My Head Hertz

A Must-See Video Podcast!

2007-11-03T23:21:00.000-04:00

If you know me, you know that I spend much of my internet-surfing free time exploring the web looking for interesting, and mostly nerdy, tech content. It comes in the form of Blogs, Audio Podcasts (great for long car trips) and Video Podcasts (not so great for long car trips). I'm going to focus this post on the latter type - video podcasts.

In my search for good video podcast content, I often run across ones that hook me and get me checking the site every time I can drain a little bandwidth from the local coffee shops. And of course I find ones that aren't worth a dime, or worse yet, the 25 minutes it took for me to get it (that's 5 minutes to drive to the coffee shop and 20 minutes to download it).

Today was one that hooked me. Like crack to a drug addict, oh man, I'm hooked (okay, so maybe not that bad). I was browsing the iTunes podcast library and stumbled across a video podcast by the New York Times. It's by their technology columnist David Pogue. Now, stop right there. The first thing I thought is probably what you're thinking. "New York Times... yeah, I'm sure any podcast they produce will be just as fun and exciting to watch as Ze Frank or Ricky Gervais...It won't be dry or boring at all..." Thinking this, I almost went right past it. But I had heard David Pogue before (on his audio podcast) and thought he was a little funny and a pretty enjoyable speaker. So I decided to give it a shot and downloaded every one they had available - all 41 of them! I'm already halfway through them and just stopped long enough to go to the bathroom and post to my blog. Not only is the tech information interesting and informative, but he is seriously very funny (okay, so usually in a slightly geeky/nerdy sort of way, but still funny). Each video is short enough for him to review the product or genre of products and add a small amount of humor - enough to get you to smile and want to watch the next one. It's what video podcasts were meant to be. So check it out. Now!

Click to view in the iTunes store (then subscribe to it!)

Now if only I would quit blogging and actually do it!

2007-07-07T23:54:00.001-04:00

I'm a big fan of Merlin Mann's productivity website 43folders.com. I'm also a big fan of learning about ways to make my life more productive & more organized. I can't say I follow everything I read, but I at least have the ideas in my head so I can someday implement them. :) That being said, I read an inspiring posting on 43folders about the war on clutter. He actually has a whole series on this topic, but this one is a pretty good place to start.

My War on Clutter: Never "organize" what you can discard

Now if only I would quit blogging and actually do it!

Although I don't think I could actually get rid of ALL my junk. I mean, I am a computer nerd. I HAVE to have 10 extra old computers lying around "just in case"...

Code Monkey author Jonathan Coulton

2007-05-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Check out this article in the New York Times Magazine about Jonathan Coulton, the author of the Internet famed hit song "Code Monkey". It gets into how musicians have changed their marketing techniques in this Web 2.0 day in age. Pretty interesting, but a very long read...

He also comments on this article and offers many of his songs for free at his website...

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/

1-800-GOOG-411

2007-04-08T01:10:00.000-04:00

Okay, so maybe it doesn't take much to impress me, but WOW, GOOGLE!! I think this has impressed me more than gmail, directory assistance by SMS or the google reader. Google has announced a FREE automated directory assistance by phone. That's right, GOOGLE, a computer company has announced a PHONE service... NOT involving a computer. That's the kicker for me. Think about it, if Google is able to do something like this, then the sky's the limit as far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to see what they've got up their sleeves next.

Read the TechCrunch posting

The Tech Guy gets syndicated!

2007-01-27T01:37:00.000-05:00

Hot of the press! Leo Laporte of TechTV and This Week in Tech (TWiT) fame is taking his KFI Radio Show to a national level. I'm very excited about this. I've listened to his KFI show in podcast form several times and of course am addicted to many of the TWiT network podcasts.

Easy ways to find your gmail...

2007-01-27T00:58:00.000-05:00

I've always been bothered by there not being folders in gmail. To help you find your messages, there are some easy ways to search in gmail. You can learn some tricks at:

http://www.our-picks.com/archives/2007/01/26/search-gmail-geek-style/

Great retro games in your browser

2006-09-09T00:52:00.000-04:00

Here are some fun retro games you can play in your browser. Even has a very good port of duck hunt using your mouse.. fun :)

Why does Windows take so long to boot?

2006-09-09T00:19:00.000-04:00

I have wondered this for some time. Why does it seem like a new system is so fast, but over time it just seems to get soooooooo slowwwwww... check out this article.

Very good information and how to fix some of the problems.

[Read my updated comment below. Some information in the article was incorrect.]

What will Micro$oft Vista cost?

2006-08-28T22:45:00.000-04:00

Oops... someone goofed up... Microsoft has not released the prices yet for the new Vista operating system. Or have they... Microsoft's Canadian retail site had prices listed for a very short time before they caught their mistake and took them. Converted to U.S. Dollars, here they are...

Full Version
Vista Ultimate $450
Vista Business $341
Vista Home Premium $269
Vista Home Basic $233

Upgrade Version
Vista Ultimate Upgrade $269
Vista Business Upgrade $224
Vista Home Premium Upgrade $179
Vista Home Basic Upgrade $116

That's a little too rich for my blood. Not to mention, I've heard it won't run on my 486 DX2-66.

140 Page History of Apple OS

2006-08-26T10:36:00.000-04:00

If you are into computer history like I am, you're always excited to find every little tid-bit of information you can get you eyes on. And this one is a real gem. It's the first chapter (140 page first chapter!!!) of a 1680 page book about OS X and Systems Design and Implementation. The book is titled Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach.

The first chapter is about all Apple Operating Systems. It is very detailed and has many great pictures. It is free to download. You can find out more here. Or just go ahead and download the PDF.

Google audio player

2006-08-26T00:11:00.000-04:00

Ever wanted to be able to listen to an MP3 file from the web without having to download the file first? Perhaps you are in a library that doesn't allow downloading. Or you are running a browser on a non-standard minimal storage device such as a Nintendo DS or PSP. Well, you're in luck. Once again, Google has come through for us with a very useful web product. This product was designed by Google for the ability to play voice mail messages in your inbox from Google Talk.

Just put in this url to your web browser, replacing the "LINK TO YOUR MP3" with the full url to an MP3 file.

http://mail.google.com/mail/html/audio.swf?audioUrl=LINK TO YOUR MP3

Or perhaps you would rather use the encrypted link...

https://mail.google.com/mail/html/audio.swf?audioUrl=LINK TO YOUR MP3

You can read up more about this new Google feature here.

Don't go hungry while late night coding again!

2006-08-23T22:45:00.000-04:00

Ever been at your computer late at night working away and think... man, I could sure go for a nice slab of steak right now... while here's your answer... USB powered mini grill :)

Job Security Anyone?

2006-08-20T23:09:00.000-04:00

Find out how to produce unmaintainable code...

The truth about software development...

2006-08-20T00:56:00.000-04:00

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/tmptmp/software_development.jpg

Linux Running on a Gameboy!

2006-08-14T23:09:00.000-04:00

If you want to see linux running on a gameboy, check this out.

Ok, so it's not really linux running on a gameboy. But it sure looks real. After I first saw this, I had to figure out what the deal was. My first thought... photoshop at it's best... not so.. I did a little more research and it turns out it is really Linux running, but not on the gameboy. It's actually running on a computer using the gameboy as a screen.. And the modem is just for show. Cool, huh?

Hi-res wallpaper & much, much more

2006-08-13T23:22:00.000-04:00

I found a great site that's worth checking out. There are over 800 high-res wallpapers (in every screen dimension you can think of, including widescreen). Thousands of Icons for Mac OS X and Windows. Many Themes as well. It looks like they don't have much for Linux other than the backgrounds of course.. but that could change.

Best part... they're all FREE.

Check out interfacelift.com.

Browser showdown

2006-08-12T22:46:00.000-04:00

There are surprising results at this site showing which browser won a series of Javascript speed tests: Firefox 1.5, IE 6.0 or Opera 9. I'm both a Firefox and Opera fan myself and had mixed feelings about the results. Plus, take the test on your own browser and see how you do. I got 3600 ms running Firefox 1.5 in Linux (with a whole lot of other junk running too).

See for yourself here.

Want to be a hacker?

2006-08-11T23:36:00.000-04:00

...a Life hacker that is... In all my searching on the net, I've seen many sites that have peaked my interest. Even ones I've returned to a second time. But this one is right up there with Digg and Slashdot. I know that's saying a lot, but you really should give it a try.

The site I'm raving about is Lifehacker.com.

The point of the site is to give tips, tricks, software, lists, links, etc to make your life easier. Why should technology make your life harder and more cluttered when it can make your life easier and neater? Remember...

"Don't live to geek; geek to live."

I'm warning you though... only go there if you have a good hour to kill. There is a lot of content worth reading. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday WWW

2006-08-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

As my very first blog posting on my very first blog, I thought it very fitting for it to be about the Web itself. Ok, so the "Happy Birthday" is a little bit belated, but 4 days isn't bad...

That's right, 15 years ago last Sunday, a project emerged that did in fact change our lives forever. That's the day that Tim Berners-Lee of Switzerland posted to the alt.hypertext newsgroup, letting the world know all about the WorldWideWeb Project.

Take a step back in time 15 years and read the actual posting for yourself.

Or read a lot more about WWW History at Wikipedia.