Not only did I switch from Blogger to WordPress, I ditched my prior web host and am now with Jumpline. This web host comes highly recommended from a prominent social media expert and good friend Douglass Karr. I had my domain hosted for years by another company that has seen its ups and downs (mostly downs lately). It’s nice to get with a new hoster that has all the latest bells.
Whew! Just finished up moving my blog from Google’s Blogger service to a WordPress platform that I installed on my domain. While Blogger is fine, I like to tweak and experiment, so WordPress is a great choice for me. I’ve administered another blog for the Magnuson side of my family for some time now, and with the new 2.7 version there is plenty to learn!
Just to see how easy it is, I posted a video to YouTube that was made from some photos I took while I was on a work trip a few years back. It didn’t use to be this easy. Really.
Oh, I did have the music 38 Special “Caught Up In You” as the background music, but upon uploading, YouTube politely (umm – no) let me know that was copyrighted material and suggested the tune that now backs the video.
Just noticed Google Gmail now has themes (find it under settings, themes). While I appreciate the uncluttered look of the traditional Gmail, I suppose there are many users who’d like to spice it up a bit. Those over 40 should show those under 40 the ASCII theme and reminisce about how we used to see our email (see screen shot at left). Wow, we’ve come a long way.
The second tech find I’m using is called Dropbox. Find it at www.getdropbox.com. Dropbox is an online storage / synchronizing service that is simple – it just works. They say “Dropbox is the easiest way to share and store your files online.” I’m sure there is some heavy duty stuff going on behind the scenes, but the programmers have done an excellent job of making the customer interface very simple. 2GB free, 50GB for $99. I love the fact that you can access your files from any internet-connected computer. Also, sharing photos is very simple. See one of my galleries here. Cool stuff, right?
Quick follow up to my post regarding my television needing a new projector lamp . . .
Last night about the time CNN was declaring Barack Obama the next President of the United States, my 4 year-old Toshiba DLP TV decided to celebrate with some fireworks of its own. With a loud “pop” the screen went black but the status lights on the front panel were speaking to me in some dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot sequence. A power cycle continued the light show from the front panel, so I had to resort to watching the election returns via the CNN Election Central website.
AutoWeek has been reminding me for the last several months that my magazine subscription is about to expire. I’ve been a long-time customer of theirs and fully planned on renewing my subscription. After three or four mailings requesting my renewal and two issues exclaiming “this is your last issue” via a cover wrap I decided to do something.
I spend a lot of time in my home office. As is typical, my home office setup includes a couple of computers, a couple of computer screens and a television. I’m finding the television is getting no love now that I watch TV on the computer screen via my Slingbox. Why? Side by side comparison shows the computer screen outshines the television in picture quality, audio and options.
You see, the television is simply using the cable signal right out of the wall. I have a limited selection of channels since the signal is not going through a cable box first. (The TV is the monitor furthest to the left in the photo.)
Using the Slingbox and the computer screen, I have the full selection of channels, just as if I was sitting in my living room with the signal routing through the TiVo HD. That means I can watch the full palette of channels and anything I have stored on the TiVo as well. The Slingbox signal in my office is acquired via my wireless network, which makes the excellent quality that much more amazing.
So, looks like there is no need to keep the television screen around. Or find another place for it – ooh, the garage!
More on the Slingbox: A Slingbox is a device connected between a cable box or TiVo and the television. It allows you to watch that signal via the internet and control it just like you were sitting in front of it. Perfect for watching television via the computer when you’re away from home.
I had been bummed that TBS was carrying some of the LCS games this year, and my cable provider only has TBS in “non-HD” aka “I can’t stand to watch that it looks terrible” format. Then today my TiVo greeted me with a message that my “channel lineup has changed, select to read entire message.” So I did and what do you know, I now have TBS in High Definition!
I like power, I like speed. That’s why I make my car go fast with fun modifications. So, when I started hearing about “readyboost” I thought this was another product or technique to make a turbo charged or super charged engine work more efficiently. Well, no. Microsoft quietly (to me anyway) released a feature for thier Windows Vista operating system that enables more efficient use of resources when you plug in a compatible flash memory device. (Like a USB thumb drive – you know, you’ve seen them I’m sure.)
