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Digital RSS FeedsLive from PodCamp Ohio - I will be live streaming as much as possoible from Podcamp Ohio ...Feed Source: www.geeknewscentral.com Some Free Alternatives to Pricey Software - Most of us don't want to spend $600 for a program to edit pictures (Adobe Photoshop or CS3 Suite) or $400 for a text editor and spreadsheet program. And for those of us that detest Outlook, but like the calendar features, we've felt left out since Thunderbird doesn't offer a calendar in its standard install. And then there's that pesky problem with Adobe Acrobat Professional; unless you are an educational buyer, Adobe Acrobat licenses are a bit on the pricey side.
There are some free alternatives to all of these things that I'd like to share with you today.
Microsoft Office: For most purposes, you can replace the expensive Microsoft Office 2007 with OpenOffice, the free office suite. OO comes with frequent and regular updates and patches, and offers complete versatility. You can even save your text documents in an MSWord format when you're done, so you can send it to your client who doesn't have OO... GNC-2008-06-27 #386 Headed to Podcamp Ohio - Headed to Podcamp Ohio but my last night in Portland is being spent in a Hotel 6 Yuck. Anyway looking forward to Podcamp Ohio, and getting back to Hawaii next show from the Studio in Honolulu!
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... Facebook Suffers it's First App Problem - CNet is reporting that Facebook has banned the "Top Friends" by Slide because it violated the app agreement. The installed application would apparently bypass information a user set to private. CNet found the error and reported it to Facebook. The Social Media giant then suspended the app from running on the site.
There have been a couple other applications that have had security issues, like Super Wall and SuperPoke. Both issues were resolved quickly. I am guessing the Slide apps could not be.
MySpace also has Slide applications on their site. CNet contacted them and they are looking into the matter.
It really is a "Too many Chefs in the Kitchen" scenario here. All it takes is either one mistake of code, or someone like Facebook to make updates that could change the way an application works with the site. Not sure what the case was with Slide. Maybe it's a bigger fix than just plugging a hole, maybe the company was using your information in the wrong way.... Tech companies amongst the most respected in the US - Harris Interactive released its 9th annual survey of perception of US top corporates. In rating the most and least respected Google, Intel and Microsoft made it into the top 10. While there are some telco's in the bottom 10 tech companies have kept themselves out of it. This survey only looks at the 60 most visible US companies so not every company is part of the evaluation. What these results show are an indication of how well these companies do with their relationships with their employees, the community and to a growing extent the environment.
I have written before about how the focus we have on the short term financial movements of the company and ignore that for sustained long term performance the company needs to manage 4 key resources, money, staff, the communi... T-Mobile @ Home - Todd is going to love this, but T-Mobile's Hotspot @ Home service has morphed into something that actually works, and might just replace that landline we're all so hot to get rid of. Labeled T-Mobile @ Home, it allows you to have unlimited nationwide calling for just another $10 more on your existing T-Mobile bill.
It works with a Linksys-based VOIP router that then lets you plug in any corded phone (or cordless base station). The router costs about $50, and they even sell V-Tech cordless handsets at a pair for $60. I already have the V-Tech cordless handsets all over my house.
But I don't have T-Mobile service, which is pretty sucky in this area (not many bars). Now if AT&T would offer something like this, I'd be on board.
Who am I kidding, AT&T giving up their landline money-makers? Never gonna happen. But a girl can dream!
Look for the T-Mobile@Home service to launch July 2.... The Mouse is Dead? Not So Fast, Slick... - It's probably an overstatement to call this guy a tool, but Mike Elgan over at Datamation seems to think that the mouse is obsolete and will disappear from computers in 2-4 years. Aside from this being a gross overstatement, his reasons for thinking this go beyond any kind of rational thought. Here's why he thinks that the mouse is dead:
1. Apple's improved large task pad on its new notebooks.
2. Gaming pointing devices (like joysticks and steering wheels).
3. "Brain-reading" devices.
4. Apple iPhone and iPhone killers.
Okay, let's get real here. First of all, an apple task/track pad with multi-touch is cool, but as unwieldy as any other track pad. Surely I'm not the only person in the world who rarely uses the track pad on any laptop because of its jumpy and ineffective nature. Even my new Dell, with an "improved" touchpad is still annoying en... Microsoft to Extend XPSupport to 2014 - I may have missed this somewhere during my convalescence from surgery on Friday, but it looks like Microsoft, while not directly offering Windows XP for retail purchase after June 30th, has extended support for Windows XP through April, 2014. This is unprecedented in Microsoft's history, as most operating systems are sunsetted within ten years of their release. In this case, however, Microsoft has recognized that many of their corporate and business clients are not rolling over to the new Vista operating system.
Reasons for this are varied, but in the case of my campus, our equipment is not fast enough, and some of our older programs won't run properly in Vista. We're solving the compatibility problem through virtualization, but the equipment problem is not so easy to solve. In an economy that is being squeezed heavily by rising prices, replacement of 3000 campus computers is not exactly at the top of the list. In addition to that, simple upgrades are not possible; Vi... Bill Gates Says Goodbye. Is it Steve Jobs Turn? - I just read an article on CNN that highlighted 11 people that could take Steve Jobs place, just in case something happened to Jobs. It kinda annoyed me. Just because we are seeing the departure of Gates, does it mean all the guards need to be changed?
Steve Jobs has only been in his current role for a few years after getting ousted by John Sculley in 85. Steve Jobs came back in 96 and brought some great ideas with him. Apples' market share rose more in the last few years than it has since the creation of the new Apple Macintosh line.
Apple is in a good position. There is no need to think about replacing someone who is producing. He's not giving the company a black eye or causing issue within the ranks, so why even talk about it?
On the other hand, it's always important to think about the future. You never know who's gonna get hit by a bus. Heck - even Ballmer could go (God forbid) the day after Gates retires and it could force Bill to go back to work again.... Use Time Warner Powerboost Today - Hit Cap Tomorrow - Time Warner appears to be testing a “Powerboost” type of technology similar to what Comcast has. I am wondering what’s the point in doing this when they seem bent on implementing bandwidth caps.
This just may be a way to get people to reach their caps quicker then cash in on the criminal pricing they have in place when you bust your cap. Broadband Reports... Charter Communications Scraps Plan to Monitor Web Users - Per an article in my local St. Louis paper today, Charter Communications, our local cable provider, has scrapped plans to monitor web usage of some of its high-speed internet users. Purportedly, Charter was going to monitor the web activities of users in four pilot areas in order to gather marketing data they could then use to target advertising to those users.
I, of course, find their claims of trying to target their marketing as dubious. It would become readily apparent to those monitoring their tracking system exactly who was using peer-to-peer services as well as opening the door to users' private viewing habits online. There were no provisions in their new terms of service to protect this data from those who shouldn't see it, and no clear definition of how they were going to use the information they gathered.
The plan drew criticism from some privacy advocates and from two members of Congress. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas both wer... GNC-2008-06-23 #385 Recorded the Show Live fun for all! - I gave away a nice crisp 100 dollar bill to a listener on the live event today. Lots of chances to win this summer and of course a great deal of tech news. Info on Listener and Podcaster Meetup after Podcamp Ohio on Saturday!
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... Live Show at 8pm Eastern 6-23-08 - Live Podcast and special Giveaway Starts at 8pm Eastern Tonight. Previously recorded show is available until I start the show tonight!
... I will be at Podcamp Ohio - He folks I will be attending Podcamp Ohio, if you are a podcaster and would like to meet up with me let me know. If you are a listener and would like to come hang out with the Podcamp crowd their is a event on Saturday night.
Drop me a line and I will make sure to keep a eye out for you.... How Much Do You Trust? - In my J.O.B. I work for the IT department of a college. Because of my position and my responsibilities, I naturally have access to a whole lot of things I don't really want to have access to. I have been in the same job for eight years, enjoy what I do, and in turn, have taken my responsibility for keeping my nose out of where it doesn't belong on the servers, even though I have access to just about anything I'd want to see. In addition to having server access, I also have a master key, a physical key that will get me into any interior office, closet or classroom on campus. This means I can walk into the dean's office, the president's office, the head of campus police's office, or the archival room of the library. I can go anywhere in the business office, cashier's office, faculty offices, etc. I am one of only four or five in my department who has one of these keys.
Over my eight years of employment, I've done no more than let myself into a classroom or meeting room,... Why a metered Internet would actually be good - As the US telcos move towards bandwidth caps the justice of this has been a large topic of conversation in the media and on the web. One of the possible outcomes of all this is a metered Internet service where users pay per MB that they use. From some commentary I have heard in response to a positive article on this plan by John Dvorak in PC Magazine, this is not a popular option for all. A metered Internet would actually offer real benefits to users and would be likely to end up with a cheaper and better service.
The most often cited objection to this plan is the belief that once the infrastructure of the Internet exists then incremental bandwidth is essentially free. This is unfortunately not the case. Incremental revenue is not free, it is just really cheap which is not quite the same thing. While ISPs do not need to add extra capacity each time someone uses an extra MB but the equipment they have doe... 2008 People's Choice Podcast Awards Kicks Off Sept 15th - Yesterday I made the decision to proceed with the 2008 Podcast Awards with the new awards ceremony format. The current plan is to start the nominations process on September 15th. The nomination period will be 15 days.
This will be followed by nominations review and slate selection in October with voting to commence shortly their after.
A big change this year is the decision to have the Awards Ceremony 100% virtual. In years past we have had the awards ceremony at the New Media Expo. Having the awards their was great but their were always a lot of unknown variables that caused me a lot of stress.
This year we will be doing a 100% live event and the awardees will be participating in the ceremony using modern technology. We had over 1500 people watch the live stream last year but I think we can draw a lot more people by advance planning the event.
I have started to collect volunteer names to review the nominated shows. I still need a lot of Volun... It's Easter for FireFox. Find the Eggs - If you type in "About:" in the new FireFox 3 browser, you will get the standard about screen. If you type in About:config, you will get a warning:
"This might void your Warranty"
Pressing through will give you the configuration of Firefox. About:cache, About:credits, About:license and About:buildconfig will give you information about the browser.
However, try typing in About:robots. Try typing in About:mozilla. Each one will give you an interesting response.
I tried About:IE and nothing came up. I even tried Internet Explorer, Mac, Safari, Opera, Microsoft, Windows,Apple and a whole host of others. All with the same results.
It's great for a quick chuckle and to play with. I would guess there are other items we haven't found yet, but a Easter egg is a great item for people start to get curious and ultimately start using the browser just to find the nuances.
There... Your guilty if the MPAA says your guilty if they have it their way! - Imagine you get a letter in the mail demanding $100,000 for having 20 movies in your shared folder that is tied to your P2P application. Imagine if you have no choice but to pay that demand letter.
Well if MPAA had it their way you will be doing just that. Pretty scary that they would think that way. If P2P software applications where smart they would do everything in their power to protect people using their applications.
I do not condone piracy but I do not condone the theory that you are guilty and have to prove yourself innocent. This country was built on the foundation that you are innocent until proven guilty and this notion by the MPAA is absurd.
I should not that their contention is that if they bring a lawsuit against you for having copyrighted file in a shard directory then you should have a default judgment held against you. [TorrentFreak... GNC-2008-06-19 #384 Cool Giveaway on the Next Show! - Lot's of tech content tonight and I also talk about a cool giveaway we are going to have on the show I record live on Monday! If you want to see the video from the show that was recorded in my hotel room check out the link below.
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... Google Street View Showing more than Expected - A few weeks ago it was a guy in Chicago waiving a gun. Now it's possible Hookers in California. It's turning into a Where's Waldo game - except it's "Who's on Street View"?
I wonder how many hours it takes to scan the Google website to find something interesting to report about. The only thing more hilarious is the fact that Google is not looking at what they are taking pictures of. There are even some people that, when they see the Google car coming, they plan a last minute improvisation. Jalopnik has a couple pictures of that.
So get out there and start scanning the street view. You never know what you are going to see .... Live Podcast Recorded Tonight Check out the Video! - I will be starting a live edition of the Geek News Central Podcast shortly. I will Twitter about 10 minutes befor I start. Or just stay tuned.
... Bandwidth Caps used to Force more TV Watching! - Let’s see here. Time Warner Cable provides Internet and Cable Television Service. TV is very profitable for the cable company. The Internet is not because they cannot control it.
Put in place bandwidth caps and you scare people into stopping how much time they spend on the Internet for the fear of going over their bandwidth caps.
So enter Time Warner and those with the highest speed service fully employed will spend about a $1.00 every 6 minutes or so once you bust the cap.
Time Warner does not care about Bandwidth or heavy users, they simply want you to watch more TV that you pay them to watch. Get the full breakdown of Time Warners Bandwidth Caps Cost!... Hilton Hotel Chains Internet Access and other Issues! - Over the past six months I have been traveling a great deal. I have stayed around 40 days in a variety of Hilton properties and another 20 days in Marriot hotel chains. I usually stay in Hilton properties to gain reward points.
Over the past three or four stays at Hilton properties on the east coast, I have been completely frustrated with Internet connectivity and other issues. I will obtain Hilton’s highest VIP status before the end of July which shows I have been a pretty loyal customer but my loyalty is starting to shift.
I am going to put this as nicely as possible, Internet Access has really sucked. The hotels I have been in, have not been full of geeks sucking up bandwidth they have had average occupancy with regular travelers. Here are the main issue and it applies to wired and wireless properties. Continual website time outs, which causes pages to fail to load, very slow connections last hotel had wir... Verizon Please bring FIOS to Hawaii! PLEASE!! - After hearing todays news of Verizon offering some insane speeds to FIOS customers in the 16 states that they have the service available in. I really just wanted to stick my head in a pillow and scream.
Can my headline be anymore obvious? Our broadband service provider Time Warner which has a Virtual Monopoly in Hawaii is getting ready to impose ridiculous bandwidth limits on us. If there was any market that is prime for the service Hawaii is it. But the problem remains that most service providers do not want to pay back haul cost to the US Mainland.
With Verizon introducing new tiers of service with FIOS customers being able to get 50/20 Mbps, and 20/20 Mbps service just completely depresses me.
While I realize that the oceans will probably freeze over before Verizon or some other brave company tries to come to Hawaii and bring ... Flickr Founders Flee From Yahoo - TechCrunch is reporting that Flickr Co-founder Caterina Fake left her position last Friday and other Co-founder Stewart Butterfields' last day will be July 12th. They will be replaced by Sara Wood and Kakul Srivastava.
Flickr started in 2004 as a photo sharing and gaming site. The photo sharing end took real flight and Yahoo purchased it in 2005. Two years later, Yahoo consolidated it's Photos page into Flickr. Butterfield and fake are husband and wife.
It makes one really wonder if there is a real Mass Exodus happening. Flickr seemed to be one of the few products Yahoo was doing right. Both resignation announcements came after Microsoft declared that it was not interested in Yahoo anymore.
Valleywag reported in 2007 that Stewart was leaving, however that was a false statement as Stephen clarified he was only taking "Paternity leave".
On June 13th, Stewart sent an interesting resignation to Brad Garlinghouse. He refered to himself as an "Old tin-sm... Where have all the women gone? - Many of the readers of this blog will be familiar with working in male dominated environments. Personally while I have seen much greater numbers of young women entering the tech sector than when I first started, this does not seem to have translated to a significant overall rise in female participation.
Computerworld has an article on a new Harvard study that finds there is a large percentage of women in IT that completely drop out of the industry after about 10 years. While it is not too unusual for women in their 30's to take a break from work in most industries the majority of those women eventually return. Not so in IT where more than half of those women never return.
What is concerning is the reasons that most women site for dropping out. While some of these are institutional, the study found the largest contributer was a tendency towards ... GNC-2008-06-16 #383 Live show on the Road fun for all - Fun Live show tonight held on Mogulus, still working out the show management on that. But had a bit of a dark room. Explained in detail on the show. Relaxed show tonight but lots of fun for all.
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... Live Podcast Tonight - He folks Ustream.TV was not working so I am switching over to Mogulus tonight hope you like the show.
Show page on Mogulus is www.mogulus.com/geeknews
Show is wrapped up for tonight but I will have another live show on Thursday!... Google's Trying to Help with NetNeutrality - "We're trying to develop tools, software tools that allow people to detect what's happening with their broadband connections, so they can let [ISPs] know that they're not happy with what they're getting -- that they think certain services are being tampered with,"
This came from Google senior policy director Richard Whitt the other day. Google seems to have taken a firm stance on what ISP's are proposing to monitor. And why wouldn't they? In the end, Google would be the one that takes the hit.
People "Google" over any other search site. If you use Firefox, Opera or Safari, you have the Google search right at the top. For IE users, it's just a "Change Default" away. If you run a website with Google Adsense, chances are you are using the Google search engine to bring in a little revenue.
If ISP's start looking at what you do online, then people will stop searching for stuff. Other search sites might pop up to counter the ISP trafficking - masking i... Vudu Wireless Kit Review - I have had a Vudu box now for about 6 months. I really like it but one thing that has held us back from using it more is that I had it connected to the Internet via a Poweline Network Extender.
The speed with the Powerline Extender was such that you had to order the movie you wanted to watch and then wait it because the connection over the powerline was not fast enough to support live streaming.
So last week when I saw that Vudu had put together a Wifi Kit for the Vudu box I ordered it immediately.
In the kit you get a transmitter, receiver, 1 Transformer, 1 USB to Power connector. I plugged everything in according to the instructions and while the USB port on the Vudu powered the receiver for a short time all of a sudden it quit.
My a... Sony HDR-SR11 Camcorder Review - A month or more ago I purchased a Sony HDR-SR11 it is a High Definition Camera with a 60GB drive in it. I want to relay my experience with this camera as it is not all good.
When it comes to shooting video and quality of Video I have no complaints. The camera delivers as advertised. But when it comes to processing those videos one might as well smash the damn thing.
First things first it records to the Hard Drive in a .MTS format and “REQUIRES” that you use the tool provided by Sony to move the files off the camera. When it does so it changes the file somehow “MAGIC” and changes the file extension to .m2ts which is supposedly in a AVCHD format.
They provide some software to put the clips on a DVD but their is no real editing software that is provided with the camera. But getting the media to load in its native for... GNC-2008-06-13 #382 Fast Paced Shows and a New Contest! - A very fast paced show, I cover some history, and introduce a new contest that should be a lot of fun. I talk a little bit about all my travel and what is forthcoming. Also please send me Feedback on our AIM Call Out Sponsor!
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... Don't want to Wait for Firefox? Try Opera 9.5 - With all the talk about Firefox, Opera slipped under the radar with it's own new version of their browser. Opera 9.5 was released today and it got a major facelift. New features including the Opera link, Quick find, a new address bar and many other items.
The new version of the browser has updated some security issues including a new Fraud Protection and new Security notification scheme. The browser also works on localhost protection. Basically, it will tell you if a webpage is coming from the Internet, or someones' computer. This will help in determining fraud pages if you connect up to a questionable wifi spot.
GeckoDOM, DOM3 and MicrosoftXMLDocument support features have been added for the developers. It will also run HTML5, which is the current revision of the HTML code. It also ushers in XHTML5, which is where HTML is expressed in an XML document.
If you run Windows 95 (and I have to ask the question: WHY?) you will have to update your Windows Sockets... What bugs will FF3 fix? - Susabelle posted earlier today about the release of Firefox 3 next week. I am wondering whether Flash will work properly now and end my extreme frustration. Since at least January I have had the intermitent problem that many other firefox users have had where flash video will play for 2 seconds then stop. The only way to get out of this is to stop and start firefox and then things start working again. Very annoying when you have a lot of tabs open, so I have taken to killing the process so that I can use the auto recover feature to get back to exactly where I was. This all takes time though, often longer than the video clip I have been unable to watch.
I have also found that sites with flash embedded apps (Slashdot in particular) will sometimes slow ff down so much it needs to be killed which I think may be related. The issue I have with Firefox is that the problem has been around for nearly 6 months, it is prevelant and hardly a secret, yet there seems to be nobody fr... Comcast Increases Upstream Speeds where is Time Warner? - Comcast announced today that they have increased upstream speeds for it’s performance and performance plus residential customers. For those that create a lot of media this a huge announcement,
Comcast has a lot of faults, but it is obvious that they are starting to listen to their customers. This action by Comcast is happening at the same time that Time Warner is testing bandwidth caps out in Texas.
Being in a market in which Time Warner holds a monopoly, we have not seen a speed increase in our broadband Internet Service from Time Warner in over 10 years.
I like many other Americans would rather have more bandwidth then HD channels. My family has our bandwidth tapped out, on both the upload and download pipe. Beyond paying for a second cable connection I am beyond frustrated with... Sleeping with the Enemy causes Yahoo to Loose their Minds - Hey are not Google and Yahoo competitors? With Microsoft out and Google in I am simply amazed by the business decisions being made at Yahoo. One thing for sure is that it will be fun to watch how this all plays out. I get the feeling Yahoo is a sinking ship and they are desperate to stay above water.
Microsoft needs to do a big huddle and come up with a game plan and quick. It’s almost like Microsoft has lost their ability to fight and make smart business decisions. The folks at Apple are smearing them left and right on television advertising, yet Microsoft has yet to stand up to many of the ridiculous claims. Microsoft has ignored a lot of startups that have a lot going for them and could have brought some innovation to the table.
Yahoo has lost their way so bad that they have now decided to partner with the competition. I guess the saying if you can’t beat them join them applies here.
Google is smiling all the way to the bank. Let me see here, they... The Truth About ATT DSL - I have to freely admit that in general, I am a fan of AT&T. I know, that just breaks Todd's heart, but we have AT&T here for our local phone service, our wireless service, and our broadband service. We don't have any choices, really, so this is what we deal with, and in general, I am happy with the way things are. When it comes to their wireless cell phone business with us, I am more than thrilled at their customer service, coverage area, quick solutions to our issues, and ability to make on-the-fly changes to our account as needed.
In addition to our wireless and home phone service we also have Pro-Class DSL (business). We could add in Dish Network in the bundle if we wanted, but currently have DirecTV which we are happy with.
We would not have Charter Digital Cable (the cable company we have access to) in our house if they were the last vendor on the planet. Their outages are embarrassingly well-known, and customer service is a huge joke. DirecTV can offer a ... Moving your Thunderbird mail to a new computer? Here's help! - As I noted in another post earlier today, I got a new computer. This meant that three years of Thunderbird mail that I'd decided not to delete needed to move over to the new laptop from the old laptop. If you're using Outlook, you can just backup everything to a PST file and place it on the new machine.
Unfortunately, Thunderbird was going to give me a few more problems in getting transferred over. I could transfer the files and data, but I was not going to get my profile, which in my case includes 22 email accounts along with my signature files and archived templates. And I am not in a position where I want to lose all that I've worked so hard on.
So I went out searching. I did find a few references to ways to do it, including this one on Quomon that was complex, but would work. But I'm a busy person, and I don't have time to spend a couple hours on this... Firefox 3 Being Released Tuesday - Firefox 3 is ready to jump out of Beta and onto our laptops starting Tuesday. Improved features include being able to add keywords to bookmarks to more easily sort them, as well as a new feature that allows users to add "places" and easily access websites they visit regularly but haven't bookmarked.
Firefox also has improved their download feature, allowing downloads that have been interrupted due to power or connection failure to resume where they left off. This single feature is the most relevant for me, as I often am trying to download something "heavy" and chew up my home network's wireless connection and have to start over.
Security features have also been improved, including outright blocking of phishing sites, rather than just warning about them to the user.
FF3 is also going to be a little speedier, eat up a bit less RAM when left running for long periods of time, and offer easier and more visible navigation. I'm a keyboard person myself and w... Ch-ch-changes! - Three days ago I received my new laptop at work. We get new ones every three to five years as part of a normal replacement cycle.
The laptop the new one is replacing is a Gateway M275 convertible tablet, which I have to say is the best machine I've ever laid my hands on. I wore out two keyboards and cracked the bezel around the LCD, all of which were replaced as part of an extended warranty. It was dropped on the floor at least twice while on, traveled all over the country with me, and went from my home to work and back every single weekday. On the weekends it went with me if I visited family because I used it to troubleshoot and fix their PC problems, or to share the gazillions of photographs I was keeping on its hard drive. (And before you worry, yes, I had everything backed up, I'm a Good Girl when it comes backups.) It played movies in the car and on the plane for my kids, allowed me access to my emails and web site work no matter where I was, as long as I could ... Flip Video Mino Review - As many of you remember when Andy McCaskey and I went our to the Consumer Electronics Show in 2008 we shot a great deal of video with pro-cameras but we also shot a huge amount of back channel video with Flip Video Cameras so today I thought I would bring you part of the camera review with the camera shooting me talking about the device.
Be sure to scroll down and look at all the important details about the Flip Video Mino.
... It's Good Work, If You Get to Telecommute... - Dice.com asked the simple question: Would you take a pay cut if you could telecommute? While only 7% already do that, 37% would indeed take a pay cut to stay at home or work from a remote office. 36% said "Nope" and 19% just need work.
I think about what I do at home and what I do at a job site. Sometimes I don't have a choice - the computers are at the job therefore I am, too. Sometimes the computers are in another state and if I can't resolve over RDP, I'm then packing a bag and fillin the big ole gas guzzler. But what would telecommuting save if you were to have that option? The answer can be a lot, but also can be more of a pain.
First let's talk about work time. You get there at 8 AM no matter what. VPN in and pull up your email, helpdesk and whatever else you need. You have a phone for communication, but not the office cooler talk to contend with. Then again, you could have similar distractions with kids, pets and annoying Encyclopedia salesmen
You... Would you fly in a plane with a "kill switch" - Wired reports that the Pentagon is asking for submissions on a "non-lethal" method to stop a plane on the ground or divert it from a particular location. This does not sound like a good idea to me.
The one constant and predictable thing with any tachnology is that it will break. Having an extra piece of technology on a plane that can break is a bad idea. It is even worse when that technology is designed to turn off the plane or fly it towards the nearest snow covered alp.
There seems to be a small benefit for the cost to this as well. Is this going to prevent future hijackings any more effectively than the secure cockpit cabins that we now have on all planes? This seems more likely to be a market protection ploy. Airlines are forced to install expensive thecnology that gives the US government the ability to take control of their planes in order to fly into the US. Those that don't are ban... DYMO LabelWriter TwinTurbo Review - In 2007 I purchased my first DYMO product, it was the LabelWriter 400 Turbo. Since that date it has been a permanent fixture on my printing table used for printing labels of all sizes.
When I was offered the chance to review and test the DYMO LabelWriter TwinTurbo, I thought that if the new machine lived up to the reputation of the unit I already own, then the write up would be a no brainer. Let me be the first to say that the TwinTurbo has lived up to that expectation.
Like all product reviews we do here at Geek News Central, we actually use the product for a minimum of three days in a real office environment. Because I have been traveling a great deal, the unit has been on my review table for about 3 weeks.
To add a special twist to this review, the goal this time was to get my lovely non geeky ... 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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