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Podcasting
Podcasting – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. One of the most amazing trends that literally has taken off in six months is this podcasting idea. That is, there is audio on the web and it automagically downloads to an iPod. I’m stunned by how fast these platform shifts happen now. Literally overnight, judging by wikipedia. Boy…
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Sony Vaio T140P/L
Sony Unveils 3-Pound T-Series Ultra-Portable Notebook @ CHAITGEAR. This is pretty close to the perfect travel notebook. Its not the machine for everything. In fact, right now I think the dream combination is a fast and cheap desktop for office work that you can get for $1,000 or so now plus a light notebook that…
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Turkey
!{float: right; margin-left: 10px;}http://www.wholefoods.com/recipes/images/turkey_2004.jpg!:http://www.wholefoods.com/recipes/turkeyprimer.html Time once again for Rich to take charge and roast the turkey. As usual, here’s a list of recipes that work: “Whole Foods”:http://www.wholefoods.com/recipes/turkeyprimer.html. The local high end but fresh grocer around here. They have a basic recipe that includes brining the turkey. The brine ratio: 2 gallons water 2 cups kosher…
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RockXP
|MG| Free Download – RockXP 3.0. Hey this is a great program. Gives you the Windows XP PID and also the PIDs of other applications in case you lose them. Also recovers a bunch of other passwords as well.
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Get Yahoo Toolbar
Yahoo! Toolbar. YOu have to get this tool for the antispyware. Been working through what’s wrong with Connie’s computer and despite the fact we run IE 6.0, Google Popup Blocker, Zonealarm, Norton Antivirus and Spybot Search and Destroy. On running Lavasoft Ad-aware that I found zillions of spyware programs that weren’t blocked. However, it was…
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XP Hangs and Reboots
Troubleshoot Windows XP Professional. Been getting an amazing number of hangs (e.g., mouse freezes) and random reboots (no blue screen, just blown to the restart). Feels like there is instability in at least two machines at the driver level. As an old NT guy, I know that the only way this happens is if something…
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Reinstalling XP
Sniptools ?| Tips/Tricks | Reinstall Windows XP without product activation. A bunch of my XP machines are getting random crashes. With the NTFS file system, it is easy to corrupt things and one machine is now dead. Things chkdsk fine, but that doesn’t mean the operating system files themselves aren’t corrupt. So what to do.…
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SP2 Required
Symantec Support. Now that Microsoft is going to discontinue support for the “gold” XP, they are forcing everyone to upgrade to SP2. Interesting, this is the hardest core shift I’ve seen lately, but it makes me worried about the machines I have that aren’t SP2 yet. Here’s a note on how Norton works with SP2.…
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dBpowerAMP
dBpowerAMP. OK, after much experimenting, this looks like the best of the bunch for setup and also for quality. First, it doesn’t make a mystery what codecs you need. You can download the Windows Media 9 Codecs (confusing that Windows Media Player is version 10, but but the codecs are 9). The Microsoft site is…
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WMA Conversion
WMA to MP3 converter, WMA MP3 converter, MP3 organizer, MP3 tagger, CD burner. I tried CDEX to convert from WMA to MP3, but it complains incessantly about a DLL missing even though I downloaded it. Here is a whole site devote to WMA to MP3 etc. These are mainly shareware tools
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WMA fiiles
Re: WMA to MP3 Transcoding Software? – MP3. Ages ago, I ripped a few CDs in WMA format, but MP3 is the standard. Here’s a quick way to transcode so that in my core libraries I have complete portability. Note, I also have songs in FLAC for archiving (it is lossless) and in HE AAC…
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Gizmodo Portable Media Reviews
Gizmodo : Portable Media Archives. They seem to be most up on portable gadgets. Heard there are reviews of: * “Apple Flash iPod”:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/15/apple_flash_ipod/. This will be a lower cost and much slimmer version presumably the idea it is cheaper than the iPod Mini which has a hefty $250 price point. So Apple will move down…
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Unsharp Mask
Vivid Light Photography Online. One of the more confusing topics for image fixing is this Unsharp Mask. That has got to be one of the most confusing names for a feature. It actually means sharpening the image by wiggle it. Also confusing are the paramenters. There is percentage (between 100-250% with 100% as a starting…
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Alias Soundtrack
OK, I admit it, I got addicted to this show last year when I blew my knee out. When you watch 3 years of episodes in a week, it does something to your head. The main thing is that soundtrack is just amazing. Maybe it is me, but I thought it wasn’t so much the…
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Jansport Moby
JanSport Moby – eBags. I’ve been using an old rolling backpack for long trips and got a $90 laptop convertible bag from ebags. It is a nice bag if all you want to do is to carry a laptop and books. The problem is that its padding make it impossible to make it a daytripper.…
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PCMCIA Care for Memory Cards
I love the new Sony T-140, the main complaintis that it only has a Memory Stick card reader, so you have to spend $20 to get a PCMCIA adapter that reads other stuff. I already have an adapter for Compact Flash, so the $20 part is the Sandisk PCMCIA Laptop Smartmedia, Sony Memory Stick, MMC…
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Bike lights and bike fitting
My buddy Bert was asking about bike accessories and the best bike light in dark Arc Li-Ion. The light is just incredibly bright and with a lithium ion battery, it is less than a pound. Its about $450 at “Colorado Cyclist”:http://www.coloradocyclist.com/common/products/productdisplay2_v2.cfm?PRRFNBR=30403&CGRFNBR=665&CRPCGNBR=665&CI=1,226,665&TextMode=0 If you are going on epics they have “Arc Li-Ion Ultra”:http://www.bikelights.com/Products/arc_liion_ultra.htm with a truly…
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Fold a Shirt in 3 seconds
Joho the Blog: How to fold a shirt. Hat tip to John on this one. But a great It is an amazing video. Very useful for the geek traveller. I love the Japanese commentary. Basically, you lay it flat and then somehow flip it so it fold perfectly.
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Printfix
PrintFIX profiling review and observations. if you dont use stock paper with a pinter you need a calibration program. Printfix is a scanner with calibrated images so that no matter what paper you use, you’ll get what you paid for. Right now Colorvision charges $400 SRP for Printfix plus the Spyder2PRO.
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Colorvision Spyder2Pro
“Spyder2PRO”:http://www.colorvision.com/profis/profis_view.jsp?id=341 Getting back into scanning 35mm and doing photo editing. The biggest frustration is this color matching problem. The ColorVision Spyder2 is finally out. Its the latest generation of color calibrators that will make sure it really is what you see is what you get with your monitor. Pricey at $300 list, you can get…
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Great PDA
Karen, Kathy and the Chinese School gang were asking their usual questions about cool gadget. Here are the latest recommendations for gadgets to buy: * “Sony T-140PL”:http://techonweb.com. This is $1850 from Techonweb. Its a great model. I’ll post more later as it does have some drawbacks but it pretty near perfect. Three pounds, DVD-CD/RW drive,…
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Riding with Dad
Tandems and Kids. “Steve”:http://scbhooper.com rode with his son when he was eleven. Almost time for Alex to ride 200 miles with Dad. Here’s a great piece on how to do it on a tandem. Here are some good models: * “Co-motion”:http://www.co-motion.com/tandemenu.html. They have a racing aluminum one that looks wonderful called the Roadster * “Precision…
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Synchronizing Files
Beyond Compare – The file compare and directory compare utility from Scooter Software. I don’t understand why file synchronization has to be so complicated. This Beyond Compare thing is nerdy, but it sure is straightforward. Most depressing thing is that the iPod doesn’t expose the files, so you have to use iTunes to synchronize. That…
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Freeware for Nokia 6620
All About Symbian Forums – Good Freeware Applications NOT Warez/Cracks. Here are some good applications including: * Fxplorer. A new file manager.
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With this new Nokia 6620, the move obvious question is what firmware to load: * All About Symbian Forums – To all MP3 player inquirers: The 6600 is not an MP3 player!. Also describes how to load “symbian oggplay”:http://symbianoggplay.sourceforge.net and also “dbpoweramp”:http://www.dbpoweramp.com to convert MP3 or WMA to OGG Its reportedly a good format down…
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Hot phone on CDMA
!{float: left; margin-right: 10px;}http://cellphones.about.com/library/graphics/samsung_a700.jpg!:http://www.sprintpcsinfo.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=334 Many folks think this is the ultimate phone. The geek specs basically say that it support every major codec particularly HE AAC (3GPP compliant). ARM9 CPU 178×220 Pixel 16-Bit Color Main Display MIDP 1.0.3 3GPP, 3GPP2, H.263 & MP4 Support (Streaming Video Codecs) QCELP, AAC & AMR Audio Codec Support Video…
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Psytel AAC
Guide aac psytel – RareWares Knowledge Base. An alternative to the for free Nero AAC encoder. Not clear if it actually does HE AAC (e.g., High Efficiency) or only LC AAC (Low Complexity). I need HE AAC to slam it onto my phone. Turns out that Psytel was acquired by Nero, so all work stopped…
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7 Zip
7-Zip. Most of the file decompressors I know require you to pay. 7 Zip is the only freeware that knows .RAR and other strange formats.
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Latest on Audio Encoding
Just an update since folks ask me about this all the time. How does Rich Tong actually maintain his library. Well, this is kind of a complex topic and it seems to change every year. So, here is the latest guide: # “Half.com”:http://half.com. I normally actually buy CDs. That sounds strange, but it is because…
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Latest data on mobile
!{float: left; margin-right: 10px;}http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/moxiepix/a547.jpg!:http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/news/samsung/547.shtml “Phonecontent.com”:http://phonecontent.com. A cool site for the latest on the phone business. Interest phone news: * “Motorola goes high-end”:http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/news/motorola/576.shtml. They are launching a $900 (!!!) phone called the Razr that must be amazing given the price point. * “Camera phones to ship 205M in 2005”:http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/news/gnews/575.shtml. Wow these are now the standard phones.…