timesaver
UPDATE3: The rumors were correct, Google says invites start going out today but will take a while. Start reloading your inbox…. now.
UPDATE 2: Shortly after I tweeted Google Voice's Craig Walker asking for confirmation on the CBS tip that waitlisters would be issued numbers this week, the official Google Voice Twitter account posted another "we're working 24/7 ... but have no announcements to make." While I take the CBS tip itself with a grain of salt, Google Voice is definitely on the verge of adding members.
UPDATE: CBS' Morning News, Monday June 22nd, did a bit on Google Voice and claims that Google will begin issuing numbers to people on the waitlist this week. See the video after the break. Thanks to jigwashere for the tip.
According to PC World, Google snapped up 1 million phone numbers for use with its Google Voice service last month. Combine that with the recent CNET podcast Buzz Out Loud slip of the tongue that Google Voice would be launching to the public a few days ago (it obviously didn't), and evidence is growing that new members may soon be welcomed into the fold. The service has been closed to new members for some time, save for a few invites given out when Google Voice launched a few months ago to promote the product.
Google snatched up the internet telephony company GrandCentral some time ago, and rebranded it as Google Voice very recently. The primary feature is to allow you to consolidate all your phone numbers under a single number, but it's much bigger than that. There is a sophisticated routing technology that let's you have different people ring different phones even though they're all calling the same Google Voice number, and if it goes to google's voicemail, you can have different greeting messages for different groups. Google is also working on letting you port one of your current numbers to Google Voice to ease the transition. Other cool features include transcripts of your Google Voicemail, in case you don't have visual voicemail on your cell service yet, easy to use call recording, call conferencing, screening, blocking, and great SMS tech.
Why would you need it? Even with more number portability options these days than in the past, Google Voice gives you powerful and flexible control over your number that you wouldn't otherwise have. Moving? Getting rid of your landline? Picking up a prepaid phone overseas on vacation? Using a cheap prepaid here while you are inbetween phones and/or services? With Google Voice, you won't have to beg or plead with Customer Service reps, or scream and cuss at them once they screw up your requests. You won't have to call all your friends and family and give them a new or temporary number. You'll just log on and a few clicks later, you'll have seamlessly transitioned everything just how you want it, and the people trying to get a hold of you won't know anything changed. All that, a huge bag of Google perks too.
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filed under: ereader humor tech
Heard on an plane right before landing to someone w/ a Kindle: "Ma'am would you please turn off your book right NOW!" Heh.
From Google's Wesley Chan.
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filed under: gps lwod save
Data is an ever more pervasive part of the smartphone experience. But the cost of data plans are still generally massive, sometimes costing as much as your voice plan. So Life Without Data is a Tips and Tricks feature to help you get around the cost of data plans.
Straight up GPS is slow. It reaches out to four satellites to grab all the information it needs to give you a fix on your position, and that takes time. aGPS was designed to give you a fix more quickly by grabbing some of the information you need over your phone's data connection instead of using the GPS radio alone. If you're trying to get by without an expensive data plan, aGPS could be running per-kb charges, or it might be completely unavailable to you.
Fear not, because there's another way to speed up GPS fixes: Quick GPS. Instead of requiring 4 satellites to get a fix, qGPS makes it possible to get a fix with just three. To wit, it does so by downloading a week's worth of data in advance—making it possible for you to get away with only using WiFi to speed up GPS fixes rather than having to use cellular data.
How do you get it? Although aGPS is more pervasive, HTC includes the Qualcomm designed system on some devices, and Palm put it on their Treo Pro. And hackers are adding it to yet more devices.
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filed under: atm misfortunz theft
Stories of people installing card scanners and cameras on ATMs to grab your card info and PIN seem to crop up all the time. Some days it seems like thieves are getting smarter, but not today. Ocean's 11, meet Drip 21.
Video after the break. Props to the Giz.
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filed under: prepaid save
If you're looking to save some money, you might take a long look at your cellular bill. If you're a heavy user of voice and or data, contract plans might be your best bet, while simultaneously providing you with a subsidy of your phone every 2 years or so. However, some light users may find cost savings in a prepaid plan. Extremely light users could save a lot.
American carriers are only just now really offering a respectable variety of prepaid plans. In Asia and Europe, prepaid is far more popular, but in the U.S., carriers have been reluctant to offer decent service or decent prepaid phones. Why? They like the security that comes with having a subscriber base locked in to their plans. What's more, American consumers rather like the phone subsidies that come with contracts. Having to pay full price for a high-end handset can come as quite a shock to some.
Continue Reading Prepaid Intro
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filed under: contest electronics tv
After spending a cool $3,000,000 on a Super Bowl Ad, renowned budget HDTV maker Vizio still had a cool million to blow on 55", 1080p, 120Hz LCD giveaways. They'll be giving away one set every week from the week of Feburary 23rd until August 14th.
Entering is painless. You punch in your information ONCE, and you're in all giveaways from the beginning until it's over. No need to reenter. Of course, the sooner you get your one entry in, the more weeks you get a chance to win.
Enter Once to Win at: Vizio until 08.14.09 (but sooner is better)
Via EngadgetHD
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filed under: contest electronics phone
The Palm Pre is one of the most talked about phones of 2009 from a company everyone had already counted out. Its unique WebOS has a host of drool-worthy interface features, and its screen is bright and full of color. It's one of the only phones Fortunz.com knows about that has a first party inductive charger (no cords!), although that charger is sold separately.
Hit the link below by February 17th. You may have to register your stuff to become a Tell Us panelist first, and then you'll have to put your info in again at the entry site. But who cares? It's for a Palm Pre.
Enter to Win at: US Weekly Sweeps: Win a Film Independent's Spirit Awards Giveaway! by 02.17.2009
Via Engadget
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filed under: contest electronics fuze
HTC is giving away 120 Fuze smartphones. Want in on the action? Register here and play once daily until April '09. In addition, HTC is gifting some blogs with a Fuze for their readers.
Engadget Mobile is giving away one at random to the commenters at the contest post. Ends 12/19/09.
Boygenius is giving away another if you subscribe to their feed AND leave a comment. Ends 12/21/09.
Good luck, and catch some hot Fuze action after the break if you want to know more about the Wi-Fi capable, qwerty Windows Mobile smartphone.
Via Engadget Mobile | Permalink
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Only 3rd place, for the USB pen prize, but I'll take it. You can never have enough usb...
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