I’ve found a wonderful online service at a website called Scripturecast.net. Effectively what scripturecast does is to permit you to customize a daily RSS feed that tells you what you should be reading every day, according to the parameters you set. For example, if you want to read the Book of Mormon by July 1st of this year, Scripturecast will automatically divide the book into equal segements. Every day, it will add a new piece to your RSS feed, so you know how much you should read that day. You can access your RSS feed through iTunes or any RSS capable software that you may have on your machine.

If you prefer to set up your schedule with a certain amount of reading per day rather than with a target completion date, Scripturecast has your back there too. You can set it to schedule you to read anything from a chapter (or section) per month to several chapters per day. It’s really all up to you and your personal needs.

That’s not all. Scripturecast will create an HTML page for you (just in case you don’t do the RSS thing so much), where your reading schedule will automatically update every day. It will even provide a link to the chapters or sections you are to read each day so you can go straight to the page on lds.org and read them off the screen. There is even an audio player embedded in the Scripturecast page, so you can simply click it, and have your computer read your scheduled verses to you (once again borrowing from the audiobooks files housed at lds.org).

So if you want to make scripture reading a regular part of your daily schedule, maybe Scripturecast is the trick for you. Scripturecast currently only schedules reading in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and the most recently posted LDS General Conference (so right now they have the October 2007 addresses up), and I don’t know if there are any plans to add the Bible or Pearl of Great Price to the lineup. Nevertheless, I’ve found it to be a very valuable tool in my personal study, and hope it can be useful for you as well.

Digsby is an internet messenger program comparable to MSN’s Live Messenger or AOL’s AIM. In fact, it’s not just comparable to these programs, but works as a replacement for them. Digsby allows you to sign into all the major messenger services (AOL, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, ICQ {for those of you who remember ICQ}, and Jabber). It can also be set up to give you e-mail notifications for your Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail, as well as any POP server based e-mail that you may specify. Finally, it allows you to sign into Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace and receive updates and notifications for those social network services.

These capabilities by themselves don’t necessarily set Digsby apart. A program called Trillian has been around for years that allowed you to have one contact list for all your messenger accounts. Another messenger called Pidgin later came on the scene with the basic same abilities, adding support for Google Talk and MySpace messenger. I don’t know if those programs ever let you check any POP server mail account, so Digsby has an edge there, but a couple of other functions that really set it apart.

For one, Digsby is the first free messenger through which you can access all your major messenger accounts that has web cam support. So for those of you out there that want to run a cam, but don’t want to have four different messengers running all the time, Digsby is the choice for you.

Second, and this is really cool, Digsby allows you to embed a widget on any webpage through which a visitor to that page can talk to you live. They don’t have to install a thing (well…they do have to have Adobe Shockwave running on their machine, but apparently 200 million users out there already have it installed). They just browse to the web page where the widget lives. They click on it and can start chatting with you live.

It opens up all sorts of new possibilities for web businesses working on a budget. Did you want to have a live assistance area on your website, where visitors can chat with you? Well, now you can just download and install Digsby, and then run through the simple process of building your widget and embedding the tiny chunk of code Digsby generates into your webage. If you want to add the Widget to Facebook, it’s even more simple. When you set up your Facebook service in Digsby’s preferences, it asks you if you want to add the widget to your profile. It then behaves like any other Facebook app.

Sound cool? You can try it out right now without any downloading. I’ve already installed the widget on my portfolio website at gurustump.com (check the right column under latest additions), and on my facebook profile (left column this time). All you have to do is click in the text-entry field and start typing. If I’m listed as online, it’s a good bet I’ll respond.

So there is a first introduction to Digsby. It is apparently getting a lot of buzz and users out there on the interwebs right now, even though it’s only been in public beta for a few days. It’s already very customizable, but look for it to get mroe features and updates as time goes on.

DPReview.com is probably the most visited photography website on the internet. Its vast library of articles includes unbiased and comprehensive reviews of the cameras, as well as previews of models yet to be shipped from their manufacturers, and active forums for specific cameras where owners can discuss the problems or features they have encountered. If you’re interested in buying a digital camera but are having a hard time choosing a model, or if you have run into trouble with your current camera, this is a fabulous website to do research on.

The reviews at dpreview.com touch on everything you need to know to decide on the right camera for you. This includes a walkthrough of how each camera works, objective appraisals of how well and quickly the cameras perform, photographic tests comparing the images taken by each camera with images taken by its major competitors, and complete spec sheets. Along with all the data are numerous illustrations, pictures taken by the camera under controlled conditions and pictures of the camera body itself from all angles.

The reviews are very thoughtful. Each has a conclusion with a list of pros and cons and some very illuminating notes on what makes the camera being reviewed a good or bad choice. Since some cameras are better in different situations, suggestions are often given about other models similar to the one under review.

All in all, I think the website is the best way to make a confident choice about what can be a very expensive purchase. You will be less likely to feel any buyer’s remorse over your new camera purchase if you spend some time reading the articles at dpreview. What’s more, you’ll be vasly more knowledgeable about how to operate your new camera once you get it. So if you don’t mind spending the time and do like knowing your stuff, this is the site for you.

http://www.dpreview.com/

If you use dpreview, you should be aware that there are two major types of articles. The larger (and probably more numerous) are the reviews discussed above. There are also “previews” for cameras that have only been announced by their manufacturers. The previews should not be confused with the reviews, because the information in them is provided by the manufacturer itself. No unbiased opinions based on hands-on experience are yet given because the camera has yet to have been made available to the website’s authors. So if you are thinking of buying a cutting edge new camera, I would recommend waiting until a full review has been posted at dpreview, rather than basing your purchase solely on the promises made in one of the previews.

I suppose there are many of you who don’t have any moral compunction about simply downloading copies of commercial software from bitTorrents or file sharing services. Those people might as well stop reading now. For those who actually feel like they should pay for their software, but who find the costs of the product they want a little overwhelming, I have a suggestion.

Take a class. I recently bought the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection, which includes the full versions of all of Adobe’s flagship software, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash, Premiere, and After Effects. The Suite retails for $2,500. That was a little pricey for my sensibilities. On the other hand, I do like to be able to look myself in the mirror and not see a pirate, so I didn’t want to get a free, hacked copy of the software online. My solution came through my desire to learn how to play the guitar.

I enrolled some time ago at Santa Monica College, an accredited 2-year public community college. For three semesters now, I have been taking a 3-credit hour guitar class. The total cost of each semester for me is only about $80. The major bonus, I have discovered, is that SMC supplied me with a lovely student ID card with my name and photo on it, and a sticker on the back showing that it was current. With that card, I was able to visit an online software purveyor (in this case, Provantage Personal Computer Products had the best price among the reputable store listings) and order my software at the Educational Discount rate. I just needed to e-mail them a scanned image of my ID card to prove I qualified.

Adobe, probably in order to increase their corporate sales, gives massive discounts to student and teachers (or anyone with accredited educational credentials), hoping that the students will grow up to use (and demand) the same software packages in the workplace. Many other companies use the same strategy.

As a result, my Adobe CS3 Master Collection cost a whopping 3/5 less than the normal retail price. Spend $80 on a class to save $1,500 on software? Sounds like a good idea to me. There is no difference between the student discount version of the software and the regular price version. So for you artists out there who need Photoshop, but don’t want to steal it, maybe it’s time you went back to school. If you are currently in school, buy your software now.

Some shops I’ve used for the educational discount:
http://www.creationengine.com
http://www.provantage.com

For price comparisons:
http://shopper.cnet.com

And to make sure the shop you intend to buy from is on the up and up:
http://www.resellerratings.com

For those of you who have heard of them but haven’t yet figured out what they are, podcasts are basically the internet version of Tivo. Most podcasts I am familiar with are very similar to radio talk shows: a group of people just talk about something interesting for an hour or hour and a half. The thing that makes them podcasts is that you don’t have to tune in at the time the show is broadcast. Instead, you use a program like Apple’s iTunes to “subscribe” to the podcast. When you turn on your iTunes, it simply downloads the latest episode of the show, and you can listen to or watch it whenever you want.

I have three recommendations for Podcasts available through iTunes.

ONE
This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte

If you’re a technology geek, but you get tired of having to read the trades to keep up with the latest news and gadgets, this is the podcast for you. Every week, Leo Laporte and a panel of select technology journalists get together and just yap about whatever has happened in technology during the week. They’re up to date on the latest new devices that are getting buzz in the industry, as well as the legal, social, and political issues that come up in internet and technology circles. Best of all, they keep it funny. Recommended for all ages, but if you didn’t really care about the release of the iPhone, this probably isn’t the podcast for you.

TWO
Diggnation

The founder of Digg.com, Kevin Rose, and his goofy actor friend, Alex Albrecht, spend an hour each week discussing the most interesting stories that have appeared on Digg since the previous show. They do it while consuming a very large amount of alcohol (which was generally donated to the show by fans or sponsors). If you don’t know what Digg is, see my earlier (Oct. 20) post about it. Kevin and Alex manage to keep it pretty funny, although sometimes they’re just dumb and somewhat poorly informed. This is a good podcast for those of you who can plug your earphones into your computer at work and need something to keep you awake while you execute the daily mindless process your job requires. Be forewarned: these guys know some harsh language and aren’t afraid to use it.

THREE
Keith and the Girl

If you were offended by the language in Diggnation, you’ll think Keith and the girl are the anti-christ and his girlfriend. Keith Malley is a New York area comedian who, with his girlfriend Chemda Khalili, discuss news, events, and just the vicissitudes of their own lives. Keith’s parents are devout Christians, while Chemda’s family are a mix of Persians and Israelis. Neither set of parents has ever heard the incredibly raunchy podcast their children currently produce, and Keith and Chemda often discuss their need to keep it that way. The two tend to wax very direct as they discuss their sex lives, use of controlled substances, violent altercations (though not with each other), crappy day jobs, and often poorly informed opinions.

Most episodes have a guest-host, such as gossip queen Patrice, aging (and often drunken) rocker Brother Love, or advice guru Dina (who is actually just a hick from upstate New York).

The charm of the shows are, in my opinion, Keith’s acerbic, poorly informed but often well thought out, Brooklyn-accented rants on whatever topic they happen to be discussing at the moment. These topics are not things your grandma would feel comfortable listening to (unless she used to be a fishnet-stalking wearing barker in front of an Atlantic City casino and carried a pool cue to discourage the gents who got too fresh), so don’t listen to Keith and the Girl unless you have thick skin and cynical sensibilities. Nevertheless, I generally think it’s a riot, and have very successfully used it to help me through the duldrums of repetitive labor in front of a computer.

A last note on iTunes
If you’re interested in trying out these, or any other podcasts, I recommend simply using iTunes. If you don’t have it on your computer already, go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/ to download it. Once it’s installed on your machine, turn it on and click on the podcasts section. Do a search for the name of the podcast or the subject that interests you. Click “subscribe” next to anything you want. From then on, whenever you open up iTunes, it will automatically download the most recent episode of the podcast that you don’t already have.

I have done a lot of online purchasing in my time. In fact, I’m at the point now where I would prefer to buy something through the web than to go to a brick and mortar shop simply because the prices are so much better and the options are far more numerous.

Something I notice very often during online checkout procedures is a little form box for a “coupon code” or something similar. Many websites offer discounts to customers from specific companies or organizations, and the means by which those customers claim the discounts is through these codes. The retailer simply sends an e-mail to the organization with the code in it, and then the organization disseminates it to its members however it sees fit.

RetailMeNot.com (http://www.retailmenot.com) is a website that collects such codes. If, for example, you were interested in making a purchase from Amazon, and you noticed that there was a place in the checkout pages for you to enter a coupon code, you could first visit RetailMeNot. On the RetailMeNot home page, you could type “amazon.com” into the search box. You would immediately be given a list of codes to type into the coupon form on Amazon, along with explanations of the sort of deal each code would give you, as well as details about what products it applies to.

I’ve already made use of RetailMeNot to get free temporary subscriptions to some websites, as well as discounts on purchases I have made at others. Not every code works (sometimes they’re just too old, and the offer has already expired), but for a few dollars in savings, isn’t it worth having a look-see?

Every now and then someone asks me for advice on buying a camera or some other device or equipment for making art. I usually don’t flat out recommend one brand or product line over any other, because I think that different companies make better products depending on the specific needs of any particular consumer. So for some people, I might recommend a nice Canon Digital Rebel, where for others I might suggest a Panasonic FZ-50 or something else. It all depends on what they are going to use it for.

On the other hand, not all retailers are created equal. Buying cameras and camcorders can be a harrowing experience. You can go to your local Best Buy (or your local equivalent electronics shop), of course, and just slap down a huge pile of money on whatever device that the poorly informed, 19-year-old salesperson is trying to pass off on you. They’ll try to convince you to buy an extended warranty for your device that you will almost certainly never use, and that might not even coven your purchase if the thing does manage to break. I would not recommend this approach. You’re too prone to spend twice as much money as you should, and end up with a device you don’t really even like that much.

You can go to CNET (http://www.cnet.com) and look at some nice reviews of comparable products of the sort you want. The reviews might be a little skewed by the fact that CNET gets its sample devices donated by the manufacturer, and has to be kinda nice in what it says lest the manufacturer decide to stop sending samples. Nevertheless, it’s a good starting point. What’s more, once you choose the item you want, you can use CNET Shopper to hunt through all the various online stores that carry it, and find the very lowest price available.

Now this is where you might get into trouble. Some online stores are scams. Some of them sell “gray market” material, meaning that the camera you buy from them will be come in unofficial packaging, without a manual, and without a manufacturer’s warranty. If there is a problem with it, getting the store to replace it or refund your money could prove virtually impossible.

Other less seemly outfits will pull a “bait and switch” on you. You’ll visit their website, see the item you want for about 2/3 the cost you saw it at Best Buy, and you’ll click the buy now button and give them your credit card number. Instead of getting an e-mail with your tracking number the next day, as you would expect, you get a phone call. The person on the other end tells you that your order is being processed, and then asks you if you would like to add any accessories to it. The try to sell you a five-year extended warranty, extra batteries, a bag, straps, cleaning gear, etc…all at what sounds like reasonable prices. If you agree, well…fine, your order will ship, and hopefully it won’t be gray market. If you politely decline and ask that they just ship your camera, they may tell you then and there that they are afraid it isn’t in stock and it will be on back-order for a couple of weeks. The couple of weeks will stretch to months, at which point you will realize that the reason the price for the item was so low was that they needed to get you to buy all that extra stuff to turn any profit. In other words, your camera will be on backorder until you buy some accessories. The bait you with the low price, then switch to a different deal where you spend enough money to make it worth their while.

Reading all this, you might be tempted to just go to Best Buy. It’s close, there’s no wait, and you know you’re going to get the real version of the camera or camcorder you want, instead of some questionable gray-market one. Well…don’t do it. I have the solution for you.

It’s called B&H Photo Video. It’s a great big store in New York City, comparable to Samy’s Camera here in L.A. Where it really beats Samy’s out is in price. B&H will often appear in CNET searches as the lowest or second lowest price for any particular photographic or video device. Most of the competitors with such bargains are too good to be true, but B&H is the real deal. They service so many professionals and sell so much product that they can afford to keep their prices down in the basement without sacrificing efficiency and quality of service.

I’ve personally bought a number of items from B&H, some of which were rather expensive. I have found that they fill orders very rapidly, that they are careful to make sure your credit card information is in order (they won’t sell to someone who has stolen your identity), and they are very good about replacing (at no cost to you) any items that come damaged or with parts missing.

So the next time you want to buy a camera, or camcorder, or any other photographic/video production device, by all means, visit a Best Buy. Look up reviews on CNET or other internet review sites. Check out the going prices on the item. When you’ve done all that, drop by B&H. It’s your best bet as the final stop.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

A note on “gray market” products:
Most manufacturers make several versions of the same item for export to different regions of the world. The Japanese version of a digital camera might be mechanically exactly the same as the American version. The difference is that it will come with documentation in Japanese, with its menus defaulting to Japanese language, and it will have a Japanese warranty. Now, say that Panasonic exports a version of a camera to Vietnam. Since that country isn’t quite as rich as those of Europe or the US, Panasonic might go ahead and mark up the price of the camera a little less. An enterprising businessman could buy up a shipment of these Vietnamese cameras at a low price, ship them to the US in the belly of his cousin Ernesto’s oil tanker, print up new manuals for them in English on the Xerox machine at the local public library, and still be able to sell them for less than Best Buy’s price. Effectively, the device is exactly the same as the one you would get at the Best Buy. The difference is that the Best Buy one has a one-year warranty that the manufacturer will actually honor, and it hasn’t spent 3 months in an oil tanker where Ernesto might not have treated it with as much care as you would like. It’s probably best to stay away from gray.

Pandora.com is one of the coolest websites I’ve run into on the internet. If you don’t know about it already, just go to the site and follow the instructions. Pandora has you name a song or artist you like. It then goes through a massive library of music to find other songs that are similar to what you have specified. Then it just starts playing them for you.

It’s like a radio station that you yourself get to program. You can even specify different “stations” for different moods you might be in (in other words, if you’re not in an Ozzy Ozbourne vibe, you can always make a new station and put in “Luther Vandross” as the artist that Pandora will find similar music to). When you hear a song you like, you can give it a thumb’s up, and it will be added to the station as an indicator to the system that it should find more music like that one. If you hate a song, you can thumb’s down it so it will not play again.

If you work in front of a computer all day, especially doing work that’s repetitive or mindless, this might be the website for you. Just plug in your earphones, and run Pandora in the background. You’ll hear old favorites as well as new stuff you’ve never run into before.

http://www.pandora.com

As a side note, Pandora’s days may be numbered. The US Copyright Royalty Board raised license fee rates recently to the degree that many online radio stations can’t make enough money to be able to pay for the songs they play. So far Pandora lives, but it may not last.

You may have heard of something called “Web 2.0,” if you run around in geeky enough circles. The general idea is that the latest, coolest websites all share certain stylistic attributes as well as some similar methodologies. YouTube, FaceBook, Pandora, Wikipedia and MySpace are all representatives of this new movement, and so, perhaps, is the entire Blogosphere. Perhaps the most common feature of Web 2.0 is user submitted content. The videos on YouTube, the profiles and blogs on MySpace and Facebook, the articles on Wikipedia, and even the radio channel programming on Pandora are all produced not by employees of the companies, but by Schmoes like us.

Digg.com is another website where the content is submitted by the end users. Digg is basically just a webpage with links to news stories on it. The ingenious thing is the way the stories are chosen to show up on the page. Instead of a team of editors deciding what we should know and what we should not, we decide for ourselves. Anyone who has signed up (for free) to be a Digg member can submit a story. All they have to do is type in a URL, come up with a headline, and click a button. Then, any member of Digg can see the story and either Digg it (give it a thumbs up) or bury it (well..it’s not thumbs sideways). Stories, pictures, videos, webpages, or anything else that can be identified by a URL that receive enough “Diggs” appear on the front page of Digg.com.

Professionally, Digg leans towards techno-geeks and politically it leans to the left. Nevertheless, I have found that it’s a wonderful addendum to my usual means of keeping up with the news (Reuters & AP top stories as well as Los Angeles Times headlines, all available online…and maybe a little Daily Show ). If you want to keep up with technology and internet news, keep track of political races, get a smattering of injustices that need to see the light of day, the occasional crackpot conspiracy theory article, and a couple of funny pictures every day, this could be the site for you.

http://www.digg.com

Lately the buzz on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has seemed pretty negative. From reports that providers are unplugging people who use too much bandwidth (article) to scarier reports that they might even be filtering e-mail off their servers for political reasons (article) the news hasn’t been particularly pretty (sorry those are both Comcast stories, fanboys). Let’s face it, they’re great big monopolies that often control all the cable television and high-speed internet in a geographic area, and they know it. Nevertheless, I would like to suggest a couple of ways that you can make that fat bill you pay your provider every month a little more worth it.

Way 1:
Free Customer Service and Technical Support

A lot of people have horror stories about trying to connect with a live human being to get help with anything technology related. After pushing 1 for English, 3 for Support, 2 for Technical, 3 for does not apply, and so on for 15 minutes, only to be put on hold for 20 minutes, and then finally to be disconnected for an unknown reason, a person can be prone to just give up. Well hang in there little buckaroo, it’s not so bad as all that. I have found that most automated phone systems have a fast track to a live person if you just wait long enough to hear the right option. After a list of options, there is usually a “for all other queries” or “to speak to an operator” or something that gets you to that nice human being you’ve been hoping for.

What’s more, in my experience, technical support people at ISPs seem to be computer geniuses. Whereas their bosses want them only to stay on the line with you long enough to make sure that whatever is wrong on your end isn’t the ISP’s fault, I find that it takes very little cajoling (if any) to get them to go through every single thing that is wrong with your machine and help you fix it. I think it’s just their way of sticking it to the man. So since they seem so willing, you might as well use them. Also, just in case you get a support tech who is having a bad day and doesn’t want to be all that useful…you can always call back and get somebody else.

Way 2:
Free Software

Anyone out there getting that bug from the Norton Security Suite that came bundled on their computer last year when they bought it that says their subscription is up and it’s time to get out the credit card to keep the thing running for another year? If you have Comcast or Time Warner, you can just ignore it. Comcast offers it’s users the popular McAfee Security Suite absolutely free, including upgrades and renewals. Likewise, Time Warner will give you EA Anti-virus and Firewall for nothing. All you have to do is go to your provider’s home page and find the link. Be on the lookout for other free junk from your ISP. It wouldn’t hurt to visit their home page from time to time.

Comcast home:
http://www.comcast.net

Time Warner RoadRunner internet home:
http://www.rr.com or http://help.rr.com