ARTIST: Tim Doyle

I can't believe that tylerkeen didn't include our friend Tim Doyle, who is also an artist, and in my opinion, a damn fine one. You can check out his art here at http://www.mrdoyle.com/.

Tim also does posters for the Alamo Draft House, and his name and his art keep popping up on my favorite movie rumor site, Slash Film.

Not only is Tim an artist, but he's also one of the members of the comics podcast Staple Pop. You can check them out at the link, or on iTunes.

Ok, I'm going to go throw up now, after having to look at this picture for the past five minutes while I write this blog. Ugh.

MacBreak Weekly Tips

WEEKLY Picks (on TWIT)

I give in...I have not been posting regularly enough and found another website that done this and more. Give it a look and enjoy.

BTW - Goodbye Merlin. We'll miss you. Stay organized.

RECIPE: Oatmeal Wheat Bread

This was bread number two that I baked for Thanksgiving. The focaccia looks so bad and tasted so bland on the corners that I felt propelled to make a second. This pic is not my loaf, but the loaf was so flavorful it looked like this one might have tasted.

I actually think the yeast I used was dead because it failed to foam at all. If it did rise during the proofing and fermenting, it was very little. The bread ended up dense but still had an outstanding flavor and crumb. We ate the majority of the two loaves just through snacking on it. I forgot to tell you it wasn't even done for Thanksgiving lunch..I was a few hours late. Two years in a row that everyone shows up and I am still in my PJ's cooking. I need to cook ahead of time.

I strongly recommend you trying this bread and believe the recipe when it says if the yeast is not foaming in the water, throw it out and start again. ..oh before I forget when I was mixing all of the ingredients I used a mixer instead of mixing on the counter top. Even when I moved the dough to the counter top to knead, it was very moist. I added a bit more flour to tighten it up a bit. I also kneaded it for about 15 mins to get it nice and pliable. I know that is longer than normal but I knew the yeast might be worthless and didn't have extra.

RECIPE: Super easy Focaccia

For those who are afraid of artisan or fancy sounding bread, you HAVE to check out the link above. Teri's Kitchen has a recipe for focaccia that I stumbled across before Thanksgiving. It makes a large flat bread that rises similar to a pizza crust. We ended up baking it on a cookie sheet and then cut it up into small pieces to grab and just snack on. Would have been fabulous to dip in olive oil and pepper. It also would have been a great bread to cut up into sandwich size pieces, sliced in half and made a turkey and swiss or portabella and avocado sandwich.

Sorry no pics for this one. It was Thanksgiving and I was rushed. The bread came out looking like crap anyways because I had the gas stove too hot when I tried softening the garlic. When the oven was done with the bread, the garlic looked burnt. The flavor was fine, just looked like hell.

ARTIST: Lee Setty

Didn't want to leave Lee Setty off the list since I am giving props to all of the artists I know. Check out his page. It is pretty dope and he has some fantastic product art.

I am a bit confused about the shots with the guy in the suit and the shotgun but I would have bet a ton of bucks that Lee was a pacifist. I will have to check with him about that.

Sorry but this is the best pic I could find of him. I would recognize that nose anywhere. Hope you are doing well, Lee. Click here for one of Lee's published pics on the Dallas Observer's blog.

ARTIST: Kevin Todora

Figure while I am at it I will post a link to my friend Kevin Todora's website. He is an artist and photographer. His blog is located here and contains current work and things he is interested in. I have always thought people who have their name in their website domain name are a bit pretentious although I have my nick in mine so what does that say about me?

He has taken shots for my brother's wedding and my sister-in-law's website. I have always enjoyed his work. He seems to take reality and twist it just a little, not to the point where it is inappropriately (IMO) distorted but altered a degree or two. Almost like if an alternate dimension was just a few Hertz out of view like a radio station that needed a little fine tuning. He is able to maintain the beauty of his subjects in his work as well. I also am preferential to installations with variations of a specific work or subject. He works through a similar subject and method often and will put the whole process together as an installation showing either variations of a single subject/method or the evolution he took to get to a certain point.

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ARTIST: Stephen Loidolt

Two months have passed since I last posted. Sorry about the delay. Been a bit busy and chose to spend my free time elsewhere.

An old friend of mine works for Urban Outfitters. He is currently featured on the Gifts page. Click above to check out the link. Also check out the blog Somethings Hiding In Here. It is Stevie and wife Shauna's page about their kraftwerk.

Recipe: Sourdough Bread

I have found a very cool site call the exploratorium which has a fantastic science based cooking page. I found this site when I was digging around for a sourdough recipe. This was the first sourdough recipe I found on the web and as simple as it seems, I didn't choose to use it because I already had created a starter in a much different fashion. My starter was much more liquid and runny than this age old version. Oh, here is a very cool site with videos that I need to go back and revisit.

My first sourdough recipe came from I don't know where and cooked perfectly. It was easy to make the starter, and the recipe was much more similar to a normal bread recipe. I have sinced tried sourdough a few times using the simpler, more rustic version and have come up very dissatisfied. I need to note that I am not following the directions verbatim which is mostly my problem. I have been told over and over again that baking is an exact science where as most other cooking can be fudged. I also have been trying to use wheat flour instead of white flour without using a different recipe. I think that is a problem as well. The bread comes out a bit too sour and doesn't rise hardly at all. I think a dutch oven would help the whole wheat boule raise better during baking. I also need a better bowl to perform the final proofing in so when I transfer it to the oven I just have to turn the bowl upside down onto the cooking surface to minimize agitation. It seems as though some of the better looking sourdoughs have used this method. I also have seen some in the stores that have indentations on them from the proofing container which leads me to think this is a very popular practice.

Last week I started morphing my sourdough starter into the starter based on the recipe above. This weekend I began the process of my sourdough bread recipe. I followed the recipe to the "T".  The bread came out very flavorful with a nice crumb.  One loaf was a little smaller than the other, but the crust on both has the right crispness.   All in all, a good sourdough recipe with little effort...except about 18 - 24 hours of your time.

Mistake no. 1: I didn't spray oil or grease the wax paper the dough sat against during the second proofing.  I agitated the bread quite a bit getting the wax paper free.  The loaves would have risen quite a bit more if I wouldn't have moved them so much before baking.  Damn wax paper.  

Mistake no. 2: I need a sharper knife to score the bread.  The first loaf cuts went well and were deep enough.  The second loaf I was in a hurry and the dough dragged on the blade.  I used to think I should only lightly score the bread but I now think a good 1/4 to 1/2 inch cut helps the bread rise to its full potential.

TIP: If you do not have a baguette pan like me, I found a handy trick to keep the bread from morphing from a baguette form to a oblong football shape during the final proofing. Roll up tea towels, wrap them in wax or parchment paper, and then lay one on the outside of each baguette and one in between the two. You will be able to lift these out easily before baking without too much agitation of the bread.  See image below.


TIP: If it is cooler or drafty in your kitchen while fermenting or proofing your starter or dough, place the dough into the oven on the top rack covered with a moist towel, and put a pan full of hot water below it to maintain a warm, moist environment.

Recipe: Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

My cousin passed this simple pizza crust recipe which I just cooked last night. It was easy and made a really nice, light crust. Click on the title above to get to the original allrecipes.com recipe page.

1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 c. warm water (110 degrees F)
2.5 c. bread flour (all purpose works fine too)
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, salt and olive oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

My cousins comments:

Those are the real instructions... some things I've learned: Roll the dough out on the surface that you want to cook it on (don't try to transfer it). I use a pizza stone, usually (if you use a pizza stone, flour or cornmeal it - the dough will stick). But when I don't want to use the big oven, I just pat it out on a piece of parchment paper and lay that directly on the rack of the toaster/ convection oven. Which brings me to - you can use this to make one big pizza or two little pizzas. We like the little ones because they fit in the smaller oven. The dough is super sticky, so I roll it around on the floured surface so that you don't get it all over your hands, and then once you are ready to shape it - put a little olive oil on your hands - it makes it a lot easier. Also, I have let it rise longer than 5 minutes. I think up to about 30 minutes or so is OK.

My comments after trying it:

You can turn out the dough onto a clean surface and continue mixing the dough and begin rolling out the crust. My dough wasn't very wet and was easy to work with. I then was able to carefully peel the crust off of the flour dusted surface and place on my pizza stone.

The 30 minute rise time worked out really well. The crust was light and browned very well. A tip my friend gave me is to spread the pizza sauce and topping fairly far out, almost out to the crown of the crust. This helps not having so much crust with all of the topping in the middle. Also, always spread a little cheese on top of the toppings to hold everything together while cutting and eating the pizza. Go easy on the pizza sauce, as too much will make the whole pizza a bit more moist and the toppings won't stay in their place or on the slice as you start to eat it.

Some changes I might recommend are adding butter in place of olive oil and maybe adding a tablespoon more to add some fat to the recipe. Also, brush the outside of the crust with butter to give a more crisper finish. Also try adding fresh or powerded garlic to add a bit more flavor to the crust. I prefer a very flavorful crust, and am going to branch out and see what I can create. Don't get me wrong, the crust was good. I just prefer something a bit more rich and rustic.

Enjoy.

Since I found Serenity, You can't take the sky from me

About five years ago, I heard about a new show on the Fox network that was supposed to be pretty good. It was a far-out concept...a sci-fi western. Now, I'm a fan of both sci-fi movies and westerns, but this sounded too far fetched for me. Even though I heard great things about it, I never checked it out, and when I finally decided to watch it...it was canceled. After 11 episodes. I thought to myself, it must not have been very good if it was cancelled after only half a season!

Boy, was I wrong. The creator was none other than Joss Whedon, the genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, two shows that I really dug. And this was his baby, the project he had always wanted to do, so he put his heart and soul into it. So much, that when his show was cancelled, he told his cast and crew not to worry, he'd find another home.

And a few years later, he did. But not as a TV show. As a full length movie. It's one of the only times in history that a cancelled television show has been brought back as a feature length film.


The show was called Firefly, and if you were a fan of the only 13 episodes in existence, and the film Serenity, then call yourself a Browncoat. I Netflix'd the series to watch while I was stuck at home during Hurricane Ike, and I couldn't stop watching them. So much so, that when I got done, I went to Best Buy and bought the whole thing on DVD (a steal at $34!!!).

It's because of the DVD sales of the series that the movie was greenlit, and that might be the saving grace of the Firefly 'Verse. Fans have really kept this franchise alive, and I for one am glad about it.

The tv show is a really great, really well written show, and it makes you really feel something for the characters. Listening to the commentary during the series, you can see that the crew and cast really liked each other, and thought that they were making something important, which is evident in the product they created. Unfortunately, Firefly was broadcast on the Fox Network, which doesn't allow a show to find its audience, and due to scheduling conflicts, it never found any ratings.

But I think the popularity of sci-fi now was helped along by this little series that could. Shows like Battlestar Galactica might not have gotten made if shows like Firefly hadn't paved the way.

If you're intersted in seeing a great cast, great stories, and a well made tv series and movie about space cowboys, then check out Firefly. Who knows? If you buy enough DVDs, maybe another movie will get made!

http://www.geekroar.com/film/archives/firefly_cast_small.jpg

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Mac Tip: Quick Screen Shot and Edit

As a new Mac user I am still struggling to do simple tasks that I took for granted in XP. Here is one that I just figured out trying to add the graphic in my previous post. When you need a quick screen shot and edit, do the following.

1) Open Preview
2) In Preview, go to File, Grab, Window/Selection/Timed Screen. I was interested in a grab of Firefox so I chose Window.
3) A camera appears and the screen goes transparent gray. Click your mouse. The image will then pop up in preview.
4) Go to Tools, Crop, and drag a box over the selection you want. Click Enter and the selection will resize.
5) Go to File, Save As and pic whatever format you prefer.

Simple as can be. A few quick ways to create screenshots are for the entire window: Command - Shift - 3 for the entire window, Command - Control - Shift - 4 for a specific selection. The action creates a file on your desktop. I actually forgot where the file when until a minute ago and realized my original attempt at Command - Shift - 3 was successful. Thankfully Preview is just as easy.

iCal and Google Calendar

I have become a huge fan of Google Calendar due to its shared calendar function. I use Outlook at work for my primary calendar however I had a need to create a personal shared calendar for family and friends and Google Calendar works very well. It is simple and straight forward and shares calendar info very nicely. I was even successful at helping my folks set it up so they can view my wife's and my calendar.

Now that I have a Mac, I have the option of using iCal. I have not delved into it much but hear it is a very solid calendar app. I recently found the need to try syncing iCal with Google Calendar. I did a bit of searching and found this page that gives a very thorough set of directions to sync the two calendars. This is only a one-way sync through iCal downloading Google Calendar's info. The cool part is that I could d/l multiple calendars that I have control over and iCal displays them very similarly to Google Cal.

One problem: it is a one-way sync. That is where I found a link to SpanningSync.
Specs for Spanning Sync v2.0:

* Contact syncing! Spanning Sync now syncs Address Book with Google contacts.
* Contact photo syncing!
* Trickle syncing! Changes in iCal and Address Book are automatically pushed to Google as they're made.
* Improved, easier-to-use preference pane UI.
* Dramatically improved network performance.
* Improved support for syncing huge (10,000+ events) calendars
* Improved support for syncing large numbers of contacts
* Improved support for multi-Mac configurations.
* Improved compatibility with MobileMe.
* New user-friendly log window for troubleshooting or checking status.
* Improvements to the "create troubleshooting report" system.
* Tons of other bug fixes and improvements.

Looks like a highly regarded option for MobileMe type syncing. They even claim (and are supported by testimonials) that it syncs between Macs and the iPhone. I am not ready yet to d/l the shareware since I don't have multiple Macs or an iPhone but have a friend that may try it out for me. I update this post if I get a chance to look it over.

So far I am pleased with the one-way sync and am glad for Google's willingness to sync up with others software. Now on to try Google Docs.

UPDATE: AAdvantage Challenge

I have been traveling quite a bit lately and stumbled across this website recently in my research of collecting AAdvantage miles when flying American Airlines (Let me first start and say that I am not a huge fan of American Airlines anymore but I have to fly a lot and I tend to end up on their flights. Alaska Airlines, a OneWorld partner of American, however is a fantastic airline).

I won't go into detail since FewMiles did such a great job of it. My personal experience so far:
Call AA, asked if a Gold Elite Challenge was still available. The always helpful and friendly AAdvantage staff member stated yes and read me the basic rules. She also emailed me a copy as well. I have 90 days to get 5000 qualifying points and if successful will get Gold Elite on American up to February 2010! Not bad. It shouldn't be too tough and almost wish I would have tried the Platinum Elite Challenge. Need to start small first. I will let you know how this goes if I am successful.

UPDATE: Not that time has passed and I have been traveling way too much, I have reached the 5K mile mark and blew past it. Holy crap...I should have done the Exec. Plat. Challenge. Oh well. No crying over spilled milk. I should buck up and be pleased I get two free bags to check and get to board with Group 1. I am about to break the 50K qualifying mile mark and will be Platinum shortly. Flying back and forth from two huge business cities has not allowed me to take advantage of the upgrade perks but hopefully with Platinum I can get a few upgrades here and there.

If you know for a fact you will be traveling 10K miles in 3 months then do the Plat challenge. It is simple and you will appreciate it for the next year and change.

MacBreak Weekly Episode 101 Picks

leo

• chopper, 2 across, toybot diaries (iphone games)

merlin

• phoneview (allows you grab stuff off of your ihpone (except music), grab call logs, sms messages, notes)

alex lindsey

• cinema4D v11 (rendering, logos, set mockups, animation)
• google sketchup (powerful free 3d sketching app)
  

MacBreak Weekly Episode 100 Picks

merlin mann

• applecore atv (macmini hack)

Andy Inahtko

• backtomymac sucks
• farfinder
  

Leo

• savebenji's (iphone app that lets you search for products via barcode, name, etc to see price comparisons)
• iwant (iphone app that locates places near you via GPS)
• onepassword (iphone app password scrambler)

MacBreak Weekly Episode 99 Picks

Arnold Kim

• dizzybee (iphone game)
• Aurora Faint! (iphone game)
  

Andy Inhatko

• motionX poker (iphone app)

Leo

• Bloomberg stock app (iphone app)

Merlin Mann

• splashshopper (shopping list manager/iphone app)

MacBreak Weekly Episode 98 Picks

Merlin Mann

• omnifocus (task management app)
  
• pandora (internet radio for the computer or iphone)
  
• shazam (audio app that can record a music clip from the radio, then determine what song you just heard and give you an option to buy)
  

Andy Ihnatko

• ZenBe (to do list manager)

Leo

• midomi (audio iphone and web app that can recognize music like shazam)
  
• where! (location based iphone app)
  

Scott Bourne

• google iphone app

Quantum Cello

Recently listening to my RadioLab podcast, I was fortunate enough to catch some of Zoe Keating's musical creations. Check out the podcast link here or her web page here. She takes her cello along with a laptop and set of pedals to create's various musical loops. She has two albums out currently via her website or itunes.com.

I downloaded both albums and have listened to most of the tracks. They include any and all sounds that one could make on a cello. As she plays she uses the foot pedal to add and subtract loops to her track, all the while composing a work of art. It is a true mix of old and new music, as she is classically trained but cannot perform her work without a computer near.

"Spaced" - now on DVD!!!

By now, American audiences should know who Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are. If you don't, then go to your video store and rent "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz".

Before they got famous here in the States, though, they (along with Nick Frost and the beautiful and talented Jessica Stevenson/Hynes) starred in "Spaced," one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

There are certain times in my life when I see something that speaks to me. The first time was when I saw "Mallrats" and thought, This is the movie I should have made. Watching "Spaced" gives me that same feeling.

The writing, by Pegg and Stevenson/Hynes, talks to the geek culture that I'm proud to be a part of. There are pop culture references a plenty, but even if you don't get them, you'll still like the show.

The show starts off by introducing Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Stevenson/Hynes), two twentysomethings who live in London, but find themselves without a place to live. They meet up in a coffee shop, and find an ad for an apartment that would be perfect, except that it's only for a professional couple. So, they pretend to be a couple to get the apartment. The usual hijinks happen when they almost get caught in their lie, and the supporting cast is great.

There's Marsha, their constantly drunk landlady. Brian, their downstairs artistic neighbor. Twist, Daisy's best friend. And Mike, Tim's best friend, played by Simon Pegg's real life best friend (and at the time, NOT an actor) Nick Frost.

The show is hilarious, and it speaks to me, because that was kinda the life I was living at that time, being twenty-something and loving comic books and hating "The Phantom Menace". And Edgar Wright's camerawork is gorgeous, much better than anything on American TV. The show is shot in the style of a horror movie, and it's because of one of these episodes (Episode 1.3 "Art"), that "Shaun of the Dead" got made.

You can get the whole series on DVD now, and I'd recommend doing just that, especially if you've seen the other two movies.

Google Chrome; UPDATED

I happened to see in the USA Today that Google offered up their beta of the new web browser. I hit the website today and downloaded the app. Fortunately my admin locked laptop let me install it with no worries. The videos on the download page are not terribly helpful but the comic is quite insightful and perfectly Google. I am a fan of many google apps and so far recommend this one as well. It is easy, straightforward, and the autocomplete for search, favorites, recent searches, etc is a very nice feature.

One cool feature is that you can grab the tab and move it around or pull it out and make it a new window. I also like how it makes the address bar yellow/gold when you are on a https page. I travel often and need assurance that I am within a SSH connection. I look forward to when they port this over to the Mac....not sure when that will happen as some of Google's betas stay beta for a long time.

I am pretty sold on Firefox 3 currently, so this version will have to really stand out for me to convert. Hopefully Steve Gibson will verify how robust this app is regarding security and that will make a difference in my browser of choice as well. Curious to see about how this app works with plug-ins, since my Firefox 3 is full of helpful plugins.

UPDATE

First drawback of Chrome: Pandora.com normally runs a lot of doubleclick adds that I never realized until I used Pandora on Chrome. The noscript add on for Firefox always blocked the extraneous double click crap which currently Chrome cannot. I realize Pandora make’s their money on ads, but I don’t want to see them, especially from doubleclick. I realize noscript is necessary since I choose to opt-in to any javascript in Firefox. Maybe Chrome is inherently more stable and secure and won’t let any malicious JavaScript overtake my computer. I still have become very used to controlling my web experience and only allowing the scripting necessary to view the pages I surf to. I enjoy blocking almost all advertising using noscript. BTW – have I stated how much I love noscript lately?

Will have to use firefox for Pandora from now on.

MacBreak Weekly Episode 97 Picks

Merlin Mann

• 1Password @ www.agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password (password manager)
• Quicksilver @ www.blacktree.com (check out the new version now that it is open source)
• RooSwitch @ www.Roobasoft.com (app profile catcher)

Leo

• RooVid @ www.Roobasoft.com

Alex Lindsey

• www.mogulus.com (IPTV streaming site)

Randall Schwartz

• amadeus pro @ www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro (audio app)

Leo

• Tweetdeck @ www.tweetdeck.com
• tworl @ www.tworl.com

MacBreak Weekly Episode 96 Picks

Jeff Smith

• Whatsize @ www.id-design.com (finds what is lurking on your Mac)
• appzapper @ www.AppZapper.com (simple uninstaller)

Andy Ihnatko

• burger king gold card

Scott Bourne

• Cocktail @ www.maintain.se/cocktail (all around mac tweaker)

Leo

• Visigami google app @ code.google.com/p/visigami (app and screen saver; pulls pics from flickr, picasa, etc)

Alex Lindsey

• Silouette/Roto Effects @ www.silhouettefx.com/roto (green screen app/rotoscoper)

Twit and MacBreak Weekly Tips

I listen to This Week in Tech and MacBreak Weekly podcasts which both include or discuss cool tips, websites or products. I tend to forget them when I most need them and have not found a page that continually tracks this info. [If someone else out there does, please let me know and save me the effort] I will soon begin tracking and posting this info on my blog for those who want to go back in time without listening to the podcast all over.

Greased Lightbox

Check out this cool greasemonkey script. It allows the user in Firefox to click on a thumbnail and view the image without going into the host website.

Monkeying with the Mainstream Media

John Dvorak dropped a twitter recently linking to a very interesting site with two greasemonkey scripts. Click above for the page by John Walker and read through to fully understand his greasemonkey scripts that you can download and install at the bottom of his page. Very cool.

Double Dragon!

Hilarious!!!

Star Wars Gansta Rap

The one, the only Star Wars Gangsta Rap. I saw this years ago and still cannot get enough of it.

What made this man ever think this was ok?

Really? Nintendo was ever that cool?

so sad

Marketing Gone Wrong

Poop.

Reverse Engineering

I am not a Professional Engineer. I prefer to be called a Reverse Engineer. In the near future I will begin posting my creative forays into Reverse Engineering.

Keep an eye open for this stuff. In the meantime, check out Afrigadget.com. Low tech/reverse engineering by necessity.

Bluedango

A good place to check out fair trade art, home decor, etc.

Cheating the Claw Game

XPlayer Beta for your Blackberry UPDATE

Recently my friend with an iPhone showed me the Pandora app which streams internet radio via the iPhone. I was very impressed as I am an Internet Radio fan. BTW-Pandora can be found at Pandora.com. I will dig into Pandora some other time as it is well worth the effort.

I found a post on the crackberry.com forums that mentioned xplayer as a free internet radio, audio, and video player. I downloaded the beta at wap.shapeservices.com on my blackberry 8310 Curve.

The website specifically states "active users will be rewarded". Not sure what that will lead to but I am willing to give quality feedback if the product improves.

Info from the website:

Main Features

• All audio and video formats supported: mp3, m4a, avi, mp4, 3gp, wma, amr, mid, wav.
• Video full screen playback. Watch full screen video your BlackBerry screen.
• Playlist management: Create, Edit and Save your own playlists. Add a single file or a whole folder to a playlist.
• Advanced playlist sorting options: by title, by author or by path.
• Playlist Shuffle. xPlayer can play your songs in random order if you do not want to know what file is coming next.
• Use different themes to change the look of xPlayer.
• Background mode.
• Long battery life.

Compatible devices: Pearl 8100/8110/8120, Curve 8300/8310/8320/8330, 8800/8820/8830 (all 4.2 OS devices)

pics care of shapeservices.com

I look forward to the playlist mode if it truly can create and manage playlists. My BB Curve media player does not use playlists, which can be a bit annoying.

So far I have only played with the Internet Radio option. I listened to a few preloaded sites and they sound very nice on the BB. One note that I read on the crackberry forums that I needed to do myself. If you get choppy or delayed play back within a song, go to Settings, Radio, and set Data Connection Type from Use BIS Transport to Direct TCP. Seems to correct any choppyness (sp?). You can even check the box to use WiFi if you have a WiFi compatible BB. Very cool.

I first tried to create a radio station with my favorite site...Lucky 777. No luck. I think since Lucky 777 only uses the WMP codec, it would not load. It acted like xplayer wanted to play it, but hung. I then did some googling, crackberry forum searching, and found what I think is what xplayer needs to get a station to play. You need sites that stream mp3's. An example is SomaFM. I went to their site, found one of their mp3 feeds, and downloaded their .pls file. I opened the .pls file in Notepad.exe and swiped the webpage address and port, ie: http://steady.somafm.com:800X. When you type this in as your address for the station, click save, and then click on the new station, it plays like a champ.

I used 4 of their more softer stations to lull me through my quiet times. I have to be careful because this could chew up a lot of data, and I am not 100% sure I have unlimited data. I think I only have 5 gigs through AT&T. Must remember to use this only when I don't have my laptop up and running.

I need to do some more testing and research to get this address thing down. I am curious to see what filetypes this truly supports for internet radio streaming.

UPDATE: I loaded XPlayer this morning and looks like the Beta period is over. The app is now listed for $19.95. The site shows a new screenshot which looks very cool. I admit I was not terribly active as a Beta user and should have given them more helpful feedback. Oh well.

Mac Tip: Managing multiple libraries in iTunes 7

Here is a great link on macworld's site that discusses a somewhat unknown feature for iTunes 7. You can hold down the Option key on a Mac and tell iTunes what library to use.

http://www.macworld.com/article/53114/2006/09/lossless.html

The Quandaries of Backing Up a Music Library

Not too long ago in a galaxy not that far away, my hard drive crashed. ...and not just one hard drive...the hard drive that I just copies ALL of my mp3's over to while I was moving data back and forth. I have NEVER had a hard drive crash. My friends have had hard drives crash, but SpinRite was always there to save them (Read previous post on SpinRite or go to GRC.com/spinrite). Well, SpinRite ran for 3 months and finally the hard drive gave up the ghost. It had a handful of sectors that would not clean up.

I salvaged 1/3 of my mp3's from the hard drive before it went completely belly up, except all of my music was now in complete disarray. I copied the music 3 times and got a cadry of different songs each time. I also tried copying off of my ipod which blew up its dbase file. I only got a chunk of songs off of it before I had to reformat the ipod. Long story short, I have only a fraction of my colleciton that I built from the days of Hotline in the late 90's. I think Hotline was mostly a Mac user app but I made the most out of it before Napster and Limewire.

I have been ignoring the issue for months now and figured finally I would make the plunge to backup my entire CD collection and start fresh...mostly fresh. I came into the ownership of a 160 GB external HD that had old Windows files on it. I finally cleaned up this drive, reformatted it to work with my Mac (sans Fat32). I toiled with the idea of Lossless encoding for quite some time but now that I have the external HD, it was a non-issue. With a few days behind me, I am almost half way done with my CDs in lossless format. I plan on taking all of the lossless version and converting them to AAC or MP3 so I can import them to my ipod. I also need to find a way to back up the external HD. I am entertaining the thought of replacing my 250 GB external HD with a 1 T HD for my Time Machine backups. Really don't help if my house burns down. I have also entertained the idea of getting Jungle Disk and using Amazon's S3 service for my music and important stuff. I will let you know how it goes.

How to Remove and Clean your Blackberry Curve Trackball

My Blackberry Curve 8310's trackball got a bit sticky this week so I did some research and found a post on the Crackberry.com website about how to fix it. I tried it myself and was fortunately successful. You can click the title above to go to the forum post and/or check out my photos and steps.

PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK. Click on the images for a higher res image.

1) Grab something pointy, somewhat rigid, and PLASTIC. You don't want to booger up the plastic around the trackball encasement because if you have to take it back to your wireless provider when it breaks they will know what you have been doing. Try these plastic teeth flossers. They worked for me. The tips bent a bit but were rigid enough for me to work around the edge.


Lightly push the plastic utensil under the plastic cover, and lift slowly. It will pop, and then you can move around to the sides so each additional clasp will release. I lifted it too fast from the bottom and broke one of the four clasps. If the cover lifts a little, the clasp has released. Don't lift it too high until you think all four clasps have released.


Now the trackball housing is exposed. You just need to turn the phone over, tap it on the back, and voila...the housing falls out. Be careful because the parts are tiny!!



You can see where I broke the clasp. It is on the top left side. On the right is the housing with top cover, ball, rollers, and bottom cover. Here is a pic of the inside of the phone. May not hurt to clean off the pick-ups where each roller sits. Actually I really don't know if they are pick-ups, but just so happen to have one in each corner. I cleaned the gold contact (if that is what it is) as well with alcohol and a q-tip. This thing makes q-tips look big and clumsy.


Now you must carefully pry the bottom piece off the housing. Use a pin to lightly pry the metal clips back. The plastic bottom piece will lightly fall away (shown below on the right). Here is a pic to show the exposed housing with rollers and ball.


I removed all of the rollers and the ball and dropped them in alcohol. After sitting for a few minutes, I took a q-tip lightly soaked in alcohol and rubbed the grooves on the rollers clean. I also rubbed on the mini-magnets on the end of the rollers. Don't forget to clean the cup where the ball sits as well. I scrubbed on the ball for a bit but am not sure if it truly got cleaner at all.

I guess the trackball looks a bit more clear in this picture. Not sure why one of the rollers is scraped clean (far left). Maybe that was the culprit of my stickiness before I started?


See the dirty trackball cup on the right? The following picture shows it clean.


The next picture is a close up of the bottom piece. I showed this up close because I tried to attach it upside down and figured I could save you the confusion. Look at the previous picture and note the metal clips around the four sides. Two have 45 degree pieces and two have a whole cut out in them. The white plastic piece below attaches so that the metal spring/cup holds the ball tight.


After you get housing back together just lightly set it in the recess where it came from. Note: Look at the third photo in this post. Notice that one side of the housing has two small extensions and the other side doesn't. Then look at the fourth post. You can see the indentions where the small extensions sit. Don't force the housing back into the recess. It will fall into place when it is set in correctly. After that just lightly push the outer plastic piece into place and you are ready to go! Good luck.

Good Eats

Like cooking shows and the biology/chemistry/physics behind the dish? Well then click no further past the Food Network and check out Good Eats.


Alton Brown, the host of the show ...and a bit of a geek... walks you through the history and chemistry of his dishes. He never takes himself or the show to seriously but still keep it straight forward enough to keep you focused on the dish and recipe. I love his ability to detail how and why things cook the way they do, and what crazy history goes with it. Don't be surprised if a crew member gets stuck dressing up as a starch particle or a nutritional anthropologist pops in. I know. I didn't know a nutritional anthropologist existed. Check out http://www.cellinteractive.com/ucla/center_overview/nut_anthro.html for more info. Ha.

Mac Tip: Single Click to View

When searching files on your desktop or through Finder, you can single click on a file, press the spacebar, and up comes the photo/document/pdf in a handy-dandy little viewer. No need to load the full software to view it. Now this doesn't work for all files, but most that you may want to view quickly such as a jpeg, doc, or pdf. Very cool, and very simple.

Summers shows on the way

Sometime in the next few weeks, the summer shows will start premiering their new episodes, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the new seasons of Burn Notice and Psych. If you haven't watched Burn Notice, go check out episodes online, it's a great show in the style of Magnum P.I.

While I wait, though, I'm starting to watch a couple of shows that I've never seen before. Usually it's something that was on during a time period that one of my other shows was on, so I never looked into it. One of these shows is Rules of Engagement.



First off, I didn't want to watch it because it had David Spade. That guy is creepy, and not in a funny way. More like a creepy way. He used to be funny, back when Chris Farley was still alive, but now he's just creepy. And sad. And he seems to be looking for that one sitcom that'll bring him back on top.

This show isn't it. While it does have it's moments, I've never seen a show about relationships that has less chemistry. David Spade doesn't fit in the dynamic. Oliver Hudson, who plays Adam, is a block of wood. His fiance on the show, Jennifer (played by the gorgeous Bianca Kajlich, who had a guest role on the before mentioned Psych), I have no idea why she's even ON the show, except as eye-candy. Megyn Price is okay, but I've always liked her in whatever she's done.

That leaves the saving grace of the show, and the only reason...THE ONLY REASON...I watch this show. It's because of this man...


You might know him as "Puddy" from Seinfeld. I know him as "The Tick" from the greatness that was that short-lived Fox show. It is Patrick Warburton. And he is pure comedy greatness.

I actually got to meet him one year at South by Southwest. He was a nice, unassuming guy who was there showing his first staring role movie. It was awful, but during the Q&A after the movie, he revealed that he'd be doing "The Tick". Years later, and he's starring in this pile of doo-doo, but he's making it work. Alone. With his own comedy chops. By himself.

I wouldn't recommend watching this show, except for the fact that he is so damned funny. And it's like he isn't even trying. He's much more of a person in this show than I've ever seen him in anything else, and when he and his TV wife Audrey go at it, it's great. It's the only time I laugh when I'm watching the show, and I fast forward through all the other crap just to get to him.

There, that's my two cents about Rules of Engagement. Check it out if you've got nothing better to do, otherwise, just watch the Patrick Warburton moments on CBS.com or YouTube.

MY NEW SEMI-FAMOUS CRUSH

As anyone who knows me knows...wait, does that makes sense?

Anyway, I get random crushes on semi-famous people. The last one was Dallas Observer writer Andrea Grimes, who I feel in love with her words, then fell more in love when I saw her picture.

Now that Andrea has booked it to Austin, I feel like I need a new semi-famous crush. And now I have it.

Here she is...Olivia Munn from G4's "Attack of the Show"!!!!



I've been watching AOTS for a few days, now that I don't have a regular job, and I have been bewitched by this young lady. I was even more bewitched when I saw this pic...



Now, I hate George Lucas, but he did introduce us to the Gold Bikini Outfit, and Olivia does wonders for it.

Not only is she gorgeous, she's pretty funny and cool as well. I'm currently watching AOTS, and she and the other host Kevin are trying to say things to mess up the Closed Captioning typers, so she just said, "I'm going to squeeze liquid out of my vagina!" That's pretty awesome.

Evidently she's dating some actor, but I like to think that's because she hasn't met me yet. Give it time, I'm patient.

Anyway, here is my new semi-famous crush...OLIVIA MUNN!!!

Mac Tip: VMware to help ease the XP conversion pain

If you just bought your first Mac and you cannot stand booting into Boot Camp to use XP or Vista, try VMWare Fusion. It lists at $80 (but can be found for cheaper at Amazon.com for now) and can run your Windows while you are running OS X. It is fast, simple, and seamless.

You need to go to www.vmware.com, go to the Products Tab, then Products Index, then scroll down to VMWare Fusion, download and install it, and then follow the steps to install your paid copy of XP or Vista within the player. Fusion is a virtual machine that tricks Windows into thinking it is on its computer system.

Why do you need it? It allows you slowly release Windows grip from your psyche. You can reinstall all of your Win apps on it and use them for a bit...or forever...and buy Mac versions someday. It is more secure because it "sand boxes" Windows and disables viruses or malware to jump from the virtual machine to the OS X.

Among other settings, you get to set how much hard drive space you want it to have, how much RAM it will allocate for Windows, and also if you want to share the OS X hard drive. I recommend a full 20 gigs for your Windows install within VMWare. For the RAM it depends on how much RAM you have on your Mac. For 2 gigs of RAM on your Mac then use 1 gig for VMWare and if you have 4 gigs of RAM on your Mac then use 2 gigs for VMWare. While VMWare is open and running, it will allocate the RAM entirely which gives you less to use for Mac applications. I recommend read-only setting for sharing with the OS X hard drive. You don't want this version of Windows writing to your Mac. If you enable read/write, then a virus or malware could potentially infect files outside of VMWare.

Hope this helps and makes sense. Comment or email if you need help.

Really? No kidding?

What the hell? It may be hard to see but his head is pasted over Uncle Sam's (click to enlarge). Wow. Ballsy.

Jawbone Review

Image care of blog.treonauts.com

About 6 months ago I scrapped my Jabra BT200 bluetooth headset because of poor call quality, poor battery life, and frustration related to the connection process each time I cranked up bluetooth on my phone. I had the Jabra for almost 2 years and considered it extremely comfortable and easy to use. It was fairly unassuming in a world of people who seem to love to flaunt their bluetooth headset and their inability to TAKE IT OUT OF THEIR EAR AND PUT IT IN THEIR POCKET. sorry. I thought handsfree was for driving or multi-tasking...not walking in the mall or eating at a restaurant.

I did some web searching for quality reviews of headsets and stumbled upon the following: http://blog.treonauts.com/2007/03/treo_bluetooth_.html review of the jawbone. First I must state that the Jawbone is made by Aliph at http://www.jawbone.com/. The makers have gone to great lengths to create a headset that is easy to use, stylish, and one of the best noise reduction bluetooth units on te market. I will first send you to this video so that you fully understand what I am raving about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-VIdnrij7M. I have tested this unit with a vacuum cleaner on, right beside me and the headset is so successful in cancelling noise and improving the sound of your voice that my mother could hear me clearly and I could barely hear her over the vacuum cleaner.

I realize I am not doing a good job at reviewing this headset, however I think the attached links speak for themselves. Personally, with the included ear accessories, the unit is very comfortable. The wrap around piece is poorly made and breaks easy. Both my father and my ear pieces broke through light use. I will note that typically I can wear the headset with few issues. I cannot swing my head side to side or up/down without the ear hook thing but typically does well in driving and walking conditions. Aliph has come out with a new model which is smaller than the unit I purchased. The units use very low profile, hidden buttons to turn the unit on/pair/mute/volume/noise cancelling. The charger is USB or plugs into a wall jack and is lightweight and easy to take on trips with you. It charges quickly and holds a charge for adequate talk/standby time. See Andrew's Treonaut review for more details.

I strongly recommend you look into this product if you are in the market for a bluetooth headset. Don't forget you can get it almost half off on eBay. For weight, looks, and funtionality (and the fact that my dad can use it successfully), the headset is a great buy.

Leo and the TWiT Army!

I need to formally endorse Leo Laporte here on the blog.  For those who don't know him, he has been in TV, radio, and print for years in the world of tech.  He currently has two websites...www.leoville.com and www.twit.tv.  Leoville is much more tuned to his lower tech listeners and twit.tv is his netcast/netcast network.  

He once worked for ZDTV, soon to be TechTV where I came across him on the Screen Savers.  TechTV fell apart unfortunately after being bought by G4.  I actually wished I could work for TechTV and too bad I wasn't ambitious enough.  Currently TWiT is working to revive the old TechTV mantra.  Between Revision3.com and TWiT.tv, we will get there soon enough.  The two sites consist of a great collection of geeks, dorks, nerds, hackers, and cool folks put a plethera of outstanding and crappy video and audio netcasts/vidcasts.

Also go to Leoville.com and check out Leo's cool live stream when he is doing a show.  He has just built up a new studio, just as Revision3 did recently, and is prepping to go a bit more professional.  This is going to be the new media soon, and I hope Leo and the TWiT army reap the benefits.  

Sorry...have to go.  Will add more later.

Tuckers? It really should be called Suckers

To be honest, I really thought this place was going to be great.

When TK's brother got married, the spread they had there was great. When he mentioned that we were going to the restaurant section of where his brother had his wedding, after a smart-assed comment, I thought, Holy crap, the food is expensive, but it's going to be really good. I still have foodie dreams about their portabella pastries.

I checked on the internet, and it looked like this place was going to be a typical, high-end Dallas foodie place, with really complex but wonderful dishes. I got there late, and sampled a bit of the wine ($23 a bottle, REALLY?) and convinced TK that we should get a goat-cheese with roasted pine nuts appetizer.

I should have known we were in trouble when it came out. It wasn't that good, and TK and I were the only people at the table that were eating it. I decided to forgo the quail and go for something easier, which was the Kobe Beef Hamburger (at $16 a pop, I thought, what the hell? It'll be good, it's Kobe beef, and it's cheaper than some hamburgers that I've gotten at Twisted Root).

When I finally got my burger, it was raw in the middle. And I don't mean raw like it was undercooked. I mean raw like steak tartar raw. I tried to power through it, but I'm a man who likes his meat cooked, usually overdone rather than under. I got halfway through, and had to give up.

A little note about myself. I don't EVER send food back. I don't care how nice the place is, I've had friends who worked in restaurants, I've seen Waiting, and I read Waiter Rant. I DON'T EVER SEND FOOD BACK. I might bitch and complain, but I'll never send the food back, only to have it come back to me, out of my sight for a few minutes. They could have stink-palmed it, for all I know.

If the food was a problem, that would be one thing. But the service was awful too. At one point, our waiter walked over to where we were, waiting for him to bring us the check, looked at us, saw that we were done with no plates and empty water glasses, and walked away. Without asking if we needed anything. In a place that's $35 a plate, that's unacceptable. Yes, I still tipped over 15%. Why? Because I'm retarded and I feel bad for waiters. Why? I have no idea. They make way more money than I do.

All in all, I won't be going back to Tuckers anytime soon. I'd rather go to Snuffers, which sounds the same, but has excellent food. Their marinated chicken strips are the best ever, and they have the best...THE BEST...cheese fries in the world. Try them out.

I think everyone else at the table had a good meal, but I spent the rest of the night with stomach aches, not able to sleep, and got to watch my entire meal in reverse the next morning. It's safe to say, Tuckers is not on my top ten lists. Now, I wish I had argued more for Sushi Zushi.

Poof Drops?

For those who need to cover up the stink while on the pooper...check out poof drops. I am not sure if this is real, but they definitely should hook up with the "beano" folks and sells these in a two pack. Crazy stuff. What the heck is Japanese Mint anyways?

JUNO: Movie Review

Last week I saw Juno for the second time. The first encounter with the movie was not an enjoyable experience. I think I was not in the mood for a drama/dark comedy and it hit me in the face fairly hard. I really have to be prepared for a movie to truly enjoy it. Sometimes if a movie is made so well then no matter what I am expecting, I will appreciate it's artistic qualities. With that said, this is a entertaining movie. I won't get into all of the details, but will hit on the high points.

The music was effectively selected for this flick because all of the characters are not run of the mill Hollywood written types. Nor are they cast by terribly pretty people...except Jennifer Garner. She is an attractive woman. The music is off center, and float well behind the surface of the scene they are placed in. They don't drive the scenes but compliment the storyline. The Moldy Peaches have a few songs throughout this movie. I will be honest - I am not a fan of them. Sometimes deviation from mainstream media is just that - deviation. I am not a supporter that all expression is art.

The cast of characters are fantastic overall. From Jason Bateman to Michael Cera to Ellen Page to Allison Janney. They all perform well in their roles and give you a true sense you are living beside them and around them. Ellen Page's character is a tough sell given that she is so young and so mature. I have met so many kids that consider themselves mature, but never come across this well. I have a hard time believing any kid could react to being pregnant as she does. I realize movies require suspension of disbelief, but this one was a bit tougher to swallow than most.

Still, much funnier and impressive the second time around. I knew the characters more the second round and appreciated the relationships and interactions that occured throughout the film. Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman did a great job delivering a story and film that deserves the positive response they have received so far.

Once you go Mac, you never go back

I have gone and done the inevitable. I purchased an iMac. I have to admit, when they went to the Intel chip and I realized for any legacy Windows needs I could just dual boot, I was sold. My old Dell was about 6 years old and after the final reformat and install, it was not coming back to life. Windows and all of the software I chose to install on it just couldn't cut it on the 1.6 GHz Pentium 4. Mind you, that was the first foray into the Pentium world, so to say that I am an early adopter is a bit of a misnomer. I used to build my own systems but went to a Dell for an assumed level of compatibility and less hardware conflicts.

First Time Mac Owner
I chose to purchase a refurbished iMac from the Apple Store because I did not need a new model, nor did I need to upgrade any of the components just yet. I presume I will go and get some additional RAM in the future, but not yet. I purchased the 24" LCD, 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme. Another first in my computer purchasing history is that I have never purchased the best computer on the market (in its class). I typically figure that I don't need the fastest and greatest computer, but this round I chose otherwise. I wanted the 24" screen, which is a fantastic display, and the additional computing power to last me a bit longer before it becomes obsolete. I also purchased a refurbished AirPort Extreme router/print/data server. Figured it would link up easily with the iMac and allow my external hard drive and printer to be used by everyone in the house.

For those who don't know about the refurbished section of the Apple Store, go to www.apple.com/store and look down to the bottom left of the page. There is also links to purchase as a government employee or student. You can receive up to 10% off all products through this route.

The computer came yesterday in a non-descript cardboard package, weighing in at around 30 lbs or so. Easy to lift, easy to unpack. The iMac is an all-in-one, literally. It only has a power cord, a keyboard, and a mouse. They give you a manual and some disks, but they take up minimal space in the box. I plugged it all together, turned it on, and was off. There were a few settings regarding where you are in the world and what language you speak, and then Apple takes you into a fantastic welcome video. It is an animation through space and says "welcome" in probably 20+ languages. It was fantastic. A sight for the eyes. Apple exceeds in making me as a user feel like part of a community. I must disclose that I have three iPods (3G 15 Gig, 5G 30 Gig, and a 1G 1Gig Shuffle) and my wife has a Mini and a Shuffle as well. They are works of electronic art.

One important note when starting to use a Mac compared to Windows. Macs are Unix based and does a much better job of allowing users to run as non-Admins. Set up your Mac and install all of your desired programs as Admin (the mode that you start as), and then go to User Accounts and add yourself and family members without Admin rights. This will help minimize malware and viruses gaining full access to your computer as easily.

I first installed the software that came with the AirPort Extreme and used it to wirelessly connect to the internet. Very simple indeed. You just go into Applications, Utilities, AirPort Utility and run through the settings. For those who are not so network savvy - MAKE SURE YOU SET UP SECURITY ON YOUR ROUTER. Too many people fail to do this and think it is too complicated. It is not complicated at all. Just follow the steps in your router's manual. My iMac was now securely connected to the internet via the AirPort Extreme, and on came the updates. It took about 3 hours to download all of the updates for the preinstalled software. No worries there. Part of installing or using a new OS. During the update, I went and immediately downloaded Firefox at www.firefox.com. This browser is more secure than Safari and allows for really cool add-ins. I then googled top 10 Mac apps and found the following webistes:
http://paulstamatiou.com/2005/12/19/10-apps-every-new-mac-user-should-download
http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/keiths-top-10-mac-applications-124876.php
http://gigaom.com/2005/09/03/10macapps/
Out of these sites I recommend most Adium. It is a sleek instant messenger tool that can load your accounts from pretty much any chat software. I don't think it integrates into iChat but that is no biggie. I also recommend BitTorrent and OpenOffice. OpenOffice is a great, and free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office.

Installing software is a bit unusual....at least for a PC user. You download the software as a dmg file. You download the file, run it, and then it pops up this odd graphic. You take the icon within the graphic, and drop it into your Applications folder. From there you can drag it onto your Dashboard, the useful "start menu" replacement. I guess it is more of a Quick Launch toolbar for windows users, but much more aesthetic.

I will post more details as times goes on and I come across good websites or tricks for new Mac users.