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.

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 --

http://lifehacker.com/5412886/61-free-apps-were-most-thankful-for

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 --

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/video-chrome-os-for-dummies/

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.

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.

A New Tivo Owner

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

Enjoy that new toy, Gail.

Home

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

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

I believe it and I'm concerned.

Downloads

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

http://www.dailybits.com/100-sites-to-download-all-sorts-of-things/

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 -

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/07/asrock-ion-330ht-bd-nettop-gets-unboxed-and-cracked-open-on-vide/

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.