Friday, November 27, 2009

Google Wave

I've several invitations available for Google Wave. If you're interested, give me a call/email. I think it'd be a good thing to use to solve computer problems via a group discussion.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Have a Good Thanksgiving

I've finished the dressing (aka, stuffing) and it's ready for the oven. Didn't follow a recipe - you can't make a bad dressing, can you?

Thanksgiving Day Apps

Lifehacker just published the 61 free apps their thankful for --

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Chrome OS

Have you heard of it? Maybe the next big thing in computers - a browser that is the OS. Take a look at this video --



Monday, November 16, 2009

First Discussion Session

Only one person attended my first discussion session of the year. So, it was pretty informal.

Let's talk about Google products next Monday. Specifically, Google Voice.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Our New Summer Job

Donna and I have decided to spend the Summer in Gold Canyon and provide caretaker services to some residents in the Park. Our current caretaker, Bob Brook, is selling his Park Model and moving to a nearby development. So, instead of setting up a mail service, hurriedly travelling back and forth to the midwest, AND spending 4-5 straight months in our small RV, we'll spend most of our time in Gold Canyon. I know it will be hot, but our goal to rise early, take an hour bike ride during which we check the status of our client's homes, perform necessary caretaker services, swim a little, and get ourselves in shape. We hope to take short rv trips to nearby higher altitude sites, and visit family and friends.

We're looking forward to this.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A New Tivo Owner

Gail just ordered a Tivo! Glad to see another geek in the neighborhood.

Enjoy that new toy, Gail.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Home

This is not political, nor is it Geek-related, but I just watched a movie that all should see --


It's about our planet (Home) and what the future holds. All your friends and all of your family should watch it.

Be concerned.


Home

I just watched a profound movie - "Home". The story of our planet.


Please watch it. Have all your friends watch it. Have your family watch it.

I believe it and I'm concerned.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Downloads

If you're into trying new web sites and new software, give this a shot -


I haven't tried it much yet, but it looks like a wealth of possibilities.

Windows 7

Oh, did I say that I've installed Win7 on three computers and enjoy it very much?

I know that Vista got a lot of bad press, and many people don't like it, but after the first few months of it's release, I found it to be a very good OS. Win7 is a little better, but it's received good press, so folk think it's much better. It does seem to load and shutdown a little faster, and it does have some better features, so it must be better.

Anyway, I've used it for several months, and when I see XP, I'm glad I updated. XP seems so old, now. If you have the opportunity to upgrade to Win7 - do it!

Multimedia Computer

I've had Mediacom for a few days, and the speed seems consistent at about 9mbps. This is somewhat slower than the advertised rate, but I'll give them a few weeks before I question it.

Ok, back to the multimedia computer, the internet, and my TV.

I'm currently using an HP laptop with an AMD Turion Dual Core ZM 82 and 3 GB of memory. This pc is connected to my TV via an RGB cable and an audio cable from the headphone jack. The TV quality is very good. And, any audio that supplies 5.1 surround sound is adequately reproduced by my somewhat inexpensive amplifier. This system setup works quite well in my small space. I can get music from a variety of free providers (e.g., Pandora, Last.fm), but the Genius feature of iTunes does a very good job of generating a mix of music from my collection.

The pc is a little noisy with the cooling fan running most of the time (I do have it set on high performance), and the heat generated is significant. So far, I've not had any heat related problems, however.

As long as Donna does not want to use the TV for "tv", I'm able to do all my internet stuff using the TV. I'm currently using media programs such as Hulu, Boxee, ESPN360.com, Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. - all on the PC. And, with the higher speed Mediacom internet, most things load and run quite fast. I would like to use a more suitable PC, however. Not sure why, but using the laptop seems to be a waste.

I get several RSS feeds that give the latest news on gadgets and the latest media toys. It appears that Dell will have an Inspiron 400 in a couple of weeks that would be very nice as a media computer and a company called AsRock has a computer that is equally nice - it has a Blue-Ray player. Take a look at this video -


If anyone in the Park would like to pursue this sort of multimedia stuff, please let me know - I'd be happy to show you my system setup and talk about options.

Winos Revisited

We bought the wine yesterday. Based on some of the prices - there is some good stuff in the mix. If you didn't get tickets, I'm sorry you missed out on this one.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Winos

The winos have returned! It looks like we'll have around 90 people at next Tuesday's tasting.

And we're only tasting Rieslings and Pinot Noirs.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

ESPN360

For those of you on Mediacom, and haven't been told, you now have access to www.espn360.com.

Now you can see many of the sporting events (like college football) that you haven't been able to see on TV. Pretty neat. And, if you can connect your computer to your TV, even neater.

Yep!

Speeds are still there. Yeah!!!

Results

Mediacom still works well this morning. I'm getting speeds that average 8.5 Mbps. That's about 4x faster than the Alltel Broadband Card could do. So, I'm happy.

I think that most residents that have asked for the service, are finally getting it. Maybe not on the day promised, but it is happening. I think all will be satisfied; we're now experiencing what most of the real world experiences. AND, we are living in a Resort!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Speed!

After many phone calls - it looks like I'm finally getting some speed. Almost 10mbps at this time. Hope tomorrow morning is just as good!

Mediacom 7

OMG! I'm getting almost 10mbps right now. Speed is fluctuating, but maybe it's finally gonna happen!!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Mediacom 6

Finally called Mediacom Tech Support. Said my trouble report had not been entered and that the installer would not be back. They apologized and reentered the trouble ticket. Said it might be completed later this evening and that I should call back then. They "looked at" my modem and said everything seemed ok with it.

Guess most things are good - except I don't have internet.

Mediacom 5

A Mediacom installer showed up today around 11am. He asked what he could do and I said "internet" and "cable cards for the TIVO". He admitted he hadn't installed cable cards in a TIVO before, so said he'd do that one first because it'd probably take more time than the internet install.

It didn't take long to insert the card and after a few minutes, Tivo recognized the card. A couple of phone calls later, Mediacom's network had communicated with the card. After a rescan of the channels, I was good to go.

The internet, as it turns out, is evidently much more complicated. The installer said they have been having problems with the modems recognizing the network (or is it the network having trouble recognizing the modem?). Once again a couple of calls and then he left a little over two hours ago, telling me it takes about on hour for the connection to take place. He hasn't returned and the modem is setting here with solid green lights - I don't think any communications is taking place.

I did a quick bike ride around the park - didn't see my guy, but saw several other Mediacom trucks.

Again, I wait.