Painting a bedroom last weekend, I discovered something peculiar. Scattered throughout our home are all these mysterious little faceplates with incorrectly sized Ethernet jacks in them. Apparently, they are tied to a quaint 19th century technology called "telephones." Remember those? They are just like cell phones and VOIP, except that they do a whole lot less, and ground you to one location.

Pandora, the Greek equivalent of Eve, was constructed collectively by all of the gods on Mount Olympus, who each gave her a gift. Hermes, ever the innovator, bestowed upon her the Internet. Thus Pandora Internet Radio was born.

It's a glorious manifestation of the Music Genome Project, which has set out to mathematize songs with the use of over 400 musical attributes. All you do is enter a band or song name into Pandora, then some sort of scientific wizardry happens behind the scenes, and out come songs from bands with similar sounds. For free.

It works remarkably well, which seems to legitimize math for me. For instance, create a station based on Led Zeppelin and you'll get some Pearl Jam and The Rolling Stones. Or if Barbra Streisand is more of your cup of tea, you'll get The Carpenters and Melissa Manchester (yeah I'm not sure who that is either).

If you don't like a song that pops up, click on the down-turned thumb (a nearly universal sign of displeasure) and the song is skipped. Give the same artist this treatment twice and they won't appear again. Conversely, a thumbs-up will make it a bit more likely that future songs will have even closer musical traits to the current song.

The level of control is empowering, and advertisements are rare, making the experience far more enjoyable than broadcast radio. And though the Pandora of Greek myth unleashed evil into this world (aside from opening that box, she was apparently a very pleasant woman), Pandora Radio is a jackpot in this chaotic cyberspace of ours.

Want more? Check out our review on the Pandora iPhone app.

Nothing impresses your peers and colleagues more than business cards (I think Bill Gates said this, but I could be wrong). It's like a mini résumé, and it's even cooler when you do the move where you squeeze it between two fingers to offer it to people. You can pretend to be pretty much anyone with a convincing business card. I personally have successfully impersonated many high-ranking politicians and business types.

So if you want to seem as important as possible, and don't we all, visit MOO.com and print yourself up some personalized business cards. You can upload any image you like (within reason) to the front, and write anything you like (within reason) on the back. MOO even links up to sites like Facebook, Flickr and LiveJournal to transfer your photos.

You can choose between two sizes, the dimensions you normally see for business cards, and the MiniCard, which is smaller, yet somehow more dramatic. Either way, the printing looks fantastic, and the finish is nice and glossy, so you'll be well on your way to climbing the company ladder or making someone you hate jealous.

Available on MOO from ~$20

With so many incredible iPhone Apps being developed practically overnight, it's hard to keep up with what's worth downloading. This review is the first in a new regular series of iPhone App picks that we're calling Terifik Apps:

In 2008 Pandora for the iPhone was the #1 Free App download in the iTunes store, and for good reason. For the uninitiated, Pandora is a web-driven customizable music streaming system. In a nutshell, you pick any song, artist, or album title you like and Pandora creates a cohesive "radio" station based on your choice. Using the Music Genome Project, Pandora pools a list of similar artists/songs and serves them to you one by one. You can skip songs you don't like, discover new artists, and rate your favorites, achieving a more personalized station. It's nothing short of brilliant, and it's absolutely free.

Version 2.0, released about a week ago, ups the ante providing even more features, and in turn, greater connection to the music. Here are the additions in brief:

• Improved music engine - This is a HUGE improvement, my tastes are eclectic and my experience the past week with Pandora 2.0 definitely proves an impressive upgrade.  
  
• Cover Flow - lets you browse back through the songs you've heard as easily as browsing your iPod
• Artist/Song info - With a quick tap you can get the essentials on who's playing, and why Pandora chose that song for your station.
• Sharing Features - This is amazingly useful: Bookmark songs for future reference or to download them from iTunes, or Email station recommendations.

Available at the iTunes store for less than a wooden nickel.
[more information and screenshots after the jump]
 

Did Santa give you a iPhone this year? If so, here are our picks for the Top 5 Applications to put on your iPhone right away:

(*All are FREE unless otherwise noted)


Twitteriffic - A slick Twitter interface that lets you tweet, reply, upload photos, check user info, save favorites, and find nearby users on your iPhone's map.  By: Iconfactory



Google Reader - This is an essential App on any screen. The iPhone specific interface doesn't disappoint. Use it to stay up on sites like, mmm, Terifik. 
By: Google



Movies - An incredible resource for movie buffs. You can watch previews, see what's upcoming at the box-office and on DVD, and locate the nearest theater and showtimes using the iPhone's built-in GPS. 
By: Flixster


CraigSearch - A great little App for deal finders. Use it to run quick, intuitive searches on your local Craigslist. Search posts by keyword, narrowing with category/subcategory and a host of other options. When you've struck gold, reply to the original post with a quick tap. 
By: Pheedyou


Nightstand - The fun doesn't have to end when you're sleeping. Nightstand turns your iPhone into a bedroom worthy clock. You can use it in conjunction with your iPhone's alarm settings to replace that old clunker from college.
By: SpoonJuice   [Checkout Lifehacker for a great post on converting your iPhone packaging into a clock stand.]

It's a jungle out there. ~ 4,000 iPhone Apps available for download (and growing). We'll periodically update you with our favorites and new finds.

With less than 48 shopping hours to go, you're running out of options if you plan to shop online and have your gift under the tree. Compound that problem with your typical "impossible to buy for" scenario, mix in some long lines at the mall, and you may be left feeling as defeated as I am right now.

Here's the perfect solution: Gifts.com gift cards. With literally HUNDREDS of participating retailers, this is the mother of all gift cards.
It couldn't be any easier: Buy it online, print the card you receive in your email (or send it to the recipient), and your loved one is free to shop both in-store and online with enough choice to satisfy even the most persnickety consumer.

With hundreds of restaurants, retailers, theaters, hotels, etc. it's a choose-you-own adventure Christmas gift. Here are few of my favorites from the list:

• Banana Republic / Gap / Old Navy
• Barnes and Noble
• iTunes
• Crutchfield
• Overstock
• Sephora
• Ticketmaster

For the full list, and to purchase your last, best gift (with FREE Shipping) visit Gifts.com
~from $25

At Terifik, we're always on the hunt, bookmarking TONS of stuff.

Until recently, syncing bookmarks between devices was a bit more difficult than it should have been. Having tried online bookmarks, and various desktop-to-mobile sync solutions, none compare to the intuitive, feature-rich, simplicity that is Foxmarks.


Foxmarks, designed for FireFox and now in Beta for IE (Safari coming soon), has a wealth of useful features:

• Sync your bookmarks between computers (as few as 2, or your whole staff)
• Share your bookmarks on a webpage, or as an RSS feed
• Creates a secure, automatic backup of all your bookmarks on the Foxmarks server
• Access your bookmarks even when you are not on your computer
• Create multiple profiles allowing you to customize bookmarks across various machines
• Sync your Passwords, too! (optional and secure)
  

If you routinely use multiple computers and would like to sync and combine your bookmarks across the lot, this is THE solution.

Perhaps best of all, Foxmarks is FREE. You can download Foxmarks for FireFox today for $0