Archive for December, 2007
Rip And Convert YouTube Videos
Posted by Joe on December 25, 2007 · Comments Off
YouTube Downloader is a free program that will not only download a video from YouTube and other sites, but will also convert the video from flash format (FLV) to another video format of your choice. It will even strip just the audio off, making a good quality MP3 file from a music video (for example).
This program is awesome. Just keep in mind that downloading a video and converting it to another format are two separate steps.
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Slackers Not Scalpers
Posted by Joe on December 23, 2007 · Comments Off
Slackers, a local retailer of music, movies and video games is being called out for selling their allotment of Nintendo Wii’s on eBay for $399. On their web site, the owner does a great job of defending the practice, pointing out that they don’t get an “allotment” from Nintendo — they buy the units from distributors that are charging full retail price ($249). Only big resellers get “allotments” directly from Nintendo. Slackers has only sold a handful on eBay, making only about $75 profit on each.
We’ve bought new and used games and consoles from [...]
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Kickin Office 2007 Old School
Posted by Joe on December 17, 2007 · Comments Off
Office 2007 is great, but the new menu-free tabbed interface means a pretty steep learning curve. Classic Menu for Office 2007 from Addintools puts the familiar menus back in place, on a “Menus” tab (see picture). The price is a little steep, at $29.95, but there’s a free trial. Office for Windows was introduced — with menus — in 1990. If you’ve been using MS Office for up to 17 years, this product might ease the transition. It’s really an option Microsoft should have included.
If you haven’t upgraded to Office 2007 yet (and don’t want [...]
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When Only The Best Will Do
Posted by Joe on December 16, 2007 · Comments Off
Upgrading to Microsoft’s best operating system — from Vista.
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Old PS2 Rises From Dead
Posted by Joe on December 16, 2007 · Comments Off
Yesterday I used this guide on Ars Technica to fix a 1st generation PlayStation 2 my sister gave me. It’s been tested with a PS2 game (Jak 3), several PS1 games and a few DVDs. It’s a nice addition to the GameCube and xBox we’ve had for years (no need to return it to my sister, she bought a replacement over a year ago). Maybe I’ll get Guitar Hero.
The lesson — don’t throw away that old piece of hardware without doing a little research on the web, especially if you like to tinker.
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A Seriously West Coast Christmas
Posted by Joe on December 15, 2007 · Comments Off
The Vancouver Sun is giving away another seriously cool MP3 album: Seriously Westcoast Vol. 2. This time it’s holiday music. Track list:
- Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- The Weepies – All That I Want
- Sarah McLachlan – Silent Night
- Matt Wertz – What Child Is This
- Lily Frost – Skating On The River
- Oh Susanna – Go Tell It On The Mountain
- Medieval Baebes – The Holly & The Ivy
- The Be Good Tanyas – Rudy
- Barenaked Ladies – Elf’s Lament
- Melissa McClelland – O-Holy Night
- [...]
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Australian Ham In The News
Posted by Joe on December 13, 2007 · Comments Off
I happened across two odd stories about Ham today — both from Australia.
First, after a little unwanted publicity, a big supermarket chain has stopped selling an “on the bone” ham that consisted of Canadian pig meat wrapped around an Australian pig bone. The supplier was apparently exploiting a loophole in Australia’s ban on importing certain meats on the bone.
In an unrelated matter, a $5,000 reward is being offered for help in catching thieves who made off with “16 tonnes of stolen Christmas ham and bacon”. Adding insult to injury, the thieves left behind [...]
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France Says No Free Shipping
Posted by Joe on December 13, 2007 · Comments Off
Amazon can’t offer free shipping in France anymore. The decision by France’s courts will prop up small, inefficient booksellers who are unable or unwilling to compete with Amazon — at the expense of book buyers.
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Not All Gadgets Are Good
Posted by Joe on December 13, 2007 · Comments Off
The ten worst gadgets of 2007, from Popular Mechanics. Yes, my beloved Zune makes the list. The heart swells with pride!
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Book Fetishists At The New Republic
Posted by Joe on December 13, 2007 · Comments Off
From The New Republic editors, a bitter attack on the ebook in general, the Kindle reader, and some poor Newsweek reporter. This is my favorite bit:
The breathless, Bezos-loving man from Newsweek says that he is reading Boswell’s Life of Johnson on his iPhone. No, he isn’t. All reading is not the same.
Sorry, but that’s just wrong. Just ask the blind person who enjoys literature through Braille and audio books. Books are simply containers used for distributing information. Whatever attachment fetishists and collectors have to the printed and bound pages is completely separate [...]
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Free Music
Posted by Joe on December 12, 2007 · Comments Off
Download some free country tracks from People: New Country Stars
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Foghat Facts
Posted by Joe on December 12, 2007 · Comments Off
Wikipedia is so cute. I just looked up the band Foghat (yeah, I have a lot of free time), and the first paragraph reveals this useful tidbit:
They all take cocaine and cannabis and the drummer takes heroine
Good to know. At least Wikipedia has some entertainment value, even if it’s somewhat lacking in reliability.
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MT Goes OS With GPL
Posted by Joe on December 12, 2007 · Comments Off
As of today, the Movable Type blogging platform is available in an open source version with a GPL license. There isn’t a stable release of Movable Type Open Source just yet, but testing builds are available, as is a stable release of the non-GPL version (4.01 — free for personal use).
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Dispatch From The Deep Freeze
Posted by Joe on December 11, 2007 · Comments Off
With many people still without power here in the midwest, I’m feeling pretty lucky. I’ll be cleaning things up for some time, but I got off lightly compared to some of my neighbors.
Ice covered tree branches took out my barbecue grill (good excuse to buy a new one), damaged my deck slightly, smashed some Christmas yard decorations, damaged a power line coming into my house (which the amazing electric company crews already fixed), and took out a section of fence around my back yard. My little electric chainsaw will be getting a workout once things thaw a bit.
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Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day
Posted by Joe on December 8, 2007 · Comments Off
Some suggestions:
- Stand in front of a statue (any statue, really), fall to your knees, and yell “NOOOOOOOOO”
- Show extreme ignorance in operating regular technology. Pay phones should be a complete mystery (try placing the receiver in odd places).
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Kiddie Porn Is Not Cool
Posted by Joe on December 7, 2007 · Comments Off
Nate Anderson thinks people should calm down:
ISPs could face tougher penalties for failing to report child pornography under a bill passed yesterday by the House, but don’t start searching the skies for the black helicopters yet: the bill doesn’t require any active surveillance of user behavior, and it won’t affect your local coffee shop’s WiFi, despite what you may have read.
My take: If you find out someone is using your network to sexually exploit children, you should probably report it to the proper authorities — whether or not this law passes.
Update: George [...]
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Oldest ‘America’ Map Goes On Display
Posted by Joe on December 3, 2007 · Comments Off
An old map with a few secrets goes on display:
The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.
Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?
The Library of Congress site has more on the map.
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DRM — A Slow Death
Posted by Joe on December 3, 2007 · Comments Off
“Wal-Mart Joins Amazon to Push Labels to Ditch DRM Once and For All”
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LiveJournal Bought By Russians
Posted by Joe on December 3, 2007 · Comments Off
Six Apart has sold their blog hosting platform, “LiveJournal”, to some Russian company:
One-year-old Russian online media company SUP on Monday announced that it has acquired LiveJournal — a hosted blogging service that counts millions of users in the U.S. and around the world.
SUP bought the service from Six Apart, a San Francisco-based startup that began offering LiveJournal in 2005 after acquiring its developer, Danga Interactive.
On the web: LiveJournal
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Ahoy, Landlubbers
Posted by Joe on December 1, 2007 · Comments Off
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean online rpg is now open to the public. It’s free to play, but there’s a $5 monthly membership that opens up more weapons, content, and features. The free version is very playable, and I’m sure younger gamers and fans of the franchise will really enjoy it.
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Christmas Tech For Kids
Posted by Joe on December 1, 2007 · Comments Off
Christmas is coming! My daughter wants the RCA EZ201 Small Wonder digital camcorder, available for under $100 from Amazon. It’s small enough for a purse or pocket, takes up to 60 minutes of decent quality video (or more if you expand the memory with an SD card), and seems to be the main competitor of the popular Flip Ultra Camcorder (which costs a little more and doesn’t have an SD slot).
She also wants “lots of Webkinz”. Locally they’re around $14 each plus tax. To save a bit of money, I ordered some from Pamela’s Boutique. Webkinz are just $9.99 each, [...]
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