Tupelo Geek
Technology, Religion, and Politics all in one place.
Balanced Life Weekly #6
Mar 10th
Greetings all! I am happy to report that I am getting back on the exercise front.
Healthy
I’ve been out on 2 walks this week and am using my RunKeeper iPhone app to keep track of my progress. Interesting enough I make better progress when I’m NOT walking the dogs. I figured when I’m walking one of them, they might keep me on the go but they like to stop and sniff things and well you can guess what they do next and being a responsible citizen, lets just say I bring plastic bags with me.
The down side is I am battling a cold so I haven’t been walking the last 2 nights but I hope to get back on track tomorrow night. I did see the doctor yesterday and got a shot and some antibiotics so hopefully I can chase this cold away quickly.
Wealthy & Wise
I’ve spent the last week thinking of what I would like in an ideal job. So I have put together a list:
Things I want in my next job.
Weekends off!
Positive atmosphere and in a thriving company
Upward mobility
A job where I’m not saying “oh man it’s Monday”
A place that is exciting to be at and is innovative
That will do it for this weeks BLW, see you all next week!
Tuesday Tech Talk #36
Mar 9th
Hello folks and welcome to Triple T #36. Quite a few news items I want to share with you this week so let’s dive right in!
iPad available April 3rd
Get that work overtime in folks to build that iPad fund! It is coming out on April 3rd and pre-orders start on Friday! If you are looking to get an iPad, what features are you looking forward to? I like the eBook reader function of it and how easy it is to access the eBook store from the library. But I also like the ability that iWork will have apps for it via Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. If your not interested in it but would like to see some features added to it and then may get it, what features would those be?
Google Docs for blog posting
So did you know you can use Google Docs to compose and publish to your WordPress based blog? It takes some tweaking but it can be done. The only drawback is the ability to set categories and tags from within Google Docs, for that you will have to do within WordPress. So I guess this means I have a suggestion for Google now. In the meantime I will continue to use MacJournal to write my blog posts.
WordPress blogs get near real-time updates
Speaking of WordPress, they just announced support for PubSubHubbub (PuSH). What does that mean in non-geek terms you may ask? Simply put it now alerts RSS feeds faster meaning they will show up in say Google Reader much faster than before.
Time Warner Cable offering its tubes to AT&T and Verizon
Interesting little article here on TWC teaming up with the telecoms for broadband support.
Apple purging the app store
I’m sure you have heard on how Apple is cutting down on certain questionable apps in the app store. Personally I don’t have a problem with this. A lot of these apps are simply glorified web apps.
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch apps
Shazam and Shazam Encore – Ok this review is for my good friend Mary from Minnesota who asked me about it. Course if you just want to know what that current song playing at the coffee shop is, then the free version of Shazam will do you just fine. But if you want it to be a little more social network friendly then there is the $4.99 version of Shazam Encore (they also offer a (RED) version of the app as well. With that version you can share your tagged results and it integrates with your Last.fm or Pandora apps too when selecting on a tag for the song.
Trip Journal – If you are a world traveler then this app you will love. It allows you to tag locations with photos and notes. They just came out with version 4.0 and for a limited time it is 99 cents instead of the standard $2.99 price.
Buzzie – If you are really getting into Google Buzz then you will be happy to know there is an app for it now at a modest $1.99. It really is a nice interface and I like it better than the desktop version of Buzz actually.
Google Voice – Ok so technically a web app but a darn good one. Google found a way to circumvent the Apple/AT&T gate keeper (yet Skype has an app…figure that one out for me). Basically you can use it to initiate phone calls like you would on the desktop version. Did I mention I no longer have a long distance plan with AT&T on our landline?
That is going to do it for this weeks edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Feel free to leave comments below or if you want to send some audio feedback, click on the Call Me button to the right (if you are reading this on my website.) and it will call you back to connect you to my voicemail. Have a great week!
Balanced Life Weekly #5
Mar 3rd
Hey everybody, sorry for the much delayed BLW. This week I want to talk about careers.
Career
I have come to the conclusion that I don’t enjoy my job much. Granted I am thankful for the job but this is not a career job. So with that in mind I have started to read 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. What is funny is we have had this book on our bookshelf for a long time and I originally got it for Kristen when she was thinking about going into private practice with Speech Therapy or not. Now I find myself reading the book I bought for her. From the introduction of the book, a light bulb went off. I have allowed myself to not try bolder things because of a fear of failure. Well the choices I did make i.e. taking jobs I’m not satisfied with well as Dr. Phil would say, “how’s that working out for you?” I’m ready to try some new bold things without fear of failure because the alternative quite frankly sucks!
PABL
I’ve also got quite a bit of motivation from Cliff Ravenscraft and his podcast “Pursuing A Balanced Life” which this post title is inspired from. I also realized that if Cliff can get out and walk the snowy streets of Kentucky, then I have no excuse for walking the clear roads of Mississippi so I am going to do a better job at that as well. So thank you Cliff for giving me a kick in the butt I need to get moving.
That is going to do it for this week. Try to get back on schedule and have another BLW out for next week. If you want to give me some feedback, drop me a comment below or click on the Call Me button to the right and you can leave me some audio feedback.
Using Google Voice
Mar 2nd
This past weekend I decided to shake the dust off Google Voice. I had signed up for an account with them months ago and got an invite but outside of setting up a number, never really did anything with it. All that has changed now. After looking it over and seeing what it can do, I put it to use. I told Kristen about it and we used it to call her sister in the southern half of the state so basically a long distance call. What happens is you insert the number you wish to dial and then select the phone you wish to talk on that you setup on Google Voice. Like so.
At this point you will receive a phone call on that phone, you answer the phone and it will then dial the number you selected. At this point you don’t have to do anything more with the Google Voice webpage. At the end of the call just end the call as you normally would. So why go about this route? Because since your Google number calls you and connects, you are not charged by your phone company for the call. Guess what else, you can call Canada and not be charged for a call either. How about them apples?
Google Voice is by invite only right now but when it goes public, look out AT&T, FIOS, Verizon, etc. Your long distance plans are toast!
Tuesday Tech Talk #35
Mar 2nd
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Triple T. Got a couple of software reviews for you this week among other things so lets get right into it.
Clipstart
I heard about Clipstart through MacBreak daily video-cast, basically it’s a video version of iPhoto. Makes it real easy to tag and title your videos just like in iPhoto with photos. It’s worth checking out. I also came across a bunch of duplicate videos when it scanned my MacBook for them so as a result I freed up some hard drive space.
Quicken Essentials for Mac
So as I mentioned last week I am using as of last Thursday, the new Quicken Essentials for Mac and although I was quite cynical about Intuit with regard to it’s Mac support (or lack there-of), I have to admit this is quite a step up for the program. Of course if you want to do online bill pay you won’t be able to do so with QEM but I do that through my bank anyway so I’m not missing anything there. If you are a user of Mint.com then the interface is going to feel very familiar to you. It has the ability to tag the items in your register with multiple items for example, if you go to a coffee shop you can tag “coffee” or “latte” and you can also tag “Macchiato” as well. I also noticed it has a lot more banks and credit card companies it offers for online connectivity compared to Quicken 2007. They have rebuilt this thing from the ground up and it runs faster. Now one thing to note here, if you used the Quicken widget on dashboard from the 2007 version, not going to work here but I don’t know how many folks still use the dashboard apps. That being said I think it is worth the $69. Also you can find a review from TUAW on it as well.
Google Chrome
Well I finally got tired of Firefox running dog slow so I switched over to Google Chrome and I must say I am impressed with how much faster it is. Just as fast as Safari and it supports extensions like Firefox does but without the hanging and spinning beach ball. Also it has some fancy extensions like Google Voice, Wikipedia, Facebook (update your status and check status updates right from the toolbar), and a Weather Channel showing the weather in your town with temperature. Below is a screenshot of the extensions on mine.
Tune Up for iTunes
Finally yet another program I found out through MacBreak video-cast is Tune Up for iTunes. This plug-in program will clean up your music library say for example you have a CD imported but it is only showing track 1, 2 ,3, etc it will check the song with a database and fill in the information for the song and even the album artwork. It’s pretty snazzy and worth checking out. Will also clean up missepellings of artists in your library for example “Mannheim Steamroller” vs ”Manheim Streamroller”, yes I did that but it corrected it.
Sorry no time for iPhone and iPod touch app reviews this week but hope to have some for next week. See you all next week!
Most clueless caller to a radio show ever!
Feb 28th
Nope, it’s not even political either. Please don’t be this person! Buy your own broadband and for goodness sakes lock down your WiFi network so morons like Jennifer don’t steal your broadband!
Tuesday Tech Talk #34
Feb 23rd
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Several things to cover this week so lets get right into it.
That is the buzz about Google Buzz
Interesting read here on all things Google Buzz by the NY Times Gadgetwise blog. If you haven’t got into Google Buzz or are a newcomer to it, then this will explain a lot of what it can do. As you may have ready previously here, they are having issues with privacy control they are trying to resolve.
Quicken Essentials for Mac
When Intuit purchased Mint.com, they also brought aboard it’s founder Aaron Patzer who is directly overseeing Intuit’s latest Mac offering Quicken Essentials for Mac which comes out on Thursday. Our friends over at TUAW had a Q&A with Aaron and what to expect in Quicken Essentials for Mac. After reading this article I am not as cynical on Quicken as I was. Check it out, it’s a great read. I have gone ahead and pre-ordered a copy.
Best Buy expecting new Apple products in March?
More speculation on Apple hardware updates coming. It is around this time they usually revise the laptop hardware.
iPad pre-orders this week?
AppAdvice claims that pre-orders for the iPad will begin on Thursday. We shall see.
U-Socket
Alex Lindsay of Pixel Corps and MacBreak videocast, featured this product last week. It’s a standard wall outlet with one exception, it provides 2 USB ports on the sides.
On that note, that is going to do it for another edition of Triple T. See you all next week!
Lent 2010
Feb 17th
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season. Catholics like myself and other Christian faiths will spend the day fasting and abstaining from meat. Later tonight, I will be attending the Ash Wednesday Mass and having a mark of the cross made on my forehead with ashes.
But Ash Wednesday is not just about that, the Lenten season calls us into renewal with our faith. I was listening to Gus Lloyd on The Catholic Channel on SiriusXM and he uses the term Catholic bootcamp, I like that so I’ll use it. It’s a time to take stock of our lives and where we are at, not only for Catholics but for Christians in general.
As part of Lent it is a tradition to give up something(s) we like. For me that is games on Facebook, so no FarmVille, CafeWorld, Mafia Wars, Special Forces, or PetVille until Easter. What will I do with all that extra time? I have a book by Dr. Scott Hahn, Signs of Life. It’s a book about 40 Catholic customs and their Biblical roots. Get it? 40 days…40 Catholic customs for each day. I will also re-engage my prayer life which I have not done a great job in. Also will spend more time listening to Catholic podcasts and less on tech ones, unless it’s Father Roderick in which case he covers both so I’m in luck there. So happy Lent everybody!
Tuesday Tech Talk #33
Feb 16th
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Triple T. Let’s see what is happening this week.
Google Buzz
Google unveiled their social networking feature called Buzz. Basically it works from within Gmail and pulls your contacts as users to add…and there in lies the problem of security concerns which forced them to quickly back pedal on features. My early reaction to it is this, uh this looks like FriendFeed! I mean this is hardly a Facebook killer and no one is going to abandon Facebook for Buzz. Clearly this is a beta network and far from ready for prime time. But I do like how I get alerts from within Gmail. Let’s see if they can get the bugs worked out.
More notes about the iPad
Apple is said to be using FairPlay DRM on the eBooks for the iPad. Also it looks as if AT&T may carry the iPad WiFi+3G model in its stores. Also Unplggd has a story on cases for the iPad. Hat tip to Evan Agee for the link.
USB 3.0
The first USB 3.0 hub is hitting the market. More info about USB 3.0 can be found here. Yes the hub is backwards compatible to both USB 1.1 and 2.0.
iMac catches fire, still works
WOW! What a story here. The iMac was still functional after a fire.
The Sausage Stylus
Interesting article here, my friend Jeremy Holley mentioned this to me in passing when we were discussing stylus for an iPad.
DirecTV taking Dish to court
DirecTV is taking Dish Network to court accusing them of false advertising in the wake of their “man on the street” interview ad. This ought to be good!
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch apps
NBC Olympics - If you are a follower of the Olympic games then you will like this app. Keeps you posted on the medal count and the schedule of events for the day.
Well that is going to do it for this weeks Triple T. See you all next week!
Tuesday Tech Talk #32
Feb 9th
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Triple T. Now that I have what I wanted to say about the iPad out of my system for a while, lets see what else is happening.
New Google social product announcement
I will have some follow up on the announcement by Google at 10am tomorrow (no it doesn’t say which time zone 10am refers to so I will assume it is ET).
New MacBook Pro’s coming soon?
Per a photo of a Best Buy internal ordering system. Showing current MBP status as deleted meaning no new orders can be submitted for that particular model. Using MacTracker January-February are generally the time a refresh line is announced so stay tuned for new faster MacBook Pro’s and hopefully a new MacBook as well.
1080p and 5.1 surround sound coming to Netflix Watch Instantly
Interesting tidbit here from Engadget about Netflix adding 1080p and 5.1 to their watch instantly service later this year. No date as of yet so stay tuned.
HDMI 1.4’s 3D spec publicly released
We might be a step closer to sitting around our TV’s wearing 3D shades in our living rooms and it looks like no format war either since it’s an open standard.
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch apps
This week I thought I would focus on news specific apps.
The Wall Street Journal – Those who like to follow the latest in business news will like this handy app. It’s free and it will give you access to the free content on their site and if your an online subscriber you can enter your login info on the app to access paid content as well.
Drudge Report Classic – This free app gives you mobile access to the latest news on the Drudge Report.
ABC 7 - If your an Angelino or a former one like I am but still like to see the latest news in SoCal, then KABC 7 has their own app with the latest local news, weather, and traffic conditions. It also has video of news reports. If your not a ABC 7 fan then KCBS and KCAL also have their own app with similar features.
Well that will do it for this weeks edition of Triple T. See you all next week!
Why I reject a party label
Feb 5th
Over the course of the last 10 years or so, we have had Presidents from both major parties in office. The result has been disastrous spending. We are now asking ourselves, “Will our children be better off than we are?”. For a long time the answer was yes but now I can’t say with certainty if they will or not. We have real debt that is more than what the government projected. What kind of accounts are working in DC? If the government were a person or family, people would be coming after our stuff for not paying our bills. The difference between Bush and Obama is not so big, it was basically who wanted to go down the road of Socialism faster. I will grant you Obama is going about 20-25 MPH faster than Bush was but the result is were still heading in the same direction under both. Don’t believe me? Read the chart.
Scary right? For this reason I cast my lot with the Tea Party movement which is not a political party mind you but a voice for returning a government to it’s founding principles. In closing, I would like to share a quote with you all.
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society. – Machiavelli
Balanced Life Weekly #4
Feb 3rd
Hey all, skipped a week last week due to the iPad announcement. This week is a get back on track post. I’m going to depart from the Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise to focus on one thing, health!
Weight gain setback
I recently went to the doctor as a result of a cold. Really it was just to get a note for work. As part of the visit I get weighed in. I am disappointed to say I have slacked off in this area and have gained some weight back. So my focus is to get more exercise in. Course when it is cold outside you really don’t want to take the dogs out for a walk. So I’m going to look at joining my wife’s gym which is right next to my work and is a 24 hour place which will make it nice when I get off of work. So I’m looking to drop the pounds gained back and then lose more I hadn’t lost before. 200 lbs. is about ideal for me I think which means I have about 50 to lose. Course the hard part is once I get there, how to maintain it. So that is the goal going forward.
Tuesday Tech Talk #31
Feb 2nd
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. We are 6 days removed from the iPad announcement so this will be like a post game wrap up type post.
More Thoughts on iPad
The more I see what this device can do, the more I want one. Quite simply it’s form factor and long battery life, makes it easier to use at a coffee shop. How many times do you walk into a coffee shop and all the available outlets are taken to plug in your laptop? With the iPad and a blogging app (I presume MacJournal will be making one for it.), you can just sit around anywhere and just type away on a very light device.
Another advantage of it is if I find something I want to show someone that is in another room, I don’t have to pick up the whole laptop and carry it with me to where they are. The 9.7“ screen makes it nice to share photos with someone among other things. If I were to get one I would go for the 16GB model. It is not something I am going to throw my entire music collection on. It’s nice that you can play music on it, but I don’t view it as an iPod or iPhone in that regard. What I would have on it is my photo library, eBooks, and documents using iWork.
iPad in the Enterprise
As I kind of speculated last week, there are some possibilities for using the iPad in the Enterprise. I look forward to seeing how creative companies get in utilizing it in business.
Docs, Books, and Music
Jobs stated that Pages will open Word docs, have book prices the same as Kindle, and have 6 days of continuous music play back. Interesting tidbit, Amazon recently gave in to Macmillan publishers on pricing. So the iPad is already showing signs of being a game changer in the eBook market. I guess this is Apple’s payback to Amazon when Amazon entered the digital music market with competitive pricing. Now if Apple can get McGraw Hill on board for text books and iPad sales in the education area would skyrocket!
Southwest Airlines adding WiFi to entire fleet
With the help of a small company known as Row 44, SWA will be adding WiFi to it’s entire fleet by 2012. Southwest btw is my favorite airline and yes, I will pay to use WiFi because I just can’t sit still for 2-4 hours and not do anything and neither can you I bet?
Jobs calls out Google and Adobe
Love how Steve Jobs took the bull by the horns here. He is right, Flash is dead and HTML5 is the future. I’m sure Scott Bilik may have something to add about this, uh oh did I just call out Scott? ?
Well that is all for this week. I promise to have some app reviews for next week’s edition of Triple T. Bye for now!
iPad vs Kindle vs Nook
Jan 27th
Was reading the NY Times Technology section and read a point-counterpoint on why the iPad will be a Kindle Killer and why the Kindle will be just fine. I think they are both great products and will peacefully co-exist.
If anything this is bad for the Nook, the Nook has an easy access book store with a color display of the store, but so does the new iBooks store and the iBooks store looks a lot more easier to browse. Point Apple. Now like the Kindle, the Nook uses E ink for page display making it easier on the eyes for long term reading. The iPad uses an LED-backlight which is more for short term reading and not as easy on the eyes. Point Nook & Kindle.
But the Nook is priced at $259 same as the Kindle so question becomes who has the bigger store library? Point Kindle. For folks that like the color display and are more short term at a time readers (this would be me) but can then also use the Kindle app on the iPad to access the Amazon library and want a little more out of their e-reader Point iPad and Kindle per the Kindle app.
So bottom line is Kindle can survive in the iPad ecosystem, but I don’t think the Nook can. Amazon will sell a ton of e-books to folks with an iPad with a far superior and well established library.
Apple iPad Event Live Update
Jan 27th
This was an ongoing blog post as the event unfolded. At the end of it you will find my analysis of the iPad.
iPad
.5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds — 9.7 inch IPS display
The 1GHz Apple A4 chip
10 hour battery life, over a month of standby
16, 32, 64GB flash storage
802.11n Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
Speaker, Microphone, 30 pin connector
Support current iPhone/iPod touch apps
?
iBooks app for e-book collection on iPad
Kindle you officially have something to worry about now!
iWork for iPad
?
Keynote
Pages
?
Numbers
?
Pages, Keynote, Numbers $9.99 each for iPad
iTunes syncs iPad with computer like iPhone, iPod
$14.99 250MB a month or Unlimited data $29.99 with AT&T, NO CONTRACT pay as you go.
iPad starting at $499!!
WiFi or 3G model so you don’t have to get a data plan to use it.
Syncs with physical keyboard
?
Barnes & Noble Nook is dead when this thing hits the market! Kindle has a challenge on it’s hands.
?
Thoughts:
I really like how Apple has positioned this device between the iPhone and the MacBook. Starting it out at $499 for a 16GB model with no data plan required for it is smart! This model will be the most popular I think for the person that just wants to browse the web at a coffee shop, in a recliner or laying up in bed. It also allows you to put quite a bunch of e-Books on it too. Also with a 10 hour battery life, this makes for a long airplane flight friendly device for book reading or music and movie watching and with more airlines offering WiFi, even web browsing. This is also a great device if you want to show your spouse something online without having to drag your laptop over to where they are. It’s also a great gift for a spouse who does a lot of light email and web browsing but doesn’t want to invest in a $1000 laptop and having to worry about plugging it in and finding an outlet for it.
What it’s not meant for:
This is not a production laptop replacement. If you do a lot of heavy blogging, data entry, work proposals,etc. then the MacBook or MacBook Pro or iMac (or PC laptop/desktop),is still your better option. Also this is not an iPod replacement either. Simply put it’s form factor is not something you take to the gym and workout with.
Other areas of use:
Based on it’s size and all this could be a good device in industry for inventory management and POS checkout device. The 30 pin connector allows for devices that can swipe credit cards and other things.
The Bottom Line:
This thing is going to sell a megaton of units! It will be out in late March which means plenty of time for dads and grads gift in May and June. BTW, my birthday is in June and I hope to be a dad by Fathers Day (hint hint). I see the 16GB as the most popular model and the 32 & 64GB being bought by the folks that want their entire iTunes library on it. Myself I would get by with the 16GB. My iPhone has my iTunes library on it already. It is big enough to hold my entire iPhoto library and then some. I see Apple stock going to $300 a share easily.