5 months into Kindle use and I had to reset it for the first time ever, it locked up this morning and was unresponsive to every button. To reset, you take the back cover off and there is a Reset hole to stick a paperclip in. A few minutes to reboot and good as new. I guess once every 5 months isn’t terrible.

Logitech > Remotes > Universal Remotes > Harmony® One Advanced Universal Remote – I’m pretty happy with this remote. I’ve used Harmonys in the past and they were easy to config but I found them to be finicky in actual use. This one tho seems to be much more reliable – when I tell it to turn on my Tivo, AVR, and monitor all at once, it does it quickly without a hiccup.

* Coghlan’s - Product Display – mini lantern and clipon headlamp. I’d actually use the headlamp * Easyroaster. Cool but I don’t really like hotdogs or smores. * Yaktrax traction control. I rarely try to hike on snow. * Mini Tissues. Just because I like the rehydration aspect. * Lightweight drybags. Maybe I should just pay Brett to outfit me. * Carbon fiber tripods. These claim to be lightweight but is this really the lightest possible?

Great recos from Raymond – The Old New Thing : Raymond’s reading list: The Mythical Man-Month, The Design of Everyday Things, and Systemantics – I’ve never read the last but need to get it. The Mythical Man Month is awesome and if Systemantics is as good, then well worth reading.

Pure Networks – Software for Wired and Wireless Networks – cool router reset gadget.

The Sports Network Football Bowl Subdivision – a starting lineman walks away from a full scholarship at Michigan, to pay his own way at Ohio State! Awesome. The Rodriguez Era continues full steam ahead.

* Featured Mac Download: Drag and Drop Upload Files to Google Docs with Gdocsuploader – Googledocs mounted on a mac. * Flickr mounted under Linux * Mount USB drives in a folder – to get around windows shell goofiness and to get around stupid arbitrary drive letters

Exhaust Air Jack » Coolest Gadgets – wow I would never get under a car using one of these, i prefer nice solid steel supporting my car, not a puncturable/leakable balloon.

Love maps, and love barbecue, so this is awesome – 246 - Southern Sauce Sources « Strange Maps

* What is Craft ROBO? :Craft ROBO-GRAPHTEC – cutting paper and other sheets. cool. * Ponoko puzzles. love the idea of ponoko * Book cutting. Huh. Didn’t know about this form of art. Very cool.

From Five Tool Tool - The Sports Blog That Loves You Back: And the Association Sticks the Landing! - The Sports Blog That Loves You Back: How can you tell when a sports league has jumped the shark? It lands in Oklahoma City.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Very interested in products that make us smarter about our energy use at home. Sean reports on his use of TED – the TED device lets you get finegrained reports on your electricity use, and with a little playing around you can get smart about use circuit-by-circuit as Sean reports. I have to try one of these out.

Silver Spring Networks seems to be building out a really complete energy monitoring and reporting solution, worth learning about.

Phil highlights some recent comments from Doerr on the energy opportunity – excellent elevator speech

* “Camouflage”:amazon by Joe Haldeman. Eh, not adding to the reputation of the haldeman name. Aliens secretly among us. Kind of silly and pointless and honestly not well thought out – really, there are just 2 aliens on earth, and they’ve both been here for millions of years? Wouldn’t that be enough time for a few others to show up? * “The Peshawar Lancers”:amazon by S. M. Stirling. Fun alternate history romp – a natural disaster in the 1800s sends the world on a very different path, and the British Raj of that world faces treachery and crisis. Lots of research into Indian culture, interesting speculation. * “Darkest Fear”:amazon by Harlan Coben. Another solid Myron Bolitar tale – an old flame, a child, a serial killer or two.

Maui Hotels: Fairmont Kea Lani - Maui Seaside Hotel at Polo Beach – okay this place is stupidly expensive and they nickel and dime you to deal (except of course nothing costs a nickel here, they $10 and $20 you to death). But…they have amazing support for people with food allergies – they strictly adhere to an ingredients list you provide, use dedicate pots and pans, your food is cooked by a sous or head chef, served by a manager, the assistant head of food service will meet with you daily to discuss menus, etc etc. Really an amazing service and has made it possible for us to stay here – recommended if you have a food allergy or allergies to deal with. And when I travel in the future, I will ask hotels if they have an equivalent program.

Been on planes a lot recently – first installment of reviews here – the Kindle is awesome while flying

* “Buckingham Palace Gardens”:amazon by Anne Perry. Period mystery set in Buckingham palace. Very good tale of ambition, murder, deception, class conflict, and passion. Great fun, worth reading more by the author. * “Off Armageddon Reef”:amazong by David Weber. “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”:amazon starts the Reformation in a backwater planet, with a lot of “Master and Commander”:amazon high seas action, set against a space opera background. Whew. Too much naval tactics at times but fun. * “Curse of the Spellmans”:amazon by Lisa Lutz. “Harriet the Spy”:amazon grows up and is a bumbling PI and somewhat of a misanthrope but in a humorous way. Entertaining.