Yummy Wakame Weblog

So this may be ancient news, but I just found out about it today. If you’re a fan of iGoogle, the personalized homepage by the makers of the Internet, then you’ll undoubtedly know a little bit about the whole themes aspect of that page.

Apparently, if you check out your iGoogle page at 3:14am (Pi) you can see some nifty secret stuffs.

I have been hoping for awhile that Google would allow designers and developers to create some of their own themes.

Earth Class Mail is a service that basically allows you to have your snail mail sent to them so that you can view it online instead of in your own mail box. They show you scanned copies of all of your mail, and then you can choose which bits you’ll read and what will get shredded.

From their website:

With an online PO Box you’ll manage your postal mail as easily as your email.

View scanned images of your sealed envelopes online, then choose to have your mail securely scanned into a PDF document, recycled, shredded or forwarded to you or someone else.

I like the recycling bit so much, we get pound after pound of SPAM in our mailbox, plus the price is right starting as low as $10/month. This service seems exceptionally cool save for the fact that it seems like it might take 1 – 2 extra days to receive mail (one for them to scan it, one for them to open it after you’ve said you want to read a particular piece of mail?) though I can’t be sure of that.

Blackle is a way to combine Google’s wonderful search algorithm with some good ol’ environmental responsibility. Based on the idea that a black background uses less energy than a white background, they’ve essentially created the black version of Google.

According to Blackle’s website, “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year” due to the search engine’s popularity. That sounds like a lot of Megawatts, doesn’t it?

Try Blackle for yourself »

No, seriously…

The Games Factory 2 lets you add images, as simple or complex as you can make them, do some simple animation tweaks to them, and then assign them as moving characters, backgrounds, foregrounds, etc. It looks like a super simple way to make your own video games.

Finally, a way to have my stick figure skateboarders show the Evil Ninja Turtles who’s the boss once and for all!

Visit their website »

PowerLight Connectâ„¢ is an easy and affordable way for businesses and government to connect to the sun. This powerful new offering makes buying solar electricity as simple as buying power from your utility.

PowerLight offers its service to governments and businesses and claims to do so as easily as they might by the electricity that comes default with your light switch. They claim that there is no equipment to buy, no maintenance costs, and the electricity they supply you is simply billed on a monthly (and fixed!) rate.

Here’s how it works, according to their website:

1. We pay for and deploy your new solar power system
2. You host it on your roof, ground or parking facility
3. You buy the solar electricity produced at a fixed rate – for 10 years or more
4. Your organization benefits from clean solar power, while demonstrating environmental leadership

This sounds amazing! If only it were available on a residential basis…