If you’ve been itching to get in on the latest technology goldrush of developing software applications for Apple’s iPhone but don’t know where to start, check out Stanford’s University online on iTunes. They offer a 10 week iPhone Application Programming course, and video of each lecture as well as copies of slides are posted online at http://itunes.stanford.edu/. Full course website is available online at http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/drupal/.
Learning Application Development for the IPhone online
January 19th, 2010Cotton Candy might actually be GOOD for your Health!
August 9th, 2009Experienced a bit of nastalogia this past weekend in eating cotton candy, aka “fairy floss” or “candy floss”. Not only did I get to eat some of it, but I also, for the first time, got to operate the machine that makes it. When you see how this thing works, you really have to ask yourself, what in the heck gave them idea for this?? Granted a lot of inventions come about purely by accident… you know, you really intend to solve one problem, but discover something entirely different instead and thus a new product/solution! So did cotton candy come about this way or did someone really think, hey, let’s heat up a bunch of sugar, spin it around in a centrifugal device with slits in it, and I bet we can make a pretty tasty treat!! … come on! Where in the world did they come up with this idea??? I can’t believe this invention wasn’t an accident of some sort!
So I went out in search of an answer. Haven’t found one yet, by the way. So if anyone can help and point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I found who invented it and when it was first introduced, etc., but not how they came up with the actual idea for the invention…
But in the process of my research I also stumbled across an NPR news story about how two New York researchers are experimenting with cotton candy as a possible way to create artificial tissue for the human body. yes you read that right! can you believe it? Cotton candy that might actually help save your life someday!
Check out the full story here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100721500&ft=1&f=6851565
Basically this idea is still on the drawing board and not ready for testing yet, but the basic idea is to use cotton candy rather then nanofibers to help create the small tiny network of artificial blood vessels and coat it using a liquid polymer. Eventually the candy disintigrates and you are left with one well developed network of blood vessels. Pretty slick idea, eh?!
So next time you visit your dentist office, bring in some cotton candy with you, sit in the chair and eat it in front of him or her and explain how cotton candy might not be good for your teeth but it might just be the cure for some certain other body parts in the future!
I DON’T want my MTV
July 28th, 2009I am of the original MTV generation. By that I mean that MTV first began operations about the time I was in grade school. If you grew up around the same time period as I then you probably also have the same Dire Straights phrase engrained in your brain, “I want my MTV!”.
Well that was then. Now almost 3 decades later the media scene has drastically changed. MTV rarely plays music videos anymore. Nowadays all the really cool media can be seen and heard first not on the broadcast media outlets but instead on the internet. Today, online media sharing sites like YouTube have replaced MTV as the medium of choice for aspiring bands and breakout artists.
Forget email and online shopping. To me this is the part of the internet that is really exciting. Watching internet technologies and trends evole is like watching the birth of radio and television broadcasting a century ago. The internet truly is it’s own unique medium.
Take YouTube, for example. Today when I want to watch a certain music video, I need not stare in front of my MTV screen all day waiting for it to play (like they actually play videos anymore anyway!). Instead, I type in what I seek on YouTube’s website, and viola! there it is! I can even create my own personal playlist and listen & watch all my favorites to my heart’s content. Not only that, but chances are that you will also find a lot of “amateur artists” posting videos of their own renditions of your favorites. Some you may like, others you may not, but it does make for an interesting outlet to discover new “talent”. Who knows, you may discover your next favorite performer online!
Lately I’ve been hooked on watching and listening to music videos on YouTube. This is the version of MTV I always wanted. Play what you want when you want it, and get recommendations for and discover new favorite songs & artists in the process!
So I say, away with my MTV. Just give me a fast internet connection and I’ll be a happy man.
Why I chose Toktumi as my PBX provider
June 3rd, 2009I have to be honest. I’m not as excited about VoIP (Voice Over IP) technology as most others are. Yes, I think there are some really cool advantages to VoIP technology, especially for the traveling business type, but over all, the voice quality and reliability just doesn’t compare to your traditional analog landline (wire connected) phone from AT&T or similar local Bell.
Over the years I’ve tried a few VoIP offerings, including Vonage (hated ‘em!) and more recently ViaTalk (liked them until they sent me a $50 disconnect bill!). What is with all these disconnect charges the phone industry charges, anyway??? But I digress …
Since launching a couple of new side ventures, I needed full fledged PBX capabilities, not just a seperate business phone line. By PBX, I mean I needed the ability to create a press 1 for this, 2 for that type of Auto Attendant. And the ability to forward calls to different numbers accordingly.
In this era of hosted “software as a service/cloud computing” offerings, PBX systems are no exception. Rather than purchasing all the telephone gear outright (which can cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the supporting phone line capacity to support the call volume you expect to receive as you grow) you can literally sign up with a web based service that hosts the PBX phone system and supporting infrastructure for you, and automatically scales as you grow. Then you simply program it via your web browser. At signficantly lower cost as well.
But most of the Hosted PBX (or Virtual PBX Providers) that I have found charge not only a monthly service fee (in the neighborhood or $30 per month and up) but they also charge a per minute rate for phone calls. If I was making a lot of money from my new side ventures, this would not be a problem to pay, but being a startup, and a side venture startup at that, those unknown costs are rather scary. When all other phone charges are moving toward a flat rate system, why can’t a Virtual PBX provider as well?
Well, guess what? I found one that does exactly that! A flat rate whether you choose a local number or a toll free number for your business. And get this — the rate is a mere $15 per month! Now that’s a number I can afford!
The company is called Toktumi (pronounced “Talk to Me”, clever, ain’t it?!) . Toktumi offers powerful office phone features including call waiting, call transfer, caller ID, call forwarding, and an auto attendant that truly forwards calls without the need to “announce” each call. (This is a key differentiator as well for me. When I tried to transfer a call with most of the other Virtual PBX companies, they do so by first announcing the call and expecting the person answering the call to dial 1 to accept the call. This is more commonly termed “virtual assistant”. But in my case I need to transfer calls to various outsourced call centers, which could be answered by their own auto attendent (and not a live human initially) that asks the caller to “press 1 for this, 2 for that, etc”. So I need the call to be transferered directly and not wait for someone to confirm acceptance of the call. )
You get a softphone as well to make and receive calls. (A softphone is software that runs on your computer, desktop or laptop, that turns it into your virtual office phone!) They even allow you to create instant conference calls for up to 20 people — and with the softphone you can even record your conference calls for future reference.
All this with no hidden fees, no contracts, no equipment required. One low monthly price gets you everything. Toktumi customers get it all for just $14.95 per month. Finally, someone is speaking my language! Thanks Toktumi! Now if only they offered private labelling of their service, it would make for yet another great new side venture …. !
Homemade Sanitizer
May 4th, 2009With the scare about Swine Flu, even the big chains can’t keep enough hand sanitizer on store shelves to keep pace with demand. So if you are finding yourself vulnerable, try this recipe to make your own hand sanitizer.
HAND SANITIZER
1 cup Aloe Vera Gel (100%) 1 TSP Rubbing Alcohol 2 TSP Vegetable Glycerin 8 Drops Tea Tree OilYou should be able to get all the above ingredients from a local pharamacy, with the exception of the Vegetable Glycerin, which you should be able to find in a crafts store. Put mixture in a bottle or jar, and presto! You’ve got your own hand sanitizer ready to go!
Instructions courtesy of KRON 4.
Mozy internet based data backup service
March 24th, 2009Making regular backups of your all so important computer files is one of the most important preventive maintenance tasks we should all do. But how many of us actually have the discipline to do it on a regular basis? It’s not until your hard drive crashes, or that important presentation or thesis paper you’ve been working on for months suddenly becomes corrupt. That’s when you’ll wish you had made a recent backup.
The truth is most people DON’T perform regular backups of their data. Even most technology professionals like myself don’t do this even though we all know how costly it will be to try to recover that lost data.
So the best backup solution is really one that occurs regularly and automatically without any intervention on the part of the user. And to be be a true disaster recovery type solution, your data should be stored offsite, and not on some external hard drive in the same building. Afterall, all it takes is a fire or similar disaster to wipe out not only your data, but your backup media to boot!
Thankfully with the internet, such a solution does exist. One example of such a service is called Mozy and as a regular customer of theirs for the past few years, let me tell you, it is an awesome internet based backup service! Not only do I now use them personally, but I have referred countless clients and friends to them as well.
Mozy comes in two flavors: a personal/home version and a business version called MozyPro. They both essentially use the same configuration software it’s just a matter of what you are trying to backup up. To backup servers, you’d use the MozyPro version; to backup personal home computers, sign up for either the FREE or PAID MozyHome type account.
What I like most about Mozy is how easy it is to setup and get running. There is a lot of advanced configuration choices for pros like me, but for even the novice, the software makes it easy to select the type of data you want backed up. You don’t need to know where your Outlook Personal File Folder (PST) files are, for example. With Mozy, select Outlook Mail files and the software backs the default location for you! So the novice user should be able to go with al lthe default choices and rest assured that his/her data will be backed up properly. The software can be set to run automatically either on a daily schedule or whenever the computer is idle. Best of all, all backups are stored on Mozy servers encrypted, so you can rest assured you have a good offsite backup of your data in the event of the worst scenerio.
In a few months I will post a more thorough right up of various data backup options for the home user or small office… everything from using an external hard drive as a backup device, to installing a full blown dedicated backup server solution such as Veritas Backup Exec or CommVault. But for now, if you don’t have any backup solution currently in place for your computers, I highly recommend Mozy. Once installed and configured it should require very little maintenance … just check it occasionally to verify it is working as expected. Mozy is a great solution for anyone without in house computer support staff, and it can also serve as a complimentary secondary backup solution as well. More on that later. For now, if your most precious data is without a safety net, give Mozy a try! If you do, be sure to let me know your experiences and feedback.
Do I need a Landline voice phone to get DSL?
March 11th, 2009yes you should be able to do that, but your local phone company might hassle you over it. Here’s an internet post I found that might help as well: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/How-to-Get-2399-ATT-Dry-Loop-DSL-87863
Yes you need a landline for DSL service but no you should not need to actually have landline voice service. The two do run over different parts of the circuit. I believe the industry term for what you seek is “dry loop” — in this case, DSL without voice. But before you cancel your voice line, I caution you to consider another advantage of keeping your voice service … 911. I’m a big fan of landline phone service, both for the superior voice quality, but also because of the technology behind 911. If you or your family were to ever have an emergency that required dialing 911, personally I’d rather do it from a landline phone, than a cell phone. From a landline, the 911 operator instantly knows the address from which you are calling from. This is not typically the case from a cell phone although that technology is supposedly coming down the pike. Also, 911 from your landline routes to your local emergency agency (local fire or police station, typically). Cellular 911 is either answered by specially trained personnel of the cell phone company, or routed (more commonly) to the State Police of Highway Patrol. (For my area, for example, that Highway Patrol office is more than 20 miles away!) The dispatcher then has to figure out where you are, what you need, and transfer your call to the appropriate local agency closest to your location. This can sometimes take a significant amount of time. I no longer dial 911 from my cell phone unless I have no other options. Instead I now dial the agency I need directly. (Yes I store them as speed dial numbers in my cell phone!) In my opinion, cellular 911 just doesn’t measure up to landline 911. So dialing 911 from a landline is ALWAYS the best option.
Here’s a writeup I did for my hiking group 3 years ago related to this:
http://hiking.bondon.com/FAQMain.cfm?page=Msg&Email=110
So, in your case, if you decide to keep your landline for at least receiving calls and as an insurance policy should you need to call 911, my suggestion is to switch to measured rate service (cheaper than flat rate if you don’t make too many local phone calls). AND think about getting rid of long distance service on the line as well so you’re not paying the $5/mo interconnect fee and associated taxes that go with it. Then you’re monthly phone bill should be less than $10/mo, including taxes and fees (probably under $5/mo if you qualify for Universal Lifeline Phone service.)
But if you do decide to get rid of your landline, I suggest you program in your local police and fire numbers into all your cell phones and train your family to phone them direct. Believe me, you’ll get thru MUCH faster!
Pidgin 2.5.5
March 10th, 2009I am a technology guy, the “TechnologyMan” afterall, but even so, I entered the IM (Instant Messaging) and SMS (mobile text messaging) worlds kicking and screaming. Yeah, you could say I resisted, and held out as long as I possibly could. Even though I LOVE all things technology, I am not typically an early adopter like many of my peers. It’s great to try these new technologies or at least learn about and understand what they are all about, but to fully embrace every new gadget and service that comes out, who has time for that?! I have enough trouble keeping up between my various email inboxes and voicemail boxes to have to add yet 2 new messaging technologies to distract me.
But recently the boss wanted everyone to get on MSN instant messaging to test how it integrates with our Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint environments. The cool part is it integrates pretty well, provided I sign in with my work email address. But of course, the down side is that darn MSN client… full of advertising and nonsense.
But recently I was introduced to a chat program called “Pidgin”. It supports a number of online messaging services, including MSN and GMail, the two I care most about. So I can now use a single program to chat across multiple IM accounts! And best of all, NO ADS!!! And oh yeah, Pidgin is free. Check it out at http://pidgin.im/.
Quickstart Tennis
March 9th, 2009Granted, not exactly a technology topic, so consider this article your “timeout” from the computer. When I’m not staring at my computer screen, I enjoy being outdoors, especially playing sports. And one of my favorite sports is tennis. If you or your family is interested in learning the game of tennis, I encourage you to look into a new program called “QuickStart Tennis”. The basic concept is instead of learning to play tennis on a full size court, you learn to volley on a much smaller court. It was a concept designed for teaching young children the game of tennis. With their short attention spans, kids can often become frustrated and bored with learning a new skill that requires much coordination, especially if they don’t master it quickly. But frankly, I can see a lot of value in this learning method for adults (ie. parents!), who, too, become just as easily frustrated!
I find tennis to be a most enjoyable sport to play, whether you are doing so competitively or just for fun. It’s a shame to give up on learning the game so easily. Tennis, much like other sports, is a skill that can only be developed after much practice and patience.
Here are some links if you’d like to learn more about this new teaching program:
- http://consumers.quickstarttennis.com/
- http://consumers.quickstarttennis.com/index.php?page=get-started—court-setup
How VCRs are affected by DTV
February 22nd, 2009There appears to be a lot of confusion by some surrounding the upcoming switch by the United States government from traditional analog television service to the new digital transmission (DTV) standard. This despite a long term and I thought pretty thorough ad campaign about the pending change.
In a nutshell, if you receive your television signal over the air by means of an antenna, whether that antenna is sitting on top of your television (”rabbit-ears”) or on the roof of your house/building, then you will definately be affected by the transition to digital broadcasting. But if you receive your television programming from a satellite or cable company, you should not be affected. At least there is no technical reason why you should be affected. But turns out the answer really depends on who your cable or satellite provider is. If you are a Comcast customer, for example, you may very well be affected.
Appears Comcast has made a business decision to discontinue full analog service for their customers. There is no technical reason they have to make this change, but for whatever reason, they have done so anyway. I suspect this is just a move by them to try to force customers to the higher revenue digital packages and get rid of their legacy analog transmission systems. Even the DTV.gov website shares my opinion of cable companies like Comcast!
Not only does this move require Comcast customers to either purchase a digital converter box for their analog TV sets, they also are left with quite the delima for their analog VCRs (video cassette recorder). Even with a seperate converter box for the VCR would mean manually needing to change the channel on the converter box when you wanted to record a show on the VCR. Which kinda defeats the whole point of being able to record programs when you aren’t home.
Of course this is not an industry wide problem. Most cable and satellite TV providers are continuing their analog service just as before. And there really isn’t any technical reason why they shouldn’t. In reality this transition should be completely painless and transparent for their analog customers. Analog and digital programming can continue to co-exist on cable and satellite systems for years to come, even after analog transmissions cease by traditional over the air broadcasters.