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Updates from October, 2006 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• Andy 10:22 pm on 10/31/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Happy Halloween! 

  OK… so the real reason for this post today is so that I don’t go the entire month of October without an update to the website. Things have been busy, but not with the sorts of things to update on the website.

  We had everyone to our place for Thanksgiving which was a lot of fun.

  Matt and I are also trying our hands at video podcasting now with The Skinny on Sports Tech. The latest episode talks about my new toys – the new iPod nano and the Nike+ Sports Kit. You can check out the video to find out more about that. The easiest way to play the videos if you’re having trouble is with iTunes. We’re hoping to make it much easier in the future for those of you that just want to see the video within the web page itself.

  That’s all for now. November is just around the corner!

  Technorati Tags: apple, nano, nike, podcast, sports kit, video

   

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• Andy 4:07 pm on 5/25/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  New Skype Phone 

  After doing some searching, I finally found a Skype phone that is compatible with a Mac – the IPEVO Free-1. If you’ve never used Skype, now is as good a time as any to try since they recently announced that not only can you call between Skype users for free, but you can also call any number in the US or Canada from Skype for FREE! This will be great when I’m traveling this summer and that is part of the reason for getting the phone. If you’re wondering what I mean by “Skype Phone”, basically it’s a USB device that looks like a phone and communicates with Skype. It’s an easy way to avoid having to use the built in mic and speakers on your computer – plus it seems less awkward to be talking into something that looks like a phone instead of just a mic on the computer! To use it, your computer needs to be on and connected to the internet, but then you can place calls on the phone and it goes through Skype. You can choose to either call one of your Skype contacts, or call any other regular phone line. I’ll let you know how the quality is, but as I say, it was the only one I could find for a Mac, so I thought I’d give it a shot! You can get all the details about the phone here.
  

  Technorati Tags: apple, ipevo, skype, usb phone

   

• Andy 7:22 am on 5/11/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  USB Flash Memory Drive 

  If anyone is looking for what I would consider to be a good deal on a USB stick, check out this link. For $74.99 after $15.00 mail-in rebate, you get a * 2 GB * stick. Shipping is only $7.99 and I’ve dealt with this online shop in the past with good results. Also, this particular USB stick has received very good reviews for really fast transfers. I’m sold!

  I can’t believe how cheap USB Flash memory has become. I finally took the plunge to upgrade my old 32 MB stick. I figure it will come in handy this summer since I may not always be able to carry my laptop around with me to and from the hospital in Sydney. Less than a month now until I’m on the plane to Oz!

   

• Andy 10:26 pm on 3/20/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Everyday FreeMacWare 

  Seeing as I’ve been talking about some of my favourite Mac software on here lately, and FreeMacWare.com is running a contest involving free sofware for the Mac, I thought now would be a good time to write about by Top 5 Free Mac Software that you too could use for free if you switch to a Mac!

  Up first is Camino. I use this as my everyday (actually every minute) browser. It’s built off the same engine as FireFox and has the feel of a Mac program. It also has the nice side effect of feeling “snappier” on my Powerbook than Firefox.
  

  
  This is about as easy as Bittorrent gets on a Mac. With Transmission, you just download and start the torrent file – that’s it! No frills, no messy interface, just an easy download.
  

  
  If you want a player that can handle virtually any audio and video file out there, look no further than VLC. This player is available for many platforms and seems to “just work” for almost every file.
  

  
  Audacity is a great (and very powerful) audio editing program. We use it every week to edit The Skinny on Sports Podcast and it comes in handy for trimming lots of other audio files. A must have tool for anyone doing audio work.
  

  
  Last, but certainly not least, is Cyberduck. It’s a simple FTP program with drag and drop support. Can’t ask for much more from an FTP client – especially for the average user with very simple FTP needs.
  

  That’s my list! These little free applications make me realize everyday that I definitely made the right decision switching to a Mac!

  Technorati Tags: apple, audacity, camino, cyberduck, freemacware, freeware, transmission, vlc

   

• Andy 8:00 am on 3/16/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  LaunchBar 

  
  This is another one of my picks and LaunchBar is an application that I can’t live without (sorry to all you windows users, it’s Mac only). Someone recommended LaunchBar to me when I first got my Mac and I checked out the website, but I didn’t really get it. I thought, sure, it looks interesting, but is it really a necessity. Then I started using it and then it just clicked, and I realized why I needed it. Instead of having to clutter up my Dock, I can keep the bare minimum of items, and then use LaunchBar to quickly launch anything else that is on my computer with quick keyboard shortcuts.

  LaunchBar is smart. For instance, if you type “ITU” it will give you a list of everything starting with those letters in a drop-down menu. Then, after you choose iTunes from the list, it remembers this and next time you type the shortcut, it becomes the first item in the list.

  LaunchBar is fast. You would think that having to go through everything on your computer and remember what you picked last would slow everything down. Not at all. LaunchBar is always there when you need it and quickly makes itself invisible when you don’t.

  LanchBar searches. You can even setup shortcuts to search templates. For instace, when I type “G” it selects the Google search template, then I just press the spacebar, enter my search term, and my web browser launches with the search results. This is especially useful when multitasking since you don’t have to keep switching between windows, it just does it. I’ve also setup other shortcuts for Wikipedia, IMDB, Pubmed, and many more searches.

  LaunchBar emails. (Or at least launches email). You can configure LaunchBar to search the email addresses in your address book. When you select the address from the list, it launches a new message in Mail with the address already entered.

  LaunchBar rocks! If you aren’t convinced yet, you just need to try it for yourself. At $19.95 it’s a steal considering how much I use it. You can configure LaunchBar to do as little or as much as you want (I haven’t even talked about launching iTunes playlists or bookmarks in your web browser). Once you “get it”, it will change your Mac experience forever!

  Technorati Tags: apple, launchbar

   

• Andy 11:49 am on 2/27/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  FireAnt for Video Podcasts 

  
  I use iTunes for my podcasting needs, but I found that I didn’t like it as much for video podcasts. It just seemed a little slower to me and I wanted a bit more control over the content. That’s when I found a great application called FireAnt. The application is still in development, but even with a few minor bugs, I’m using FireAnt as my everyday video podcasting client. The developers are also very responsive to email about problems and suggestions and I’m looking forward to upcoming changes. If you’re looking for a new way to manage all of your video subscriptions, give FireAnt a try!

  Technorati Tags: fireant, podcasts, video podcasts, videoblog

   

• Andy 9:20 am on 2/18/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Spell with flickr – New Header Graphic 

  I thought it was time for a new header graphic after seeing this cool use of images on flickr.com. If you haven’t heard of flickr, it’s a way to easily share photos online. What the people at Spell with flickr have done is allow you to type in a word or phrase, and then using letters that are found within pictures on flickr, it creates an image of your word (as seen in my header graphic). You can also click on each letter that it gives you if you want it to choose another one from flickr until your image looks just the way you want it to. While there may not be many super practical uses for this site, I still think it’s fun!
  

  Technorati Tags: flickr

   

• Andy 7:36 pm on 1/26/2006 Permalink | Reply  

  iPod Battery Replacement 

  They say there comes a point in time for every iPod where the battery doesn’t like to hold a charge any longer. That time came before Christmas for me. I headed onto Ebay.ca and picked up a new battery for my 4G 40 Gig iPod. It arrived and then it was the fun of trying to crack it open and install the new battery (since iPods don’t have any screws, this can be a little more “fun” then you might think!)

  I found these great instructions – there is a PDF document and even a video to show you how it’s done. I followed it step-by-step and didn’t seem to have any problems.

  However, shortly after changing the battery, my iPod started to act a little weird. It would just randomly crash and tell me that the battery was out when it wasn’t, etc. Not fun! So, after almost giving up and possibly shipping it back to Apple to see if they could fix it, I decided to do a complete “Restore to Factory Settings” – bascially it wipes out everything and you’re left with a fresh iPod as if you just bought it. I was skeptical about this working, but I would want to do this to ship it back anyways.

  So far, (and I know it’s just one day), it seems to be behaving as it should. I know that’s not the ideal situation for others that are having problems with their iPod, but as a last resort, it seems to have done the trick! I’ll post an update if things change…

  UPDATE: The replacement battery does not seem to be holding a charge for nearly as long as it should and my iPod has still been randomly crashing. The guy who sold me the battery on eBay is going to let me exchange it, so I’ll wait for that before giving up and sending the whole iPod back to Apple. I’ll keep you posted.

  UPDATE: I installed the replacement battery and the problems I was having seem to have gone away and I’m getting a good charge out of the new battery. I wanted to wait a while before posting the update since last time I said all was good, it all went bad again! All in all, besides the hiccup with what was likely a faulty battery, I’d recommend that anyone who’s iPod needs a bit of a boost check out getting a new battery.

  Toggle Comments | Noel is discussing.

   

  • Noel 7:30 am on 7/28/2006 Permalink

    I bought an iPOD from a friend of mine, 40 gig. I plugged it in and restored the factory settings as it gave me a choice to either do so or update the software. So I figured I’d start off fresh and restore setting and wipe out everything on it as well. But now it shows a picture to plug it into a wall (AC). Did you come accross this? It won’t let me do anything, it just show that picture. Not even plugging it into my computer via USB does the trick.

• Andy 11:30 am on 10/22/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Yahoo! Podcasting 

  
  Yahoo! has jumped in on podcasting with a new website. It’s been out for a couple of weeks now, but I wanted to point it out now since we are on their front page as one of their Staff Picks. You can view a full screenshot here.

  Thanks Yahoo!
  

   

• Andy 11:00 am on 10/5/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Everything Moved to New Host 

  Everything should be moved over to the new host now. The frustrating part for me the past few weeks was that the site always seemed to be down on the weekends, which is when I usually actually have some time to think about posting here. Then by the time the site was back up, I had forgotten what I was going to write about and the site would sit quiet for a while again.

  Hopefully this new host will be a bit more reliable. Let me know if you notice anything weird about the site as there may be a few kinks yet to be noticed from the move.

   

• Andy 12:42 pm on 10/2/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Downtime… 

  As many of you have probably noticed, there has been significant downtime with this site in the past few weeks/months. When I first switched to the hosting company I am currently using (VizaWeb) they were really good at getting back to me and answering my questions. They would give me reasons for site outages, and since they weren’t occuring that often, it didn’t seem like too big of a deal. In the past month however, they have not returned a single email to me about what has been happening with their servers, nor have they answered or returned my phone calls. I’ve decided that enough is enough and I will be switching web hosts. I have one in mind and I’m hoping the transistion will occur relatively smoothly. However, if there does happen to be some downtime in the next few days or weeks, it might be a result of the move.

  I’ve given VizaWeb numerous oppotunities and plenty of time to return my emails but have yet to hear a thing. As I say, their service used to be good in the beginning, but it’s time for me to move on to a company with a better record for customer service.

  I’ll keep everyone posted and hopefully there will not be too much downtime as a result of the move.

   

• Andy 10:56 am on 8/29/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Finally a Mac owner… 

  After writing about Mac’s on this website for a couple years now, and talking about them with numerous people, I finally took the plunge and said goodbye to my Windows system. Instead, I now am the proud owner of a 12″ G4 Powerbook and I haven’t looked back.

  I’ve acually had the new Powerbook for almost 2 weeks now, but I wanted to hold off on posting about it until I had used it a bit and gotten a better feel for it. Things just seem “easier” on a Mac and while I was hesitant about dismantling my old system, I haven’t actually had the need for anything in the Windows world (aside from my old data files) that is making me question my decision.

  Over the next little while, I will be posting more about some of the new programs that I’m really liking that are making my life easier as well as other bits of Apple technology that I’m now using around the house.

   

• Andy 5:14 pm on 8/7/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Some Updates and a New Toy! 

  Last Wednesday saw the start of med school with O-week. In addition to getting to meet all my new classmates, we also had some time to learn a bit about what we’ll be up to for the next three years and also have some fun! This included a fake 3 hour exam put on by the second year students, the Med Olympics, a Calgary-wide scavenger hunt, and lots of other fun and pranks!

  One other great part about med school for technology geeks like me is that at the University of Calgary, they give each one of the med students a Palm Tungsten C PDA. I know the cost of these is virtually nothing compared to the amount of tuition we pay, but it still feels good to at least feel like you’re being given something for free! The great part about this model is that it has Wi-Fi capabilities making it easy to synch email and calendars anywhere that Wi-Fi internet access is available – which just happens to be the entire hosptial and Health Sciences Centre. There are also many textbooks and online databases that will be available as well so this should be one gadget that all students will really learn to appreciate.

  The real classes start this week so it’ll be interesting to see what that’s like – especially since I haven’t had actual lectures in quite a while.

  One more exciting note – I won’t be needing to buy a stethoscope since I won one during O-week!

   

• Andy 8:24 pm on 6/20/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Get your Tech Fix! 

  A lot of people ask me how I stay on top of things in the world of technology. I’ve talked about feed aggregators in the past which help to bring all of the information from the various websites that I read into one place. Reading is fine, but it’s definitely not the same as audio and video.

  I used to watch a television show called The Screensavers that was on TechTV before the network was bought out by a gaming network. The new network got rid of the most of the old personalities and the show went downhill from there. Leo Laporte was the former star of the show and he has brought together some of the other former on-air talent for a weekly podcast talking about everything in technology. The show is called This Week in Tech (TWiT) and it’s usually about an hour in length. They’ve done 10 shows already and the technology content is really good.

  Kevin Rose, who also used to appear on The Screensavers and now apprears on TWiT, also has his own internet video project called Systm. They have put out two episodes so far and it seems that these videos will cover more hard-core geeky tech information.

  Leo also hosts a show that airs in Canada and Australia called Call for Help. Through the magic of BitTorrent and the Call for Help Tracker you can download episodes of this show which are aimed at beginner tech users but still contain enough geeky content and product reviews to satisfy everyone.

  Amber and Mikey who also have segments on Call for Help have recently started a video project called Command-N. They are putting out a weekly video about 10 minutes in length covering tips and tricks from around the internet. Definitely worth the watch!

  As you can see, there are many options out there that do not involve traditional broadcasting methods to receive audio and video. I beleive that podcasting and interent delivered video are on the verge of getting even bigger than they already are and the face of content delivery is about to change drastically. It will be fun to see how things develop!

   

• Andy 11:23 am on 5/13/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Off to the Windy City with the New Digital Camera! 

  It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks and I’m off to Chicago tomorrow for a few days for a conference with work. I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures with our new digital camera. We chose the Olympus Stylus Verve because it’s super small and weatherproof. Those were the two biggest things we wanted since the hassle with cameras is having to actually lug them around and then take them out of the case when you want to use it. This camera is completely sealed when it’s closed so you don’t have to worry about a little rain or dirt getting inside. Just throw it in your pocket and you can have it out to take pictures in a snap!

  Talk to you next week!

   

• Andy 9:13 pm on 3/15/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Skype 

  There are some really new and interesting technologies making their way onto the internet these days. One of them that I think looks very promising is Skype. I’ve mentioned the word Skype to a few people lately and they haven’t really known what I’m talking about so I thought it was time to post about it. From their website:

  “Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world.”

  If you’ve used an instant messenger program such as MSN, then the Skype interface will look very familiar to you. However, in addition to text chatting, you can also call the person and talk to them by using a microphone and your computer. When calling another Skype user, it’s completely free no matter where they are in the world!

  Better still, Skype also has a service called “SkypeOut” which allows you to use Skype to call any number in the world at very good rates – just 1.7 Euro Cents per minute for most popular destinations including the US and Canada. They are also beta testing a service called “SkypeIn” that gives Skype users a phone number so that people that don’t have Skype can call them. Basically, this makes Skype the new phone company.

  I’ve used Skype and I must say that the quality is very good. I was skeptical at first because some of these internet services in the past have been a bit buggy and choppy to say the least, but this one really works well. Another interesting feature that is also in beta is a voice mail feature so before long, it will be just like a regular phone. Skype also sells phones that look just like a regular phone but hook up to your internet connection so that you can use the power of Skype without feeling like you’re tied to a computer.

  At any given moment, there are about 1.5 million Skype users online – so it is an idea that is catching on and could be the way all phone calls are made in the very near future. If you haven’t already, give Skype a try – let me know if you do and you can Skype Me!

   

• Andy 10:39 pm on 2/8/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  USA Today Article – Skinny on Sports 

  Sorry to have kept this one a secret, but I didn’t want to say too much before I saw what the end result was. Last week, I got a call from the USA Today! They were doing an article about podcasting featuring Dawn and Drew who we’ve had on the show in the past. He talked with me for about 10 minutes and said he would try and work the interview into the story.

  I’m excited to say that the story is now in the newspaper and can also be read online here. Needless to say, we are thrilled to even get mentioned, nevermind quoted in the article. Hopefully this will only bring more good things to The Skinny on Sports.

  Toggle Comments | Scott, and Cheryl are discussing.

   

  • Cheryl 12:12 am on 2/9/2005 Permalink

    What ?????? That is totally exciting ….. are you sure you are my kids ……. who would of thought …… I listened to you both talking sports for a good part of my life ……. who would have imagined something so great happening …… I want tickets if you get on Oprah ….. ha…ha… Way to proud of you ……. Love Mom

  • Scott 7:43 am on 2/9/2005 Permalink

    Fantastic Andy. A great idea, a fun hobby, hard work, and it’s paying off.

• Andy 5:00 pm on 1/22/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Podcasting… what’s it all about?!?! 

  I know I’ve been mentioning podcasting on this site a lot lately since Matt and I started The Skinny on Sports, but I don’t think I’ve really talked about podcasting and what I think it means in terms of the future of internet content.

  Podcasting may not seem like anything new to a lot of people. Afterall, people have been downloading audio files for years now – so why is podcasting so special? The reason that I thought I should talk about this is because podcasting brings together a few things that I’ve been mentioning on the site, but never all together in one post.

  I’ve mentioned Bloglines in the past as a way to keep track of all your favorite websites that have RSS feeds. For example, I have over 50 different sites that I keep track of using Bloglines. Instead of having to check all 50 websites everyday to see if there is anything new, I simply check Bloglines and it gives me all the latest stories from all the sites. Huge time saver! The term Podcasting and its idea is built on this technology. Now, instead of just the story content included in the RSS feed, an enclosure is also included that contains the MP3 file. Now, using a program called iPodder or others (that’s just the one that I use), I can check different podcasts with the press of a single button. It simply scans the RSS feeds for those other shows and automatically downloads any new MP3 files in the enclosures. I can even set this to download and transfer the tracks to my iPod in the middle of the night so that I don’t have to wait for the content to download in the morning. I just pick up my iPod each morning before work and have fresh shows to listen to on my way. This level of automation is what makes podcasting unique. You don’t need to go to each site and download the audio files that you want each day – it just does it for you!

  Like Bloglines, my iPodder is now getting filled with various RSS feeds. I think everyone in the podcasting world listens to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code since he is at the leading edge of what is going on with podcasting. After that, the nice thing is that everyone is different and you can choose from the thousands of podcasts that now exist. It doesn’t matter what shows are coming on the radio in your area, you can listen to any podcast anytime you want. If you check out The Skinny on Sports website you’ll see a list in the left column of many of the other Podcasts that I listen to. It’s nice since I’ve actually had email conversations with most of the other Podcasters in that list and many of them have helped us get our start. For example, Dave Slusher encouraged us to even start a sports show, and Ben from UpTheTree.com was kind enough to offer the podcasting logo with the whistle around it’s neck for our show. Others have helped out with interviews on the show – Dawn and Drew and Endurance Radio – and ideas for how to help the show keep growing.

  The best way to find out about new podcasts is to look at iPodder.org which contains a directory of podcasts as well as the front page which is updated regularly with all the new shows. PodcastAlley.com is another great place to start since people can vote on their favorite shows and leave comments as well. There is also a forum there for discussion about other podcasts or for ideas/help on starting your own show. Podcasting has only been around since October 2004 so there is still plenty of time to get going on your own show. It lets everyone have the chance to let their voice be heard without the need for expensive studios and recording equipment.

  If you haven’t listened to any podcasts yet, give it a try. There is bound to be something that you like. The other important thing is to give each show a fair chance. Not every episode of a show is necessarily the same as their “usual” content. Even if you listen to a show and wonder what it is actually about, give it a few days and you’ll be waiting for the next show to come out just to hear what the person will say next. (That’s referring to you Dave Slusher!)

  Spread the word! Podcasting is here to stay so get listening and recording!

  Toggle Comments | Leonor, and Scott are discussing.

   

  • Scott 7:00 pm on 1/22/2005 Permalink

    Great post Andy.

  • Leonor 1:26 am on 11/16/2009 Permalink

    I started Podcasting about a year ago and it is more exciting than blogging. I love podcasting maybe because i love music so much and radio programs when i was still a kid.

• Andy 9:49 pm on 1/19/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  Google and Friends take on Comment Spam 

  Just as I’ve been doing even more reading trying to figure out how to control comment spam on my website and others, Google announces this. Essentially, Google, along with the help of many of the leading blogging companies, have come to an agreement that there will be a way to post links on a website (or in the comment section) without ‘giving credit’ to the link that is posted. This will discourage spammers from posting in comments and other public places since what they have been trying to do is increase the number of links to their site so that they will rank higher in Google’s search. (Hope I’m writing clearly enough and that makes sense.) Hopefully this announcement will mean that spammers will have less motivation to do so and the rise that everyone has seen in comment spam will come to a hault. On top of that though, it’s great to see so many companies coming together to try and put an end to comment spam instead of each company trying to develop their own unique way of dealing with it. Go team!

  Toggle Comments | Scott is discussing.

   

  • Scott 6:00 am on 1/20/2005 Permalink

    Great stuff Andy. I for one can benefit from less comment spam

• Andy 7:57 am on 1/12/2005 Permalink | Reply  

  For all the iPod and iTunes doubters out there… 

  
  From iPodlounge:
  During his keynote presentation at today’s Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed that more than 4.5 million iPods were sold in the December quarter–500 percent growth year over year. Jobs said the total number of iPods sold to date now stands at over 10 million units, with 8.2 million of those being sold in 2004. He said the 10 millionth iPod was sold on December 16, 2004.

  Jobs also said that more than 230 million songs have been purchased from the iTunes Music Store worldwide since it was launched in April 2003. He said that Apple is now selling approximately 1.25 million songs a day and that the company is on pace to sell nearly half a billion songs a year. Jobs also noted that over 1 million pre-paid iTunes cards have now been sold.