All of these screen grabs are from approximately 11:05PM eastern, 11/4/2008:

Here’s my electorial college prediction: 364 Obama, 174 McCain:

My gamertag is the same as my domain, “robotic tom”, FYI.

Here are some of the resources that I am using to monitor the storm from New Jersey:

• First is obviously the National Hurricane Center and the wealth of information they provide.
• The National Data Buoy Center is really interesting to look at. Their buoy data provides real time wave heights, water temperatures, wind speed, and air pressure. It is very interesting to watch the data as the storm progresses through the gulf.
• There are a lot of Google Earth overlays available from Google Earth Blog and Tropic Atlantic. The overlay that I finding the coolest is the near-real time tracking of the Hurricane Hunter aircraft and the data they send back to the NHC.
• Folks have set up a Gustav Information Center group at ning.com. This will compile Gustav information that is being posted on a variety of social networking sites. Also, don’t forget Twitter.
• Radio Reference is providing streaming feeds of emergency communications in New Orleans and San Antonio. Fascinating to listen to the evacuation communications from so far away. Their wiki also is also updated with information regarding amateur radio and emergency communications related to Hurricane Gustav.

My thoughts are with the people of the Gulf Coast and I hope that things with this storm go as smoothly as possible over the next few days.

Perhaps this isn’t the smartest piece of marketing material to put in a bank lobby:

The New York Jets have aquired Brett Favre. This is so unreal. I have always been a huge fan of Chad Pennington and was very excited about Kellen Clemens, but to have a hall of fame quarterback on the team is an opportunity every fan has to be excited about. Really have to get out to Hofstra, to the Jets training camp, to see this team up close.

Favre jerseys are already on sale at the Jets online store, but the server seems to be overloaded and crashed. I’ll pick one up soon!

So far, this has a nice, clean interface and is easy to use. Writing on the iPod or iPhone may be a pain, but this will be great for mobile blogging.

Nice work, wordpress!

Office Morning, originally uploaded by tom sullivan.

I love the early mornings in the office. The sun reflects off the buildings across the street and the light starts to pour through these huge windows at the front of our office.

The passcode lock feature is simple - it’s been on cell phones and mobile devices for years. Before the device can be accessed, a four digit code must be typed in. With mobile devices getting smaller and holding more personal information, this feature is more important. I don’t see enough people using it.

On the iPod and iPhone, the passcode lock feature is found under Settings -> General. There is a Passcode Lock area which allows you to set the four digit passcode and the timing associated with it. You can set how long the auto-lock feature will take to activiate (mine will auto-lock after five minutes of inactivity) and set a time for how long you can access the iPhone/iPod, after the auto-lock, without a passcode (I also have this set to five minutes so that I can change tracks quickly).

A few months ago, I freaked out after I thought that I had left my iPod and cell phone at a Friday’s I ate at. Several hours after I got home, I couldn’t find either device. I called the restaurant and they couldn’t find the iPod. It was a terifying ordeal - to think that someone could have picked up my iPod and now had access to my e-mails, web history, calendar entries and an addresbook full of many high profile business contacts my co-workers cell phone numbers’. In a blur, I changed all of the passwords for e-mail accounts, Twitter, and even my online banking(I had a shortcut for my online banking on my home screen - I know the password wasn’t saved, but I changed it just in case).

It was entirely more information about me that I wanted a person to have access to.

The loss of the iPod wouldn’t have been an issue if I had my passcode set - No one would be able to easily access the information on the iPod. Just a few days before this incident, I had removed the passcode lock because it was a pain in the ass to change tracks while I was out on a bike ride (this was prior to me figuring out the auto-lock timing, above). I sacrificed security for a momentary inconvenience and now I was paying for it.

Of course, I am a huge idiot and fund the iPod and cell phone, misplaced, the next day. They weren’t lost - I’m just a moron. In this case, I was lucky enough to get a second chance and make sure that this doesn’t happen again. Next time, the passcode lock will be set and, while I will face a financial loss, at least my information is safe.

Mobile devices are continuing to shrink but hold even more personal information. Whether it be an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, cell phone, or whatever - make sure your data is safe on your easily misplaced mobile device. With millions of iPhones and iPod Touches getting the new firmware, and millions more iPhone 3Gs being sold, use this as an opportunity to make sure your passcode lock is set and your data is secure.