Artem Russakovskii's programming and technology blog

Updated: August 20th, 2009

If you haven't heard of Digsby yet, you have probably been living in some kind of a virtual cave or have no friends. Digsby is a multi-network instant messenger application, similar to Trillian, Pidgin (GAIM), or Miranda. I said 'similar', so what makes Digsy special? Reviews I read so far don't give the real reasons and don't dive into the features in depth. Instead, you get a standard load of marketing BS and in the end to you, the user, Digsby may end up being "yet another IM program." Some reviews describe certain features, but so far I haven't seen one that highlighted THE MAIN REASON why Digsby is different. And may I preface it with: finally somebody got a …

Updated: July 30th, 2021

Why do I dread doing taxes every year? One of the main reason was having to figure out ways to import hundreds of transactions from my stock brokers: Scottrade and InteractiveBrokers. I love IB but come on, it's 2008 and they still don't provide .txf files to import into TurboTax (or TaxCut, but I use TurboTax myself). Scottrade, on the other hand, is directly importable through TurboTax but it only imports sale amounts and not purchases, so TurboTax thinks I got my stocks for free and wants to tax me on the full sale amount rather than the profits. That is, of course, very incorrect. Here are the best solutions I could find to these problems:

1. Scottrade….

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Take a look at the hidden camera videos of what hotel cleaning staff does to your drinking glasses. Watch and fear! And never use them again.

…

I never thought this could actually happen but Sharper Image, the home of overpriced crap that nobody ever buys, is now bankrupt. Spencer's next?

Oh, and by the way, shares plunged 72% and are now sitting at 41c. That's from a 52 week high of $14.16.

CNN Money | Reuters | Google Finance…

I saw this joke posted on the Internet and decided to keep it for future reference. But… is it even a joke? I don't think so! It's the goddamn truth.

What a woman says, what she really means…

I need = I want
We need = I want
It’s your decision = The correct decision should be obvious by now
Do whatever you want = You are going to pay for this later …

I was looking through some old papers while cleaning out the closet and found this list that Milla made for my mom when she was visiting. I quickly jotted it down for future reference. Here it is in no particular order:

In San Francisco

• Golden Gate Bridge
• Golden Gate Park
• Twin Peaks
• Legion of Honor (beautiful place!)
• Embarcadero
• Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf
• Ghirardelli Square
• Palace Of Fine Arts
• Lombard Street (the curvy one)
• Alcatraz
• Treasure Island
• Chinatown
• MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art)
• Broadway
• North Beach
• Coit Tower
• City Hall
• The Marina
• Union Square, Downtown

Outside San Francisco

• Sausalito
• Hearst Castle
• Reno
• Winchester Mystery House
• Napa, Sonoma (wine tasting, beautiful nature)
• Stinson Beach
• Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea
• Berkeley, Telegraph

…

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Updated: December 19th, 2007

If you haven't heard yet, there's a cool useful little device that you can buy for about $20, called the Kill-A-Watt. You plug it into the power outlet, then plug something into it and observe various fun facts about the plugged in device, such as the power consumption, voltage, amperage, etc. I started plugging things in and recording power consumption that you can see below. Here are the results I got so far (updated often):

• Vizio P50 HDTV 50" plasma
  • standby: 0-1W
  • on – perfect white screen: 450W (OUCH!)
  • on – bright screen: 350-430W
  • on – medium brightness: 250-350W
  • on – dark scenes: 200-250W
  • on – perfect black screen: 185W
• Torchiere floor lamp with a 300W bulb

…

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/305240_costco27.html?source=rss

Here's the summary: TVs, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPods, MP3 players and cell phones now have a 90 day return period. TVs and computers have a free 2 year extended warranty by Costco. Items bought before the policy went into effect Monday, Feb 26 are not affected by this change and can be returned according to the old policy.

Well, we all knew it was coming, and even though I'm not happy about it, I understand why it had to be done: the policy abuse was just too outrageous. Won't stop me from shopping in Costco though….

Posted in TIME magazine recently, this original letter from an anonymous marine is a must read. Here it is:

The Secret Letter From Iraq
A Marine's letter home, with its frank description of life in "Dante's inferno," has been circulating through generals' in-boxes. We publish it here with the author's approval

Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics. Perhaps inevitably, the 'Letter from Iraq' moved quickly beyond …