Great article on the direction Google is taking with their products, and why those who aren’t currently using Google+, should.

My kiddies woke me up this morning to this little beauty!

If you think it might look familiar, find out why after the cut

The image above was taken this year in 2006 in Sonoma Valley, California. The image below was taken in 1996 by photographer Charles O’Rear, and included in countless Windows XP desktops.

Find out more here.

Moving out of town has had it’s disadvantages, not in the least of which has been phone coverage. I’ve been with Three since they started in 2003, and my phone/data usage has meant that my average spend per month has been under $8. This includes a 100MB per month data pack at $5. Data coverage on Three has been spotty at best in the CBD, and non-exiting in Mandurah where I’m always “roaming”. Even though it’s annoying I’ve lived with it because, hey, I’m a patient man.

But since moving office last week I encountered the straw that broke the camel’s back. I don’t any coverage in our new building on St Georges Terrace in the CBD.

So I’ve changed to Amaysim which is basically an Optus reseller. My monthly spend is going to be higher, but at least I’ll be able to use my phone on a more reliable high speed network. And with 4GB of data, I’m seriously thinking of dropping our Home Internet plan and tethering off the handset. If I put a minimum of effort in, I know I can keep my data under 4GB per month.

So if you’re looking for a good deal on Mobile voice and data, try out Amaysim and tell them I sent you. Your first month will be discounted and I’ll get a kickback for referring you!

A free digest of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, especially for Kindle users is available from Amazon. The full print edition costs about $36 per year. Why not take advantage of some free content for your Kindle device, or Kindle on iPhone or Android.

OK, been playing with Google+ for a day or two. Once I get a critical mass of friends over there, I plan on dumping Facebook. Well, maybe not dumping it but I don’t really want to actively use it any more, like I’m over it.

If you’re new to Google+, I have a couple suggestions:

1. Change your default email notifications – By default Google+ sends you notifications for anything involving your new account. Go to the Google+ section of your Google Accounts settings page and change what gets sent to your email and what gets sent to your phone. Once you hit triple digits in your active Google+ friends, it might start to get overwhelming.
2. Change your profile’s field-sharing settings – For each field in your Google Profile, you choose what to share and how far to share it. As above, go to the Profile and Privacy section in your Google Accounts settings and set it how you want it.
3. Disable Resharing – Sure you can choose who you share stuff (photos, posts) but you can stop others passing this on by disabling Resharing. This is set on a post-by-post basis, but will likely be found as a default in the future.

Oh, and add the Android App to your phone for that mobile experience.

So, come on over to the smart side with Google+. Look me up and add me to your circle of friends!

The table below represents all the fuel I’ve bought for my little car for almost the last 12 months:

I only use my car to drive between my home and the local train station, and occasionally I pick the kids up from sports after work. Other than four traffic lights and expected annual weather/temperature changes there isn’t a lot of variance in conditions. Sometimes I’ll get all four lights green, sometimes all four will be red. Of course stopping and starting light this effects mileage. I try to run my car to as close to empty as I dare and then fill it to the brim every time, although sometimes I break this pattern by necessity.

Given this data I want you to tell me if it’s cheaper for me to run my car on Regular Unleaded (highlighted in green) or Premium Unleaded (in yellow) which can be anywhere from 2c to 10c more per liter, or even if a solution exists.

I’m not interested in fuel use. I don’t care if I use more volume of one fuel than the other per kilometer. I want to use less dollars per kilometer.

I’ve discussed this with some workmates who have come up with various results, all of which are a bit wishy washy for my liking. For example, it was found that I seem to be buying my Premium Unleaded cheaper than the Regular, on average. I guess this is because I was buying more Premium before Christmas when it less expensive than Regular is now.

If you take simple averages, then it’s costing me 35c per 100km less when I run on Premium than when I run on Regular. But I don’t think it’s that simple, and I don’t quite know how to go about it.

Any mathematicians out there want to give me a hand with this? Never mind the whole “if you don’t run your car on the right fuel it harms your engine and costs longer in the long term” red herring. I just want to know which is the cheaper fuel per kilometer traveled.

Don’t mind me, just testing Twitter Tools, a plugin that creates a complete integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account.