Archive for the ‘Comments’ Category

SMS @Replies Only

Friday, February 13th, 2009

S. Joy Studios has a great post on how to recive just @replies over SMS. It can be summarized into 4 easy steps:

  1. Sign up for an account @ notify.me
  2. set up your phone
  3. search for your name (“@USER”) at search.twitter.com
  4. add the feed from the search to notify.me

Voila! simple as that.  You can have Jabber IMs and emails too. Something I have been looking for a tool to do for a long time.

Tinydd

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

So a couple months ago, I created a new links site similar to tinyurl. The difference for me is that tinydd includes stats tracking. The mechanics are pretty simple actually, I map a 9 digit numeric ID that the links are all saved as in the DB to a base 62 alphabet (capital, lower case letters and numbers). I also made a bookmarklet to use when I am surfing.  I even modified the WordPress twitter plugin to use tinydd.

The stats pages are finally finished I think.  They can be seen here.  I also included some screenshots.  It was a fun side project for me for a while and I think its done.

If you want any of the code I would be happy to provide it.

LinksDetails

Wordpress 2.7

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Just upgraded to Word Press 2.7 Nice looking features. Just doing some testing to make sure the upgrade went okay.

UPDATE 12:23 AM : Upgrade went perfectly, also intalled twitme and got it to use tinydd. insted of thier URL shortener. :D

Slumdog Millionare & Gran Torino

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

Two great movies, best ones I’v seen in a while.

Lets start with Slumdog Millionaire. I would describe it as Hollywood’s take on Bollywood.  Great story of 2 brothers and a girl growing up in slums of India, all while centered around the main character on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”.  I really enjoyed the writers take on the story was well as the directors cuts.  Overall I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.  Loved the dance scene during the credits, true classic.

Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood’s movie about an old angry man with a horrible family who comes to terms with being cranky when he gets to know the Asian-Americans that live next door.  I kept wanting Eastwood to say something about damned dirty apes, but he never did.  Another great movie at the begining of 2009.  I would totally recommend it not a happy ending like Slumdog, but good none the less.  I am not as much of a big fan of the happy endings as others.  I would give this a 4 out of 5 stars.  Great movie all around, nice take on the cranky old man story.

Windows 7

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Okay so I finally got Windows 7 to install in virtualBox, turns out you need to select windows other, which does not allow 64-bit OSs.  Additionally i needed to have VT-x turned off to get the install to work.  Here are some prelim screenshots.  I will post more comments as I use it more but my first impression: the look is like the new KDE and Vista had an ugly bloated lovechild.  The default install of the x86 version of the OS takes up over 10Gb on a new vDrive nothing installed yet.  I love how the touted this as a trimmed down OS…. okay well here are the screenshots.

Startup Default DesktopStart MenuMy Computer

Any sugestions on what I should try? leave it in the comments, I’m going to try and use this a bit more and I will update here with my comments.

iPod Touch

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

So last week I splurged on an iPod Touch.  I know what everyone is saying: “why not get an iPhone, its better”.  Well 1. I didn’t want to switch to AT&T, and I still dont pay for my cell service :D .  So UCF has wireless EVERYWHERE…. almost.  Beyond that the only thing that was really holding me back was the price ($299 for the 8GB).  Well I discovered the refurbished models that Apple has on thier website (baiscly $100 off).  So that was my resonaing, but beyond that it is awesome.

The first item of business was of course the 2.0 firmware upgrade ($10 for iPod users).  This gave me access the the app store, and let me tell you there is some cool shit.  VNC, AIM, last.fm, AOL Radio just to name a few.  I have to say this is one of the best products I have used in a while.  It has all the features of the iPhone (almost) without the cost and contract.

The two things the iPod Touch lacks are a camera, which I have a pretty small one so thats not a big deal, and bluetooth.  I would hope that in the update they would add bluetooth sync (which the iPhone doesnt have I dont think).  So, for anyone thinking about buying an iPhone but likes thier phone too much I really recomend the iPod Touch.

UPDATE: lifehacker has an article about it today too (http://lifehacker.com/399619/forget-the-iphone++the-ipod-touch-is-good-enough)

Twitter/BrightKite/NetVibe

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

So, I have recently been using BrightKite and Twitter a lot.   I really like them.  In case you don’t know here is a short explanation with both:

  • BrightKite (bkite.com):  This is a location log.  You create an account and then when you go somewhere you “check-in”.  Then  you can see who is checked in near you as well as photos of this location.  Its kind of cool, this service also updates Twitter.  (Its in beta, so you need an invite, let me know if you want one).
  • Twitter (twitter.com): This is a versatile mini-blog utility.  Post are limited to 140 chars.  Updates can be made from iGoogle, Cell, Netvibes, and others. This is a cool think because you jot something small, and you can see what other people are thinking.
  • NetVibes (netvibes.com): This is a cool alternative to iGoogle. I enjoy it.

Common Courtesy

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Does common courtesy not even exist anymore?  I was in the union today and I got some lunch from BK.  When I got in line, about 5 tables where available so I didn’t think I would have any problem once I got my food.

After ordering and receiving my foot I turned around to find that no tables where available, while walking around I found that any tables were being taken by one person who wasn’t eating.  Why do you need to be in the food court to work on your laptop.  WTF?  I will admit I have done that before, but never when all tables are full.  If you see someone trying to find a table and you are all alone at a table not eating wouldn’t it be appropriate to give up your table for someone who would use it correctly?

Also, if you only have 4 people at your table, you don’t need two tables.  I saw A group of 4, at two tables (room for 8 ) when they would have fit perfectly fine at a table built for, oh my god, 4 people.  Pay attention and don’t be an ass hole. 

Pat Condell

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

So I like this guys videos. I dont know why I have never watched this one, but I thought everyone should see it.

My Favorite line:

I suppose that atheism is a religion in the same way that creationism is a science, or Islam is a religion of peace… when language no longer means anything.

Cooking

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

I grew up in the kitchen (and my physique is proof). But I helped in the kitchen the whole time I was a kid. I learned from a young age to to simple prep activities, peel garlic quickly, chop onions properly, how to handle knives etc. When I was in middle school I would have dinner ready for my mom and brother when they got home from work/school.

The question is where do people learn these tasks if they don’t learn them from there parents. If Home-Ec is as lame as Drivers Ed was in my H, then they wouldn’t learn there. I would think they could learn them in college (like a CC or something). But like I wouldn’t even know where to look. Do culinary schools provide basic knife skills, and prep classes, cause I would think they would expect you to come in with some working knowledge.

My point is this, and I don’t think I have even expressed it, but I think basic cooking skills are something that you need to learn early if you want it to come naturally, like I don’t think its something that you can learn late in life. Its like learning a language, the earlier you learn, the better you become at the basics, and you need the basics to move onto anything better.

I don’t really know what my point was here…. but I am bored at work, so I figured I would post something.

Oh Yeah!! That’s the other thing, if you don’t know how to cook, try anyway, the best way to learn is by doing. But don’t get mad when people don’t like it cause it does not turn out exactly how you thought. I encourage everyone to try to cook, that’s the only way to learn this skill really, and I will try to eat it, but I’m gonna tell you how it was, so don’t get all pissed off.

If it sucks, I will tell you.