I don't even know what we want to do any more, what we can do. There are so many options for sharing media across all the platforms in your house. One really has to be careful about what you choose, because there could be something out there that does it better. Internet research is so important now days.
I'm going to have to answer these questions for myself soon because I'm going to want to play vob's I have on our HDTV without hooking up a lot of extra AV units. All we really have hooked up is our TiVo, Wii, and PS2. There's so much more we can do! But I really can't spend any more money on anything for like five years!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
phpESP
One of the best things about running your own server is the flexibility to add tools that you would otherwise have to pay money for.
I've been experimenting with phpESP, a survey tool that I hope we can use here at CE@UP to handle our own surveys without having to go to Marketing Research. They are fantastic there and are great for large-scale surveys. But, I wanted to have a tool that we could use here as well.
After I was able to install it the first time, I lost access to the account because of a bad password, or something like that. I'm giving it another try. I use a different set of install instructions and I hope I got it right this time.
The server seems to be holding so far. The survey site is available here. Now I just have to populate it with a basic survey.
I've been experimenting with phpESP, a survey tool that I hope we can use here at CE@UP to handle our own surveys without having to go to Marketing Research. They are fantastic there and are great for large-scale surveys. But, I wanted to have a tool that we could use here as well.
After I was able to install it the first time, I lost access to the account because of a bad password, or something like that. I'm giving it another try. I use a different set of install instructions and I hope I got it right this time.
The server seems to be holding so far. The survey site is available here. Now I just have to populate it with a basic survey.
Buffalo LinkStation Live
I've been trying to solve this problem of how I can share all our documents, music, photos, installers, etc. across our network and when I'm at the office.
Previously, I had to use my MacBook as a file server. Given it's relatively small drive, I had to hook up my two external hard drives to it directly. It ceased to be portable. I couldn't use my G4 PowerMac or PowerBook, so that left me with my MacBook.
I took the plunge for a NAS last week and it's up and running. It looks like a great system that can serve up our files and provide backup options if I hook up an external drive to it.
My biggest problem right now is getting our files on to it. I've got over 350GB of files and transferring them via ethernet is going to take a while. If it were only that, I could wait. In fact, we'd probably be finished now. The real problem is that my Mac isn't copying all of the files. I'll leave it and then return to find that the copying process has halted and I don't really know what has and what hasn't been copied.
I should probably write the MacCast and find out what they have to say, because this is really frustrating.
Previously, I had to use my MacBook as a file server. Given it's relatively small drive, I had to hook up my two external hard drives to it directly. It ceased to be portable. I couldn't use my G4 PowerMac or PowerBook, so that left me with my MacBook.
I took the plunge for a NAS last week and it's up and running. It looks like a great system that can serve up our files and provide backup options if I hook up an external drive to it.My biggest problem right now is getting our files on to it. I've got over 350GB of files and transferring them via ethernet is going to take a while. If it were only that, I could wait. In fact, we'd probably be finished now. The real problem is that my Mac isn't copying all of the files. I'll leave it and then return to find that the copying process has halted and I don't really know what has and what hasn't been copied.
I should probably write the MacCast and find out what they have to say, because this is really frustrating.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Seesmic
Larry just stopped by and introduced me to this site. It's a videoblogging site that emphasizes threaded discussions. Looks like it's Flash-based and free. Could be an interesting tool for online and blended courses.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Oracle to iPhone
There isn't much out there, but I did find this pretty cool way that will potentially allow me to at least pull my Oracle calendar into Apple's iCal so that I can sync events that way. I found this article from a different UIC webpage on general Oracle use.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Smartpens
It's been a while, but I've got a cool one to pick up on: smartpen technology.
One of the most common are the Fly Fusion pens, but I wanted to start off with the Pulse by Livescribe. Very cool. I'm jazzed that it'll record audio sync'd with your notes. That'll be useful for meetings. They say we'll be able to print our own sheets of paper as well, but that's not going to be available until the end of 2008. It doesn't do text capture yet, but again that's something that's supposedly coming by the end of the year. Big downsides for me are that it won't run on a Mac, even when using Parallels. I'll have to whip up a Windows partition now. The 2GB version also goes for $200. Ouch. I'm also concerned about the battery in these things. I hope we can at least send them back to the company if we need to get a new battery.
One of the most common are the Fly Fusion pens, but I wanted to start off with the Pulse by Livescribe. Very cool. I'm jazzed that it'll record audio sync'd with your notes. That'll be useful for meetings. They say we'll be able to print our own sheets of paper as well, but that's not going to be available until the end of 2008. It doesn't do text capture yet, but again that's something that's supposedly coming by the end of the year. Big downsides for me are that it won't run on a Mac, even when using Parallels. I'll have to whip up a Windows partition now. The 2GB version also goes for $200. Ouch. I'm also concerned about the battery in these things. I hope we can at least send them back to the company if we need to get a new battery.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
White Box iPhone Bug
Two days ago, I went to sync my iPhone and was a little surprised that the one photo I remember taking wasn't appearing when I launched iPhoto. It wasn't a super-important image, so I let it slide.
Then yesterday, Hyunjoo and I went for a hike on Mt. Nittany and tried to take images there. That's when I discovered that the camera wasn't taking pictures. I was almost certain that it was a software issue.
I just hopped on the internet and lo-and-behold... it's a pretty well documented bug.
I used the Method #2, but maybe should have waited to read further down to the "f1b43d3b3ecf259a3626c13a8b0cebd8ba513117.mdbackup" solution. That's OK, I'm beginning with a new slate.
Then yesterday, Hyunjoo and I went for a hike on Mt. Nittany and tried to take images there. That's when I discovered that the camera wasn't taking pictures. I was almost certain that it was a software issue.
I just hopped on the internet and lo-and-behold... it's a pretty well documented bug.
I used the Method #2, but maybe should have waited to read further down to the "f1b43d3b3ecf259a3626c13a8b0cebd8ba513117.mdbackup" solution. That's OK, I'm beginning with a new slate.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Apple's new iPhone (kinda)
Well, Apple did it. I dunno why they didn't do it earlier, like at Macworld. I waited until the 17th of January to buy my iPhone because I was holding out for a 16GB model and they just released it two days ago. Nineteen days, geesh. Well, it would have been $100 more than I had paid which in itself is enough to warrant patience. But, now that I've been using the 8GB model I'm OK with the capacity since I'm syncing about every day anyhow and I can't go through 8GB of video, podcasts, and audio. But the prices will come down and when Hyunjoo gets one, she'll get the bigger one for sure.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Streaming video to iPhone
The iPhone Remote software is awesome! Unfortunately I've been having problems streaming video. I tried to stream a recording of "Dirty Harry" I got off my EyeTV. The sound will drop out and it's difficult to navigate forward or backward to resume play. It'll stop every minute or so and then start up again without sound.
EyeTV to PSP FAQ
I'm not using my PSP for video playback anymore, but good information none the less.
Friday, January 25, 2008
PDF to Website
1. Convert PDF to JPG
2. Import text to XLS
3. Set fixed deliminations
4. Fill rows down
5. Series to 100
6. Save as Tab delim Text
7. Open in TextEdit and clean up text
8. Paste into DW
Friday, January 18, 2008
How the iPhone has changed my life in 4 Days
- It is so much easier to keep on top of heaps of emails.
- I don't have to carry my cell phone and Palm TX anymore
- I can watch TV that I record using my EyeTV
- I can schedule my EyeTV to remotely record
- I can get map information that's more up-to-date than the most recent version available through my Garmin GPS
- I can stay in contact with everyone far easier than before
- I can finally begin to sort out my music and finish adding my "star" recommendations
- I can take pictures again after my digital camera kinda died
- It's much easier to update my address book and calendars now
- I can check out new music on the road through the iTunes (mobile) store
- It's a lot easier to check out YouTube videos and share them
There are some things I'd like to see...
- When a website claims that it has a dedicated iPhone website, that's not necessarily a good thing - they usually limit what you're able to do compared to a desktop
- Flash compatibility when surfing
- Deleting multiple emails
- The ability to make basic edits among your pictures before sending them out
- Taking video clips
- Making voice memos
- Full To-Do lists
- Free Skype functionality
- SD card support
- ability to edit docs in Google Docs
- more onboard storage
