When I’m driving around I’d say I listen to National Public Radio (NPR) about 50% of the time. So, I decided to figure out how I could listen to it and other public news programs from home. As a result, I found a fantastic Web site called PublicRadioFan.com.

PublicRadioFan.com allows you to find a program in a number of ways:

• It features a list of all the public radio programs currently playing, along with links to listen to them.
• You can search by name, location, format, language, and more.
• There are convienent links to instantly launch favorites

The site also allows extensive customization on a per user basis including changing time zones, adjusting the level of detail shown on the home page, and even changing the way the site is organized. All in all, I highly recommend taking a look.

Google has launched an experimental service called Google Voice Local Search which makes local-business searches accessible over the phone.

And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. So stop dialing 411 and paying those astronomical Cell phone charges!

Here is a sample call I made to demonstrate:

To try it yourself, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.
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I know my buddy Hrafn over at Inkblot Earth is going to get a kick out of this (he’s an AI expert)… I just got finished getting the local weather update from MIT’s artificial intelligence weather forecaster, Jupiter.

All you do is give Jupiter a call on your phone and ask him for the forecast. He reads it off to you, and you’re on your merry way. Especially useful if you’re traveling somewhere and don’t want to have to find an Internet connection to look it up on the Web. I even made a recording so everyone could listen to a sample…
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I recently acquired a bad ass treadmill as part of an effort to get back in shape (more on that later), and I went searching for some USMC cadence recordings to listen to while I run on it. They were harder to find than I thought they would be, so I figured I would share them here in case anyone would like to hear them.

These work songs are sung while a platoon is running in formation and let me tell you - they are motivational. When you hear 80 sets of boots pounding the ground in unison while 80 Marines sing cadence it is a site to behold.
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The Man received the following question from Steven:

I just purchased a 37″ Sharp Aquos. Is there somewhere on the Internet that I can find the best settings for picture/voice quality — or do I just have to go through it all via trial and error?

Well, Steve. First of all congrats on your new Aquos. I absolutely love my 42″ version and I think you’re going to love yours. Now, to answer your question, there is some personal preference involved with tweaking your audio and video settings, but there are a number of tools to help you with the project.
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It isn’t often that you’ll hear me calling something “world changing”, but I think this could be one of those times. TIME Magazine rated Pandora.com one of the 50 coolest Web sites, and I was a bit surprised because I’m pretty familiar with all of the good ones, but this one swept me off my feet!

Pandora.com is, for lack of a better description, your own personal streaming Internet radio station. You’ve got two different options. Just visit the site and type in an artist’s name and hear some music, or create a Login and you can save your favorites and access them from any computer, anywhere! Either way you can teach the service which songs you like or don’t like.
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