New Phone Number via Google Voice!

Finally, I can feel like a native Californian! After waiting a year for the service that was formerly GrandCentral, I now have a new phone number, that points to my old one. *drumroll*

(415) 894-9455

My old number still works, but I get a metric ton of benefits with this one. I can set up rules for which phone rings when you call. So if you're work related, you'd be passed on to my office phone if I had one. If you're a pal, you get my mobile phone. If you're down at the door to the building, you'd ring my phone, my room mate's phone, and our land line.

I can mark callers as spam. 'Nuf said.

I can set up special voice mail messages depending on numbers. So hot sexy girls get a different message than potential business associates.

All my voicemail gets transcribed for me to text by a machine, not humans in India like services like Jott employ. I get free SMS to my GV number. Plus I can listen in as you leave a voice message like the old days of answering machines, plus I can record any call I'm on.

All in all, an amazing service if it lives up to its reputation. And Google gets tons of feedback on the transcription service so they can keep making it better.

Unfounded Theory

The other day I was thinking about handshakes when I was reminded that I'm left handed. It made me wonder if I'm exposed to less germs when I shake hands with people, when I use the railing that is typically on the right side, when I open doors with my right hand because otherwise you just open the door into yourself... and then I touch my face with my left hand.

I haven't been sick enough to go to the doctor since I was in high school. An informal survey revealed that most lefties in my office feel that they are sick less often than their right handed counter parts.

Business

I think I want to start a business again. But not a small business. Nay, the kind of business with venture capital, the kind with a big idea that hopes to make it big enough to get swallowed up by something huge.

Right now, knowledge is the commodity. Google, Facebook, even Twitter are taking the information you give them, and matching that with demographic info that ad agencies have. I understand that much. Not to mention that I like the ads that marketers think a single twenty-something guy wants to look at vs. a forty-something menopausal woman.

The question I keep asking myself is this: "How do I get people to tell me what they know in a way that is fun or adds value to their lives?" Solve a problem. Provide value. These are at the heart of every successful idea and mistake.

Dear Future Personal Ad Responders,

Just as a heads up, when they say "D&D Free" they're not asking you to hide the dice.

Best,
Will

Phone Review

Got the new iPhone 3GS  today. First off, 3G over  my old Edge is waaaaaay faster. Web pages are really snappy. There's lots of little things too, some are hardware, some not - like GPS on the maps is super accurate, and Safari now has auto-complete. I also love having volume controls on my headphones and can't wait till I settle on bluetooth headphones and rock it wirelessly.

But still missing are some apps that I hope to see soon. Google is promising Latitude which should broadcast my location like I've been wanting to do since the first phone I owned. Tom Tom is also promising a turn-by-turn GPS app later this summer. I still want to see Flash happen in the browser, and I wouldn't mind adding a Bluetooth keyboard when I really need to bang out some text.

But what I'm really hoping for... with the boost in processor, RAM, and video action... is the ability to shoot zombies in an augmented reality. It's got to be just around the corner.

Oh yeah, and I forgot, I want subscription sevices for movies and music (maybe games too). Netflix preferably, and Rhapsody-esque for music please!!!! iTunes would be great if it worked this way instead of buying things outright.

Thou Speakest Aright!

I was talking about my blog with Emily when she said that as of late, there's less of me in my writings, and I whole heartedly agree.  It's something I was consciously aware of, but had no root cause, so it remained just an observation. Maybe it was the way she phrased it, maybe it was the context of her being a fencer, but I think that there's less of me to write about.

I think there's less of me because there's no fencing. It's like there's only two contexts to my life now, work, and non-work. Both are pretty rich in my opinion, but they don't exercise all of Will Read either. When I fenced, there was also a coach part, and a business owner part, and a competitor part - none of which really exist presently.

In my head I kind of equate it to writing a story about five characters, and then suddenly there's only two left. Sure, they're the core characters, but they don't have foils to flesh out who they really are. They don't have anyone to interact with. It's not to say life gets dull, but interactions get much less complex. I think that because I don't have to juggle everything, life is less revealing about my own character.

Dear Hypercolor,

Why didn't you say on the tag that you could tell girls you change colors when they touch you???? My youthful years could have been very different.

Sincerely,
Will

Dear Xbox Friends

You should friend me! I just got a Gold membership so I can watch Netflix. My gamertag is TildeWill. My avatar looks like this -->

Dear Safeway Grocery Store,

Your green light bulb shining on the could-be-greener watermelons did not fool me! I see through your clever facade!

Spitefully,
Will

This is where I live

From Naked Bike Ride 2009

I took this picture today after watching a bunch of naked people gear up (down?) for a cross-city bike ride. I live here! Where there's palm trees and blue sky, and art fairs all the time. It's kind of fantastic. Then I rode the cable car home.