Way back in September, I wrote about some thoughts of mine on Google Voice.  Since then, there have been a few announcements to the Google Voice service including the whole Apple App Store controversy.  While Google is doing their magic and making the existing service more robust, I thought some more about the potential of Google Voice:

Google could partner with an existing wireless service provider, such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. and they can connect the Google Voice service on top of the existing service provider’s back end systems.  It would allow the user to use their regular phone number with all of the Google Voice services: texting from a computer, forwarding to multiple phone numbers, transcribed and downloadable voice mail etc.  The best part about this, is end users would not have to store additional “406 area code” phone numbers in their phone book, it would work natively with existing phones.  This lifts an entire veil of complexity and opens up Google Voice to the world of simple users.

Users would be able to start a conversation on their computer(much easier to type on then a tiny keypad or touch screen on a phone) and then continue on their phone on the go without any interruption (It’s very feasible, I do it all the time).  Privacy issues aside, users would be able to access past conversations and search for important information.  It would be very similar to Microsoft’s Kin online management system, except it would be focused on your text message and eventually can and should be rolled out to manage your media as well.

Integration of Google Voice natively with a wireless phone provider (or at least a similar service) is most certainly the future, I wonder what the time table is; I want to be the first beta tester.  I guess its just a matter of until the service providers pull their heads out of their asses.

*In addition to allowing users to text from a browser, service providers, can and should provide an app that would allow users to text right from their desktop.  In fact my friend, Dave Amenta has already developed an awesome desktop app for Google Voice, I use it all the time!

I am living in apartment this summer in Houston.  One of my summer goals is to learn how to cook so I don’t starve in the fall.  The following is a list of recipes that I have made.

As I add new recipes, the most recent one will be denoted with *’s.

Campfire Pan-Roasted Chicken

Southwestern Steak and Peppers

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Surf N Turf Dinner

Onion Rice Recipe

Angel Chicken Pasta

Shrimpe Fettucine Alfredo

Warm Runny Chocolate Souffles

Fried Beef Dumplings

Chicken Piccata

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tomato and Basil and Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

Chicken with Wine Sauce

Chocolate Banana Bread

Chicken Cacciatore

Beef Teriyaki

Yummy Spiked Cajun Shrimp/Chicken

Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps

Linguine with Chicken and Sauteed Vegetables

Thought of this post back during football season.  Now that there is big news in college football with USC and epansions, I figured that I’d finally write the post.

The NCAA’s major principal is Amateurism; nobody should make money off of college sports.  The NCAA enforces this to their best ability, often giving pretty extreme penalties.

The policy of amateurism states something to that extent that nobody should profit from the likeness of a player.  This includes being sponsored and/or receiving benefits from coaches during recruiting.

Semi-recently some former players sued the NCAA for profitting from video games.  Their arguement was that the players in the games have the same numbers, simliar hometown, similizar dimensions etc, so the NCAA was benefitting from the likeness of these players, which in my opinion goes against the NCAA’s policy of amatuerism.  I’m not sure what the outcome of the law suit was, but this concept can also be applied to apparel.

All of the sports apparel stores sell Longhorn Apparell, including the UT COOP, another non-profit.  These stores profit off of the likeness of the players because the players are by nature associated with the number on their jerseys.  Colt McCoy was 12 and Vince Young was 10; everybody will always remember that and when they go to the store, they buy those jerseys.  They players never see a dime.

The COOP even sells autographed, game-used memorabilia.  This can’t comply with NCAA rules!  I’m sure these were signed after the athletes graduated college, but they are still profiting from their likeness as a Longhorn, when there were amateurs.

The COOP is supposed to be a non-profit, but they make a significant amount of money from the likeness of players, who never see a dime from it.  One non-profit, breaking the principals of another non-profits, smells funny to me.  Either way, they should either pay the players for their likeness in video games and apparel or stop the practice entirely.

But why would the NCAA do that?  College sports are a cash cow as evidenced by the current realignments in conferences.  It is all about winning and making money; the more visible your winning team is, the more money  for television broadcast rights and the more money alumni donate. It’s rather unfortunate that it is all about the money, because at the end of the day it is just a game.