Worried about the pig flu …errrr… swine flu … errr whatever this new flu is unoffensively called? Well, the good news is that you can stay informed by receiving SMS text messages on your cell phone.

CellPhones.org has announced a Swine Flu news update service that will broadcast breaking news as it develops. According to Cellphones.org:

Text PIGFLU to 41411 and we will send updates as news develops about the Swine Flu. The only cost is your cost for receiving regular text messages, and there will be no other billing. We are providing this service in the public interest.

I saw this post over at Geeks Are Sexy called 25 Incredibly Geeky T-Shirts and it inspired me to go out and find a few really cool geek t-shirts myself. Most of the geeky t-shirts over at GAS were from ThinkGeek and very programmer oriented so I decided to find some great ones NOT from ThinkGeek and not overly biased towards computer programmers. Let me know if you like them!

1. Magic is just stuff science hasn’t made boring yet

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Decorating your home office isn’t an easy thing to do. The first thing that you need to accomplish is to blend great aesthetic design with products that are going to allow you to maximize your productivity in the work space. The next thing to tackle is how to create the feeling that you’re in a professional work space while allowing for that space to exist within the rest of your home. And finally you need to consider the types of products that really express who you are and what you believe in whether that’s ergonomic or eco-friendly design.

Your workspace can be funky or sexy, minimalist or post-modern, neutral toned or filled with bright colors – as long as you create it in a way that is true to your heart. To create the right space, you need to be able to find these products and to set them up in a way that makes the home office all your own. Here’s a look at 25 of the best, most unique products out there which can assist you in achieving these goals of home office design.

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Have you ever wanted to work and travel? Obviously, people have been combining the two for a long time. However, the Internet and all the mobile technology available makes it much easier for people to be Digital Nomads.

What is a Digital Nomad?

Digital Nomads are fans of the ultimate in mobility. They take a mobile lifestyle to the maximum, working while traveling long-term, and staying connected to the Internet to complete their web-based work or run a web business.

Why So Many Converts to This Lifestyle?

There are a number of current workplace conditions that might be contributing to the increasing number of Digital Nomads – namely the ability to work from anywhere and the technology to stay connected. Throw in the fact that humans are probably adventurers by nature, so integrating work and travel just suits so many of us.

The point is, people are becoming bored with their complacent lifestyles, and with the widespread availability of the Internet, we’re becoming more consciously aware of other parts of the world. Technology now enables us to satisfy our curiosity, to go and “wander” while maintaining a means to work and pay the bills.

Digital Nomad Toolbox: 10 Gadgets or Technologies or Services You Probably Want

1. GSM cell phone and service. Most of the world use GSM. So if you’re traveling, chances are very good that you’ll need a GSM phone to match the local service. (Of course, if you’re staying longer-term in a country, you might decide to go for a land line. Then again, a VoIP phone and service is another option instead of GSM.)

2. Netbooks/ notebooks/ laptops. It’s obvious these are your most important tools – your means of staying connected and productive. You could occasionally use one of the newest breed of smartphones to run an application or two, but getting a day’s web work done on one seems out of the question – not to mention, probably expensive in terms of data bandwidth costs… and eyestrain. One of the coolest new Netbooks, in my opinion is the Dell Mini (though it’s not without its faults, and isn’t really meant for ultra-high daily production).

3. Webmail. Sure, you’ll have your laptop computer with you when you travel, but there’ll be times you don’t have access to it. If you use a desktop email reader, you’d have to wait until you have your laptop again. With webmail like GMail, you can read your email messages wherever you can find Internet access. E.g., a cell phone with data plan, a friend’s computer, or an Internet cafe.

4. Cloud technology and other computing applications + services.

1. Access to productivity/ office applications. E.g., Google Docs + Spreadsheets or the equivalent, Calendars/ to-do lists.
2. Travel planners. Not strictly necessary but certainly helpful. Especially useful is Schmap, which has mobile options.
3. Supplemental communications. E.g., Chat/IM apps or even micro-messaging with Twitter.
4. Team management. If you’re both a digital nomad and a webpreneur, it’s possible that you have either colleagues or a team of employees whom you need to communicate with regularly. Or you might need interaction with clients that goes beyond email and voice communications. Team management applications such as Campfire or even a customized install of BuddyPress will be valuable to your remote operations.
5. Music. Some people just can’t get through a day without music. So having access to the music you like means supplementing your MP3 collection with web services such as iLike, Last.fm and Pandora (though the latter is unfortunately unavailable to users outside of the U.S., at the time of this writing, due to copyright issues).

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The Internet has changed the way we work, the way we interact and the way we learn. Here I’ve put together a list of five ways I see the Internet having re-invented the learning process.

1. Information about everything and anything, readily available
The two biggest contributors to information access are Wikipedia and Google. While both receive plenty of criticism for inaccuracies or for rewarding bad information, there is no doubting that on balance, they both do a good job of making authoritative information easily accessible. This makes the initial stages of research go much more quickly and can be a spring board to find the sources to go in more depth. Plus, with Google, we now literally have access to thousands if not millions of living experts in various fields.

2. Free software makes work more efficient and productive
With the Internet, there are now boatloads of free or open source software for students to help with research, collaboration, communication and everything in between. Free software gives us the opportunity to learn new skills, and get hands on with our projects. The best software helps people do things that weren’t even possible in the past. Plus, it makes jobs that were hard in the past, accessible to everyone.

3. Online learning tools customize the learning experience
New, more dynamic learning tools are available online then ever before. Everyone has a different method of learning, and different tools tap into different learning styles. Plus, learning has never been more engaging and interactive. Sure, sifting through the good ones from the bad ones is a chore, but that becomes much easier thanks to lists like this one from MakeUseOf.

4. You can get educated from the comfort of your home
First of all, there is self-study. People use the Internet all the time to listen to free lectures, read free books, take free classes and everything in between. But now, more than ever, people are actually doing their full college education online. As more reputable colleges enter the online fray, more employees will see online degrees as legitimate, and more students will avoid the hassle of commuting or paying room & board. Online learning adds an amazing amount of efficiency to the education system by removing various inefficiencies like traffic jams, walking between classes, and accommodating the lowest common denominator. Plus, you get to customize the amount of time you put into learning based on your own learning patterns.

5. Plagiarism and laziness
A list about how the Internet changed education couldn’t be complete without reference to the negatives. In my experience, the biggest negatives about the Internet are that it removes structure from the learning process and encourages laziness. Obviously, a self-motivated person can overcome these obstacles and reap all the rewards that the Internet provides. However, on average, I suspect that most people are like me and inclined to the principle of least action. The Internet provides so much information about any topic that we might be inclined to not take the time to understand what we are researching. Even worse, we might be tempted to simply copy someone else’s ideas. This isn’t bad just in principle. It’s bad for the learning process. Why? Because learning requires understanding, and understanding requires engagement. Plagiarism is a short cut that undermines the process of learning.

Ryan is the co-founder of The Firewall Blog.

Strength Training on the Wii Fit

I got a Wii Fit for Christmas and was super excited. Not only do I love the idea of having an easy, indoor exercise solution during the cold days of winter, but as a geek there was just something beautiful about the idea of my video game system doubling as my exercise gym.

My expectations were high, but did Wii Fit live up to them? The short answer is no. Here’s why.

There are three major shortcomings with Wii Fit in my opinion.

1) Wii Fit Is Missing Defined Exercise Programs
Perhaps the most glaring problem with Wii Fit is that it has no prescribed exercise program. You are left to your own devices in putting together a daily regiment. But I found this to be a major defect, because most of us would like to optimize the time we put into working out, and instead we are left guessing as to what is most effective. What Wii Fit should have provided, but didn’t, was the ability to take a quiz to determine what’s most important to you (weight loss, strength training, etc.) Each day, it would ask “How much time do you have to work out today?” Based on this information it could suggest 3-5 workout programs custom fit to your needs. But alas, nothing like this was present.

2) Too Much Downtime Between Exercises
As others have noted, it takes too much time to move onto the next exercise once you are finished with the previous one. Sure, if you’ve just taken a 10 minute jog, the minute or so it takes to move from the end of one exercise to the beginning of another is fine. But if you’re doing simple 1-2 minute, low-impact exercises, you quickly find that you spend half your time navigating the menus rather than keeping that heart rate up. Most of us have trouble fitting exercise into our daily routines. When it takes 30 minutes to do 15 minutes worth of exercising on the Wii Fit, it takes a psychology toll, and it feels like time is wasted.

3) Wii Fit Fails To Motivate
One of the most promising things of an exercise system built into a video game is the ability to motivate. Motivation is usually the number one inhibitor to daily exercise. Wii Fit could have easily implemented a deeply addictive RPG leveling up component to the game. But all we have to motivate us to use Wii Fit is the prospect of unlocking new exercises, losing weight and putting in more exercise hours….hardly things unique to Wii Fit. If anything, the Wii Fit is de-motivational because you know that if you take a few days off, you’ll get lectured. To drive home the idea that Wii Fit fails to motivate: I only lasted two weeks before I thoroughly lost interest.

At the end of the day, as a Geek, I needed more structure, more efficiency and more gaming elements built into the system. As it stands, not only was I bored with Wii Fit, but I also constantly felt like I was wasting time.

Ryan is a co-founder of the online information project Brainz.

I’m a sucker for addictive flash games. I don’t know about you, but I think the best video games are almost always simple and fun. Flash games tend to have both qualities.

Now, I know that Flash games often don’t have much depth. But that’s ok for me. I just like to jump in and have some mindless fun. And Flash games do that for me.

TechCult put together a list of the 150 Best Flash Games currently available. Lots of new gems on that list that I hadn’t seen before.

What do you think of their list? Are there some great games they left out?

The Roku Box

Roku is a set-top box that plays Netflix movies. The box itself costs about $100. It enables you to watch unlimited “instant” movies via the Netflix service for less than $10 per month. Unfortunately, the movie selection available for “instant” viewing over the Internet leaves something to be desired.

If it weren’t for XBox 360 relationship with Netflix, the sheer quality of this product would bring me to predict marketshare dominance for Roku. However, that remains to be seen, given the current market penetration that XBox 360 has.

Getting Roku setup was a breeze. It took me all of 3 minutes (including the unboxing!). The user menus feel intuitive and tight. Using Roku reminded me of using the Nintendo Wii – family friendly. To watch movies you just add movies to your “Instant” queue in Netflix and these movies automatically appear on your Roku system.

After getting the Roku setup, I watched about 10 minutes from a few different movies. The picture quality is basically like watching a DVD. It’s alright, but on an HDTV you wish it was a little better. Given that this is a first generation product, that’s not bad though. The biggest frustration was the load time which was sometimes up to 30 seconds.

While the movie selection isn’t great, there are some good movies available on Netflix for instant viewing on the Roku box. There are thousands of movies to download but most of them are older movies. There are some recent releases, and some that are excellent. But, for the most part, the movies you really want to see just aren’t available for viewing using Roku and Netflix.

At the end of the day, I see Roku as proof of concept for the mechanism of subsription based online video distribution. Up until now, our only choices have been to pay per movie or to sacrifice quality and download movies for free (often illegally). Roku shows us the promise of IP based movie watching on our HDTVs … and that’s exciting!

Ryan blogs his thoughts on pop-culture at Thrive and is a co-founder of CC Matcher.

I came across this list of free and open source software for college students and was surprised to find some gems I hadn’t known of before. Here are my 3 favorites:

1. GIMP

GIMP is an open source photo and image editing software that runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. GIMP is fun to use and has lots of online community support.

2. Pidgin or Adium

Pidgin runs on Windows and Linux. Adium runs on Mac OS X. They are both lightweight pieces of software that can consolidate all of your various Instant Messenger accounts. No need to have 3 or 4 different pieces of software running at once.

3. VLC

Just as Pidgin consolidates IM accounts, VLC is a single piece of open source software that can play almost any video format you ask it to play. No more “video format not supported” errors.

Source: College Crunch