Server Uptime: Over 800 Days!
For those fellow nerds, this is a pretty good accomplishment:
top - 14:22:58 up 835 days, 14:17, 1 user, load average: 0.04, 0.04, 0.00
Photosynth using Seadragon
A couple of years ago at the TED conference a small start-up acquired by Microsoft showed some really incredible imaging technology called Seadragon (some mispronounce it as ‘c-dragon’). For a copy of the video, head on over to YouTube to see Seadragon in early action. Pretty amazing! Well, the technology has sinced been launched as Photosynth, which allows you to do some really cool things with your pictures by spatially putting together the environment that you were in when you took the pictures.
Sync iPhone with Google Calendar and Contacts
I’ve got tons of pictures and videos to post later this weekend, but wanted to document this article on Google Calendar and Contacts syncing with the iPhone.
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740
How to Convert iTunes Song to a Ringtone
Great article over at Lifehacker on converting songs to a ringtone for the iPhone. You’ve got to be a Mac user as you have to use Garage Band as part of the iLife ‘08 suite. Doesn’t sound like there is an easy way to do it with Windows yet except using a bunch of open source stuff. Hence the reason you should get a Mac anyway.
What’s my ringtone? I chose a ringtone for Jenn using Justin Timberlake’s “LoveStoned”. Cheesy? Yeah. Do I care? Not really. We love having a good time with one another…
HD Format of the Future?
So as we are all aware by now there’s the whole Blu-Ray vs HDDVD debate on which HD movie/video format will win. While it seems to be clearer these days that Blu-Ray is going to be the winner with multiple studios announcing the allegiance to Sony’s Blu-Ray format, I’m not convinced that the future of HD content will even be on Blu-Ray. Why? Keep reading.
As I’ve stated before, I think that the wave of the future is going to be medialess - meaning that there will be no tangible media for movies and content. Look, it’s quite simply the trend that we see now. All your favorite movie rental places are coming out with a download or on-demand video service, such as Blockbuster & Netflix. Even Apple is starting to get in the game with their revamped Apple TV product, which lets you download some movies in HD format.
So how is this going to be accomplished? How are the big ISP’s going to manage that much bandwidth and streaming media over their networks? Well, I guess you could start by saying that they are commiting to better connectivity such as fiber-to-the-curb service by both AT&T and Verizon. But what about all that bandwidth moving through the internet and major backbones? It’s not! And I’ll tell you why. While I think that clearly the future for HD content is in fact medialess and will be streamed over major transit carriers, the way that it has to be done is via set-top boxes in a BitTorent model. About two years ago I wrote an article about ISP v2.0 and streaming media to a set-top box as a media center PC replacement. However, being that I work for an ISP (Speakasy) I don’t think that streaming media in it’s final state is going to go over the net. Rather, it’s got to be localized and supported by BitTorrent set-top boxes so that media can be delivered locally on last mile connections rather than upstream on the major carrier backbones. Here’s a great article over at Wired on Myka’s new BitTorrent set-top-box; it’s a pretty good read.
Watch folks, HD media v2.0, set-top-box v2.0, and ISP v2.0 will be born soon. All your content will go right into your living room without inserting or ejecting a tangible disc.
Yo!
Hey peeps. It’s been a month since I wrote last, sorry for such the long delay - that’s pretty uncharacteristic of me. So what have we been up to? Tons..
For starters Jenn and I have been busy busy catching up on ABC’s Lost. You see, ABC released all of their Lost seasons online and stream in HD. So we started watching them on my Mac and then decided to start renting the 3 seasons so we could catch up. Man, good series and we have hardly put it down. We are about half way through season 3, but are Tivo’ing the new season that started last Thursday.
I also got my old team back together and we are playing in a new basketball league this year. We’ve been playing together for about 5 years now so it’s a pretty good bunch. The Frisco league has some cool online features in that we can track everything online. You can go to our League Page here. I know, I know… our team name (Mike’s Team) is sort of lamo. But I couldn’t think of anything when I signed us up. I’ll change it later.
Ella is really starting to say a lot of sentences now. Every weekend I’ll go get us Donuts and when I tell her she says “Daddy, Nonuts?” Haha! Comedy I know.
My Dad, Mom, and younger brother are still in Scotland and are doing very well. I’ve also been traveling to Seattle as usual, but nothing new to report there.
Anyway - I’ll post a new video up in the next few days.. so stay tuned!
Free FTP Client - FireFTP
If you are looking for a great FTP client, I’ve been using FireFTP which is a plugin to Mozilla’s FireFox browser. I had spent the last few months looking for a FTP client that would work with the Mac like I want it to. I had been using CuteFTP with my previous windows machine, but now that I’ve switched to OSX I wasn’t so sure. The tab feature is nice on FireFTP as it provides you a status as you browse other website.
Fast and easy, just like I like it (… not to mention FREE!).
Holiday Season Shopping: Find a CompUSA… Fast!
Last week CompUSA was bought out by a liquidator and they are officially closing down the stores all over. It’s a mad fire sale with Jenn & I getting in on the action. Our TV has a busted screen due to some extra curricular activities (more to come on that later) and so we are looking at nabbing a new one instead of spending the $1k to fix it.
Need help? Go here to find the nearest store - forget shopping online, shop where the loot is being looted!
How to Miniaturize a Scene in a Photo
Great article over at Wired about Miniaturing a Photo Scene. In short, all you need to do is use the Gradient tool in Photoshop, set to Reflected Gradient, and then move the cursor in the direction of the blur. Then use the Filter > Blur option to finish it out.
Watch TV Online. No, Really - it’s Joost!
So as the internet continues to mature and grow in regards to content delivery and media, more and more companies are popping up on the radar for online videos. In comes Joost. This is a pretty cool service that allows one to use it’s client-side application to watch TV online. Tons of shows and there’s not any annoying commercials you have to push through. Check it out, it’s free!
Mac Backup Solutions
For those of you looking for a backup solution for your Mac, there’s a great article over at LifeHacker.com.
Hi, My Name is Michael and I’ve Been ‘Windows’ Free for 1 Day
.. ok so it’s not that dramatic, but I’ve finally made the transition from Microsoft’s Windows to Apple’s Mac OSX. After years and years of bondage, I have finally been set free! Now instead of troubleshooting, right-clicking, googling solutions, uninstalling, blue-screening, things just work. It’s true what they say; on a Mac, it just works.
I’ve even got my wife set-up on the Mac now. Hello new hottness!
How to Use Google 411
The folks at Google have released GOOG-411! Instead of using 411 (which is a paid service), you can now use this service by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) for free. In addition to that you can say “map it” during the call and it will send you a free text message to your mobile phone. Not sure about you folks, but I travel quite a bit and am often having to dial 411 via my cell and often take advantage of the text messaging feature. Now I’m not saying saving a couple of bucks is going to go a long way, but it sure is worth trying.
Happy hunting!
Transfer Firefox Bookmarks > Windows to Mac
So with my new MacBook Pro, I’ve been trying to get everything from my old windows machine sync’d over to my Mac so I can officially decommission the windows machine. There’s a great article over at mozillaZine that tells you how to find the proper bookmark.html file. There’s no way to import bookmark’s from Firefox > Firefox, so you just have to copy the files.
In short, you have to navigate to the Mozilla folder in the “Documents and Settings” folder in windows instead of the Mozilla folder you find in the “Programs” folder. The one in the Programs folder is simply the template for bookmarks with Mozilla. In the mac, just navigate to the Firefox folder and replace the “bookmarks.html” that you pulled from the windows machine and import to the Mac. Make sure you restart Firefox and bam! Instant success.
Mac
Just got a new MacBook Pro today. Amongst other things, I was concerned about the transition from Windows to OS X. I’ll write more later, but this is a great article over at Lifehacker about switching from Windows to the Mac.
It’s Mike: 1-Year Anniversary
Well, exactly 1 year ago today I started writing and blogging on my own server! I’ve written 167 articles during that time frame and can say that I’ve really enjoyed keeping up with my blog. It initially started out to simply write about life, technology, and work, but grew to so much more. It ended up being more about articles on items that I’m passionate about (excluding work for obvious reasons) such as Technology, Internet, Athletics, as well as a lot about my family, pictures, and videos. So I guess I would classify my blog as more of a multimedia type experience given the videos, content, and pictures that I have published. I even had fun with some photoshop to spice things up a bit (sorry Ella, I love you though!)
I’m also amazed at all the folks that visit my site as well. While I obviously don’t get many comments (55 to date), I am often told by friends, family members, and colleagues that they visit my blog frequently. So many thanks to all of you that read it and have a glimpse of the different aspects of my life and family. We are truly blessed by it all and love sharing in our experiences.
To my Ella - You are truly a blessing in my life. Watching you grow over the past 14 months has been amazing. Words cannot express the joy that I have when I am around you and when you smile, talk, garble, yack, clap, hug, kiss, slap, and gaze at me. You are an inspiration to your Mother and I and we will always love you, teach you, care for you, be an example of God’s word to you, pray for you, and provide you the best life we are physically able to provide. You love it when I sing to you, play with you, walk and talk with you, kiss and hug on you, and read to you. Your smile, your cute little curls, and your big-blue eyes will always be forever burned in my mind.
To my Wife, Jennifer - Since the day that I met you I have loved you. You constantly amaze me with your patience, gratitude, warmth, desire for Christ, and being the best Mommy in the world. I truly could not succeed at life without you and know with out a doubt that you are in fact my soul mate. Your encouragement and voice are always on my mind, bringing peace to me daily. It’s been a joy and blessing to be married to you for 5 years, 6 months! You are my best friend, my companion, my love, by sweetheart, inspiration, and motivation in Christ. Words can’t begin to express my thanks and all I know to say is “Thank you for loving me”.
Nike + iPod > I’m a Superstar
Some of you may recall that Jennifer & Ella gave me an iPod Nano this past father’s day. What you don’t know is that I have purchased the Nike + iPod shoes/iPod adapter for the Nano. What does it do? Simple - it calculates your runs, calories burned, tracks all data on the Nike + iPod website and allows you to create challenges, join groups, and collaborate with your other Nike + iPod friends. It’s a great way to track progress and keep one accountable with running and exercising. So what’s the verdict? I love it and it works great! I’ve been using it quite a bit and have been trying to use it quite a bit, although the winter has been either wet or cold as of the past couple of months and haven’t used it as much as I’d like. For those of you that have a Nike + iPod, we should hook up and create a group together! I’m currently doing the lone-ranger thing flying solo, but would be happy to join a group.
Google’s Click-to-Call Feature
While this service has been out for a while, Google’s Click-to-Call is definitely a unique way of getting in touch with pretty much any business easily. Instead of writing down the number when you google a location on Google Maps, you can now have Google call your phone, but with the phone number of the business as the caller. Once you pick up, bam! - you all the sudden hear a ringing tone on the other end dialing that business for you. It saves time and you are able to store the business’ phone number.
As lifehacker points out, you can also use the service to locate your lost cell phone. Never thought of it that way, but cool!
Apple’s iTV & iPhone
With Macworld happening this week (not to mention CES), I was actually impressed with Apple’s latest offerings coming about. As most of you are aware, I’ve been looking to build a media center PC or Home Theater PC (HTPC) within the past couple of months. I was actually fixing to pull the trigger on either the VoodooPC Aria or Niveus Rainier Media PC. However, lately I’ve run into a couple of set-top box solutions, such as an amazing Helios X3000 product, that stream your media from a storage server (which I already have) and play it in high-definition over your TV. Considering that I want to mainly stream music, photos, and movies from the file server - this is looking more like the traditional path I should take. However, I decided to wait until Apple came out with their stuff as there was a rumor about the iTV coming out.
Ho Ho Ho!
Yup, it’s that time of year. Time for cold-weather, snow, hot-chocolate, Christmas trees, family, presents, etc. While we’ve had cold-weather and snow already, it’s been a fairly mild Christmas. I’m kind of indifferent to the weather, although I’d actually prefer a white Christmas.
I really enjoy seeing family over the Holidays, watching college football, and the likes. That’s really what gets me going during Christmas. Jenn has really taken a liking to fixing up the house all Christmasy - especially since we have a child now. I like it, I think it’s neat, especially now that Jenn is actually the best mom in the world.
So, what do I want for Christmas? Well in case some of you folks run into Santa this year go ahead and give him my list - although I think you’ll find most of it won’t fit in his bag.
MacBook Pro
Sony HDR-SR1 Hard Disk Drive Camcorder
GEFORCE 8800
Samsung 71″ DLP HDTV
Cereal Bowl Light
Ality Pixxa 8″ LCD Photo Frame
BMW M5
Ok ok, so my wish list is definitely only a wish list, but I’m doing it only in the spirit of Christmas. Really, all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, yeah my two front teeth.
Happy Holidays!
Speakeasy Wins PC Magazines ‘Reader’s Choice Award’
This week we received some really good news at Speakeasy! According to PC Magazine, we were the Reader’s Choice for DSL! Here’s a snip from the article:
“The best provider this year is one of the smallest: Speakeasy was head and shoulders above the competition. It wins a Readers’ Choice with the category’s only significantly above-average overall score (8.6). BellSouth gets an honorable mention with a better-than-average 7.6, and AT&T (including SBC Yahoo!) tanked, with a significantly worse-than-average 7.2.”
As a privately held company, awards like this mean so much to our staff as a whole as we work extremely hard towards driving a solid product and providing excellent customer service.
Useful Excel Tricks
Hey all, good article over at Lifehacker about using two Excel spreadsheets at once. For those of you that don’t have dual monitors, which is utlimately the best, use the “Window > Compare Side by Side.”
Wow, long time.
Hey friends, I was in Seattle all last week so I was unable to update the site. Been slammed with work, rolling out a big transition. I should have quite a bit of updates for you, however.
Interesting article earlier this month over at Wired regarding VoIP integration. Stay tuned..