Arconati Geek Life Blogged

Beware Online "Filter Bubbles"

2011-05-15T16:29:00.003-05:00

Let's guide the Internet the right way. Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" Remember that getting opinions different from your own help you to learn and grow. Be careful of over-personalization.

Dell Streak 7 WiFi Tablet Up for Pre-Order

2011-03-22T00:42:00.001-05:00

When I first heard about it, I mentioned the Dell Streak back in September. At the time, I was earmarking the gadget because I knew that I'd someday need to replace my Dell Axim. Since then, I've had the good fortune to get an iPhone and despite loyalty, I'm not sure I'd go back. That being said, there are new reviews posted regarding the latest version of the Dell Streak, which now has WiFi.

Fun With My iPhone

2011-03-17T11:17:00.001-05:00

If the following two pages on Apple's site are in front of me right now, you can bet that it's going to be a fun-filled morning. iTunes: Backing up, updating, and restoring your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch software Update and restore alert messages on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch It is likely that everything that WAS on my phone is recoverable from my hard drive. The second link above makes it

BendDesk

2010-12-13T22:51:00.046-06:00

I've previously mentioned reinventing the desktop interface and the kind of changes that might be coming regarding how we use computers. I wanted to share another cool idea in this area that is simply being called a bend desk. This looks promising. bend desk is a prototype interactive

Share Your Keyboard & Mouse for Free! by Ron Knights

2010-11-03T16:17:00.000-05:00

Everyone with more than one computer within arm's reach needs a KVM switch or some other method for sharing the same input hardware. Apparently, you can use some free software to sync two PCs and share their keyboard and mouse. Read the full post about this at LockerGnome.com.

The Dell Streak

2010-09-24T15:16:00.000-05:00

I've had a Dell Axim for a pretty long time. I consider it pretty long considering it's basically a handheld computer. Family and friends who've seen me with it marvel a bit that it has lasted this long. Some day, it will need to be replaced. But I've come to understand that handheld computers, PDAs and the like are no longer available per se. They've all been replaced or edged out by high

The History Of The Internet (An Infographic)

2010-09-24T09:22:00.001-05:00

There's a bit of a trend I've noticed lately where information is being shared in easy-to-understand infographics. They are sometimes a mix of the humorous and insightful along with a well laid out representation of information. I wasn't even born until 1976, so... The following graphic is a timeline of the major milestones in the full History of the Internet. Some of this history I lived

Shamus Summarizes and Pontificates on the Used-Game Debate

2010-08-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

Get caught up and educated by reading the article on The Escapist.

Apple iTunes Defaults to Ripping .m4a - Thumbs Down

2010-08-05T01:29:00.000-05:00

I like Apple. I like iTunes. That's what is going to make this hard (and yet so very easy) to write complaints about them. In yet another argument for never ever updating software ever, a setting that I depend on in iTunes buried deep in the preferences menu defaulted to factory settings. I should note that I'm not sure this happened during an update or for some other reason. I use iTunes for

SOFTWARE REVIEW: Recuva

2010-02-23T14:03:00.000-06:00

Files get deleted unintentionally. It happens to everyone at some point. Sometimes they can be recovered from the recycle bin, but if they aren't there it's a little-known secret that they can still usually be recovered from the hard drive anyway. The reason for this is that when a file is deleted by the operating system, it only means that the file has been removed from a table of contents

Reinventing the Desktop Interface

2010-02-23T03:32:00.001-06:00

Who would have thought that step one would be to completely ditch the mouse? But if you think about it, the due date has perhaps arrived. 10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo. Here are more details: Here it is: my crazy summer project to reinvent desktop human-computer interaction. This video examines the benefits and limitations inherent in current mouse-based and window-oriented

How to Mod a USB Flash Drive

2009-12-02T22:58:00.001-06:00

Hm. I guess it really is that easy.

Top 87 Bad Predictions about the Future

2009-10-25T00:37:00.001-05:00

When predicting the future, it is important to keep certain points in mind. In regards to predicting the future Howard H. Stevenson says, Prediction is at least two things: Important and hard. Important, because we have to act, and hard because we have to realize the future we want, and what is the best way to get there. The act of predicting the future --both near and distant-- has always been

Internet Explorer 7 Fonts

2009-06-17T12:13:00.001-05:00

If you want to clear up the fonts in IE7 you will need to do the following.*Go to Tools>Internet Options>Advanced*Go to Multimedia and Uncheck the Clear Type for HTML box*Ok the changes and restart IE.

The Internet's Early Years

2009-06-16T00:44:00.000-05:00

It's hard to think about now, but at one point in the not-too-distant past, the Internet was new. Reporters for major news organizations looked at it and scratched their heads in confusion. For instance,... --a dazzling array of information-- I'm trying to figure out how old this is. There are some important thinkers here, but I'm sad to see that they concentrated so much on Bill

Windows 7 European Edition

2009-06-12T12:27:00.000-05:00

When it's available, I want a copy of Windows 7 from Europe. It will ship without Internet Explorer. Read more on BBC NEWS.

Did Your Television Stop Working?

2009-02-19T00:18:00.000-06:00

Did you pick up a new T.V. by now? As of today, all non-digital broadcast television signals have stopped. You've probably gotten sick of hearing about it by now. But if you woke up this morning and were surprised to learn that your screen is blank, then it's time to pick up either a new box or a converter. You can learn more at DTV Answers.com. Don't have one yet? Get a digital television

Circuit City Closed

2009-01-20T09:05:00.001-06:00

I've briefly mentioned Circuit City before (thought I can't find it now), but I wanted to briefly link to their updated page regarding their recent closing of all stores in the United States. Circuit City would like to thank all of the customers who have shopped with us over the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are going out of business. Please check

Wil Wheaton's keynote at Penny Arcade Expo [mp3]

2009-01-19T20:49:00.000-06:00

I bookmarked this over a year ago, but I listened to it again today in full. I checked back through my stuff and realized that I've never linked to it anywhere. It's worth mentioning for all kinds of reasons, mostly for the video game nostalgia trip that you will have if you are over the age of 30. Most geeks our age will recognize the name of Wil Wheaton from his role as Wesley Crusher on

What To Do With This Site?

2009-01-14T01:49:00.000-06:00

I mentioned this before, but this site was birthed from something left behind by another site that I didn't originally create or develop. Read some of the previous archives for more details: January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 I felt weird about it at the time mainly because of the traffic, Google Pagerank and the promotion that had previously gone into promoting the "

Mac vs. PC (In The Style of TRANSFORMERS)

2008-12-29T14:21:00.002-06:00

The marketing team at both companies need to sit up and watch this one.

NEVER SLEEP AGAIN!

2008-12-13T00:38:00.000-06:00

Thanks to LucasArts and Bioware, I will likely never sleep again. Thanks to Tim Absath of Ctrl+Alt+Del for posting this one.

Why is My Flickr Pro Account Expiring?!!

2008-12-05T00:27:00.002-06:00

First the whole digital television thing and now this. My Flickr Pro account is going away. Yahoo! owns Flickr. Since we've been using Yahoo! DSL for the longest time, I've had a Flickr Pro account available to me that I've abused thoroughly put to good use. It would seem by the yellow alert box that I saw in my account today that this will be downgraded to a standard account soon. AT&T

Did You Know?

2008-11-26T12:11:00.001-06:00

This video is enlightening and disturbing at the same time, which is an interesting mix. However, the presentation of some of the data seemed disjointed and unrelated. Like at the end? The bit about the illegal songs downloaded? What does that have to do with population expansion? Found via Shashi.name.

Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? If Obama Has to, Yes He Can - NYTimes.com

2008-11-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

As hard as it might be to believe, the President of the United States of America is not really allowed to simply email people from his Blackberry. Because of really high security protocols and the need for all presidential communication to be retrievable via subpoena, email in this regard becomes difficult. For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the

RAVE: Dell Technical Support

2008-09-29T00:41:00.001-05:00

I had a power supply go out in my home computer that I got last Christmas and through some general troubleshooting steps with Dell Technical Support over their chat option, we were able to determine the problem and they are sending me a new power supply. All I needed to do was to enter the Service Tag number from the side of my case and they were able to determine the length of my warranty and

An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube

2008-09-04T16:34:00.001-05:00

Found via Twenty Sided

Google Chrome

2008-09-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

This is big news. Google has released a much anticipated new browser to rival Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox. Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. I'm itching to download this right now and give it a whirl. Download Google Chrome.

DivX DVD Players

2008-09-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

I'm likely dumping my satellite service soon and going to rely on more movies and recorded stuff for our family entertainment. In talking with some coworkers about this, an interesting idea came up to use a DivX DVD Player. This device would allow multiple movies on one blank DVD-R that we could set up with menus and so forth. It can hold a lot more video than a standard format and could be

R.I.P Usenet: 1980-2008 - Columns by PC Magazine

2008-08-05T01:19:00.000-05:00

There are not many ways to say this or words that are fitting. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. R.I.P Usenet: 1980-2008.

Firefox Updated

2008-07-02T00:59:00.000-05:00

I have not yet downloaded and installed version 3 of my favorite browser. This is despite what I'm currently looking at right after I let the automatic update for 2.0.0.15 install. A worldwide community of thousands of experts is working every day to help us identify and defeat the latest threats to your online security. This open process ensures that Firefox is updated with security fixes

The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain

2008-06-17T23:44:00.001-05:00

Tonight I saw an interview on the Stephen Colbert show with Jonathan Zittrain, author of The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It. It was a pretty interesting interview, although I've not heard of him or his book before. He was basically plugging his book, but he discussed Firefox 3 (just released today!), file sharing, zombie networks, and the Internet at large. It was quite interesting

Robots With a Mind of Their Own

2008-06-10T14:43:00.001-05:00

Subtitle: Uh-oh! Listen for the weak assurances at about 1:20. "No, I don't think there's any risk of that!" --Famous last words.

Google Updates It's Icon

2008-06-02T00:04:00.000-05:00

I noticed it recently and have seen a link to in a few places, but apparently Google has updated their favicon. Read more about Google's New Favicon.

Why We Know Less Than Ever About the World (Video)

2008-05-28T00:21:00.002-05:00

I've become semi-obsessed with the TED conference videos lately, and I just have to share them when I see them. Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs. View the video at TED | Talks | Alisa Miller. The first one of these

What You Need to Know About the Switch to DTV

2008-05-21T00:15:00.000-05:00

I've started seeing ads everywhere about the fast-approaching switchover from standard television to digital television. I decided to answer the question for myself as to whether or not I'd need to upgrade my T.V. or get an adapter or something. The site I see mentioned the most in regards to this change is quoted below. By law, full-power television stations nationwide must stop using the

Introduction to the Semantic Web (For Noobs)

2008-05-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

This got posted internally at work, and I found it important enough to cross-post where applicable.

Optimus Maximus Keyboard

2008-04-23T19:29:00.002-05:00

Add this one to your wish list. How about a PC keyboard that costs almost $1600? This is the luxury model of keyboards. This is really extreme. Check out the Optimus Maximus Keyboard. Update: You can get this thing from Amazon.com as well: Optimus Maximus Keyboard.

How to make a Sawed-off USB Key

2008-04-20T20:52:00.000-05:00

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a fun project where you can turn a USB cable into a USB thumb drive. This one is funny but useless, which is my kind of project. Found via iGoogle.

10 Ways the Internet (As We Know It) Will Die - GigaOM

2008-04-07T23:08:00.002-05:00

That's right, the Internet will someday die. All it's going to take are one of 10 or more variably possible catastrophes. We often think of the Internet as a platform for unfettered global communication, where information flows freely, innovators can launch new applications at will, and everyone can have a voice. But it's unlikely that our children's Internet will look anything like what we

The Best Online Tools To Help You Know Everything About Web Sites

2008-03-30T22:32:00.001-05:00

A large part of web development is research. Learning how one website works or how it was developed can help lead the direction of another project. Also, while curiousity is bad for kittens, it's fun for the average web worker. Here is a nice article with a few more links for your bag-of-tricks. How do I contact the owner of a website? How popular is my site on Digg or Delicious? What other

CompUSA is Going Away

2008-02-28T20:21:00.000-06:00

Apparently, CompUSA is going out of business forever. This seems weird to me as I thought they'd always be around. I can't say I was the biggest fan of theirs and I shopped at Best Buy more. Check this out. It's always sad when a store you used to frequent goes out of business, but how about when that store used to mark up its prices like mad? Things become slightly less sad. Nevertheless,

Phishing Attempt - TechLifeBlogged

2008-02-04T01:30:00.000-06:00

The concept of phishing is hard to explain to those that haven't experienced it or seen it up close. It's a very quick innocuous crime with the speed and dexterity of the pick-pocket, but the victim doesn't even know for weeks or months, if they ever realize it at all. Education is the only preventative. Scott does a good job here- These kinds of email are a dime a dozen but I thought it

My Take on the Failure of Open Source

2008-02-04T00:46:00.000-06:00

For Christmas this year, we got a new computer which I've been meaning to post about for awhile. I've used several good references for the software it needed to start being usable, including but not limited to the following: Download.com Freeware-Software.org At one point, my wife asked if "Office" was installed on the computer. Being an anti-Microsoft pinko communist leftist revolutionary

iTunes Issue

2007-11-09T22:57:00.000-06:00

I'm a fan of iTunes and I am a long time Apple fan. I'm having a little issue recently with this little media player and I hope to help others work around it. If anyone knows a way to actually fix the problem, I'd like to know. I've been creating a set of playlists from mp3s (that I totally purchased legally) and these lists have grown longer than would fit on one CD. In case you didn't know

Third-World Wind Power: First Look

2007-10-16T23:55:00.009-05:00

It's a simple idea, but it's possible to get wind energy without turbines. The result is less expensive, easier to install and most importantly it's more efficient. Check out the links and full video at Third-World Wind Power: First Look. Update: The original links and video are down. Brightcove.tv has ceased hosting it publically. I think they were a hosting

Turn off that iPhone movie NOW!

2007-10-16T21:46:00.000-05:00

A ZDNet post linked to ... ..A Consumerist report that an ATA Airlines flight attendant tried to get a passengerto turn off his iPhone because, well, cell phones are not allowed to be used in flight and he was watching a movie on his iPhone. And so there is this debate and uproar that this airline customer should be accosted in this way and asked to turn off his digital device while other

Microsoft TechNet

2007-09-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

Microsoft maintains a portal site full of information for IT professionals. It's a good resource, especially for Windows server and desktop administrators. Want some recent highlights for IT Pros? Try System Center Configuration Manager 2007 System Center Configuration Manager (previously Systems Management Server) offers robust capabilities which allow you to manage servers, clients, and

Live Slick: Top 10 Freeware Software Nobody Knows About - But Should

2007-09-16T01:09:00.000-05:00

Quote: It's always a shame when a great program is not heard about by most people - especially when it's free. Here are the top 10 freeware software that many people still haven't tried, but definitely should. I definitely agree. I love to stumble upon interesting software that I've never used before and that makes a difference in my day. It is especially interesting to use tools that have

Google News - Sci/Tech

2007-09-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

I recommend Google News - Sci/Tech as a home page for those looking for the most recent and most linked-to news stories. You can also add a feed of the most recent relevant news stories to your iGoogle home page or Google Reader.

DISH Network

2007-09-15T21:08:00.000-05:00

We use DISH Network at home. They have a good package and it comes with DVR. Unfortunately, I've had some issues over the last couple of months where movies that we recorded and planned to keep relatively forever (or until I own a DVD-Burner) just disappeared from our list. These were movies that the whole family loved like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Techbargains.com

2007-09-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

Keep your eye on Techbargains for the best technology bargains and coupons. You can also add a feed of the most recent deals to your Google home page.

Devices Enforce Silence of Cellphones, Illegally - New York Times

2007-09-10T00:34:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has an interesting article about cellphone jammers that are used illegally and clandestinely in certain businesses. As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a conversation in many public places, a small but growing band of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent. The

Windows Is Free (A TLUG Article)

2007-08-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

Software piracy of Microsoft Windows operating systems is probably pretty prevalent among geeks and non-geeks. It's illegal and arguably immoral, but many people do it anyhow with various excuses. Dave Gutteridge wrote a detailed and convincing argument that piracy of Windows is not only helping Microsoft's software get adopted, but it is also likely hindering the adoption of Linux and/or other

WorldWideWeb - The Birth?

2007-08-10T00:15:00.000-05:00

There has been a long historical debate on when the Internet first came about. The first thing you have to do to keep it very straight is to define the terms and whether the debate is talking about the first network, the "World Wide Web" or the larger Internet. Since so many people at all levels of expertise use these terms interchangeably --and their organic terms anyhow-- it can get difficult

Blogger Templates: S08

2007-07-25T00:42:00.000-05:00

For fun, I just switched to a different template. To download the same template, go to Blogger Templates: S08. What do I think so far? Pros: It's beautiful. It's kinda reminiscent of flickr's color scheme. It's fluid and modern at the same time. It has a fixed, non-scrolling background. Cons: It's heavily reliant on transparent PNG image files, which do not work so well in Internet Explorer

Cylo 3style 3D Mouse

2007-03-19T01:01:00.000-05:00

All I can really say here? NEAT! This content requires that your browser be Flash compatible. Please download the latest version for Flash from the Macromedia Shockwave Download Center. A demo video showing the main applications of the Cylo 3style mouse. The mouse provides rotational input for scrolling, 3D, media and gaming. The 3style mouse is free moving in 3

Answer From Blogger

2007-03-02T00:27:00.000-06:00

Well, this was not the answer I was hoping for, but it was what I expected. From: support@blogger.com Blogger Help To: arcojedi Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:40:30 -0600 Subject: Re: Permissions Hi there, Thanks for writing in. To move a blog to another account on the new version of Blogger you will need to invite yourself or someone else to join the blog. To do this, go to the Settings |

Plans Awry

2007-02-22T00:27:00.000-06:00

Well the plan since the beginning of the month has been to transfer ownership of this blog to Scott ever since he got in contact with me in his comment. However, that appears to not be as easy as expected nor as easy as the Blogger documentation would lead me to believe. Here are the references I'm talking about and the instructions we are trying to follow. What is a blog administrator? How do

Google Analytics Results

2007-01-31T19:31:00.000-06:00

I've got an update about this site. First off, I found a site simply by doing a Google search for 'Tech Life Blogged' and I discovered a site that was most likely the original prior to posting the blog over FTP. Please visit the actual and most likely original TechLifeBlogged. Secondly, the preliminary Google Analytics results have shown that only ONE other person besides me visited this site

Google Pagerank

2007-01-30T17:35:00.000-06:00

As of today, the pagerank on this site as measured in both Firefox and IE is currently 4. When I signed up for the blog, it registered as a 5 but has dipped a little. I've mentioned Google PR on my blog multiple times. Google Hiccup Gone For Now Let's Do the Google Shuffle Again Alexa Google Pagerank Dip Google Pagerank Shuffle Holy Pagerank Three Batman Google Pagerank Achieved But having a

Tech Life Blogged

2007-01-28T23:27:00.000-06:00

Okay, what has just happened tonight was that I was browsing around and found a link to a blogspot site that was giving 404 page not found errors. I was sad cause the content I wanted was on it. I checked the root of the blog but was still getting 404 error. Curious, I decided to try signing up for this subdomain and assumed it wouldn't work. Well, it did and I'm faced with a quandary. I now

Add Your Agenda to Your Gmail

2006-04-03T18:50:00.000-05:00

Here is another back-dated post to direct folks to the right spot. Stopdesign.com has a good article on using Google Calendar, and it links here referencing... Add agenda to Gmail This one is a little more involved, but useful if you’re primarily a Gmail user and don't keep Calendar running all the time. [read more] The content that is being referenced here is available on TLW - Add Your Agenda

Blog Site Redesign

2005-10-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

This is another post-dated blog to catch the incoming link from a blog comment that Scott posted a long time ago. My motive is to prevent the 404 error from displaying and get folks to the new location of the page on Tech.Life.Blogged.. I've just uploaded some template changes to my blog. The changes are mostly to the sidebar and a new "Save to del.icio.us" link for each article. Here are the

How I Create Thos Del.icio.us Link Posts

2005-10-16T00:58:00.000-05:00

Here is another back-dated post to direct folks to the right spot. This was the original post that started it all for me back in February. Read more about my experience on my blog about TechLifeBlogged. If you are looking for the post that was originally here written by Scott, see below. How I Create those Del.icio.us link posts Down yonder in one of the del.icio.us link posts Randy asked

Tools for Viewing OPML in Your Browser

2005-09-08T00:24:00.000-05:00

I have created this post because of the backlink from OPML - An Awesome Experiment. When Scott Kingery ran this blog URL, there was a post that was referenced from there. There's been a LOT of buzz lately about OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language). TechCrunch did their awesome experiment using Dave Winer's OPML editor and that has fanned the flames as