Marty Bird Blog » technology

Changing Website Host

Marty — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:53:15 +0000

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.

Moving my blog to WordPress

Marty — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:48:00 +0000

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!

Experimenting with YouTube – Cape Cod Photos

Marty — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:31:00 +0000

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.

Cool Tech Stuff: Gmail Themes and Dropbox

Marty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:42:00 +0000

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?

New Lamp for Television is Bright!

Marty — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Quick follow up to my post regarding my television needing a new projector lamp . . .

I followed the progress of my package via UPS Tracking, and it had been placed on the truck for delivery at 6:42 a.m. so I felt confident it would be on my doorstep when I arrived home from work about 5:30 p.m. Of all the things to look forward to all day long, the anticipation – I realize it doesn’t take much to add a little excitement to my day – I was checking the UPS site as I wrapped up my day at work and found that the lamp had not yet been delivered. Bummer. Should I stay at work awhile so the package would be awaiting my arrival? Or should I race home in case the delivery required a signature? Easy. I raced home.

Still no package. Another hour expired before the rumble of the brown truck signalled the new projector lamp was here! Now that I’ve intalled it (very simple) I realize the prior lamp may have been decreasing in intensity for quite a while. Why? Because the new lamp is freaking bright! Whites are much whiter, greens are much greener and blues are much bluer! I even double-checked my picture settings to be sure they had not changed. The newly-lit screen has a much more even brightness across its full width as well.

It’s almost like a brand new TV. I’m happy.

Learning to Live in the Dark

Marty — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:12:00 +0000

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.

According the the Toshiba owner’s manual I dug out of my filing cabinet, the projection lamp had expired. Much to my dismay, an affordable solution was found on the web – so, no new Plasma for me this Christmas.

A quick search found DLP Lamps.com where I found the part I needed and placed my order. (I used Google Checkout for the first time and actually saved $5.00.) Some basic reseach found that this online retailer had excellent reviews and quick shipping. I’ll likely agree with those reviews, since I already have a UPS tracking number and the package is expected to arrive in a couple days.

So for now I’ll have to use my Slingbox via a computer to watch TV, though I’m already missing the big screen. (Photo shows the graphic remains of the broken lamp.)

Magazine Subscriptions – Renewed AutoWeek Today

Marty — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:49:00 +0000

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.

My normal course of action is to do some research first before paying the full price that is initially offered. First step was to pull up my account via AutoWeek.com and see if there was a renewal deal. Nope. Still $29.99 per year. I do think that’s a good value for 52 issues so I’d be willing to pay that . . . but searching and finding a better price via the Internet gives me some great sense of accomplishment. Not that I want to “stick it” to AutoWeek (I don’t), it’s really just fun to hunt down that cheaper price and then swoop in for the kill. (Hunting instinct carried out on the web?)

It’s my form of shopping, checking things out before I lay down the cash. So, after 5 minutes of Google searches, what did I pay for a year’s subscription? $9.32! Woo Hoo! If you like to hunt down deals like I do, a Google search is all it takes to save you some dough. By the way, I found this deal at www.magazinemaster.com. For whatever reason, if you go directly to their website and search for AutoWeek, you don’t get the special pricing. But when you search via Google you get a special link that includes the coupon code. Enjoy your hunt!

TV Technology Shift: Slingbox is Better

Marty — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:44:00 +0000

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.

Baseball playoffs in HD on TBS

Marty — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:45:00 +0000

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!

Tampa Bay is in the playoffs? (j/k)

Ready for ReadyBoost?

Marty — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:37:00 +0000

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.)

I carry around a 4GB thumb drive for backing up my files at work, and when I insert the drive in a USB port a window pops up and one of the options is “speed up my computer with ReadyBoost.” I have been ignoring that for a few weeks now since I thought it was some type of program the thumb drive manufacturer placed on the drive that you had to install. Well, I don’t ignore it anymore! I clicked on it and it asks how much space you want to allocate on the thumb drive to this extra memory capacity. Nice.

I learned of all this through David Pogue’s NY Times Circuits email . . . there was a link to an article How I Learned To Tolerate Vista by Stephen Williams. So now I’m cruising with extra speed and power with ReadyBoost. Funny how the message finally made it’s way to me.