Blog Drive-Bys for 2007-07-04 - Untwisted Vortex

RT, over at Untwisted Vortex listed me in his "Blog Drive-Bys" for today. I am honored and appreciate the nod!

Get on over to RT's site and see the other sites he has listed in his drive-by!

Blog Drive-Bys for 2007-07-04 - Untwisted Vortex

Specs and prices of Wal-Mart's new Dell desktops revealed? - Engadget

Engadget is reporting the specs on the Dell PCs that will be offered by Wal-Mart starting next Sunday. Looks like a decent machine, but I wonder how "upgrade-able" it is... For me personally, the best thing about Dells, is that you can buy a bare-bones system, and roll your own upgrades. I'm not a big "over-clocker" or "modder", but I can build my own or take a bare Dell and add my own upgrades to make a worthy, if not, top-of-the-line machine.

Specs and prices of Wal-Mart's new Dell desktops revealed? - Engadget

Verizon launching FiOS Interactive Media Guide

Engadget is reporting that Verizon is rolling out a new interactive media for guide for Verizon FIOS TV users. Looks really nice... Now, if they could just give me a bigger hard drive for the DVR...

Verizon launching FiOS Interactive Media Guide - Engadget

ghs.google.com DNS not working - The basics | Google Groups

Interesting development here... and no response from Google that I can find.

You probably can't even get to this posting...

ghs.google.com DNS not working - The basics | Google Groups

Update: I was locked out of my domain and this blog for almost an hour. I was able to post, but no one was able to view anything I posted so a lot of good that did. Still no response from Google.

Update2: Google finally responded:

Hi all,

Thanks for reporting the 404 custom URL errors. We have resolved this
issue for all domains.

If you continue to experience difficulty, please contact our support
team. For immediate access to Google services, you can ask your users
to access Google Apps services at the full URLs.

Email - http://mail.google.com/a/your_domain.com
Calendar - http://calendar.google.com/a/your_domain.com
Docs & Spreadsheets - http://docs.google.com/a/your_domain.com
Start Page - http://partnerpage.google.com/your_domain.com

Be sure to replace 'your_domain.com' with your Google Apps domain
name.

Not much of a response, if you ask me... and a few hours late, to boot!

Chicago, The Band

One of my favorite groups of all-time is Chicago. I've been listening to them since early in high school. I remember hanging out with my friend, Larry and listening to Chicago 9, 10 and 11 while riding around the streets of Seagraves...

Anyway, FoxyTunes, the add-on for Firefox that allows you to control your media player from within your browser, has a new feature, FoxyTunesPlanet, and here is a snippet from that...

Chicago

Chicago is a rock band that was formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. Well known for being one of the first (and, indeed, one of the few) rock bands to make extensive use of horns, Chicago started as a politically-charged, sometimes experimental rock band and later moved to a softer sound and became famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. more...

[via FoxyTunes / Chicago]

If you use Firefox, and I'm not sure why you wouldn't, you should give this add-on a try. It's easy to use and adds tons of functionality to your browser without much clutter at all. Highly recommended by the folks here at the labs...

As always, GL&HF!

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

I like to take candid pictures... much more than posed pictures. I get some guff about that from the fam, but, hey it's been my style since I was a kid and I first discovered an interest in photography. I will take posed pictures, but I don't like them...

I took some decent action shots this past weekend at the soccer tournament, but I was commenting to my daughter that it's difficult when you're trying to actually WATCH the game... To me, action shots are a form of candid shots.
























Anyway, here are some great tips, by way of Lifehacker.

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

Is Windows Vista in Trouble?

A couple of interesting articles that I found on Slashdot.org seem to indicate troubles for Windows Vista. As you might tell from my lack of updates, Vista has NOT seen the light of day on any of my machines, since my previous efforts at the end of last year. Not sure if it will EVER see the light of day on my machines... The newest revision of Ubuntu Linux, v 7.04 aka Feisty Fawn, seems to be almost ready for prime time.

Slashdot | MS Offers Vista Upgrade Pricing To All

Slashdot | Is Windows Vista in Trouble?

Speed Up Windows Vista

Via Lifehacker, this is a good, in-depth article delving fairly deep into Vista. So if you bought that new computer with Vista or took the dive by upgrading your current system, these tweaks should give you a nice performance boost.

Speed Up Windows Vista

GL&HF!

New Bill Aims to Rid U.S. of Inefficient Light Bulbs by 2012

I told my wife, this day was coming...

We were arguing the aesthetics and brightness of the fluorescent vs. the incandescent, in particular, clear globes like those you would use in a bathroom light fixture. She thinks the new bulbs are "ugly" and that they were dimmer, to which I argued that it didn't matter as they last longer and use less energy. That bank of lights has always been dimmer, regardless of the bulb type...

DailyTech - New Bill Aims to Rid U.S. of Inefficient Light Bulbs by 2012

This is classic...

The "Will It Blend" videos are all over the internet. Seriously, I can't wait to get one of these, but I just haven't found the real need for one, other than it's the best damn blender around. I loves me some gadgets, ya know...

Anyway, this video was created for the keynote at this year's Novell Brainshare conference. I attended a few of these back in the day... the NetWare days... Great tech at the time, and still a really good directory service. Their main focus these days is Linux, more appropriately SUSE Linux...

Enjoy

Most Unwanted Inventions?

Parade Magazine reports the most unwanted inventions. I tend to agree with most of these. But then, where would the world be without innovation?

1) High Heels
“They hurt my feet, legs and back, and they make me dread dressy occasions,” writes Cindy Lee of Metairie, La.

2) Jet Skis
“They are inventions that allow one person to enjoy a formerly quiet lake or beach while ruining the scene for swimmers, picnickers and sailors, not to mention wildlife,” says N.W. of Ann Arbor, Mich.

3) Leaf-Blowers
“Yet again, my calm was rudely interrupted by the whining, obnoxious leaf-blower across the street,” writes Annette Alabaster of Richmond, Va. “I wonder how many decibels those things put out.” Adds Meg Byrd of Clover, javascript:void(0)
PublishS.C.: “I hate, hate, hate leaf-blowers! Get a rake!”

4) Automated Telephone Assistance
“My biggest fear in life is that the person who invented this will invent something else,” writes Linda Palter of Muskegon, Mich. And Walter Huff of Rialto, Calif., says: “When you finally locate a choice that approximates what you need, you are told that ‘all representatives are busy, but your call is important to us, so please hold.’ Twenty minutes later, you’re still waiting with that important call!”

5) Television
“For the greatest promise betrayed,” explains Bob Altman of Mount Pleasant, S.C. “TV has desensitized the world to violence; reduced political discourse to sound bites; fostered short attention spans, sedentary lifestyles and crass materialism; and demeaned women and fathers.”

6) Video Games
“As a schoolteacher, I see how video games have shifted children from interaction to isolation with their controllers,” writes Lynn Hatch of Park City, Utah.

7) Bass Amplifiers
“These rolling boom boxes—cars with high-power bass amplifiers—rattle the pans hanging in my kitchen,” writes T.P. Wilson of Houston, Tex. “I can’t escape the pounding.”

8) Neckties
“When I get to Hades, I’m gonna find the guy who invented the necktie and strangle him with one of his own creations,” writes Nick Dunbar of Chicago.

9) Car Alarms
“What use are they, except to wake the neighbors?” writes Sean Huxter of Norwood, Mass. And Patti Maillett of Towson, Md., notes: “They don’t even serve their intended purpose. No one takes them seriously. Have you ever heard a car alarm sounding and thought, ‘Wow! Someone is trying to steal that car!’?”

10) Cell Phones
“On the plus side, they’ve made us instantly available anyplace, anytime,” notes Nina Cooper of Las Vegas. “On the minus side, they’ve made us instantly available anyplace, anytime.” Adds Bill James of Austin, Tex.: “They ruin our personal time. Both your boss and your client want you to be reachable. A quiet dinner with the family? A movie? Fuhgettaboutit!” Another reader, Jenn Frommer of Albany, N.Y., complains: “I am sick of hearing people’s loud, stupid conversations everywhere I go!”

There you have it, readers. Cell phones have become like impossible girlfriends and boyfriends: You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them!


Ask Marilyn | PARADE Magazine

Seeing red: AT&T/Cingular introduces red BlackBerry Pearl and Treo 680

Need a little color in your next smartphone? The New AT&T (Cingular) introduces two new phones available in red. The Treo 680 Crimson and the RIM Blackberry Pearl Red are two cool-looking new phones. The 680 is Palm OS-based, while the Pearl is, of course, Blackberry OS-based. I wonder if the Treo 750 will be available in red anytime soon? Probably not, since red is NOT a Microsoft color. Anyone remember Novell? Very red...


Seeing red: AT&T/Cingular introduces red BlackBerry Pearl and Treo 680 | Crave : The gadget blog

On-line Photo Editing

Here's a quick list of on-line photo editing sites. Adobe has just announced that they will have their on-line version of Photoshop ready in six months. In the meantime give these sites a tryout and see if one works for you.

1. First up is a Fauxto. This site features an interface that is very much like Photoshop, and is thus suitably complex. I had trouble getting a photo to load up. But it is a fairly comprehensive tool, much like Photoshop. It even features "layers", which none of the other sites have and is a staple of Photoshop.
2. Next up is Picnik, which is my personal favorite. This site was fun and easy to use. I was able to load a photo and do all kinds of fixes and enhancements, like "soften" and "boost". It looks like they are adding features regularly, so look for the site to improve as it evolves.
3. Another site is PXN8. This site was easy to use and everything works well, I just didn't like it as much as Picnik. To be honest, though, I did like some of the fun effects they feature, such as "oil" which makes your picture look like an oil painting and "charcoal" which makes your picture look like a charcoal drawing.
4. These I have not tried yet, but I thought I would at least list them for you: Picture2life, and Preloadr

As we say on the Quake 3 servers, GL and HF! (For you n00bs, that's Good Luck and Have Fun!)

Vista WGA problems confirmed

Be careful with your install of Vista. There are definitely some gremlins with the the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) so be aware of the possibility of having to reactivate your installation of Vista. It's a pain and the articles bring up some good points about the way Microsoft is handling these types of "security" related issues. Seems a bit over the top, at times. The Apple commercial is spot-on, albeit annoying...

» Vista WGA problems confirmed | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

Problems arise with Vista’s validation

DailyTech - Canon Announces Five New Consumer Cameras

A couple of Canon announcements with your morning coffee, or whatever it is you might be imbibing at this time... First up are five new consumer level cameras ->

DailyTech - Canon Announces Five New Consumer Cameras

And the biggest news is a new professional-level camera, the 1D Mark III, here ->

Canon Launches Fastest D-SLR in the World




Anyone want to contribute to the "Roy Wants One Fund"?

Virtual PC 2007 made available

CNET reports that Virtual PC 2007 is being made available today from Microsoft. It is optimized for Vista and is part of several tools being made available to east Vista migration.

Virtual PC 2007 made available | CNET News.com

Here's another article about Vista annoyances from PC World:

Most Annoying Things About Vista

Digital Photography School: How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

Interesting article with some tips on utilizing converging lines. I must admit, I like to take pictures but I'm no photographer. I should invest in some courses...

How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

Google is Dell's past, but what of the future? | Perspectives | CNET News.com

This is a good op/ed piece on the travails of Dell and the return of Michael Dell as CEO, a position he had relinquished only a short time ago. Dell is one of those companies that people love or hate - hardly any middle ground. My own experiences with Dell are positive, both at home and at work. Own a couple of older laptops, my Home Theater PC is a Dell 400SC (VERY quiet and versatile for a server-class computer), a GX150, and several Dell monitors (still the best bang for your buck monitors). My first MP3 player was the one-time touted iPod-killer, Dell DJ20. So there you go... Dell is very entrenched in my household; how about yours?

Google is Dell's past, but what of the future? | Perspectives | CNET News.com

iPod2Car Review - Updated

I have updated the review... NOW, with video! Check it out!

iPod2Car Review

HowTo: Copy HDTV from your Cable Box to your PC!

I knew you could do this, but I just haven't had the time to figure it all out. Now the fellows over at HDJunkie.com have written a clear procedure for getting HD video recordings off of your PVR. If you have Verizon FiOS' first generation PVR, then you know that managing all the HD recordings can be a p-i-t-a because the drive is SOOOOOO small for this activity (20GB! give me a break). With this procedure and my HTPC, I can offload those programs to the hard drive or burn them to DVD, and I should have enough drive space on the PVR at all times. As it is, I've had to delete some the kids' stuff just so I can time-shift my "My Name is Earl/The Office" viewing pleasure! Now I can watch "Heroes" without worrying about missing Jack Bauer's hero acts on "24". This should work for any "cable-provided" PVR.

Copy HDTV from your Cable Box to your PC!