David Ortez

I went to Austin this weekend to celebrate a friend’s birthday. What I did not expect was to learn of a cool new iPhone App that will make going out a bit more fun.

TabbedOut was created to address the problem of leaving an establishment without closing your tab or skipping the long waits just to close your tab.

Developed by ATX Innovation, the App is available for free on iTunes and it let’s you open, review and close your tab from your iPhone.

The catch … just a nominal $0.99 fee for every tab you open. That is not much of an issue when you think of how much you will spend to drink.

Ever since the release of the coveted Apple iPad … friends and family have inquired if I would hop onto the bandwagon and purchase the iPad once it was released to the general public to consume.

The easy and simple answer is Yes but it is the when that complicates my response … and an astute listener would quickly reply … why?

I will not attempt to convince YOU as to why you need to shell out $500 to buy this overpriced super-sized iPod Touch but merely I will explain why I will buy it for my personal use and that may shed insight into how it can benefit you.

For the last year I have been contemplating my future with my Apple products. In late 2009, I obtained my third MacBook Pro since I purchased my first Mac in 2005. That is a new laptop every 2 years and quite honestly I am ready to retire my 17 inch baby.

The local Harris County Republican Party is enterting the 21st century and what better way to engage in technology then to bring their constiuents along for the ride.

They have  scheduled “Facebook 101” seminars in order to train their base … so they could engage in the political arena on the internet.

In an email blast, Jared Woodfill stated:

Technology always seems to outpace moral, legal and ethical norms in a society and the Election in El Salvador is no exception. In an age where cell phones outnumber landlines, it is expected that someone will have a cell phone on their person.

In the United States, at least in Texas … it is illegal for anyone to photograph inside the voting center including an individual’s own voting ballot. Your vote is voided and you would face legal punishment for such trespass.

Apparently, Limbaugh does not use a computer or just doesn’t know what the hell a PDF is. The fact that he uses a qualifier in order to make the false allegation on his show is indicative of the hypocrisy that he embodies.

I wrote a tutorial on how to achieve this back in May of 2008. I have now decided to update this tutorial so that an Airport Express and AT&T DSL 2Wire Modem/Router.

I recommend reading it to acquaint yourself with some of the basic terminology and features that I will merely brush upon in this new tutorial.Click here to read old post.

It always bothered me that 2Wire automatically broadcasts a wireless signal and secures it by implementing a WEP security password.

My hunch was that this was somehow causing the conflict that would not let Airport Express and 2Wire play nice.

The position of District Clerk may not be the most glamorous or easily recognized in the political spectrum but it’s a good place for newly elected Democrat Loren Jackson to introduce the Information Age to a government institution that handles … well a lot of information.

Within 2 months, Jackson has transformed the Harris County District Clerk’s Office and is on the road to joining the technology standards of 2009. Jackson, a former Litigation Attorney with McLeod, Alexander, Powel & Apffel, is not intimidated by technology and seems to understand the potential power it encompasses if utilized properly.

His campaign goals were technology heavy … but one look at how the former District Clerk handled business would inspire one thought … archaic … when it came to how technology was implemented in the office.

I entertained the impact that the Internet but in particular YouTube had in the last Presidential Election and it seems that I was not the only to notice. It seems President Bush was observant and realized that YouTube is a force not to be reckoned with.

President Bush claims, “I am the very last President not to really have to worry about YouTube" while campaigning for the White House.”

In an interview with RealClearPolitics he discussed “the role the Internet and new media played in the November 4th elections.”

It seems that if we can get more people to vote via their cell phone for American Idol, the United States Government should listen to their citizens and provide them with alternative methods for participating in elections.

Estonia, a small country in Eastern Europe, is setting the bar by allowing their citizens to vote via their cell phone. This is not the first time that Estonia has employed the latest technology to conduct elections.

Last year, they organized and pulled off a successful election with some participants voting via their computers. Thus, it would make sense why they are pursuing a cell phone based voting election in 2011.

How will it work? Is it safe? Won’t there be rampant voter fraud? How can they do this?

I was told about Flock by friend about a month ago but I did not bite. I am not sure why I did not want to give this new web browser the time of day but for some reason today that changed.

I headed over to the Flock website and downloaded the free web browser which is powered by the Mozilla Firefox browser. How much different could it be you may ask?

A Ton! This web browser claims to be the "Social Web Browser" and that is no lie. It integrates flawlessly to all major Social networks. I was able to connect and set up shop in 20 minutes. Now I have an instant hookup to my Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail accounts.