The minor rantings of a single LDS male, flailing through eternity
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
I’ve just finished work on the portfolio website for a friend of mine (whom some of you may know) named Michelle Gateau. You can visit her page at michellegateau.com. Feel free to browse her paintings or even order a print or commission a portrait. 
Posted in Stuff that Happened, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
I’ve already posted a bulletin about this, but I might as well double up on the big news: my portfolio website is now up and running.
I have just finished overhauling the look and feel of my website, adding a load of new content (especially video), and updating the bowels of the site to current XHTML standards. Feel free to visit it at:
For anyone who has recently (or even not so recently) worked on a video with me, you may be especially interested by the Video section of my site. I’ve posted a number of movies there that I’ve helped make, and their quality and resolution are much higher than what you might get at YouTube or some similar video hosting webpage. Feel free to visit the page and refer your friends and family to it at this link: Video Section.
I hope you enjoy the site. Hugs and kisses, everyone.
Posted in Stuff that Happened, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, October 26th, 2007
Recommendation 5:
Podcasts
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).
Posted in Entertainement, Reviews and Recommendations, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Where to buy your next camera or camcorder:
B&H Photo/Video
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.
Tags: buying guide
Posted in Reviews and Recommendations, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Recommendation 4:
Pandora
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.
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.
Posted in Music, Reviews and Recommendations, Technology | No Comments »
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