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Digital RSS FeedsGaming leads to mass reading? - A recent article in the NY Times discussed the new video games that provoke youngsters into ?. Gasp ?. Reading. I think it could certainly help while it will never motivate huge numbers to pick up actual books. I remember the same discussion years ago about comic books. Kids would get criticized for reading that ?junk? but at least it gave them experience in reading. Most kids won?t read anything past a certain age unless they are forced to in school. That is part of the problem I guess. In public school you are forced to be in class about 7 hours a day and learn what they tell you to learn. So when you get home the last thing you want to do is read more, even about subject you enjoy. I have read many, many more books since I left school than when I was in school. It?s my fault for not taking advantage of books when I was younger but at least I learned the skill and now I can use it to the fullest extent. If these video games just kick start the process of enjoying reading ...Feed Source: www.geeknewscentral.com Everybody's a Techie... - So the other day I walked into a shop to do some repairs. They had an in-house techie that put together their systems, but had no formal training. The kid was on vacation, so I walked in to fix an important program.
What I found was less than acceptable. The wireless was open, the computers firewalls were off and their data was completely exposed. Further, they were close to a public fairway which means that they get a lot of unknown traffic.
I have been seeing this on a regular basis - people that put their trust in non-educated techies. I lost a job to one a while back. They took price over quality. Later I found that person did something rather scary that exposed the systems and was asked to leave.
I can't believe how many shops that have free WiFi have open systems. One system I was able to not only see the computers, I could see their POS systems. I was also able to download and upload files.
Did you know if you expose your Credit Card data in... Do Geeks Like Humans? - I remember reading an interesting quote from the creator of the comic strip ?Dilbert? in Fast Company magazine, if I remember correctly. He was talking about how people in office workplaces like their gadgets and often times have almost no interaction with other people. He said he talked to many people who said they kept to themselves with tech gadgets like mp3 players because they ?did not like people, ANY people they worked with?. That is a profound statement by any standards. I am an introvert myself so I love gadgets that entertain me instead of having to make small talk with people I will likely never see again. Being an introvert means more than being shy. It means I am content with my own thoughts in my mind without needing other people to entertain me. So I use an mp3 player to increase my knowledge of thoughts & ideas that are already interesting to me. In other words, why should I talk to people who likely have nothing in common with me when I can listen to carefully chos... Tech Will Save You - I see all this junk happening in the news from bank failures to foreclosures. And I admit it is disturbing & can be disheartening if you allow it to be. But what I hate to see is people making excuses for why their life sucks. We all do dumb things, maybe me more than most. But it is better to own up to stupidity & try to fix it and do better in the future. One thing that really bothers me is when people complain about not being able to get a good paying job. I know it is tough out there. I really do but that is no reason to give up & expect someone else to take care of you & you life. You are in charge of you. No one from Washington is coming to save you.
You may be thinking what does this have to do with tech. Well I believe this time we are living in is the best opportunity to succeed in life. The low cost of computers and the availability of the internet makes it possible to educate yourself as much as you want to. There is the equivalent of millions of tons of data ri... More handy Gmail options - In the 415 podcast Mike talked about Googles new 'goggles' option which if you set asks you maths questions before you send an email at times you might have had a drink or seven. Personally I have never had a problem with sending email under the influence (although I could use a feature like that for my mouth).
There are a number of other interesting options that you can find in the "labs" section of your Gmail settings. Ranging from as bizarre as an option to play Snake within your mail window, to adding "mark as read" as a button instead of a menu item. Makeuseof.com has a list of 5 features and some instructions on enabling them. My personal favorite from their list is the 'forgotten attachment'. This option flags up a warning if you have the word 'attach' or a variation in your message ... GNC-2008-10-10 #415 Guest hosted by Mike Dell - Todd is still on Vacation. Guest Host Mike Dell
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Twitter Me ... High Tech XRays - I finally went to the doctor this week for a pain in my neck. I figured it was just a muscle strain (it is) but they took an x-ray to check the bones. My wife works there so I was able to go ?behind the curtain? to see my x-rays. I was looking for a wall light fixture to pin the sheets of x-rays on but there was not one there. Instead they had a scanner like machine that they placed the x-rays into & then it uploaded the images to the computer. So we were able to look at the images on a nice big screen. Pretty cool I thought. You could basically do anything you could with a regular photo. They moved it around and zoomed in on the bones they wanted to look at. The picture was crystal clear and much better than the old school way of doing this procedure. Now I have no idea how much this little gizmo cost but I reckon it was close to the cost of a small car. I don?t know if it is worth the cost but I do know it is better in many ways: visible details, digital storage, easily copied, c... In-House Wireless Frustration - I am becoming frustrated with my in-house wireless solution. I have ATT high-end DSL, and the modem and combination router rest in the lower level of the house, albeit on a shelf that is less than 2 feet from the ceiling. The lower level of the house is half underground, on the back side, but not underground at all, on the front side (i.e., the house is built into the side of a rock ledge consisting of iron-laden limestone). Directly above the router in the dining room, I can get a signal quite well on my laptop and the one wireless desktop I have in that area. I can even get 4 out of 5 bars on the patio, which is at least 30 feet from the router and on the other side of a host of domestic appliances (washer/dryer/freezer), our electrical intake box, and a metal and glass patio door.
But how dare me want to walk down the hall to the bedroom to use my laptop; less than 30 feet from the router, even with a parabolic enhancer on both router antennas, my wireless drops to ... GNC-2008-10-07 #414 guest host Mike James - One of the hardest working men in the podcasting space has taken his first true vacation in years, but the best tech, science and internet news can never stop.
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... XP Gets Six More Months to Live - According to multiple sources, Windows XP has received another six-month reprieve. This means that certain manufacturers and OEM providers can still put Windows XP on machines until the end of July, 2009.
I have lots of theories on why this is happening. XP has received two extensions already since Vista's launch. While I have a couple machines running Vista now, my primary desktop machine at work is XP, and will be for quite some time. This is likely true in a lot of businesses and schools around the country, as upgrading to Vista is proving to be cost-prohibitive for most. The only machines that can run Vista here are ones we purchased especially to do so, which means they are extremely high-end, with at least 4 gb of RAM, which raises the cost of the hardware considerably. On a college campus like mine, where there are upwards of 2500 computers, that additional hardware cost is just out of our reach.
Is this third extension a result of Microsoft listening to... Xohm Quietly Being Offered in Other Cities - After being formally and loudly introduced in Baltimore last week, Xohm has now quietly been turned on in six other major places: Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and northern Virginia.
As much nay-saying as there's been about WiMax every coming to fruition, I'm pleasantly surprised by its current distribution and sudden growth. This gives me great hope that WiMax will indeed work, and be available in more and more places throughout the country as time goes by.
WiMax, to me, is the perfect solution to a pesky problem, and can be offered as easily in rural areas as in urban ones, and I live in a semi-rural area that is quickly becoming fully suburban. I figure if they can build a giganto Walmart on our existing infrastructure, then WiMax is more than possible.
Still crossing my fingers that this continues to take off.... Wikipedia manipulation exposed - The Register reports on how the wikipedia entries on short selling, and possibly other financial sections where being controlled by a person with a very biased view on these subjects. The article alleges that one the effects control of this section of articles had was to supress discussion of the negative side of 'naked short selling'. This type of activity has had an impact on the current financial crisis, and the supression of discussion bridged into the mainstream press.
The worry from a technical viewpoint is that someone was essentially given moderater style controls over a topic that they had a vested interest in. I find this disturbing as these clear conflicts of interest should be easy to avoid. I do not think it is necessary to have any more checks on contributers identities than there already is. There are a number of people that track for spurious entries and it is better to... My New "PDA" - My New PDA
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by technology and need to unplug yourself? I know I do. I have stuff stored in my cell phone, on my laptop, in an online calendar, and on a clipboard. The bad thing is I have a hard time finding what I need when I need it. It seems like I have all the tools to be organized but the tools themselves become clutter. An example is a simple list of oil & fuel filters I use for all our vehicles. I have it on a piece of paper (somewhere), in my phone (when I can find it), & on my email application. But when it is time to buy the filters I have a hard time getting to the information I need. So last week I de cluttered a lot of stuff. Some crap went on ebay but more went in the trash. Then I went to the Dollar General store in town & picked up my new PDA?.. a 3x5 inch spiral note pad (Personal Declutter Assistant). Everything that I need to schedule immediately or remember I write down in this little book and I keep it with me all the time. I... Pimp Your MP3 Player - I just saw a cool open source product to freshen up an old mp3 player from Rockbox. It is a firmware product to improve the user experience if your outdated player needs a kick and it is free of course. It supports a lot of Apple?s players obviously but also does not leave out the less popular players which is a huge positive for me. I have a Creative Zen which is not on the list yet but my daughter has a Sansa which is possible to upgrade. My experience has been that the player may die before I get tired of the firmware but I am very rough on my players. To be honest though, I have never even thought about the possibility of changing the firmware on a player. Good thing this internet thingy is still around for ideas to flow every which way. There may even be a different firmware that is available for my Zen so I will have to start a search. I am pretty happy with what I have but there is no harm in window shopping.
All this being said, be careful & if you don?t know wha... Using the Web to Carpool - I may be the only one who has noticed that gas prices are ridiculously high now days. Ok maybe not the only one. Heck, even finding gas was a problem here in Georgia the past 2 weeks. So I have been surfing around to check out carpooling websites. I even thought of creating a simple one for my area, but don?t want to waste my time if there is a good site that I can just link to or promote on my local website. Carpooling is an immediate answer to everyone?s complaints about using their 401K to buy fuel. After the financial problems recently I guess the 401K may not be enough now?. Gas is $4 a gallon here which can make fueling up each month as expensive as the payment on the thing (visit Dave Ramsey.com to get educated on why car payments are dumb anyway). So if you spend $400 per month on gas & could carpool to work each week that would save you substantial dollars. Maybe even close to half. So that would virtually make gas $2 a gallon again.... GNC-2008-10-03 #413 Off on Vacation After Show - Ok folks I leave for a one week vacation tonight Your host will be Mike and Michael be nice to them and keep the show comments rolling in as I will forward them the listener mail.
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... How to fight The RIAA - It seems like the RIAA is unstoppable in its crusade to sue music lovers into oblivion. They are using the courts to get their way with ridiculous judgments being handed out. A single illegal downloaded song can cost a person thousands. The RIAA really does not want to go to trial; they hope to scare people into paying up when threatened with a lawsuit. Most people will just pay up to avoid the extra hassle of facing a trial. I am not advocating stealing music because I believe it is stealing when you take something without paying. However the music industry (not all artists? look what Radiohead did) is being bull headed instead of changing with the times. And these judgments are not punishment that fits the ?crime? There is no way that a few songs should cost as much as they do in penalties. The question is what can we do to destroy the RIAA.
I don?t think trying to pass any laws will help because the lobbyists are more incentivized than voters. They make money to get l... Really? Paypal Can Help... - Back in June I did some work for a company overseas. It was all over the phone - I just had to talk someone through and be done with that. I suggested that they Paypal me to save on time and money, but they would have to talk to the accountant for payment.
I waited one, then two weeks. No reply. 4 weeks later, I emailed the contact to find out where what was going on. She said there was a mixup and she would get my payment out. One, two, three more weeks passed.
I sent out another email on the status. I got a reply from another person saying the original contact did not work there anymore. We then made payment arrangements. I suggested Paypal or bank wire but they said they'll mail a cheque. It tracked to the coast when the Royal mail handed it off. To whom I do not know. Any additional tracking was non-existent and the payment was lost. Two more weeks have passed when the company said they will wire the money.
As the last email came through, they stated th... Google Blogsearch Relaunches? - I have used Google Blogsearch for a long time. It has been mainly for entertainment. But today they re-launched the site and it could end up giving Techmeme.com a run for its money.
Except for one thing NO RSS for main category feeds, what the heck was Google thinking. Someone did this on purpose no one leave a RSS feed out especially when the service has RSS before.... Apple relaxes iPhone dev restrictions - Apple has announced that it is removing some of the NDA restrictions on developers talking to each other about how their iPhone applications work. This restriction was widely criticised as stifling collaboration and innovation. Already developers are taking the opportunity to start sharing some of their frustrations with developing for the platform and the approval process for applications. This includes an unofficial list of application rejection criteria.
Apple have also seem to have relaxed a restriction on allowing applications that duplicate Apple functionality by allowing IBM to release a Lotus Notes application. It may not be that much of a relaxing though. This may be more of ... GNC-2008-09-29 #412 Audio is Fixed - Fixed the Audio Problem from last show Big Apologies.. It has been a beyond crazy weekend here and Murphys Law struck on our Show 400 Interview. I think you will all be entertained and yes I am about at my wits end.
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... WiMax: Should I Get Excited, or Not? - Sprint has debuted WiMax service in Baltimore as a test of what the system can do. WiMax has been discussed for more than five years as an alternative to traditional broadband. With speeds of 4 to 10 mbps, all wireless, the potential is enormous.
Sprint's rollout, dubbed Xohm, has reasonable prices ($35 per month with no contract required) and bargain-priced hardware ($45 for the WiMax wireless card). There is even a $50 a month plan that gives you unlimited use and downloads for life. The network currently offers plenty of bandwidth, even for capacity-clogging applications like streaming media and file-sharing.
The downside is that it is only available in downtown Baltimore. But Sprint and Clearwire are currently merging their companies and technology, which promises to boost the availability of Xohm across the country. Their goal is to provide seamless wireless access across the country within a few years.
I'm trying not to get too excited. I've re... Should we supply our own laptops at work? - According to an AP article a number of companies are starting schemes where employees are given an allowance to cover the use of their own laptops at work. The theory for companies is that this might actually cost them less and maybe their staff will work more if their work is available through their personal system. The benefit to the staff that care, is that they get to exert their own personal preference in the laptop they use at work. Laptop choice is not only an expresion of geek cred, the design features of some new laptops have made them a status symbol for many urban warriors.
The company mentioned in the article was Citrix, who has an interest in promoting this type of strategy. This is disclosed in the article. As well as a very popular virtual meeting product, Citrix made its name with a terminal services product. A couple of servers running vi... Find Your Niche - With the world?s population still booming and technology allowing more and more people to connect to each other, the opportunity to find a niche business is growing. I get really overloaded with all the things I can research and learn about online. I am constantly reading up on the subjects I am interested in most. It sometimes becomes hard to focus on what I am doing without wandering all over the information super highway. It used to be that a unique subject like quilt making was a narrow niche business. But now I really believe a website dedicated to quilt making by widows or NCAA team quilt making would draw a huge crowd, enough to make a profit if done right. Just think of the most unique business idea or niche website you can imagine and hit google to see how many sites are available.
The idea of most blogs or podcasts is to draw a huge audience if you want to make some money. But if you have a micro niche you don?t need to have near as many subscribers to be able ... Tech Podcast Round Table Recorded Sept 27th 2008 - The Tech Podcast Round Table was held on Sept 27th presentations included Joomla, Life Casting, Recording your Podcast with Sony Acid and Jungle Disk.
Live streaming video by Ustream... Don't Use FeedBurner and you will not have these Issues - Bloogers and podcasters are finding that FeedBurner is taking it’s sweet time updating people’s feeds after they post and ping the service. This is nothing new this is a issue that has been around since the beginning.
So when Marshall Kirkpatrick starts making noise that he is getting beat on release of stories because his feed is not updating, my reply is tough. You all knew the risk in allowing a third party service to control your RSS when your blogging application is capable of making one all on its own..
So just sit back and wait till FeedBurner gets around to indexing your feed and don’t be surprised if it takes awhile.
Marshall does give some tips to help speeding up the process that FeedBurner uses to update your... GNC-2008-09-26 #411 Several Hiccups Tonight - Tried some new methods tonight and had a few hiccups, but the content today is top notch and we cover a lot of ground. Full show notes can be found by clicking "Here"
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Twitte... September Tech Podcast Round Table Announcement - Announcing the September Tech Podcast Round Table
Saturday September 27th
4pm Eastern 1pm Pacific
There will be three - four great presentations for you, we will be demonstrating Jungle Disk, Recording your Podcast with Sony Acid, possible Joomla demo and one other presentation.
Should be a fun event and hope that you will join us for the live event.
To participate in the Round Table is very simple, 15 Minutes before we start Simply Click this link.
GotoMeeting will load automatically and then you can then choose to either dial in, or participate with a headset via VOIP. Mac users will want to tune in as well because my demo of GotoMetting will be done with a Mac. GotoMeeting Version 4 has 100% Mac Support as well as PC Support.
GotoMeeting is the official sponsor of the Tech Podcasts Round Table you can get a free no credit card required trial at ... Radio Shack - I walked into a Radio Shack the other day. I needed Cat 5e plugs for a wiring job I was working on. For those that don't know, they are the actual plugs on the Ethernet cable.
Bottom line: I was in and out of Radio Shack in under 2 minutes. And it wasn't with positive results.
The first thing that really annoys me walking in the store - Velcro salesman. Doesn't matter which Radio Shack it is, they just cling on and hold. And 90% of the time, it's usually that cheesy car salesman feel.
This is really the reason for the rant: I told him I needed Cat 5e Data plugs. He pointed them to me. 10 for $8 - Seriously?
In and out. I drove to Home Depot where I got 25 plugs for the same price. I should have drove there to begin with. And while thats not the best price around, it was the best price for when I needed them.
I really scratch my head on how this store still survives. The products are sub-par, the prices are too high and the quality of servi... Too Many Cords! - There's a new gadget out that will let you charge multiple electronics with only one USB port. I don't think it's intended to charge everything at once, and I wouldn't expect it to. But what a gadget like this would do is cut down on the number of cables you need in your laptop case.
Which could be very helpful, if many of our devices were standard. I have one USB cable for my iPod, one for my phone (a Sony Ericckson Walkman), and one for my digital camera. If I could carry one cable for all three, I'd be a pretty happy camper. I'm always foraging around in the pouch on the front of my laptop case trying to pull out the right cable for the job. It gets annoying, as well as being a time-waster. I carry all three of those devices any time I travel, and to have it all in one cable would be wonderful.
I do wish there was more standardization in the market. There is no reason to have a different style of cable for each device; why can't all cell phones have a stan... State of Podcasting Quick Look Full Analysis in November! - Every year at the end of the Podcast Awards I do a pretty big study on the shows that are nominated. I have a whole laundry list of things I look at. I had some extra time tonight and did a real quick look at about a 187 shows.
When the Podcast Awards is over I will look at the 3000 plus shows that will be nominated for a Podcast Award. You would think that shows that are looking to win the biggest award in the podcasting space would have done their homework and had their sites ship shape.
Well like always I am pretty disappointed in what I have found so far. Plus I am giving podcasters plenty of heads up so maybe for the first time ever people will clean their sites up. Read my Quick Look Here.
Todd..... Goodbye iPhone Apple made me do it! - I am sitting here so pissed I can barely contain myself due to the actions of Apple in conjunction with the denial of two podcasting applications from being listed in the Apple App store. Their actions smell like typical anti-competitive business practices. While many developers are getting their applications approved those that have been rejected are potentially losing 100’s of thousands of dollars in development expenses and lost revenue.
The PR damage to Apple will be significant as companies like mine shift development dollars completely to the Android platform due to them stifling competition . Plus companies that were expending development dollars in the iPhone Application space need now be worried that their investment may be flushed down the toilet if there iPhone applications are rejected due to in my opinion Appl... Android for Junkies - My wife is a cell phone junkie, degenerate, addict, etc. You choose the word. She gets a new phone every month either on craigslist though swapping or buys one. I could care less about cell phones except to talk to people on one. Yes young people, you can actually talk on these devices?. I am trying to get her to get the new Android phone with the Google operating system. I know she will like it & we are likely going to change from Verizon to T-Mobile so that will fit nicely. She has never had an iphone but I think she will appreciate the apps available for free for the Android. She mainly likes texting and weird ringtones but when she sees all this is phone can do she will go even deeper into cell phone addiction. The fact that the Amazon DRM-free music store comes preloaded is a big plus as well. I love getting music from Amazon & using it however I want to! She is starting to use her phone as a music player so this is right up her alley.
I really like techy stuff I jus... GNC-2008-09-23 #410 Standard Show Micro Vent at Start - Plenty of tech for everyone today. Normal show length.. I talk a bit about Bodies the Exhibition during the show and all I can really say is simply amazing. Plus I found a cool pic to share with your kids.
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... Do you want to Speak at Podcamp Hawaii? - Podcamp Hawaii is fast approaching and the team is working on the conference agenda. We know that some folks are coming to Podcamp Hawaii from the mainland and abroad and we want to make sure that we give those coming a chance to speak at the event if they have a topic that on the New Media, Podcasting Space.
Like most Podcamp Events we will finalize the speaker list and session 2–3 weeks before podcamp. But we need to know now if you want to participate.
Podcamp Hawaii is going to be a wonderful event and because we are adding the spirit of Aloha to the event it will be one that you will not want to miss.
This is a... You can Run but you can't Hide - Did the individual that hacked Governor Sarah Palin and running mate of Senator John McCain really think he was going to get away with hacking her email.
I also wonder if that individual really thought about the scrutiny that would be brought upon him by the FBI and Secret Service. In all honesty he may have high fived his buddies over it last week and got a good laugh, but did the individual that did this, really think that he could simply hide behind an American based proxy service.
Nothing like drawing a bullseye directly on your chest. But I bet the 20 year old son of a Tennessee State Representative purportedly under investigation is probably about to wet himself.
While we don’t know if he was the one that did the deed, hypothetically if he did I am sure he is not smiling now. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press is a great thing in t... Advertising trouble on TV - I got a tivo a few years back & have had a dvr of some kind ever since. I now have dish so I use theirs which is a good one but not quite as good as the tivo. The biggest plus is of course the time shifting factor. But the ability to skip past commercials is a close second. I keep wondering how the advertisers are going to spend their money in the future on ads. I very rarely even see an ad now but I still know more people without dvrs than I do people who do have them. So the ads are still being seen by a large percentage of people. But at some point the scales will tip and advertisers will no longer be able to justify the huge dollars they give to have their products displayed only to have them skipped over by the consumer. If 50% of people have dvrs then the value of advertising time is greatly diminished.
So what do companies do to avoid being fast forwarded into the red? Well they can place ads in sporting events which are more enjoyable if watched on time instead o... What Consumers think of Internet Bandwidth Caps - On my Podcast we have talked quite a bit about the comcast 250gb bandwidth caps. That discussion has lead to a significant amount of feedback from my listeners.
A email I received from Dan in Missouri that was read on last nights show, has resulted in about a 100 emails in less than 12 hours of it’s release I wanted to share it with the readers of the website. I think it sums up exactly what many of us think.
Todd, I'm a long-time listener, since the early double-digits of the GNC, but it's been quite a while since I've emailed you. I thought with all of the stuff going back and forth about bandwidth caps and per-usage charges it was time to weigh in on the issue, because as you've said many times, how it ultimately shakes out will have huge consequences. I'll say right up front that I've always b... Land Line Funeral - A recent article in the New York Times was trying to link the decline of landlines in homes as a result of a slowing economy. While it may be true that tighter home budgets pushed folks to trim the fat on things they don't need, it is more to do with new technologies getting better. Cell phones are super popular choices for the main home phone with unlimited plans & shared minutes. Also skype and other VOIP services create a huge competitor to the old school home phones. I recently downgraded my alltel phone service to $40 from about $80. I only use it for the internet & I can still receive calls on the phone but it costs 10 cents a minute to call out. This has worked well but I wanted to reduce my cell bill also so I trimmed it down a bit also. But I have a daughter who shares minutes with me so I have to make sure I don't go over on minutes. So last week I signed up for skype ... GNC-2008-09-19 #409 Wait till you hear the Emails - Listeners are on fire tonight and I think I have the show has received one of the best email comments ever. Don't spoil the lead in because things in the show build up to the email and its gonna rock your world.
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... Youtube offers music for your videos - I uploaded a video last week to youtube and something new happened. They offered to add a music clip to my video for me, for free of course. I think this is pretty cool. I usually add my own music but this particular video I had not. I checked the list of songs available and they were chosen to line up with the length of my video. I finally chose not to add the song because it would place an ad in the video. I assume it would be a clickable link to buy the song. There is nothing wrong with that but I did not want to block out any part of my video content. Also there are plenty of places to find music for podcasts & video casts from independent artists so I?d rather choose my own from the start. I like the option to add music directly from youtube but I don?t want my music ?sanitized? by a big company like Google. Some of the royalty free music I have found has been great. Two artists I really like are as good as or better than any mainstream stuff out there to me. ... Books Replaced? - I heard Todd mention in a podcast last week that books may never be fully replaced by a device. On another podcast I also heard the same thoughts from a guy who is not a geek. I have the same feeling but I know better than to say it will never happen. Throughout time people have seen things invented or events take place that their minds could not comprehend. When I first heard of the ?information super highway? (the internet) I thought it was the dumbest idea ever. I did not see the point in having endless information available to everyone. I was young then & understood people wanted to get knowledge but I did not see the full scope of the possibilities. Cavemen were probably scared to death of even getting close to a dangerous ocean but later men were able to sail across them. The ability to comprehend how man could build a machine to fly inside was out of reach for most people until the Wright Brothers came along. It is hard for us to envision what a device that will replace book... Best Buy + Napster = Good Investment - A lot of people are saying that Best Buys' purchase of Napster was a bad idea. I disagree. This actually might be a great thing for Best Buy and it might just put Napster back on the map. And it's really not the same as Blockbuster - Circuit City deal.
First of all, forget what Napster did in the past - it's irrelevant. We're not ignoring the past, we just are not going in that direction. Napster of 1998 is not Napster of 2008. I have a couple friends that still use the service and they have basically told me it's no different than any other music service like Rhapsody or iTunes.
Next - Imagine what Best Buy can do with Napster. Something as simple as offering free music downloads with purchases. If you can get free music, why not go to Best Buy for a stereo, vacuum cleaner or computer?
Someone gets a new computer and you can install 100 of your favorite songs. Or even Geek Squad will do it for a little extra. Nice little perk for you to get a PC or Apple c... Massive job cuts at HP - Two things fail to surprise me in the AP article "HP surprises Wall Street with size of EDS job cuts". That HP took such a big axe to the EDS bloat and that wall street is surprised. Anyone that has ever worked with EDS, especially on the supply side, could tell you how much bloat was within that company.
The EDS purchase itself was essentially an acknowledgment that the HP/Compaq merger did not deliver the value it was supposed to. The sector of Compaq that was often talked up as one of the jewels in the crown was the consolidated support centre which it had acquired from its takeover of DEC. Compaq had subsequently beefed it up with some extra resources, Compaq's customer base, and some extra top end enterprise knowledge gained from its Tandem acquisition.
HP's own services business was ok, but nothing special. While they retained all the computer an... Geek News Central Podcast Top 25 Podcast in August! - The good folks over at Podcast.com have ranked the Geek News Central the 15t most listened to show in August over at their site. This is the 9th month in a row we have been on the Top 25 over there.
Thanks for your continues listening.... Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes - Ok folks, the comment spam over here has just gotten to be amazingly thick, to the point that I am not even sure if any real person has commented since Lumpy about a month ago. Therefore, I am moving to a new site for my blog. The Geeks Blog is to be found by combining the bold words and adding a dot com, and it will be the new location for my blog. It's using the new Movable Type 3.33, and will have more restrictive commenting. If you want to comment, and have your comment show up within 3 months, I recommend TypeKey.
This install will no longer accept any comments unless you use that. I will not be going through comment spam any more over there, than I do now, which is to say once every 3 months. I know a few of you do use that, and I thank you. For those that do not, and you know who you are, I would recommend that step. It's not hard, and does give you access to a not insignificant portion of the blogging c... I'm back baby! - Due to the kindness of a Shadow Walker, my guild in World of Warcraft, I am back in World of Warcraft. The last time I played was the 28th of June, and I must say that taking the break I did has helped, I think. I no longer feel the need to be around and in game all the time. My two main characters are 60, I am happy with my life outside of game, and I am excited about the stuff we have heard so far about the expansion.
My Druid will get to fly, my Paladin will get to be a real tank, taunt and all, if I go that route. There is going to be a lot of new content to explore when the expansion hits, and lots to explore in the world of outlands. From the minimal research I have done, checking fan sites, Google Video and YouTube, it looks awesome. For those who haven't doing the obcessive research I have, the videos that have popped up online are showing stuff like what one sees upon passing through the dark portal.
This is including an as yet unnamed pit lord, though rep... Dogs and jerks - I was reading through the Free Press today and I noticed in the Top News, they dedicated 2 pages, excluding ads, to the story of a couple who broke up a fair time ago amidst betrayal and pain. Belinda Stronach, for you non Americans out there, was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament, who 'crossed the aisle' to join the Liberals when the Liberals were still in power, in a failed attempt to save their failing run of leadership. In doing so, she also left her boyfriend, fellow Conservative MP Peter McKay.
Some are saying that recent alleged comments by McKay in the House of Commons are justified, and yet others say that inaction by the Conservative leadership is a sign that the party has no respect for women. My view? Having had my share of betrayal and heartache, I can see that McKay might feel a tad betrayed and still a little angry. Does that make what he said right, fair, or proper? Hell no. Do I think it should make headline news for days? Not in the least. It's a g... And the test results say.... - Gall Stones. Uggh. I have to consult with my doctor regarding 'surgical options' which I am informed may mean removal of my gall bladder, which could mean no more of most of the foods I like the most. I'll keep you up to date on the info as I have it. Now, I think I am going to drown my sorrows in.. a big glass of Crystal Light flavored water. ... All the pretty lights behind my eyes... - Wee, the pretty, pretty lights. I just got back from the pharmacy, and the hospital before that. I am proud of the fact I don't partake of illegal drugs, but I will be happy to occasionally be shot full of morphine and be high as a kite. I was in the hospital because the pain that hit me on Wednesday night, and then again on Thursday night, came back. I thought when it hit me again Thursday, I thought maybe it was just that I had eaten greasy food too much, and I stopped. But last night I ate not much of anything, never mind greasy foods, and this morning I woke up in extreme pain again.
Thankfully my parents stopped by shortly there after, and kindly took me to the hospital. They think it is something to do with my gall bladder, I think they said(I was rather hazy due to morphine) and advised I call for an ultra sound ASAP. We'll see what happens, I guess. Now, I am going to stop fighting it and go back to letting the morphine knock me out. Bye. [Addition: I forgot to m... This ain't good - I am thinking, and I may be wrong on this, but I think that agonizing pain in ones abdomen is not a good thing. I am not sure if it's what I had for lunch, which was a rather large burger at a newly opened cafe downtown, or if it's something worse, but I left work half an hour before I was off and I have just found it impossible to sit, or lie, or be still. The pain if bad when I am moving around, but it is ten times worse when I am not moving. I think I need to go to bed, or at least try. Good thing I have tomorrow off. ... Thoughts on 9.11, 5 years later - So here we sit. 5 years after an event that almost as much impact on the world as Pearl Harbor did back in the Second World War. It is a time when our nature as caring people, as emotional beings, forces us to reflect, to ponder, and toa recall. As a music fan, times like these make me thing back. Garth Brooks wrote a song after his home state of Oklahoma, was attacked, and it comes to my mind. The chorus is below.
And I hear them saying you?ll never change things and no matter
What you do its still the same thing
But its not the world that I am changing I do this so this
World will know that it will not change me.
That song reminds me that we cannot let events like that bombing, like the events of 5 years ago, bring us down. I will, though, let these events change me. We must excel and keep ourselves alive. That is how I will let them change me. I will let them remind me I am alive. I will allow them to show me that as long as I breathe, as long a... Why there will never be an iPod killer - I know, it's a bold statement. But I feel it is true, and here is why. There are too many 'iPod killers' out there. The market is saturated. Apple made a device that was a revolution in the technology sector. They did it, and were unique and innovative at a time when no one else, or very few others, where there. They did what Apple does. They made a cool looking device with neat features and they listened to the customers in what they wanted in their device.
Now we have every maker of flash memory, several who just make electronics in general, and several others who just have nothing to do with their billions, primarily Microsoft, jumping in to the market. Here is the problem, and it's the same one that anyone trying to dethrone Microsoft from it's market share, in Office and OS. Linux could have dethroned Microsoft. I firmly believe this. The problem is that there became too many flavors, too many different things for different tastes. Microsoft, for all it's bad things, d... Good weekend planned - This should be one of my busiest weekend since I moved last. i have plans today and tomorrow, and was out after work yesterday. Yesterday was a party for several people at work who are getting promoted, some within and some to out of my department. During my lunch I went down and raised a drink, and then after work I went back for the other two of the day. Today I am supposed to be biking out to the Bridge's Drive Inn on Jubilee, one of the cities most renowned ice cream places, for a little of the cold stuff before it gets too cold out.
Tomorrow, myself and the same person are supposed to be meeting up at The Forks, I will be taking pictures of another coworker doing some break dancing, and then we'll head back to my place where i am making dinner, and wine shall be tasted. Should be a fun and entertaining weekend, full of interesting conversations, people, and occasions. [Update:She didn't show for Ice Cream or dinner.]... It's Mine!!! - I am overjoyed to sit here and write that I am not the proud possessor of a set of keys to my proper suite, the suite I should have had access to 1 month ago. That is correct, I have the keys to my home, and will be moving my stuff in tomorrow. Unfortunately the situation is not clear-cut there. I am now told that not only do they want me out by the end of the day tomorrow, but also they have someone moving in the 1st. In my honest opinion, these people learned nothing from the situation with me.
They still expect everything to be perfect, and then they let people down when it is less than perfect. The carpet in the suite I am in now needs to be changed, the tiles in the bathroom need to be fixed, in my opinion there needs to be a real counter put in, and at least one window needs complete replacement. Alas, it is no longer my concern. I will be in my new home tomorrow night, and although it will be a little hectic trying to get all the stuff worked out, I am sure with all ... Changes afoot - Let's see. Where to start. First, I am told the current estimate for my proper suite, the one I should have been in on the 1st of August should be ready to go sometime this week. I have Thursday off, ironically the 31st, so I expect they will be trying to push me to have my stuff moved into my proper suite by Thursday midnight. Whether that actually occurs, I would have to say, would highly depend on when I get my keys. My plan at this time is to set up the desk first, bring up the various pieces of wood from the current suite and the basement, then move all the boxes from the basement storage area first, using the dolly I have.
Those will go into my bedroom and living room for later sorting. Then I will bring up the dishes and food from my current suite. Most of this should be doable in the first night or two after work, assuming I get the keys Tuesday or earlier. On Thursday I hope to have a few hand to help move all the big stuff, my bed, couch, coffee table and more, up... I'mmmmmm Baaaaaaaack!! - I am completely overjoyed to be back online. I have 5 solid bars on my wifi signal, and in even better news, I am told they hope to give me access to the other suite over the weekend. I have downloaded a good sized chunk of podcasts, and over 3000 emails on my extra accounts alone, not even touching my main email address yet. I have much to do, many places to go, and many things to get caught up on. I will try to better post in the next day or two. ... MTS does it again - Well, my Internet connection is working and fully functional upstairs. Over a Cat5 cable. Sadly, as I am downstairs in a different apartment still, this does little to help me. Apparently in the repeated attempts to actually get someone out to actually install my TV service at my planned apartment, which included repeated mentions of the desire for a home networking kit, no one thought I might actually want a home networking kit, which comes with a wireless router, which would allow me to get online from where I am presently. Go figure.
So now my internet is live in the other suite, I am still netless at the place I am in now, and someone is coming out tomorrow to rectify this situation. I am, though, getting a few concessions on the billing side to make the pain that is this last 3 weeks a little more bearable. I will end up paying nothing for the router install, which for some moronic reason costs $100, for the install alone, not including the router, which is property... Stargate SG-1 cancelled - I heard via the Buzz Out Loud podcast tonight that SciFi has declared that this, the 10th season of Stargate SG-1, will be the last. I would like to say I am surprised by this, but I am not. I am, though, saddened by this announcement. I liked the Stargate movie that came out in the early 90's. It wasn't until, I think, the 3rd or 4th season when I came across SG-1, due to the fact that, even though it is filmed in Canada, it did not air in the normal fashion. I believe we were 2 or 3 years behind at the time.
In fact It was aired in several European countries before it aired here in Canada. I recall oddly downloading low res versions of the first few years off a site called SG1Archives, which has since become a news site. The world of Gao'uld, Asgaard, Replicators and more drew me in to the series and I fell in love with the world. I watched excitedly as the series progressed, and then branched off into the Atlantis series. I was sad when I saw O'Neill become a General, kn... KYR Episode 2 released! - I am very happy to tell you all I have finally had the chance to upload the latest episode of Know Your Role, Episode 2, recorded August 11th. The topics are many, the length is about an hour and a half, and the echo is horrendous. I am recording episode 3 tonight, and hope to be online from home by Wednesday night, so hopefully will be able to upload the 3rd episode then. Enjoy my thoughts on the Burning Crusade, Patch 1.12: Drums of War, and democracy in WoW, I present the Offline Edition of Know Your Role.
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