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Video Podcast 01

Go easy on me it was my first time.

I just take a few minutes to explain how the beginning of my year has been so far and what I have been playing around with.

Let me know which you like better…Vidcast or Vodcast. I am kinda leaning toward vodcast.

Star Wars

These pictures were too good to pass up. I am not a hugh star wars fans but I do like cars. And they defiantly picked some nice cars.
Click for bigger picture


OK, now I am going to bed.

Setting up RSS feeds with Google Reader

This how-to is actually my original intent with the post I just had, but I got carried away explaining what RSS feeds do instead. So here is how you can use Google Reader for your news butler.

First here is what you need:
A Google account. I know you were probably expecting more but that is it. If you are reading this site you already have a computer with a web browser so you are all set to go.

Let’s head over to Google Reader’s website to log in. Look familiar? It should because it is the same login that you use for your Gmail account. Once you are logged in you should see this sidebar. This side bar lets you view all your unread news articles or you can also share items with friends (requires a Gmail account) or put notes on things. Lets not forget this is Google so it tracks what you do. If you click on Trends you can see how many articles you have read, what categories you usually read, and how many items you have shared and starred. To be honest I don’t do much starring because I find it like a inferior bookmarking method and if I find something I like (and want to keep for later) I bookmark it with delicious and move on. You can also browse for stuff to find articles you probably will like and subscribe to them right there. If you want to share articles with fellow Google reader’s you can click the start sharing button and get right to it. Below that is where all your subscriptions show up. You can sort them into relevant folders and go through the articles you want to read in a jiffy.
Here is how mine looks. As you can see on the left I have everything collapsed so that I can just browse all my news by either clicking All items at the top or by each folder. On the right I also turned on collapsed view so that I can read more articles without having to scroll as far. If I find something I like I just click on the headline and the article expands. If I want to read it further or see it at the original site you can just click on the headline in blue. Once I am done with a folder I just click the “Mark all as read” button at the top and that whole folder gets marked and I move on to the next folder.
If you want to share an article you can either click on the share button, share with note, or if you want to share it with someone who doesn’t use Google Reader you can just email it to them right there. It drops a little spot down to write the email and send it all without leaving the reader. Pretty fancy if you ask me.
Last thing you will probably want to know is how to add sites when you are not at Google Reader. All you need to do is look for the RSS link. Usually it will have this icon. All you have to do is click on the logo and any modern browser will ask you what you want to do with the feed. You can simply say “add to Google Reader” and it will take you there with the feed already populated with the latest 10 items. Couldn’t be more simple. Give it a try and subscribe to my blog by clicking the RSS button at the top or click here.
Hope to see you sharing articles in Google Reader.

RSS feeds and you

I have been asked how to set up RSS feeds from many people in the past and usually it is so simple I don’t even think to post about it. But I feel like RSS feeds are finally becoming popular with the average computer user and I wanted to write this to help explain what RSS is and what it does.
What does RSS stand for? RSS is a acronym for Real Simple Syndication.
What does it do? Image you want to read the news. Now imagine it is 1949. What are you going to do? You go out and buy a news paper of course. What if you want local news, world news, and entertainment news on the 21st Academy Awards ceremony. At this point you have to drive around town and pick up at least three papers/magazines and now you need to drive home to read everything to get the content you want. Well what if you had all the papers delivered to your house? That is better right? But what if you had the paper delivered to your house and a butler that took the papers and cut out all the articles you didn’t want and recycled them to save trees? Then he laid out all the articles on your coffee table with your breakfast. That is what RSS feeds do, they are the butlers for our modern news.
Where did RSS feeds come from? In the past companies would use e-mail subscriptions to keep customers up to date on site and company news, and in certain cases e-mail subscriptions are still better, but when you are trying to keep up with site news instantly you can’t be bothered going to your email all the time. Of course some people still do like having their RSS feeds go right to their email inbox and there are plenty of ways to accomplish that as well. As a matter of fact Outlook 2007 even has this feature built in automatically.
Why do you want to use it? Well I don’t really know why YOU want to use it, but I use it to save hours of time when trying to keep up with friends, family, and technology. It also helps when I want to see what is going on at community sites like forums and blog comments. It helps even more when I have a site that doesn’t update often that I want to follow. It is hard to remember to actually go to that site but with RSS feeds the site comes to me.
What should you use for your RSS feeds? To be honest I have tried a lot of different software for my RSS feeds. I started out with RSSOwl, it worked really well but I found it limiting to only have my RSS feeds on one computer. If I wanted to read news at home I would have to remember what I read so I wouldn’t read it twice. I then moved on to Thunderbird Portable because I could keep it on my USB key and take it home with me whenever I wanted to read news at home. This worked well but then I wanted to read my news on my mobile phone and also on Linux/Apple computers. So I started searching for a web based solution that I could read all my news from and read it from any device that has a web browser. I started off with a couple small sites but then found Bloglines. I used Bloglines for quite a while but I had a bit of a falling out when they lost my saved articles and also when I saw this. I have been using Google reader for almost six months now and have been fairly happy with what it has to offer. The mobile version is a bit lacking compared to Bloglines and I have not found a good way to save articles for reading later and for future reference like I used to with Thunderbird and Bloglines. This should not stop you from using it though. Google Reader has lots to offer including integration with Gmail contacts so you can share articles with friends, very easy to use hotkeys, greasemonkey scripts to add functionality not already in Google Reader, and quite a few different ways to set up the view so you can read your articles the way you want to.

When it comes to getting news I can’t imagine life without my news butler. Because I got so long winded in this article I am going to follow it up with another article on how to set up RSS feeds with Google Reader.

Pineapple Express Blu-ray extras

Beth got Pineapple Express from Netflix this week and while I think the movie is funny it is not for everyone. That of course is not why I am writing this post. When I put in the Blu-ray disk I noticed something very unusual on my PS3. There was a bubble under the game section like I had downloaded something and it was waiting to install. Sure enough the extra was a Pineapple Express wallpaper for the PS3 that was stored on the disk. I of course “installed” it and the wallpaper changed to a background that was way better than the Pineapple Express wallpaper available in the PlayStation store.
My question is, does anyone know how to extract the picture from the Blu-ray disk or how to save just the image to the hard drive instead of having to install it on the PS3? I would like to have the picture on my computer but I don’t have a Blu-ray player on my computer and couldn’t find a way to explore the pictures on the disk.
If you know how to do it please just leave a comment. Oh and by the way, the deleted scenes aren’t that great. I haven’t watched the extended version but please let me know if you did.

Excel Board Games

A few weeks ago I thought to myself. “Hey self, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could program Monopoly into a Excel spreadsheet?” I let the thought echo for about 2 weeks before I actually wrote anything down and started figuring out how I could make this a reality. But then I had an even better thought to myself. “Hey self, don’t you think someone else probably had this idea and actually acted on it before you?” I didn’t let this thought echo as long as the first, about 30 minutes, before a Google search found exactly what I was looking for. Turns out someone not only made Monopoly but there is also games like collect 4, Sudoku, and Othello.
While the games don’t work in Open Office, at least not the ones I tested, they seemed to have no problems in Office 2007 even though they were obviously made in earlier versions of Microsoft Office.
I attached some of the games I liked to this post. You will have to enable macros for them to work and I take no responsibility if the person who programed the game hid a few billion virus downloaders in the VBA macros.
Click here for the download excel-board-games
Enjoy!

Is stripping DRM illegal?

Of course the easy answer is yes, and I know that when you buy DRM’d music (or even non-DRM’d CD’s) you technically don’t “own” the music. You just own the rights to play the music.
I thankfully have never bought a single song from iTunes but their announcement about paying to free your library of DRM got me thinking. If you can pay Apple to have your DRM removed and that is completely legal, why can’t you just remove the DRM yourself using freely available programs and not have the fear of the RIAA thundering down on your door with a search warrant.
Of course if you are not sharing the music you probably have no fears of a RIAA lawsuit (seeing as they don’t sue individuals anymore), but if you arn’t going to get sued why is it illegal? What problem is there with you playing the music on any device you choose? Why should there be DRM at all anymore? And why the hell would anyone pay Apple $250 for 1000 songs they already own just so they don’t have restrictive DRM?
I just don’t get it. Perhaps you can enlighten me in the comments. I still, to this day, have never purchased anything with DRM (excluding DVD’s, games, and Blu-ray movies of course) and I have had no problems finding any song I have ever wanted.
My guess is that DRM in music won’t be around much longer and I for one am glad to see it go. I am still not sure how subscription based services will survive.

My 2009 resolutions

I have never done this before either but I felt pretty good with my predictions so I want to make a few simple resolutions for this year.

1. Japanese lessons. I have the intro to Japanese with Rosetta Stone but I just haven’t put forth any effort into doing it. I plan on doing one section every other week until I am done with this CD.
2. Blogging. I have been content with how much I have been writing here on my site and I plan to keep it up in 2009. Three more things I want to put an effort into more though is micro-blogging with Twitter, podcasting with the mintCast team, and video blogging with my new camera.
3. Food. I want to make some changes to what and how I eat. I hope to try a new restaurant at least once a month, and I hope to eat more whole wheat/grain. If there is a option for wheat I plan on taking it and seeing if it has any effect on how I feel.
4. Be a better person. I don’t know how to do this just yet, but I feel like I could be doing better with who I am and what I am doing with life. Hopefully a year from now I will be able to say I am better than I am today.
5. Take a class. Currently I plan on taking a welding class in the spring but if for some reason I don’t take the class I want to do some sort of formal learning to help me grow.

That’s all. Let me know if you have any resolutions in the comments.

My 2009 predictions

I have never done this before but I thought I would take a swing and making some predictions at what I think is going to happen this year with technology.

Computers:
1. Smaller, faster, better. Duh. That is obvious but I think there will be some big improvements in “alternate” input for computers. Apple is rumored to release a multi-touch imac. Windows 7 has multi-touch support and is just waiting for hardware/software to take advantage of it. In 2009 I expect to see the biggest improvements in multi-touch software. Games will probably be first, with the iPod touch and iPhone helping with lots of ideas, and then we will get some cool browser and media solutions. I for one would love to see cooliris with some multi-touch support. After multi-touch will probably come touchless input but I don’t think that will gain a lot of ground in 2009.

2. GNU Linux will gain at least 1% (double) market share (putting it up to 2%) before the end of the year spearheaded by Ubuntu. At this point I believe every major computer retailer (except Apple of course) offers GNU Linux on at least 1 model line, and when people see the boot speed and stability improvements of the next Ubuntu release more and more people are going to start “giving it a shot”.

3. 2009 will be the year of Microsoft solutions. I know Apple is gaining on Microsoft’s market share and they still will for a good part of 2009. But I don’t think market share ever really tells a full story. All I hear about now is how Apple is the coolest thing since super cooled capacitors, but I sense a bit of a change in the wind. I think Windows 7 will launch in 2009 and will greatly restore faith in Microsoft as a company. I also think that the next version of Windows Mobile will finally catch Microsoft up in the mobile platform market. The Windows Mobile OS won’t surpass what is currently out with Android or iPhone but it will make it respectable in what it can do and how it looks. I also think that the Windows Home Server market will gain popularity and the Xbox line will continue to grow. Finally, I think Zune sales will skyrocket (mainly cause Zune media player will be in Windows Mobile 6.5). Right now the Zune is in spot 3 behind Scandisk and Apple. I think as more and more people become unhappy with their iPods but they don’t want to upgrade to iPod touches or iPhones they will turn to the Zune. Last I checked Zune had 5% market share, but by the end of the year I see that number doubling to 10% of the mp3 player market. A big jump but it is truly a worthy mp3 player in my book.

Video games:
1. The Wii will crash. They have enjoyed a crazy amount of sales for far too long and they haven’t come out with any good software for months. I am so glad this day will finally come because I haven’t liked the Wii from the start. They will quickly be outsold for a few months by the Xbox 360 and the Wii will drop in price (my guess is to ~$180). Either way it will be hard to recover and it will probably just die out until Nintendo unveils the Wii HD or something ridiculous. By this time the Wii will not be “the console to have” and most people will finally see the console for what it truly is.

2. The PS3 will jump in sales. I already see this at my work. Two of my co-workers who previously bought Wii’s finally want to either A. Play real video games again or B. Watch Blu-ray movies. Their obvious choice was the PS3. Although the price is a big jump, people will finally realize all the features you get out of a PS3 and will start buying them mainly for Blu-ray players and eventually for gaming systems. The PS3 will also start to gain popularity because the Xbox 360 will run out of juice (aka. storage space) and the PS3′s potential will finally start to be tapped into. Sony will begin to push out better programming tools and maybe even Valve will come to the dark side and program their own crap for the PS3.

3. Online systems will be key this year. Xbox Live is fantastic but costs money. More and more people are getting tight on money and Xbox Live will probably suffer because of that. The PSN has been mediocre at best, but at the cost of free I think more people will sign up for this than ever before. Also Nintendo will realize the error in their ways in not offering a online service and will make plans for it with the Wii HD.

4. I think the PS3 will offer 3D gaming to some extent. Most people don’t realize their Samsung HDTV can display the 3D content and the market is ripe for the picking. I think the PS3 will be the only console that can really handle the amount of power it will take and storage space to contain 3D content.

Other:
1. February 17th will be a very dark day for a lot of people. Best Buy will be crowded as hell, and people will be very upset their antenna doesn’t work anymore. The biggest impact will be in low income/minority neighborhoods. There will probably be some bill passed to make sure they are not forgotten about in the future. HDTV sales will continue to decline until after February 17th when they will get a small kick in the pants until the economy levels out.

2. Because of the DTV transition online television distribution systems will benefit. Hulu, Vudu, Boxee, Apple TV, Windows Media Center will all see a lot more users than ever before. It is going to be a big quantity over quality issue but the amount of free content online will win in the end. After online distribution systems gain some ground they will start to push better quality to the users.

3. Displays are going to rock. Not just TV’s either. Laptop displays, computer monitors, projectors are all going to improve. OLED will make a big push (“organic” isn’t just for your foods) and I think we will probably see some sort of built in projector for a laptop this year. Pocket projectors will also finally become something worth looking at.

4. The internet will have a new awesome site. There will be some new MySpace/Facbook site for 2009 and it will include all the other sites in one. It will finally truly be able to combine your online accounts (at least social accounts) in one place. I have a feeling this site will be run in some way by Google (or at least bought by Google in the end). I think the first step to this will be Google NOT buying Facebook. If they do buy them then there would be no point in making an all inclusive social site. Their new site will easily tie in with YouTube, Blogger, Google Calendar, etc. The next step would be for Google to buy Twitter.com. As more people don’t have time to blog, they will turn to Twitter to allow them to blog on the go.

Well that is it. I know it was a heck of a lot of reading and I thank you for reading it (or at least skimming it). I will hopefully follow up 1 year from today to see how these predictions were met.
Let me know your predictions in the comments or if you agree/disagree with any of mine.

Vantec NexStar MX enclosure review

So, when I bought my NAS I started transferring over everything I wanted to keep on it. But then I realized that 500 GB would not be enough room to store everything. Instead of returning the NAS and getting a bigger one, which I did not have money for, I decided to keep the 500 GB NAS for only the things that I really wanted to have available on my home network (pictures, music, and videos). The other stuff that was more just there for storage (program installs, backups) could be put on a external hard drive. So I headed back to Fry’s looking for a USB hard drive enclosure. Here is the one I ended up with.

I bought the Vantec NexStar MX HDD enclosure from Fry’s for 3 reasons.
1. The price: I got the unit for $30. Not sure if it was a sale or if they were making way for the new NexStar with eSATA. Either way I feel like it was a good price for the features.
2. Dual SATA enclosure. Most enclosures I found in this price range would either only hold 1 hard drive, or would only use IDE hard drives. I had 2 SATA drives sitting in my closet that I needed to use. So this would let me use both of them without buying two enclosures.
3. Build quality. The whole unit is brushed aluminum and the enclosure alone seemed thick enough to stop a bullet. Well maybe not bullet proof but it felt good enough to hold my monthly backups.

I don’t feel like re-inventing the wheel with the review so I am just going to link to a couple much more thorough reviews than I could have ever done and tell you my thoughts.
Here are a few reviews for you to read on your own time. Virtual-Hideout, thinkcomputers, and futurelooks.

Overall, I am completely satisfied with my purchase. The drive is a little bit loud but I rarely have it plugged in anyway because it is only for occasional backups and long time storage. If you are looking for something that you want on all the time I would spend the extra money for a unit with more than just USB and something quieter. But if you have a couple extra SATA hard drives and need some long time storage than this is probably the device for you. The software it comes with is Windows only so I didn’t care for it but I was surprised to get any software at all for $30. The price on amazon is $70 and that is probably more than what I would pay for this enclosure. I feel the enclosure is easily worth $50 though if you can find it in that price range.