Archive for the 'Gear' Category

Portable Audio in early ‘09

Published
by
willi
on March 1, 2009
in Gear and Tech
. 0 Comments

It’s a Sunday afternoon and I should be out in the sunshine. But I’m thinking about my need for storage and tuneage!

Should I move to the Ipod side of the universe? It must be a mighty compelling platform. But I just can’t shake that rebel urge. And my love of L.A. FM radio in the form of KCRW, KPFK and KXLU (listener supported).

When is the Ipod going to support FM?

So, anyway, this is what I’m thinking today:
Great user interface, nice sized screen, FM tuner, good sound, great price ( for the storage).

ZEN ZEN4GBBK – MP3 Players – Credit card-sized media player

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Skype to the Desktop with Belkin!

Published
by
willi
on June 2, 2008
in Gear
. 1 Comment

Belkin Skype Desktop PhoneI bought this 2 days ago and really like it. There is a review by rayboy that details the pros and cons pretty well. (This Skype Gear review is good but not very critical…)

The phone has some *issues*:
If you move to a different router, it doesn’t very gracefully update its Dynamic DHCP settings. I actually had to force it by setting it as static to my new router and then switching it back to Dynamic. (DUMB BELKIN. VERY DUMB.)

And also, at one point it just died. Not while I was using it but I noticed it was black and didn’t light up when I touched a button. I moved the power to a different strip and it has been fine now for a day. Maybe they should figure out how to draw power from the Ethernet cable…

This device is, however, exactly what I need. I work from home, don’t like paying monthly fees for fixed lines, and need a general “voicemail” line as well as a system for international calling. This is the thing!

It should be priced at more in the $50 range (you know, like a Belkin, not a Cisco). It has about $5 worth of phone parts, and maybe $10 worth of networking parts.

I bought this phone because sometimes I just need that old fashioned, phone feeling (speakerphone, big keypad). The networking is a big selling point (it better be as the plastic is cheap). If this had been yet another USB thing, it would have gotten tossed in a drawer (like the cheap Philips skype phone laying around here somewhere).

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

aStore into K2 theme on WordPress

Published
by
willi
on December 29, 2007
in Code, Gear and Tech
. 0 Comments

Wha? If you have an Amazon Associates account, you can create a little store. If people buy from that, then you get PAID! That’s what the g-units want isn’t it? To get paid?

SO… You will have to search the web for tips on how to set up and customize your store but here’s how I made it look nice in my K2 powered blog over at Kulcha.

First thing, I got the inline frame code for my store and it looked horrible… about 2 inches wide and scrollbars everywhere!

Next, I created a template in my theme which would elminate the sidebar:

  • Take page.php & add template php code to the top e.g., <?php/*Template Name: No Sidebar*/?>
  • Remove the <? php get_sidebar(); ?> from near the end of it
  • Save this as pagenosidebar.php and upload to theme directory
  • Create a css class to increase the width of your primary div (I put it in the css of my custom K2 style)

After that, I had to edit the css of my aStore. (That sounds dirty huh?)
I just trimmed the margin of the body div from 24px to a lovely 5px.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Back Up Your Data

Published
by
willi
on February 4, 2007
in Gear
. 0 Comments

I recently decided that I could no longer live with only 40 GB worth of storage on my laptop. So I decided that I would buy a larger hard drive and use the original drive as a backup drive. And I would buy a little USB enclosure to house the backup drive. You can buy these 2 items together (and maybe get backup software too)…. but it will probably cost you double.

I looked at Tiger Direct, where I have happily shopped before, but saved $10 by shopping around and trying a new vendor,Directron. E-commerce is business “Darwinism on steroids”… indeed.

I found a great deal on a new Toshiba Travelstar 100GB – 5400RPM – 8MB cache. As of this writing, I have had it for a week. So far, so good. But only the paranoid survive, so please, regularly defragment your hard drive, run an occasional check disk (for errors) and back up your data weekly.

Hard drives are moving parts… they fail. Its worth the money and time. So, I also bought a cheap little external drive enclosure for $10. Good enough to use for the purposes of backups and archiving. If I was going to use it every day, I would have spent more money on the enclosure. But enough about the hardware.

If you want to backup your data, you could just drag the files from one drive to another. But why copy files that haven’t changed? That is the beauty of backup software. Even a simple little product like Microsoft’s Sync Toyknows whether a file has changed and thus, if it needs to be copied over to the backup set.

However, simple little tools like Sync Toy, are not slick enough to copy the Operating System files. So, while you may have a safe copy of that important document, you will have to spend days re-installing Windows XP or whatever your OS. Unless of course, you use a product like Norton Ghost, which I will discuss further in another post.

I will write more about Backup software and its principles in another posting but for now be forewarned. One day it will happen to you, either prepare yourself to be up and running quickly or prepare yourself to be greatly distressed. It is your choice!

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

How to Enable Cookies

Published
by
willi
on January 28, 2007
in Code and Gear
. 0 Comments

To enable cookies, follow the instructions below for the browser version you are using.

Mozilla Firefox (1.0 final release and earlier)

* Go to the “Tools” menu.
* Select “Options”.
* Select the “Privacy” icon in the left panel.
* Check the box corresponding to “Allow sites to set cookies”.
* Click “OK” to save changes.

Netscape 7.1/Mozilla 5.0

* Select “Preferences” from the Edit menu.
* Click on the arrow next to “Privacy & Security” in the scrolling window to expand.
* Under “Privacy & Security”, select “Cookies.”
* Select “Enable all cookies”.
* Click “OK”.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+

* Select “Internet Options” from the Tools menu.
* Click on the “Privacy” tab.
* Click the “Default” button (or manually slide the bar down to “Medium”) under “Settings”.
* Click “OK”.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x

* Select “Internet Options” from the Tools menu.
* Click on the “Security” tab.
* Click the “Custom Level” button.
* Scroll down to the “Cookies” section.
* To enable:
o Set “Allow cookies that are stored on your computer” to “Enable”.
o Set “Allow per-session cookies” to “Enable”.
* Click “OK”.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x

* Select “Internet Options” from the View menu.
* Click on the “Advanced” tab.
* Scroll down to find “Cookies” within the “Security” section.
* To enable:
o Select “Always accept cookies”.
* Click “OK”.

Netscape Communicator 4.x

* Select “Preferences” from the Edit menu.
* Find the “Cookies” section in the “Advanced” category.
* To enable:
o Select “Accept all cookies” (or “Enable all cookies”).
* Click “OK”.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

CutePDF is the best

Published
by
willi
on September 13, 2006
in Code and Gear
. Closed

If you need a pdf document, then you need Cute PDF! This program is so valuable, you will be wondering how it can be free! Cute PDF is a free pdf writer program that is installed as a “printer” on your Windows XP computer. Thus, when you are in a word processor, web page, spreadsheet or any other program, you can “print” the page into the pdf format.

To get Cute PDF, you need to download the installer program and also a PostScript to PDF converter utility. Both of these are available from the Cute PDF website.

Installation Requirements

* Supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP (x64)/2003 (x64).
* Requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript (recommended).

Installation Process

* Double click, read the box, click next, repeat

I cannot count how many times I’ve been saved by this program. It has helped me so much… I should probably make a donation. Well, maybe this article will help some…

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Portugal Plans Solar Power

Published
by
willi
on June 7, 2006
in Gear
. 0 Comments

Construction work has begun in southern Portugal on what is set to be the world’s largest solar power station. The plant near Serpa, 200km (125 miles) south of Lisbon, will produce enough electricity for 8,000 homes when it starts next January. Read more at BBC.

The 11-megawatt solar power plant will cover a 60-hectare (150-acre) southern-facing hillside. The project in the sunny Alentejo region has been developed by Portuguese renewable energy company Catavento, in conjunction with solar polar provider Powerlight and funded by General Electric Energy Financial Services. The project’s initial budget is 58m euro (£40m).

The system, to be made up of 52,000 photovoltaic modules, will use PowerLight’s PowerTracker technology which follows the sun as it moves across the sky throughout the day. The firm say this generates more electricity than conventional fixed-mount systems. The panels will be raised around two metres off the grass which, Catavento’s Piero Dal Maso says, the sheep will take care of.

“The Serpa solar power project, along with other renewable energy initiatives, helps lay the foundation for Portugal’s energy future,” he said. “It should provide energy enough for 8,000 homes. It will save 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions, so that is probably around 1% of domestic consumption of Portugal.

Portugal plans other solar plants to counter a rise in carbon emissions.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Internet Domains from Aplus.Net

Published
by
willi
on April 4, 2006
in Gear
. 0 Comments
Domains Aplus.net
I have had several years of excellent service from this company. They respond quickly to issues, answer the phone and email and provide all the services that you need to register your internet domain and host and build your website.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Published
by
willi
on April 3, 2006
in Gear
. 0 Comments

Creative Labs PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook ( 70SB053000012 )The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA card from Creative is one of the best options for making music on a laptop. It is also a fantastic option for gamer or cinema enthusiasts!

The Audigy 2 ZS is a PCMCIA audio interface with the all-important ASIO, with support for up to 24-bit audio at a 192kHz sample rate. And yes, it can run just fine at 20-bit and 96kHz! Remember, most of the music that we listen to is 16-bit (at best) and 44.1kHz.

According to Creative labs the Audigy boasts an “incredible 104dB SNR” and well, we’ll either take their word for it or decide that we don’t care. I’ve got traffic and air-conditioning 24-7… you know what I mean?

The Audigy 2 ZS Notebook card has built support of 7.1 surround sound for Dolby® Digital EX as well as DTS-ES™ supported DVD movies. It will also give DirectSound3D games and CMSS 3D virtualized (that means fake) 7.1 stereo music. There is hardware accelerated EAX® 4.0 ADVANCED HD™ that will appeal to gamers both in terms of resolution and speed.

But I am a musician. I bought this card because I wanted good quality, low latency, ASIO support, at least a 20-bit and 96kHz resolution and free USB and Firewire ports!

I have primarily used this card with Reason by the Propellerheads and have found it to be completely trouble free. Creative has definitely, in my experience, gotten their driver releases to be much more stable than they were in the past and perhaps more stable than other manufacturers of this caliber of audio interface.

I have also used this card with products from Sony Digital Media such as Sound Forge, Vegas and Acid Pro. These amazing products are pretty much my bread and butter when it comes to audio and video and having worked with them for over 10 years I should probably write a book…

But I’m too busy making up sounds and grooves to write! And Acid Pro is where I spend a lot of my time after I’m through spacing out in Reason.

The only problem that I have heard with this card is an occasional SPIT during a particularly heavy Acid Pro (v. 5) playback session. A spit is… well, all I can say is you’ll know it when you hear it. But it sounds basically like a few milli-seconds of digital audio noise perhaps where the software is either passing audio too quickly or the hardware isn’t parsing and playing it out fast enough. I don’t know. What I do know is that when I stop playback, rewind a few seconds and playback through the section, it doesn’t happen again. So, I’m confident that it isn’t in my source and that it isn’t a showstopper!

And of course, when I render out my tunes from this baby they sound amazing! Stay tuned… maybe I’ll post something from the bowels of soulcode studios…

Oh, I did want to link to a couple of things out there in the wilderness wide web. First of all, this writer has taken screen shots from some of the applications provided with Creative’s Audigy products as well as done a review of the PCI version of this device. And also, here is a link to Creative Labs page on the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

Motorola MPX 220

Published
by
willi
on April 3, 2006
in Gear
. 0 Comments

Can you really have everything that you want in a mobile phone?

This Windows Smartphone has many features – voice recorder, media player, camera – but also seems to have some weaknesses.

Book it!
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • ThisNext
  • Furl
  • blogmarks
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon