Putting your life on the line is not always looked upon as a common leisure-time activity, unless you happen to be a user of Plurk (http://www.plurk.com). Plurk is a site that allows you to post snippets of your life, which are then all logically organized within a scrolling timeline for an instant snapshot of your day's activities. Think of it as Twitter (http://www.twitter.com), another blogging site encouraging short frequent updates, with an interesting twist.

Have you ever taken a photo on a family vacation and not been able to get the full scope of the moment in a single digital camera shot?  Microsoft launched a new web site and tool that allows users to upload their digital camera shots and have them strung together into a single panoramic scene.

I had an opportunity to try out the new site this morning.  I saw the demo of this product several months ago at a technology expo and have been excited to use it ever since.  You can tell the site is new and somewhat overloaded with excited new users because it was a bit on the slower side.  The site prompts you to install a plug-in for its product and then to create an account if you want to make 'synths' of your own.  I created a panoramic shot of the Core3 office using three digital photos.  It turned out to be quite impressive.  The final shot allows you to zoom in and move the point of reference around the room.

I read Curt's blog post yesterday and was astonished at the number of lost or stolen laptops at airports alone!  This thought coupled with the recent loss of a customer's laptop got me thinking: Why don't we strongly urge our customers to protect their own and their customers information?  How can I convey to our customers just how important this is?

I quickly rounded the corner to Curt's office and we started to chat.  We both agreed that our customers and consumers in general are somewhat aware of how serious of a concern this should be but there are many reasons why they may not act upon it.  We were convinced the number one reason would probably be, "It couldn't happen to me."  Truth of the matter is, it could. 

Dell completed a study this June to understand how airports in the United States are handling lost or stolen laptops.  The study was astonishing.  Not only did they find that most airports do not have a plan to deal with, or track, missing, lost, or stolen laptops within their terminals and other areas, but the frequency of these occurrences is mind boggling.  Of 106 airports studied, the average loss of laptops per airport per week is 286.  Across all airports the total is 10,278 per week.  That's an average of 13 laptops stolen or lost per day per airport.

The Olympics are finally here.  What has been hyped to be best Olympic games to date has in no way fallen short of this suggestion.  A stunning opening ceremony, all-star athletes, and endless television coverage to keep us involved helps make the 2008 Summer Games simply amazing. 

But what's even more exciting for us "technophiles" is what's happening out here on the web.  For the first time in Olympic history, you can watch almost any round of any event live on the Internet.  All 2,000+ hours of it with an additional 3,000+ hours of on-demand coverage available as well.